The complete text of James Goodsell's ”History of the Great Chicago Fire, October 8, 9, and 10, 1871.” Published 1871 by J.H. and C.M. Goodsell (25 pages, including a map of the area affected by the fire) On Dearborn street stood The Times and The Journal newspaper offices, the Dearborn theatre, and a considerable number of banks and large office blocks La Salle street was built up with many of the finest buildings to be found in the city. It was largely occupied by insurance agents, real estate brokers, lawyers, etc. Between Washington and Randolph streets, stood the court-house, which, of course, shared the general ruin. These details are only given to aid the reader in obtaining a proximate idea of the losses. Little was saved except from those houses which were not attacked by the flames until several hours after it was seen to be inevitable that the city was doomed. Immense quantities of goods were piled upon lake park and on the grounds of the Chicago Base Ball club—pyramids of clothing, boots and shoes, dry goods, and furniture from the houses of the rich dwellers along Michigan avenue—all of which fell a prey to the destroyer. THE LOSS OF LIFE The loss of life, though smaller than could have been predicted in such an extended and such a rapid fire, can yet never be fully estimated. There have been charred remains at the morgue which were almost unrecognizable as human bodies, and as the ruins are lying from two to ten feet deep in places, it is impossible to say how many have been buried under them. The fact that but few of those who are prominently known are missing, must not lead any to believe that there have not been many lost who would be missed only by an exceedingly small circle of friends, too obscure themselves to attract much attention. The greatest loss of life was in the north division among the wooden buildings where the billows of fire rolled along so rapidly that the victims were engulphed before they were aware that the fire had reached their neighborhood. The flames often jumped two or three blocks at once, as was the case at the water works and Lill's brewery, which were on fire a long time before any of the adjoining buildings. At the waterworks one man crawled into a 20-inch pipe, which was lying in the street, and was burned to a crisp. Continue reading the article at: http://chicago.about.com/cs/history/a/16_history_fire.htm Sally Rolls Pavia sallypavia2001@yahoo.com “We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds." List Owner: GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES-L-request@rootsweb.com Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES "All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus"