The period from the incorporation of Chicago to the coming of the railroads (from I837 to 18 as I view it, was the critical period of Chicago's history. Citizens Of the Village of about people, surrounded by miles of flat, marshy land, had little basis to expect a big town here except the hope of a connection with the Mississippi River waterway system through a canal, which it was hoped sometime, somehow, might be built and which, eleven years afterwards, was, after various vicissitudes, completed.

In the meantime, the town grew steadily. Its exports Of raw material and imports of manufactured goods, as shown by the meagre port records of the time, increased pretty steadily and were, at all times, greater in amount than necessary for the support of the little town, indicating that, in spite Of poor roads and bad transportation, its people were doing business with the hinterland and making Chicago, in that early day, the central market for surrounding territory.

Dr. Quaife has happily selected this period for his book, and in admirable fashion has pictured the life, the travelers, and transportation methods before the coming Of the canal and the railroads; he describes an eventful period which has hereto fore had but little consideration, and has succeeded in linking the old with the new in a most interesting way.

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