, 1874-02-22
ANCIENT CHICAGO,
Some Of the Early Ways in tho Early
Days.


Water Roads, Eiud Roads, Wood Roa6s,
and Iron Roads.
There il bit Of charm or fascination in t.ying
70 sec thrgs OF the present. ss they looked in The
r,st or in the beginning. The first steamboat
would be poH more interesting sight than the
Crest Eastern. The first locomotive would be a
sight worth seeing. The old Fort and Block
House wero quite memoir Of the curly days OF
Chicago they would layo grown liko tho trees
of God on Mt. Lebanon, il all tho future years,
for centuries upon centuries, il they could harc
been preserved. And among the very few things
that ahow that our early settlers we're ever
stupid, is the fact that they took no steps to
preserSe the old Block-House, after the Govern
mept surrendered its title. The march Of im-
prorement and demand for city lots swept it
&wag,-a bad sweep, and a bad march in that o-
eection. But, had it been preserved, it would
have gone, in the great con1agration, where the
little girl after the fire said her "quib" had
gone, to its ''Hebenly Fader,"
Doubtless many Of the children Of Chicago
would lise to see tha beginning OF things, or
Chicago as it once Tas; as their most aged faith
e.s saw it. But it would be no great sight after
I'll. Plenty Of ancient Chicsgo can NOW be soon
down in the Calumet swamps. Some cannot
help but think what might have been there once,
before even wooden roads we're hid through the
streets. Should it ever ba necessary to dig for
= Grain or otherwise, some tan or twelve feet in
Lake street, to m under stratum Of blnckness,
there might be turned up d sample OF the color
and consistency Of the streets OF Chicago till
come time into tho decade Of 1910. There are
not many people now. young or old, who do not
glide on their rapid and joyful way out OF this
1asddle-but not quite much OF mud Of
city>as it once was-on the ringing iron-rai, and
hardly think whata task it wss 70 get out OF it,
in the best wsy possible, before 1870.
Euw, THEN, DID IT LooK HERE,
1hen there was not much to see Travellers
came along here sometimes. They frequently
wrote down. for our edldcation I suppose, what
they saw here. These travellers are very worthy
people, snd ought to be patronizad. More than
BOO ye1rs ago, some French gentlemen took this
route in their peregrinntons over the earth, and
they wrote great deal about Chicago and it's
surroundings, which in this day is quite enter
gau,. which makes it quite cortain they
we're too learned in letters to spell we'll
Now we can read what was said Of Ms, or Chi
r.eo ten years nearly before there was any Chi
the Expedition" Somewhere, which Prof. Keat-
ing wrote In 1928. In the first place, he says:
"N's wero much disappointed at thc appearance
Of Chicago and its vicinity" They may have
been the first, bur certainly not the last, who
have been disappointed in that way. Chicago
has always been city Of disappointment ono
way or another sadly or ioyfulty. We think the
haopiis disappointed propoudcrata. The fact is,
Mai. Long ca1ne here too soon.
MAI. LONG coAr1SuEs:
~ The Appearanca Of the country near Chicago
Oilers but few features upon which the oye OF
the traveller eau dwell with pleasure There is
too much uniformity in the scenery [he might
have said no scanery at ALL. The extensive
Nater-pro6pect ia = waste unchecknred by
islands, unenlivened by the spreading canvan,
and the fatiguing ronotony Of which Is in
c1eased BY the equally undiyersitied prospect OF
the land-scenery, which affords no relief to tho
sight as it consists merely Of plain, in which
but fow patches Of thin and ec1ubby woods are
observed scattered here and there.
The village lviI.sal j presents no cheering
prospect, as, notwithstanding its antiquity,
BY miserable rnce OF men. scarcely equal to
Indians from whom they are descended. Thair
log or bark houses are low, filthy, and disgust
ing, displaying not the least trace Of comfort"
that, beside tho lake On the east Chicago, in
soma seasons Of the year. Was bounded by water
on the west,-eu1rounded (e1cept by the Little
belt Of sand-ndgos, thrown up by the action Of
by water and uarsh. That in 3 short time after
emigranta began to leave foot-marks and whetl-
tracks behind them. it was cut on from the main
laud by sen Of mud Aud 30 It was that from
1889 to 1886. and so Oh TIL past ls40,
TIE TRAVELLER OUT or CHICAGO,
II he moved upon one OF Frink'a old stages.
AS they mostly departed at night, could hear
during many weeks in fal and spzng the tramp
Of the horses hoofs in water,-splash, splash
for distance Of to 10 mics, until they maae
the sand-Ridge at Widow Berry's Point (now
Nrerside), OF the Oak Ridge. west, OF suther-
lands, At the point OF the sand-hdge north
Fest. So the emigrants, unused to such quak'ng
foundations for q road, departed On the1r vast.
era cou1so, seeking a home beyond the sea OF
mud, aud toied On hardly a. miles Ii tiftoen
daye, never daring to look behind
tAem}. till they struck land, fer beyond
the oPlain, as everybody called the 9,;s s1agglzh
sassidea in the spnng: 50 that vegetation could
etart up, the whole boundless eonten%l1y % be b.
came 8 sea OF green,-coarBe, rank slongh-