Chicago and the Great Conflagration

greatness.

CHAPTER I.GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF CHICAGO

Chicago is situated on the south-western bend of Lake Michigan, at the head of the great chain of American lakes and is nearly 600 feet above the sea-level, the height of the lake-surface being 574 feet. What is now the business portion of the city was originally but a few inches above the lake-level and the surface was often covered with several inches of water for months together. It is only within the past few years that the place has been raised from seven to ten feet by the process of filling in, so as to give a drainage that permits of the cleanliness that is necessary to the health of the inhabitants. The average annual fall of rain is 31f inches; the average temperature is about 50 degrees. The Court house square, which is situated about midway between the north and south limits of the city, and half a mile west of the lake-shore, is in north latitude 41 52′ 20″. The longitude west from Greenwich is 5h. 50m. 28s. (87 370, and oh -42m- 17s- west from Washington. The city is surrounded by what is, relatively, almost a dead-level; the prairie stretching away to a distance of several hundred miles south, west, and north, with scarcely an undulation of importance.

With such conditions it is evident that the term Chicago River, about which the world has heard so much, is a misnomer. Within the city limits the western shore of the lake runs nearly due north and south, trending about two points to the west of north. One-eighth of a mile north of the Courthouse line a bayou strikes westward to the distance of five eighths of a mile, then divides into two branches, both of which run nearly parallel with the lake-shore for a considerable distance. Near the end of the south branch a canal commence which extends to the Illinois River at Lasalle, a distance of ninety-six: miles. This canal has recently been deepened, so that the waters of the lake flow slowly along the river and the canal, into the Illinois River, and thence into the Mississippi. If the bayou at Chicago were a river, it would furnish an instance of that wonderful phenomenon, water running up hill. The current flows at the rate of about one mile per hour.

The banks of this river and its branches have furnished the dockage of Chicago, and, at the time of the great catastrophe, all the available space was so fully occupied that large systems of additional docks were being constructed along the lake-shore, outside what was usually known as the harbor.

In the geographical and topographical position of Chicago, as above sketched, we have the key to the wonderful commercial prominence which she attained in such a short time, that some of those whose all was swept away in the conflagration of October, 1871, were among the earliest settlers in the village that afterward became a mighty city. The belt of only a few degrees in width that includes the highest type of civilized advancement and the greatest energy in the development of cereal growth, has the city of Chicago situated nearly midway between its southern and northern limiting lines and the head of the lake system was naturally the point at which the grain and other produce of the great North-west should be unloaded, first from wagons and afterward from railroad cars and canal-boats, to be placed on vessels, where the wind should replace horse or steam as a motive power, and carry that produce forward on its way to supply the wants of a hungry world. The place where the property changed hands was also the place where it would change ownership, as the smaller quantities laid down there would need to be massed into larger amounts for the long lake journey in great vessels. That fact attracted capital to the spot and then another point was soon developed: The growers of produce would spend their money in the place where they sold their property, if they could there find what they wanted on as favorable terms as elsewhere. And thus Chicago grew, in her double function of receiver and forwarder of Western produce to the East and to Europe, and of distributor of other necessaries and luxuries to the tillers of the soil and the manifold industries that clustered around them. With this came the establishment of numerous manufactories for the supply of the wants both of the city and of the country beyond, and the adoption of many processes by which the property in transit was better adapted to the wants of the buyer. These built up the city on the foundations laid by nature. The position with respect to the surrounding country established the place as the natural depot for collection and distribution in both directions; the enterprise and energy of the men who were attracted thither by those natural advantages did the rest.

The result of the operation of these two sets of causes was a rapidity of growth that scarcely finds a parallel in the history of the world. Other cities have grown as rapidly for a few years, but we call to mind none, either in the old world or the new, that has exhibited an almost uniform increase of population at the rate of more than ten and a half per cent, per annum during thirty-five years, with an even greater augment in business volume and property values. That was the scale on which Chicago was developed, from the time of her incorporation as a city, in 1837, till the memorable catastrophe in 1871: And the events of the short period that has elapsed since the calamity tend to show that she will exhibit as great a ratio of growth in the future. The history of such a wonderful progress can not but is of intense interest to millions of readers.

