3-034-714 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Fire at Chicago: the Waterworks, 1871. Before the fire. 'The city waterworks, supplying about twenty million gallons daily for 25,000 houses, were ingeniously contrived and constructed. In order to obtain a pure supply from the lake at the nearest distance possible, a shaft was sunk near the shore to the depth of 70 ft. A tunnel...was then driven beneath the lake for a distance of two miles, where pure water was reached...On the top of the lake shaft, locally known as the "Crib," a lighthouse is perched..The water is pumped by powerful engines into several reservoirs throughout the city; but within a few days before the fire happened complaints appeared in the newspapers of the deficient supply. This was explained to be owing to the fact that two of the largest engines were undergoing repair, so that now the failure of the "waterworks" can be readily understood. Even supposing the engines to have been in perfect order, the supply could not have been great; while, had the engine-houses been either destroyed or inaccessible, the city would be left almost entirely at the mercy of the fire. Many of the houses...were constructed of wood; and the fire, having thus obtained a footing, would be difficult or almost impossible to extinguish'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.