OMAHA TO CHICAGO.
OMAHA TERMINUS--CROSS THE MISSOURI--COUNCIL BLUFFS--THE FOREST--CROSS
THE MISSISSIPPI--THE CULTIVATED PRAIRIE--THE FARMSTEADS AND
VILLAGES--APPROACH TO CHICAGO--THE CITY OF CHICAGO--ENTERPRISE OF ITS
MEN--THE WATER TUNNELS UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN--TUNNELS UNDER THE RIVER
CHICAGO--UNION OF LAKE MICHIGAN WITH THE MISSISSIPPI--DESCRIPTION OF
THE STREETS AND BUILDINGS OF CHICAGO--PIGS AND CORN--THE
AVENUE--SLEIGHING--THEATRES AND CHURCHES.
I have not much to tell about Omaha, for I did not make any long stay
in the place, being anxious to get on and finish my journey. It was
now my fifth day in the train, having come a distance of 1912 miles
from San Francisco; and I had still another twenty-four hours' travel
before me to Chicago. There was nothing to detain me in Omaha. It is
like all places suddenly made by railway, full of bustle and business,
but by no means picturesque. How can it be? The city is only seventeen
years old. Its principal buildings are manufactories, breweries,
warehouses, and hotels.
Omaha has been made by the fact of its having been fixed upon as the
terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, and by its convenient position
on the great Missouri river. It occupies a sloping upland on the
right bank, about fifty feet above the level of the stream; and behind
it stretches the great Prairie country we have just traversed. On the
opposite bank of the Missouri stands Council Bluffs, from which
various railroad lines diverge north, south, and east, to all parts of
the Union. It is probable, therefore, that before many years have
passed, big though Omaha may now be--and it already contains 20,000
inhabitants--the advantages of its position will tend greatly to swell
its population, and perhaps to render it in course of time one of the
biggest cities of the West.
[Illustration: (Map of Atlantic and Pacific Railways) _Reduced from a
Map in Mr. Rae's_]
Having arranged to proceed onwards to Chicago by the North-Western
line, I gave up my baggage in exchange for the usual check, and took
my place in the train. We rolled down a steepish incline, on to the
"mighty Missouri," which we crossed upon a bridge of boats. I should
not have known that I was upon a deep and rapid river, but for the
huge flat-bottomed boats that I saw lying frozen in along the banks.
It was easy to mistake the enormous breadth of ice for a wide field
covered with snow. As we proceeded across we met numbers of sledges,
coaches, and omnibuses driving over the ice along a track made in the
deep snow not far from our bridge.
[Illustration: _'Westward by Rail.' Longmans._ 1871.]
After passing through Council Bluffs, we soon lost sight of the town
and its suburbs, and were again in the country. But how different the
prospect from the car window, compared with the bare and unsettled
prairies which we had traversed for so many hundred miles west of
Omaha! Now, thick woods extend on both sides of the track, with an
occasional cleared space for a township, where we stop to take up and
set down passengers. But I shall not proceed further with my
description of winter scenery as viewed from a passing railway train.
Indeed, I fear that my descriptions heretofore, though rapid, must be
felt somewhat monotonous, for which I crave the reader's forgiveness.
I spent my fifth night in the train pretty comfortably, having
contrived to makeup a tolerable berth. Shortly after I awoke, we
crossed the Mississippi on a splendid bridge at Fulton. What a noble
river it is! Here, where it must be fifteen hundred miles from its
mouth, it seemed to me not less than a mile across. Like the Missouri,
however, it is now completely frozen over and covered with thick snow.
We are again passing through a prairie country, the fertile land of
upper Illinois, all well settled and cultivated. We pass a succession
of fine farms and farmsteads. The fields are divided by rail fences;
and in some places stalks of maize peep up through the snow. The
pretty wooden houses are occasionally half hidden by the snow-laden
trees amidst which they stand. These Illinois clusters of
country-houses remind one very much of England, they look so snug and
homelike; and they occupy a gently undulating country,--lovely, no
doubt, in summer time. But the small towns we passed could never be
mistaken for English. They are laid out quite regularly, each house
with its little garden surrounding it; the broad streets being planted
with avenues of trees.
The snow is lying very heavy on the ground; and there are drifts we
pass through full twenty feet deep on either side the road. But the
day is fine, the sky is clear and blue, the sun shines brightly, and
the whole scene looks much more cheerful than the Rocky Mountain
region in the west.
Very shortly, evidences appear of our approach to a considerable
place. In fact, we are nearing Chicago. But long before we reach it,
we pass a succession of pretty villas and country-houses, quite in the
English suburban style, with gardens, shrubberies, and hothouses.
These are the residences of the Chicago merchants. The houses become
more numerous, and before long we are crossing streets and
thoroughfares, the engine snorting slowly along, and the great bell
ringing to warn all foot-passengers off the track.
