Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-10-13

r,.use lumber. Yards, with millions OF rect OF
drv lumber, and vast coal and wood-yards,
ali full of the best possible combustibies:
There were ten thomsaud tons OF SOFT coai m
them in this part of the city. The heat OF
such an immense fire must have been like
that of a seven-times heated furnace. 1t no
doubt prevented the men of the fire DEPART
ment from performing as efficient service as
could have been done under ordinary clrcum
stances. And so the flames went on with re-
sistless power, and about midnight of SUNDAY
had reached the heart of the business par. "
the city, and we're glazing down not on lne
Chamber of Commerce itself, Tue ooui'
house. and the great marts OF trade. AL
n,nloct ,be ITp;on National Bank building
one nj the uoblest structures of the kind in
the ITn;on-was in flames. An hour after
wards the vast marble-front building in which
il the principal Office of the Western Union
Telegraph, and also the headquarters of Gen.
eral Sheridan, began to burn. Then the
Chamber of Commerce, then the Courthouse,
then the Sherman House, and by noon OF
Monday half of the business portion of Chi
cago was in flames. They embraced many
great hotels, the Academy of Design, the Art
Gallery OF the Opera House, the offices of the
Evening Post, the Times, the Mail, the
Stats Zeitung, the Journal the Custom
house, city Post Office, the theaters. thous-
and magnificent buildings, costing many mil
lions of dollars to erect. In the Academy
and Art Gallery were many invaluable works
of art, in the latter being, among other noted
works, Bierstadt's painting of Yosemite VAL
ley. In these still smoking ruins were great
halls, extensive libraries, immense book
stores, and large number Of beautiful dwell
ings, which had received the decorations of
many years Of tasteful care, giving to Chicago
the name Of the Garden City. Many chur-
ches have also been destroyed. We have
printed in our telegraphic columns many
items of profound and melancholy interest,
the whole being one of the saddest records
that Christendom has been called upon to read
for many generations, and the like of which,
we trust it may please Heaven, no succeed
ing generation may be called upon to lament
~ all men must lament this awful catastrophe.
Recent IMPROVEMENTS.
Chicago is laid out in rectangular blocks,
with streets nearly eighty feet wide. This no
doubt saved the city from entire destruction.
All of the distance from Lake Michigan west
ward, a distance of about six miles has been
traversed by the fire fiend in his terrible path.
Apparently the city is level, but there is a
gradual rise in the ground to the westward
quite sufficient to drain it thoroughly. During
the past few years the principal streets had
same time.the entire business portion of the
city, nearly all of which is now utterly ruined,
had been raised from four to eight feet above
its former level, so as to facilitate drainage
and render it possible to have dry cellars for
houses, &c. This work incurred cost Of
millions of dollars in grading and filling up,
and in raising the buildings to the new grade.
The POPULATION.
No city in the United States has increased
in population as rapidly as has this now DESC
lated city. In 1887 the first census was taken
when it was found that the entire number Of
inhabitants numbered only 4,7l0, and three
years later 700 additional inhabitants were in
the city. But in the next ten years, from
lS40 to 1850, this city, destined to be the me-
tropolis of the West, contained. 30, 963 souls.
The next increase, from 1850 to 1860, was the
most marvellous ever recorded, the figures
then being Il0,973. In 1866, it had reached
175 900, aud in the last census it is set down
at nearly 100000.
ITS COMMERCIAL STANDING.
Chicago was confessedly the commercial
metropolis of the Northwes it being the cen
ire for about twenty -four distinct lines o
railroads, all leading to different sections o
the country. More than one hundred ant
forty trains of cars arrived and departed
daily. These will now be seriously impedeC
by the ruin which has been consummated by
this most terrible disaster. Chicago was al
so the largest interior grain market in the
world. The growth of this branch of trade
has been truly remarkable. In 1888 the frs,
shipment of wheat was made, consisting of rs
bushels. In 1864 the receipts of flour and
grain were as follows: 1,l70,274 barrels oil
-four, 10,S8S, 1876 bushels Of wheat, besides
nearly 100000 bushels of other grain. The
heaviest shipment in any one year was in
1862, when there were exported in flour and
all other kinds of grain equal to 56,484, Ito
bushels.
THE LUMBER TRADE.
Chicago was also the greatest lumber mar
ket in the United States. In l847 there were
received SO, 1926 feet; in 1850, 100, 1854, 779
feet: in 1856, 297, 567 $3.50 feet; in 1864, SOL,
592, 406 feet; and in 1870, 700, 636 1902 feet.
MEAr-PAcKNG.
As beef-packing point Chicago has for
many years been the largest in the United
States. In the season of 1872 there were
2l,S63 beeves packed in 1928, "a, 663 head
in 1852, 55,2l2; in 1S64.5, 80 ,459; and in
lS69-70 it amounted to over 1876, 900 head.
As pork-packing point she also stood fore
most in the United States, having distanced
Cincinnati nearly ten years since. In l864-5
the packing Of this kind of meat amounted to
81, 459 head, and in lS6970, TO over lie, 900
head.
LAKE TONNAGE.
The lake tonnage at the port of Chicago in
1864 amounted to 2,172, S66 tons in arrivals,
and 2, 1885, 04 in clearances. In 1870 the tom
mage Of vessels engaged wholly in the Chica-
60 trade amounted to nearly 100000 tons.
SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
Chicago boosted about thirty schools, and
High School, the attendance at which rang
ed from 700 up to 1000. They were consid-
ed the best in the whole West. So muct
were they priced by the people that it wa,
difficult to sustain private school. The
University of Chicago, situated in Cottage
Grove, just on the outskirts of the city, ant
thus far spared by the FIRE, is in hourishinl
condition.
THE BOARD OF TRADE.
The Chicago Board of Trade is an associa
ton numbering 800 members, all of whom
will lose more or less by the destruction O
their property. Besides occupying promi
nent position as a commercial body, it has eve
been foremost in aiding the Government will
both mOnev and men. and should not no,