they would go into the shop of the owner and gratefully 

 buy fuel for their pipes. 



Big Chief was first on display outside of a tobacconist's 

 shop in 1857. The figure survived the disaster supposedly 

 started by Mrs. O'Leary's incendiary cow— the Chicago 

 fire of 1871. To its Indian admirers particularly, this was 

 dramatic proof of the statue's immortality. 



The figure could not, however, survive the city ordi- 

 nance which exiled wooden Indians from public thor- 

 oughfares. It went where all good wooden Indians go: 

 to the happy hunting ground of an industrial gallery. By 

 then the trade the statue symbolized had outgrown the 

 need for such examples of the people's art. 



T 



he retail trade grows up 



A decade or so before the famed Big Chief made its 

 appearance there were but six tobacco and cigar manu- 

 facturers listed in the Chicago Business Directory, 1846. 

 At that time the city's population was under 28,000. By 

 1860 there were 224 entries under cigar manufacturers 

 and dealers recorded in the Illinois State Business Direc- 

 tory, the majority of them in the Chicago area. Today, 

 retailers who deal in all manufactured forms of tobacco 

 represent the largest group among the 79,456 outlets in 

 the state. Other sources of supply are through vending 

 machines, armed forces' canteens, clubs and elsewhere. 



During the course of operations in the latest year of 



