Excerpt from Chicago, a Strangers and Tourists Guide to the City of Chicago: Containing Reminiscences of Chicago in the Early Day; An Account of the Rise and Progress of the City; Description of Public Buildings, Churches, Schools and Objects of Interest; Etc Chicago's history is brief. From the time when two families constituted its entire white population to the time when that population had increased to 200,000 son's, but a short period of thirty-five years elapsed. The Arabian Nights' Entertainments contain nothing more marvelous than the rapid growth of our city. He who had prophesied thirty-five years ago of its present greatness would have been called a crazy fool. What more wonderful, more strange, more beyond belief, than the growth of Chicago's greatness. In the same half century when other cities, enterprising, prosperous, fortunate, have congratulated themselves upon having added ten per cent, to their population, Chicago has increased a hundred thousand-fold. In the old world, where an atlas published as far back as thirty years is considered to answer the wants of the schools and to give a tolerably correct view of a country's cities, the increase of Chicago must, indeed, be thought a miracle, and not, as it is, the me e result of enterprise, the energy of business men, the gathering together, the harmonious working, of a multitude, each one of which was a giant in the work he accomplished and the business he was building up. The first visit, by any white man, to the spot where now stands the city of Chicago, of which we can find any authentic mention, was made in the year 1678. In the spring of that year Frontenac, of Canada, sent out an expedition under Louis Joliet to explore the direction and source of the Mississippi river. That intrepid French Jesuit, Pere Jacques Marquette, accompanied the party as missionary. With five other Frenchmen, they left Mackinac in two canoes, on the 17th of May, and, reaching the Wisconsin river by way of Green Bay, Fox River, and a portage, floated clown to the Mississippi, on whose waters they found themselves by the 17th of June. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.