History of Chicago from Trading Post to Metropolis
External Studies Program | University College

Module 1 Chapter 1
Early Exploration and Settlement

Introduction

This first module, dealing with the history of Chicago, will attempt to show the importance of geography and technology to the growth of the city. Chicago witnessed the most dramatic growth of any urban area in American history. The original settlement, which owed its existence to the creation of Fort Dearborn, became the second largest city of the continent within seventy-five years. This dramatic change was the result of various developments in agriculture and industry as well as in demography.

In dealing with theses changes it is hoped that the student will be able to see trends that are present in the history of Chicago and in urban history in general. The resource materials to be used in conjunction with the written module should further illuminate these problems and historical trends. The Mayer, Wade, and Holt book provides photographic documentation for many of the points that will be made in discussions in the module. Chicago: Creating New Traditions by Perry Duis will help to explore the human process of the development of a great city.

Early Exploration and Settlement

Much of the history of Chicago is a result of the geography of the area. Chicago's importance as a center of trade and as a transportation center are to a large extent the result of geologic events that occurred early in the prehistory of the region. The general flatness of the plain at Chicago and the difficulties that Chicagoans experienced because of the high water table molded the early events and guided the development of the metropolis.

Millions of years ago a shallow inland sea covered the future site of Chicago and most of the interior of the United States. The living creatures that appeared in this area provided the ingredients for the limestone of the region that would be so important for the development of the Chicago school of architecture. The limestone provided the anchor for many of Chicago's huge skyscrapers, as well as serving as a building material. Chicago limestone can be seen in various areas around the city. Besides the limestone, the coal which can be found in abundant supply nearby is a direct result of the slowly receding shallow inland sea.

The next great geological event to shape the geography of Chicago, and whose result can readily be seen in the district, is the glaciation during the Ice Age. Four successive ice sheets advanced and retreated over the Chicago area. These glacial movements greatly altered the landscape, grinding down elevations, digging out and gouging the land in different places, and deepening depressions, such as the location of Lake Michigan.

Besides the deepening of the Lake Michigan basin perhaps the most important feature of the glacier's movement was the deposit of glacial drift and the resulting creation of huge moraines. About 13,500 years ago the last glacier left the Chicago area. As the glacier receded, water drainage was blocked to the north by the ice and the water filled the plain between the ice and the moraine that had been created by the glacial deposit. This moraine (the Valparaiso Moraine) served as the boundary of the new lake which covered the future location of Chicago. The lake, which was marginal to the ice, at its height reached an elevation of about sixty feet above the present level of Lake Michigan and worked to create the large flat plain that would be Chicago's most distinct natural feature.

The water of Lake Chicago (as the lake at its greatest extent is called) receded in stages, draining off towards the Illinois-Mississippi river drainage system and creating what would later be Chicago's main attraction for European settlement, the Chicago Portage. The water, as it drained off to the west, widened two outlets through the Valparaiso Moraine drainage divide. The first of these, the Chicago Portage, would be important for the early trade of the region; this same outlet would later contain the Illinois-Michigan canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, as well as several railroad passes and highways. The other outlet, formed by the water from the glacier went through the Sag valley, which now holds the Cal-Sag channel on the south side of the city. (See maps on pages 7 and 11 in Mayer and Wade.)

The topography that developed from the different geologic experiences of the area through time created a flat plain with a limestone base covered by glacial deposits and the deposits of Lake Chicago. The present rich soil of the region was caused by the weathering of wind and rain and vegetative growth after the further draining of the glacial ice from the area. As further evidence of the tremendous weathering power of the forces of nature in the area lay the magnificent sand dunes at the head of Lake Michigan in present day Indiana.

The drainage pattern created by the Valparaiso Moraine divided the area's water systems into those that flowed into the St. Lawrence river system and those that flowed into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi system. Millions of years were needed to create the geologic features of the Chicago area. The moraines which were created parallel and relatively close to the lake set up this divide and water flow. A few small rivers like the Chicago and Calumet river were able to break through the divide and flow into Lake Michigan, but the major rivers of the area did not, and instead of crossing the divide, flowed into the Mississippi system. The rivers of the area were sluggish and the drainage was poor creating many problems for Chicagoans. The layers of clay left by the glacier was the cause of poor drainage, which, along with the limestone deposits, caused the area to have a very high water table and resulted in Chicago often being a virtual sea of mud during a great part of the year.