CHAPTER II.ABORIGINAL HISTORY

For many centuries before Chicago was visited by a white man, it was the home of the Red-skins, and appears to have been successively occupied by several Indian tribes. There can be no doubt that the place was a favorite rendezvous for Indians, as it afforded facilities for fishing, and formed the terminus of a long route of canoe travel, the divide between the waters of the Mississippi and the Illinois River being so shallow as to necessitate but a very short portage. The earliest of these tribes of which we have any record was the Tamaroas, the most powerful of many Illinois families, and who claimed the name Chacaqua as that of a long succession of their chiefs, just as Pharaoh was the name of many successive Egyptian kings.

The first white men known to have visited the region were Marquette and Joliet, two Jesuit missionaries, who were there in 1662-3, only three or four years before the great fire that laid in ashes two-thirds of the city of London, England. It was subsequently visited by two other French explorers, Hennepin and La Salle. The first geographical notice of the place is found in a map, dated Quebec, Canada, 1688, on which Fort Checagou occupies the exact location of the present city, and the form of Lake Michigan is represented quite correctly. In an atlas, published in ‘1696, by Le Sieur Sanson, Geographer to the King, we find the whole Mississippi River, from its origin to the Gulf of Mexico, is named Chacaqua. In other old works it is called the Chacaqua or Divine River. A manuscript, purporting to have been written in 1726 by M. de Ligny, at Green Bay, and brought from France by General Cass, mentions the place as Chicagoux; and that name is found to occur several times in the official correspondence of the earlier years of the present century.

The name Chicago has been variously interpreted to mean Skunk, or Pole-cat, an animal supposed to have abounded there, and Wild Onion, after the herb which is known to have grown profusely on the banks of the creek. But the above historical facts tend to prove that the word had a much nobler meaning; added to which, we know that the word Checaque was used as the name of thunder, or the voice of the Great Manitou. It has been suggested, however, that all of the above intentions may be harmonized, if we attach to the name the meaning of strong, as it is well known that the Indian speech contained many more of these incongruous congruities than are to be found in the languages of the present day.

The Indians retained undisturbed possession of the site long after the whites had began to settle in the West. That settlement was principally made from the Southern States Virginia and Kentucky from the eastward, and by the French from the south, up the Mississippi. Hence the southern part of the present State of Illinois contained a considerable white population, while the wolf and the Red man only disputed with each other possession of all north of the State capital (Springfield), except in the little patch of ground occupied by the United States at the entrance of the Chicago harbor. Illinois was first organized as a county of Virginia in 1778, and was made a separate territory in 1809, but the territorial lines did not include Chicago; the northern boundary running due west from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. In 1815, Hon. Nathaniel Pope, just elected to represent the territory in Congress, procured the passage of an act extending the northern line of the territory to 42 degrees of latitude, thus giving to the State a most valuable line of lake frontage which now contains the three harbors of Chicago, Calumet, and "Waukegan. The territory was elevated to the dignity of a State in 1818, the capital being Kaskaskia. Shadrach Bond, of that city, was elected as the first governor, in October of the same year.

The influx of settlers from the south was now quite rapid, but the immediate effect of the movement was to cause the different tribes of Illinois Indians to crowd northward, and make the site of Chicago alive with red-skins, who clung all the more pertinaciously to the soil, as the finger of fate pointed to their removal farther west at no distant day. The business of trading for furs became an important one, and traders gathered in the vicinity to purchase their stocks and send them eastward. This traffic was first established about the beginning of the present century, and marked a prominent phase in the history of the location.

CHAPTER III.FORT DEARBORN

The year following his first visit to Chicago, Pere Marquette returned, and erected a building for the purposes of worship. The French subsequently formed a plan to extend their possessions from Canada, along the Mississippi Valley, to New Orleans, and thence to sweep the continent eastward. They seem to have built a fort at Chicago, as a link in their great chain of domination. Canada was transferred to England by the victories of Wolfe in 1759, and the fort was then abandoned. After the close of the war of the Revolution the Indians became very troublesome, owing to British intrigue, and only after having been effectively chastised by General Wayne did they consent to a treaty of peace, in 1795, the chiefs of many tribes assembling at Greenville, Ohio, to sign the compact. Among the articles signed we find one recording the first land-sale in Chicago, and furnishing the only clue we have to the first erection of the fort by the French. The Indians ceded to the United States one piece of land, six miles square, at the mouth of the Chekajo River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood.

