THREE DAYS AT CHICAGO. 365 



was ordained to be the beginning of the great metrop- 

 olis of the West. His little hut was both a home and 

 a sanctuary. Here he wintered, shooting turkey, deer 

 and buftalo from his door. Here in the spring, from 

 toil and exposure, he died, mourned by the savages 

 whom he had taught. 



Thus was Chicago begun in embryo. 



There in that lagoon, filled with ooze, with its 

 impassable fens, and drifting sands, civilization and 

 religion had their representative who laid the founda- 

 tion of the great Coming City bravely with teachings 

 of "The love of God, and the brotherhood of man." 



We have good maps of 1688 which show us that a 

 little later this lake end of the water communication 

 with Louisiana was made a military post, called Fort 

 Chicagon. 



This place became at one time a favorite settlement 

 for French missionaries. However the spot is sup- 

 posed to have been abandoned about 1763, after which 

 date for about one hundred years white men avoided 

 it. 



In 1774 the site of Chicago, with all the surround- 

 ing country, became a part of Virginia, being conquered 

 by a military expedition from that State. 



In 1778 the region became known as County of 

 Illinois, State of Virginia. 



After the close of the Revolutionary war, Virginia 

 "divided herself by the Ohio River,'' ceding all the 

 territory beyond that boundary to the United States 

 for the "common benefit of all the people." 



In 1795 the Indians also ceded to the general 

 government any rights which their tribes possessed to 

 " one piece of land six miles square^ at the mouth of 