Many of the opportunities that presented themselves to those who settled Chicago were a direct result of the aftermaths of several geologic epochs. Factors such as the portage, along with other uncontrollable natural factors like Chicago's weather, became obstacles as well as opportunities for the future development of the region. Some of the these were later modified or changed by man. For example, the flow of the Chicago river, which originally flowed into Lake Michigan, was reversed in 1871 in hope of cleaning up the already foul smelling stream. The creation of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal and its opening in 1900 completed the process delivering the waste of the city into the Mississippi drainage system.

ANSWER QUESTION 1 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)

The early history of the Chicago area is shrouded in mystery and legend. The area was often the haunt of Indian tribes who used the convenient Chicago Portage as a short cut between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river. Because of its importance as a water connection between these two bodies it became important as a trading center and meeting place for the various tribes.

Although it is probable that French fur traders preceded them, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet are traditionally considered to be the first white men to pass through Chicago and point out its importance as a connection between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan. On their return from an expedition in 1673 to the Mississippi river, the missionary and his companion were told by the Indians of a shorter route to the Great Lakes and hence up to Green Bay where Marquette hoped to pass the winter. On the advice of friendly Indians, they entered the Illinois river and followed it up past the Kankakee river then traveling northeast into Des Plaines. In September, 1673, they reached a small creek (Portage Creek), which empties into the Des Plaines river near the present suburbs of Lyons and Summit. They turned eastward into it and paddled upstream some 800 feet to its source Mud Lake. By paddling five and one half miles through the swampy lake they came to its east end where they portaged their canoes about one and one half miles to the west fork of the south branch of the Chicago river. Another hour and they reached Lake Michigan. From there they took the lake route back to Green Bay. Here at the mission of St. Xavier, Marquette spent the winter while Joliet went on to Quebec to report the findings of their expedition.

While Marquette and Joliet were making their way down the Illinois river to the Chicago Portage they came upon a village of seventy-four cabins near the present site of Utica, Illinois. The Illinois Indians who inhabited the village which was called Kaskaskia (not to be confused with the settlement of the same name downstate on the Mississippi) were friendly to the French explorers and invited Father Marquette to return and preach the gospel to them. Marquette promised to return in the spring after wintering at St. Xavier's.

The Jesuit became ill while at St. Xavier's and was unable to leave for the Illinois country until October 25, 1674. On that day Marquette left Green Bay with two companions and he arrived in the Chicago area in December. Because of the snow and ice the group was unable to reach Kaskaskia and instead wintered on the shore of the South Branch of the Chicago River about two leagues (6 miles) from its mouth. Here they found a log cabin which apparently belonged to two French fur traders who were about one hundred miles up the Illinois River at the time of the priest's arrival. The cabin, which was located near the present intersection of 26th Street and Leavitt Avenue, was probably the first structure constructed by Europeans in Chicago. The two Frenchmen who were referred to by Marquette as Pierre Moreau and the "surgeon" returned as soon as they heard of the arrival of the missionary at their small settlement. Marquette remained at the settlement on the river for the remainder of the winter and in the spring of 1675 he accompanied the traders to their post on the Illinois River to preach to the Indians. Marquette, who had been weak and sick all winter, found the trip to be exhausting and within a few weeks was forced to leave on a return trip to Michilimackinac, dying en-route. The priest was thirty-eight years old at his death.

Besides his important role in finding and bringing attention of the Chicago Portage to the French, Marquette also was the first to suggest the importance of the Portage as a trade route. In his reports the priest pointed out the possible advantages of cutting a short canal through the land divide between Mud Lake and the South Branch of the Chicago River. According to Marquette small barges laden with furs could then easily make their way down the river system eventually arriving at the mouth of the Mississippi River for reshipment to France. Marquette was among the first whites to see the importance of the Chicago route for trade. His enthusiasm for a canal would often be echoed in the future as whites saw the potential growth of Chicago.

