them. The sewage-laden stream of the Chicago river
now flowed north into the lake; would it not be practicable, by
cutting down the level inland, to make it flow south, and thus bring
the pure water of the lake in an abundant stream past their very
doors?

This scheme has actually been carried out! The work was in progress
while I was there, and I observe that it has since been completed. The
limestone plateau to the south of Chicago has been cut down at a cost
of about three millions of dollars; and an abundant supply of pure
water has thus been secured to the town for ever. But the cutting of
this artificial river for the purpose of water supply has opened up
another and a much larger question. It is, whether by sufficiently
deepening the bed, a channel may not be formed for large ocean-going
ships, so that Chicago may be placed in direct water communication
with the Gulf of Mexico, as it now is with the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Should this project, which was freely spoken of when I was at Chicago,
be carried out, it may lead to very important consequences. While it
may have the effect of greatly promoting the prosperity of Chicago, it
may also have an altogether different result. "The letting out of
waters" is not always a safe thing; and the turning of the stream, or
any considerable part of the stream which now passes over the falls of
Niagara, into the bed of the Mississippi--whose swollen waters are
sometimes found sufficiently unmanageable as it is--might have a very
extraordinary and even startling effect upon the low-lying regions at
the mouth of that great river. But this is a point that must be left
for geologists and engineers to speculate about and to settle.

Shortly after my arrival in Chicago, I went out for a wander in the
streets. I was accompanied by the Hotel "tout" who soon gave me his
history. He had been a captain in the English army, had run through
all his money, and come here to make more. He had many reminiscences
to relate of his huntings in Leicestershire, of his life in the army,
of his foolish gamblings, of his ups and downs in America, and his
present prospects. Nothing daunted by his mishaps, he was still full
of hope. He was an agent for railways, agent for a billiard-table
manufacturer and for several patents, and believed he should soon be a
rich man again. But no one, he said, had any chance in Chicago, unless
he was prepared to work, and to work hard. "A man," he observed, "must
ha