Part 2

The work was begun in 1901. A small army of men was set to blasting and digging tunnels underneath the city streets,--a tremendous task,--and in 1904 the first subway was opened. Electric cars running on these underground tracks carry passengers from one end of the island to the other with the speed of a railroad train.

But what of the means of travel for those living outside of Manhattan? Years back, business men living on Long Island had to cross the East River on ferry boats. This was particularly inconvenient in winter, when fogs or floating ice were liable to cause serious delays. Besides, as New York grew, such numbers crossed on the ferries that they were overcrowded. Relief came for a time when, in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was built over the East River from Brooklyn to New York. This bridge is over a mile long. Across it run a roadway, a walk for foot passengers, and tracks for elevated trains as well as for surface cars. Two even longer bridges, the Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, have since been built between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Then, too, there is the Queensboro Bridge, between Manhattan and the Borough of Queens.

Though thousands and thousands daily crossed the East River over these bridges, men soon foresaw that the time was not far distant when ferries and bridges together would be unable to take care of the ever-growing traffic. Further means of travel had to be provided, and the success of the city's underground railway suggested a practical idea. As early as 1908, the subway was continued and carried under the East River to Brooklyn. Several tubes have since been built under the Hudson, connecting Manhattan with the New Jersey shore. To-day New York is building many miles of new subway under various parts of the city as well as under the Harlem and East rivers. Carrying passengers under water has proved as great a success as carrying them underground.

Over and above all these means of rapid transit, Greater New York has at its service ten of America's great railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad has an immense station in New York, one of the finest of its kind. Tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers carry its trains to New Jersey and Long Island.

The new Grand Central Station is the greatest railroad terminal in the world. The station is a beautiful building of stone and marble, large enough to accommodate thirty thousand people at one time. Between railroads and tunnels, bridges and ferries, surface cars, elevated trains, and subways, New York's rapid transit system is one of the best in the world.

With such advantages as a receiving and distributing center, it is small wonder that the city has become the nation's chief market place. It is without a rival as the center of the wholesale dry-goods and wholesale grocery businesses. More than half of the imports of the United States enter by way of New York's port, and its total foreign commerce is five times that of any other city in the country.

Rubber, silk goods, furs, jewelry, coffee, tea, sugar, and tin are among the leading imports. Cotton, meats, and breadstuffs are the most important exports.

Besides being the principal market place of the United States, New York is also its greatest workshop, as it makes over one tenth of the manufactures of the country. In the manufacture of clothing alone, more than a hundred thousand people are employed. There are comparatively few large factories for carrying on this work, as much of it is done in tenement houses and in small workshops. The growth of this industry has been largely due to the abundance of cheap unskilled labor furnished by the immigrant population of the city.

Second in importance is the refining of sugar and molasses, carried on chiefly in Brooklyn along the East River, where boats laden with raw sugar from the Southern states and the West Indies unload their cargoes. New York City leads in the refining of sugar as well as in its importation.

Added to these, printing and publishing, the refining of petroleum, slaughtering and meat packing, the roasting and grinding of coffee and spices, the making of foundry and machine-shop products, cigars, tobacco, millinery, furniture, and jewelry are the leading industries of the many thousands which have grown up in the city. All this is largely due to the ease with which raw materials can be obtained and finished articles marketed. Thanks to its commercial advantages, New York leads all American cities in the value of its manufactures and surpasses them in the variety of its products.

At the southern end of Manhattan Island is the Battery. In the old days the Battery was a fort. Now it is used as an aquarium. From the Battery New York's docks extend for miles along both sides of lower Manhattan and line the Long Island and New Jersey shores as well. The wharves are piled high with bales and bags, boxes and barrels. Ships from the South come with cargoes of cotton, others bound for England take this cotton away. Tank steamers from Cuba bring molasses; similar ones are filled with petroleum destined for the ends of the earth. Cattle boats take on live stock brought from the West, grain ships load at the many elevators built at the water's edge, and vessels from all the larger ports of the world put ashore goods of every description. Along both shores of the Hudson River are the piers of the great trans-Atlantic steamship companies, the landing places of the largest and fastest passenger vessels in the world. Here also are the docks of the many river and coastwise lines which carry passengers to and from the cities and towns on the Hudson and the Atlantic coast. Half the foreign trade and travel of the United States passes over the wharves of lower Manhattan.