It has been facetiously remarked that the first white man who became a resident of Chicago was a negro. This first amendment to the copper color (whose race has since risen to the dignity of the fifteenth degree) settled there in 1796. His name was Jean Baptiste Point au- Sable. He built a rude cabin on the north bank of the main river, and laid claim to a tract of land surrounding it. He disappeared from the scene and his claim was jumped by a Frenchman named Le Mai, who commenced trading with the Indians. A few years later he sold out to John Kinzie, who was then an Indian trader in the country about St. Joseph, Michigan, nearly opposite Chicago, on the eastern shore of the lake. Mr. Kinzie was an agent of the American Fur Company. They had traded at Chicago with the Indians for some time, and this fact had probably more than any other to do with the determination of the Government to establish a fort there. The Indians were growing numerous in that region, being attracted by the facilities for selling their wares, as well as being pressed northward by the tide of emigration setting in from the south. It was judged necessary to have some force near that point to keep them in check, as well as to protect the trading interest. Louisiana was purchased from the French in 1803, giving to the United States the control of the entire Mississippi Valley. In 1804 a fort was built by the Government, named Fort Dearborn, in honor of a general of that name, and garrisoned with about fifty men and three pieces of artillery. Mr. Kinzie removed his family to the place the same year, and improved the Jean Baptiste cabin into a tasteful dwelling. His son, John H., but a few months old at the time of the removal, subsequently became one of the most prominent men of the city.

For about eight years things rolled along smoothly. The garrison was quiet, and the traders were prosperous, the number of the latter having been considerably increased. Then the United States became involved in trouble with Great Britain, which finally broke out into the war-flame. The Indians took the war-path long before the declaration of hostilities between the two civilized nations. On the 7th of April, 1812, they made an attack on one of the outlying houses, and killed and scalped the only maid resident, then descended toward the fort, but refrained from making an attack, finding that the soldiers were ready to give them a warm reception. For some months they continued to harass and rob the outside settlers. The Government finally decided to abandon the fort, as it was too remote from headquarters to be successfully maintained in a hostile country. On the 7th of August, 1812, Captain Heald, the commander, received orders to evacuate the fort, if practicable; and, in that event, to distribute all the United States property among the Indians in the neighborhood. He hesitated for five days, knowing that a special order had been issued by the War Department to the effect that no fort should be surrendered without battle having been given. He then reluctantly decided to comply, as his little force of seventy-five men was evidently unable to cope with the Indians.

On the 12th instant the Indians assembled in council, and Captain Heald informed them that he would distribute among them, on the next day, all the ammunition and provisions, as well as the other goods lodged in the United States factory, on condition that the Pottawatomies would furnish a safe escort for him and his command to Fort Wayne, where they should receive a further liberal reward. The Indians acceded to these terms, but Mr. Kinzie, who had learned the treachery of Indian character by long experience, afterward prevailed on Captain Heald to destroy all the liquor and the ammunition not needed by the troops on the journey.

The next day the blankets, calicoes, and provisions were distributed as agreed upon, and in the evening the liquors were thrown into the water, with all the ammunition, except twenty five rounds, and one box of cartridges. They also broke up all the spare muskets and gun-fixtures, and threw them into the well 60 much liquor was thrown into the river that the Indians drank largely of the water, saying that it was almost as good as grog.

