THE STREETS AND THE CHOLERA AGAIN.
The worst is probably over. Our citizens begin to breathe more freely, the panic which began on Friday last and continued up to Monday morning, has very materially died away; the delightfully cool and pleasant weather which we now enjoy has brought fresh life and hope to everyone; business begins to recover from the momentary depression which it endured; the health of the city is decidedly better; and Chicago is herself again. On the whole, people begin to believe that they were worse scared than hurt, and that there are a great many worse places both to live and die in, than the Garden City.

But because[?] this is overdue[?] [two doubtful words. - jr], and because we have most probably passed through the worst portion of the sickly season, it will not do for our Board of Health and City Fathers to sit down quietly and hug themselves with the reflection that they need no longer trouble themselves about the sanitary conditions of the city, and that Chicago is big enough to take care of herself. Their work is but just begun, and they will be most cruelly and culpably negligent, should they not continue to exercise the utmost and most unceasing vigilance in the discharge of their official duties for at least two months to come. They have enough to do to keep them very busy, at least until the middle of September. For we cannot, with truth, attribute the present comfortable condition of the health of the city, and the late abatement of mortality to any effort of either the Board of Health or the City Fathers in our behalf. Had the terrible and excessive heat which raged from the 1st of July to the evening of the 8th, during which period the mercury rose in the shade, to 102 degrees above zero,—had this weather continued up to the present time, instead of now congratulating ourselves and the city on its recovering health and happiness, we should be publishing the mournful chronicles of a decimated and bereaved town. For notwithstanding something has been done to cleanse the city, and although it undoubtedly is much cleaner than it was three weeks ago, still it is yet yet [sic] in so very bad order; so many of the streets, the alleys, and the gutters, are ankle deep in festering corruption and rottenness; there are so many choked up drains and unmanageable sewers; there are such immense piles of garbage and filth at the back of Hotels Restaurants and Oyster Saloons; and there is yet so much suffering and destitution among the poorer portion of our citizens and the emigrants daily arriving here; there is, in one word, so much of what ought not to be, and so little of what ought to be, in the sanitary condition of our city, that we can only ascribe our present comparatively comfortable and healthy condition, to the merciful and timely interposition of an overruling Providence. The storm of Saturday evening, and the cool weather which has thus far succeeded it, has been indeed a God-send, and has saved the lives of many of our citizens. But we cannot expect this to last. We have yet before us ten or twelve weeks during which we must expect to again swelter under an atmosphere of 102 degrees. If, at that time, our city is not better prepared for heat than it is now, we may expect a repetition, and it may be an addition, to the distressing scenes through which we have just passed. If things are permitted to remain in their present condition, or if even only ordinary measures are taken to clean up the city, we will suffer terribly from it, both in the loss of life to our inhabitants and the loss of our good name as a healthy and safe city. We conjure those in authority to do their whole duty to put on extra forces and do the work up rapidly and thoroughly and make the city as clean as she now is filthy. This is the right time for action, we have obtained perhaps a week’s respite from the ravages of disease and the burnings of a tropical sun, and let that week be improved. “There is time in three days to win three battles,” Ruy Gomez says, and in seven days there ought to be time to do much toward cleaning and purifying the seven wards of the city. Let not the work be for a moment delayed or hindered, or on any account carelessly performed. Do it at once and do it well.

CITY DRAINAGE—THE MEETING THIS EVENING.
The Act in regard to the proper drainage of the city, was considered at a special meeting of the Common Council, held on Wednesday evening and after being amended, was passed by that body. It will now be submitted to the consideration of the citizens of Chicago, at a public meeting to be held for that purpose at the Council Chamber this evening. We trust that the meeting will be numerously attended, in order that a full expression of the sentiments of the people may be had, on this important subject.

THE NEW GRADE.
The effect of the new grade, if permanently established, may be seen at the Corner and Lake Streets. [sic, it turns out that they meant the corner of Lake and Clark streets, see letter in the Tribune, May 30, 1855.] The whole grading scheme is now simply monstrous; and seems to have been adopted with an utter disregard of the value of the property to be seriously injured by the great change that is proposed. Two millions of dollars will pay the damage that this mischievous project will inflict!

