J. SEYMOUR CURREY Honorary Vice President Illinois State Historical Society, Vice Presi- State Library Association, National Geograph- ical Society, Chicago Geographic Society. "The domain over which Chicago holds primacy is larger than Austria-Hungary, or Germany, or France; three thousand miles of navigable waters form a portion of its boundaries; the rivers flowing into the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and the Ohio, give access to every part of the interior, the level prairies invite the railroad and the canal builder; the large portion of arable land makes possible the support of an enormous population; and the abundance and range of the products of earth and forest furnish the materials of traffic. It is no wonder, therefore, that the growth of the Middle West in population and wealth has been phenomenal; and that at the point of convenience a city of the first order has sprung up.”— The Chicago Commercial Club's "Plan of Chicago." |