Cook County, Illinois - The whole text, 1884 (part 8 of 61)

"Early in the spring of 1835, about the month of March, Mr. Hubbard purchased, with two others, Messrs. Russell and Mather, what has since been known as knssell ,V Mather's addition to Chicago. This tract comprised eighty acres, and was bounded on the south by Kituie Street, on the east by the river, on the north by Chicago Avenue, and then ran west to llalsted Street and be yond. For these eighty acres they paid 85.000. At that time one section of the prospective city was as desirable as another, but time has developed that this particular eighty acres was one of the most undesirable within the entire territory now embraced within the city limits. A few months after the purchase Mr. Hubbard had occasion to visit New York City, ami to his surprise found the rage for Chicago real estate at a point where it might be called 'wild.' Having sought and received the consent of one of his partners, whn lived in Connecticut, he looked up an engraver, gave him such .1 sketch of the lay of the land as he could call up from memory, had a plat prepared, and from this plat, without any actual subdivision of the land, sold half of it at public auction for the sum of $So.ooo. This within three or four months after paying $5,000, New s of this transaction reached Chicago in the course of stage-coach time, but it was generally discredited, until Mr. Hubbard returned with the positive confirmation : and the - well, then, every man who owned a garden patch stood on his head, imagined himself a millionaire, put up the corner lots to fabulous figures, and, what is strange, never could ask enough, which made him mad because he didn't ask more."

William S. Trowbridge, now a resident of Milwaukee, came West in 1835, He was a land surveyor and, during the excitement, made Chicago his headquarters, surveying lands in the region round about. Early in 1836 he was sent up to survey and plat the city of Sheboygan, which embraced a section. Having completed his* work he entered for himself an adjoining section intending to settle there. On his return he found the excitement at fever heat. So soon as it was known that he had secured this claim on suburban property, directly adjoining the city which he had just built on paper, anxious buyers appeared, and in less than one week he had sold out his claim at a profit of $1,500. He immediately returned to Sheboygan and entered another section, adjoining the city on another side, with which he returned to Chicago, and which he readily sold out on letter terms than the first. As he stated, he thus continued the business until he had " Shelwygan cornered." Out of this peddling of wild land he realized what, to htm, then a tpiiet young man of an unspeeulativc turn of mind, seemed an independent fortune. L'nhke most young men of the time he withdrew with his modest gains, and settled in the town of Milwaukee, where he has since lived the epiiet life of moderate affluence which comes to the few whose judgment is not ohscured or warped by sudden and unexpected fortune thrust upon them.

" I am now in a large hold, in a large city ; I'm I lucigu contains a population of 6,000 souls. I have just returned from a stroll to the lake shore, where two years ago I so gladly landed after a long and perilous voyage. 1 can scarcely recognize it as tile same spot. Where I then walked over the iinl.rnk.Mi prairie, the spacious avenue is now opened, crowded with carts and wagons, and occasionally a showy family rolling and dashing in the hurry of trade or the pomp of native 'sucker.' stumbling, as 1 do, over hales and boxes on the sidewalks, or gaping at the big signs and four-story brick houses, I am boarding at the t'nited Slates Hotel, where I pay only two dollars per day for self, and a dollar anil a half for horse. There is one noble ship (the ' Julia I'almer' ) and two others, four brigs, and I know not how many steamboats and schooners, regularly plying between this and Buffalo. A lot I was offered for gbjo at my first visit (l$34) has now upon it a splendid forwarding and commission store, and sold ihis spring (the naked lot) for $),on»."

From the files of -the same paper, .May 27. 1X37. the following extracts from letters to the Star, written from Chicago, in the fall of 1836, arc taken :

" Well, we have arrived at this place, or city that is to lie - this nest of emigrants, merchants and speculators - where nearlv all the Western towns are hatched, and front which their brood migrates to every pari of the Union, in the shajie of town and village lots. Men make fortunes here in less time than I could Ihix the compas - I say men, for there is a melancholy disproportion 0/ numbers between the sexes. Harry is now suffering under Ihe cf fects of his dinner parlies. He there caught the disease of speculation, which I fear will terminate in a collapse of his pocket before he gets tack. Strange indeed for one who entered this climate so pure in thought and purpose ; but so it is. He thinks and talks of nothing but emulating the virtues and enterprises of a certain greal modern D. I)., by hunting up a town site equal to ' Marion ! - or "f <"C hundred and one great tow ns at the mouth of .Maumee Kivcr! ! and selling the lots out to his friends at the bast at a profit of $200,000. ||c seems determined, and wishes me to say that if yon will speak well of the place he « ill name a street after you."

Two items from the Chicago American show the pice of real estate when the excitement was at its height. August 15, 18,55, 't «-<!: "Fractional Wnck No. 7 sold last June for Si. .?oo: August 1 it was sold f'tr ^1,950. Lot So. 1, Block No. 2, sold in June for 85,000. and was resold in August fur $10,000. lait No B, in Block No. 16. sold in June for S4;o. and was resold m August for $700." October 17. 18,5. the American announced the sale of a lot fronting on Dearborn Street, next the corner of Water, about fifty-five feet deep, for Sit, 000.

In a letter from Charles Butler, published in the Ainenean. September 3. ,836, it is stated that in the year 1S33 one-fourth of Kinzies addition was offered 0 .him for $5,500 .then ,836 worth $100,000; another tract of land in Chicago of forty acres, worth in l8n 5>4oo. was then worth $200,000;' and that th property (so-called was purchased in

Se re , ' f 1 P I * """"^ maiie il t,le (lutV the dis, roM?fr hc ' r?SUry to discontinue the use. and d s red t the issues of such banks as should at anv time refuse to redeem their notes in specie. This I death-blow to wild-cat banking, and resulted, m the me vioveinmt nt. under the law, were to be made in specie or bank notes redeemable in specie, on demand. It followed that, with credit greatly extended and prices already enhanced a hundred-fold above what could be measured by the entire amount of specie in the country, in the process of adjustment to the arbitrary conditions of the law. a collapse in prices occurred sufficient to bring the valuation of all property to aspeciestandard. Unfortunately, the debts of the sanguine speculators did not shrink proportionately, with the sudden decrease in the value of their securities. I'rices of lots valued in Chicago in 1836 at a thousand dollars suddenly fell to the specie value of three years before - perhaps fifty dollars; while the note that the last speculative buyer had given for it remained $1,000, as l>efore. Widespread ruin was the consequence, and the bubble burst May, 1857. W hen the town of Chicago became a city, many of its inhabitants, who had reveled in supposititious wealth for past years, were in sackcloth and ashes, mourning over city lots from which all value had departed, or bewailing the existence of notes of appalling magnitude, which were the only reminders of the glorious times gone by, which the law had not rendered valueless.

The following letter, written by Knoch Chase, from Milwaukee, dated August 2, 1883, is of historic value, showing, as it does, something of the geography of the surrounding country and concerning the town itself from 1834 to 1S36.

Tecumsch there were two lines of stages - the Pioneer and the Opposition. Krom Tecum seh to Niles there was a iri-weekly line of mud-wagons. Krom Niles to Chicago the mail was carried on horseback. During the winter of 1831-32 the line of mud-wagons hauled off and the mail was carried weekly from Tecumseh to Chi. cagoon horseback. Early in the spring of 1S32 Mr. Savary of White Pigeon put on a daily line of post coaches from Tecumsiti to Niles. and the travel was brisk from the opening of navigation on Lake Kne till the Sac war broke out (about the middle of May) which put a damper on emigration for that year.

" In May. 1*32, the Michigan Militia was called out to prevent the Indians from passing through Michigan to Detroit. Hut when we rendezvoused at Niles, an express met us with the informaliun that the Indians were retreating to the norih and that our service* were not needed. We were, therefore, disbanded and returned home. The inhabitants <,f Branch and Hillsdale counties consliluted a battalion of three companies under the command of Major I!. Jones - less than eighty men in all; and not a half dortn ableboaitd men left at home in the two counties.

" In the month of October. 1S34. I made my first visit to Chicago. I 11 country along 1;,,. 1 ,^ , fi.nl frmi I'uldwater to Michigan City was lolarabh well settled. The travel from the latter place to Chicago was along the beach of the lake, and after 1 northeast storm, when the sand was packed bv the waves, the drive was just splendid; but when the sand was drv and loose, it was just horrible. A good team would make the distance in six hours when the way was all right, and it was a six days good drive when the way was all wrong.

" The first hotel west of Michigan City was some ten miles out; the second was liennett's, about ten miles farther: the third Ml Denis Hard's; the fourth was the Widow Ilangs's; Ihe fifth, Maur's, at the Calumet, and ihe sixth, Mr. Merrick's, about half way between the Calumet and Chicago.

" The beach of the lake took -he main travel in l!>35-3°. There was another route by the way of ltailcy Town and Thornton, winch the undersigned drove over in February, 1S37.

" Chicago, in October. IS 34. at the time of the Indian payment, was a lively place. There were two hotels. The Sauganash, which was situated near the junction of I-akc and South Water streets, was kepi by Mark Heaubien, who said he ' kept tavern like

South Itranch was crossed bv a bridge, and if I recollect right tbe bridge was covered with poles or puncheons [as split logs wct* called] instead of planks. Resides the log cabin on the West Side, kept by Mr. Stiles, there was a blacksmith shop. That waaall- On the North Side were John Kin«e* house and a few others.

A similar bridge crossed the river about half way between the forks, of the river and the lake. On the South Side there was one house south of l-ake Street, which was situated on the west side of Clark Street just south of Lake. On Lake and South Water streets was the main village. I-ake Street (masted one brick l>Wk, which belonged to either "Yankee" Hubbard. -'Horse" Hubbard or "Indian" Hubbard, I forget which. It was quite an imposing structure. Clybournc's butcher shop was not far from it. Jim Kinrie's store, P. K. W. Peck's store, Harmon's and Loomis's I on South Water Street.