The entire harbor includes the Hudson and East rivers and the upper and lower New York Bay with the connecting strait known as The Narrows. The upper bay, New York's real harbor, can be entered from the ocean in three ways--a narrow winding channel around Staten Island, a northeast entrance through Long Island Sound and the East River, and an entrance through The Narrows from the lower bay.

Among the islands in the upper bay is Ellis Island, where immigrants are inspected before being allowed to enter our country. On another island stands the splendid bronze statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World," given to the United States by the people of France. It is now America's greeting to her future citizens as they sail up the harbor.

What a different picture the harbor presents to-day from the one Hudson saw over three hundred years ago! The quiet undisturbed waters of that time are now alive the year around with craft of every sort, from the giant ocean liner to the graceful sailboat. Vessels freighted with merchandise, tugs towing canal boats, ferries for Staten Island, barges loaded with coal, river steamers, excursion boats, and battleships from far and near, day and night, pass in an endless procession where the solitary Indian used to glide in his silent canoe.

When the Dutch bought Manhattan it was a beautiful wooded island inhabited by Indians who supplied their simple wants by hunting and fishing. What a change the island has undergone since that time! The Indians have disappeared with the forest. In their place live and struggle vast armies of human beings gathered together from all the corners of the earth. Where squaws used to pitch their wigwams, giant skyscrapers tower up toward the clouds. The stillness of the forest has been succeeded by the noise and bustle of a busy city. The lazy monotonous life of the savage has given way to a ceaseless activity and hurry.

The twenty-four dollars which bought the whole island--less than three hundred years ago--would not now buy a single square inch in the center of the city. The hunting and fishing ground of the red men has become the heart of the greatest city of the Western Hemisphere.

=NEW YORK=

FACTS TO REMEMBER

Population (1910), nearly 5,000,000 (4,766,883).

First city in population in the United States.

Second city in population in the world.

Divided into five sections, called boroughs.

Carries on more than half the foreign trade of the United States.

Leads all American cities in the value of its manufactures.

One of the best harbors in the world.

Connected by great railway systems with all parts of America.

Connected with the Great Lakes by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.

A city of skyscrapers.

Wonderful system of underground, overhead, and surface transportation.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY

1. Why did the Dutch settle on Manhattan Island? How did the Dutch governor secure the land from the Indians?

2. What great ceremony connected with the establishment of the government of the United States took place in New York? Why was this ceremony held in New York?

3. What was the most important event in advancing the business growth of New York?

4. What effect did the arrival of vast numbers of immigrants have upon the city?

5. Why are there such tall buildings in New York?

6. Name some of the principal streets and their chief features; name some of the colleges and universities.

7. Give some facts about Central Park, The Bronx, and Riverside Drive.

8. Give some idea of the size of New York, its population, and the nationalities that comprise it.

9. Give a brief account of the means of transportation.

10. In what respects does New York rank first of all the cities of the United States?

11. What are its principal exports and imports?

12. What commercial advantages does New York enjoy?

13. What are the chief manufactured products of New York City, and how can it produce so much without many great factories?

14. Compare the harbor and city of to-day with that of three hundred years ago.

15. From a New York newspaper find out the foreign countries and the cities of this country to which vessels make regular sailings from New York.

16. Name all the railroads entering the city.

CHICAGO

"Chicago is wiped out." "Chicago cannot rise again." So said the newspapers all over the country, in October, 1871. And well they might think so, for the great fire of Chicago--one of the worst in the world's history--had laid low the city.

The summer had been unusually dry. For months almost no rain had fallen. The ground was hot and parched, the whole city dry as kindling wood. Then about nine o'clock on a windy Sunday night, the fire broke out in a poor section of the West Side. It seemed as if everything a spark touched, blazed up. While the firemen stood by, helpless to check the flames, rows of houses and blocks of factories burned down.

In a short time the lumber district was a great bonfire, the flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air. On and on swept the fire along the river front. Then the horror-stricken watchers saw the flames cross to the South Side. All had thought that the fire would be checked at the river, but the wind carried pieces of burning wood and paper to the roofs beyond.

The business section was burning! The firemen worked desperately, but in vain. Hundreds of Chicago's finest buildings--stores, offices, banks, and hotels--were swallowed up by the flames. The city had become a roaring furnace, and the terrified people rushed madly for safety.

