GENERAL LAND OFFICE STATISTICS. Territories, the amount of land disposed of by sale or otherwise, on the 30th June, 1853. § Is the estimated quantity of 340,000 acres of the Des Moines river grant, situate in this Territory, as above. Not finally closed. 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. |