The next morning Captain Wells, a relative of Captain Heald, arrived from Fort Wayne with fifteen friendly Miamis. In the afternoon another council was held, at which the Pottawatomies professed to be highly indignant at the destruction of the whisky and ammunition, and made numerous threats, which plainly showed their murderous intention, only too well carried out on the ensuing day. On the morning of the 15th (August, 1812), the troops left the fort. Mrs. Kinzie, with her family of four children, two domestics, and two Indians, took a boat, intending to cross the lake to St. Joseph, but remained at the mouth of the harbor during the subsequent carnage, then returned to their home. The military party went southward, intending to march round the head of the lake. They had only proceeded about a mile and a half, when they were attacked by a party of Indians, who were concealed by a sand-ridge, whom they charged and dislodged from the position; but the Indians were so numerous that parties of them were able to outflank the soldiers, and take the horses and baggage. A severe fight followed, in which the number of the soldiers was reduced to twenty-eight; and during that action a young savage tomahawked the entire party of twelve children, who were in the baggage-wagon. Captain Heald then withdrew his troops, and a parley ensued, the consequence of which was that the troops surrendered, on condition that their lives should be spared, and were marched back to the fort, which was plundered and burned the next day. Mr. Kinzie did duty as surgeon, extracting the bullets with his pen-knife.

Accounts vary somewhat as to whether the Indians kept faith in their agreement, some charging that they massacred the children and some of the women after the surrender. We believe the facts to have been as above stated. The total number of killed was fifty-two, which included twenty-six soldiers, twelve militiamen, two women, and twelve children. The prisoners were ransomed some time afterward, the Kinzie family being taken across the lake to St. Joseph and thence to Detroit, a few days after the massacre.

CHAPTER IV.RE-OCCUPATION

For four years the place was deserted by all save the Indians. Even the fur-traders did not care to visit the scene of so much disaster, and Chicago seemed to have been remanded into aboriginal darkness. In 1816, the fort was rebuilt, under the direction of Captain Bradley, and was thereafter occupied continuously by United States troops for twenty-one years, except for a short time in 1831. In 1837, it was abandoned, as the Indians had been removed far to the westward. The fort stood, however, till 1856, when the old block-house was demolished. Its position was on the south bank of the river, just east of the place where Rush Street Bridge was afterward built. One old building, however, remained, almost rotten with age, till the great conflagration swept it away, as the last relic of military rule. It was a small wooden structure that had formed a part of the officers’ quarters, and stood almost in the apex of the sharp corner formed by the meeting of Michigan Avenue with River Street.

But the rebuilding of the fort failed to re-establish the entente cordiate that had existed between the Indians and whites previous to the spring of 1812. Mr. Kinzie did not return till some time after the fort was reconstructed. Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., who is still a resident of Chicago at the date of this writing, visited the place in 1818, as agent of tho American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was then president. He came in a small schooner, which was sent there once a year with provisions for the garrison. On his arrival he found only two families on the site of the future city, outside the fort. John Kinzie lived on the north side of the river, nearly on the line of Michigan Avenue; and Antoine Oulimette, a French trader, who had married an Indian woman, resided on the same side, about two blocks further west. J. B. Beaubien arrived about the same time. In 1823, one white resident appeared on the scene, Archibald Clybourne, who established himself about three miles from the fort, on the north branch. In 1827, he built a slaughter house and entered into business as butcher for the fort. He has resided in Chicago ever since then, and was alive very recently. In the same year the place was visited by Major Long, on a Government exploring expedition, who drew a sorry picture of the place, which then only contained three families, all occupying log cabins. He said, in his subsequent report, that Chicago presented no cheering prospects, and contained but a few huts, inhabited by a miserable race of men, scarcely equal to the Indians from whom they had descended, while their houses were low, filthy, and disgusting, displaying not the least trace of comfort. His opinion of the site as a place for business was equally poor. He spoke of it as affording no inducements to the settler, the whole amount of trade on the lake not exceeding the cargoes of five or six schooners, even at the time when the garrison received its supplies from the Mackinac, How wonderfully the aspect of the place changed, within half a century from the time of Major Long’s visit, has been written with a pen of iron the record graven so deeply, that not even the great conflagration could efface it.