Once more the fire crossed the river, this time to the North Side, with its beautiful residence districts. Here too wind and flame swept all before them till Lincoln Park was reached, where at last the fire was checked in its northward course; there was nothing more to burn. It had raged for two nights and a day, laying waste a strip of land almost four miles long and one mile wide.

Tuesday morning saw seventeen thousand buildings destroyed and one hundred thousand people homeless. The best part of Chicago lay in ruins. What wonder that men everywhere thought the stricken city could not rise again!

At the time this terrible disaster happened, Chicago had been a city for a little less than thirty-five years.

The mouth of the Chicago River had been a favorite meeting place for Indians and French trappers long before permanent settlement began. In 1777 a negro from San Domingo, who had come to trade with the Indians, built a log store on the north bank of the river. This store was bought in 1803 by John Kinzie, another trader and Chicago's first white settler.

The next year the United States government built Fort Dearborn on the south side of the river, not far from the lake. Though Fort Dearborn was nothing more than a stockade with blockhouses at the corners, a little settlement gradually grew up around it.

During the War of 1812 the Indians attacked the fort, burned it to the ground, and either massacred or captured most of the settlers while they were fleeing to Detroit for safety.

Fort Dearborn was rebuilt after the war, but settlers were slow in coming. By 1830 there were scarcely a hundred people in Chicago, then a little village of log houses scattered over a swampy plain. Fur trading was still the chief occupation.

A change was soon to come. The southern part of Illinois was by this time being settled and dotted with farms, and each year larger crops were produced. The farmers saw that they must get their products to the Atlantic coast if they wished to prosper, and the Great Lakes were the most convenient route over which to send them.

Lake Michigan extended into the heart of the fertile prairie lands, but its shores were almost unbroken by harbors. Men early saw the possibilities of the mouth of the Chicago River. It could be made into an excellent harbor with little expense, and if once this were done, Chicago would be the natural port of the rich Middle West.

In 1833 the government began improvements by cutting a channel through the sand bar across the mouth of the river and building stone piers into the lake to keep out the drifting sand. Vessels were soon entering the river instead of anchoring in the lake as formerly. Lake trade increased. More and more boats were bringing goods from the East to be distributed among the farmers of Illinois. The new harbor made intercourse with the outer world easy.

The growth of trade, however, was hindered by the absence of good roads. Farmers who wished to bring anything to the Chicago market had to cross the open prairie, which was wet and marshy near the town. Such a ride was an unpleasant experience, as often the wagon would stick in the deep mud, and the poor driver had no choice but to wait until help should happen along. Many preferred to take their crops to the cities farther south, where better roads had been built.

"We too will have roads," said the people of Chicago, anxious for more trade, and they set about building them with a will. Soon good roads entered the town from all directions, and over them the rich products of the surrounding country came pouring into Chicago.

Business and wealth increased, and more and more settlers arrived. Most of them came by way of the lakes, but many came in prairie schooners, as the immigrants' great covered wagons were called. By 1837 the population had risen to four thousand, and Chicago became a city.

Its growth from this time was marvelous. Its location at the head of Lake Michigan, its fine harbor, the resources of the rich back country, all combined to make it the chief commercial center of the Middle West.

In the early days, when Chicago was only a tiny village, there had been talk of connecting Lake Michigan at Chicago with the Illinois River by canal. As the Illinois flows into the Mississippi, this would furnish a water route from the East down the entire Mississippi valley. In 1836 the canal was actually begun. A few years later hard times came, and the work was stopped for a while, but it was finished in 1848. This was known as the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It extended from La Salle, on the Illinois River, to Chicago--a distance of over ninety miles--and offered cheap transportation between Chicago and the fertile farm lands to the south.

Though the canal was a success, railroads did even more for the city. The year that saw the canal completed also saw the first train run from Chicago to Galena, near the Mississippi, in the heart of the lead country.

Four years later, in 1852, came railroad connection with the East, when the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads entered the city. Other lines soon followed, and it was not long before Chicago was one of the important railroad centers of the country.

But while Chicago was fast becoming rich and big, it was not a pleasant place in which to live. The site of the city was a low and marshy plain, almost on a level with the lake, and the problems of drainage of such a location had to be met and solved.