May we ask, does the new grade have any reference to the system of sewerage so much talked of? If not, why would it not be well that both systems—grade and sewerage—should be adopted—each with reference to the other; so that what is required for the one may not be fatal to the other? As we understand it, no sewerage surveys have yet been made. No plans have been decided upon; all is in the dark. Why then press the matter of the grade until we see what the Sewerage Commissioners will do! Why incur so heavy an expense as must be incurred to carry out the present plan; why damage so much property, until the necessity of that expense and damage is demonstrated. If a sewerage system can be put into operation that will be effectual, the streets retaining their present level, a new grade is useless—the streets in that event are high enough, and whatever makes them higher makes them worse. There is no necessity for haste in this thing—none whatever. Chicago is pretry [sic] well as she now is. The raising of every street in town, and every walk, would not make the city a whit dryer, a whit healthier, or, in the least degree more pleasant, if adequate sewerage were wanting. Wait, then, and let the Commissioners act first; for upon the results of their labor every thing depends.

THE NEW GRADES.
CITY TREASURER'S OFFICE,
May 28th, 1855.
MESSRS. EDITORS OF THE TRIBUNE:—The new system of grades, the ordering of which was the last Act of the retiring Council of 1854, seems to be not quite fairly understood by some of your recent correspondents. They base their judgement of it entirely upon its appearance at one corner, namely, that of Clark and Lake sts., where the difference between the present surface and the proposed grade is certainly very great.

But it should be borne in mind that by careful and repeated levels, the road way at this corner is two feet lower than at the corner of Clark and South Water sts., while for the purposes of sewerage and surface drainage, it certainly should be higher. The new grade raises Clark and Water only one foot, and then makes Ogden's corner only three inches higher than that. This certainly does not appear monstrous. Any old citizen will confirm the statement that Ogden's corner was formerly a slough, and much lower than the ground on either side, and it is so still.

You ask if the new grades are arranged with the contemplated sewerage of the city, and suggest that the adoption of any plan of grades should be deferred for action of the Sewerage Boards. In reply let me say that any further delay in fixing the grades was simply impossible or at least would have involved a much greater probable damage to property than that which is likely to be risked by the present plan. There are now building and to be built in the business part of the city, from fifty to one hundred permanent structures of brick or stone, for which it was absolutely necessary that a grade should be fixed at once, without delay. So important a matter could not be deferred for the uncertain action of a board which, when this was proposed, had not even been appointed.

But members of the Sewerage Board, who have recently been informally consulted, say that this scheme of raising the plane of the city, whether advisable in other respects or not, can hardly do else than facilitate the riddance of the surface waters, and will do much toward affording dry cellars by giving room for them above the impermeable clay which underlies our city, at the depth of from four to to [sic] six feet.

The new grades then will hardly interfere with any plan of sewerage likely to be adopted. It gives to the whole surface of the Original Town a double inclination, Northward to the main river and Westward to the South Branch, precisely as the present surface inclines, but somewhat higher. This raising will, if properly conducted, be neither troublesome nor very expensive, if compared with the advantages which will accrue from the greater dryness of the soil which is sure to follow it.

Respectfully,
SAMUEL S. GREELEY
[This man is, or became, The City Surveyor, see Tribune, April 9th, 1857--jr]

THE NEW GRADE.
Efforts will be made we learn to defeat the city authorities in the establishment of the new street grade, by injunction sued out of one of the Courts. It is contended that the city is responsible for all damages that may be done to private property by altering grades; and that, in this case the damage will be so large that the city will be unable to pay the demands that will necessarily exist, hence the parties aggrieved are about to take the step we have indicated.

The Sewerage Question.
We can congratulate the people of Chicago upon the action of their Common Council, whereby a system of sewerage adequate to the city's wants and capable of indefinite enlargement to meet future growth is at last made one of the certainties [sic]. Those who have the city's interest most at heart—who have regard for her reputation for health and cleanliness, and for her future prosperity, will be gratified that this important step has been taken. It is a guaranty of the faith of Chicago in her own destiny, that ought to satisfy the incredulity of all croakers here or elsewhere.

THE SEWERAGE QUESTION.--The Council at its last meeting approved of the plan for City Sewerage presented by the Commissioners, and the Commissioners authorized to issue bonds for a loan of $500,000, so that at last there is every prospect that Chicago will, as soon as possible, have a complete and effective sewerage.

The following is an official copy of the proceedings had by the Council in the matter:

On motion the following order was passed:

Resolved, That the Common Council approve of the plan recommended by the Sewerage Commission for the sewerage of the city, subject to such alterations in said plans as they shall deem neccessary for the public good.

Ald. Long offered for passage the following order which was passed.

Ordered, That the forms of the Bonds prepared by the Board of Sewerage Commissioners of the City of Chicago, for the purpose of effecting a loan for carrying out the adopted plan of sewerage of said city and which forms are herewith submitted to the council, be and the same are hereby approved, and the said Board of Sewerage Commissioners, are hereby authorized to issue bonds in like form and in sums of one hundred to one thousand dollars in discretion, and bearing in part or in whole six or seven per. cent interest, payable semi-annually in New York, and having twenty five years to run to maturity, and said Board of Sewerage Commissioners are hereby authorized to dispose of such bonds to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars in accordance with the provisions of the Act of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, approved February 14, 1855, creating said Board of Sewerage Commissioners, and authorizing said Loan.

