They lifted a city with the shops open

Transcribed from the audio; small errors are possible.

In 1858, Chicago started jacking itself out of the mud, one building at a time. Shops still open. The city sat on a swamp, flat as a table. The sewage had nowhere to go. Engineer Ellis Chesbrough laid new drains, buried them under soil, and raised the streets. The buildings had to follow. Jack screws went under the walls. Thousands, hundreds of men turning together. In 1860, a whole block of Lake Street rose at once. Thousands of screws, hundreds of men, five days about five feet. On the last day the crowd walked underneath. Some owners never lifted. They moved the front door up and left the old ground below. Chicago still walks over it.