In the fall of 1871 occurred an event notable not only in the history of Chicago, but of the whole world. A little before midnight, on October 9th, a fire broke out, at the corner of De Koven and Jefferson Streets. The weather for weeks had been dry, and a high wind prevailed. Before daylight the fire had burned its way to Lincoln Park, nearly four miles; and by the following afternoon it had spread over 2,100 acres, 100,000 people were homeless, and $200,000,000 worth of property was destroyed. The business part of the city was a waste of ashes. With characteristic generosity the whole country sprang to the relief of the stricken city. A fund of nearly $5,000,000 was quickly collected, and the work of succoring the needy and re-building the city was begun. Within two years, almost every trace of the stupendous calamity had vanished, and the growth of the city proceeded even more swiftly than before. In 1880 its population was 503,185, and in 1890 it had been swelled to the enormous total of 1,098,576--the second city of the Union. Its growth is at the rate of more than 1,000 per week. When it was incorporated, Chicago covered an area of two and a half square miles; now it [Illustration: THE CAPITOL.] covers 181.7 square miles. Its lake front is 22 miles, and its frontage on the river 58 miles. It has more than 2,230 miles of streets, mostly broad and well paved. Its water supply is drawn from away out in Lake Michigan, and amounts to a hundred gallons daily for each inhabitant, though the works are capable of furnishing twice that quantity. Twenty-six independent railroad lines enter the city, making it the greatest railroad centre in America. The principal roads are the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fé, Baltimore & Ohio, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City; Chicago & Alton, Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Chicago & Grand Trunk, Chicago & Northern Pacific, Chicago & Northwestern, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis; Illinois Central, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, Louisville, New Albany & Chicago; Michigan Central, connecting with other Vanderbilt roads; New York, Lake Erie & Western; Northern Pacific, Pennsylvania, Union Pacific, Wabash, and Wisconsin Central. Nor is Chicago lacking in facilities for transportation by water. Its situation gives it easy access to all the commercial activities of the great lake system; and it has direct water communication by way of the St. Lawrence River with Montreal, and by the Erie Canal and Hudson River with New York. In the year 1890 the arrivals and clearances at Chicago numbered 18,472, aggregating a tonnage of 8,774,154 tons. About 25 per cent. of the entire lake-carrying trade belongs to Chicago. There is, moreover, connection with the Mississippi River by way of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the annual traffic amounting to about 1,000,000 tons.