And the Mayor and Clerk of the city of Chicago are hereby authorized in compliance with the provisions of said act, to mark said Bonds "Approved," under their respective signatures, and under the seal of the city, to be affixed by them to each of said Bonds.

THE HOTELS.— [...] The buildings north of the Briggs House have been torn down preparatory to the extension of that hotel.

IRON FRONTS.—One of our best known architects informs us that contracts have been made for the material for $80,000 worth of iron fronts for stores to be erected in this city this year. The fronts are to be manufactured in New York.

Side-Walks---A Uniform Grade.
Mayor WENTWORTH has promised the city good side-walks and as suggestions are invited in the Inaugural, and are now in order, we have one to make on the subject of side-walks.

Our motion is that, all the side-walks within specified bounds be brought to some uniform grade, some common level, so far as practicable. For instance State street side-walks as far south as Twelfth street; Dearborn to Madison street, and Clark south to Twelfth, and north to Chicago Avenue; LaSalle to the Depot; Wells from the bridge to Monroe street; South Water from the Richmond House to the South Branch; Lake from the Illinois Depot to the bridge; Randolph from South Market to West Market; and Kinzie street, North side, from the bridge east to the Galena Freight Depot.

On the streets within these limits, nearly the whole population of Chicago pass and re-pass, daily. These are the great travelled thoroughfares. The tens of thousands of strangers who ebb and flow through our city confine most of their walking upon them. And did one of them ever omit to complain of the disagreeable ups and downs that obstructed his progress at almost every step? No man is justified in impeding the free right of way for pedestrians. But take for instance Lake or Clark street; 20 feet forward you go down four steps; 30 feet further ahead you meet a steep inclined plane, over which you scramble, and a rod forward you slide down a corresponding grade; then perhaps the navigation is tolerable for half a block when your further progress is suddenly stopped by a flight of steep, narrow steps, carrying you up to the second story of the adjoining building; one rod and a quarter of locomotion brings you safely to the brink of the precipice on the other side, down which you have the choice to crawl or fall, and so on, and so forth, to the end of your walk, up and down, down and up, steps narrow and high—inclines slippery and steep. In fine, dry summer weather, during daylight hours, a careful, circumspect person may get along with comparative safety. But in winter and spring, when wet, rain, mud, snow or ice covers those walks the danger is vastly increased; and at night it becomes positively unsafe. Who has not received a fall or a sprain or a fright in trying to avoid a fall? Ask everybody. Those sidewalks are public nuisances, as well as reproaches upon the city in the eyes of strangers.

When a man builds a house he fixes the grade of the sidewalk to suit his private interests, paying not the slightest regard to the convenience or rights of the public, and city officials have paid no attention to this conduct. The result is, what we see. The government of no other city on the American Continent would tolerate such sidewalks.

We are aware that the new grade which is being adopted, is claimed to be the cause of the irregularity. But it is not necessarily so, altho’ made the ’scape goat. Four out of five of the “ups” and “downs” could be abated at a moderate cost, without interfering with the new grade.

Now, if the new Mayor is sincere in his professions concerning sidewalks, here is an opportunity to exhibit it. Let him make smooth these paths of the people, and he will earn the daily thanks of tens of thousands, and do the city a real service.

COMMON COUNCIL MEETING.—An ordinance was passed fixing the grade of East Madison street at 14 feet above the low water mark as fixed by the canal trustees, and ordering the superintendant to fix the necessary levels. [...]

[...]

An order was passed directing the city surveyor to establish the grade of all streets in which sewers have been laid or are projected to be laid, at not less than ten feet above the bottom of the sewers. [...]

ANOTHER CHANGE OF GRADE—THE SIDEWALKS TO BE RAISED STILL HIGHER.—In 1855 our city was all excitement over the proposed change of grade of the streets and many animated and angry discussions were had over the matter. The friends of the "new grade," as it was termed, finally carried their point and the change was made and everybody was congratulating his neighbor that the vexed question was finally disposed of and the grade of our streets determined for all future time. Possibly the grades of the streets are permanently fixed, but the sidewalks—those ingenious combinations of man traps and stairways, are about to be favored with another elevation. On last Monday evening the Council, upon motion of Ald. Long, passed the following:

Ordered, That the City Surveyor be instructed to establish the grades of the several streets in that part of the South Division in which sewers are laid or projected, taking for a basis the bottom of the sewers and establishing the top of the curb each side of the street ten feet above the same.

