GENERAL LAND E.-Continued. Statement showing the areas of the several land States and Terthe amount unsold and undisposed of OFFICE STATISTICS. E.-Continued. ritories, the amount of land disposed of by sale and otherwise, and on the 30th June, 1853. Historical and Commercial Statistics of Chicago. We have just received a pamphlet entitled "The Railroads, History and Commerce of Chicago," containing three articles published in the Daily Democratic Press, which shows the Herculean aid rendered by railroads, in building up and maintaining the present famous prosperity of the GARDEN CITY. We have room at present to quote only a part, and condense the balance of the second article, hoping hereafter to furnish further data from this interesting and valuable publication. "The River and Harbor Convention which commenced its sessions in this city on the 5th of July, 1847, gave the second great and permanent impulse to Chicago. After the disastrous speculating mania of 1836-37, the city gradually sunk in public favor, till 1842, when the lowest point was reached, and business began to revive. The progress of the city, however, was slow till its advantages were in some measure appreciated and made known by the intelligent statesmen and business men from every part of the Union, who were present at that convention. To the editors, who were present, is Chicago specially indebted, for extending a knowledge of her commercial position. The opening of the Illinois and Michigan canal, in the spring of 1848, gave a marked impetus to our trade, and tended still further to attract the attention of the country to the Garden City. On the 22d of January, 1850, the Galena Railroad was opened forty-two and a half miles to Elgin, and in a very few months demonstrated the important fact, that, owing to the cheapness with which railroads could be constructed in Illinois, they would pay a large dividend to the stock holders. Eastern capitalists saw that the Mississippi valley was the place to make profitable investments, and in 1851 the chartes of the Illinois Central Railroad turned the attention of the whole Union to Chicago, and made her future pre-eminence no longer doubtful. The completion of the Michigan Southern and the Michigan Central Railroads in 1852, added much to the prosperity of the city; and the commencement of the Rock Island Railroad in the spring of the same year, its rapid progress and immense business, and the fact that Chicago is one of the greatest railroad centres in the country, have all tended to increase our population at the rate of fifty-seven per cent., during the past year-a ratio never before witnessed in the United States, except in California. With these improvements, there has been a corresponding change in the business of the city. In the fall of 1847, when we first saw Chicago, the business of our merchants was confined mainly to the retail trade. The produce, that was shipped from this port, was all brought to the city by teams. Some of them would come a hundred and fifty miles. Farmers would bring in a load of grain Historical and Commercial Statistics of Chicago. 49 and take back supplies for themselves and their neighbors. Often has it happened, that they would get "sloughed," or break their wagons, and between the expense of repairs and hotel charges, they would find themselves in debt when they got home. During the "business season" the city would be crowded with teams. We have seen Water and Lake streets almost impassable for hours together. The opening of the canal in 1848, made considerable change in the appearance of the city, and when the Galena Railroad was finished to Elgin, the difference was very striking. The most of those old familiar teams ceased to visit us, and we heard some few merchants gravely express the opinion, that the canal and railroads would ruin the city. The difference they have made is simply that between a small and a large business; between a retail and a wholesale trade. One of the principal Jewelry and Gold and Silver establishments in the city in 1845 did a business. of $3,000; last year the same house sold goods to the amount of $120,000. Drug stores, whose sales eight years ago were from five to six thousand dollars, now do a business of from fifty to a hundred thousand. The hardware, Dry Goods and Grocery business will show similar and some of them still more remarkable results. We have made repeated efforts to get at the exact figures in each department of trade, that we might make comparisons between the last and preceding years, but we are sorry to say that many of our merchants are very reluctant to give us any figures, lest the extent of the commerce of Chicago should become known, and merchants from other cities should come here and divide their profits. A more narrow-minded, injurious policy, in our judgment, could not be adopted. The transactions in produce, since the opening of the canal and railroads make but little show in the streets, but they are immense. We can name five houses, each of whose business foots up to from eight hundred thousand to a million and a half of dollars p. year. To see these gentlemen in the evening, quietly chatting on the state of the markets, at the Tremont, one would hardly suspect that their purchases for the day, had amounted to five or ten, or sometimes perhaps to fifty thousand dollars. We have some interesting facts and figures to present, and commence with REAL ESTATE.-The appreciation in the value of real estate in Chicago is truly amazing. To those who have always lived in towns and cities on the seaboard, that were "finished" before they were born, the facts, we are about to give, will be scarcely credible. They are, however, plain, sober truths, which, if any one doubts, he can verify at his leisure. Real estate in Chicago now has a positive business value, below which it will never be likely to sink, unless some great calamity should befall the whole country. Like all Western cities, Chicago has had her reverses. In 1885 -6 real estate had a fictitious value. The whole country was mad with the spirit of speculation. When the crash came, in the latter part of '37, hundreds in this city found themselves bankrupt.Real estate went down to a very low figure, reaching "bottom" in 1842. Since then, it has been steadily rising with the increasing prosperity of the country, and if the judgment of our most cautious, far-seeing business men can be trusted, it will never be any less. That judgment is based upon an array of facts, the accuracy and influence of which, upon the growth of Chicago cannot be doubted. In only one year from the first of January next, we shall have four thousand miles of railroad centering in this city, counting in most cases their extension only in a single State beyond our own; and what is of more importance, they penetrate one of the finest agricultural regions that can be found in any country. By that time, the Sault Ste. Marie canal will be done -opening to our commerce the rich mines of Lake Superior. The iron and the copper of that region will here meet the coal from our State, and build up the most extensive manufactories upon the continent. One of the finest canals in the world connects us with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and in addition to all this, Chicago holds the key to the commerce of our magnificent lakes, giving us a coasting trade when lake Superior is opened to us by the Ste. Marie Canal, of three thousand miles. The most sagacious statesmen, and the ablest commercial men in this country and in Europe have, therefore, a broad basis for the opinion that Chicago is soon to take rank among the three largest cities, and ere long as the second city upon the American continent. The rise in real estate, and the prices at which it is now sold in view of such facts are easily explained. The following table, made up from the records of the original sales in this city, will be found very interesting. The last column showing the present value of property, is the average of the prices at which they would now sell, as given us by three of our oldest and most reliable real estate houses in this city. Many of the owners we presume would not sell at these figures, and we have no doubt should any of this property be put in the market, it would readily command at least the estimated value given in the table. The price of "the lands" may appear enormous, but four of the parcels are now in the thickly inhabited parts of the city, and the valuation is probably below rather than above the mark. We quote only the sum total of the items in the table; the amount of which is as follows: Value of certain lots in Chicago, in 1854, $3,770,800 4,511 There is we believe but one of the above lots, and only a fraction of that, which is now in the hands of the original purchaser. |