Chicago in 1856, 160 Chicago Street Life--Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, 177 U. S. Grant, 192 The Capitol, 209 Bear Pit (Lincoln Park), 224 The Auditorium Hotel, 241 Bird’s-eye View of the Proposed Buildings of the University of Chicago, 256 Tacoma Building, 273 Residence of Hon Potter Palmer, 288 Mines Building, 305 U. S. Man-of-War, 320 Agricultural Building, 337 Perspective View Looking South, Showing End of World’s Columbian Exposition, 352 Administration Building, 369 Electrical Building, 384 Gallery of Fine Arts, 401 Transportation Building, 416 Horticultural Hall, 433 Fisheries and Agricultural, 448 Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, 465 Machinery Hall, 480 Woman’s Building, 497 [Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.] “MY COUNTRY, ’TIS OF THEE.” CHAPTER I. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY. Beginning with the year 1492, the date of the first voyage of Columbus, necessarily leaves a great part of American history untold. Every nation’s story begins in the middle; back of Leonidas are the Homeric heroes; Romulus and Remus antedate the Tarquins. So, centuries before the clear glory of Columbus, we have tradition of various shadowy explorers whose strange barques visited our shores. Unless we grant the earliest inhabitants of America an autochthonic origin, it seems most reasonable to suppose that they came from Asia. Such authorities as Humboldt, Bancroft, and Prescott declare it their opinion that the monuments, the systems of cosmogony, the methods of computing time, etc., all point to an ancient communication with eastern Asia. It is certain that from time immemorial constant intercourse has been kept up between the natives of either side of Bering’s Strait, and it is very probable that the original immigrants came that way. There are other possible routes--the Aleutian Islands and Polynesia are the two next favored by the authorities.