The next great French explorer recorded as visiting Chicago was Sieur de LaSalle. In 1681 as LaSalle set out for the Mississippi he crossed through the Chicago Portage. LaSalle, who had been knighted by Louis XIV of France, was given the mission of taking possession of the Mississippi valley for the king. In 1678 he completed construction of the Griffon, a supply ship, above Niagara Falls. The Griffon, was also designed to carry French furs back up the French outposts along the St. Lawrence River. In the summer of 1679 LaSalle sailed for Green Bay where he left the Griffon to be loaded with furs. LaSalle and his contingent then proceeded by canoe along the shore of the lake, past Chicago to the St. Joseph River in what is now Michigan. Here at the mouth of the river LaSalle and his fourteen men constructed Fort Miami.

LaSalle and his lieutenant Henri de Tonty spent the next several years exploring the Illinois country and establishing several French settlements. The explorer lost his life in 1685 in Texas while trying to lead his men back from an unsuccessful attempt at establishing a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The continued usage of the Chicago Portage by LaSalle, Tonty, and others made Chicago an important route for the French. Although there is only spotty evidence, it seems that the French also maintained a fort at Chicago for a brief period during the 17th century. Both Jesuit and trader passed over the Chicago River in the ensuing year. Jean Francois Buisson de St. Cosme, a seminary priest, wrote in 1699 of his journey over the Chicago River and he apparently stayed at the same cabin that Marquette had used earlier, the next day taking the portage route deeper into the Illinois country.

The greatest enemies of the French were the Iroquois who were allies of France's European enemy England. The Iroqouis obtained various successes against the French in the last decades of the 17th century, even destroying Tonty's Fort St. Louis near the present site of Starved Rock State park. But these reverses were not great enough to extinguish France's claim to the Illinois country.

Illinois, which had been attached to Louisiana, was ruled as that colony was, by military law. Tonty was made the first military commander of the region and he was accountable only to France for his conduct. By the end of the 17th century it is not improbable that small settlements of French fur traders could be found throughout Illinois especially along the South Branch of the Chicago River near the cabin that had housed Marquette and later St. Cosme. The continuance of Indian wars made the area dangerous for permanent white settlement and the 18th century saw a decline in French power in the district. Already at this early period the Illinois country was beginning to export flour, meal, pork, beef, and hides as well as furs down the Mississippi River system to French colonies in Louisiana. Swine had probably been introduced to the region before 1700, while domesticated cattle were introduced in 1711. The Illinois country was famous in France and in Canada for its agricultural potential and its prairies filled with game. The passage from Green Bay to Chicago became very treacherous in the early years of the 18th century as the Sauk and Fox Indians, who had formerly been allied with the French, turned against them. This and a series of European wars, which were mirrored in America and which involved several Indian tribes who were allies of the warring French and English, helped to depopulate the Chicago area. Chicago became basically only a wintering place and a concentration point for military operations.

The outcome of the French and Indian War (1756-1763) saw the passing away of France's North American empire. While French control of the area passed into British hands as an outcome of the Treaty of Paris, which ended that war, French settlers did not leave the area, remaining in control of the fur trade at least for the time being. Captain Thomas Sterling took possession of the French headquarters at Fort de Charters for the British on October 10, 1765. In 1766 Captain Harry Gordon was sent into the Chicago area to inspect the area for the British and he commented that everywhere along the lake the French were still in control of the fur trade and indeed were trading up and down all the river system of the Illinois country.

With the British takeover, many of the French crossed the Mississippi into Louisiana, which in the meantime had passed into Spanish hands. The French who stayed on the Illinois side remained hostile to the new rulers and hampered British control. The British found it necessary to replace all French civil officers with English ones and also removed the Jesuit order from the area because of their influence on the Indians.

