, 1874-02-21
ANCIENT. CHICAGO:
Some Of the Early Ways In the Early
Days.
Roads In and Out.
Water Roads, Mud Roads, Wood Roads,
and Iron Roads.

Water Roads, Mud Roads, Wood Roads,
and Iron Roads.
There is bit Of charm OF fascination in tryinf
tosee things Of the present as they looked in the
nsst or in the beginning. The first steamboat
would be now more interesting sight than the
Great Eastern. The first locomotive would be &
sight worth seeing. The old Fort and Block.
House were quite memoir Of the early days ol
Chicago they would have grown iko tho trees
Of God on LIT. Lebanon, in ali tho future years
fer centuries upon centuries. il they could have
heep preserved. And among the very few things
that show that our early Settlers were eEe1
stupid, is the fact that they took no steps to
preserve the old Block-Houge. after the Govern
r,ent surrendered its title. The march Of i'm
proyement and demand for city lots swept it
away,-a bad sweep, and q bad march in that di-
rectiou.s But, had it been preserved, it would
have gone, in the great conf1agration, where the
little girl after the fire said her +" "ouib' had
gone, to its " Hebenly Fader."
Doubtless many OF the children Of Chicago
would like to see the beginning OF things, OF
Chicago as it once Was; as their most aged faith
ers saw it. But it would be no great eight after
Ill. Plenty Of ancient Chicago can now he seen
down in the Calumet awamps. Some cannot
help but think what might have been there once,
before even woodeu roads we're laid through the
streets. Should it ever be necessary to dig for
drain or otherwise, some ten or twelve feet in
Lake street, to an under stratum Of blackness,
there might be turned up sample Of the color
and consistency Of the streets OF Chicago till
,~.+,. .<1>n -
not many people nov. young or old, who do not
glide on their rspid and joyful way out Of this
muddle-but not quito SO much of mud Of 4
city So it once was-on the ringing iron-rail and
hardly think what a task it WAS to get out OF it,
in the best way possible, before 1916.
HOW, THEN, DID IT LooE HERE,
Then there was not much to see2 Travellers
came along here sometimes. They frequently
wrote down, for our edidcation suppose, what
they SAW here. These travellers are very worthy
people, and ought to be patronizad. More than
200 years ago, some French gentlemen took this
route in their peregrinations over the earth, and
they wrots NJ great deal about Chicago and its
surroundings, which in this day is quite enter
tanning reading. They spelled Chicago chicau-
eau, which makes it quite certain they
Eou re can read what WAS said Of US, or Chi
rsgo. ten years nearly before there vas any Chi
eago. if ne look up Maj. Long's Narrative cf
The Expedition somewhere, which Prof. Keat-
ng "1ose III 1870. III Ine nlHI place, ne saFs:
ave were much disappointed at the appearance
Of Chicago and its vicinity" They may haEe
been the first, but certainly not the last, who
hare been disappointed ir that way. Chicago
has always been city Of Disappointment one
way Or another. sadly or joyfulty: W&think tho
happily ydisappointed preponderate. The fact Ia,
Maj. Long came here too soon.
MAJ. LONG CONTINUES:
"The appearance OF the country near Chicago
offers but fow features upon which the eye Of
the traveller can dwell with pleasure. There is
too much uniformity in the scenery The might
have said no scenery st all. Tho extensive
water prospect ia waste uncheckered By
islands, unenlivened by the spreading canvas,
aud the fatiguiug monotony Of which Is in
eseaoed BY the equally undiversided prospect Of
the land-scsnery, which afords no relief to the
sight, rs it consists merely OF plain, in which
but few patches Of thin and scrubby woods are
observed scattered here and there. -. . I.
tbs village (yillage!] presents no cheering
It consists Of but FEW huts, inhabited
By a miserable race Of men, scarcely equal to
Indians from whom they are descended. Their
log or bark houses are low. filthy, and disgust
ing, displaying not the least trace Of comfort"
This picture might be finished of By saying
hat, beside the lake on the east, Chicago, in
tome SEASONS OF the year. was bounded bg water
bn the vest, t,-surrounded Except by the little
belt of sand-ridges, thrown up by the action Of
.he waves and the winds, along the lake-ehore)
IT,,
:uligrants began to leave foot-marks and wheel
tracks behind them, it was cut of from the main
land by sea OF mud. Aud so it WIS that, from
1882 to 1856, and 30 on till past 1840,
~ TEE TRAVELLER OUT OF CHICAGO,
II he moved upon one OF Frinke old stages,
as they mostly departed at night, could hear
during many weeks in fall and sprng tho tramp
Of the horses hoofs in water,-splAsh. splash,-
for distance Of to 10 miles, until they made
The Sand Ridge at Widow Derry'u Point (nos7
Mverside), or the Oak Ridge. west, or suthe1-
lands, at the point Of the sand-Ridge, north
vest So the enligrauts, unused to such quaking
foundations for road, departed on their vest
srn course, seeking home beyond the sea of
mud, md toiled on hardly (14 miles In fifteen
dsys, 1?S never daring to look behind behind
tho 0'P1ain, "a everybody called tho sluggish
liver that now divides haywood from Chicago:
In the summer-seasont OF after the water had
suosided in the spring. so that vegetation could
start up, the whole bound1ess contlguity be-
came sea OF green,-coarse, rank slough
grass growing up, except where trodden down
bg travel roota, knitting strong on the surface,
made tough but elastic sod, that would tremble
under the tread of tho wild buffalo, If any ever
cssne along bpt, as they didn't, the trembling
wagon or Frink's crazy stages which he i'm
ported from the Connecticut River Valley, for
getting to rub ont the lnbels on their yellow
sides, " Springfield and Hartford, or North |
anpton and Greenfield
In the fall, the froat having scared the rank
gr1ss, and the Indian n-summer suu having dried
it to crisp, the kindling spark waa sure to be |
sent from some quarter, the fro swept over the |
whole swnmpy range, and the old settlers Gu |
'oyed the aight Of the memorable,
''PRA1n1E ON FIRE"
got up in The best style.
The way to got over this endless Slough OF
Dospond. which made many hanrt feel more
dcspcndent than eTor Pilgrim felt (these hearts |
OF the new eetters who had left the green hills
Of New England for the green prairies OF Illinois,
tired Of a lifelong tug upon the hills, tired now
with their first tug With mud d),-the way 70 get
over safely WIS an unusual precedent: Follo1n
IN no mans track Strike out boldly for your