How Waterways, Glacial Melt, and Earthquakes Realigned Ancient Rivers and Changed Illinois Borders.

From about 1673 until 1783, Illinois was known as the Illinois Country (Fig. 1) and the Illinois Territory from 1809 until statehood in 1818. 

(Fig. 1) Original proposed Illinois borders within the Illinois territory. A future addition to Illinois from the future state of Wisconsin.

In the 17th century, the French-built trading forts in the Illinois Country. Louis Jolliet and Father Pierre Marquette suggested a canal from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan to eliminate the portage at Mud Lake. But the canal was never built by the French. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the area was ceded to the British and was then awarded to the new United States by the Treaty of Paris (1783). When the borders of Kentucky and Indiana were established, they formed Illinois' southern and eastern borders (the Ohio and Wabash Rivers and to 42°35" north latitude line, which extended between the Wabash River and the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan). The proposed northern boundary in an 1817 plan considered by the US Congress (derived from the Northwest Ordinance) was a straight line from the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan (in Indiana) to the Mississippi River just south of the Rock River confluence with the Mississippi River.

Nathaniel Pope, Illinois Territory Delegate in the United States Congress, proposed modifying the northern border by moving it 51 miles north for economic reasons and giving Illinois access to Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes, and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Another reason for the northern border move was unstated but was related to slavery. After the Missouri Comprise of 1820, Illinois would become a northern state and a vital part of the Union by 1860. While many in southern Illinois were sympathetic to the Confederate cause during the Civil War (1861-1865), most of the state of Illinois was not.

Many inhabitants living in the northern Illinois Territory (later Wisconsin) objected to the movement of the north boundary, the loss of the Lake Michigan waterfront and the location of a shipping port. The land, water, and population loss delayed Wisconsin's development for 30 years, and Wisconsin finally became a state in 1849. With the help of his brother Senator John Pope of Kentucky, Nathaniel Pope got Congress to move the northern boundary to its present-day location (Fig. 2).

(Fig. 2) Ancient Mississippi River location east of Quad Cites between the Rock and Green rivers to Illinois River and south to St. Louis. Location of the land additions to Illinois from the future states of Iowa and Missouri.

Adding 5,440,000 acres also raised the population to (nearly) 40,000, which was required for statehood. Illinois became a state in 1818. The port area on Lake Michigan became the future town of Chicago (Chicagou) in 1833 (Chicago incorporated as a city in 1837). It linked the two shipping routes with a portage between a small river that drained into Lake Michigan with the Illinois River. In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed, allowing the shipment of goods between the two waterway systems. With tensions rising and Civil War a possibility, the canal provided the Union with a northern route to ship goods without using the Ohio River. After the railroad and canal connected Lake Michigan to the rest of the state, Chicago grew incredibly fast. Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, and the greater Chicago area includes three-quarters of the state's population. The ceding of 8,500 miles of territory and the lakefront property on Lake Michigan by the US Congress to Illinois due to Nathaniel Pope's efforts altered the fortunes of Wisconsin and Illinois. Due to the northern boundary shift, the 5,440,000 acres added to Illinois include very productive soils.

During the Pleistocene Era (2.6 million years ago until about 11,700 years ago), numerous glacial advances covered most of Missouri and Illinois, with the two most recent designated as the Illinoian and Wisconsinan glaciations. Melt waters from these glaciers contributed to the re-alignment of the Mississippi River. The western boundary of Illinois was the Mississippi River (Fig. 2). However, before the Pleistocene glacial period, the ancient Mississippi River passed much farther to the east, as shown by the blue dashed lines. Today's lower Illinois River follows its course. The Wisconsin glacier eventually blocked the ancient Mississippi River, and its terminal moraine (point of furthest advance southward of a glacier) was about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. The ancient Mississippi River then re-aligned itself to its current position, later used as the western border when Illinois became a state. If the Mississippi River had not been re-aligned, the 7.5 million acres (Fig. 2) would belong to the conditions of Missouri and Iowa. Before 1803, the French controlled the land west of the current Mississippi River and was part of the Louisiana Purchase that year. After Iowa and Missouri became states, they had a border dispute settled by the US Supreme Court. The border between these two states was primarily the 40°35" latitude line, which, if extended into the current area of Illinois between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers (Fig. 2), would determine the acreage each state would have gained if the ancient Mississippi River had not re-aligned. A total of 3.5 million acres would have gone to Missouri and 4 million acres to Iowa. This area includes some of Illinois's most productive soils for corn and soybean production.