The area remained at peace until 1776, when war broke out between England's North American seaboard colonies and the Empire. During the war (1776-1781) the Chicago Portage was held in great importance as a connection to Canada via the Great Lakes. The British openly expressed concern over the possibility that the rebels might capture the portage and use it to maintain a military presence that could threaten the northern posts especially Michilimackinac and Detroit. Because of this, the British made a special effort to control the area around the south end of the Great Lakes, including Chicago. In 1781 with the end of hostilities the Americans controlled the major outpost of Vincennes and the Illinois towns, but the British remained in control of the lakes and the surrounding territory. Technically this area was ceded to the United States in 1783, but in reality the British maintained troops throughout the Old Northwest and often controlled the Indian tribes, because the fur trade remained in the hands of the British traders who had succeeded the French. The problem of control of the area would remain until the victory of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne over British influenced Indians and the resulting Treaty of Greenville in 1795. At this point, the United States recognized the importance of Chicago for securing the frontier of the new nation.

After their defeat the Indians agreed to cede to the United States East Ohio and three small parcels of strategically located land. One of the small parcels was a six square mile section of land on the mouth of the Chicago River. This parcel of land would today be roughly bounded on the north by Fullerton Avenue and on the south by 31st Street and would extend from the lake to Cicero Avenue. It was here that a fort was to be built in order to secure the frontier from the ever threatening British and to keep an eye on the Indians. This fort had been proposed by Wayne earlier during the war, but it would not become a reality until 1803.

In August of 1803 Captain John Whistler and a company of regular infantry arrived at Chicago from Detroit, with orders to erect a fort. Troops under the command of Lieutenant James Strode Swearingen left Detroit on July 14, 1803, while Captain Whistler and his family took the lake route to Chicago. The plans for the new fort called for a stockade with blockhouses, which would house a small garrison aimed primarily at Indian control. A government factory or trading post was also established at Chicago in conjunction with the fort. The first government factor was Ebenezer Belknap of Connecticut. Most of the troops and government officials connected with the fort or with the factory were New Englanders and this would have an important effect on the later development of the city. At the outset this was also important as the small community that gathered near Fort Dearborn consisted primarily of local French and British fur traders and Indians who depended on the fur trade for their existence.

The government trading post carried on a very lucrative business until the outbreak of the War of 1812. These years were in fact the high water mark of the Indian trade for Chicago. This is not to imply that private traders did not continue to trade with the Indians for furs. The erection of the fort drew many traders to Chicago. The protection provided by the garrison and Chicago's excellent location on the portage made the site very advantageous for the growing number of traders in the Old Northwest Territory.

In these years before the outbreak of the second war between England and the United States, the chief trader among those not connected with the government factory was John Kinzie. Kinzie was not the first to set up a government trading business in Chicago. The first non-Indian settler who showed any kind of propensity to settle permanently in the Chicago area was Jean Baptiste Point DuSable whose father was from a Quebec mercantile family and whose mother was a Black slave. It is with his establishment of a small settlement near the route of the Chicago River several years before the erection of Fort Dearborn that continuous settlement in the area can be traced. By the late 1770's and early 1780's there was enough trade to warrant permanent settlement in the area and this is when DuSable first settled near the mouth of the river. For about two decades DuSable carried on trade from his small settlement even though he was removed from the area for a short time by the British during the war because of his pro-American leanings. In 1800, DuSable sold his now substantial settlement for 6,000 Livre to Jean LaLime of St. Joseph. The house eventually was occupied by John Kinzie after his arrival in 1804.

Kinzie quickly established himself as the most important of the traders in the area. Besides carrying on an extensive trade with the Indian tribes he became partners with the son of the commandant of the fort, John Whistler Jr., and secured the right to provide supplies for the garrison. Kinzie also dealt in a lucrative retail trade providing goods and services to the local French and Indians. The trader became Chicago's first big scale capitalist, hiring out men to do work around the fort and the government factory as well as operating a service for transporting goods and renting out his boat. Besides this he also played the part of the slave trader and owner. By this time Kinzie and the other traders could take advantage of the considerable volume of trade crossing through the Chicago Portage. After the erection of the fort the Chicago area witnessed considerable growth with about 200 residents of mixed ethnic and racial background living in the area.