CHAPTER V.THE CANAL

The project to connect the Mississippi River with Lake Michigan, by a canal from the lake to the Illinois River, was the real cause of the up-growth of Chicago. The commercial advantages of the site as the terminus of that avenue of water communication, first attracted attention to Chicago, and led to the gathering of a most important community long before the canal was completed, or even begun. The measure was first agitated as a needed means of connection between the southern part of the State and the Atlantic Ocean, much shorter than that afforded by the Mississippi a secondary consideration being the great value of a ship canal, connecting the two great water courses of the continent, in case of another war with a European power. That measure, designed for the benefit of the south, then the only settled part of the State, has resulted in attracting to the northern portion a tide of emigration, and an abundance of capital, that has thrown the southern counties into a comparative shade, though ministering largely to their development.

The canal project was agitated as early as the year 1814, the measure being urged in the presidential message to the Thirty-seventh Congress, and reported on by the military committee, and the select committee on the deepening the great lakes and rivers, the latter body styling it the great work of the age for military and commercial purposes. Governor Bond, of Illinois, pressed it upon the attention of the Legislature, in the very first gubernatorial message ever delivered in the State in 1818. His successor, Governor Coles, also urged its importance in 1822; and an act was passed in February 14 1823, appointing a Board of Inspectors, who made a tour of inspection in the year following. On the 30th of March, 1822, Congress had passed an act, by which the State was authorized to make the survey through the public lands, and reserving ninety feet on each side of the canal from any sale made by the United States. It was conditioned, however, that if the State did not survey, and within three years direct the canal to be opened, or if the canal should not be completed within twelve years, that the grant should be void. The commissioners surveyed five routes, and made estimates of the cost of the work; the highest was $716,610.

On the 13th of January, 1825, the Legislature passed an act incorporating the Illinois and Michigan Canal Company, with a capital of one million dollars, but no one was found willing to take the stock, and the charter was subsequently repealed. The matter was again taken up by Congress, principally through the exertion of Hon. Daniel P. Cook, from who was afterward named the county in which Chicago is situated. Congress granted to the State every alternate section in a belt of land six miles wide on each side of the proposed canal, provided that the work should be commenced within five years and completed within twenty years; otherwise the State should pay to the United States all the money received for lands previously sold. On the 22nd of January, 1829, the State passed an act providing for the appointment of commissioners to adopt such measures as might be required to effect the required communication between the river and the lake. These commissioners were directed to select the State lands, and to sell them where they thought proper to do so, and to lay off certain parts into town lots. This was the commencement of the system of land grants, which has since been so extensively adopted in the United States, and upon this action was laid the foundation of the future city of Chicago.

CHAPTER VI.THE TOWN OF CHICAGO

Under the direction of the commissioners, James Thompson proceeded, in 1829, to Chicago, which then consisted only of Fort Dearborn. He made a survey of the site, and the first map of the city was prepared by him; it bears date August 4, 1830.

The canal was not commenced till 1836, and the year 1848 had arrived before it was completed, and then on a much inferior plan to that at first proposed, but the effect was wonderful. The benefits of the measure were long antedated by the enterprising people, who saw that the completion of the work would establish a mighty commercial depot at the head of Lake Michigan; indeed, they, and those who came after them, have always been noted for the rapidity with which they could discount the advantages of an event long before its occurrence. As only one out of many instances of this, we may here note the fact that the expected greater demand for breadstuffs during the war between France and Germany, in 1870, caused her grain-markets to touch a much higher point before the declaration of war than at any time after the event, and the price of wheat in Chicago actually fell almost steadily during the entire time that the war was in progress so with the canal. The place had grown to the dimensions of a city before the first sod was turned, and fell into the slough of despond long before it was finished. But we anticipate.

The tide of emigration had set westward, to a limited extent, during the agitation of the canal measure, but the settlement of the West was retarded by the hostility of the Indians, who were particularly restless in 1828, murdering several emigrants and menacing the fort with destruction. A large military force, under General Atkinson, restored order. The country was filling up to the westward, as the fertility of the rich prairies became known to the people of the East and of Europe. But the site of Chicago was still as barren and uninviting as when visited by Major Long in 1823. Near the fort, and again near the junction .of the two branches with the main river, the land was relatively high; but between those points, and all around, was a low, wet prairie, only a few inches above the lake level and subject to inundation with every shower. An early writer says that it scarcely afforded good walking in the driest summer weather, while at other seasons it was absolutely impassable. Another, who visited Chicago at even a later date, tells how he passed over the ground from the fort to the junction of the river with its branches, on horseback, and was up to the stirrups is water the whole distance. He said: I would not hare given sixpence an acre for the whole of it. For a long time the usual mode of communication between these two points was by canoe, the road being too marshy for traveling.