" It seems to me that the Indians were paid on the north side of the river nearly opposite Fort Dearborn. I had occasion to go west as far the crossing of the Desplaines River, Ret wren Stiles's log tavern on the west side of the South liranch and the tavern at the crossing of the Desplaines River, there was not a vestige of civilization except the wagon tracks, and it seemed to me the dreariest road 1 ever traveled. The prairie mud of the North Branch was drier.

" Of all the men in the early days that I was acquainted with, including Clybourne, John H., Robert and James Ivin/ic, Crouch. Rossiton Darwin, Stiles and G. S. Hubbard, the latter alone surv to M Point ;

" Chicago is a wonderful city, and has been lucky in having far-seeing citizens who gave her a start on the road to prosperity. While the early settlers of Milwaukee were wrangling about which side of the river should be most prosperous, the citizens of Chicago acted as a unit to promote the interest of the whole.* Rut while Chi. cago is the most enterprising. Milwaukee is the most beautiful city on the American continent : and let those who doubt the truth of this assertion come and see for thcmscHcs.

" In the spring of I-S35. the only houses between Chicago and Milwaukee were those at Crosse Point, Sunderland's, west of Waukegan. anil Jack Vicaw's, at Skunk (trove, Myself and party, on to Milwaukee, staid the first night at Ouilmette's, near the second night at Sunderland's, and the third night in the Milwaukee woods. Prom Sunderland's to Mil- woods we followed an Indian trail. We found a bridge Root River and Oak Creek, but the Kinnckcnick we forded. " The above short sketch will give you a slight ides of the country from 1831 to 1S35. While Chicago was well known to the people of the United States in 1831, I never heard the won! Milwaukee spoken till 1834. When on my way from Milwaukee to Coldwater, Mich., in May, 1S35, I heard the leading citizen of Michigan City discussing the merits of Milwaukee and the Territory of Wisconsin, The conclusion they came to was that it was a cold, bleak, inhospitable country which would never be inhabited except by Indians and Indian traders. Little did they imagine that in less than half a century the territory west of Uikc Michigan would contain white inhabitants enough to constitute an empire."

Postal Affairs. - The post-office in 1833. John S. C. Hogan, Postmaster, was kept in a small log building near the corner of Lake and South Water streets. At that time there was but one Eastern mail per week, to and from Niles. Mich., which was carried on horseback. The building was twenty by forty-five feet in size, was partitioned off so as to serve as a post-office on one side, and as the store of Brewster, Hogan & Co., on the other. John Hates, Jr., still living in Chicago, was the Assistant Postmaster, and assorted the mails, delivered the letters, and was the executive factotum of the place. John 1.. W ilson also became an assistant in the summer of 1834. John Bates, Deputy Postmaster at that time, in an interview October 31, 1883, said :

" The Eastern mail was carried once a week, on horseback, by a little, short, stocky Frenchman, whom we called Louis. In 1S34 or 1 Sjj the pony' mail express of Louis was abolished, and John S. Trowbridge took the contract to haul the mail between Niles and Michigan in a wagon. Trowbridge afterward "went West.' and at one time was Mayor of Little Rock, Ark. The receipts of the post-office in 1833 were from $15 to $20 per quarter. I never knew him by any other name. The mail came once a week ; speculation set in, and the village began to grow During the last of it the mail used to weigh thirty to forty pounds, and was so big that Louis had to walk, and the bags on the horse's back spread out like wings, making the pony look like some kind of a queer bird. Chicago was then the central office for a sweep of a hundred miles around. People came thirty or forty milts to inquire for a letter, and. if they did not get one. they looked sick. Men from the ' Yankee settlement ' on Hickory Creek, Napemllc, and other outside places used to come up, with a list of all the names in their place, and take the mail in a lump. Letter postage was then twenty-five cents on each letter, and sometimes m had to trust for the postage," *

John BfBMftM Coats HOGAK was of Irish parentage, and was born in New York City February (>, 1S05, His father died while he was quite young, leaving his "mother with live small children and little wherewith to support them. The subject of this sketch was, at the age I 't iCVCI rem ...I opted by Mn 1 . US a friend of his mother, he having been named after her only son, who had died. He remained with his footer mother until old enough logo inlo business for himself, and finally came to Chicago as early as 1830. Mr. Hogan here engaged in mercantile pursuits, being at one time sutler of the Fori Dearborn store, and, in 1831, receiving the appointment of Postmaster. He also acted as a Lieutenant of volunteers during the Iilack Hawk War. Mr. Hogan 's popularity and easy companionship served to elect him to the office of Alderman, when the city was incorporated in 183J. During this vear, his wife, formerly Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of Jonathan N. Hailey ( Post matter!, died in Chicago, leaving one son. John C. Hogan, long afterward a resident of California. Alderman Hogan 's qualities, which made him successful as a local politician, diil not serve to add greatly to his material possessions, and the hard times ol found him wilh his means somewhat extended, and left him in an embarrassed condition. In March. 1S4S, Mr. Hogan married Mary S., the widow of John Ainslie. advocate, lale of Edinburgh, Scotland. One child, Mary, subsequently the wife of Professor T. S. Noble, of Cincinnati, was born to them. During the gold fever Mr. Hogan crossed the plains and resided in Sacramento for over a year. Afterwards he lived in st lanus jih! Me.-nph-.s, .1- S-nsirtess man . littir and politician, returning to BoORvHIe, Mo., in the summer of 1S6S. Here he died on December 2. of that year. Mr. Hogan was a kind, cheerful,

-The first mention of mail communication »ith Cbk*M Mid lag Ekat, aflcr the desltucoon of the fuel, waa in 1S17-1H. Imt drlalli an- ik.iI riven. There appear- ,11 Keatins"« " Narrative of an Fatpednioa to ihr Source of St. Peter's Kivrr," published in laindon. liJn-leopy in Chicago Hi-M.noil LVleo tiosi) - the neat allusion. It inhere Haled thai in May. 1S31, the cplminit party met the eaptewman lent from Chicago for letters, at Fort Vavne. and detained him *< a nuidc. Hi» name «r:<» Kemis A eourier <ra< trooi Fort Dearborn 10 Fori Wayne once a month, for 1

In July, 1S34, tin; oltice was removed to the corner of Franklin and Smith Water streets, where it remained until after the expiration of I logan's term of office, While there, the Assistant 1'ostmaster was Thomas Watkins, who has been embalmed in history by John Wentworth and other early chroniclers, as the hero of a celebrated wedding, he being the groom, and tin- bride being Therese 1-aframboise, daughter of Joseph Laframboise, n chief of the Pottawatomies, well known as an early resident of Chicago.*

No further changes in location of the office were made until Mr. Hogan was superceded bv Svdnev Abell. who was appointed Postmaster March 3.' 1K37. ' ]n the following June the office was removed to the east side of Clark Street, in Bigelow s building, between Lake and --south Water streets, north of the alley. The removal was announced in the American, June' 3, 1837: -- The post-ofhee has been removed to Clark Street, directly opposite this office. This change will be satisfactory to a large number of our citizens." During Mr. Ab'ell's administration the |>ost-ofri(:e was aKain removed to the Saloon Building. Cnder Mr. Abell the assistants were Ralph M. P. Abell and Charles Robert Starkweather. I he latter remained in the Chicago postal service until

William Stuart, then the editor of the American, succeeded Abell as Postmaster, lulv 10, .84,. He removed the office to the west side of Clark Street, near the Sherman H<,Use-No. So, Subsequent!;- it was removed, in ,853-54. the cast sk|c of cfark S(rcct

I he mail facilities were rapidly increased after the beginning of 1835. On September 19, 1S3S, Postmaster Hogan s advertisement of arrival and departure of mails was as follows:

Prom the files of the American it appears that stage- ' oaches nere ised on the pr n< ipal ma I route, in tbe ticginning of 1836 - probably not muchearlier. At that time appear for the first time advertisements of mailcoaches as follows:

" Mail crochet between Detroit and C hicago will leave the New Wk House, Chicago, for Detroit, even other day. ccimnicncing Monday, January II. at 5 A. M. I'crW wishing seats

January 23, an opposition line was advertised - "Winter arrangements from Chicago to Detroit in three and one-half davs." D. (). Jones. J. W. Brown. W. K. Boardman. R. A. Forsyth. (). Saltmarsh, and S. Sf»fford were the proprietors of the rival line.

Chic Ago In 1833-3

the Tremont, and that stages would leave for Detroit daily, at 4 a. m.; and for Galena at 4 a. H., on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. He also advertised, August 6, what appears to he a newly established line, to Peoria. Ottawa and Juliet.*

"From Joliet to Chicago, thirty-six miles and back, mice 3 week: To leave Joliet every Monday at 5 A. SI., and to arrive in ('hieajjo by 7 )'. If, ; to leave Chicago every Sunday at 5 \. M., an. I arrive at Joliet the same day at 7 P. si.

" From Chicago to Galena, via Mcachanis ( irove, Elgin, Squaw Prairie, on the Kishwaka, and Midway on Rock River, 150 miles and back, once a week. Leave Chicago Monday at 6 A. si., and arrive at Galena every Friday by 6 v. St. Leave Galena Monday at 6 A. St., and arrive at Chicago Friday at 6 I>. St.

" From Chicago to George McClurc's. on Fox River, and hack. T.i leave Chicago every Wednesday at G A. SI., and arrive McClurc's Thursday by 6 |\ St. Leave McCI lire's every Friday at 6 A. St., and arrive at Chicago Saturday at 6 P. SI."