In order that the effect of this new rise in sidewalks may be understood and appreciated by our readers we have ascertained, from profiles in the Sewerage Commissioners office, that if this order was carried out, the top of the curb at the intersection of Randolph and Clark streets would be three feet above the street, at the intersection of Randolph and State streets two feet above, Randolph and Franklin streets, three feet above, Lake and Franklin streets three and a half feet above, South Water and Dearborn streets two and a half feet above.

We might add numberless results, but those we have cited are quite sufficient to illustrate the effect of the proposed change. In addition to this, we are informed by a gentleman who is familiar with the grade adopted by the sewers, that there are a number of places in the city where, under the operation of Ald. Long's plan, the curbs would actually be below the grade adopted for the centre of the street.

We are unwilling to believe that the effect of this Order was fully comprehended by the Aldermen, and trust that the Mayor will return it to the Council for reconsideration. Our citizens, and strangers who visit us, have been already sufficiently incommoded by the stairways at almost every street corner, leading either down or up, from the street to the walk, and will be hardly disposed to quietly submit to having the evil permanently saddled upon them. If, however, it must be carried out we would suggest that iron railings be placed upon the outer edges of all side walks to prevent careless pedestrians from tumbling off and breaking their necks. The "Order" is incomplete, unwise and unnecessary, and should be recinded.

DUST VS MUD.—Scarcely had the mud began [sic] to dry, in spots, before the dust campaign commenced. [...] [finish up asking for water to be poured on the streets to quell dust!-jr]

COMMON COUNCIL.—[...]The Mayor vetoed the order passed establishing the grade of sidewalks at ten feet above the bottom of the sewers. Sustained, The matter of the establishment of grades for streets and sidewalks was referred to the Committee on Streets and Alleys of the South Division, together with the City Surveyor, Superintendant and Sewerage Engineer[.][...]

A Higher Grade---An Important Question to House Owners.
We fear that a very large majority of the owners of Chicago "inside property," do not fully comprehend the practical working of the proposed "new grade," of thirteen or fourteen feet above low water. The present grade of Lake street is about ten feet above low water. The proposed change would render it necessay [sic] to raise that street between three and four feet. The present grade was established about two years ago, and people thought st [sic] was permanently fixed; but not so, individuals are again tinkering at it. The excuse for ripping up and changing it given by those urging a higher grade is, that eight feet cellars may be made and drained into the sewers.

A dry-bottomed eight foot cellar would be a very nice luxury, providing it did not cost too much. But what effect is this new grade going to have on buildings already erected in this city? The streets and sidewalks must be raised some seven feet above the natural surface level. In other words, every house now built must be raised about the hight [sic] of the Mayor above its present foundation, or be entered through doors cut in its second story. The proposed grade would damage immensely all our citizens who have built those magnificent brick, stone and iron blocks within the past three years. These buildings have been erected to correspond with the present grade. The "new grade" would throw their first floors some four feet below the sidewalks, while their second floors would be five or six feet above the street surface, and their cellars would become dark pits or dens underground. The older buildings erected on a level with the natural surface, would fare much better than any of the great blocks constructed to suit the present grade. Frame houses could be set up on blocks, while brick ones, such as the Tremont House, might be entered from the street through the second story windows, by building two or three short steps upon the proposed sidewalks.

We should say that two millions of dollars would be a low estimate of the damage that would be done to present structures! Who must pay it—or would the owners have to lose it? But that is not all. It will be a costly job to raise all the streets and sidewalks of Chicago six to eight feet, within the whole space to be drained by the sewers—a space of more than 1200 acres. Where are the millions of cubic yards of earth to come from to fill them up to the second stories of present buildings? And how many millions of money is it going to cost the tax payers? What sort of up and down sidewalks will the establishment of this "new 13 or 14 feet grade" create during the next twenty years? because [sic] it is all bosh to say that a uniform system of level sidewalks, corresponding with the proposed grade, can be established short of many years.

The Committee appointed by the Council to report on the subject of grades, consists of the City Surveyor, GREELEY, Superintendent BOUTON, and Aldermen KENNEDY, LONG, KENDALL and JOY. They will report next Monday evening. Those opposed to the new grade had better be stirring themselves before it is too late. Now is the time to speak, or forever hold your peace.

RAISING A BRICK BLOCK.—Workmen are engaged in undermining the brick block, corner of Dearborn and Randolph streets, preparatory to raising it up to grade. It is to be raised six feet.

