GREAT CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES
HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE, COMMERCIAL
INDUSTRIAL
BY
GERTRUDE VAN DUYN SOUTHWORTH
AUTHOR OF "BUILDERS OF OUR COUNTRY," BOOKS I AND II, "THE STORY OF THE
EMPIRE STATE," AND "A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY"
AND
STEPHEN ELLIOTT KRAMER
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
IROQUOIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY
GERTRUDE VAN DUYN SOUTHWORTH AND STEPHEN ELLIOTT KRAMER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
316.3
PREFACE
Just as the history of a country is largely the history of its great men,
so the geography of a country is largely the story of its great cities.
How much more easily history is grasped and remembered when grouped
around attractive biographies. With great cities as the centers of
geography-study, what is generally considered a dry, matter-of-fact
subject can be made to attract, to inspire, and to fix the things which
should be remembered.
This book, "Great Cities of the United States," includes the ten largest
cities of this country, together with San Francisco, New Orleans, and
Washington. _In it the important facts of our country's geography have
been grouped around these thirteen cities._ The story of Chicago includes
the story of farming in the Middle West, of the great ore industry on and
around the Great Lakes, and of the varied means of transportation.
Cotton, sugar, and location are shown to account largely for the
greatness of New Orleans. In a similar way, the stories of the other
cities sum up the important geography of our country.
Enough of the history of each city is given to show its growth and
development. The distinctive points of interest are described so that one
feels acquainted with the things which attract the sight-seer. The
commercial and industrial features are made to stand out as the logical
sequence of fortunate location for manufacturing, for securing raw
materials, for markets, and for convenient means of transportation.
In order to make uniformly fair comparisons, local statistics have been
ignored and all data have been taken from the latest government reports.
The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to the historical
societies, to the chambers of commerce, to those in the various cities
who have furnished material and reviewed the manuscript, and to all
others who have rendered assistance.
It is hoped that by the use of this book our country, in all its
greatness, will mean more and will appeal more to the boys and girls of
America than ever before.
To the publishers of Allen's "Geographical and Industrial Studies: United
States" we are indebted for the use of the map appearing at the end of
the text.
THE AUTHORS
CONTENTS
PAGE
NEW YORK 3
CHICAGO 41
PHILADELPHIA 67
ST. LOUIS 89
BOSTON 105
CLEVELAND 137
BALTIMORE 155
PITTSBURGH 171
DETROIT 189
BUFFALO 207
SAN FRANCISCO 227
NEW ORLEANS 245
WASHINGTON 265
REFERENCE TABLES 299
INDEX 305
LIST OF MAPS
PAGE
The Boroughs of New York--Entrances to her Harbor 10
Manhattan Island and the City Parks 20
New York's Subway and Bridge Connections 29
Where Chicago was Founded 44
Chicago's Canals 48
Chicago To-day 60
Location of Philadelphia 69
Philadelphia To-day 80
Louisiana Purchase 90
St. Louis and her Illinois Suburbs 92
Map of Boston and its Vicinity 106
The City of Boston 118
Boston's Land and Water Connections 120
Cleveland and her Neighbors 140
The City of Cleveland 144
The City of Baltimore 164
Location of Baltimore 168
The Pittsburgh District 173
The City of Pittsburgh 179
The Great Lakes 190
The City of Detroit 201
New York's Canals 209
The Site of Buffalo 212
The City of Buffalo 218
The Site of San Francisco 232
The City of San Francisco 234
Where New Orleans Stands 246
The City of New Orleans 250
The District of Columbia 268
The City of Washington 270
Some of the Great Railroads of the United States 303
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING]
GREAT CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES
NEW YORK
"Drop anchor!" rang out the command as the little Dutch vessel furled her
sails. On every side were the shining waters of a widespread bay, while
just ahead stretched the forest-covered shores of an island.
[Illustration: INDIANS VISITING THE _HALF MOON_]
All on board were filled with excitement, wondering what lay beyond.
"Have we at last really found a waterway across this new land of
America?" they asked. There was only one way to know--to go and see. So
on once more, past the island, glided the _Half Moon_. From time to
time, as she sailed along, the redskin savages visited her and traded
many valuable furs for mere trifles.
But at last the _Half Moon_ could go no further. This was not a waterway
to India, only a river leading into the depths of a wild and rugged
country. Sick with disappointment, her captain, Henry Hudson, turned
about, journeyed the length of the river which was later to bear his
name, once more passed the island at the mouth of the river, and sailed
away. All this in 1609.
[Illustration: "MY BROTHERS, WE HAVE COME TO TRADE WITH YOU"]
Manhattan was the Indian name for the island at the mouth of the Hudson
River. Tempted by Henry Hudson's furs, the thrifty Dutchmen sent ship
after ship to trade with the American Indians. And as the years went by,
these Dutchmen built a trading post on Manhattan, and a little Dutch
village grew up about the post. Soon the Dutch West India Company was
formed to send out colonists to Manhattan and the land along the Hudson.
