Chapter I. The Dark Before the Dawn.--The French

period reluctantly passed over; Chicago reappears in 1778, after 100 years of oblivion; J. B. Pointe de Saible; 53:--Various spellings of Chicago; meaning of the word; 54:--Treaty of 1795; building of the "Old Kinzie House" in 1778; 55:--Who was here then? Astor fortunes; 56:--50,000 square miles of solitude; Gurdon Hubbard's observations in 1816; Ouillemette, now Wilmette; Gen. Dearborn orders the fort built; 57:--John Whistler's company of the First Infantry comes in 1804 and builds it; John Whistler; 58:--The schooner Tracy arrives, the "big canoe with wings;" the account given, in 1875, by Mrs. Whistler; the pioneer, John Kinzie, arrives in 1804; 60:--State of things for the next eight years; 61:--Charles Jouett; 62:--Joe Battles and Alexander Robinson; the Indians and Indian traders; whisky; Munsell's History of Chicago; 63.