Further to the south, the Mississippi River (just south of current Cape Girardeau, Missouri) was re-routed (Fig. 3) at the end of the Great Ice Age. After the last glacial advance, the melting ice flooded and altered the course of many channels and streams, including the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Approximately 12 to 15 thousand years ago, scientists believe that the Ohio and Mississippi rivers changed course (Fig. 3) south of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

(Fig. 3) The re-alignment of the Mississippi River south of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The bedrock lined the Mississippi River channel near Thebes, Illinois.

The 6-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Thebes, Illinois, is unique. It is the only Mississippi River section in a narrow bedrock-lined valley with rock underlying the navigation channel. Some geologists believe heavy seismic activity along the Commerce Geophysical lineament (a northeast-trending magnetic and gravity feature that extends from central Arkansas to southern Illinois) about 12,000 years to 15,000 years ago created a fault that helped the Mississippi River cut through the "Thebes gap" [1] and made a new confluence 25 miles north of the current confluence, where the River switched from a braided, meandering river to one that cut through rock. The Mississippi River currently forms the state boundary between Missouri and Illinois. 

At Thebes, the Mississippi River is now located 30 miles to the east (Fig. 3) of where the ancient Mississippi River flowed. Before the 20th century, the Mississippi River migrated rapidly by eroding the outside and depositing on the inside of a river bend. Numerous oxbow lakes [2] mark old positions of the channel that have been abandoned. Early Holocene (the term given to the last 11,700 years of the Earth's history) to late Wisconsin liquefaction (conversion of soil into a fluid-like mass during an earthquake or other seismic events) features in western lowlands were induced by a local source, possibly by the Commerce fault (which is north of New Madrid Fault) as a result of earthquake upheaval along the Commerce Geophysical lineament running from central Indiana to Arkansas.

The New Madrid area has been the center of seismic activity for thousands of years, affecting the Mississippi River and perhaps the Ohio River re-routing. The land has rebounded by as much as 13 feet in 1,000 years after the last glacial period. The previous significant seismic activity resulted from an earthquake in 1450-1470 AD and another earthquake in Cahokia, Illinois, in 1811-1812.

Floodwaters of the ancient Mississippi River did not initially pass through this relatively narrow channel and valley. Instead, they were routed by the bedrock-controlled uplands near Scott City, Missouri, and north of Commerce and Benton, Missouri (Fig. 3) to an opening in the upland ridge 40 miles to the southwest. Then the River turned back to the south and merged with the ancient Ohio River near Morely, Missouri. Once floodwaters of the Mississippi River (from the north) and Ohio River (from the east) could cut a valley trench along a fault and through the bedrock-controlled upland west of Thebes. As a result of the Commerce fault, the distance the Mississippi had to travel was shortened from 50 miles to 6 miles. The two historic rivers also once joined at Malden, Missouri; however, the location of the confluence continued to change over time and is now located south of Cairo, Illinois, at Fort Defiance State Park [3]. The confluence of these two mighty rivers created a very rapidly changing channel. It appears that the bedrock-controlled upland was worn away by both rivers after seismic activity. The creation of the Commerce fault contributed to the opening of the bedrock-controlled channel (Fig. 3) after the last glacial advance, approximately 12,000 years to 15,000 years ago.

The modern-day Cache River Valley of southern Illinois (Fig. 4) has a string of tupelo-cypress (trees) swamps, sloughs, and shallow lakes, remnants of the ancient Ohio River whose confluence with the Mississippi River was once northwest of Cairo, Illinois. 