A governor too was sent. His name was Peter Minuit.
[Illustration: PETER STUYVESANT]
Now Peter Minuit was honest, and when he found that the Dutch were living
on Indian land to which they had helped themselves, he was not content.
So he called together the tribes which lived on Manhattan and, while the
painted warriors squatted on the ground, spoke to them in words like
these: "My brothers, we have come to trade with you. And that we may be
near to buy your furs when you have gathered them, we wish to live among
you, on your land. It is your land, and as we do not mean to steal it
from you, I have asked you to meet me here that I may buy from you this
island which you call Manhattan." Then, in payment for the island, Peter
Minuit offered the Indians ribbons, knives, rings, and colored
beads--things dearly loved by the savages. The bargain was soon closed,
and for twenty-four dollars' worth of trinkets the Dutch became the
owners of Manhattan Island.
[Illustration: NEW YORK IN OLDEN TIMES]
The Dutch settlement on Manhattan was called New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam
was a pretty town, with its quaint Dutch houses built gable end toward
the street and its gardens bright with flowers. Dutch windmills with
their long sweeping arms rose here and there, and near the water stood
the fort.
But though New Amsterdam grew and prospered in the years after Peter
Minuit bought Manhattan, life there did not run as smoothly as it might.
In time Peter Stuyvesant came to be governor, and a stern, tyrannical
ruler he was. He always saw things from the Dutch West India Company's
point of view, not from the colonists'. Disagreement followed
disagreement till the people were nearly at the end of their patience.
Then, one day in 1664, an English fleet sailed into the bay. A letter was
brought ashore for Governor Stuyvesant. England too, so it seemed, laid
claim to this land along the Hudson River, and now asked the Dutch
governor to give up his colony to the Duke of York, a brother of
England's king. This done, the Dutch colonists could keep their property,
and all their rights and privileges. In fact, even greater privileges
would then be given them.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE]
In a towering rage Governor Stuyvesant tore the letter into bits and
stamped upon them and called upon his colonists to rise and help him
repulse the English. But the colonists would not rise. They felt that
there was nothing to gain by so doing. The English promised much, far
more than they had had under the rule of tyrannical Peter Stuyvesant and
the Dutch West India Company.
What could the governor do? Surely he alone could not defeat the English
fleet. So at last, sorrowfully and reluctantly, he signed a surrender,
and the Dutch Colony was given over to the English.
Once in possession, the English renamed New Amsterdam, calling it New
York. Now followed a hundred years of ever-increasing river, coast, and
foreign trade, of growing industries, of prosperity. And then--the
Revolution.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, George
Washington and his army were in New York, guarding the city from the
English. But before the close of the year he was forced to retreat, and
the English took possession. By the close of the Revolution, in 1783, the
English had robbed the city of much of its wealth and had ruined its
business.
[Illustration: THE FIRST TRAIN IN NEW YORK STATE]
After the war the thirteen states who had won their freedom from England
joined together, drew up a constitution for their common government, and
chose their first president. Then came the thirtieth of April, 1789. The
streets were crowded, and a great throng packed the space before New
York's Federal Hall. This was Inauguration Day, and on the balcony stood
General Washington taking the oath of office. It was a solemn moment.
The ceremony over, a mighty shout arose--"Long live George Washington,
president of the United States." Cheers filled the air, bells pealed, and
cannons roared. The new government had begun, and, for a time, New York
was the capital city.
Already New York was recovering from the effects of the war. Her trade
with European ports had begun again, and it was no uncommon sight to see
over one hundred vessels loading or unloading in her harbor at one time.
New York harbor is one of the largest and best in the world. Add to this
the city's central location on the Atlantic seaboard, and it is no wonder
that a vast coasting trade grew up with Eastern and Southern ports.
Without doubt, however, the greatest business event in the history of New
York City was the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. The canal joined the
Great Lakes with the Hudson River, making a water route from the rich
Northwest to the Atlantic, with New York as the natural terminus. So with
nearly all of the trade of the lake region at her command, New York soon
became a great commercial center, outstripping both Boston and
Philadelphia, which up to this time had ranked ahead of New York.
A few years later the building of railroads began. The first railway from
New York was begun in 1831, and it was not long before the city was the
terminus of several lines and the chief railroad center of the Atlantic
coast. As the railroads did more and more of the carrying, and the Erie
Canal lost its former importance, New York did not suffer from the
change, but still controlled much of the trade between the Northwest and
European nations. Besides, as time went on, she built up an immense
traffic with all parts of the continent, being easily reached by rail
from the north, east, south, and west.
[Illustration: THE BOROUGHS OF NEW YORK--ENTRANCES TO HER HARBOR]
The first half of the nineteenth century saw the arrival of many thousand
immigrants from Europe. These, with the thousands of people who came from
other parts of America, attracted by the city's growing industries, made
more and more room necessary. First, about 13,000 acres across the Harlem
River were added to the city. Then, in 1895, the city limits were
extended to the borders of Yonkers and Mt. Vernon. And finally, in 1898,
New York, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and some other near-by towns were
united under one government, forming together Greater New York, the
largest American city and the second largest city in the world.
