CHICAGO'S CANALS
Though the canal was a success, railroads did even more for the city. The year that saw the canal completed also saw the first train run from Chicago to Galena, near the Mississippi, in the heart of the lead country.
Four years later, in 1852, came railroad connection with the East, when the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads entered the city. Other lines soon followed, and it was not long before Chicago was one of the important railroad centers of the country.
But while Chicago was fast becoming rich and big, it was not a pleasant place in which to live. The site of the city was a low and marshy plain, almost on a level with the lake, and the problems of drainage of such a location had to be met and solved.
In the beginning, to keep the houses dry, they were built above the ground and supported by timbers or piles. Cellars and basements were unknown, and the city streets were a disgrace. In spring they were flooded and swimming with mud. Even in summer, pools of stagnant water stood in many places. For years wagons sticking fast in the mud were common sights.
Cholera, smallpox, and scarlet fever swept the city again and again. People, knowing only too well that unsanitary conditions brought on these diseases, did their best to remedy matters. They saw that Chicago would be clean and healthy if only they could find a way to carry off her wastes.