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173 



limestone at a depth reaching 1000 feet, the purity 

 11 as the inexhaustible nature of thin *upply 

 i> evident. The danger <>f Its contamination nom 

 tin- sewage of a city ra]iilly approaching two mil- 

 lions, led in 1889 to the adoption of a plan to cut a 

 monster canal from the Chicago Kiver to Joliet on 

 the Desplaines River, a distance of 30 miles, for the 

 primary purpose of disposing of the city's sewage, 

 after if> dilution by 600,000 cubic feet of lake water 

 PIT minute, and the ultimate utilization as a ship 

 <Mii.-il to connect Chicago with New Orleans and 

 t In- ( ; ii It' of Mexico via the Mississippi. This canal 

 was commenced in 1891, and was expected to be 

 completed in live years, at a cost of $22,000,000; 

 but by July 1, 185)7, the cost had amounted to 

 $24,000,000, and it was not until January 17, 1900, 

 that the canal was opened. Through ten miles of 

 its course it is 200 feet wide and 35 feet deep, cut 

 through the solid rock ; the minimum depth is 22 

 feet. It is altogether one of the great engineering 

 works of the century. 



The health of the city is as phenomenal as the 

 growth of Chicago itself. For the year ending March 

 31, 1897, calculated on a school census notoriously 

 below the actual population, the death-rate of the 

 city was 14 '22 per 1000. The weather bureau gives 

 Chicago the lead with more miles of wind per 

 annum than any other observation station in 

 America. Hence its sobriquet of ' The Windy City.' 



A railway map of the United States shows that 

 Chicago is the rail centre of the continent. Over 

 114,000 miles of railroad, or more than one-half of 

 the mileage of the United States, Canada, and 

 Mexico, converge here. The amount of tonnage 

 forwarded via the Chicago lines during 1890 was 

 4,595,440 tons. Chicago is a port of entry ; this in- 

 land city is the greatest shipping port on the conti- 

 nent. In 1896, 8663 vessels arrived at Chicago and 

 8773 cleared. A remarkable change has recently 

 come over the size of the vessels entering Chicago. 

 In 1890 there were 10,507 entered with a total ton- 

 nage of 5,138,253 ; the 8663 which entered last year 

 had a tonnage of 6,481,152. 



The Union Stock-yards, situated in the south- 

 western part of the city, compose the largest live- 

 stock market in the world. They cover over 400 

 acres of land and have accommodations for 25,000 

 head of cattle, 150,000 hogs, 20,000 sheep, and 

 stabling for 1000 horses. The receipts of live-stock 

 handled here in 1896 comprised 2,600,476 cattle, 

 138,337 calves, 7,659,472 hogs, 3,590,655 sheep, and 

 105,978 horses, aggregating 14,094,918 head, valued 

 at $187,745,655, received in 277,437 cars. The ship- 

 ments of dressed beef made from Chicago to every 

 quarter of the globe amounted for the year 1896 to 

 the enormous total of 980,930,688 pounds. 



The city is also the largest grain market in the 

 world. Of the grand total 01612,714,283 bushels 

 of flour and grain received at the eight principal 

 grain centres of the United States in 1896, no less 

 than 253,802,134, or not far from one-half, were 

 received at Chicago. 



One of the first things to attract the attention 

 of the visitor to the city is the number and mag- 

 nificence of its tall buildings called 'sky-scrapers.' 

 All the weight of these immense structures is car- 

 ried on a riveted steel framework instead of walls of 

 masonry. In fact, the steel frame carries the outer 

 shell. Their foundations are laid on cross-sections 

 of steel beams embedded in cement built right on 

 the top of the substratum of blue clay which un- 

 derlies the whole city. This settles gradually and 

 regularly from 6 to 8 inches as the building goes up, 

 and then stops, affording a foundation seemingly as 

 firm as if laid on the eternal rock. These buildings 

 (twenty stories tall ) have stood as stiff in an 84- mile 

 gale as solid masonry. 