New York to-day covers about 360 square miles, its greatest length from
north to south being 32 miles, its greatest width about 16. The city is
divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and
Richmond. The Borough of Manhattan, on the long narrow island of that
name, lies between the Hudson and the East River. North and east of
Manhattan, on the mainland, lies the Borough of The Bronx. Just across
the narrow East River, on Long Island, are the boroughs of Queens and
Brooklyn; while Staten Island is known as the Borough of Richmond.
[Illustration: NEW YORK SKYSCRAPERS]
As more and more people came to the city the business area on Manhattan
proved too small, and with water to the east, to the west, and to the
south, there was no possibility of spreading out in these directions.
Yet business kept increasing, and the cry for added room became more and
more urgent. Finally, the building of the ten-story Tower Building in
1889 solved the difficulty. It showed that, though hemmed in on all
sides, there was still one direction in which the business section could
grow--upwards. And upwards it has grown. To-day lower Manhattan fairly
bristles with huge steel-framed skyscrapers which furnish miles and miles
of office space, twenty, thirty, forty, in one case even fifty-five,
stories above the street level. The supplying of office and factory space
is not the only use that has been made of these steel buildings. Great
apartment houses from twelve to fifteen stories high provide homes for
thousands. Mammoth hotels covering entire city blocks furnish temporary
homes for the multitudes which visit the city each year. Fifteen of the
largest of these can house more than 15,000 guests at one time--a
good-sized city in itself. Thus has Manhattan become one of the most
densely populated areas on the globe. In the boroughs of Queens and
Richmond, on the other hand, large tracts of land are given over to farms
and market gardens.
[Illustration: HOW A SKYSCRAPER IS MADE]
Manhattan is at once the smallest and the most important borough in the
city. Here are the homes of more than 2,000,000 people, the business
section of Greater New York, and the chief shipping districts.
[Illustration: A MAMMOTH HOTEL]
When building the narrow irregular streets of their little town on lower
Manhattan, the inhabitants of New Amsterdam little dreamed that they
would one day be the scene of the enormous traffic of modern New York.
Those old, narrow, winding streets to-day swarm with hurrying throngs
from morning till night and are among the busiest and noisiest in the
world.
The newer part of the city from Fourteenth Street north to the Harlem
River has been laid out in wide parallel avenues running north and south.
These are crossed by numbered streets running east and west from river to
river. Fifth Avenue runs lengthwise through the middle of the borough,
dividing it into the East and West sides. On the East Side you will find
the crowded homes of the poorer classes, where many of the working people
of Manhattan live. On the West Side are many manufacturing plants,
lumber yards, and warehouses. On the upper stretch of Fifth Avenue, and
on the streets leading off, are the homes of many of New York's
wealthiest residents. Opposite Central Park are some of the most costly
and beautiful mansions in the city.
[Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE FROM THIRTY-FOURTH STREET]
In this regular arrangement of streets, Broadway alone is the exception
to the rule. Beginning at the southern end of the island, it runs
straight north for more than two miles, then turns west and winds its way
throughout the whole length of the city. About its lower end, and on some
of the neighboring streets, center the banking and financial interests.
Here are many of the city's richest banks and trust companies.
[Illustration: BROADWAY CROSSING SIXTH AVENUE]
Wall Street, running east from Broadway about one third of a mile from
the southern end of Manhattan, was named from the wall which the Dutch,
in 1683, built across the island at this point, because they heard that
the English were planning to attack them from the north. Though only half
a mile in length, Wall Street probably surpasses all others in the extent
of its business.
[Illustration: WALL STREET]
North of the banking center is the great wholesale region, where
merchants from all parts of the country buy their stock in large
quantities, to sell again to the retail merchants. Beyond the wholesale
region are the large retail stores--New York's great shopping district.
In these retail stores the merchants who have bought from the wholesalers
sell direct to the people who are to use the goods. In this middle
section of the island are also most of the better-class hotels,
restaurants, clubs, and theaters, which have been gradually making their
way further and further uptown, crowding the best resident section still
further north.
The customhouse, where the government collects duties on goods brought
into the port of New York from other lands, was built at the extreme
southern end of the island, where Fort Amsterdam used to stand. The
United States Sub-Treasury, in Wall Street, stands on the site of Federal
Hall, where Washington was inaugurated. Here are stored large quantities
of gold, silver, and paper money belonging to the government. In and
about City Hall Park are the post office, the courthouse, and the Hall of
Records. The new public library, on Fifth Avenue between Fortieth and
Forty-second streets, is the largest library building in the world.
[Illustration: CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE]
The city's parks are many. Central Park, in the center of Manhattan,
ranks among the world's finest pleasure grounds. It is two miles and a
half long and one-half mile wide, and has large stretches of woodland,
beautiful lawns, gleaming lakes, and sparkling fountains. Here, too, are
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cleopatra's Needle--an obelisk
thousands of years old, presented to the city by a ruler of Egypt. And
here are reservoirs which hold the water brought by aqueducts from the
Croton River, about forty miles north of the city. This river was for
many years the sole source of Manhattan's water supply. In 1905, however,
the city began work on an immense aqueduct which is to bring all the
drinking-water for all five boroughs from reservoirs in the Catskill
Mountain region.