ANSWER QUESTION 2 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)

In the period between the erection of Fort Dearborn and the outbreak of the War of 1812 the area enjoyed considerable peace. The trade of the area grew and others besides Indian Traders and Government employees began to settle in the area close to the fort. By 1812, several farmers, most of whom were former soldiers who had decided to settle in the area, and a cattle trader appeared on the scene. At this time about forty inhabitants were gathered around the fort and provided the nucleus for the initial settlement.

On the eve of the outbreak of war between Great Britain and the United States, a bitter dispute broke out between the garrison and the small settlement. This dispute centered around the right to supply the garrison and on the sale of whiskey to the Indians. By this time Kinzie had broken his partnership with Whistler and the garrison was beginning to crack down on the use of alcohol in dealings with the tribes. The government factor of course was forbidden to supply the Indians with liquor thus putting him at a disadvantage with the private traders who continued in the illegal liquor trade. The military acted as an enforcing agent in this case and caused a great deal of bitterness in its relations with the traders. On the eve of the war the frontier character of the Chicago settlement became most obvious when John Kinzie stabbed LaLime and fled to Milwaukee, deep in Indian country, to avoid reprisals.

Another problem was developing that would soon shatter the peace of the settlement and in fact destroy it for about four years, that was the growing importance of Tecumseh among the tribes of the Chicago area. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (The Prophet) united the tribes east of the Mississippi River. Tecumseh became the political leader of the tribes while his brother supplied spiritual inspiration. The two brothers created an efficient Indian confederation and confronted the whites in the area surrounding Lake Michigan. On November 7, 1811, the whites attacked while Tecumseh was south, in an attempt to gain Creek support for his confederation. William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, (later President of the United States) advanced with a force of a thousand men and attacked the main Indian settlement of Prophetstown on the Wabash River near the mouth of Tippecanoe Creek. After beating back an Indian attack, Harrison's men destroyed the town. The battle of Tippecanoe foreshadowed an end to the peace that the settlers and garrison had enjoyed with the Indians.

Early in April, 1812, some Indians raided the Lee farm on the south branch of the Chicago River. Two men were killed in this raid though two had escaped to warn the soldiers at Fort Dearborn. Captain Heald who was the new commander at the fort immediately raised a militia and prepared for hostilities to break out. All the families gathered in the fort, but the Winnebagoes who had attacked Lee's farm had left the neighborhood. For the next two months the whites remained on guard as the Indians hovered near the settlement.

War between the United States and Great Britain was declared on June 18, 1812, and the important post of Fort Mackinac fell to the British on July 16, 1812. On August 9, 1812, Winnemac, the Indian runner, arrived with orders to evacuate Fort Dearborn and distributed the supplies of the garrison to the local Indians. Captain Heald immediately made plans to evacuate, but he was handicapped by the order to distribute supplies as it delayed the retreat and attracted a large number of Indians to the vicinity of the fort. A turn of military events in Canada further complicated the problems of the garrison and proved fateful to the small band of whites.

On the eve of the garrison's departure, while there was still a chance for peace with the locals and of an orderly retreat, news arrived from Tecumseh of the defeat of American forces under the command of General Hull in Canada. The messenger also brought word from Tecumseh to destroy the settlement. The local chiefs were at this point unable to control their young warriors who had been agitating for an attack for some time.

Captain Heald had counted on the friendship of the Pottawatomies and had waited for about four hundred of the Indians to assemble, hoping that they would escort the garrison to Detroit. The order to withdraw itself was questionable. Apparently Hull hoped to tighten the western defenses and he did expect an attack at Detroit. But the small Chicago garrison could hardly offset a major British drive for Detroit and it would in fact place the entire garrison in peril as they passed through Indian territory to Detroit.

Before the abandonment of the fort all the whiskey and ammunition that was not needed was destroyed and thrown into the lake. This angered the Pottawatomies and turned them against the garrison. On the 13th, Captain William Wells arrived from Fort Wayne with thirty friendly Miami Indians to escort the Chicagoans. The local Indians held a council and agreed to the destruction of the whites. Heald knew of the plans, but decided to obey Hull's orders and abandon the fort.

