It was in the early morning, Tuesday, August 22nd, that we left Michigan City. Having sailed along the coast of the lake for about three hours, we discerned in the misty distance the site of the "Queen of the West."
At twenty minutes to 9 o'clock, it became plainly cognizable. In transports of delight we glanced at a vast, verdant tract of land adorned with magnificent structures appearing to be of the purest marble; in their matchless beauty imparting to the mind some grand allegorical tableau, intending to convey the poet's idea of the New Jerusalem.
It was the famous White City, the site of the World's Columbian Exposition, that charmed our eyes and gratified our taste so much. No one can adequately describe that sight as seen from the clear waters of the lake.—I imagine that our illustrious Columbus must have been equally affected as he beheld Guanahani, that fruitful island in its wild luxuriance, on his first landing in the New World.
CHAPTER IV.
STAY IN CHICAGO AND VISIT TO THE WORLD'S FAIR.
Our arrival in Chicago put an end to our pleasurable voyage comprising the considerable length of 1,243 miles, during which
"The waves were our pillow,
Our cradle the sea:
When rough was the billow
Not timid were we."
This westward trip afforded us every hour a revelation of the surprising growth of the nation that lives under the Stars and Stripes. My traveling companions were equally delighted with this course, notwithstanding their being preacquainted with that portion of the west, whose rapid development makes it practically a new and another west every ten years. In fact, America astonishes the world; and it is no common pleasure to study and note the progress of this great republic of which Chicago is the second city in commercial importance, as well as in population.
We were anxious to obtain an adequate conception of the site of a city that is the synonym of push and prosperity, and to which Congress had awarded the World's Columbian Exposition. Therefore, the yacht was moored inside the breakwater, near the mouth of the inlet, called the Chicago River, which runs from the lake nearly one mile westward; then separates into two branches, one flowing northwest, the other southwest; thus dividing Chicago into three divisions, connected by more than thirty-five bridges, and two tunnels laid under the bed of the river. This streamlet used to empty into Lake Michigan; but a remarkable piece of engineering caused it to change its course and so to speak, run "uphill." The Illinois and Michigan Canal, with which the main branch of the river is connected, was so deepened as to draw the water out from the lake, so that—through this channel emptying into the Illinois River—the water of Lake Michigan flows into the Gulf of Mexico by means of the Mississippi River. Had it been later in the season, we might have decided to follow this watercourse in order to view the fertile Mississippi River Valley, and to enjoy the beauties of the sunny south.
The largest vessels may be towed into the Chicago River, being supplied with docks and water-slips and affording a dockage capacity of nearly forty miles.—Originally named Chacaqua River, (the Indian word for thunder, after the Indian Thor or Thunder God), it is supposed to have given the city its name.