WESTERN FIELD SPORTS IN EARLY DAYS. 



By Samcel C. Claeke, 

 Author of " Mshes of the Bast Atlantic Coast," Etc. 



' Old men forget, yet shall not all forget, 

 But they'll remember with advantage 

 What feats they did that day." 



Shakespeare, King Henry V. 



' „T was in October, 1839, that the writer landed 

 1*^ in Chicago, from the lake steamer Illi- 

 nois, which plied between Buffalo and Chi- 

 cago, no railroads then existing west of 

 Central New York. Chicago then contained 

 less than 6,000 people, living on half a dozen 

 streets running parallel with the river, on its north and 

 south banks. 



The West Division was then hardly existent, and a 

 low, wet prairie extended from the Chicago River to the 

 Des Plaines — twelve miles — a wide sea of grass, embel- 

 lished with flowers. At that time, there were only three 

 or four brick buildings on Lake Street, on which, with 

 South Water Street, the main business of the town was 

 done. It was in that year that the first shipment of 

 wheat, about 150 bushels, was made to Buffalo, and it 

 was thought worthy of record that, in 1840, 1,000,000 feet 

 of lumber were sold in a city since become the largest 

 lumber market in the world. In fact, times were dull; 

 the great land boom of 1836 had expended its force, and 

 lots which two years before had sold for thousands, now 

 sought in vain for purchasers at any price. Some people 



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