Cache River Valley on the Ohio River in Illinois.

The ancient Ohio River Valley, 50 miles long and 1½ to 3 miles wide, was formed by the meltwaters of northern glaciers as they advanced and retreated in numerous iterations over the last million years. The Mississippi River flowing southward from Minnesota was (and is today) a meandering river of oxbows and cut-offs, continuously eroding banks, re-depositing soil, and changing paths. Its historic meandering is particularly apparent in western Alexander County, Illinois, where topographical maps show oxbow swirls and curves, and Horseshoe Lake, where the ancient Mississippi River once flowed (Fig. 4).

(Fig. 4) The location of the ancient Cache River valley and ancient Ohio and Tennessee Rivers.

The upland hills of the Shawnee National Forest just north and west of the town of Olive Branch and north of Route 3 give way to a low-lying plain between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Historically this region has been a delta, confluence, and bottomlands dating back 30,000 to 800,000 years BP (Before Present: where "present" is defined as 1950 AD), with many of Illinois lands shown on the maps located on both sides of the Mississippi River as its channel changed positions over time. As a result, the fertile farmland soils of western Alexander County formed in alluvial (clay, silt, sand, gravel) and lacustrine (sedimentary rock formations which formed at the bottom of ancient lakes) deposits.

Hydrologically, the Ohio River is the main eastern tributary of the Mississippi River. Today it runs along the borders of six states 981 miles west from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Mississippi River confluence at Cairo, Illinois and drains lands west of the continental divide from the Appalachian Mountains encompassing all or part of 14 states. The Ohio River, a southwestern flowing river, was formed between 2½ and 3 million years ago when glacial ice-dammed portions of north-flowing rivers.

About 625,000 years ago, the ancient Ohio River, fed by Kentucky's Green and Cumberland rivers, flowed through the Cache River Basin and was smaller than the current Ohio River. The Wabash River (Indiana) had yet to form at that time. The Tennessee River was not a tributary of the Ohio River but formed the main channel before the later Ohio River appeared.

During the Woodfordian period (75,000 to 11,000 years ago), the floodwaters from the historic Ohio River watershed drained into eastern Illinois via Bay Creek (Fig. 4) to the northwest and then west through the Cache River Valley through present-day Alexander County, Illinois, where it converged with the Mississippi River near Morely, Missouri, located west of the Horseshoe State Conservation area. The middle Cache River Valley is 1.3 miles wide due to the previous River having been much larger since it carried waters from the ancient Ohio River Valley and the local waters from the upper Cache River Valley to the Mississippi River.

Extensive deposits of gravel and sand, some as deep as 160 feet, rest on the bedrock floor of the middle and eastern portions of the valley and offer evidence of glacial flooding which carved the valley deeply into the bedrock and then, as the water receded, back-filled the valley with sediments. With increasing sediment fill and climate changes, the ancient Ohio River shifted away from the Cache River Valley and into its present course. This event probably took place between 8,000 and 25,000 years ago. As a result, the Cache River became a slow-moving stream with extensive isolated, low swampy areas with a water table that ebbed and flowed with seasonal precipitation.

The upper and middle sections of the Cache River Valley, the Main Ditch, and Bay Creek are located in the ancient Ohio River Valley, where river water crossed through the state of Illinois approximately 10-20 miles north of the present Ohio River position. The Cache River Valley is deeper at a lower elevation (between 320 and 340 feet) than expected in a slow-moving swampy river system. The New Madrid Fault runs under and near Karnak and Ullin, Illinois, and the Cache River Valley elevation does not fit with the rest of the area. Steve Gough, a land-use change-over-time expert, has suggested a large section under the Cache River Valley sank during a significant earthquake in about 900 AD. The cypress trees in the Cache River Valley swamps are up to 1,000 years old, which would be consistent with this time estimate.

