Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/397

 THE LITERARY INTERESTS OF CHICAGO 381

time in 1856. The Chicago Ariel was a short-lived sprite of 1846. The Chicago Dollar Weekly, a literary journal of merit, existed through a part of the year 1849. The Chicago Record, 1857-62, was the longest-lived periodical during the latter part of the pioneer season, and one of the most important containing the city's name in its title. Both the Chicago and western sentiments were among the features, which if we may quote a salutatory " the Iron-willed Press has forever stamped " upon a meritorious literary-historical magazine having five monthly issues in 1857. Its name, printed in large letters, was the Chicago Magazine: The West as it Is.

This western interest the editors and publishers consciously avowed. It was heralded with virility in many salutatories and editorial announcements. The Literary Budget, a journal of truly high standard, on changing from a monthly to a weekly, said, January 7, 1854:

The West should have a marked and original literature of its own. Writers of fiction have used up all the incidents of our glorious revolutionary period. The romantic scenery of the East, too, has been made to aid in the construction of some of the best romances ever written. We do not object to this. On the contrary, we rejoice are thankful it is so. But a new field is open to authorship. We wish to present its advantages.

THE GREAT WEST, in her undulating prairies, deep-wooded highlands, mighty rivers, and remnants of aboriginal races, presents topics teeming with interest to every reader, and big with beautiful scenes for the artist's eye. The West is full of subject-matter for legend, story, or history. Sublime scenery to inspire the poet is not wanting. All that is lacking is a proper channel. This channel we offer. The Budget claims to be a western literary paper, and we invite writers to send us articles on western subjects, for publication.

Such unqualified western sectionalism had its roots in the economic and political situation, and the facts regarding the popu- lation of Chicago and its environing prairies. In the late forties and early fifties Chicago was the growing center of a more or less isolated western or northwestern empire. Despite the lake trans- portation, which began in 1835, as Blanchard says, in his Dis- covery and Conquest of the Northwest, with a History of Chicago, "up to the era of railroads, the Mississippi River was a more important channel of trade to the state of Illinois than the lakes."