CHICAGO, city, port of entry, and county-seat of Cook co., Ill.; second city in population in the United States. It is built on the S. W. shore of Lake Michigan, about 18 miles N. of its S. extremity. It is the center of the Western and Lake commerce and has a large water front of 30 miles. A portion of the N. shore is protected by a massive wall. The city is one of the greatest commercial centers, and is connected by steamship and railroad lines with all parts of the world. The lake shore is protected by breakwaters, forming a splendid harbor at the mouth of the Chicago river. The exterior breakwater is 5,436 feet long, and extends in a N. E. and S. W. direction about one mile from the shore. Piers and breakwaters, built as continuations of the shores of Chicago river, form a harbor of about 455 acres, with an average depth of 16 feet. At the mouth of the Calumet river, in South Chicago, is another harbor 300 feet wide between piers. The Erie canal, terminating at Buffalo, provides a means of commercial communication with the Atlantic ports. Area, 199.37 square miles; pop. (1890) 1,099,850; (1900) 1,698,575; (1910), 2,185,283; (1920) 2,701,705.
Topography.—The city was built originally on the flat prairie, at an elevation too low to secure proper drainage. When this became apparent the grade of the whole city was raised 7 feet and the streets and buildings brought to the new level. The Chicago river traverses the city, and by its peculiar course divides it into three sections, known as the North, South, and West Sides, which are connected by many bridges and tunnels.
Commerce.—Chicago is the commercial distributing center of the country; it is the heart of the greatest producing region of the country and the greatest railway center in the world. It is the principal center of the world's meat packing industry; it is the world's greatest live stock, grain, and lumber market; it leads all other cities of the country in the distribution of dry goods, general merchandise, foodstuffs, machinery, jewelry, musical instruments, wearing apparel, automobiles, furniture, and household articles. With few exceptions it holds a commanding place in every American industry.
Chicago's estimated earning power is $1,000,000,000 a year. It has more than 30,000 factories and its manufacturing zone has a normal output of $6,500,000,000 a year. Its wholesale trade is fully as large, while its lumber receipts are 2,329,071,000 feet a year.
The city has one hundred and one miles of water front, of which fifty-two miles are equipped with both dock and railway facilities. In 1919 its lake trade, comprising vessel arrivals and clearances from the Chicago district, was 60,769,234 tons. It is the terminus of thirty-nine railways and has 1,400 miles of belt line. Its railway yards number more than 100, one having a capacity of 10,000 freight cars a day. Another railway is now building the largest freight yard in the world.
Chicago is in close commercial touch with every producing and consuming region of the country. Because of its central position and its unequaled railway facilities it is the natural market place for a vast part of the North American continent and products manufactured elsewhere find here their natural distributing point. Thus, more automobiles are sold from Chicago than from any other city although Chicago is not the center of the automobile manufacturing district. The same is true in many other lines.
The city's foreign trade is close to $2,000,000,000 a year. Federal government figures show the city's foreign trade as being about $100,000,000 a year. The reason for this is that the government gives credit for shipments to the port of entry, or exit. Therefore the seaboard cities get entire credit for the business that is really done in Chicago, and merely passes through these ports. Under the British system, credit for foreign trade goes to the point of origin, not to the city through which the business happens to pass on its way to its destination. This method makes it possible to find out exactly what each city of England is doing in originating business. Were such a system in force in the United States Chicago's export business would be shown to be close to two billion dollars annually.
The packers and the manufacturers of agricultural machinery are among Chicago's heaviest exporters and their products are shipped all over the world. Many other lines likewise have many foreign markets and a movement is on foot to have “made in Chicago” stamped on all products of this market that the city's importance as a producing center may be brought home to the rest of the world.
Chicago commerce will be greatly increased with the completing of the various waterway plans, especially south through the Mississippi and eastward by way of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river.
Finance.—Chicago has made great strides as a financial center in recent years. Its bank clearings now run more than $100,000,000 a day and its banks share with those of New York City in
