CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



postage stamp. And in the Old World the two 

 most impressive figures, perhaps, were Living- 

 stone, the missionary, who was groping his way 

 to the heart of the Dark Continent, and De- 

 Lesseps, the master-builder of canals, who 

 was now cutting a channel through the hot 

 sand at Suez. 



In Chicago, there was at this time no Board 

 of Trade. The first wheat had been exported 

 nine years before as much as would load an 

 ordinary wagon. There was no paved street, 

 except one short block of wooden paving. The 

 houses were rickety, unpainted frame shanties, 

 which had not even the dignity of being num- 

 bered. There was a school, a jail, a police 

 force of six, a theatre, and a fire-engine. But 

 there was no railroad, nor telegraph, nor gas, 

 nor sewer, nor stock-yards. The only post- 

 office was a little frame shack on Clark Street, 

 with one window and one clerk; and one of the 

 lesser hardships of the citizens was to stand in 

 line here on rainy days. 



Prosperity was still an elusive hope in 1847, 

 but the spirit of depression was being overcome. 



[70] 