" The po«t -office i* open on week days from 7 A. si. to S p. St.; Sundays, from Mo 9 A. M., 12 to 1, and 5 to 6 I'. M. If mail arrive* on Sundays this office will be open one and one-half hours after the mail has been distributed. Postage for letters must be paid when taken; hereafter no credit will be given. Any person calling for letters for friends must bring a written order.

Post- Roads had been established, although they could hardly be said to be built, on all the stage-routes advertised. The northern, or Green Bay road, as it was called, was surveyed 111 1833, stakes driven and trees blazed along the line. It was somewhat improved as far as Milwaukee in 1834. by laying rough puncheon and log bridges over the unfordable creeks and streams, and cutting out the trees to the width of two rods. No grading was done for years afterward, and as late as 1836 it was only a blazed road through the forest between Milwaukee and Green Hay. The western and southern roads were less rough, as they ran out over more open prairie. In dry weather they were fine well-beaten tracks, but in the spring and fall they became long Mack ditches of mud, through which the hapless travelers floundered most wearily and laboriously to their places of destination.

WHARriMO Privileges. - December 4, 1833. the wharfmg privileges of the town were defined at a meeting of the Trustees. Owners of lots fronting on the river, where a street ran down to the river, might use all but eighty feet of the street Water Street then being on the bank of the river for wharfage purposes only, on the payment of fifteen dollars per year. Stipulations were made whereby the town corporation might subsequently purchase any wharfage improvements made on lots leased from the town. Several owners of waterlots and others paid the required fifteen dollars (luring the succeeding month. Wharfing privileges were advertised in the Chicago American of November 15, 1835, to be sold, under a lease from the town, for 999 years, by auction, to the highest bidder. Thus the water or wharfage lots came to have a peculiar, if not fictitious value, during the speculative period. These privileges

- Jotlet was first Mount Joliet, later n»rord Juliet by oDe of the early proprietor*. .ItlJ later changed to the ..Id name Joliet. in horn* of the early were sold on time, and as the notes were many of thein never paid, the " privileges " went out by default in the general crash of 1S37. On, March 24, 1837, the Town Trustees voted to extend the time of payment on wharfing lots. " until further notice."

Fire Department. - Up to September, 1835, there was nothing like an organized Fire Department, or a fire engine in the town, Prior to that time buckets put out any lire that occurred, or it burned itself out. Fire Wardens were appointed September 25, 1834, under the provisions of an ordinance passed by the Board of Town Trustees, which also defined the limits of the fire wards of the town.

The laws and ordinances were at that time quite strict, although not always enforced to the letter. No person was allowed " to endanger the public safety by pushing a red-hot stove-pipe through the board wall," and they were forbidden to carry " open-coals of lire through the streets except in a covered fire-proof vessel." The latter provision, in the absence of matches, was deemed a hardship not endurable and was repealed soon after its passage. The duty of the Wardens was defined in an ordinance adopted October. 1834, The Warden in whose ward a fire occurred was to be, for the time being. Chief Warden, ami the other Wardens his assistants. They had power to summons any one to aid in the extinguishment of a fire, whether it be "to enter the ranks or lines formed for passing water or buckets, or to aitl in promoting such other means as. to said wardens, may seem calculated to carry into effect the object of this ordinance," Citizens or other bystanders refusing to obey the summons of the Wardens when a fire was raging were subject to a fine of five dollars. It w is 1 11 t mbt nl 1 1 1 nil 1 itizens owning 01 1 0 »| Jfing stores or dwellings to keep a fire bucket within their building, in a conspicuous place, and. on an alarm of fire, to promptly repair to the scene of the conflagration, equipped for service with the said bucket. This was the l ire Department and lire organization of 1834.

Ity the close of 1835 the town had grown to such proportions, nearly all built of combustible material, that more elaborate provisions were deemed necessary. On November 4, 1835, the Fire Department was re-organized under a most formidable ordinance. l ike a most celebrated and historic confession of religious faith, it contains thirty-nine articles. In October, 1S35, a hook and ladder company was formed, and the city equipped it with four ladders, four axes, and four saws. December 1, 1835, the first fire engine was purchased of Hubbard cv C o. for §894,38, and the fire company, known as Hngine Company No. t, was organized.

Cemeteries. - No stated place for the burial of the dead was located until 1835. In early times each interment was made on or near the residence of the friends of the deceased. Later, the settlements about the forks hail a common acre on the west side of the North Branch, where the dead were buried. The dead from the fort were buried generally on the north sitle of the main river east of Kinzie's old house, near the lake shore. There John Kinzic was buried in 1828.* The soldiers who died of cholera in 1832 were interred near the northwest corner of Lake Street and Wabash Avenue. Early interments were made all along the borders of the two branches, wherever settlements had l>een made and deaths had occurred. In later days the forgotten graves were often opened in excavating, which has led to much speculation as to whom the disinterred remains belonged. As late as March 12, 1849, the Daily Demo- crat records the fact that during the spring freshet, "two coffins were seen floating down the river, supposed to have been from some small burying-ground on the North Branch in the Wabansia addition." August 15, 1835, the town surveyor was ordered to lay out two tracts suitable for cemetery purposes; sixteen acres on the South Side and ten acres north of the river. These two lots, the first established cemeteries in Chicago, were located as early as August i6; on the North Side, Rear Chicago Avenue, east of Clark Street; on the South Side near the lake shore anil what is now Twenty-third Street. These lots were fenced in September, and burials forbidden elsewhere within the town limits.

Town Credit. - The Town Trustees, in the administration of affairs were as a rule economical, even to the verge of parsimony. They did not repair either bridges or streets unless the Collector and Treasurer showed sufficient funds on hand. They voted to borrow sixty dollars - the first authorized loan on the faith of Chicago - October 2, 1834. The records do not show whether or not the money was borrowed. In i8«6 there were general complaints in the newspapers as to the horrid condition of the streets, sidewalks, and bridges, and a move, endorsed by large and strong petitions from the citizens, was made for more bridges. One was specially wanted across the South Branch on Randolph Street, and a reward of twentv-fivc dollars was Offered for the best plan for a draw-bridge at that point - the length of the draw to he fortv feet. To |ohn Bruvvn,on February 10. 1836, was awarded the prize, february 13, - all the bridges were declared to be in an unsafe condition, and no funds on hand " In fact the town had outgrown its fiscal facilities. It had, during the past year, besides ordinarv expenses, incurred some extraordinary liabilities. It had built an engine house costing §200. paid $29.63 for an outfit for a hose company, and agreed to pay 111 two yearly installments tor a fire-engine. §894.38. It was evident that if further improvements were to be made to keep pace with the rapid strides of the town in population, that the day for trying the credit of the corporation had arrived. '|ulv .836. the I rustees resolved - that it is necessary and expedient for this board to effect a loan not exceeding $5°.r°°. to be expended in public improvements,- and the president was instructed to apply to the State bank .Ch.cago branch then the only bank in the town, b r a loan of $,5,000 redeemable in two years. August c "«,Ce torn the bank refusing the applied ion unr "r ?'fa, tont,ition ,,f the * * qu«- t.on. YYilham B. Ogden was thereupon made fiscal agent for the town, to negotiate the loan, which he sue ceeded .11 doing; and credit being established the im provements began. That the tow", beg to spend the money without any unnecessary delay nnnears fn n th! records one week late, August , J J

There were within the city limits at (hat time ; 4 warehouses. 30S dwellings. 2<> dry-goods stores, 5 hardware stores. 3 drug stores, IV grocery and provision store*. 10 taverns, 20 groceries. 17 lawyers' officers, and 5 churches.

In material growth the town had made no lew remarkable progress. It is shown in the following excerpts from the American. On August 15, 1835, that paper said :

" There are now upward of fifty business houses, four Urge forwurding-houscs, eight taverns, two printing offices, two bookstores, one steam saw-mill, one brewcrv. one furnace (just goitif up), and twenty-five mechanics' shops of all kinds."

Most prominent arc Steele'* block of four-story brick stores on Lake Street ; Harmon and Loomis' block of four story brick Mores on Water Street ; the Kpi*copal Church of brick, which, when lini*hcd. will vie with manv of the best Kast; some ten 10 twenty two to four-story brick Mores in various parts of the town: about twenty large two to three-story wooden buildings: a steam flouring mill ; and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty dwellings."

"Chicago has too merchant*, its many mechanics, its well employed laborers, its 30 lawyers, its 20 physicians ; its stately blocks constantly rising to view, and vet. a great scarcity of money."

October 3, 1835, in reply to an inquiry as to the time for getting goods from the Atlantic cities to Chicago, the American replied, "from twenty to thirty

As appears from the American December 31, 1S36. Chicago had become a distributing point for the whole settled country. An advertisement of unclaimed packages at Hubbard & Co.'s express office, showed the following destinations: Joliet ; Elkhart, Ind.; Goshen; Mishawaka; Independence, Iowa ; 'Terra Haute. Ind.; Oalena; Clinton, Iowa; Michigan City; Danville, Milwaukee. Constantine, Otsego. Portage, Warsaw, Three Rivers, Schoolcraft, Wisconsin 'Territory ; Frankfort, Iowa.

"A store on Lake Street, which sold for SS.ooo, rent* for $1,000. Many goods are sold to interior merchants at wholesale at good profit. The average cost of transportation from the ta« is $1 . 50 ,«r 100 pounds. The time on the way is generally about nnc month, Bui the brig ' Indiana ' recently arrived, bringing goods from New York in 17 H days. Store stands are generally in good demand. Sales are generally made for cash."

