CHICAGO SIXTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 11, 14 March 1891, Page 3

CHICAGO SIXTY YEARS AGO.

By the last census Chicago is shown to have doubled her population in ten years. In a decade she has progressed from half a million to a million of inhabitants, a growth unequalled by any city of similar size in any age. The following description of the site of the coming Worlds Eair was gathered by the Rev. Sidney Dyer in 1831 :— The writer was one of a small body of troops sent to garrison old Fort Dearborn, then occupying the site of the almost unknown hamlet of Chicago. This measure was made necessary by a number of murders that had been committed by the Indians and which had caused the few settlers to take refuge in the stockade. As no harbour existed on that part of Lake Michigan where the hamlet of Chicago had taken root, vessels were compelled to anchor off shore, somewhere near where the crib is now located, and to communicate with the fort by means of large boats. The gloomy impression made by a first view of the place will never be forgotten. The land was low and flat, fringed along the shore by clumps of willow and alder bushes, interspersed with drifting sand hills, shifting in shape and place with every strong wind which swept across the lake. The -Chicago River was sluggish and turpid, trending south for half a mile or more, when it entered the lake over a shallow bar of sand where the depth of water was constantly changing, thereby greatly increasing the difficulties of effecting a safe landing. Indeed, in rough weather vessels would have to ride at anchor until the stoim subsided.

Near where Indiana avenue fronts on the park, a sandbank stretched along the shore, which was constantly being washed away by the beating of the surf and the wash of the river. This bank had been used as a burying-ground ; and as we passed up this stretch to make a landing, the gloom of the scene was made more repelling by a long row of half-

decayed coffins protruding from the bank, giving a repulsive glimpse of grinning skulls and mouldy skeletons. The fort was found to be occupied by a frightened crowd of refugees, squalid and half-starved, who threatened to resist our commander when he required them to yield possession. To be compelled to give up the refuge of the fort, they regarded as little less than being turned over to the tomahawks and scalping-knives of the merciless savages. A nearer view of Chicago did not lessen the repulsiveness of the first impression. Except along near the shore, the whole ground was low and water soaked, dropping into marshes and ponds, where muskrats and minks had established their homes among the grasses. As for the place itself, it could hardly be called a village. There were a few shanties wearing the look of dilapidation and age. The old Kenzie house, the largest in the place, was unoccupied. It stood in the bend of the river, opposite to the east front of the garrison. Not far from the gate on the west, an old E'rench trader, named Beaubieu, had his home ; and still farther on, Colonel Owen, the Indian-agent, resided in a small onestory frame-house, and the best in the place. The only tavern was a double log-house on the west side, directly opposite the forks of the river, while the post office stood on the south branch. The post-office edifice was a log-house, in which a trader kept a small stock of goods suited for traffic with Indians and trappers. Communication between the two sides of the river was kept up by means of two hewed logs fastened together side by side, and an old flat boat for transporting horses and waggons. Nearly sixty years have passed away, and the obi timerepelling scenes of sand-banks, frog-ponds, log shanties and rotting coffins have given place to one of the grandest and busiest cities on the conf inent, and where soon will be held an exhibition to celebrate the discovery of this wonderful New World, and the most marvellous of all the exhibits will be Chicago itself.