Of course such a site was barren of agricultural promise, and required strong faith in its commercial future to tempt the settler to brave the poverty and malarial sickness that threatened to starve him out while waiting for the realization of his hopes. It is no wonder that, in 1829, when Surveyor Thompson began his labors, he found only seven families there, outside the fort. Two of these, Mr. Kinzie and his brother-in-law, Dr. Wolcott, the Indian agent, lived on the north side of the river; John Beaubien lived on the south side, near the fort, and John Miller kept a log tavern near the fork, besides which three or four Indian traders, whose names have not been preserved, lived in what is now the West Division. Mr. Hubbard was not then a resident; he was frequently there for several weeks at a time, but did not locate permanently till 1833.

The first map of the future city (August 4, 1830) only embraced an area of about three-eighths of a square mile, the boundaries being Madison, Desplaines, Kinzie, and State Streets. The ground east of State, since known as the Fort Dearborn Addition to Chicago, was a Government reservation.

The next step in the work of preparation for future occupancy was the organization of Cook County, March 4, 1831, the limits of which included the whole tract now comprising the counties of Cook, Dupage, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Iroquois. Chicago is nearly midway on the eastern border of the present county. Two companies of troops then occupied the fort. In this year the number of male citizen residents had increased to fifteen, including the Government blacksmith, and Billy Caldwell, the Indian chief, who acted as interpreter for the agency. Not less than three of these kept tavern. Among the new arrivals, those who subsequently figured prominently in the history of the city, were George W. Dole, merchant; R. A. Kinzie, merchant; P. F. W. Peck, merchant; Dr. Harmon, land speculator, and Mark Beaubien, tavern-keeper. Besides these, Russell E. Hancock resided three or four miles up the south branch of the river and Archibald Clybourne on the north branch.

In this year (1831) emigration set in so vigorously that by midsummer all the available buildings in the city were crowded with families, and several were obliged to seek accommodations at the fort, though many of those arriving intended to proceed further west. So great was the pressure that the infant Court of County Commissioners felt called upon to legislate for the protection of travelers, and ordered that tavern-keepers should only charge twenty-five cents for each half pint of wine, rum, or brandy; twelve and a half cents for half a pint of whisky; twelve and a half cents for one night’s lodging, and twenty five cents for breakfast or supper. No less than four additional taverns were opened that year; licenses were granted to three persons to practice as merchants and James A. Kinzie was promoted to the dignity of auctioneer. His first official act was to sell, in July, a portion of the ten acres previously deeded to the county of Cook, of which the present Court-house square is a part. He received a county order for $14.53f in payment for his services.

In the latter part of September, 1831, about four thousand Indians assembled in Chicago to receive the Government annuity, which was paid by Colonel T. J. V. Owen. The terror of the residents at the scenes of drunkenness and debauchery that followed the payment, was deepened by the rumor that a deputation of Sauks and Foxes, belonging to the band of the notorious Black Hawk, was present, endeavoring to unite the Ottawas, Pottawatomies, and Chippewas, to join in an invasion of the Rock River country and drive out the white settlers. Their design was thwarted by the chief, Billy Caldwell, who used all his influence in favor of peace.

The lake commerce of 1831 was quite large, not less than three vessels arriving during the year, one of which came to carry away the troops to Green Bay. The others were the Telegraph, from Ashtabula, Ohio, and the Marengo, from Detroit; the former brought a stock of goods, as well as many emigrants.