-' The merchandise sold last year in Chicago would amount to $1,000,000, and the trade is constantly increasing. The goods are bought principally in New York, and' arc shipped to this point via Hudson River. Krie Canal, and the lakes."

" Flour, $12 per bM.; pork. $25 to $2$ per bbl. and scarce; hogs, to to I2>j; butter, good eastern, 38 to 50, very scarce; beef, fresh, sold by butchers, 8 cents per pound; corn meal, none in market ; potatoes, 50 to 75 cents per oil."

The result of the first Presidential election, at which the residents of modern Chicago voted, November, 1836, showed 354 votes thrown for Harrison and Granger (Whig , and 348 votes for Van Buren and Johnson (Democrat - a total vote of 702. This, according to the modern accepted ratio of voters to population - one to five - would give a resident population at that time of 3-5 'o-

'1 he strait cut was made so far that vessels could enter the river in 1834. The establishment of Chicago as a port of importance dates from then. The American, December 10, 1836, said :

"The first arrival this season was on the 1 8th of April, From then to December t the arrivals comprised 40 steamers, 10 ships, 26 brigs, 363 schooners, and 8 sloops. The 88 ships, steamers, etc., will average 250 tons; the 363 schooners, 100 tons each. In 1835 there were 250 arrivals - tonnage, 22,500 ; in 1833, four arrivals - tonnage, 700."

The canal project, which had been a project only for many years, was now an apparent certainty. Favorable legislation, both State and National, had placed the enterprise on a footing which warranted its ultimate success. The building of the canal had been actually begun. July 4, 1836, had witnessed the first breaking of ground at the Chicago terminus, and despite the shadow of hard times, the work was going on. The State was inaugurating a system of internal improvements which it was hoped would avert any serious calamity, and a strong faith was prevalent in the town that all would be well.

The city of Chicago superseded the town organization under a charter granted by the State Legislature, March 4. 1837, under which the citizens organized, by the election of city officials on the first Tuesday of the following May. which was the birthday of the most wonderful city that has ever appeared upon the earth.

The new city was built mostly along the south side of the main river. Lake Street was well built up from State Street to Franklin. The streets running north and south from the river were well sprinkled with buildings. A court-house, a jail, and an engine-house adorned the present square. There were seven hotels and seven churches. No church had a steeple, and, as one approached the city either from the lake, or south, out of the oak woods, no structure rose above the height of the chimneys of the town. The city lay low down on the marshy ground, many feet below the present grade, and was, altogether, to the sight of the new-comer, a most unsightly place to live, or even die in. One good bridge over the main river at Dearborn Street and a dangerous and dilapidated log structure over the South Branch, were the only means of escape to the open country on the north and west. The speculation which had been rampant for the past three years was gone, but a grim determination showed in the lineaments of each true Chicagoan's fare, which meant that although fortunes had fled Chicago was still left.

Ri. haki) Junes Hamilton, the first Circuit Court Clerk of Conk County, was born near Danville. Mercer Co., Ky . August 21, 1790. His parents were James 1.. and Sarah Jones Hamilton. James I.. Hamilton was born in England, but his parentsemigrated when he was only a year old, antl settled on the Savannah River, on the South Carolina side. At the age of twenty he went northward into Kentucky anil, having married Miss Sarah Jones, settled near Danville. In 1803 he removed to Shelby County, where Richard J. spent his childhood and youth and received his early education, chiefly at the Shelbyville Academy, then in charge of instructors of some eminence, among others the Rev. Mr. Cray, and the Rev. Mr. Cameron. At the age of seventeen yrnng Hamilton was placed as clerk in a store at Shelbyville. and afterward in a similar position at Jefferson, devoting some fifteen months to these pursuits, which seem not to have possessed much attraction for him. In 1818. he went to I jiuisvillc. where he studied law until 1820, when he removed to Jiwu-sboro. Union Co., HI., in company with his friend Atner Field. They owned a horse jointly, made the journey in alternate stages of riding and walking, and sold the animal which constituted their sole property, on their arrival. Here Hamilton taught school for some time, while continuing his law studies at intervals under the guidance of Charles Dunn, who was admitted to the Bar August 31, 1S20. afterwards achieved distinction in the State, and still later became Chief Justice of Wisconsin Territory. The Second General Assembly of Illinois, at its session of 1820-21, established the old State Bank. At the first meeting of directors at Yandalia. a branch at Brownsville, Jackson County, was authorized, and Mr. Hamilton was appointed its cashier, in 1822. he was married to Miss Diana \\. Uuckncr, of Jefferson County, Ky.. but then residing near Jackson, Cape Cirardeau Co., Mo. She was a daughter of Colonel Nicholas Uuckner, of the historic Kentucky family of that name. Mr. Hamilton was confirmed as justice of the I'eacc for Jackson Countv by the General Assembly January 14, 1826; and was admitted to the Bar March 31, 1S27. In 1839 he is on record as one of the itinerant lawyers Who rode the circuit of the southern counties, deriving a meager and precarious subsistence from the few and scattered clients who fell to his share in those early days of Illinois, when the cases were rare and fees were small. The Brownsville branch bank closed It* career about this time. Mr. Hamilton retaining to the last, as far as known, his position as cashier, the duties d which, especially in thme Inter years, were neither exhaustive nor remunerative. 11c now turned his eyes toward northern Illinois, and was elected liy the General AliHWlblyjU the firM I'robate Judge of the new county ol Cook. January 29. iSji. His friend Judye Young, of the Fifth Judicial District, appointed him Clerk of Cook County Circuit Court, and fiuvcrnor Reynolds, who was also specially interested in his welfare, COOHUfcudrwicd. him as notary public and K reorder. He arrived in Chicago early in March, lacing present at the organisation of the county on the Sill ; and removed his family from Itrownsvillc in August. He had at this time two children, Richard N. and Sarah A. He was appointed commissioner of school lands in Cook County, in October I and the tchotli fund remained in his charge until 1S40. As an illu<-tration of the backward condition of Chicago at the period of his arrival be used to refer to the limited mail facilities, laying that special care was used in reading the older papers first, that this aright be properly ad- he spring of ,h3?. In that year he became I lerk of u£ Com, " C um,n,s.s.oners Court, which office he held until ,837 feE* .1 schargmg the duties of his several offices, which, it is eil, - were more numerous than remunerate, he took an active m h