CITY IMPROVEMENTS IN 1857
[...] Grading streets; 8,100 lineal feet of paving; 27,550 lineal feet of macadamizing; 21,000 lineal feet of planking; culverts, crossings, &c., $275,023. Of this sum, $60,000 was not raised by assessment but paid directly to the contractors by the property owners.

FALL OF HOUSES.—On Thursday afternoon, two two-story frame houses, a store and a dwelling, belonging to Mr. Beers, on the corner of Chicago avenue and North Clark street, while being raised to grade, were overturned and destroyed, the accident having been occasioned by the giving way of the supports. They had been elevated to a sufficient height, and the workmen were engaged in removing their apparatus, blocking, etc., when one of them slid backwards and the other sideways from their supports. The house which fell backwards was occupied by Mr. Beers for his dwelling, and his family and furniture were in it at the time of the crash. Happily no one was hurt. The other building was occupied as a storehouse. One side was broken off in the crash and fell against an adjoining house beyond. Two of the workmen were somewhat injured in the crash, but not seriously.

HOUSE BLOWN DOWN.—In the gale on Thursday afternoon, a frame house on Wells street, belonging to C. R. Starkweather, and which was being raised to grade, was thrown from its temporary supports and overturned; Ten persons were in the house at the time, but none of them were injured.

NARROW ESCAPE.—Yesterday morning, between the hours of 9½ and 10 o’clock, the ponderous vault on the first floor of the bank building of J. M. Adsit, 39 South Clark street, which is being raised to grade, fell with a tremendous crash, through the floor into the chasm intended for a cellar, and out of which the whole building had been raised. The vault, which is now a perfect wreck, has been built on the floor, and was much too weighty to attempt to lift without some extra propping and securing. A great number of men were working all around it when it fell, and we need not say were much alarmed. The boss of the job was struck on the arm, but fortunately escaped without injury.

FALL OF TWO BUILDINGS.
One Man Killed—Coroner’s Inquest.
A little after three o’clock yestrday afternoon, a large double wooden building on Franklin street, near the corner of Madison, which has been recently raised some eight feet to grade, and under which workmen were engaged in laying a foundation, fell to the ground with a crash, carrying with it in its fall a small one story building adjoining, on the corner of Madison street, as well as the sidewalk on both streets. The first building was owned by a Mrs. Wayman, and was unoccupied. The latter was owned by Henry Whitbeck, and was occupied by A. Reynolds. There were two men to work under the large building when it fell, and one of them, named Henry French, was instantly killed. The other man was knocked to the ground but escaped unhurt. French was an Englishman, formerly from London, and was some thirty-five years of age. He was a single man, having lost his wife and children. We understand that he has a brother in New York, and a letter to a sister was found in his pocket directed to Mrs. Jane Strutton, Bently Crescent, London, but he has no relations in this city.

Mr. Reynolds’ family were in their house when the accident occured, but were uninjured. Both houses were a complete wreck. The larger building was an old one, and neither were of much value. The building which first fell was raised some eight feet about six weeks ago, and set upon timbers 6 by 6 inches resting on the ground and steadied by side braces. Workmen were, at the time of the accident, engaged in building a brick foundation, four inches thick, inside of which were 2 by 6 inches joists for lathing, in placing which the braces were taken away, and the joists were not braced at all. There was a row of braced timbers under the center of the building, under the front, and under a shed in the rear; the rest of the building rested on the joists, none of which were braced, and we cannot but believe that the accident was caused mainly by this fact, and in the numerous raisings to grade, going on all over the city, the public will demand that the builders look to it, and by a little extra care see that this accident, which might easily have been more fatal, as several men were to work under the building but a few moments before, be not repeated.

The Coroner was apprised [sic] of the accident and proceeded to the scene of the disaster and held an inquest on the body of French. He was instantly killed, a large beam having fallen across his neck, dislocating it. A large cut on the nose and some slight bruises on the back were the only marks on his body. A number of witnesses were examined by the Coroner’s jury, who also made a personal examination of the premises, and the facts in relation to the building which we have already given, were elicited.

The jury then gave as a verdict, that “Henry French came to his death this, 21st day of March, 1860, by the falling of a building, near the corner of Franklin and Madison streets, and that it is the opinion of this jury that proper precaution was not taken in bracing the studding placed under the building.”

The body was taken in charge by undertaker Berry.

HOUSE MOVING EXTRAORDINARY—MARINE ITEM.—We are a great people, and are coming to have considerable of a city. On Lake street a block of first class business structures, three hundred feet long, is raised up to grade, and now we have to announce that we are actually shipping off two story dwellings to adjoining towns. Fact, sir. The tugs Rumsey and Dime went down the South Branch yesterday bound for Bridgeport, having in tow a two story frame dwelling taken from the corner of Kinzie and Dearborn streets, on the North Side, and placed on scows. It is a novel, but will be an entirely successful, feat. Will all the villagers on the canal and river take the hint and hurry in their orders? We will send them any number of wooden buildings we are proposing to replace with brick and marble. Who takes ’em? Who has ’em? Villages and country towns supplied.

