The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, d. G.
THE BEAUTIFUL Cm-KANG-oNG.


which has had greatness thrust upor
1t. 1t has nearly always been in the
public eye, either as civic problem or
an advantage. and now the attention of
the whole country is turned toward it
again, this time because the two-mil-
over il has just been completed.
This bridge is really the greatest
honor that has been paid to the river
so far. 1t is the first double-level
bridge for pedestrians as we'll as
traffic to be built in this country, if
not in the world, and marks a new
step lin 1.-The handling of congested
city traffic in America, The river may
well flow more proudly under such a
structure, and Chicagoans walk more
proudly over it. For it is a monument
to progressive citizenship as repre-
scented by the Chicago Plan commits
sion.
The Chicago river seems always to
have been somehow involved in the
destinies Of men. In fact it is the
reason why there is any Chicago.
Years ago it was used by the Indians
as a ca noe route, as it furnished a
waterway from Lake Michigan which,
with miles easy portage, connected
it with the Desplaines river, and
thence down the Illinois to the Missis-
sippi 1t was called Chi-Kang- Ong by
the Indians, a name which means
River of the Wild Onion, After it was
discovered by Joliet and Marquette a
trading post was established at its
mouth and that was the beginning of
Chicago.
Was a Menace.
1t had always been a sluggish and
weak willed stream flowing feebIy
into Lake Michigan. and before the
day of the Drainage canal it became
real menace to the lives of Chica-
goans. For nine Or ten months of the
year it had no current at all, and. as
the drainage of the city was emptied
into it. the result was extremely I'M
pleasant, not to say insa nitary. So
after thirty years of agitation and
work, the Drainage canal was COM
pleted, and the obliging river turned
around and flowed backwards into
the Desplaines, carrying quantities of
purifying lake water with it. This
canal also made it more valuable to
commerce.
But it Is not its rise as a useful fac
tor in Chicago life that has been so
spectacular. 1t is its rise as an aes-
thetic influence. 1t is the Cinderella
among rivers. and at last it seems to
be coming into its own. Once consid-
cred by all to be a loathly stream. to
be used for drainage. and to bear huge
ungainly barges loaded with coal and
iron upon its back, but to be ignored
by all nice people, it is now painted
and etched and sung by almost every
artist and poet for miles around. If
| you are an advanced Chicagoan, you
will no longer blush and apologize
when visitors mention it. You will
rather lead them to it innpressive1y,
and point with pride to its swirling
green waters refleeting old ware
houses, dark red baFges. little white
puffs of smoke. from the tugs, and
| dipping sea gulls. Swarms of art stu
dents from the Art Institute and the
Academy of Fine Arts have been de-
scending upon it of late and clinging
all over its bridges and wharves BUSH
| ly preserving its beauty in crayon and
paint. Young poets moon along its
bridges at twilight and watch the
first red ana yellow lights pop out on
| the boats and send long lines of
brightness down into it's violet waters
the while their bosoms swell with ap-
propriate sentiments. 1t is not known
exactly who first discovered the in
nate loneliness of this much maligned
stream, but it is generally conceded
that Carl Sandburg. unofficial poet
laureate of Chicago, was one of the
first to find poetry in it. So he was
asked to explain its sudden charm for
the cultured.
Now inspires Poets.
|
his stogie at a meditative angle, Il
guess you might say that the reason
we are beginning to appreciate the
| Chicago river is that we are just
growing an artistic consciousness of
our own. You see we've been too busy
growing commercially until just lately
to give much time to beauty. and so
we got our art ready-made. Firm
stance, take the lions on the Art In
stitute steps-if we'd had any sense
of the relation of art to life we'd have
buffaloes on those steps and a lot bet
| ter looking animals they would be,
toe. But we got those lions because
there was a European precedent for
lions. It's the same way with the
river. There wasn't any precedent
for exalting a dirty old river so we
despised ours, all during the Victor
| ian era. Then realism got to be fash
/ ionable, people began to realize that
! lots of things that aren't pretty are
beautiful and our young artists dis
covered the Chicago river. OF course
| the river had been beautiful all the
time, but we hadn't grown up to it. =
Will Hollingsworth, art critic and
instructor at the Academy of Fine
Arts, has Just. finished a series of
water color sketches of the river
which are now on exhibition here.
ITO my mind" said MIR. Holdings
worth. at is the most beautiful place
in Chicago. 1t is beautiful. 1 suppose.
because it is genuine. makes no pre-
tensions to being anything but its pic
turesque and dirty self. It has been
let alone, and the smoke that has
been the bane of the city has done its
work nobly. They will probably be-
gin to 'beautify' it sooner or later, the
river l mean, not the smoke, and
then the only painting ground for
miles around will be ruined. What
really get out of it is something
psychic and hard to explain. 1t is
the one part of the city that seems to
have background. if you know what
i I mean. Did you know. incidentally
that Anders Zorn said it was the best
etching place in the world?"
Great Artist Draws 1t.
This. last. remark of Mr.. Holdings
worth's. referring to zorn. settles the