CHICAGO INLAND SEAPORT

[Music] this fire boat is patrolling a lakefront within a few minutes it'll be entering a river and it's because at this very spot a lake and a river join that one of the world's great cities was born and we'll find out why today as discovery visits chicago america's inland seaport [Applause] [Music] discovery 68 the award-winning program for young people with bill owen hi welcome to discovery when you think of chicago this is the skyline that comes to mind chicago the second largest city in the country with almost 4 million people and yet in the early 19th century when new york was one of the leading cities in the united states chicago was only a small trading post with about 20 houses grouped around a single fort what made it the great city it is part of the answer is this lake lake michigan one of the five great lakes where this lake and a river met became the site and the reason for a trading post then a fort a village and finally a city although geography provided distinct advantages and reasons for the rise of a city there also had to be the people to put the advantages to use people who despite seemingly overwhelming problems even disasters found ways of coming back making their city better than ever this lock when it was built in 1938 did an unheard of thing in its time it reversed the flow of a river in this way the water of lake michigan was kept pure of contamination so that it could be used as drinking water by the people of the city [Music] this river isn't used only by small ships like a fire boat large freighters also use it but most important today a barge loaded with manufactured goods oars produce or lumber and pass down the chicago river and eventually reach the mississippi it can go from chicago to new orleans without a stop on all sides rise the office buildings factories bridges that open to let big ships through all made possible because of a location that enabled people and goods to go from one place to another and yet this too needed the people to make it happen in 1673 louis jolie and father jacques marquette discovered that by carrying their canoes a distance of 12 miles they were able to cross over from a river that led to the mississippi to one that led to lake michigan this was something long known by the indians of the area but it wasn't until over a hundred years later that this discovery started being put to use it was in 1770 that the first house a fur trading post was built it thrived for fur trappers of the north woods soon learned the advantages of paddling their canoes over lake michigan to this trading post near where lake and river met from here the furs could be sent southward by 1803 there were enough people at the mouth of the chicago river to warrant the united states building a fort fort dearborn but nine years later disaster struck hostile indians attacked massacred women children soldiers and burned fort dearborn to the ground but the spirit that was to survive throughout the city's turbulent history had its start here and a new and better fort dearborn was built by 1833 a fort and a few log cabins with a total population of 500 had become a town a canal was dug through the sand bar that prevented lake ships from entering the chicago river former fur trappers from the north woods ambitious merchants from new england one time farmers from the prairie lands all joined to build a city by 1847 a canal was completed that made it possible to sail directly from chicago to new orleans now chicago had a waterway that linked it to the south through chicago came the produce from the rich prairie farmlands cattle hogs grain destined for shipment to the rest of the nation on the first day the canal was open 16 vessels went through the loaded barges heading southward and heading north the sugar from new orleans the cotton from memphis within a decade chicago became one of the major shipping centers of the nation because of a lake that met a river that eventually connected with the mississippi a city was born and on lake michigan and the chicago river crowded the vessels of every description barges and steamers built for lake and river traffic but it wasn't until about 10 years ago that another kind of ship became a common sight in the city of chicago ocean-going ships for with the opening of the saint lawrence seaway ships from all over the world can now sail here 700 miles from the east coast 1700 miles from the west coast chicago today is the world's biggest inland seaport today a sailor leaves the same ship but also takes him to the great port cities of the world cities like new york london sydney hong kong honolulu chicago has now joined the roster of other important port cities [Music] this city that had once laughingly been referred to as mud city plagued by swamps and frequent flooding has long since become a great modern metropolis almost an entire city with all its buildings was raised as much as 10 feet by hard work and engineering ingenuity a city of the prairies was made a city of the world the city of warehouses stockyards and factories became a city of fine shops museums art galleries symbolic halls its own opera company [Music] and it all began because chicago was a place well situated near water but it was water that put chicago on the map it was something else that helped keep it there rails and we'll find out about that in just a minute these freight cars in a little while may be carrying machine parts to seattle cosmetics to atlanta breakfast foods to new york or from chicago go tracks to every state in the country but first the trains must be made up [Music] every hour every day freight cars are pushed over the hump at switching yards around the city they get separated [Music] rolling down the grade on their own momentum they get switched to the right track to become part of a new line of freight cars a new train every day an average of 24 000 freight cars are handled in chicago's switching yards more than that of new york and st louis combined almost 2 000 trains enter and leave the city every day one every 48 seconds 34 different railroad lines operate in chicago transporting people and hauling goods making the city the railroad center of the nation and yet it wasn't until 1838 that the first mile railroad track was laid in the state of illinois but within 17 years almost 3 000 miles of railroad track had been laid heading in every direction chicago's location in the heart of america made it the ideal city to join east and west the newly developing railroads used it as their base for their expansion westward as the railroads reached outward the nation grew and as new people flooded westward the city grew because almost all rails led to chicago farmers shipped their produce here great granaries arose and