[Illustration: NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY]
[Illustration: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART]
[Illustration: MANHATTAN ISLAND AND THE CITY PARKS]
The tomb of General Grant is at the northern end of Riverside Park, which
is on a high ridge along the Hudson River above Seventy-second Street.
Riverside Drive, skirting this park, is one of the most beautiful
boulevards in the city.
Then there are Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Pelham Bay and Van
Cortlandt parks in The Bronx. The city zoo and the Botanical Gardens are
in Bronx Park. And in addition to all these there are more than two
hundred smaller open spaces and squares scattered over the city.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF GENERAL GRANT]
Columbia University, New York University, Fordham, the College of the
City of New York, and Barnard College are among the most noted of New
York's many educational institutions.
About five million people live in this wonderful city, and to supply them
all with food is a tremendous business in itself. During the night
special trains bring milk, butter, and eggs; refrigerator cars come laden
with beef; and from the market gardens of Long Island fruits and
vegetables are gathered and taken to the city during the cool of the
night that they may be sold, fresh and inviting, in the morning.
[Illustration: WHERE THE SEALS LIVE IN BRONX PARK]
Great numbers of New York's inhabitants are from foreign lands. Several
thousand Chinese manage to exist in the few blocks which make up New
York's Chinatown. A large Italian population lives huddled together in
Little Italy, as well as in other sections of the city. Thousands upon
thousands of Jews are crowded into the Hebrew section on the lower east
side of Manhattan. There is also a German and a French colony, as well as
distinct Negro, Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Arab quarters. Most of
these are in lower Manhattan, and in consequence lower Manhattan is by no
means deserted when the vast army of shoppers, workers, and business men
have gone home for the night.
[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT HOUSE IN BRONX PARK]
[Illustration: VISITING THE BIRDS IN BRONX PARK]
[Illustration: THE OLD AND THE NEW]
The necessity of carrying these shoppers, workers, and business men to
and from their homes in the residence sections of the city and in the
suburbs gradually led to the development of New York's wonderful
rapid-transit system. Within the borders of Manhattan itself, horse cars
soon proved unequal to handling the crowds that each day traveled north
and south. So the first elevated railway was built. Then six years later,
a second line was constructed. Others soon followed, not only in
Manhattan but also in Brooklyn and The Bronx. Raised high above the busy
streets by means of iron trestles, and making but few stops, these
elevated trains could carry passengers much faster than the surface cars,
and for a time the problem seemed to be solved.
[Illustration: A NEW YORK ELEVATED RAILWAY]
The traveling public was rapidly increasing, however, and before the
close of the nineteenth century both the surface cars, now run by
electricity, and the elevated trains were sorely overcrowded during the
morning and evening rush hours. More cars were absolutely necessary, and
as there was little room to run them on or above the surface, New York
decided to make use of the space under the ground, just as it had already
turned to account that overhead.
[Illustration: NEW YORK'S FIRST TWO-STORY CAR]
[Illustration: A SUBWAY ENTRANCE]
The work was begun in 1901. A small army of men was set to blasting and
digging tunnels underneath the city streets,--a tremendous task,--and in
1904 the first subway was opened. Electric cars running on these
underground tracks carry passengers from one end of the island to the
other with the speed of a railroad train.
[Illustration: SUBWAY TUNNELS]
[Illustration: A FERRY BOAT]
But what of the means of travel for those living outside of Manhattan?
Years back, business men living on Long Island had to cross the East
River on ferry boats. This was particularly inconvenient in winter, when
fogs or floating ice were liable to cause serious delays. Besides, as New
York grew, such numbers crossed on the ferries that they were
overcrowded. Relief came for a time when, in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge
was built over the East River from Brooklyn to New York. This bridge is
over a mile long. Across it run a roadway, a walk for foot passengers,
and tracks for elevated trains as well as for surface cars. Two even
longer bridges, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, have
since been built between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Then, too, there is the
Queensboro Bridge, between Manhattan and the Borough of Queens.
Though thousands and thousands daily crossed the East River over
these bridges, men soon foresaw that the time was not far distant
when ferries and bridges together would be unable to take care of the
ever-growing traffic. Further means of travel had to be provided, and
the success of the city's underground railway suggested a practical idea.
As early as 1908, the subway was continued and carried under the East
River to Brooklyn. Several tubes have since been built under the Hudson,
connecting Manhattan with the New Jersey shore. To-day New York is
building many miles of new subway under various parts of the city as well
as under the Harlem and East rivers. Carrying passengers under water has
proved as great a success as carrying them underground.
[Illustration: NEW YORK'S SUBWAY AND BRIDGE CONNECTIONS]
[Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE]
Over and above all these means of rapid transit, Greater New York has at
its service ten of America's great railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad
has an immense station in New York, one of the finest of its kind.
Tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers carry its trains to New Jersey
and Long Island.
[Illustration: THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD STATION]
[Illustration: THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION]
The new Grand Central Station is the greatest railroad terminal in the
world. The station is a beautiful building of stone and marble, large
enough to accommodate thirty thousand people at one time. Between
railroads and tunnels, bridges and ferries, surface cars, elevated
trains, and subways, New York's rapid transit system is one of the best
in the world.
With such advantages as a receiving and distributing center, it is small
wonder that the city has become the nation's chief market place. It is
without a rival as the center of the wholesale dry-goods and wholesale
grocery businesses. More than half of the imports of the United States
enter by way of New York's port, and its total foreign commerce is five
times that of any other city in the country.
Rubber, silk goods, furs, jewelry, coffee, tea, sugar, and tin are among
the leading imports. Cotton, meats, and breadstuffs are the most
important exports.
Besides being the principal market place of the United States, New York
is also its greatest workshop, as it makes over one tenth of the
manufactures of the country. In the manufacture of clothing alone, more
than a hundred thousand people are employed. There are comparatively few
large factories for carrying on this work, as much of it is done in
tenement houses and in small workshops. The growth of this industry has
been largely due to the abundance of cheap unskilled labor furnished by
the immigrant population of the city.
Second in importance is the refining of sugar and molasses, carried on
chiefly in Brooklyn along the East River, where boats laden with raw
sugar from the Southern states and the West Indies unload their cargoes.
New York City leads in the refining of sugar as well as in its
importation.
[Illustration: THE BATTERY]
Added to these, printing and publishing, the refining of petroleum,
slaughtering and meat packing, the roasting and grinding of coffee and
spices, the making of foundry and machine-shop products, cigars, tobacco,
millinery, furniture, and jewelry are the leading industries of the many
thousands which have grown up in the city. All this is largely due to the
ease with which raw materials can be obtained and finished articles
marketed. Thanks to its commercial advantages, New York leads all
American cities in the value of its manufactures and surpasses them in
the variety of its products.
[Illustration: LOWER MANHATTAN]
[Illustration: NEW YORK CITY DOCKS]
[Illustration: LOADING A FREIGHT STEAMER]
At the southern end of Manhattan Island is the Battery. In the old days
the Battery was a fort. Now it is used as an aquarium. From the Battery
New York's docks extend for miles along both sides of lower Manhattan and
line the Long Island and New Jersey shores as well. The wharves are piled
high with bales and bags, boxes and barrels. Ships from the South come
with cargoes of cotton, others bound for England take this cotton away.
Tank steamers from Cuba bring molasses; similar ones are filled with
petroleum destined for the ends of the earth. Cattle boats take on live
stock brought from the West, grain ships load at the many elevators built
at the water's edge, and vessels from all the larger ports of the world
put ashore goods of every description. Along both shores of the Hudson
River are the piers of the great trans-Atlantic steamship companies, the
landing places of the largest and fastest passenger vessels in the world.
Here also are the docks of the many river and coastwise lines which
carry passengers to and from the cities and towns on the Hudson and the
Atlantic coast. Half the foreign trade and travel of the United States
passes over the wharves of lower Manhattan.
[Illustration: A DOCK SCENE]
The entire harbor includes the Hudson and East rivers and the upper and
lower New York Bay with the connecting strait known as The Narrows. The
upper bay, New York's real harbor, can be entered from the ocean in three
ways--a narrow winding channel around Staten Island, a northeast entrance
through Long Island Sound and the East River, and an entrance through The
Narrows from the lower bay.
[Illustration: A GREAT OCEAN LINER]
Among the islands in the upper bay is Ellis Island, where immigrants are
inspected before being allowed to enter our country. On another island
stands the splendid bronze statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World,"
given to the United States by the people of France. It is now America's
greeting to her future citizens as they sail up the harbor.
[Illustration: NEW YORK HARBOR]
What a different picture the harbor presents to-day from the one Hudson
saw over three hundred years ago! The quiet undisturbed waters of that
time are now alive the year around with craft of every sort, from the
giant ocean liner to the graceful sailboat. Vessels freighted with
merchandise, tugs towing canal boats, ferries for Staten Island, barges
loaded with coal, river steamers, excursion boats, and battleships from
far and near, day and night, pass in an endless procession where the
solitary Indian used to glide in his silent canoe.
[Illustration: THE STATUE OF LIBERTY]
When the Dutch bought Manhattan it was a beautiful wooded island
inhabited by Indians who supplied their simple wants by hunting and
fishing. What a change the island has undergone since that time! The
Indians have disappeared with the forest. In their place live and
struggle vast armies of human beings gathered together from all the
corners of the earth. Where squaws used to pitch their wigwams, giant
skyscrapers tower up toward the clouds. The stillness of the forest has
been succeeded by the noise and bustle of a busy city. The lazy
monotonous life of the savage has given way to a ceaseless activity and
hurry.