At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the garrison marched out of the fort on their way around Lake Michiagn. About a mile and a half away from the fort, near the present site of 18th Street and Calumet Avenue, the column noticed Indians waiting in ambush behind some sand dunes. The Miamis deserted and the column was cut in two. While Captain Heald boldly attacked the Indians, the militia and soldiers defending the wagons filled with women and children were killed. The main body of regulars was then surrounded and forced to surrender. Twenty-six regulars, all twelve of the militia, two women and twelve children were killed in the attack. The Indians took twenty-nine soldiers, seven women, and six children prisoner. This was followed by tortures on the lake and the scattering of the remaining prisoners among the Indians returning to their homes. The bodies of the dead which were left unburied for the next four years, served as a stark reminder of the Fort Dearborn massacre.

Chicago lapsed into a prairie wilderness for four years. The problems which had brought about the establishment of Fort Dearborn remained after its destruction. The Indians of the area remained under British influence and the frontier was still not secured for the young republic.

With the coming of peace in 1815, the United States once again attempted to establish its presence on the Western frontier. As before, the dual purpose of the new Fort Dearborn was to subdue the Indians and to restore control of the fur trade from the British. On July 14, 1816, two companies of troops landed at the mouth of the Chicago River and began construction of the second Fort Dearborn. By May of 1817, the fort was completed and a new settlement was well under way. In fact as soon as news of the re-establishment of a garrison at Chicago had been circulated traders and settlers, most of whom had fled the area, began to filter into the Chicago region. Among them was John Kinzie, who returned with his family and the intention of establishing himself as a silversmith. Kinzie's talents were directed in another channel as he became the Indian translator and sub-agent for the Indian agency at Chicago.

With the reestablishment of the fort came the return of the government trading post (factory). The community of private traders also returned to the area and this time competition from the private sector nearly drove the government factor bankrupt. There had been quite a bit of pressure on the Federal government to do away with the government trading posts as this enterprise was seen as an infringement on the rights of the independent traders. The government trading system was finally closed in 1822, bringing an end to government competition with the private traders.

The Chicago area fur trade went into decline around 1822. Prior to this time the American Fur Company enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the Indian trade in the district. The trade began to decline because of the continued settlement of the area by whites and the natural depletion of the trade after more than a century of exploitation of the area. The decline was foreshadowed by a change in the relationship between the Indians and the government.

The pressure of advancing white settlement and of the depletion of game along with the resulting decline of the fur trade made the tribes of the Midwest more dependent on the Federal government. On August 8, 1821, 3,000 Indians of the Pottawatomie, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes gathered at Chicago to meet in council with the government commissioners. The Indians were given daily supplies by the local agency and the chiefs were finally induced to cede the United States some five million acres in southwestern Michigan together with the right of way on the roads between Fort Wayne and Chicago. The $6000.00 which the Indians were to receive annually was paid at Chicago late in the summer taking the form of an annual fair.

The annual gathering of the Illinois Indians lasted until 1836, when following the Black Hawk War, the Pottawatomie were moved into the new Indian reserve west of the Mississippi. Most visitors to the Chicago area in the late summer talked with amazement of the gathering of the tribes and the fur traders and of the general atmosphere which pervaded the annual gatherings. The traders tried to immediately relieve the Indians of the money that they received from the Federal government. The collection of goods, whiskey, Indians, and traders created a spectacle that was not soon forgotten by visitors from the more settled East.

The closing of the government factory was followed in 1823 by the removal of the garrison from Fort Dearborn. For the next five years the military remained absent from Chicago and the settlement was allowed to develop in the manner of a small trading post. Alexander Wolcott remained in charge of the fort whose barracks were occupied by French traders and their families. In addition to the small French settlement was a small group of residents who gathered around the fort, many of them settlers from the East but some of them former soldiers who had formerly been stationed at Fort Dearborn. The settlement was still small, as can be seen by tax and voting statistics. In the years 1825-26, there were only fourteen tax payers and thirty-five men eligible to vote. The total taxable property was set at $8,000.00, most of which was in the hands of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company.