Colonel* Hamilton was one of the commissaries to supply them with I'<hk] and shelter ; and was indefatigable in his efforts in their bchalf.f He moved his family into the old agcncy.liousc about this lime, the fort becoming crowded with refugees, and being occupied after July by the troops newly arrived for the Black Hawk War. In the spring of 1S33, in conjunction with Colonel ()wcn. he employed John Watkins to teach a small school, near the old Indian agency-house, where he still resided, hut which he vxm aban. dootd. lor his own house, erected on what is now Michigan Street, between < ass and Rush streets, where he lived (or nineteen years! He was one of the voters for the incorporation of Chicago August 5. and for its first board of trustees five davs later. He was a subscribing witness tO the Indian treaty of September »6, and Hiv claim of $5110 was allowed.} In October as commissioner ol school lands, in compliance with a petition which had " received ninety-five signatures, embracing most of the principal chirms of the town," he authorised the sale of the Chicago school section. In virtue of his office of I'robate Judge he married John Rates, Jr., to Miss Harriet I". Itrown. of Springfield. Mass., S'ovcmber 13. He was one of the original subscribers to the lirst Chicago newspaper, which appeared NoTcmbW 26. In December he advertised $10,000 to loan, which was probably pan of the net cash proceeds of the sale of vthiHil lands, (wo months before. In 1834 he was president Of the board ol school trustees, and labored with his usual energy in the interest of the early schools of Chicago. In conjunction with Hiram I'carsoiis he I. ml out 420 acres at Canalport, adjoining what is now Krnlgcport. which, judging from ihe first preliminary survey, they supposed would lie the actual terminus of the Illinois ,V Michigan Canal, but which the final survey passed by, and left comparatively worthless. In this year ton he lost his wife, soon after the birth of her fourth child, who ante named (liana Its, in memory of her. Mrs. Hamilton was highly esteemed a» an intelligent and icalous Christian lady, arhoae active interest was of recognised service to the Methodist Church ol which she was .1 member, in its early struggles in Chicago. At this period he became largely interested in outside lands. als<i i . iny probably the most extensive owner in the county and the whole Northwest These were often purchased un joint account with non-residents, and perhaps at times with no larger interest on his pan than a commission, for the transaction of the business, but usually nude ami recorded in his name for greater convenience in transfer and negotiation, lie was married, March -5- '=>35. IO Miss llarriette I.. Hubbard, sister of Henry ti. Hubbard, of Chicago. Soon after, he became a candidate for election a> Recorder, ami published the following card in answer to certain caviling* about his many olliccs: " In 1S31 I received the appointment of Clerk of Circuit Court. Judge of Probate and notary public. I then moved to ChkagO, and found that no one wanted these offices. Soon after the gentleman holding the position «f Clerk of the County Commissioners Court resigned, and I was appointed. The office of school commissioner was then held by Colonel T. J. V. < iwcn, who resigned. Up to September, 1B34. that office has yielded mi- in all about $200 ; notary fees have not exceeded $50 ; probata fee have not amounted to' mure than $50. I have not realised from all offices, including that of Recorder, during four years more than St. 500. The whole number of instruments recorded, including a large numtier of Receiver's certificates for lands purchaxil at late sales, have been to July I, 1855, about 1,300. at about seventy cents each." He was elected Recorder by (>ri2 vote* at the August election, and removed his office toward the end .if October to the new building recently erected by the county on the public square. In December he became a director in the Chicago branch of the new Slate bank. The offices he held at this lime were, Jud«e of I'robate, Clerk of Circuit Court, Clerk of Commissioners Court, Recorder of Deeds, notary public school commissioner, and bank commissioner. He continued to discharge the various duties of these offices, with the help of deputies and clerks in the more exacting ones, as the volume of business in each required. As Clerk of the Circuit Court, his first deputy was Hcnrv Moore in 1834. succeeded by J. Young Summon in 1835. Solomon Will, who had married the sister of his first wife, became his deputy in 1836. and was succeeded by (leorgc Manierrc in 1637, who gave wav to Thomas Hoyne 1*30,. All these were lawyers, and nearly all young men. whi> served as his assistants until the professional business of each successively required his entire attention. Mr. Hamilton »*j elected a member of the new board of school inspectors for 'lie city of Chicago Mav 12, 1837. in recognition of his services and interest in the early 'schools, and of his position as school commissioner. Pinched by the financial pressure of 1837, he weathered the storm without becoming bankrupt or failing to meet his pecuni- ary obligations. !Ic lost an infant daughter, named Pauline, August II, 1830.. h»»ll»g W mother of the same name aW.t two years before. Besides these, his only child by the second Mrs. Hamilton was Henry IC, who is now t'lSs^j familiarly known as Colonel Hamilton, as it were, hv right of inheritance. In t^t° he was nominates! Alderman of the Sivth Ward In' tin' lk-mocrats, and elected: and was chosen delegate to I he Slate [tMHCIMtC convention at Springfield the same year. He appears frequently in the i <mtem|>orary notices of the Press as an active member in the puli- Bc meetings of the period, on all questions of social, political, educational and religious interest; and was frequently chosen on cr.mmiltrt-s of all sorts for the furtherance of public business. Iieing apparently one of that worthy class of men who suffer themselves to lie overburdened rather than shirk the res|MinsibiIities of active citizenship. lie was prominent in the meeting held in memory of President Harrison in 1*41. and was no k-s active in the reception given the same year to « iovrrnor Carlin in Chicago. Meanwhile the time had arrived for relinquishing some, of his offices, the increased duties of which had now made tbcm too unwieldy even for superintendence by one individual. In 1835 he had ceased to lie Judge of Probate; in 1*37 Clerk of Commissioners Court, and in 1S39 Recorder of l*ecds. In 1840 William II. Ilrown was elected School Agent, an office which entitled him to the care of the school funds o( Chicago, which therefore passed out of the charge of Mr. Hamilton with the close of that year. He still retained his position as commissioner of school lands for the county, for he is found to have advertised Section 16, Township 41. for sale August <), 1*41, as such. < hi the re-organization of the judicial system in 1841 Cook fell within the circuit of Associate Justice Thcophilus W. Smith, who appointed his s,m-in-law, Henry C Hubbard, to replace Hamilton, who resumed the practice of law, his clerkship terminating March 12, 1S41, February 7. 1S42. he lost his second wife, who left but one surviving child. Henry F... already mentioned; and in 1S43 he married Mrs. I'riscilla P. Tulcy, of Louisville, Ky., the mother of the present Judge Tuley of Chicago. He formed a law partnership with J. S. f hamhcrlainc, which was dissolved in 1845. In 1840 his firm was Hamilton iN; Moore. Francis C. Moore being the junior number. In 1847 Mr. Hamilton was again alone and so remained until he retired from practice in tSjo. In 1840 he was elected Alderman of the Ninth Ward, upon the resignation of Samuel McKay, ami in 1850 and 1851 as his own sue ccssor. He was Presidential Elector oh the Democratic ticket in 1S52, and removed the same year to a new resilience he hail erected on the West Side, "on Madison, west of Hull's Head," afterward the southwest corner of lloync lie devoted the remaining years of his life largely to beautifying this place, which was then regarded a> a suburban home. In 1X50 he was candidate for l.icutcnanttiovernor on the Democratic ticket, which was defeated by the new Republican party. Towards the close of 1S60. he became a member of the Sjuth Presbyterian Church, the denomination with which he had most intercourse in early life, and to which his wife lielonged. He died of paralysis, December 26, 1*60, in his sixtysecond year, leaving a widow ami live children, all settled in life. He was' buried with Masonic hom,rs on the 28th, having been long connected with the order, and high in its counsels and honors. Ikwas an officer in the first grand lodge of Illinois. At a memorial meeting of the liar held on the 25th Judge Slorris said: --Thenis scarcely a lawyer here now but owes much in his early life I" Colonel Hamilton. He look every young practitioner who came here by the hand, and helped him to business and practice." Judge Wilson said; " Mr. Hamilton was a gentleman remarkable in ill M)' particulars; of very high not;ons as a gentleman, and of unusual sympathies." Judge Manierre reported a series of resolutions, from which the following sentiments are extracted: " His death has removed one of our most distinguished citizens and pioneers, and the olilest member of the legal fraternity; we lake pleasure in liearing testimony to the high character of the deceased as a man and a citizen. His life was a career of active usefulness. He was foremost in all public enterprises for the advancement and prosperity nl tin lommunitv. We cnicmlicr ivith ;i isiire the social and genial qualities of our deceased brother. I Ic was a zealous friend; his heart was warm and his hand ready. In losing him the communily have lost one of its must valuable citizens, and this liar one of its most respected members." Twenty years after death he was characterized by Hon. Thomas Howie as being "of a generous and open nature, a good citizen, a kind man. and one of those men who were then shaping the destinies of the State."

AlXi sTINK Dkiuiat Tavi.uk was horn April 2*. 1700. in Hartford. Conn. His father's name was Solomon Taylor, and hc likrwisc was born in Connecticut. His mother's maiden name was Mary Hartshorn. She was of Welsh decent, but was born in Connecticut. Solomon and Mrs. Tavlor lived in Hartford until he died in 1*13. and Mrs. Taylor continued to live there until 1S33, when the subject of this sketch came to Chicago. Augustine 1 >. Taylor received his earlv education in the common schools and grammar schools of Hartford and afterward he attended two private schools. I le was then apprenticed U> the Irade of his father, that of carjietiler and builder. When the Presbyterian Church pulled down their frame church building to replace it with a brick one. Mr. 'Taylor bought the old one, anil converted it inlo a new Catholic church, 'This was his lirst experience in church building. In 1802, his father went to the West Indies, where he remained one ami a half years. During this lime voung Taylor, who was the oldest of eight children. t.nik charge oi the family, which lived then with his grandfather Hartshorn, al Columbia. Conn. In 1813, his fatlw-r was killed by falling fri>m a building he was erecting, and young Taylor once more became head of the family, which he remained until attaining his majority in April, 1817. In August. 1814, he was drafted and served three months in the Hartford Artillery, under I'aptain Nathan Johnson, in New London and Sayhrook. < )n June 7, he was married to Miss Mary ( .illctt. when the support of the mother devolved upon the younger children. In the fall of isis. he went to North Carolina, and lived in Fayelteville until the next July, during which lime he built a Presbyterian church. In the winter of 1 5 19- 20 he worked at Ml trade bl WUmingion, N, C . when his health failed, ami in the spring he returned home, anil for two years was under the care of a physician. In 1S25, he contracted to build the chapel for Washington College, an ICpiscopal institution, and he also built the bishop's house, Continuing in the carpenter business, he bought the old Kpiscopal church at llartbml. moved it on 10 another lot. put a liasement under it and fitted it up for a Catholic church. This was the lirst Catholic church erected by him. Soon after this, in 1833, he came to Chicago, arriving here in lune, and in a short time thereafter, commenced work on St. Mary I Church building, completing it in the fall of the same year, i'nder Rev. Maurice de St. Palias, he commenced, anil under Bishop t Quarter he completed the carpenter work on St. Mary's new brick church, Ihc lirst cathedral in Chicago, standing near the corner of Waluvdi Avenue and Madison Street He then in 1837 built St. James' iF.piscopal) church, and in 1846 built St. Patrick's. St. Peter's and St. Joseph's churches, the lirst on the West Side for the Irish Catholics, the others on the South and North sides respectively, for the ticrman Catholics. In the fall of this year he built a Presbyterian church at Naperville. III., which « as 'the last church erected by him.

Since that lime Mr. Taylor has occupied himself with his regular trade, accumulating property, and filling such municipal offices as he has Iwvn called upon to fill He was one of the original trustees of the town of Chicago, was an Alderman two years, and has Iw-en City Collector and County Assessor. In |5}i) he built the house jq,S West 'Taylor Street, in which he has resided since I *6n.

I'pon arriving in Chicago he first lodged in a loft on South Waler Street, he then removed to Wolf Point, next to Lake Street, then to Desplaines Street, and finally in i860 lo West Taylor Street.

Mr. Taylor belonged to ihe Presbyterian Church in Hartford. Conn., over which presided Parson Strong, who was succeeded by Rev. Ioel Hawes. I Hiring the lattcr's pastorate Mr. Taylor became "acquainted with Hishop Cheverus, the first Catholic bishop of Boston, Mass,, and was bv him converted to Catholicism, notwithstanding the cHorts and protests of Rev. Mr. Hawes, and the good deacons of ihe Presbyterian Church, all of whom thought him insane.

Mr. Taylor's first wife died in 1844, and in March, 1S45, he was married to Marv I -rovau, who died July Id. 1870. By the lirst marriage he had' five children, two of whom died in Massachusetts, and the other three he brought with him to Chicago. But one of these, Lewis l>. Taylor, is now living. By the second wife he had ten children, three of whom are living - James A., who was elected in ihe fall of 1882 lo the Illinois legislature : Harvey A., who is a clerk in the office of O. R. Keith & Co.; and Frank J., who is a student in Walertown College, Wisconsin.

