The Greatest Highway in the World Part 14

Pierre Navarre (1785-1874) was the son of a French army officer.

Besides Canadian French, he could speak the Pottowattomie Indian dialect, and had some knowledge of woodcraft and nature signs. In his calling of fur trader he made friends with the Miamis and their chief, Little Turtle, and when the War of 1812 broke out, offered the services of the tribe to Gen. Hull, as well as his own. The offers were declined, so the flouted Miamis transferred their allegiance to the British under Gen. Proctor. So good a scout was Navarre that a reward of $1,000 for his head or scalp was promised by Proctor. "He used to say," writes an old chronicler who knew him, "that the worst night he ever spent was as bearer of a despatch from Gen. Harrison, then at Ft. Meigs, to Ft. Stephenson (now Fremont). Amid a thunderstorm of great fury and fall of water, he made the trip of thirty miles through the unbroken wilderness and the morning following delivered to Gen.

Harrison a reply." He died in his 89th year at East Toledo.

The University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, with 1,200 students, is the largest Catholic school for boys and young men in the country, and the American headquarters of the worldwide Order of the Holy Cross. Notre Dame was founded in 1842 by Father Sorin, a Frenchman, who accomplished his object under great difficulties.

When Father Sorin arrived in Indiana in 1841, leaving behind a comfortable life in France for missionary work among the Indians, he found on the present site of Notre Dame only waste land covered with snow, and only one building, a tumble down log hut.

With $5 to begin work of erecting a school, he started in courageously, and spent five days repairing the hut and fitting it up so that one half served as a chapel and the other as a dwelling for himself and 6 lay-brothers. In 1844 his little college was chartered as a university by the legislature of Indiana. Father Sorin was elected superior-general of the Order of the Holy Cross for life. Besides Notre Dame, he founded many other schools and colleges in the United States and Canada. He died at South Bend in 1893. His co-worker, Father Badin, was the first priest consecrated in the United States.

The mural frescoes of the main university building are by Luigi Gregori, who was sent from the Vatican for this purpose, and who spent twenty years on this work and on the adjacent Church of the Sacred Heart. The latter is famous for its decoration, especially the beautiful altar. St.

Mary's, a large girls' school conducted by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, has also fine buildings of more modern type than Notre Dame.

Schuyler Colfax at one time vice-president of the U.S. and for years an intimate and trusted friend of Lincoln's, lived here in his youth, as did the late James Whitcomb Riley. The soldier who, during the Great War, fired the first gun of the American army in France against the Germans was Alex Arch, a native of this city.

Though born in N.Y., Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885) pa.s.sed his early years first in New Carlisle, Ind., then in South Bend, where his step-father was county auditor. After doing some journalistic work, he began his public career by making campaign speeches for Henry Clay in 1844. In 1852 he joined the newly formed Republican party, and served in Congress from 1854 to 1869. His name was widely mentioned for the office of postmaster-general in Lincoln's cabinet, but the president selected another man on the ground that Colfax "was a young man, running a brilliant career, and sure of a bright future in any event." In 1863 Colfax was elected Speaker of the House, and in 1868 vice-president. Four years later Colfax was implicated in a corruption charge, which though found groundless by the Senate Judiciary Committee, cast a shadow over the latter part of his life.

James Whitcomb Riley was born in 1853 in Greenfield, Ind. He spent several years as a strolling sign-painter, actor, and musician, during which time he revised plays and composed songs, and grew closely in touch with the life of the Indiana farmer.

About 1873 he first contributed verses, especially in the Hoosier dialect, to the papers, and before long had attained a recognized position as poet-laureate of the Western country folk. His materials are the incidents and aspects of village life, especially of the Indiana villages. These he interprets in a manner as acceptable to the nave as to the sophisticated, which is saying a good deal for this type of verse. Some of his best known books are _The Rubaiyat of Doc Sifers_, _Home Folks_, _A Defective Santa Claus_, _The Old Swimmin' Hole_, _An Old Sweetheart of Mine_, and _Out to Old Aunt Mary's_.

Among the important manufactories of South Bend are plows, sewing-machines, underwear, and motor-cars. The annual value of the combined output is around $60,000,000.

942 M. LA PORTE, Pop. 15,158. (Train 3 pa.s.ses 6:06a; No. 41, 11:22a; No.

25, 8:17a; No. 19, 2:22p. Eastbound: No. 6 pa.s.ses 11:46a; No. 26, 1:53p; No. 16, 2:57p; No. 22, 7:07p.)