The twenty-four dollars which bought the whole island--less than three
hundred years ago--would not now buy a single square inch in the center
of the city. The hunting and fishing ground of the red men has become the
heart of the greatest city of the Western Hemisphere.
=NEW YORK=
FACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), nearly 5,000,000 (4,766,883).
First city in population in the United States.
Second city in population in the world.
Divided into five sections, called boroughs.
Carries on more than half the foreign trade of the United States.
Leads all American cities in the value of its manufactures.
One of the best harbors in the world.
Connected by great railway systems with all parts of America.
Connected with the Great Lakes by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.
A city of skyscrapers.
Wonderful system of underground, overhead, and surface transportation.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. Why did the Dutch settle on Manhattan Island? How did the Dutch
governor secure the land from the Indians?
2. What great ceremony connected with the establishment of the
government of the United States took place in New York? Why was
this ceremony held in New York?
3. What was the most important event in advancing the business growth
of New York?
4. What effect did the arrival of vast numbers of immigrants have
upon the city?
5. Why are there such tall buildings in New York?
6. Name some of the principal streets and their chief features; name
some of the colleges and universities.
7. Give some facts about Central Park, The Bronx, and Riverside Drive.
8. Give some idea of the size of New York, its population, and the
nationalities that comprise it.
9. Give a brief account of the means of transportation.
10. In what respects does New York rank first of all the cities of
the United States?
11. What are its principal exports and imports?
12. What commercial advantages does New York enjoy?
13. What are the chief manufactured products of New York City, and
how can it produce so much without many great factories?
14. Compare the harbor and city of to-day with that of three hundred
years ago.
15. From a New York newspaper find out the foreign countries and the
cities of this country to which vessels make regular sailings from
New York.
16. Name all the railroads entering the city.
CHICAGO
"Chicago is wiped out." "Chicago cannot rise again." So said the
newspapers all over the country, in October, 1871. And well they might
think so, for the great fire of Chicago--one of the worst in the world's
history--had laid low the city.
The summer had been unusually dry. For months almost no rain had fallen.
The ground was hot and parched, the whole city dry as kindling wood. Then
about nine o'clock on a windy Sunday night, the fire broke out in a poor
section of the West Side. It seemed as if everything a spark touched,
blazed up. While the firemen stood by, helpless to check the flames, rows
of houses and blocks of factories burned down.
In a short time the lumber district was a great bonfire, the flames
shooting hundreds of feet into the air. On and on swept the fire along
the river front. Then the horror-stricken watchers saw the flames cross
to the South Side. All had thought that the fire would be checked at the
river, but the wind carried pieces of burning wood and paper to the roofs
beyond.
The business section was burning! The firemen worked desperately, but in
vain. Hundreds of Chicago's finest buildings--stores, offices, banks, and
hotels--were swallowed up by the flames. The city had become a roaring
furnace, and the terrified people rushed madly for safety.
[Illustration: AFTER THE FIRE]
Once more the fire crossed the river, this time to the North Side, with
its beautiful residence districts. Here too wind and flame swept all
before them till Lincoln Park was reached, where at last the fire was
checked in its northward course; there was nothing more to burn. It had
raged for two nights and a day, laying waste a strip of land almost four
miles long and one mile wide.
[Illustration: Courtesy of Central Trust Company of Illinois, Chicago
HOME OF JOHN KINZIE]
Tuesday morning saw seventeen thousand buildings destroyed and one
hundred thousand people homeless. The best part of Chicago lay in ruins.
What wonder that men everywhere thought the stricken city could not rise
again!
At the time this terrible disaster happened, Chicago had been a city for
a little less than thirty-five years.
The mouth of the Chicago River had been a favorite meeting place for
Indians and French trappers long before permanent settlement began. In
1777 a negro from San Domingo, who had come to trade with the Indians,
built a log store on the north bank of the river. This store was bought
in 1803 by John Kinzie, another trader and Chicago's first white
settler.
The next year the United States government built Fort Dearborn on the
south side of the river, not far from the lake. Though Fort Dearborn was
nothing more than a stockade with blockhouses at the corners, a little
settlement gradually grew up around it.
[Illustration: WHERE CHICAGO WAS FOUNDED]
During the War of 1812 the Indians attacked the fort, burned it to the
ground, and either massacred or captured most of the settlers while they
were fleeing to Detroit for safety.
Fort Dearborn was rebuilt after the war, but settlers were slow in
coming. By 1830 there were scarcely a hundred people in Chicago, then a
little village of log houses scattered over a swampy plain. Fur trading
was still the chief occupation.
A change was soon to come. The southern part of Illinois was by this time
being settled and dotted with farms, and each year larger crops were
produced. The farmers saw that they must get their products to the
Atlantic coast if they wished to prosper, and the Great Lakes were the
most convenient route over which to send them.
Lake Michigan extended into the heart of the fertile prairie lands, but
its shores were almost unbroken by harbors. Men early saw the
possibilities of the mouth of the Chicago River. It could be made into an
excellent harbor with little expense, and if once this were done, Chicago
would be the natural port of the rich Middle West.