JOHN BATES was born in Fishkill. Duchess Co.. N. V-, December 28. is.it. His father. John, was a farmer and was born on the same farm. His mother. Catharine McBride, was a native of Poughkccpsic County, X. V. He was bred a farmer, and received such earlv educational advantages as the public schools of the vicinity afforded. His tastes were averse to farming, and. at the age of sixteen he went to New York City, where he entered a grocery house on Hanover Square. He remained with this house until 1832. At that time the scourge of Asiatic cholera, which visited Ihe city in its most virulent and fatal form, completely broke up the business of the house where he had been so long employed.

lie accordingly determined to emigrate In I In- For Wot. Me arrived in Chicago, coming by the land route from Detroit. He came in company with one William Winston, an Knglish officer xime fifty years of age, who remained in Chicago some three KMN (hereafter speculating in land. Males tirsi MtpOdid at Charles Taylor's hotel un the Wesl Side Ithe old Wolf I'ouil tavern, formerly kept by Klljah Wentworthl. lie was at the lime u( his arrival twenty-nine years of age, ami unmarried. He «r» first employed by J. fc C llogan as Deputy rostnuster. He performed the duties n( this office lor three years, during which time he was the executive head so far as doing all the work - sorting mails, delivermg letters, and answering the questions of an«ious inquirers (or mail matter - could make him so. Hit reminiscences of theseearly limes appear elsewhere in this volume. He obtained a license as an auctioneer soon after his arrival, and, in addition to his duties »s Deputy Postmaster, did a fair share of auction business during the early years. He sold the school section, in lots and blocks in Oct. 1S33. Colonel Hamilton lieing the commissioner, and K. W. Casey, secretary. After severing his connection with the post-office in 1835-36, he continued his business as auctioneer uninterruptedly until 1*7', at which time he quit active business. During the period of his active business life, in 1853, he took tile census of the city. He was, also, enrolling officer for the draft of 1863-44, under I'rovost Marshal James. He built his first house in C hicago, on what is now Canal street, in the fall of 1S33. The lumber Tor the structure was purchased in tircen Hay, at a cost of $onn.

He married, Nnvcmlwr 13, 1S33, Miss Harriet 1C. fiould. Coloncl k. J. Hamilton, justice of the I'eace, |>ef formed the marriage ceremony. >hc was a native of Massachusetts, and was at the time ol her marriage a memlier of the family of Lemuel Brown, luiing MOM West with them.

The young couple moved into the new house, which, owing toil* close vicinity to the cabin of Chief Jo. (.aframboisc, did not prove a pleasant residence for the new and timid w ife, owing to the frequent anil unceremonious visits of the chiefs many Indian friends at all limes of the day and night. Mr. Ikitcs accordingly sold 0111 to Jo. and his wife, at n round protil, and his house was the last and most aristocratic home of Chief Jo. and his family, where they lived until their emigration to ihe West in 1636.

Mr. and Mrs. Kates are, as early settlers, the oldest couple in Chicago. They are still, after having celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, in good health, and with promise of many earthly years of life. Preceding the celebration of their golden wedding, the Chicago Times thus alluded to the aged and respected o mi 1 ile :

"On Tuesday next. November tj. Mr. and Mrs. Jnhn Males, two of the oldest settlers of t hicago, and perhaps the oldest couple now living who were married in what is now«lie city of Chicago, but which was a mere hamlet at the lime of their marriage, will celebrate the golden anniversary of their wedding, and pro|in«e U> receive calls from their friends in honor of the event at the Douglas House, corner of Cottage lirove Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, between the hours of four an. I nine o'clock in the evening. '1 heir mar. riage was announced in the lirsl ntimlxerof the Chicago DermxTat. which was published November 26. 1S33, and of which the following is copy :

Mr. Hates was born in Fishkill, N. December a*. 1*03. and Mrs. Rates was born in Charlcstown, Mass., February IJ, 1810. Hoth are yet vigorous anil in excellent healih, and enjoy life seemingly as' well as Ihey did when the nuptials were celebrated, fifty years ago. The' maiden name of Mr*. Hate was Harriet tioiilti. but at a very early age she was taken by Lemuel Hrown and wife to bring lip. and was given iheir name. Mr. Ilrown is still living in Chicago, and will lie ninety. nine years old Peccrnber 14. He came lo Chicago in 1833. and was a blaeksmilli at Ihe trovemmcnl works at what was then known asthe harbor of Chicago, which was certainly a very crude affair in comparison with Ihe protection that is now afforded the shipping interests of the great lakes al this port."

'The occasion was graced by a large assemblage of old scUrriand newer friends, who testified by their presence and many substantial testimonials to the esteem and affection in which this aged couple are held.

From the earliest period in tin- discovery and colonization of the Unal West, it was the dream of French explorers, and. later, of Knglisli trailers, to connect the waters of the Great Lakes with the waters of the Great River; thereby joining the fur-producing provinces of the North with what were to become the exhaustk-ss grain and cotton fields of the West and South. The mighty Father of Waters stretched two long arms toward the northeast and the Lake of the Illinois, now called Lake Michigan. More than one hundred and sixty years before, the public sentiment of the new Northwest was aroused to the necessity of establishing a grand water-way. French voyageurs anil priests had explored the only two c ourses which were open to future enterprise. One was by way* of Green Bay, the POJI River, and the narrow portage which separated that river from the Wisconsin and the Mississippi ; the other was from the extremity of the Lake of the Illinois, at a point far to the south of Green Hay. and thence over a few miles - if swamp to the, Dcsplain'es, a branch of the Illinois. It seemed to be foreordained from the configuration of the country, however, that the main artery of the water communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico could never be fixed at a point so far north of the central territory of the land as by way of the Fox atid Wisconsin rivers.

Thus, although for many years the Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvement commanded the attention of tinpeople throughout the great regions of the Northwest, from the time of Joliet in 167.?, to the period when the State of Illinois actually commenced to construct a canal, the Illinois and Michigan project was looked upon as an enterprise having the elements of grandeur in it; as something to appeal to the daring and imagination of those far-seeing French explorers - a short link by which the magnificent territory of France, extending from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, was to he bound in a continuous chain ; and, finally, it was viewed by the United States as a work of national importance, to be conducted in a spirit of national pride. To the mind of Joliet the grand idea seemed to be converted into tinfact, through a very meagre array of difficulties. Only a few miles of marshy land near the shores of Lake Michigan to be cut through, and the waters of the Atlantic from the north, byway of the Great Lakes, would become united at the south, by way of the Mississippi and the Gulf ! The great ocean, freshened along half its course, would wash the shores of a grand continent, bounded by the lakes, the river and the Gulf of St. I-awrence on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and the Mississippi River on the west. One hundred and sixty years is a long time to wait for accomplishment, and, during all this period, the idea which had been conceived by Joliet was being nurtured into active life as much through a realization of the character of the work and its results as from motives of individual gain and public utility. The mind of foliet seems to have been charged with' both of these forces. Hut before the first spade was struck into the earth at Bridgeport, Joliet s little

History records the fact* that M. Louis Joliet first suggested the canal idea to Father Claudius Dablon, superior of the missions of the Jesuits in Canada, in the fall of 1 67^. Father Marquette had accompanied

Joliet in his voyage toward the mouth of the Mississippi, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Having progressed south far enough to ascertain, from its general direction, that it llowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the Pacific Ocean, after a month's absence from the mouth of the Wisconsin River, they turned back and, reaching the Illinois, ascended it, and, passing over the portage, half a league in length, reached Lake Michigan. The eager Joliet hastened at once to Montreal with his maps and papers, to report the result of his discoveiies to the Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada, with whom the expedition originated ; but while shooting the rapids above that city his canoe was overturned, his companion drowned, and ail his documents lost. Joliet was therefore obliged to content himself, for the time, with making merely a verbal report t«> his superior, but his views on the necessity of a continuous water-way between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River are ascertained from the report of his conversation with Father Dablon, recorded by the reliable pen of that writer about a year afterward. He says :

-- The foutth remark concerns a very important advantage and which some will, perhaps, find it hard to credit j it is that we can quite easily go to Florida in boats, and l>y a very good navigation. There would be only one canal to make by cutting only half a league of prairie, to pass from the lake of Illinois. (I .akc Michigan) into the Si, Louis River. Ithc Desplaines and Illinois). The route to be taken is this : the bark should be built on Lake Krie, which is near Lake Ontario; it would pass easily from Lake Erie to Lake Huron, from which it would enter the take of Illinois. At the extremity of this would be the cut. or canal, of which I have spoken, to have a passage to the St. Louis Kiver, which empties into the Mississippi. The bark having entered this river would easily sail to the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Catarokoni, which the Count de Frontenac has erected on Lake Ontario, would greatly favor this enterprise, because it would facilitate the communication from Quebec and Lake Erie, from which this fort is not very far distant; and but (or a water-fall which separates I.ake Eric from Lake Ontario, a bark built at Catarokoni could go to Florida by the routes of which I have spoken. The fifth remark regards the great advantages there would be in founding new colonies to such beautiful countries and such fertile soil."

'* The river to which we have given the name of St. Louis and which has its source net far from the extremity of the lake of the Illinois, seemed to me to offer on its banks very tine lands, well suited to receive settlements. The place by which, after leaving the river, you enter the lake, is a very convenient bay to hold vessels and protect them from the wind.