chicago became the grain center of the nation also came another product of the farms livestock cattle hogs sheep transforming chicago into the meat packing capital of the world [Music] that title no longer belongs to chicago although it's great stockyards covering 345 acres are still in use livestock still get shipped here but mainly by trucks freight cars take them to the packing [Music] houses [Music] still look the animals over and make their bids [Music] there are still the sounds and the smells of an older day with some very new touches [Music] at one time about 8 million head of livestock a year passed through the chicago stockyards in the more than 100 years of its existence that's over a billion 200 million cattle sheep and hogs chicago is still the leading cattle market in the world but now its leadership has extended to other fields as chicago became the gateway to the west and its farmlands farm equipment manufacturers started building their factories here in addition to the mass of sailing ships another shape rose against the sky factories needed steel and so did railroads today the chicago area is one of the country's great steel producers and chicago one of the foremost industrial cities of the nation but where chicago's halsted street meets 39th street the entrance to the stockyards still stands wally mander has been buying cattle for over 20 years he's from germany but like others before him who came to chicago to build it remake it he calls himself a chicagoan on these streets cowhands once headed steers for the stalls conestoga wagons once passed with wheels sinking deep in mud that's changed [Music] but there are reminders of raw and lusty yesterdays when chicago was in the words of carl sandberg the hog butcher of the world [Music] barges connected chicago with the deep south railroads made it a transportation hub for the entire nation and now jets have made chicago a transportation center for the entire world this is chicago's o'hare international airport the world's biggest busiest airport on an average day nearly half of all the commercial jets in the united states touch down here don polston was born in chicago his father came here over 60 years ago his first job was for a railroad don's keeping up a family tradition he's still in transportation [Music] every 40 seconds a plane takes off or lands at o'hare an average of 70 000 passengers a day don's job is to help them come and go as soon as feasible contact departure [Music] 19 different airlines connect chicago directly with overseas cities in keeping with its tradition chicago is still the city for people on the move at first they had come from the north country her trappers who put up the first houses braved swamps and floods then the others came settlers and soldiers to rebuild the fort and set out anew and as a city was born they came not only from the east the south from the west they came from germany from ireland from poland from nations big and small and those in between they came to build a city they also remained to rebuild it when one of this nation's greatest disasters nearly destroyed chicago we'll find out about it in just a minute [Music] caught up with you this is a training academy for firemen what these men learn today will enable them to save lives and property tomorrow this academy's location is a fitting one for on this very spot began one of the worst fires in american history the chicago fire this statue commemorates that fateful october evening back in 1871 when a hot dry wind was blowing over the city and in a barn behind the house of a couple named patrick and catherine o'leary a cow was supposed to have knocked over a lantern there'd been hardly any rain all that summer whipped by the dry wind the fire spread quickly in every direction within an hour it was moving toward the heart of the city delays confusion hampered the firefighters equipment broke down and still the fire spread warehouses along the river sprang up in flames lumber yards suddenly disappeared from sight the randolph street bridge one of the few still standing was packed with men women and children trying to escape the flames many headed for the river in an attempt to flee the fire for three days the fire raged and then it was over and three and a half square miles of a once proud city lay in ruins destroyed were over 18 000 homes hotels stores schools churches factories and government buildings the known dead 250. a similar number was never accounted for and then as it happened before people started to work to bring their city back slowly at first but the signs of a continuing belief and faith in a city were there chicago would be rebuilt and it would be bigger and better than ever before this tower used to pump water throughout the city was one of the few structures in the burned out area that was left standing the water tower is still standing it's a reminder of an old chicago in a city that's been built out of stone and steel proof of its ability to bounce back for the new chicago helped transform cities around the world its buildings became a model for architects elsewhere the world's first skyscraper was built in chicago [Music] and even today its buildings are in the forefront of building design but even with its modern look its business and entertainment area still bears the name of something out of the city's past the loop named for the elevated structure or l built in 1897 that still forms a loop over the city's downtown area it's as if chicago though it looks to the future still has its ties with its own past the word chicago means many things in the iroquois indian language it meant little onion because a lot of them used to grow in the swampy area around here another indian meaning was queen of the lake what's the real chicago well for the millions here it's a city where they can live and work where they can relax and learn and find museums a planetarium several zoos an aquarium it's where they can play in summer on the miles of beach right at the city's front door but it's also a city for people on the go whether by water rail or air but most of all it's a city that still seeks to live up to its motto born with the chicago fire i will chicago america's inland seaport we'll be back in just a minute we hope you've enjoyed today's program you'd like to find out more about chicago it's past present and future ask your librarian for these books blue water boundary by elita malcus and chicago a pictorial history by hermann cogan and lloyd wendt be with us next week as discovery continues to discover america bye bye the discovery unit's transportation and promotional consideration provided by united airlines [Music] this has been a jewels power production in association with abc news and public affairs you