The fort had been vacated by the soldiers in June, leaving it free for occupancy by the emigrants, of whom about four hundred took up their quarters there in September. Most of these stayed there through the winter, which was a long one, and so bitterly cold that most of the other residents of the place also took refuge in the fort, for the double purpose of companionship and protection the latter not more from the Indians than from the prairie-wolves, which were very numerous. The only communication they had with the outside world was effected by a half-breed Indian, who visited Niles, Michigan, once in two weeks, on foot, and brought in whatever papers he could procure there were few letters in those days. The long winter evenings were improved by a debating society, occasional dances, and a weekly religious meeting, on the Methodist plan. It is noteworthy that in 1831 the first ferry was established across the river there were then no bridges. Mark Beaubien filed a bond of 200 to carry all citizens of Cook County across the river free, on condition that he should be permitted to take toll from those not resident in the county.

Early in 1832, Chicago was startled by the intelligence that Black Hawk, with a party of five hundred braves, was advancing on the settlements on Rock River. Soon thereafter, people came flocking in from that district to seek refuge, their houses having been fired, and their stock taken by the Indians. By the middle of May there were fully seven hundred people in the fort, two thirds of whom were women and children, many of the men having driven their stock farther south, in search of a more favorable location. A council was now called, at which the Indians at first seemed anxious to join the marauders, but finally consented to send out one hundred braves against them, if desired.

In May a force of twenty-five men was organized at the fort, under command of Captain J. B. Brown, to scour the country. They were joined by a force of three thousand militia and a detachment of regular troops from Rock Island, under command of General Atkinson. The Indians were finally routed, and Black Hawk delivered up a prisoner of war, on the twenty-seventh of August, 1832. In September, a treaty was concluded at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island), by which the Indians agreed to remove west of the Missouri, on condition that they should receive an annuity, and that a reservation of forty miles square should be set off to Keokuk, their principal chief.

General Winfield A. Scott was ordered to proceed to the West, to take part in the Black Hawk war. The cholera attacked the soldiers on the lake, and so many were prostrated that a large number were landed at Fort Gratiot, now Port Huron. The remainder proceeded to Chicago, where they communicated the infection both to the garrison and the people outside. The war was ended by the volunteers before General Scott could take part in the conflict, but he carried back with him such glowing accounts of the place that general attention was attracted to it, and, chiefly through his recommendation, Congress subsequently made the first appropriation for the improvement of the harbor.

The autumn of this year, 1832, witnessed the commencement of the packing trade in Chicago. Mr. Dole erected the first frame building, and immediately afterward began the slaughtering of two hundred cattle, which he had bought on the Wabash River, at two and three-quarter cents per pound The same winter he slaughtered three hundred and fifty hogs, for which he had given three cents per pound, live weight. This was the beginning of a business, for which Chicago afterward became as famous as for her grain and lumber trade. She surpassed Cincinnati in the total exhibit of hogs slaughtered, in the winter of 1862-3, and up to the time of the great catastrophe had steadily kept in the advance of that city, wresting from her, and retaining, the right to be called the world’s Porkopolis.

The year 1832 was marked by a considerable increase in the population and importance of the city. Among the new citizens who afterward became prominent, were Dr. Kimberly, Philo Carpenter, J. S. Wright, G. W. Snow, and Dr. Maxwell. South Water Street was formally extended to the lake, across Government property, from State Street eastward, and a road was surveyed to give communication with the southern part of the State. The first Sunday school was organized in August, by Philo Carpenter and Captain Johnson, with thirteen children; and Rev. Jesse Walker, a missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church, built a log hut west of the fort, for divine worship. This place was called Wolf Point, and an intense rivalry sprung up, about this time, between the dwellers there and those in the vicinity of the fort. The good people never dreamed, at that epoch, that the population of Chicago would be more than enough to make up a respectable sized village, and each place was anxious to become the site of that village, when it should have attained to the dwarfish growth which was the utmost limit of their expectations.

Of course there was then no Court-house. The sessions of the County Commissioners, and of the Circuit Court, were generally held in the fort. The first building erected on the public square was an astray pen, put up in 1832, on the southwestern corner, at a total cost -of twelve dollars. It is interesting to note that the total tax list of the entire county was returned by the sheriff this year at $148.29, of which amount $10.50 was uncollectable. The treasurer’s report for the year ending April 25, 1832, shows the receipt of $225.50 for licenses, and a balance in hand of $15.93. But though poor, the county was not in debt; those were happy days compared with the present, when the great calamity has piled up an enormous loss on the top of a city debt of