THE TREMONT TO BE RAISED.—We learn that it is decided that the Tremont is to be raised to grade, and surveys for estimates are now being made.

The Great Building Raising.
When Chicago shall have been for a decade or more of years up to grade it will come to be a marvel and a doubt in many minds that the wonder was ever accomplished of raising to grade the entire front of three hundred and twenty feet, at one and the same time, and that of first class buildings filled with tenants, stores and offices.

But Messrs. Brown & Hollingsworth, Pullman & Moore, and Ely & Smith, the contracting firms, between whom this work was accomplished, have wisely chosen to perpetuate the memory of their feat in beautiful lithograph, from the lithograph establishment of Edward Mendel, No 162 Lake street.  It was well and honorably done for Chicago, both the work itself and this its perpetuation.

THE CITY.
[. . .] The stone sidewalk on Wells street, adjoining the Briggs House, is coming up to grade.

TREMONT HOUSE.—Extensive improvements are to be made in Tremont House next year of such character and extent as will still keep that popular establishment in the front rank of our hotels.  It is to be raised and new iron fronts put in on both street fronts.  An addition is to be made to the Lake street front, and in the area a new six story structure is to be erected, containing the dining hall, kitchens, and lodging rooms on the upper floors.  The main hotel floor is to be re-modelled, and by the tearing down of several partitions, thrown into a noble rotunda.  The work will occupy a large share of next summer, and on its re-opening the hotel will be refurbished throughout.

THE TREMONT HOUSE IMPROVEMENT.—The old and always popular Tremont, it is finally settled is to undergo a thorough system of internal and vital improvements before another season.  The entire building is to be raised to grade, six feet, and the stores be entirely remodeled, with new and handsome fronts.  The Lake street front is to be extended by an an [sic] addition of twenty-five feet.  The structures in the area and the east wing are to be torn down and rebuilt in a substantial and first class manner, the wing to contain a very large dining hall, ordinaries and the cuisine department of the house.  On the main hotel floor, the present range of rooms, comprising the office, barber’s shop and wash-room are to be torn away, and the whole space given to a wide and elegant hall.  In the rear of the Dearborn street front a rotunda is to be built as a saloon.  These improvements are to be most thorough, and are to cost $80,000, making the Tremont still in the front rank of hoteldom in the Northwest.  Work is to commence in February, and will be completed in three months.  The house is to be re-furnished throughout.

The Tremont House Improvement.
The contracts for raising, building addition, and other alterations to the Tremont House has been closed, and work will be commenced about the 1st to the 10th of February, and be completed from the 1st to the 10th of May.

The following are the names of those associated with the architect in this sterling improvement:  Wm. Cornelius Price, mason work;  Jno. Solitt, carpenter work;  Letz & Johnson, iron works;  A. B. Cook & Co., stone work;  Jno. Hughes, plumbing;  Ely, Smith & Pullman, raisers.

The additions will consist of a new dining hall, fronting 40 feet on Lake street, running back 110 feet;  height of ceiling 16 feet—making one of the largest dining halls in the northwest;  also a large ordinary, fronting 60 feet on Lake street by 24 feet wide, to be used for ladies’ breakfast room and for 5 o’clock dinners;  also, a small private dining room for small 28 feet by 24 feet wide, both opening into the large hall by folding doors;  new carving room, 28 feet by 16 feet;  kitchen 32 by 28 feet high, with high ceiling, 7 windows and a ventilator to carry off all the smoke, etc., arising from the kitchen, thus preventing any odor from entering the dining room, or other parts of the house;  pantry room, 20 feet by 38 feet;  baker’s room, 20 feet by 38 feet.  The present office will be enlarged by taking out the back-office, barber shop, washing room, etc., making one of the finest rotundas in this country.

The present court is to be enlarged to double the size, making it 100 feet long by 60 feet wide, thus giving excellent ventilation and light.  There is to be built in the court an exchange on the same style as the Astor House, New York, 40 feet in width by 60 feet long, to be lighted by handsome stained glass windows from top and sides.  A spacious stairway will be made, leading from the rotunda into the exchange.

The new laundry will be 40 feet wide by 38 feet in length, with all the modern improvements for washing and ironing room.  Ironing room 32 feet by 18 feet.  An elevator will also be added to convey fuel, baggage, etc., to the different floors of the house.  A 4-inch iron pipe will extend from the engine room to the top of the house, and a large steam pump can be attatched at a moment’s warning, and water carried to all parts of the house from each floor by fire plugs and hose.