In 1833 the government began improvements by cutting a channel through
the sand bar across the mouth of the river and building stone piers into
the lake to keep out the drifting sand. Vessels were soon entering the
river instead of anchoring in the lake as formerly. Lake trade increased.
More and more boats were bringing goods from the East to be distributed
among the farmers of Illinois. The new harbor made intercourse with the
outer world easy.
The growth of trade, however, was hindered by the absence of good roads.
Farmers who wished to bring anything to the Chicago market had to cross
the open prairie, which was wet and marshy near the town. Such a ride was
an unpleasant experience, as often the wagon would stick in the deep mud,
and the poor driver had no choice but to wait until help should happen
along. Many preferred to take their crops to the cities farther south,
where better roads had been built.
[Illustration: AN EARLY CHICAGO DRAWBRIDGE]
"We too will have roads," said the people of Chicago, anxious for more
trade, and they set about building them with a will. Soon good roads
entered the town from all directions, and over them the rich products of
the surrounding country came pouring into Chicago.
Business and wealth increased, and more and more settlers arrived. Most
of them came by way of the lakes, but many came in prairie schooners, as
the immigrants' great covered wagons were called. By 1837 the population
had risen to four thousand, and Chicago became a city.
Its growth from this time was marvelous. Its location at the head of Lake
Michigan, its fine harbor, the resources of the rich back country, all
combined to make it the chief commercial center of the Middle West.
[Illustration: WHERE THE STAGECOACH STARTED]
In the early days, when Chicago was only a tiny village, there had been
talk of connecting Lake Michigan at Chicago with the Illinois River by
canal. As the Illinois flows into the Mississippi, this would furnish a
water route from the East down the entire Mississippi valley. In 1836 the
canal was actually begun. A few years later hard times came, and the work
was stopped for a while, but it was finished in 1848. This was known as
the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It extended from La Salle, on the
Illinois River, to Chicago--a distance of over ninety miles--and offered
cheap transportation between Chicago and the fertile farm lands to the
south.
[Illustration: CHICAGO'S CANALS]
Though the canal was a success, railroads did even more for the city. The
year that saw the canal completed also saw the first train run from
Chicago to Galena, near the Mississippi, in the heart of the lead
country.
Four years later, in 1852, came railroad connection with the East, when
the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads entered the city.
Other lines soon followed, and it was not long before Chicago was one of
the important railroad centers of the country.
But while Chicago was fast becoming rich and big, it was not a pleasant
place in which to live. The site of the city was a low and marshy plain,
almost on a level with the lake, and the problems of drainage of such a
location had to be met and solved.
In the beginning, to keep the houses dry, they were built above the
ground and supported by timbers or piles. Cellars and basements were
unknown, and the city streets were a disgrace. In spring they were
flooded and swimming with mud. Even in summer, pools of stagnant water
stood in many places. For years wagons sticking fast in the mud were
common sights.
Cholera, smallpox, and scarlet fever swept the city again and again.
People, knowing only too well that unsanitary conditions brought on these
diseases, did their best to remedy matters. They saw that Chicago would
be clean and healthy if only they could find a way to carry off her
wastes.
First they decided to turn the water into the river by sloping all the
streets towards it. Then came a severe flood which did much damage and
showed the folly of digging down any part of the city. Chicago was too
low already.
So the people hastened to raise their streets again by filling them in
with sand, and this time they made gutters along the side to carry off
the water. Heavy wagons soon wore away the sand, however, and the streets
were as muddy as before.
Finally, an engineer advised the people to raise the whole city several
feet; then brick sewers could be built beneath the street to carry the
sewage into the river. At first many refused to listen to such a
proposal. The undertaking was so great that it frightened them.
But as things were, business and health were suffering. Something had to
be done, and at last the city determined to raise itself out of the mud,
and work was begun. Ground was hauled in from the surrounding country,
streets and lots were filled in, the buildings were gradually raised, and
sewers were built sloping toward the river. It was a gigantic task and
cost years of labor, but when it was done, Chicago was, for the first
time, a dry city. It must be remembered that the area of Chicago at that
time was but a small part of the present city.
Another source of trouble was the drinking-water, which was taken from
Lake Michigan. The sewage in the river flowed into the lake and at times
contaminated the water far out from the shore, thus poisoning the city's
supply. It was therefore decided to build new waterworks, which would
bring into the city pure water from farther out in the lake. A tunnel was
built, extending two miles under Lake Michigan. At its outer end a great
screened pipe reached up into the lake to let water into the tunnel. Over
the pipe a crib was built to protect it. On the shore, pumping stations
with powerful engines raised the water to high towers from which all
parts of the city were supplied.
[Illustration: CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL, 1856]
The first tunnel was completed in 1867. With the growth of the city other
tunnels and cribs have been built, farther out in the lake, to supply the
increasing need.
