Excerpt from Picturesque Chicago

In spite of all disadvantages, the city grew. Was it the hand of Fate? The State census in 1845 showed a population of not quite trebling in five years. Another half decade showed an equal increase, the United States census in 1850 disclosing a population of - in round numbers, In the meantime, the canal had been completed, and for about two years had been pouring into Chicago granaries the wealth of the Illinois valley farms. Lake commerce had attained to fair proportions, and regular lines of upper lake steamers unloaded immense cargoes of merchandise and passengers, and reloaded with equally rich cargoes of grain and provisions for the Eastern markets. The wonderful railroad system that has since contributed to the expansion of Chicago's commercial greatness was then in embryo. The Galena road, the only railroad ever built out of Chicago, had reached Elgiu, and was bringing in the products of the Fox River valley. Two lines from the East, the Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern, were in active rivalry to see which should first reach Chicago, and the Illinois Central was in course of construction to reach the city from the south.

The second decennial State census in 1855 showed the wonderful influence of the introduction of the new element of greatness - railroads - ia a population of a round This was a second almost trebling of pop ulation in the brief period of five years. The next half decade showed but slight progress - the United States census of 1860 giving the city but For this comparative standstill there were several reasons. Theoorvmen'r. Aldine square.country had just passed through the financial crisis of 1857, and business of all kinds was everywhere at its lowest ebb. The finances and currency of the country was in a very unsatisfactory condition. The bank bills of the several States were hardly current outside of the States in which they were issued, and breaking banks were creating consternation in business circles at alarmingly frequent intervals. Our productive industries, what few we had, were bankrupt and idle, while agricultural products hardly paid the cost of growing them. The boom imparted to the growth of the city by the completion of several important lines of railways, dur ing the first half of the decade. Had no counterpart in the latter half. But while there was little to boast of in the way of growth of population, the city was by no means idle. Many of the great improvements which sub sequently contributed so much to its metropolitan character, were inaugurated during this period. Among these was the raising the grade of the city from six to ten feet, which necessitated the lifting of entire blocks of stores, hotels and residences that distance above their foundations, making practical our present system of sewerage, tunneling the lake for a copious supply of pure water, the system of street railways, which has since grown to such wonderful proportions, and others which will be subsequently spoken of.

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