What an immense smoky place we have entered: so different from the
pure snow-white prairie country we have passed. It looks just like
another Manchester. But I suspect we have as yet traversed only the
manufacturing part of the city, as the only buildings heretofore
visible are small dwelling-houses and manufactories. At length we pull
up in the station, and find ourselves safely landed in Chicago.
Oh, the luxury of a good wash after a continuous journey of two
thousand four hundred miles by rail! What a blessing cold water is,
did we but know it. The luxury, also, of taking off one's clothes to
sleep in a bed, after five nights' rolling about in railway
cars,--that also is a thing to be enjoyed once in a lifetime! But, for
the sake of the pleasure, I confess I have no particular desire to
repeat the process.
And now for the wonders of Chicago. It is really a place worth going a
long way to see. It exhibits the enterprise of the American people in
its most striking light. Such immense blocks of buildings forming fine
broad streets, such magnificent wharves and warehouses, such splendid
shops, such handsome churches, and such elegant public buildings! One
can scarcely believe that all this has been the work of little more
than thirty years.
It is true, the situation of Chicago at the head of Lake Michigan,
with a great fertile country behind it, has done much for the place;
but without the _men_, Chicago would have been nothing. It is human
industry and energy that have made it what it is. Nothing seems too
bold or difficult for the enterprise of Chicago men. One of their most
daring but successful feats was in altering the foundation level of
the city. It was found that the business quarter was laid too
low--that it was damp, and could not be properly drained. It was
determined to raise the whole quarter bodily from six to eight feet
higher! And the extraordinary feat was accomplished with the help of
screw-jacks, safely and satisfactorily.
With the growth of population--and its increase was most rapid (from
4000 persons in 1837 to about 350,000 at the present time)--the
difficulty of obtaining pure water steadily increased. There was pure
water enough in the lake outside, but along shore it was so polluted
by the sewage that it could not be used with safety. Two methods were
adopted to remedy this evil. One was, to make Artesian wells 700 feet
deep, which yield about a million gallons of pure water per day; but
another, and much bolder scheme, was undertaken, that of carrying a
tunnel under the bed of the lake, two miles out, into perfectly pure
water; and this work was successfully accomplished and completed on
the 25th of March, 1867, when the water was let into the tunnel to
flow through the pipes and quadrants of the city. Thus 57 million
gallons of water per day could be supplied to the inhabitants.
Another important and daring work was that involved in carrying the
traffic of the streets from one side of the Chicago river (which flows
through the city) to the other, without the interference of bridges.
This was accomplished by means of tunnels constructed beneath the bed
of the river. The first tunnel was carried across from Washington
Street to the other side some years since; it was arched with brick,
floored with timber, and lighted with gas. The second, lower down the
same river, was still in progress at the period of my visit to the
city in March last, and is not yet completed. By means of these
tunnels the traffic of the streets will be sufficiently accommodated,
without any interruption by the traffic of the river,--large ships
proceeding directly up to the wharves above to load and unload their
cargoes.
But the boldest project of all remains to be mentioned. It is neither
more nor less than the cutting down of the limestone ridge which
intervenes between the head-waters of the River Chicago and those of
the River Illinois, which flows into the Mississippi. The water supply
being still found insufficient, the carrying out of a second tunnel
into deep water under the bed of the lake was projected. It then
occurred to the Chicago engineers that a more simple method would be,
instead of going out into the lake for the pure water, to make the
pure water come to them. The sewage-laden stream of the Chicago river
now flowed north into the lake; would it not be practicable, by
cutting down the level inland, to make it flow south, and thus bring
the pure water of the lake in an abundant stream past their very
doors?
This scheme has actually been carried out! The work was in progress
while I was there, and I observe that it has since been completed. The
limestone plateau to the south of Chicago has been cut down at a cost
of about three millions of dollars; and an abundant supply of pure
water has thus been secured to the town for ever. But the cutting of
this artificial river for the purpose of water supply has opened up
another and a much larger question. It is, whether by sufficiently
deepening the bed, a channel may not be formed for large ocean-going
ships, so that Chicago may be placed in direct water communication
with the Gulf of Mexico, as it now is with the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Should this project, which was freely spoken of when I was at Chicago,
be carried out, it may lead to very important consequences. While it
may have the effect of greatly promoting the prosperity of Chicago, it
may also have an altogether different result. "The letting out of
waters" is not always a safe thing; and the turning of the stream, or
any considerable part of the stream which now passes over the falls of
Niagara, into the bed of the Mississippi--whose swollen waters are
sometimes found sufficiently unmanageable as it is--might have a very
extraordinary and even startling effect upon the low-lying regions at
the mouth of that great river. But this is a point that must be left
for geologists and engineers to speculate about and to settle.