(Fig. 5) The additions and subtractions to Illinois. The orange area is the net border of Illinois without all the Mississippi and Ohio rivers re-routing and the decision to provide Illinois with Lake Frontage on Lake Michigan and connecting waterways.

If all these waterway-related changes had not occurred, the state of Illinois would only have 22 million acres, much smaller than the current 35 million acres (Fig. 5). All but one of the changes would have made Illinois 40% smaller and reduced the current population by more than 80%, since Chicago and Rockford would be in Wisconsin, Cairo, and Metropolis in Kentucky, Quincy in Missouri, and Rock Island, Moline and Peoria in Iowa. Borders such as the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, which were naturally re-aligned, dramatically changed the size and shape of Illinois. Clearly, the location of these waterways matters.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

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Additional Reading:

The History of Ancient Lake Chicago and Today's Lake Michigan.

Illinois on the west side of the Mississippi River - Missouri on the east side of the River.

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[1] Just south of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the Mississippi River cuts a seven-mile gorge through the thick limestone of the Shawneetown Ridge. The gorge, known as the Thebes Gap or the Grand Chain, is as narrow as 3,000 feet in places and was notoriously difficult to navigate.

[2] An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water.

[3] Fort Defiance, known as Camp Defiance during the American Civil War, is a former military fortification located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers near Cairo in Alexander County, Illinois.

Zephyr Café & Ice Cream Parlor, Chicago, Illinois.

Byron Kouris was among the many Greek-Americans who entered the restaurant business. In the 1960’s he started a chain called the Lunch Pail. He started Byron’s Hot Dogs with locations in Ravenswood (1701 W Lawrence Avenue), Wrigleyville (1017 W Irving Park Road), the Near West Side (680 N Halsted Street) and Lincoln Park (850 W North Avenue).

Zephyr Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor, Chicago, Illinois. (1985)

In 1976 he started Zephyr, a Restaurant & Ice Cream Parlor at 1777 W Wilson Avenue on the Southeast corner of Wilson and Ravenswood Avenues, in an area considered off the beaten path, in the old Pickard Building. Customers somehow found Zephyr and came in droves. So much so that often lines formed down the block on spring, summer, and fall evenings.

The old-fashioned diner had an art deco theme with colored mirrors on the walls with neon lights. They served generous portions of food which were named after entertainment stars of the 1920s and ’30s; such as the Greta Garbo Salad and the Duke Ellington Club.

Zephyr was most famous for its fantastic ice cream creations. There was the War of the Worlds, a gargantuan 10-scoop sundae; the Marathon, a 64-ounce shake. 

Zephyr Café & Ice Cream Parlor's "Son of Frankenstein" 6-scoop banana split.

The Frankenstein’s Monster was a large-sized banana split, and the Son of Frankenstein was an even bigger 6-scoop banana split. 

After 30 years in business, Zephyr closed permanently in 2006 because of a lease dispute with the landlord.

The Zephyr location is now O'Shaughnessy's Public House.

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Hotel LaSalle History and the 1946 Fire, Chicago, Illinois.

The Hotel LaSalle opened on September 9, 1908, on the northwest corner of LaSalle and Madison Streets in Chicago's Loop.

The New Fire-Proof Hotel LaSalle, Chicago, Illinois. (1910)

The new hotel contains 1,172 rooms, of which 1,048 are guest rooms, nearly 1,000 have baths and all the modern conveniences, and each room has hot and cold running water. The hotel has 178 feet of frontage on La Salle and 162 feet of frontage on Madison Street, covering a ground dimension of 29,100 square feet.

It is the most conspicuous hotel structure in Chicago, twenty-two stories high, twenty above ground. It is the tallest hotel in the world. Everything in it is of the finest and best. From the sidewalk to the copper cheneau (a cresting above a cornice or at the ends of eaves), crowning the roof, the building measures 260 feet and towers above all other skyscrapers, the most conspicuous object in the downtown district. From the lake and surrounding country, its shining top can be seen from a long distance. It is fire-proof, and the steel frame rests on 105 concrete caissons, extending to bedrock 110 feet below street level.

