Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-05-06
How People Will Travel from
Chicago to the Fair.
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND AN HOUR.

remember, is in Jackson park, and the dis
lance from the central part of Chicago
proper to the central gate of the exposi-
ton grounds is about eight miles. The
fair is within the city, and Chicago ex-
tends for miles beyond the fair grounds,
as well as miles and miles in every other
direction except to the east, and 1T can't
extend very far in that direction because
there is the lake. Yet even the lake does
not serve wholly to prevent the growth of
this bounding metropolis. On the north
side of town several syndicates are filling
In large tracts of ground, retaining it
from the lake, and amassing fortunes by
the process. One of the greatest decisions
ever rendered by the supreme court of the
United States was that of few weeks ago
known as the lake front case, which for
aver takes from a railway company whose
racks run along the Jake front the right
20 extend its dominion into the lake. This
decision deprives the railroad of riparian
lights estimated to be worth more than
800 900, 600.
| Washington is called the city of magnifi
| sent distances, but the distances are more
| magnificent in Chicago than they are at
| The capital. For instance, on a bright day
one may stand on this lake front in the
| heart of the city and away OFF to the south
| The towers, domes and giant roofs of the
| Worlds fair loom up strong and clear
against the horizon. The shape and pro-
portions of the top of that greatest of all
! buildings, the Manufactures and Liberal
| Arts, are as plain almost As If 1t were but
Il mile away. The gilded dome of the Ad-
ADMINISTRATION building shines through all
/ the smoke and steam of industrial Chi
! cago. \ look at this little lake front park
/ shows at a glance what a serious blunder
! the projectors of the fair escaped when
! they decided to so out where there was
/ more room for their site. After spending
! a counle of millions OF dollars in reclaim
| ing land from the lake, and in the con
| strUCtiOn of great piers, they would have
found their site just about One-third large
enough for the purpose. a thousand
| acres OF Jackson and Washington parks
and Midway plaisance, a pretty stretch OF
| ground running from park to park, are
now in use, and none too much space at
! that. One of the arguments used against
! this site was that no way could be found
! to take the people out to it fast enough, or
| to bring them back.
! Transportation of the hundreds of thou
| sands of visitors to and from the park was
{ a problem, 1t Is true, but like sll the other
| problems in connection with this vast en-
( terprise it appears TO have been satisfac-
/ toriIy solved. According to the figures
given out by the managers Of the various
! transportation lines there VIII he sufficient
capacity OF cars, steamers, etc, to take
I about 100000 persons TO the fair in one
/ hour. If anything like this capacity he
I developed in actual service there viii be
no cause for complaint. The greatest day
| the fair i to have during the summer i
| not likely to show more than 4C0, coo visi-
tors. Even if the big day should reach the
enormous total of 10000 viSitors-and
! that Is more than everattended any fair in
one Gay-there viii be transportation ia
cilities for all of them. 1t must be remem-
! bered that while the demands of the reEU-
lar travel are almost up to the capacity of
the Chicago passenger lines, the Worlds
fair traffic to and from the city comes
heaviest in a direction opposite to that of
! the heavy city travel. In the morning,
when Chicagoans are coming to their
business the Worlds fair crowds are trav-
| cling in the other direction, and so again
in the afternoon and evening. While the
facilities appear to be excellent between
the principal central part of the city and
| the fair grounds the most trouble is likely
| to appear on the north and west sides,
where no additional facilities have been
| provided, and where the Worlds fair
| travel and the regular travel will run in
parallel both of time and direction.
| There are four principal routes to the
| Worlds fair from the city. These are the
trains on the Illinois Central railway, the
elevated road, the cable line and the
! steamships. First in Importance, perhaps,
is the Illinois Central, which occupies the
| lake front. Its special Worlds fair trains
run every two minutes, and carry passen-
| gers from the foot of Van Buren, street
| which is about the center of the down
| town district, to the exposition in fifteen
! minutes. The fare is 10 cents each way,
J and the trains do not stop between the
| city and the exposition. Passengers are
landed at four stations in the vicinity of
| the fair grounds all wit bout the enclosure
but convenient to the gates. The cars
used for this special service are of rather
| novel construction. They have been nick
| named 1.-The cattle cars, because they are
cars which after the Worlds fair is over
will be converted into vehicles for the
| Transportation of livestock. There are no
| platforms at the end of the coaches, and
| the doors for entrance and egreSs are at
the sides. In this respect they resemble
| n summer street car, or the cars used on
| the Coney Island and other dummy SUI
| burbau railroads in the east The seats
| run cross-wise of the cars, and each coach
Will accommodate ninety-slE passengers.
| \ step like that on an English passenger
coach runs along either side. y guard sits
on the roof of each of these coaches, ana
! by Il lever opens or closes an iron railing
| which serves to protect passengers from
| the danger os falling out while the train Is
| in motion.
| Chicago has but one elevated railroad,
and this is called the Alley line, from the
fact that its route lies through the alleys
between State street and Wabash avenue.
Where the road intersects cross streets the
| company haG to buy a great deal of prop
| erty in order to secure passage way for its
| structure. The city terminus of the road
| is at Congress street, which is about
half mile from Madison street, usually
considered the downtown region. Until