The name La Porte, which in French means "door" or "gate," took its origin from a natural opening through the timber that here interrupted the wide stretch of prairie. The main street of the town is built on an old Indian trail between Detroit and points in Illinois. La Porte was first settled in 1830. It is situated in the heart of a region of beautiful lakes--Clear, Pine, Stone and others--which have given it a wide reputation as a summer resort. The lakes furnish a large supply of natural ice which is s.h.i.+pped to Chicago. The soil about La Porte consists of sandy "timber" loam and vegetable mold, especially adapted to growing potatoes, wheat and corn. Farm and orchard products were early sources of the town's prosperity. There are now numerous manufactures--woolen goods, agricultural engines and implements, lumber and furniture, foundry products, musical instruments, radiators, pianos, blankets, bicycles and flour.

975 M. GARY, Pop. 55,378. (Train 3 pa.s.ses 6:47a; No. 41, 12:06p; No. 25, 8:55a; No. 19, 3:08p. Eastbound: No. 6 pa.s.ses 11:06a; No. 26, 1:17p; No.

16, 2:12p; No. 22, 6:23p.)

The city of Gary was built to order. Fifteen years ago the site of the present town was nothing but a waste of sand-dunes and swamps intersected from east to west by the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers. In 1906 the United States Steel Corporation broke ground here for a series of enormous foundries and factories, first laying sewers, water mains, gas pipes and conduits for electric wires, as well as providing other improvements necessary for life of the city. The Steel Corporation had chosen this site partly because of its direct connection by water with the Lake Superior ore region, partly because of its proximity to Chicago, and partly because it was accessible to Virginia coal and Michigan limestone. The town was named Gary in honour of Elbert H. Gary (b. 1846), chairman of the Board of Directors of the Steel Corporation, and in succeeding years there came an influx of inhabitants which has made Gary the largest city in Northern Indiana. In 1906 the city was non-existent; in 1910 it had a population of 16,802; in 1916, 40,000; and the Federal census of 1920 showed that Gary now has more than 55,000 inhabitants.

Gary lies 30 ft. above Lake Michigan on a deep layer of sand, once the bed of the lake, which in prehistoric time extended several miles farther inland. The city has a splendid harbour which has been extended by the use of the two rivers--the Grand and the Little Calumet--both of which have been dredged and enlarged. The heart of the town is at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Ave., which are lined with handsome buildings, and it is said that within radius of 10 M. of this point, there is a population of 125,000 people, most of whom are engaged in the industries of the Calumet region surrounding Gary.

The early growth of the town was so rapid that facilities for taking care of the new population were inadequate. The congestion was extreme, and real estate speculators did thriving business. Today it is said that Gary has constructed public utilities and other improvements adequate for a city of a quarter of a million people, and there is little doubt that the population will reach that figure before many years have pa.s.sed. The city has fine public schools (the Gary system has become famous throughout the United States), a Y.M.C.A. (costing $250,000), and an excellent library. The City Hall and the Union station are likewise notable for the scale on which they are built.

Although Gary was built to order by the Steel Corporation, its officials did not undertake to control or direct the civic affairs of the town. Thus, the development of the Gary system of education was a natural, rather than an artificial one. There was every opportunity for an altogether new departure, in view of the inadequacy of school facilities for the fast growing population.

The new system was introduced into the Gary schools by William Wirt, who had already made some experiments in this direction before 1907 (when he was called to Gary) at Bluffton, Ind., where he had been in charge of the public schools. Some of the fundamental principles of Mr. Wirt's plan are that "students learn best by doing" and that "all knowledge can be applied."

Latin, for example, is not studied for mental discipline, but for actual use. The system also involves keeping the school buildings in use for entertainment or instruction throughout the entire day and evening, and numerous courses are provided for adults. It has been said that in Gary "every third person goes to school." The overcrowded condition in the N.Y.C. Schools led to an invitation to Mr. Wirt to introduce the Gary plan into several school districts in the boroughs of Bronx and Brooklyn in 1914-15. The experiment aroused bitter opposition on the part of those who suspected it was a sort of "conspiracy" to educate the poorer children for mechanical rather than clerical occupations in the interest of "capitalistic industry," and a year or two later N.Y.

returned to the old methods of education.

The plant of the United States Steel Corporation, located between the Grand Calumet River and the Lake, have the most complete system of steel mills west of Pittsburgh. Within the first ten years after the founding of Gary the Steel Corporation had spent $85,000,000 in building furnaces, ovens, various foundries and shops, pumping stations, electric power plants, benzol plants, Portland cement works, and ore docks. Since that time the Steel Corporation's investment here has practically been doubled, and a number of subsidiary companies have built up great industries in Gary. The Universal Portland Cement here, for example, is said to be the largest plant of its kind in the world (daily capacity 30,000 barrels).