The floors in the new dining room and new part of the House will be filled with mortar to deaden the sound, and also as a precaution against fire.  The house will be raised six feet, handsome new iron fronts will be put in all the stores, with French plate glass windows, and fine basements be added under the whole house.  Also a fine stone pavement running the entire block.

The house will be thoroughly painted outside and pencilled, and a magnificent main entrance on Dearborn street, will be made of massive marble, thirty feet in height.  The entrance on Lake street will also be altered and will make a handsome appearance.

At the east end of the building there will be added another private entrance for ladies, where there will be a fine reception, writing and reading room for their use.

There will be an addition to the present house of sixty new rooms, all of which are to be 15 by 16 feet, with all the late improvements.  Also six to eight parlors and bedrooms with water closets and bath rooms attatched, as also four baths on the third floor exclusively for ladies.

Adjoining the exchange will be a large and convenient oyster saloon and billiard room, into which the present house of David will be transferred.

The proprietors, Messrs. Gage, Bro. & Drake, intend refurnishing the house with the latest and improved styles of furniture, at a cost of $30,000, and when finished will challenge any hotel in the country for elegance, convenience and comfort.

PROGRESSING.—The Tremont House improvement is progressing as fast as money and men can make it.  The excavations and embankments environing Messrs. Gage & Drake are a sight to see;  and yet business there abouts goes on as usual.

TREMONT HOUSE IMPROVEMENT.—The work on this improvement made rapid strides last week.  The rear walls adjacent to other buildings, were loosened and a supporting superstructure was erected around the brick smoke stack to prevent it from falling.  The aid of the screws will soon be invoked, and then the Tremont will get high—in other words, slightly elevated.

SEVERE FALL.—Mr. Allen Howes, a commission merchant on South Water Street, fell from the elevated sidewalk in front of the Tremont House, on Friday evening, and was severely hurt in his back and head. He was leaning against the temporary railing [uh-oh! - jr] of the walk when it suddenly gave way, precipitating him a distance of about eight feet, full upon a pile of stones and timbers. His escape from dangerous wounds was very narrow.

TREMONT HOUSE.—The handsome and substantial stone sidewalks on both the Lake and Dearborn street fronts of the Tremont House are, we are happy to see, open to the public.

X111.
THE LIGHTNING CITY
RETURNING from the West by the southern shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, I spent a few days in Chicago—pronounced "Shikahgo." The growth of this city is one of the most amazing things in the history of modern civilisation. Forty years ago, The Indians roamed over the districts which are now covered with busy streets. As recently as 1830, the commercial strength of the place, then a mere Government outpost, consisted of 4 tavern-keepers, 1 merchant, 1 butcher, and 4 Indian traders, who carried on their business in log-huts. Chicago now has 300,000 of a population—has streets seven or eight miles long—has street railways traversing the city in all directions, annually carrying 7,000,000 passengers. The log-huts have made way for magnificent warehouses and palaces of marble; the little traders have become great merchants, some of them worth millions of dollars, and doing business on a scale of extraordinary magnitude. Farwell, who began as a poor clerk, is worth $2,000,000 and does dry-goods business to the amount of $8,000,000 a year. Field, Leiter, and Co.'s sales amount annually to $12,000,000, and have sometimes reached $80,000 in a single day.

The progress of Chicago in the grain and lumber trade has been even more amazing, and has already made her the greatest grain and lumber-market in the world. In 1831, three vessels were all that she attracted during the year. Now, 9000 vessels and propellors swarm annially to her port; and her lake tonnage has reached the enormous figure of two and a quarter millions of tons in clearances alone. In 1838, she made her first shipment of wheat, amounting to only 78 bushels; the year I was there she had shipped 66,000,000 bushels of flour and grain of all kinds, while her receipts in lumber amounted to 730,000,000 feet, not counting 124,000,000 pieces of lath, and 400,000,000 shingles. This trade was largely in excess of preceeding years, and was advancing in the same proportion. The railway across the Rocky Mountains, which places her now on the great highway between the Atlantic and Pacific, is likely still more to accelerate her progress.

It was early morning when I entered Chicago from the Rocky Island road, and the great city was just wakening into life for the day.  The first thing that attracted my attention when driving from the station to one of the hotels, was the sight of a two-storey house moving up the street before us.  I pointed it out in amazement to the driver.

“Did you ever see a house moving before?” said he unconcernedly.

“No.  Do your houses move about like that?”