Shortly after my arrival in Chicago, I went out for a wander in the
streets. I was accompanied by the Hotel "tout" who soon gave me his
history. He had been a captain in the English army, had run through
all his money, and come here to make more. He had many reminiscences
to relate of his huntings in Leicestershire, of his life in the army,
of his foolish gamblings, of his ups and downs in America, and his
present prospects. Nothing daunted by his mishaps, he was still full
of hope. He was an agent for railways, agent for a billiard-table
manufacturer and for several patents, and believed he should soon be a
rich man again. But no one, he said, had any chance in Chicago, unless
he was prepared to work, and to work hard. "A man," he observed, "must
have his eyes peeled to make money; as for the lazy man, he hasn't the
ghost of a chance here."
My guide took me along the principal streets, which were full of
traffic and bustle, the men evidently intent upon business, pushing
on, looking neither to the right hand nor the left. The streets are
mostly stone-paved, and, in spite of the heavy snow which has fallen,
they are clean and well kept. We passed the City Hall, the Chamber of
Commerce, and the Post Office--all fine buildings. In the principal
streets, the houses are five stories high, with handsome marble
fronts. The office of the 'Chicago Tribune,' situated at the corner of
one of the chief thoroughfares, is a splendid pile with a spacious
corner entrance. The Potter Palmer block, chiefly occupied as a
gigantic draper's shop--here called a Dry Goods' Store--is an immense
pile of buildings, with massive marble front handsomely carved. But
the building which promises shortly to overtop all others in Chicago,
is the Pacific Hotel, now in course of erection,--an enormous
structure, covering an acre and a half of ground, with a frontage of
325 feet, and a height of 104 feet. It is expected to be the largest
and finest building in the city, until something else is projected to
surpass and excel it.
In my progress through the streets I came upon two huge steam cranes
at work, hoisting up stuff from a great depth below. I was told that
this was the second tunnel in course of construction underneath the
bed of the river to enable the traffic to pass across without the
necessity for bridges. The stream over the tunnel was busy with
shipping. In one street I passed a huge pile of dead pigs in front of
a sausage shop. They go in pigs and come out sausages. Pork is one of
the great staples of the place; the number of pigs slaughtered in
Chicago being something enormous. The pig-butcheries and pork stores
are among the largest buildings in the city. My guide assures me that
at least a pig a second is killed and dressed in Chicago all the year
through. Another street was occupied by large stores of grain, fruit,
and produce of all kinds. The pathways were filled with farmers and
grain brokers, settling bargains and doing business. And yet it was
not market day, when the streets are far more crowded and full of
bustle.
Some idea of the enormous amount of business in grain done in Chicago
may be formed from the fact that in one year, 1868, sixty-eight
million bushels of grain were shipped from its wharves. It is the
centre of the grain trade of the States; lines of railway concentre
upon it from all parts of the interior; and, by means of shipping, the
produce is exported to the Eastern States, to Great Britain, or to any
other part of the world where it is needed.
The street cars go jingling along with their heavy loads of
passengers. A continual stream of people keeps coming and going. There
are many young ladies afoot, doing their shopping; enveloped in furs,
and some with white scarfs--or "clouds" as they are called--round
their heads. Loud advertisements, of all colours, shapes, and sizes,
abound on every side. Pea-nut sellers at their stands on the pavement
invite the passers-by to purchase, announcing that they roast fresh
every half-hour. What amused me, in one of the by-streets from which
the frozen snow had not been removed, was seeing a number of boys
skating along at full speed.
Fronting the lake is the fashionable avenue of the city. Here, nice
detached houses range along the broad road for miles. Trees shade the
carriage-way, which in summer must look beautiful. Now all is covered
with hard-frozen snow, over which the sleigh-bells sound merrily as
the teams come dashing along. Here comes a little cutter with a pretty
black pony, which trots saucily past, and is followed by a grand
double-seated sleigh drawn by three splendid greys. Other sleighs,
built for lightness and speed, are drawn by fast-trotting horses, in
which the Americans take so much delight. The object of most of the
young men who are out sleighing seems to be to pass the sleigh in
front of them, so that some very smart racing is usually to be seen
along the Avenue drive.
As might be expected from the extent and wealth of its population,
Chicago is well supplied with places of amusement. I observe that
Christine Nilsson is here at present, and she is an immense favourite.
There are also many handsome stone churches in the city, which add
much to the fine appearance of the place. But I had neither time to
visit the theatres nor the churches, as my time in Chicago was already
up, and I, accordingly, made arrangements for pursuing my journey
eastward.[17]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 17: It will be observed that the above summary description
applies to Chicago as it was seen by the writer in February last.
While these sheets are passing through the press, the appalling
intelligence has arrived from America that the magnificent city has
been almost entirely destroyed by fire!]
[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS--AMERICAN SIDE.]