The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-10-28
The Future of Chicago.
From the ST. Louis Times.

From the ST. Louis Times.
We are not of those who be
lieve that fire, blood or pestilence
though it has swept five siNths o1
Chicago out of existence, has
power to annihilate the city
That municipality has gained 4
commercial position of which nc
calamity, short of absolute ex-
tinctiOn, can possibly rob her
There are those who intimate
that her growth and expansion
and greatness have been accident
al that it was merely by chance
that the location of General
Scott's garrison in 1882 became
afterwards the seat of n mighty
metropolis that there was no
Typographical necessity for the
erection of Il city at this point
that it was IL mistake in fact, and
that the fire has swept alFits adj
vantages out of being and fin
ally that Chicago, like cities of
the ancient past, under the stroke
of an overwhelming calamity, is
destined to pass out of being as
Il center Of trade, commerce, art,
literature and enlightenment.
The men who indulge them
selves in such vaticinations as
these are either fanatics or fools.
They certainly mistake the elias
tic power Of Yankee energy in
the time of trial; they miscalcu-
late the distance to which our
American philosophy is likely to
rebound when its capacities are
forced to Il test; they place but a
poor and uncharitable estimate
upon the surmOunting vigor Of
our Western enterprise.
If it was an accident that Occa-
stoned the location of Chicago,
originally; if it was 10y accident
that the commerce of the great
lakes centered at this point if it
was only 10y accident that the
trade Of the Northwest enriched
and built it up; if it was merely
an accident whereby Chicago be-
came so great, munificent and
beautitul-it is equally to be be-
lieved that the same causes,
accidental or otherwise, which
contributed to her magnificent
progress, are still vital and Wig
orous, surmounting the flames OF
the confiagration, and potent
now, us ever, to make Chicago
once again., far more than she
has just been unmat}e.
The force of the accident thai
gave her impetus at first is per.
ennial-indestructible. \ thou
sand auxiliary forces are now al
work to perpetuate her greatness
Were Chicago, to the last
building within her corporate
limits, swept out OF being, Chi
cago would still arise from the
wide waste of ruin, and sooner Oh
later assert her commercial infu-
ence in the country.
The depot of products, meal
culable in value, transmitted from
all quarters of the Northwest ;
the enyepot Of the commerce of
the lakes; the converging point
Of numerous railways, virtually
her own: there is no sort of
doubt but that she will retain
her position, regain at last her
Importance, and at no distant
day'rc-assert Il certain supremacy
of Western interests.
That Chicago will lose much
Of the trade hitherto claimed as
beyond dispute or competition,
her own; that she will never per-
haps "cmount to her relative
scale in the rank of American
cities, is perhaps possible; but
we much mistake the character
Of her people and the capacity OF
her hackers, if she does not re-
store in less than ten years far
more than she has lost i'm the last
ten days.