“Well,” he said, “there’s always some of them on the move.”

Which turned out to be the fact.  Never a day passed during my stay in the city that I did not meet one or more houses shifting their quarters.  One day I met nine.  Going out Great Madison Street in the horse-cars we had to stop twice to let houses get across.  All these were frame houses, and in some of them I could see the people sitting at the windows.  One of those crossing Madison Street was a double shop—cigars at one end, confectionery at the other, and as it moved along the shopkeeper stood leaning against the door-post smoking a cigar.  The way in which these houses are moved is this:—After being screwed up to let a platform with wheels or rollers be placed underneath, they are drawn along by means of a windlass, fixed on the street at some distance ahead, and turned by a horse.  When the house has been drawn near the windlass, the machine is shifted forward, fixed, and set in motion again.

But it is not only frame houses that are moved.  Great blocks of masonry in some parts of the city have been lifted up from four to fourteen feet.  The Brigg’s [sic] House, a gigantic hotel, five storeys high, solid masonry, weighing 22,000 tons, was raised four and a half feet, and new foundations built in below.  The people were in it all the time, coming and going, eating and sleeping—the whole business of the hotel proceeding without interruption.  The Tremont House, another large hotel, was lifted in the same way.  The work was done so smoothly and so gradually, by 500 or 600 men working in covered trenches below, that Mr. Beecher, who was a guest in the hotel at the time, said the only personal knowledge he had of the process of elevation, was derived from the fact that the broad flight of stairs from the street seemed to be getting steeper, and that the lower windows, which were on a level with his face when he arrived, were three or four feet higher when he went away.

The process of lifting these blocks is ingenious, and yet simple enough.  The foundations are laid bare, and the trenches, if necessary, concealed by awnings.  Logs are laid along the foundations, inside and out; holes cut at short intervals, and transverse logs passed through, with jackscrews beneath.  This being done all round, several hundreds of workmen flood the trenches within and without, put their levers in the jackscrews, and at a given signal turn all the screws simultaneously, gradually pressing the transverse logs up, till the building rests upon them.  As the screwing goes on, the whole mass of masonry moves up hairbreadth by hairbreadth.  New logs are continually inserted as the space admits of it; and so the building rises in the air day by day till it stands on this log-foundation at an elevation five, ten, or fifteen feet higher that it did at first.  In the meantime, the new stone foundation is being built in the interstices, and is ready, when the building has been screwed up to the height desired, to receive its weight on the slackening of the screws.  The log-foundation is then, bit by bit, drawn out, and stone substituted; so that, by the time the wood is entirely removed, the building stands on its new stone foundation as on a rock, without a joint dislocated, or its stone, plaster, or furniture disturbed.

The stone foundation is generally in the form of an under-storey.  Sometimes a dwelling-house is lifted, and shops put in below.  I was told of a congregation in the city which, being in want of money, had their church lifted so as to allow the insertion of shops below, got these let, and speedily relieved the church of its embarrassments.

In other cases large blocks of building—warehouses and the like—have not only been lifted, but moved back to widen the street.  The process in that case is the same, except that the log-foundation is made more in the form of a sliding platform,—like that from which a ship is launched, but of course with the incline less, and the motion so gradual as to be imperceptible except from day to day.

The reason for all this house-lifting in Chicago is that the city was found to be on too low a level, exposing it to inundation from the inland ocean, along whose flat shore it lies, and also making proper drainage impossible.  The people had therefore to choose between three things—(1.) to submit to these inconveniences, which must yearly become more disastrous, or (2.) to pull down their city, raise the level, and rebuild, or (3.) to contrive machinery that would lift the city, and let the new level be drawn underneath.  The last expedient was adopted, and ever since then the city has been in the process of elevation.  The machinery thus called into existence makes house-moving so easy that the Chicago people think nothing of it.  If a man with his frame-house and cigar-shop at one corner finds business dull, he moves house and all away to some other street, where he thinks it will be brisker.  The reason, however, why so many frame-houses are continually on the move at present, is, that the ground is wanted for stone-buildings and warehouses; and it is found cheaper to move the wooden houses away to the suburbs than to pull them down and have to re-erect them.

House-moving is occasionally to be seen in other parts of America; but Chicago, owing to its circumstances, has been the great nursery-ground and arena for it.  Even there it will become less common by-and-by, as the city is now for the most part graded, and new houses are built on the new level.  But house-moving is only one of the wonders of that great city. . .

[fwiw, macrae went on to mention that his stay in chicago took place in 1868: macrae, america revisited, and men i have met, 1908, john smith and son, ltd., glasgow, and reprinted by lost cause press, 1965, beginning of chapter two. - jr]