The building is designed in the style of the French Renaissance, with a mansard roof, which gives the great structure a striking appearance. Large windows and balconies relieve what would otherwise be a plain front and provide an artistic and unique effect.

Hotel LaSalle Main Dining Room, October 30, 1909.

Here is the table seating capacity of the Hotel LaSalle dining rooms:

Main Dining Hall—500

Palm Room—350

Henry II—500

German Room—350

Cafe—175

Banquet Hall (Large)—1,000

Banquet Hall (Medium)—600

Banquet Hall (Small)—200

=======================

Total Seating Capacity—3,675

In addition, several smaller private dining halls seat from 50 to 100 each that may be called into use.

Per hotel advertising, the famous Pabst Blue Ribbon beer was served in the buffets and restaurants of the new Hotel LaSalle. "Edelweiss" beer from the Peter Schoenhofen Brewing Company of Chicago was also served.

FIRE AT THE HOTEL LASALLE
Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1946. 

The Hotel LaSalle in Chicago was booked solid on June 5, 1946, and its guests were mostly asleep, when a sprinkling of night owls in the Silver Grill Cocktail Lounge noticed the smell of burning wood. A patron and several employees squirted seltzer water and poured sand on the flames that emerged from beneath the bar's wood paneling, but it was in vain.

Arriving in the lobby about 12:30 a.m., night manager W.H. Bradfield saw fire shooting out of the bar and asked if the Fire Department had been called. "'We called them,' they told me, 'but we'll call them again,'" Bradfield recalled afterward to a Tribune reporter from a bed in Illinois Masonic Hospital.

Sixty-one died with approximately 60 injured, needing assistance out of the building, with another 150 patrons that reported a variety of injuries, but made it out of the hotel on their own in the disaster that was thought to be impossible. All the other guests, in the fully booked hotel, escaped without incident. 

When it opened in 1909, the 22-story building at LaSalle and Madison streets was touted as "the most comfortable, modern and safest hotel west of New York City."

In fact, it was a tragedy waiting to happen, and made of chance and dereliction, compounded by mendacity.

Whatever Bradfield was told, the Fire Department got its first phone call at 12:35 a.m., about 15 minutes after the fire started — a delay that firefighters dread, knowing it can be deadly. A guest from Des Moines, Iowa, William Poorman, returned to the hotel a few minutes before that phone call and heard what sounded "like a gas explosion" as the lobby ceiling "lighted up almost immediately."

Arriving a few minutes later, Battalion Chief Eugene Freemon saw a wall of flames in the hotel lobby and knew he needed reinforcements. Today a firefighter would call in an extra alarm, but in 1946 radios were almost nonexistent in the Chicago Fire Department. Freemon's driver had to run to the nearest fire-alarm box and tap out 2-11 on the telegraph key inside.

Freemon led firefighters from Engine 40, Squad 1 and Hook and Ladder 6 on a search for victims. As they passed through the lobby, part of a mezzanine collapsed on them. They were rescued by arriving firefighters — eventually there would be 300 on the scene — but Freemon died of smoke inhalation.

By now the inferno, having fed on the two-story lobby's highly varnished woodwork, was moving up through the hotel's two staircases. Doors planned for each floor had never been installed, turning the stairwells from escape routes into chimneys, sucking smoke up into the corridors.

Subsequent investigations raised, but didn't answer, the question of how the hotel got away with such elementary safety violations. A police order had interrupted a 1935 remodeling of the Silver Lounge because combustible materials were being used. But the record showed the work had been resumed "by agreement."

As the inferno grew, Bradfield, the night manager, came across the hotel's operator at the switchboard, alerting guests. He urged her to get out. "No. I'm going to stay at my station," replied Julia C. Berry. There she died, having saved hundreds of lives, officials later said.

With the staircases unusable, firefighters saved guests by raising ladders to the windows of lower-floor windows. Those on upper floors had to be brought down via fire escapes, which luckily were in working order.