In the beginning, to keep the houses dry, they were built above the ground and supported by timbers or piles. Cellars and basements were unknown, and the city streets were a disgrace. In spring they were flooded and swimming with mud. Even in summer, pools of stagnant water stood in many places. For years wagons sticking fast in the mud were common sights.

Cholera, smallpox, and scarlet fever swept the city again and again. People, knowing only too well that unsanitary conditions brought on these diseases, did their best to remedy matters. They saw that Chicago would be clean and healthy if only they could find a way to carry off her wastes.

First they decided to turn the water into the river by sloping all the streets towards it. Then came a severe flood which did much damage and showed the folly of digging down any part of the city. Chicago was too low already.

So the people hastened to raise their streets again by filling them in with sand, and this time they made gutters along the side to carry off the water. Heavy wagons soon wore away the sand, however, and the streets were as muddy as before.

Finally, an engineer advised the people to raise the whole city several feet; then brick sewers could be built beneath the street to carry the sewage into the river. At first many refused to listen to such a proposal. The undertaking was so great that it frightened them.

But as things were, business and health were suffering. Something had to be done, and at last the city determined to raise itself out of the mud, and work was begun. Ground was hauled in from the surrounding country, streets and lots were filled in, the buildings were gradually raised, and sewers were built sloping toward the river. It was a gigantic task and cost years of labor, but when it was done, Chicago was, for the first time, a dry city. It must be remembered that the area of Chicago at that time was but a small part of the present city.

Another source of trouble was the drinking-water, which was taken from Lake Michigan. The sewage in the river flowed into the lake and at times contaminated the water far out from the shore, thus poisoning the city's supply. It was therefore decided to build new waterworks, which would bring into the city pure water from farther out in the lake. A tunnel was built, extending two miles under Lake Michigan. At its outer end a great screened pipe reached up into the lake to let water into the tunnel. Over the pipe a crib was built to protect it. On the shore, pumping stations with powerful engines raised the water to high towers from which all parts of the city were supplied.

The first tunnel was completed in 1867. With the growth of the city other tunnels and cribs have been built, farther out in the lake, to supply the increasing need.

By 1870 Chicago had become one of the largest cities in the country. In 1830 the settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River had barely twenty houses. Forty years later it had over three hundred thousand inhabitants. The wonderful resources of the upper Mississippi valley had been largely responsible for the city's growth, and the rapid development of the entire West promised Chicago a still greater future.

Then came the fire, and to the homeless people looking across miles of blackened ruins it seemed that Chicago had no future at all. Had not the fire undone the work of forty years?

The first despair gradually gave way to a more hopeful feeling. Truly the loss was great--the best part of the city lay in ruins. But was not the wealth of the West left, and the harbor and the railroads? These had built up Chicago in the beginning, and they would do so again.

The rebuilding began at once. At first little wooden houses and sheds were constructed to give temporary shelter to the homeless. Help came to the stricken city from all sides. Thousands of carloads of food were sent, and several million dollars were collected in Europe and America.

Two thirds of the city had been built of wood. Now the business blocks, at least, were to be as nearly fireproof as possible. Tall buildings of brick and stone were planned. But such structures are heavy, and if they were built directly on the swampy ground underlying the city, there would be danger of their settling unevenly and possibly toppling over. So layers of steel rails crossing each other were sunk in the ground, and the spaces between them were filled in with concrete. Upon this solid foundation the first skyscrapers of Chicago were built.

To-day concrete caissons are constructed on bed rock, often from 100 to 110 feet below the surface, and upon these rest the steel bases of the modern Chicago skyscrapers.

Work went on quickly. In a year the business section was rebuilt. In three years there was hardly a trace of the fire to be seen in the city, which was larger and more beautiful than before.

After the rebuilding, the water question came up for discussion again. In spite of all that had been done to protect the water supply, the increasing sewage of the city, carried by the river into the lake, at times still made the water unfit to drink. The one way of getting pure water was to prevent the river from flowing into the lake. This could be done only by building a new canal, large and deep enough to change the flow of the river away from the lake. Such a canal was finally completed in 1900, after eight years' work and at a cost of over $75,000,000. It is 28 miles long, 22 feet deep, and 165 feet wide, and it connects the Chicago River with the Des Plaines, a branch of the Illinois River. A large volume of water from Lake Michigan continually flushes this immense drain, carrying the sewage away. The Chicago River no longer flows into the lake, and at last the danger of contaminated drinking-water from this source is past.