The United States Steel Corporation, organized in 1901 with a capitalization of about $1,400,000, was an amalgamation of ten independent companies, of which the Carnegie Steel Co. and the Federal Steel Co. (of which Elbert H. Gary was president) were perhaps the most important. The consolidation was effected under the auspices of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, who negotiated the purchase of Andrew Carnegie's properties for $303,450,000 in 5 per cent steel corporation bonds and $188,556,160 in common and preferred stock. "The Value of the Carnegie Steel Co.," says A.

Cotter in _The Authentic History of the U.S. Steel Corporation_, "was $75,000,000, though as a going concern it was worth $250,000,000. Its earnings in a single year had been as much as $40,000,000." Mr. Carnegie thereupon retired from business.

On Jan. 1, 1920, the corporation had a surplus of $493,048,000, and the book value of the tangible a.s.sets was $1,917,730,000.

There were then outstanding $568,728,000 in bonds and $868,583,000 in common and preferred stock. In 1919 strikes and other causes reduced the production of finished steel to about 75 per cent of capacity, and at the beginning of 1920 the corporation had unfilled orders amounting to more than 8,000,000 tons. The gross business of the corporation amounted to $1,448,557,835 in 1919 as against $1,744,312,163 the year before.

The corporation's income for 1919, less operating expenses and taxes, was in the neighborhood of $150,000,000.

Statistics of production for 1918 and 1919 are given below:

Production in Tons 1919 1918 Iron ore mined 25,423,000 28,332,000 Coal 28,893,000 31,748,000 Pig iron 13,481,738 15,700,561 Steel ingots 17,200,000 19,583,000 Finished steel 11,997,000 13,849,483 Cement 9,112,000 7,287,000

No. of employees 252,106 268,710 Total wages $479,548,040 $452,663,524

The average wage per day (excluding general administration and selling force) was $6.12 in 1919 and $5.33 the year before. In 1919 the corporation spent $1,131,446 for safety work and the like, and (1?)5 hospitals, with a staff of 162 physicians and surgeons, were maintained.

The various works controlled by the Steel Corporation include the Carnegie Steel Co, the Illinois Steel Co., the Universal Portland Cement Co., the Indiana Steel Co., the Minnesota Steel Co., the Lorain Steel Co., the National Tube Co., the American Steel and Wire Co., the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co., the Sharon Tin Plate Co., the American Bridge Co., the Union Steel Co., the Clairton Steel Co., the Clairton By-Product Co., the Canadian Steel Corporation, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., the Fairfield Steel Co. and the Chickasaw s.h.i.+pbuilding & Car Co.

1001 M. CHICAGO, Pop. 2,701,705. (Train 3 arrives 7:40a; No. 41, 1:00p; No. 25, 9:45a; No. 19, 4:00p. Eastbound: No. 6 leaves 10:25a; No. 26, 12:40p; No. 16, 1:30p; No. 22, 5:30p.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chicago in 1820]

The old Chicago portage was used by the Indians in travelling by canoe from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi and then to the Gulf of Mexico, long before any white man had visited the site of the present city on the sh.o.r.e of Lake Michigan. The portage connected the Chicago River, then flowing into Lake Michigan, with the Des Plaines River, flowing into the Illinois River, which in turn discharges into the Mississippi opposite a point not far from St. Louis. It is probable that the first white men to visit the city of Chicago were Father Marquette (1637-1675) and Louis Joliet, though La Salle may have used the portage at an earlier date in the course of one of his journeys of exploration. It is certain, however, that La Salle established a fort at Starved Rock, some miles south of the present city of Chicago, in 1682; and it is in the journal of one of La Salle's followers, Joutel, that we find the first explanation of the name "Chicago." Joutel says that Chicago took its name from the profusion of garlic growing in the surrounding woods.

Joutel and his party were in Chicago in March, 1688, when lack of provision forced them to rely on whatever they could find in the woods. It appears that Providence furnished them with a "kind of manna" to eat with their meal. This seems to have been maple sap.

They also procured in the woods garlic and other plants. The name Chicago may have come from the Indian word _ske-kog-ong_, wild onion place.

After the departure of Father Marquette several other mission settlements were attempted at Chicago, but these were all abandoned in 1700 and for almost a century Chicago ceased to be a place of residence for white men.

The strategic value of Chicago as a centre of control for the regions of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River had long been recognized, but it was not until after the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), that the government took active steps to establish a fort here. The treaty made by Gen. Wayne with the Indians after that battle provided for the cession to the American government of a tract of land at the southern end of Lake Michigan including the site of the present city. In 1803 Ft.

Dearborn, a block-house and stockade, was constructed by the government on the southern bank of the Chicago River near the present site of the Michigan bridge.