For more than one hundred and thirty years after foliet, among other things, vainly called the attention of the French Government to the importance of obtaining communication between the lake of Illinois and the Mississippi River, the idea disappeared. Hut it was not lost ; for when the country began to experience

Congress from New Vork, and naturally interested in canal schemes, drew the attention of the Government to the question. There the matter rested for four years, when President Madison, in his inaugural of 1S14, adverted to its importance. The Niles Register of August 6, 18 14, said :

" By the Illinois Kiver it is probable that Buffalo, in New Vork. may be united with New t Means by inland navigation, through 1-akrs Krie. Ilnrnn and Michigan, and down that river to the .Mississippi. What a route! llow stupendous the ideal Mow dwindles the importance of the artificial canals of I'.uropc compared to thu water communication. If it should ever take place - and it is said the opening may be easily made - the Territory (of Illinois) will become the seat of an immense rommetvr. and a market for the commodities of .ill regions."

Then the idea slumbered for two years longer. With the exception of a lew river towns and settlements, the West and Southwest was still a wild, undeveloped country. Hut if there is anything which marks the pioneer of the West, and particularly of the Northwest, as a peculiar people it is the prematureness of their enterprise in all public works. Therefore it was thai, in 1816. the first step was taken toward the construct ion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. By the treatv held at St. Louis, August 24, of that year, tiie Pottawatomie* relinquished their title to the strip of land from Ottawa to Chicago, covering in a breadth of twentv miles, the navigable route to the Illinois and Desplaines rivers and the portage of the C hicago River.

Soon afterward Major S. H. Long. C. S. K , passed over this route, leading," as he says in his narrative, "through a Savage and roadless wilderness, via Fort Clark, and the valley of the Illinois River, to Lake Michigan." In September, he and his party asc ended the Illinois to the head of Lake Peoria in a small keel boat, and passed through extensive fields of wild ri< e springing from the river-bed and rising several feel above the water's surface. The current was so sluggish as to weigh down the straws, and the river continued in a similar condition until, in later years, the frequent passage of steamboats prevented the upward growth of the rice.

Reaching Chicago it was found that the river bv tnat name "discharged itself into the lake over a bar of sand and gravel, in a rippling stream, ten to fifteen yards wide, and only a few inches deep." The little Calumet, about fifteen miles south of Chicago, entered the lake, but at that time it was effectually blocked up by a high and dry sand bar. Major Long's may be called the first scientific exploration of the future route of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, and among the measures which took up the attention of Illinois the moment it became a Stale, was the proposal, from Governor Bond, for a regular preliminary survey along the route of the lands obtained from the 'Indians' Congress by act of March 30, 1822, granted the State permission to cut a canal through these public lands donating ninety feet on each side of it. It also appropriated * 0,000 for the surveys. The proviso attaching to these acts of liberality was merely that - the Stateshall permit all artic les belonging tne Unite(, States n r' act.on of lh* N-'tional Government was irar7nf £ "ovenor Cole, the successor of Governor liond. He was an earnest advocate of a iudiiwn.. 1 * - m * > , m °/ HTntl] and proposed various plans for the accumulation of funds to Yarnon the work; such as a revenue from taxes on the S tary bounty lands, lines and forfeitures, etc. He even urged the importance of opening communication with 1-ake Krie by the Wabash River, through Indiana, and the Maumee, in Ohio; and the building of the Illinois \- Michigan ( anal with all other proposed improvements in the iHirdersof his own State, found in him one of their ablest supporters. Karly in the legislative ses. sion of IS.-.'-.' }, resolutions were adopted in the House authorizing the committee on internal improvements to enquire into the practicability of a canal, empowering the Governor to employ engineers to examine the portage between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River, and estimate the cost of making a communication between its waters. From them originated a bill, embodying the Governor's views, as well as those of many other champions of internal improvement, and approved February 14. 1813. It provided for the appointment of commissioners to survey the canal route, estimati the cos) ol the improvement and report to the next Legislature. They were also to invite the attention of the Governors of Indiana and Ohio, and through them the legislatures of those States, to the Governor's plan to obtain communication with Lake F.rie. The commissioners named were Thomas Sloo, Jr., of Hamilton County, and Theophilus W. Smith, Emanuel .1. West, Krastus Brown, and Samuel Alexander.

In June, 1823, Major Long, while his expedition was on its way to explore the source of the St. Peter's River. Minnesota, again visited various localities on the route of the canal.*

" The south fork of the Chicago River takes its rise about sin miles from the fort, in a swamp which communicates also with the Desplaines. one of Ihe head branches of llie Illinois. I laving bH informed ihat this route was frequently traveled by traders, anil that it hail been used by one of the officers of the garrison, who relumed with provisions from St. Louisa few days before our arrival at the fori, we determined to ascend the Chicago Kiver in order l» observe this interesting division of waters. We accordingly left the fort on the -th of June, in a boat which, after having ascended the river .iIkhii four miles we exchanged for a narrow pirogue that drew less water; the stream we were a scending was very narrow. rapid, ami crooked, presenting a great fall: it continued so for about three miles, when we reared a sort of swamp, designated by Ihc Canadian voyagers under the name of le/vlillat. Our course through this swamp, which extended for three miles, was very much impeded by the high grass, weeds, etc. , through which our pirogue passed with difficulty. Olwerving I hat our progress through the fen was very slow. 'and the day !>cing considerably advanced, we landed on the north txank, and continued our courscalong the edge of the swamp for about three miles, until we reached the place where the old portage road meets the current, which was here very distinct toward the south. We were deligtcd at beholding fur the first time, a feature so interesting in itself, but which afterward we had an opportunity of oltserving frequently on the route; vir. the division of waters' starting from the same source, anil running in two different directions, so as to become the fecdrr* of Streams that discharge themselves into the ocean an immense distance ..part Although at the lime we visited it. there was scarcely water enough to permit our pirogue to pass, we could not doubt that in the spring of ihe year the route must be a very eligible one. Lieutenant Hopson, who accompanied us to the Desplaines, told us that he ha" traveled it with ease, in a boat loaded with lead and flour. I he distance from the fort to the intersection of the portage road and the Desplaines is supposed to be about twelve or thirteen miles the elevation of the feeding lake above Chicago Kiver is estimated atfiveor six feet; and it is probable that the descent to the W* ptaines is less considerable. The portage road is about eleven miles long; the usual distance traveled by land seldom, however, exceeds from four to nine miles; in very dry seasons it has l>een said 10 amount to thirty miles, as the portage then extends to Mount Juliet, near the continence of Kankakee. When we consider the facts above stated, we are irresistibly led lo the conclusion that an elevation of the lakes of a few feel (not exceeding ten or twelve,) above their oresent level would cause them to discharge their waters, partly, at least, into the Gulf of Mexico; that such a U^l Kjpeditic,, p. ,f,j .nd .(,;.

Thk Illinois & Michigan Canal

discharge has at one time existed, ever)- one conversant with the nature of the country must admit; and' it is equally apparent that an expenditure, trifling in comparison with the importance of the ohject. would again render Lake Michigan a tributary to the Mexican Gulf. Impressed with the importance of this object, the Legislature of Illinois has already caused some observations to be made upon the possibility of establishing this communication: the commissioners appointed to that effect visited Chicago after we left it, and we know not what results they obtained, as their rc|X;rt has not reached us; but we have been informed that they had considered the elevation of the/.r7'r7<r< above Chicago to be somewhat greater than we had estimated it. It is the opinion of those best acquainted with the nature of the country, that the easiest communication would be between the little Calamick and some point of Hie I»esp]aincs. probably below the portage road; !>ctween these two pomls, there is in wet seasons, we understand, a water communication of ten or twelve miles. Of the practicability of the work, and of (he sufficiency of a supply of water no doubt* can exist. The only difficulty' will, we apprehend, be in keeping the communication open alter it is once made, as the soil is swampv, and prolnhiy will require particular care to oppose the return of the soft mud into the excavations."

In the autumn of 1813 Colonel Justus Post, of Missouri, chief engineer, accompanied hy several of the commissioners, made a tour of exploration along the route of the canal, hut nothing definite was accomplished until the next year. During the fall of 1824 Colonel Rene Paul, of St. Louis, an able engineer, was also employed, with a necessary corps of men, and, accompanied by one commissioner, attempted to complete the proposed survey. The party was divided into two companics. Five different routes were surveyed, and an estimate made on each. The plan of construction was on the scale of the New York & Brie Canal, the highest estimate being §716,110, and the lowest $6 .,9,946. In January, 1825, the commissioners made their report to the Legislature, sending also a copv to President Adams, that the subject might be kept before the conntry as a national measure of utility. A few days later, on the 17th of January, the act was passed to incorporate the "Illinois \- Michigan Canal Company.'' hdward Coles, Shadrack Bond, Justus Post, Krastus Brown, William S. Hamilton, Joseph Duncan, |ohn Warnock, ct al., were constituted its president and directors. The capital stock was placed at §1,000,000. and the dimensions of the canal were to be such as would admit of the passage of boats thirteen anil a half feet wide, drawing three feet of water. The toll was placed at half a cent per mile per ton. Hut the canal association did not succeed in organizing a working company; so that the Legislature of 1826 deemed it proper to annul the act of the previous year. This action, however, was not understood to be an abandonment of the canal project, but merely a measure which should cut away all "entangling alliances," and enable any future management of the enterprise to build then work upon a new basis. In January, 1826, a memorial was reported to Congress for another grant of land. As remarked by Governor Coles, in his address of December, 1826, in the then fluctuating condition of the money market it was impossible to obtain a loan on long time A liberal land grant from Congress was what was required and expected. The Governor even suggested, "considering the favorable manner in which our application for a grant of land was received by Congress at its last session," that the Legislature should "commence this great work of improvement, predicated on a liberal grant of land being made by Congress, previous to the meeting of the next General Assembly."' Through the persistent efforts of Daniel V. Cook, Representative tn Congress, assisted, for several years, by United States Senators J. I!. Thomas, Ninian Edwards and Klias K. Kane, an act was passed March 2, 1827, granting to the