Tribune war correspondent Joseph Hearst and his wife had just returned from China and were in a room on the 19th floor. "Someone in the hall yelled for everyone to get out," he said. "We wrapped wet towels around our faces, felt our way down the corridor to the fire escape and descended safely." 

A number of newly discharged servicemen staying at the hotel joined the rescue effort.

Hotel LaSalle's Exterior Fire Escape

Seaman 1st Class Joseph O'Keefe, aided by three civilians, dragged 27 guests from fifth-floor rooms after discovering the hotel's fire hose was useless. "It just went drip, drip," he said. His buddy, Seaman 1st Class Robert Might, helped people down a fire escape before being overcome by smoke and taken to Henrotin Hospital. Two more sailors, Bernard Traska and Robert Higdon, dragged hose lines into the hotel and helped raise ladders. 

Fawn, a seeing-eye dog, guided her owner down a fire escape. "I can't see and I can't smell, but I tasted the smoke and nudged Fawn," said Anita Blair of El Paso, Texas. "We followed the crowd around a corner, and then a man helped me and my dog over the windowsill and onto a fire escape landing."
The Anti-Cruelty Society gave Fawn and Blair an award: "For exceptional kindness done by a human being to an animal, and the other way around," the Tribune reported. 

The Chicago Telephone Traffic Union established a college fund for John Joseph Berry, the 16-year-old son of the operator who died while alerting others.

Merritt Penticoff and his wife spent an agonizing 45 minutes in their 18th-floor room before a knock on the door suggested it was safe to leave. "We got dressed after that pounding," Mrs. Penticoff said, as the Tribune reported, without using the woman's full name. "Then my husband laughed for the first time — I had automatically put on lip rouge, despite my haste, acting absolutely subconsciously."

Not everyone maintained his dignity or acted heroically. A fire marshal saw a firefighter looting rooms. A judge dismissed charges brought against him — a denouement that seemed fishy as he was a stepbrother of a Democratic ward committeewoman. Nonetheless, he resigned upon the discovery that he had lied about his age on his application to join the Fire Department.

Still, even thieves can have a guilty conscience. Jewelry worth $1,500 ($19,500 today) was taken during the fire from the 10th-floor room of Gertrude Cummings. Eleven days later, the jewelry was mailed to the hotel with a note saying: "Please return to owner."

Shortly, seven separate investigations were launched, some in hopes of preventing future disasters. Other inquiries were inspired, a Tribune editorial observed, by "the natural desire of politicians to get their names in the paper."

Blue-ribbon panels recommended reforms varying from stricter building codes to equipping all emergency vehicles with radios. But even the experts had to be reminded of perhaps the number-one rule of fire safety. During one hearing, the coroner agreed with the Hotel LaSalle's president that it wasn't necessary to call the Fire Department for every whiff of smoke or a few flames.

That was too much for Capt. Frank Thielman, a fire prevention investigator, who jumped up. "Delayed alarms cause loss of life," he shouted. "We have been preaching this for years and have fought a losing battle."

People stick their heads out of the windows at the Hotel LaSalle during a June 5, 1946 fire. The Tribune wrote, "As flames shot as high as the seventh-floor level from the street, the loop echoed to the screams and cries of men and women standing at open windows."

Firefighters are on the scene.

Firefighters help a man in his bed during a fire at the Hotel LaSalle on June 5, 1946.

Policemen carry a victim out of the Hotel LaSalle on June 5, 1946, after a fire broke out at the Loop Hotel.

Crowds gather outside the Hotel LaSalle at Madison and LaSalle streets on the morning of June 5, 1946, after a significant fire at the hotel the night before.

The inside of the Hotel LaSalle on June 14, 1946, after a significant fire. The Tribune wrote, "Firemen rushed into the smoke-filled lobby and braved fierce flames that made the mezzanine, in the words of one witness, 'a hellish ball of fire.' Soon, firemen were carrying out unconscious guests, picked up in the smoke-filled corridors." 