By 1870 Chicago had become one of the largest cities in the country. In
1830 the settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River had barely twenty
houses. Forty years later it had over three hundred thousand inhabitants.
The wonderful resources of the upper Mississippi valley had been largely
responsible for the city's growth, and the rapid development of the
entire West promised Chicago a still greater future.
Then came the fire, and to the homeless people looking across miles of
blackened ruins it seemed that Chicago had no future at all. Had not the
fire undone the work of forty years?
[Illustration: CLARK STREET IN 1857]
The first despair gradually gave way to a more hopeful feeling. Truly the
loss was great--the best part of the city lay in ruins. But was not the
wealth of the West left, and the harbor and the railroads? These had
built up Chicago in the beginning, and they would do so again.
The rebuilding began at once. At first little wooden houses and sheds
were constructed to give temporary shelter to the homeless. Help came to
the stricken city from all sides. Thousands of carloads of food were
sent, and several million dollars were collected in Europe and America.
Two thirds of the city had been built of wood. Now the business blocks,
at least, were to be as nearly fireproof as possible. Tall buildings of
brick and stone were planned. But such structures are heavy, and if they
were built directly on the swampy ground underlying the city, there would
be danger of their settling unevenly and possibly toppling over. So
layers of steel rails crossing each other were sunk in the ground, and
the spaces between them were filled in with concrete. Upon this solid
foundation the first skyscrapers of Chicago were built.
To-day concrete caissons are constructed on bed rock, often from 100 to
110 feet below the surface, and upon these rest the steel bases of the
modern Chicago skyscrapers.
Work went on quickly. In a year the business section was rebuilt. In
three years there was hardly a trace of the fire to be seen in the city,
which was larger and more beautiful than before.
After the rebuilding, the water question came up for discussion again. In
spite of all that had been done to protect the water supply, the
increasing sewage of the city, carried by the river into the lake, at
times still made the water unfit to drink. The one way of getting pure
water was to prevent the river from flowing into the lake. This could be
done only by building a new canal, large and deep enough to change the
flow of the river away from the lake. Such a canal was finally completed
in 1900, after eight years' work and at a cost of over $75,000,000. It is
28 miles long, 22 feet deep, and 165 feet wide, and it connects the
Chicago River with the Des Plaines, a branch of the Illinois River. A
large volume of water from Lake Michigan continually flushes this
immense drain, carrying the sewage away. The Chicago River no longer
flows into the lake, and at last the danger of contaminated
drinking-water from this source is past.
[Illustration: BUSY SCENE AT ENTRANCE TO CHICAGO RIVER]
One dream of the builders of the canal has not yet been realized. They
called it the Chicago Drainage and Ship Canal, in the hope that it might
some day be used for shipping purposes as well as for draining the river.
This cannot happen, however, till the rivers which it connects are
deepened and otherwise improved.
Such has been the history of the growth of Chicago--to-day the greatest
railroad center and lake port in the world. It is now the second city in
size in America and ranks fourth among the cities of the world.
The port of Chicago owes much to the Chicago River, which has been
repeatedly widened, deepened, and straightened. It is to-day one of the
world's most important rivers, commercially considered. After extending
about one mile westward from the lake, the river divides into two
branches, one extending northwest, the other southwest. Many docks have
been built along its fifteen miles of navigable channel, and its banks
are lined with factories, warehouses, coal yards, and grain elevators.
[Illustration: Courtesy of Central Trust Company of Illinois, Chicago
CHICAGO'S FIRST GRAIN ELEVATOR]
These grain elevators are really huge tanks where the grain is stored and
kept dry until time to reship it. There are many of them along the river,
and they bear witness to the fact that Chicago is the world's greatest
grain center.
In 1838 the city received only seventy-eight bushels of wheat. This was
brought in by wagons rumbling across the unbroken prairie. Canal boats
and railroads have taken the place of the wagons of early days and every
year bring hundreds of millions of bushels of grain from the West to the
elevators along the Chicago River.
Though much of the grain remains here but a short time and is then
shipped to other points, a great quantity is made into flour in the
city's many flourishing mills.
[Illustration: A GRAIN ELEVATOR OF TO-DAY]
Of equal importance with the Chicago River harbor is the great harbor in
South Chicago at the mouth of the Calumet River. Here ships from the Lake
Superior region come with immense cargoes of ore. This ore, together with
the supply of coal from the near-by Illinois coal fields, has developed
the enormous steel industry of South Chicago.
Vast quantities of steel are turned out. Some of this is shipped to
foreign countries, but most of it is used in Chicago's many foundries for
the making of all kinds of iron and steel articles, in the city's immense
farm-tool factories, and in the shipyards for building large steamships.
Close to the water front, too, are extensive lumber yards, for Chicago is
the largest lumber market in the United States. Here boats can be seen
unloading millions of feet of timber from the great forests of Michigan
and Wisconsin, sent to Chicago's lumber yards to be distributed far and
wide over the country. Large quantities are also taken to the factories
in the city, to be cut and planed and made into doors, window frames,
furniture, and practically everything that can be made of wood.