State for canal purposes " a quantity of land equal to one-half of live sections in width, on each side of the proposed route, each alternate section being reserved to the I'nited States. This splendid gift of Congress* amounted to about 284,000 acres, of which over 1 13,000 acres were fertile prairie land. The obtaining of this magnificent land grant made the building of the canal a certainty, and in after time was the means of lifting the State from the slough of financial despair. It made possible ami necessary the survey of Chicago Town, and flourishing villages were eventually born along the route of the proposed improvement. In 1828 another law was passed providing for tin sale of lots ind lands, fur t te appointment of a board of canal commissioners and for the commencement of the work.f Nothing was done under this law except the sale of some land and lots, and a new survey of the route and estimate of cost, by the new engineer, Mr. Bucklin. The granting of this domain in 1827 may be said to have been the first general recognition of the growing importance of the Northwest. Owing to the evident lack of home capital, however, the Legislature attempted nothing further to aiil in the construction of the canal for two years after obtaining the congressional grant. In January, 1829, an ac t was passed for the appointment, by the Governor, of three Commissioners who were to serve two years, and were tn be granted, in addition to their usual powers, the right to establish towns along the surveyed route. The dimensions of this canal were also fixed. The commissioners selected were Dr. Jayne, of Springfield, Edmund Roberts, of kaskaskia. and Charles Dunn. They proceeded at once to lay out towns at each end of the route. They first platted the town of Ottawa, at the junction of the Fox River with the Illinois, and in the autumn of 1829, ordered James Thompson, one J of their surveyors, to layout the town of Chicago, at the lake terminus of the canal. The commissioners thus having stuck their first stakes, in providing for towns at each end of their line, found it necessary to revise their surveys S Those of 1830-31, under Dr. William Howard, chief engineer of the topographical bureau, established the fact that the greatest elevation of ground on the plane along the proposed canal route, between the Chicago and Desplaines rivers, was only fourteen feet above the surface of the lake, the average height being ten feet; that at a distance of thirty-four miles from the lake, the surface of the Desplaines is on a level with Lake Michigan, and then begins to gradually fall, the descent between a point at the junction of the Kankakee River and the Illinois to LaSalle being at the rate of two feet per mile. From LaSalle to the mouth of the Illinois the fall was ascertained to be only one and a half inches per mile; hence it was argued that a moderate supply of water from the lake in low stages would rendei this portion of the river as navigable as the Mississippi. The country between the lake and the river is a level prairie, the soil a stiff blue clay, with a .substratum of "hard pan." The plan was, by means of a deep cut over thirty miles in length, to bring the waters of Lake Michigan directly to that point in the Desplaines where the levels coincide. This was to constitute the summit level. At that locality, however, the rock appeared so near the surface, it became evident that the cost would be great, and discouragement was thrown upon the whole plan, although all the investigations of engineers up to that time and in later years went to establish the fact that, .illicit an expensive work, it would prove the most effec tive ISut these considerations Of economy induced the Legislature in February, 1831, to pass an act for appointment of other commissioners who were to find out if the Calamic fCalumet would not do for a feeder, and to improve the mouth of the Fox River at Ottawa. I hey were also to report whether a railroad would not be preferable to a canal between the Chicago and Desplaines rivers. Upon second thought the State decided to build neither railroad nor canal, at present, and in March, 1833, repealed the acts of 1X29 and 1831. For the next two years nothing was dune towards building the canal. The discouraging discovery had been made in 1.S33 that it would require $4,043,000* to construct the canal ; consequently, as there was little money and less credit in the State, all public improvements languished for a timet Finally, however, on February 10, 1835, an act was approved authorizing the Governor to negotiate a $500.0=0 loan for the construction of the canal : (0 cause certificates of stock to Ik- used and to appoint another board of commissioners. The dimensions of the canal were to be forty-five feet wide at the surface, thirty feet at the base, and deep enough to float boats of at least four feet draft. The Governor was also authorized to negotiate bonds for the prosecution of the work, pledging the canal lands as security for their redemption. Hut owing to the small value then attaching to these lands the bonds were not easily negotiated. In

1835, therefore. Colonel Strode, of Galena, suggested an amendatory act. pledging the faith of the State to the redemption of the bonds. This pledge was given in

1836, under Governor Duncan's administration, another canal bill being approved on the <;''i of lanuarv. burdon S. Hubbard, William F. Thornton and William It Archer, and subsequently J. I!. Frv, were appointed commissioners. William Gooding became chief engineer. Upon the day of the passage of the bill the citizens of Chicago assembled and resolved that twelve guns should be tired for each man that voted for the measure, and that the two weekly newspapers should publish their names in "large capitals," while the names of the opponents of the bill were to be printed only in u italics." The work was to be constructed on the' plan of the " deep-cut," or direct supply of the canal from Uke Michigan through the Chicago River and its South Branch. Further and more minute Surveys were instituted and estimates in detail were furnished of the probable cost of the work upon an enlarged scale, viz for a canal sixty fcet wide at the surface, thirtv-six feet at the base and six feet deep. The estimate of the entire cost of such a canal was $8,6s4.ooo. To facilitate its construction, Archer"* Road " was at once laid out fro,,, ( hicago to Lockport, at a cost of $40,000. that amount being raised from the sale of lands The rnU.fl v°f.th,f t;xl,l-,H,iuir<- "as questioned, since the commissioners ordered the work to be inaugurated at llridgeport. Upon the appointed day Chicago was in a great state of excitement. The citizens and invited guests assembled in the public square, at the signal given by three cannons from the fort. Fart were to go by boat, and part were to form in procession and move, by the Archer road, to the head of the pro|H)sed canal The officers of the day were : J. II. I. Russell, marshal ; aides. 1". 1). Taylor, Robert Kinzie. G. W. Snow, 1. S. C. Hogan, II. Hubbard, and W. Kimball. At 11 o'clock \. M., the steamer "( hicago " started from Dearborn Street, her decks being crowded, The schooners " Sea Serpent," "Llewellyn" and other craft, towed by horses, followed in her wake. On fool, in carriages, or on horseback, the procession also moved to the appointed place, by the laud mute. Karly in the afternoon a large assembly was present at the " new house." on Canal-Fort. There Judge Smith, a true friend of the enterprise, read the Declaration of Independence, which was followed bv an eloquent address delivered by Dr. W. B. Kgan. Gurdon S Hubbard also spoke, contrasting the condition of the Settlement w ith what it was eighteen years before, when be first ascended the river in a canoe. After these addresses the people moved to the spot where excavation was tn be commenced. Colonel Archer, acting commissioner, made a brief address and broke the first ground. Judges Smith and Rrown, of the Supreme Court, and Commissioner G. S. Hubbard delivered the dosing addresses. The crowd then dispersed ; and the actual work of construction was soon to commence.

Following closely upon this auspicious event was the famous Internal Improvement " act of 1837. In addition to the task of supplying a thinly-settled Western State with a railroad system sufficient to meet the requirements of a populous F^astern commonwealth, the act authorized the granting of a $4,000,000 loan for the further prosecution of the canal. Extravagant expectations were thus raised that could not have been realized in the palmiest days of the State's financial health. Though as a matter of convenience, the canal loans were kept distinct from the internal improvement funds, they all failed with the temporary loss of the State's credit and the repeal of the act. In 183; the commissioners were authorized to sell lands, and the ( iorcrnor wasauthorized to negotiate a loan of $300,000 to carry on the work for 1837 and 1838, provided " said loan shall not be made until the whole of the means available under existing laws shall have been exhausted." But the "deep-cut " was going on. and by 1839 over one and a quarter million of dollars had been expended Rvery available means were required to supply the enterprise with the alarming amount of funds demanded. This proviso of 1837 being considered somewhat " cramping" in its nature, was repealed in January, 1839, am] .. few davs thereafter th< fund commissioners Of Illinois who disbursed the internal improvement fund turned over the $300,000 to the canal fund. And still the hungry enterprise called for more money t<» keep it alive ; so that April 1 1, 1839, the commissioners of the canal concluded to issue a large amount of checks, or scrip, payable in ninety days, out of the canal fund. 'The lesser denominations of scrip, or the " at-sight checks, were used principally by the contractors to pay off their workmen. Those of larger denominations, such as §50 and $100. were used chiefly in the dealings l>ctween the commissioners and contractors. What were termed irregular" checks, in contradistinction to the " regular " issues of Mav and August, 1S39, were also thrown upon the money market. If a contractor wished the commissioners to pay him a specified amount, or amounts, he was favored with one or more of these irregular checks," on the spot. If it was found that there was more coming to him, the balance was paid in one or more " regular" checks. The regular checks of the two issues were in denominations of $i, $2, §5. $10. $50 and $ioo, the August issue being confined to the latter denomination. The total amount of the issue dated May 1 was $266,237:0!' that dated August 1, $128,317.* These checks were put in circ ulation, for a temporary purpose, from the canal office at Lock port, and were in part redeemed at the Branch of the Stale Hank of Illinois, at Chicago, and a part were received for dues. As these checks were only intended for temporary use, it appears from the reports of the canal officers to the Legislature, in the year 1840, that they had redeemed and taken up all of both issues, except $822. From similar reports made in 1842-43, it appears that only $323 was then in circulation, and, from various subsequent reports, that this amount was reduced to $315, which it was supposed was lost or destroyed.

Although it was supposed that this scrip had been permanently retired, it would seem that the $5° and $100 checks presented at the Illinois bank for redemption, although they were not again put in circulation, were not cancelled. Certain it is as will be hereafter noticed , that eighteen years subsequently, after this temporary currency was supposed to have served its purpose, it appeared again to vex the State.