The lobby of the Hotel LaSalle on June 14, 1946, after the central fire. The Tribune wrote, "The conflagration left the ornate, walnut paneled lobby, and the mezzanine floor a charred and blackened wreck. Fire damage was severe as high as the fifth floor, particularly in corridors and areas adjacent to the stairways, which served as pathways for the flames and smoke."

The interior of the Hotel LaSalle after the central fire.

The interior of the Hotel LaSalle after the major fire.

The interior of the Hotel LaSalle after the major fire.

FIRE DEPT. STATISTICS OF THE HOTEL LASALLE FIRE
Some Interesting Figures Presented In Chicago Fire Department's Consolidated Report.

When Fire Engineering's July account of the fatal Hotel LaSalle fire in Chicago on June 5, 1946, was written, many details of the fire department's operation needed to be included.

In as much as the actual working data of the Chicago Fire Department are, to the advanced firefighter, the most interesting, the editors secured the permission of Chief Fire Marshal Anthony Mullaney of the Chicago Fire Department to bring its readers that statistical story which was not available when the July account was prepared.

The fire was in the Hotel LaSalle, owned by Roanoke Realty Co. (LaSalle Madison Hotel Co.). The building was twenty-two stories in height with two basements. It was constructed of reinforced concrete and occupied an area of 178 x 162 feet.

The duration of the fire (fire department operations) was three hours and thirty-two minutes.

The number of persons killed (at the time of the report) was 61, with approximately 60 injured and 150 rescued.

The total number of alarms was seven.

The first notification of the fire department was a still alarm at 12:35 AM on June 5, 1946. This was followed by a box alarm from street firebox 1028. From that time on, the warnings and assignments were as follows:

• 1st Alarm 12:38 A.M. (15 40 responded on the still alarm)
• 2nd Alarm 12:40 A.M. 
• 3rd Alarm 12:45 A.M.
• 4th Alarm 12:45 A.M.
• 5th Alarm 12:45 A.M.
• SPECIAL CALLS
• (Special Duty) 1:08 A.M.
• (1st Special) 1:16 A.M.
• (2nd Special) 1:18 A.M.
• (Special Duty) 1:45 A.M.
• (Special Duty) 2:10 A.M.

Commissioner Corrigan was in charge of all operations. In command at the start of the fire: Division Marshal Gibbons. Upon his arrival, he ordered the 5-11 alarm struck and put companies to work on the Madison Street side of the hotel. He supervised companies' work until the arrival of 2nd Deputy Chief Haherkorn. Afterward, he went inside and proceeded up the stairs, overseeing the operations of various companies on various floors.

The Chief officers present were 2nd Deputy Chief Haherkorn, 2nd Deputy Chief Dahl, Drillmaster Sheehan, 1st Deputy Chief Cody and Marshal Fenn, head of the Fire Prevention Bureau.

Operations of the four battalion chiefs at the fire are briefed as follows: Chief Freemon, 1st Battalion. (who died later in the hospital). Ordered a box, and 2-11 struck. Put companies to work on the east side of the building. Went inside on 4th, 5th, and 6th floors to evacuate occupants. 

Chief Walsh, 25th Battalion: Supervised the working of hose streams on the LaSalle Street side. Also, the removal of bodies from various floors.

Chief Powers: Supervised the working of hose streams inside the 1st and 2nd floors. Also checked all the floors. Removed bodies from the 3rd floor.

Chief Bieze: Supervised the working of hose streams on the 2nd floor. Madison Street side; later directed streams on elevator shaft on all floors; led removal of bodies on all floors.