There was no town government as such until 1833, even though Illinois had become a state in the union in 1818. Local officials were appointed by Peoria County except for the office of constable, which was decided locally. The first election in Chicago was held on August 7, 1826, with Chicagoans voting for the offices of governor, lieutenant-governor, and congressman. In 1828 Chicago participated in a national election for the first time, supporting the candidacy of John Quincy Adams for president instead of Andrew Jackson, who had most of the Western support. This election showed the basic New England roots of the men who were settling in Chicago by this time.

Fort Dearborn had always symbolized the influence of New England in the Midwest. The fort itself had been named after a general from New Hampshire and the garrison was manned for the most part by New England Yankees. At first the ethnic difference presented itself as Yankee soldiers and a mixed population of traders gathered around the fort. Later, as many of the soldiers returned to the area permanently, the Chicago settlement began to take on the appearance of a New England town. One visitor in the 1840's made the claim that one could easily mistake Chicago for New England. This claim seems a little exaggerated, since Chicago maintained its frontier character for a great part of the 19th century and in some neighborhoods such as the Stockyard district this frontier atmosphere remained present past the turn of the century. Another factor entered into the life of the town quickly after its incorporation, that being the growth of immigration from Europe and the movement of the Yankee group to outlying settlements such as Evanston already by mid-century.

Still, in the early years of the town's growth the Yankees were the crucial factor in the manner in which the settlement developed. Yankees represented the majority of the early city's builders and developers. The early 1830's saw a growing number of New Englanders heading for the West as opportunities for advancement seemed to be dwindling in the more heavily populated and more stable Northeast. The obvious answer for young men was to follow the advice of Horace Greeley, who exhorted them "to go West and fill the continent". The depression of 1837 had a particular effect on this migration, as it forced many to try and make it in the West after seeing the economic devastation brought on by the financial collapse.

The story of "Long John" Wentworth is perhaps symbolic of much of the Yankee migration to Chicago. Wentworth had come West after graduating from Dartmouth in 1836. In mid-1836 Wentworth arrived in Detroit and tried to find employment. After advertising for a job in the Detroit Free Press and getting no takers the nearly seven foot, three hundred pound Wentworth set out for Chicago. On October 25, 1836, he arrived in Chicago and took lodging and dinner at Mrs. Harriet Austin Murphy's establishment at the corner of Lake and Wells. Wentworth soon became the publisher of the Chicago Democrat and led the campaign to charter Chicago as a city.

Another New Englander who would have an important influence on early life of Chicago was John Stephen Wright who was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and arrived in Chicago in 1832. Wright and his father put up a log cabin and opened the Prairie store in that same year. In 1833, Wright took the first census of the city and published a map of the area. By the age of twenty-one (1836) Wright had made $200,000; within one year the young entrepreneur was flat broke thanks to the depression of 1837. It was at this time that he founded the Prairie Farmer, which would play an important part in the history of Chicago and of the upper Midwest. Wright also became involved with Jerum Atkins of Vermont, inventor of a labor-saving device called the Atkins Automaton that became the sensation of the Midwest. The Automaton was a mechanical device that raked the severed grain from the platform of a reaper, thus saving much extra work for the farmer. Wright and Atkins produced and sold forty machines in 1853 and their business grew to 5,000 machines in 1856. The company soon found itself in trouble, as the machines were being returned at an alarming rate that eventually resulted in the bankruptcy of Wright and Atkins. It seems that the machines were being made out of unseasoned wood and therefore quickly broke down. After this adventure Wright went into the real estate business and with his Eastern connections was able to attract Eastern investors to the Windy City.

Perhaps the most successful plan for interesting Eastern investors in Chicago was the scheme of both Wright and "Long John" Wentworth.

Chicago's reputation as a convention center began on July 5, 1847, with the opening of the Chicago River and Harbor Convention. The Convention was a spectacular success not so much from the viewpoint of rivers and harbors, but from the fact that it put Chicago on display for the visiting Easterners. Some 3,000 delegates gathered at Chicago for the convention from eighteen of the twenty-nine states of the Union. From this point on, Eastern bankers showed a great deal of interest in investing in the new city. This investment would prove to be crucial when it came to the development of the railroads in the Chicago area.

