The sun., 1907-08-14
4 City 20 Order.

The news that the United States Steel
Corporation has decided 10 invest Si5.-
0OO,OOo, in addition TO the original ap-
preparation of s75,OOO.OOO, in the con-
struction of its model city, now rising
on the southern shore of Lake Michigan,
adds interest to the greatest experiment
in city building in modern times. The
location Of what its promoters claim is
the coming steel capital Of the world
ia less than half an hours ride by rail
from the metropolis of the West and
s in Indiana, on the southeastern shore
Of Lake Michigan.
On the site Of what was little more than
a year ago a waste of sand hillocks and
dunes, and at the point where the slug
gish stream called the Grand Calumet
empties into the lake. the new industrial
city. which has already made the desert
looking lands which shade of into the
prairies a scene of business activity, is
rising, not slowly and as a process of
growth in the usual fashion, but as
rapidly as force of three thousand men.
now being constantly added to, can
build it, Originally planned to accom-
modate a population Of 10000, the plans
have been expanded to basis of 800
0OO The tract of land in which the new
industrial city is rapidly taking form is
5000 acres in extent, with lake frontage
of more than six miles and with possi-
bilities as to inland extension as bound
less as the prairies themselves.
Perhaps the preliminary work, most of
which is already done, is the most in
teresting, as showing the rapidity of
modern processes Of city construction.
The sand hills and hillocks which TO voy-
ayers on Lake Michigan once formed
such a picturesque sight, looking on
a summers day with the sun shining
on them like cumulus clouds on the
horizon, have disappeared along that
part of the lake They have been lev
elled and the sand has been used to fill
up the shallow beach the swamps of
Grand Calumet and lower lying lands
elsewhere in the tract. The new city
by this process and by dredging has at
tanned an elevation of twenty-five feet
above the level Of Lake Michigan, and
thus the work Chicago was compelled
TO do after its founding has been per-
formed at Gary at its beginning. By
dredging also a harbor has been formed,
deep enough to admit the heaviest
freighters of the Great Lakes bringing
the iron ore from the Lake Superior
region to the iron and steel mills which
are the reasons for the city's existence.
Naturally the mills and the thousands
Of men who will be required to man
them have the first place in the plans
of the builders. Everything has been
subordinated to their convenience,
health and comfort, and so far the plans
are strictly severe and utilitarian, but
the city has also been laid out with a
view TO architectural effect and beauty,
with parks, promenades and all the usual
appurtenances Of modern city life.
The river has been dredged to uni
form width Of $50 feet, spanned by
steel bridges for the accommodation OF
the four trunk lines of railway centring
here to distribute the products of the
mills once these are completed and in
full operation. To avoid the constant
tearing up of streets for gas, water and
electric mains and conduits, which is
the bane of older cities, which grew
and gere not planned and built, all pipes
and mains in Gary are laid in the alleys,
each at a certain level, thereby avoid
ing the confusion worse confounded in
cities where pipe laying is a matter of
emergency and suggests a mighty maze
without plan. In Gary everything is
planned and everything bears the stamp
Of to-day Nothing is left unprovided
that experience has shown to he requi-