CHICAGO 



1309 



CHICAGO 



HICAGO, the "metropolis of the 

 Northwest," is the largest city of Illinois, the 

 second largest of the western hemisphere and 

 the fourth largest in the world. The three 

 cities which surpass it London, Paris and New 

 York were, even the youngest of them, great 

 cities while the site of Chicago was still but 

 a wilderness of marsh and forest roamed over 

 by the Indians. It is not alone for its size 

 that Chicago is notable, but also for the rapid- 

 ity of its growth and for the restless energy 

 which has characterized every step of its ad- 

 vance. William Vaughn Moody, a poet who 

 spent many years in Chicago, described with 

 a true poetic insight its dominant spirit in the 

 lines 



And yonder where, gigantic, wilful, youngr, 

 Chicago sitteth at the northwest gates, 

 With restless, violent hands and casual tongue, 

 Moulding her mighty fates. 



Size and Location. Chicago is a rambling 

 city spread over 194 square miles, with 4,685 

 miles of streets, one-half more than the total 

 mileage of roads in the state of Delaware. 

 Its lake frontage, which through that part of 

 its length not occupied by railroad tracks is 

 one of the most charming outlooks possessed 

 by any large city, is twenty-four miles, and 

 with compactly-built suburbs, over thirty 

 miles; the greatest east and west extent of the 

 city, to suburban limits, is ten and one-half 

 miles. 



Chicago is in Cook County, of which it is 

 the county seat. It lies along the southwest- 

 ern shore of Lake Michigan, on a plain but 

 fifteen feet or thereabouts above the level of 

 the lake, or 596 feet above sea level, and much 

 of the land along the shore has been built up 

 from a flat beach. 



Though it is called a Western city, and is 

 Western in spirit, Chicago is in reality well to 



the east of the center of the country ; it is 2,274 

 miles from San Francisco, and but 911 from 

 New York. Its marvelous growth in pop- 

 ulation and commercial and industrial im- 

 portance has been largely due to its position 

 at the head of Lake Michigan, where it formed 

 for many years the only outlet for the products 

 of the Middle West. 



Plan of the City. The original plan of the 

 city was influenced very decidedly by the 

 Chicago River, a little stream, but a very im- 

 portant one. It is formed by two branches, 

 one from the northwest and one from the 

 southwest, which unite about a mile from the 

 lake, meeting the lake midway between the 

 northern and southern limits of the city. 

 This stream is sluggish and unpicturesque, and 

 has for much of its history been filthy and 

 disease-breeding, but commercially it is more 

 important than any other river of its length 

 in the world. Not nearly so large a commerce, 

 in tonnage, passes through the Suez Canal in 

 a year as through this little river. 



By the Chicago River and its branches the 

 city is divided into three well-recognized dis- 

 tricts, or "sides": the South Side, including all 

 the territory south of the river ; the North 

 Side, including all that to the north; and the 

 West Side, much the greatest in area, to the 

 west of the branches. Three great tunnel*, 

 recently reconstructed, and no fewer than sixty- 

 six bridges connect the various parts of the 

 city with each other. In the main the street* 

 are regularly laid out. crossing each other at 

 right angles, and most of them are broad. 



The Business Section. One feature very 

 characteristic of Chicago is its "Loop," or 

 business district, which is crowded into an 

 area little more than one and one-half square 

 miles in extent. Not all of its great business 

 houses arc within that space, but the larger 