Forty Lines Stretched
The report indicated that 38 hose lines were stretched and charged during the period of operations, while two more were laid in but not charged. Four lines were Siamese. Five pumpers operated two lines; one worked three, and one (F 40) operated four. Approximately 4100 ft. of 3-in. hose and 15,700 ft. of 2 1/2-in Hose was stretched. Lengths of stretches varied from 100-ft. to 950 ft. The hydrants used were all the "Chicago" type. The distance of pumpers from the fire varied from 50 ft. (E 40 and 13) to 950 ft. (E 114),

The report indicates that first-in companies immediately hooked up to standpipes and stretched into the lobby. Hand lines were taken into the building over the hotel canopies and up ladders, including the department's most extended all-metal types. Other companies operated lines into elevator shafts, some using the building standpipes.

Running throughout the account of company operations is the phrase "Assisted in the removal of bodies" and "applied artificial respiration." After stretching in and hitting the fire, many engine company personnel applied artificial respiration to victims whom they encountered.

A few companies operated streams briefly, then worked to revive victims. Two engine companies stretched but did not charge lines.

With the ladder companies, as might be expected, the objectives were to save lives—to get the victims and the uninjured guests out of the building.

The structure was laddered on every side except the north, and some ladders were raised to corners. Every type and length of ladder in the department was used.

The accounts relate how companies rescued persons on floors up to and including the seventh and how firemen assisted guests down the fire escapes, opened up and searched rooms, located casualties and applied artificial respiration where a possible spark of life remained.

Likewise, the squads and special service forces' work primarily concerns rescue and resuscitation. Such terse company reports abound: "Evacuated Floors 4-5-6; Laddered North East Corner building."

"Rescued 6. Removed dead. Laddered West side of the building."

"Hand-line to the 3rd floor, and H & H on victims."

"Used body bags and stretchers to remove victims."

"Inhalator on the 3rd floor."

"E & J—H & H on victims 6th and 7th floors."

"Removed bodies from floors 3 to 11." "Inhalator on victims floors 5-7-8-21" (Indicating height to which people were overcome).

"Inhalator on victims floors 9-10-11." 

One tragic item in the report catches the eye: "Used resuscitator on Chief Freemon—Removed to hospital."

The records indicate that most companies performed more than three hours of duty at the scene. One engine company operated for 4 hours, while a ladder company put in 28 hours and 40 minutes of work. A unique service unit (searchlight) reported 12 hours and 20 minutes worked.

The total period of operation by the fire department personnel reaches an impressive total of over 270 company hours.

The report attributes the discovery of the fire to an employee and indicates there was a delay in reporting the fire.

The fire communicated throughout part of the hotel using stairways and elevator shafts.

Weather data shows that the wind was "mild," the temperature was 60 deg., and it was a clear night.

Reporting on the condition of the building after the fire, the record says: "safe on upper floors. Lobby and stairways from 1st to 3rd full of debris and broken stair treads and frames."

Under the subject "lessons suggested by the fire," the report emphasizes that "open stairways cause the fire to spread." And it recommends: "enclosure of all stairways in this building occupancy."

The total number of fire department equipment of all types employed at the fire is given as follows: 33 engines (pumpers); 8 trucks (ladder units); 10 squads; 2 pressure wagons (Hand Pump. trucks); 2 water towers; 2 ambulances and 2 light wagons (searchlights).

Hotel Urged to Inspect
Discussing fire preventive measures in hotels notably, Fire Commissioner Frank B. Quayle of New York, speaking before the Eastern Association of Fire Chiefs, advocated cooperation between hotel management and fire departments and prompt transmitting of alarms when a fire is discovered. Smoke and panic were the most general causes of loss of life at such fires, he said, and he recommended the organization of hotel staff for systematic inspection of possible fire hazards and for the supervision of guests in case of an alarm for fire.

Following the fatal Hotel LaSalle fire in Chicago, Mayor O'Dwyer instructed Commissioner Quayle and heads of other responsible city agencies to intensify inspections of hotels and multiple dwellings in all city communities. Commissioner Quayle went on the air to urge closer cooperation between hotel management and the fire department to ensure excellent fire safety.

The hotel was refurbished after the fire and was demolished in July 1976 to be occupied by the Two North LaSalle office building. This 26-story skyscraper was completed using the hotel's foundation in 1978.

Two North LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.