In 1812, during the Indian War of Tec.u.mseh, the Ft. Dearborn ma.s.sacre occurred. The garrison, 93 persons in all, including several women and children, were attempting to escape to Ft. Wayne, when they were set upon by some 500 Indians about a mile and a half south of the fort (southern part of the present Grant Park). The Americans killed included 39 soldiers, 2 women and 12 children. The survivors were captured by the Indians and though some were tortured and put to death, the majority finally escaped to civilization A tablet now marks the site of the old fort and a monument has been erected near Grant Park commemorating the ma.s.sacre. In 1816 the fort was rebuilt and a settlement rapidly grew up around it. By 1837 the Federal government had begun the improvement of the harbor and had started the Illinois and Michigan Ca.n.a.l. The lake trade grew to enormous proportions, and the building of the railways, especially the New York Central Lines connecting Chicago with the East, as well as other lines connecting it with the Northwest, and the South, gave the city an extraordinary impetus.

At the Republican convention held at Chicago in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the presidency and during the Civil War, Camp Douglas, a large prison camp for Confederate prisoners, was maintained here.

The Republican national convention, which made "extension of slavery" the essential plank of the party platform, met at Chicago on the 26th of May, 1860. At this time William H. Seward was the most conspicuous Republican in national politics; Salmon P. Chase also had long been in the forefront of the political contest against slavery. Both had won greater fame than Lincoln, and each hoped to be nominated for president. Chase, however, had little chance, and the contest was virtually between Seward and Lincoln, who by many was considered more "available" because he could, and Seward could not, carry the votes of certain doubtful states. Lincoln's name was presented by Illinois and seconded by Indiana. At first Seward had the stronger support, but on the fourth ballot Lincoln was given 334 (233 being necessary) and the nomination was then made unanimous. The convention was singularly tumultuous and noisy: large claques were hired by both Lincoln's and Seward's managers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Block House at Chicago in 1856]

The great fire in 1871 was the most serious check to the city's constantly increasing prosperity, but recovery from this disaster was rapid. The solidity of this prosperity was demonstrated during the financial panic of 1873, when Chicago banks alone among those of the large cities of the country continued steadily to pay out current funds.

The precise cause of the great fire is not known, but it is popularly attributed to Mrs. O'Leary's cow, which according to tradition "kicked over the lamp" and started the flames. The fire spread over an area of 3-1/3 Sq. M., and destroyed 1,700 buildings and property valued at $196,000,000. Almost 100,000 people were made homeless, and 250 lost their lives. The relief contributions from the United States and abroad amounted to nearly $5,000,000, of which about $500,000 was contributed in England. The fire at least gave an opportunity to rebuild the old wooden city with brick and stone.

The later history has been marked on the one hand by serious labor troubles and on the other by the remarkable achievement of the World's Columbian Exposition (1893). The labor outbreaks included several strikes in the packing industry, the Haymarket Riot in 1886, and the Pullman Strike in 1894.

The Haymarket Riot grew out of a strike in the McCormick harvester works. Hostility against the employers had been fomented by a group of so-called International Anarchists and the struggle culminated at the Anarchist meeting at the Haymarket Square. When the authorities said that the speeches were too revolutionary to be allowed to continue and the police undertook to disperse the meeting, a bomb was thrown and seven policemen were killed. Seven anarchists were ultimately convicted as being conspirators and accomplices and were condemned to death. Four were hanged, one committed suicide, two had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, and eight anarchists were sentenced to imprisonment for 15 years. In 1893 Gov. Altgeld pardoned those still in prison.

The leader of the Pullman strike, which began in the Pullman car works, was Eugene Debs (1855), who was the Socialist candidate for President in the election of 1920, although he was then in the penitentiary at Atlanta for violating the Espionage Act during the World War. The strike spread to the railways, and caused great disorder until President Cleveland dispatched federal troops to Chicago.

The exposition was an artistic and educational triumph, and its influence on the progress of the city cannot be overestimated The exposition gave Chicago an artistic conscience one of the direct results of which was the organization of the City Plan Commission, a body which is at work reshaping the city in the interests of greater beauty and utility.

The exposition commemorated the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. It was held in Jackson Park, on the south side of the city, and covered an area of 686 acres. The buildings (planned by a commission of architects of which D.H.

Burnham was the chief) formed a collection of remarkable beauty, to which the grounds (planned by F.L. Olmsted), intersected by lagoons and bordered by a lake, lent an appropriate setting. The fair was opened to the public May 1, 1893, and the total number of admissions was 27,500,000. The total cost was more than $33,000,000.

Owing largely to its central position and to its excellent railroad facilities, Chicago has been a favorite city for national political conventions ever since the nomination of Lincoln Others nominated here have been Grant (1866 and 1872), Garfield (1880), Cleveland (1884 and 1892). Harrison (1888), Roosevelt (1904), Taft (1908) and Harding (1920); and in addition a number of candidates who were unsuccessful including Blaine (1884), Harrison (1892), Bryan (1896), Taft (1912), Roosevelt (1912), and Hughes (1916).