The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-10-13
CHICAGO.
The City of Woe
Tho GhastlysSkeletOn as Seen
by a Correspondent.
scENEs OF WRECK AN RUN.

From Congress street W l@'tN ~, ~ N, ~
bey0pd 10 Wrights grove, iour miles o.
whlt was last week the business anl most
vigorous city Of the West, there IS one
vide spread dessolation marked by
s,9rchei and calcined chimneys, by
mounds Of glowing brick and stone, all
covered like winlery plain with fall OF
whining ashes. This vastness and monot'
nny Of the view is us weaTisOme and de-
pressing as that OF the desert. Formerly
every quarter of the City had its distinc.
i've character, and along the banks OF
Lake Michigan to the south Of tue river
rose the stately mansions OF the men
whose energy and industry had made
Chicaco what It was. Few streets IN any
civ could present as uniform display oil
wealth and taste in their residences us
Wabash md Michigan avenue. In the
,nunrp bounded on three sides by the
Lakc and the Chicago river and on the
south by Van Burein street there were
embraced some ofthe finest business houses
on Inc continent, and a higher average Of
beautiful and costly architecture than
Epl ever been applied in the worid 20
plfppsts Of trade Along the river on
mlh,r side OF the tall uDgainIy forms oil
the elevators, those mOnstrOus gr0wlhs
al the commerce Of the NORTH West,
rirrorcd their awkward angles In the
lurbid waters, veXed by unnumbered
kc,ls in the North Division. The ground
To the West, occupied by laTgebmanutac.
turing establishments, and to the cast by
the modest and tasteful houses Of the
trading Glasses; all this variety and dis
1inclion have been oblitcrated in day by
the hand Of the cOnhagratlon. The love
lest garden on the avenue, which was
lust below my window, Is as squalid and
miserable with the wild trampning Of
the hUOls OF this disaster rs any back
ward Of soap boiler. On Canal street
the wrctChed tenement houses which
sheltered the laboring poor, are now clean
and white in their ashes, and their Chin
MES shapclCss monuments. There Is
tqualiy nj least, between novels and pal
nee in thcit shrOuds OF desolatlon. what
most impresses one in the aspect OF the
burnt district IL ils utter loneliness, The
debris which numbered the street the
day after the fire, has in great measure
been cleared away. The sidewalks are
somewhat Uttered still, by the ruins, but
circulation is perfectly tree throughout
that quarter
In the centre Of the city there Is n
certain number Of curious spectators
lunnHng mud chatting amOng tho ragged
mt lettering walls, There are many oil
the buildings in this quarter which were
50 strongly and solidlY built that Their
shells ,till stand, stubbornly defiant after
all the fury Of the ConilagratiOn. Among
these are the Tribune Office, the Custom
House, and the Court House, sill
imposing in its ruin, which tool
twenty years to build and twenty min
u,cs to burn. The great Pacific Hote
and the Lyon Block attract the most at
tpntiOn from tho aesthetic tourists anG
idler. They arc certainly very plctur'
rsquc, and VIC may even say beautiful
with their cold gray walls blOtched here
and tlere with IN angry stain OF smoke
like patch Of lichens, and showing the
pale blue of the mottled sky through
their riffs and wide windows, But when
YOU get away from the centre OF the
town, and cross over to the north divi'
sion, it Is most striking to see how sud
den the silence and solitude has fallen
upon this great and once beautiful
suburb. You can drive for an
hour over tho smooth, firm Mich.
olson pavement, very little damaged
by fire, and see scarcely living thing In
nll the ashen waste. saw IN old man
up to his knees in the ashes OF an eXten.
sivc brewery, fishing out some pots ant
kettles. He looked up and dropped hi
rusty looking tin ware as If he had beer
caught robbing grave. A lew clevel
fellows have already invented an appa
ratus for lifting safes out Of the fire, anc
YOU may occasionally meet them moving
about in search Of u Job; but through
ont these miles Of wide streets there II
less life md less movement than on q
country road, md the people who mee'
occasionally salute each other as In
dCsolate forest. The houses in this re
gion being in great measure dwelling
and workshops, were not so strongly
built as in the central part of the city
and so few walls have resisted the fury o
the flames. They have fallen flat, ant
scarcely more than fill the cellars, so tina
rs you drive over the streets they seem
like causeways raised to traverse
the ADVISES Of fire and ashei
on either side. The chief landmark
are skeleton churches, whose walls still
stand open to the sunlight and the breeze
haunting the scene like the ghosts OF TEN
pies which have suffered martyrdom
The slim and graceful tower OF the waite
Worksalso remains, domineering the paiI
and guarding the entrance OF that enor
nous tunnel, which is the glory OF Chica
20. But II you cross the ruin once NOR
and go into the West Side into the porliO
of the city which survives, you can under
stand why there Is such solitude anon
the ruins. There energetic and practica
people have no time to waste among tn
tombs. As soon us the late of their house
and places Of business was decided the
hurried over to the quarter which still
stood ana began all over again thei
battle with fortune Every avail
able ground floor and garnet il
Jefferson, Court and Clinton street
and all that neighborhoUd, has been seize
upon by the dispossessed establishments
The Tribune and the journal are thert
established side by side The Post an
Republican and Times have all found ten
porary roosts, whence their chant {
teveiile and defiance, is rs loud and cheer
ing, rs ever In their most prosperous day!
The hotels have migrated also, Carryin
their names and their traditions wit
them. The great business houses al
ctowding the relics Of their stock int
shops, that burst with richness, and f
down Michigan avenue, in that soI
stretch OF Lake side, that lies beyou
Michigan terrace, the last and lovelie
sacrifice to the flames, you see the namt
oil banks and insurance companies, heav
ly scrawled on tin shingles, and hung
the doots ordecorous private houses, o
the low sand beach that lies below Mich
gan avenue, they have projected