Yankee influence was not limited to financial investments. Even the basic layout of the physical city began to follow the grid pattern established in New England cities. The few exceptions to this were the diagonal streets like Milwaukee and Archer Avenues, which actually followed old Indian and animal trails to the lake. New Englanders became the movers in the new settlement, besides men like Wentworth and Wright, men like Walter Newberry, who made a fortune in Chicago real estate, helped to establish Chicago's first cultural institutions. Newberry's pet project became the Chicago Public Library towards which he donated much of his private fortune. Other Yankees like Phillip D. Armour and Gustavus Swift established Chicago as a meat-packing center. Marshall Field who was born in Conway, Massachusetts, came to Chicago as a clerk at a small store and founded a retail empire in the Windy City. The first lawyer and the first doctor in Chicago were both Yankees, and the examples of Chicago as an extension of New England seem endless in this early period in the history of the city.

Perhaps the most important influence of the Yankee hierarchy was the matter of investments. This is especially true when one looks at the development of the Illinois Central Railroad. Although the impact of railroads will be discussed later, it is appropriate to look at the ethnic and sectional background of the investors in the system at this point. The company was chartered in 1851, two of its heaviest investors being Yankees from Massachusetts, including Robert Rantoul, the senator from the state. Among the pioneers of the Illinois Central was Stephen A. Douglas of Vermont, who would later gain fame as senator from Illinois and debating opponent of Abraham Lincoln. Even the Rev. Wendell Phillips, the Boston abolitionist, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, were investors in this Yankee western enterprise.

The Illinois Central actively recruited New England settlers for Illinois and the response was tremendous. The I.C. was one of the first roads to engage in large-scale advertising covering New England, using colorful posters depicting Illinois as another Massachusetts or Vermont with small cottages and trees. The Yankees were to get a different look as they approached the treeless plain of the Chicago district.

As Chicago was coming under Yankee influence the city experienced its last great Indian scare. The garrison had returned to Fort Dearborn in October of 1828, but with increased settlement of the area and with the continual dependency of the Indians on the Federal government peace seemed insured and the garrison was removed again in May of 1831. This removal of the garrison occurred just as Illinois was about to witness its last Indian scare and war.

Sauk attacks on white settlements along the Mississippi in the summer of 1831 were followed in April, 1832, by the return of the Sauk and Fox to northern Illinois. This return of the Indians to the district resulted in the Black Hawk War. The outlying settlements in Illinois were quickly abandoned as the whites fled to Peoria and Chicago. In May, a company of militia was formed at Chicago to escort the refugees to the fort. By June, help had arrived in the form of a body of Michigan militia, which was followed by the return of the regular army to Fort Dearborn. More troops arrived from the East and the resulting crowded conditions helped to spread an epidemic of Asiatic cholera that broke out in July. By August 1, 1832, there were two hundred cases of the cholera and the disease had claimed fifty-eight. After the epidemic had spent itself, the troops reoccupied the fort and remained until the final evacuation in 1836.

In the fall of the following year, the last great negotiations between the Indians of northern Illinois and the Federal government took place. The chiefs of the various tribes were called together to discuss the cession of Indian lands with the representatives of the government. The Indians agreed to give up their rights to all the land west of Lake Michigan and to a reservation in Southeastern Michigan and remove themselves to the west of the Mississippi River. On September 26, 1833, the treaty was concluded and all Indians were to leave the area within a span of three years. In 1835 and 1836 the Indians returned to Chicago to receive the payments promised to them by the government. Once again the fair like atmosphere pervaded over the small settlement, but the Indian was soon to pass from the area.

In the 1830's the town retained many of the characteristics of a frontier settlement. The streets of mud, the ramshackle wooden houses, and the transient nature of the population all reminded the newcomer of the frontier. Still, even in this early period Chicago began to take on much the same shape that it would later as a great metropolis. Although the first public structure was a pen in which to keep stray livestock, a log cabin jail was erected in 1833 and plans were made for other public edifices.

ANSWER QUESTION 3 IN THE REPLY BOOKLET. (Provided after registering for courses through the External Studies Program.)