CHICAGO THE METROPOLIS OF THE MIDDLE WEST: REASONS FOR EXPECTING CONTINUOUS GROWTH: THE SUBURBS: A LAKESIDE DRIVEWAY ALONG LAKE MICHIGAN: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OUTLYING CITIES: THE BUILDING OF GOOD ROADS [Illustration: COTTONWOOD, NEAR CHICAGO. Height, 127 ft.; diameter, 10 ft.] Chicago is the metropolis of the Middle West, a term popularly applied to the area known a century ago as the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River. No section of the country, except New England, has so distinct a history. Conquered by Virginia troops at the very time when the Colonies were wresting their independence from Great Britain, and held for the United States by the sagacity of Franklin and the pertinacity of John Jay when the treaty of 1783 was negotiated, the Old Northwest was the first territorial acquisition of the new republic. Then, while the British still held the posts and only Indians and fur-traders roamed its forests, the Congress of the Confederation gave to the Northwest Territory in the Ordinance of 1787 a charter which contained two provisions that during the years of development exercised a unifying force comparable only to that brought about by the extension of Christianity and the civil law during the Middle Ages,—the prohibition of slavery, and the encouragement of free popular education. The continuous struggle to preserve human freedom against all the forces determined to extend slavery to the fertile fields of the new West, and the establishment of schools and colleges supported from a public treasury, brought about common aims and aspirations. When the nation engaged in the struggle for its very life, this region furnished the battle-ground for the statesmen; and when war came, both the leader of the people and the commander in the field were the embodiment of the spirit of the Middle West. 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 proportion 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 for traffic. It is no wonder, therefore, that the growth of the Middle West in population and in wealth has been phenomenal; and that at the point of convenience a city of the first order has sprung up.