Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/405

 CHIAVENNA CHICAGO 397 associations. There are manufactures of lace, twist, and cabinet ware, and anchovy fisheries; and in the vicinity are good quarries of marble and slate. CHIAVENNA (anc. Claxenna), a town of N. Italy, in the province and 20 m. W. N. W. of Sondrio, on the Maira; pop. about 2,500. It is situated in the midst of vineyards at the foot of the Rhaetian Alps, is surrounded by walls, and well built. The baptistery of one of its churches is remarkable for some interesting antiquities and specimens of mosaic work exe- cuted in bones. A castle, a town hall, and a hospital are the other chief buildings. The town derives its importance from its situation on the Splilgen road, the great thoroughfare of trade between Switzerland and Italy, with both which countries it has an active commerce. It manufactures paper, beer, for which the town is noted, wine, amianthus cloth, pottery, and silk, the last being the staple. CHICACOLE. See CIOACOLE. CHICAGO, the principal city of Illinois, capital of Cook county, the commercial metropolis of the northwest, and the fifth in population of the cities of the United States. It is situated on the W. shore of Lake Michigan, 18 m. N. of the extreme S. point of the lake, at the mouth of the Chicago river, 715 m. in a direct line W. by N. of New York, 590 m. N. W. of Washington, D. C., and 260 m. N. N. E. of St. Louis. Dearborn observatory, 3 m. S. and f m. E. from the court house, is in lat. 41 50' 1" N., Ion. 10 33' 40-8" W. from Washington. The site of the business portion is 592 ft. above sea level, and 14 ft. above the lake ; it was originally much lower, but has been filled up from 3 to 9 ft. since 1856. It is an inclined plane, rising toward the west to the height of 28 ft., giving slow but sufficient drainage. The city stands on the dividing ridge between the basins of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and is surrounded by a prairie stretching sev- eral hundred miles S. W. and N. Within the city limits the W. shore of the lake extends nearly N. and S. One eighth of a mile N. of the court house a bayou, called the Chicago river, extends westward about five eighths of a mile, then divides into the North and South branches, which run nearly parallel with the lake shore about two miles in each direction. The South branch turns S. W. and then W. The river and its branches, with numerous slips, afford a water frontage of 38 m., of which 24 are improved, without including the lake front, on which an outer harbor is now (1873) in process of construction. Connected with the South branch is the terminus of the Illinois and Michigan canal, which extends to the Illinois river at La Salle. Formerly this connection was by means of a lock ; but recent improvements have effected a continuous flow of water from the lake through the river into the canal. The city extends N. and S. along the lake about 8 m., and westerly from the lake about 5 m., embracing an area of about 35 sq. m. The main river and its branches divide the city into three natural parts, legally known as the North, South, and West divisions, which are connected by 33 bridges, and by two stone tunnels under the river bed. The South division embraces the territory S. of the main river and E. of the South branch, 5,363 acres ; the North division comprises 2,533 acres N. of the river and E. of the North branch ; while that portion of the city W. of the two branches, comprising 15,104 acres, extending from the N. to the S. extremity of the city, constitutes the West division. Great improve- ments have recently been made by dredging the river and constructing docks, wharves, and slips for the accommodation of vessels. The harbor, at the mouth of the river, is com- modious, but has required frequent dredging and several extensions of the north pier to keep out accumulations of sand brought down by a N. E. to S. W. lake current, which have made fully 100 acres of new land on the N. side of the pier. Extending E. into the lake, on the N. side of the river, is a pier about 3,000 ft. long, at the extremity of which is a lighthouse. There is also a pier extending into the lake on the S. side of the river. Along the shore of the lake, S. of the river, extends a magnificent line of breakwater more than two miles long, constructed by the Illinois Central railroad company. The inside line of the works S. of Randolph street, for about a mile, was originally about 400 ft. from the shore ; but most of that space has since been filled in, and the great union depot was built on a portion of the space thus reclaimed. Other great harbor improvements, to afford increased facilities for commerce, are now (1873) in progress. The improvement of the North Chicago dock company, begun in 1867, comprises a breakwater 500 ft. long, extending N. from the north pier. From the N. extrem- ity of this breakwater another will run W. 1,500 ft. to the shore. The space thus closed will be devoted to commodious ship channels and docks. By means of an appropriation by congress the construction of a breakwater was begun in 1870, extending from the south pier 900 ft. E. into the lake, as far as the north pier, leaving a passage of 500 ft. between the two piers for entrance to the harbor. From the E. extremity of this breakwater another line 4,000 ft. long extends S., connecting with still another line running 3,400 ft. W. to the breakwater of the Illinois Central railroad. The basin thus enclosed comprises 275 acres, the entrance to which will be by an opening 600 ft. wide in the N. side. The first census of Chicago was taken in 1837, when the city contained 4,170 inhabitants. The population, as reported by the federal census, has been : in 1840, 4,853; 1850,29,963; 1860,112,172; 1870, 298,977. Of the total population in 1870, 154,420 were of native and 144,557 of foreign birth ; 295,281 were white and 3,696 colored. Of the foreigners, 52,318 were born in Ger-