Chicago has many public buildings noteworthy 



for their architectural beauty, among which the Art 

 ln-i it iite;ui<l i In- I'ulilic Library on Michigan Houle- 

 vapl and tin- Ncwberry Library facing Washington 

 Square on the north side are especially worthy of 

 study. The city-hall and county court-house are 

 twin buildings occupying an entire block. They 

 are built of Silurian limestone and Maine granite, 

 and are more noticeable for their massivenenH and 

 cost (86,000,000) than beauty. The Auditorium i-s 

 one of the finest and best-appointed public halls in 

 the country. Chicago is amply supplied with thea- 

 tres and music halls, and has sucn large hotel ac- 

 commodations that it is known as the great conven- 

 tion city of the continent. 



The vicinity of cheap coal-fields and its splendid 

 transportation facilities have made Chicago a great 

 manufacturing centre. In 1890 it had 3250 manu- 

 facturing establishments, employing $190,000,000 

 capital, giving employment to 177,000 persons, who 

 received $96,200,000 in wages, with an annual 

 product valued at $538,000,000. The volume of the 

 wholesale trade of Chicago for the same year was 

 $486,600,000. Chicago has45 banks, with* total capi- 

 tal of $33,000,000 and deposits (Decenilmr 17, 1896) 

 amounting to $184,000,000. The bank clearings for 

 1896 were $4,413,054,108.. In 1892, before the panic 

 of the ensuingyear, they amounted to $5, 135,77 1 , 1 86. 



The assessed valuation of the real and personal 

 property in Chicago for the year 1896 was $244,- 

 357,286, upon which the rate of taxation was 5O3 

 per $100. This gives no adequate idea of its true 

 value, being about one-tenth of what it should be, 

 the assessment being kept down because the rate of 

 the tax permissible is excessive. 



Chicago spends more than $6,000,000 a year on its 

 system of public schools. Of this amount*$3,843,504 

 was paid for salaries for teachers alone in 1896. 

 The enrolment of pupils for that year was 213,825. 

 The private parochial and denominational schools 

 of the city afford education to about 50,000 pupils. 

 In 1892 the University of Chicago, founded by John 

 D. Rockefeller, was opened. It has a grand quad- 

 rangle of granite building situate on the Midway 

 Plaisance, with accommodations for over 2000 pupils. 

 Its endowment and building funds now amount to 

 over $12,000,000, of which sum Mr Rockefeller has 

 contributed $7,426,000. The Yerkes observatory 

 at Lake Geneva, 74 miles from the city, which 

 boasts the most powerful telescope in the world, is a 

 department of the University oi Chicago. 



In libraries Chicago easily takes first rank among 

 American cities. Its public library, founded after 

 the fire and supported by taxation, contains 160,287 

 volumes. A new building has just been completed 

 for it at a cost of $2,200,000. The Newberry Li- 

 brary has a building that cost $500,000 and an en- 

 dowment of over $2,000,000. The John Crerar 

 Library has 25,000 volumes and an endowment of 

 over $2,000,000, and there are many other smaller 

 libraries, notably those of the Chicago Historical 

 Society and the Lewis Institute, with a foundation 

 of over $1,000,000. The Field Columbian Museum, 

 which is an outcome of the Columbian Exposition, 

 has an endowment of $2,000,000 and a collection 

 of remarkable scope contributed by numerous ex- 

 hibitors at the World's Fair. 



The great fire of Sunday, October 7, 1871 , laid the 

 business heart of the city in ashes. Some 17,450 

 buildings were burned, 98,500 persons one-third of 

 the population were rendered homeless, and about 

 200 lives were lost. The total money loss was esti- 

 mated at $190,000,000, with the result that scores 

 of fire insurance companies were ruined. Not a 

 scar of that terrible conflagration is visible to-day. 

 In the place of the cheap wooden structures and 

 wretched pavements of tne sixties, a city of mag- 

 nificent fire-proof buddings and grand thoroughfares 

 has arisen, with the best water supply and fire de- 



