In the middle of the 19th century, Chicago was a city built on a swamp. Because the land was so low, there was no way to install a sewage system. The streets were filled with deep, stagnant mud, leading to deadly outbreaks of cholera. To save the city, engineers proposed a plan that sounds like science fiction: they decided to lift the entire city ten feet into the air.
1. The Mechanics of the Jackscrew
This was not done with modern machinery. It was done with human strength and the Jackscrew—a heavy, threaded iron device.
The Power of Synchronization: In 1858, to lift the Tremont House (a massive 5-story brick hotel), engineers placed 5,000 jackscrews under its foundation.
The Team: A crew of 500 men worked in total silence. At the blow of a whistle, every man turned his assigned jack exactly one-quarter turn.
The Smooth Lift: The hotel, weighing over 25,000 tons, rose so smoothly that the guests inside never felt a thing. They continued to eat, sleep, and work while the building was suspended in the air.
2. The Creation of the "Buried Layer"
As the buildings were raised, a massive gap was created between the original swampy ground and the new "First Floor."
Artificial Ground: Millions of tons of dirt were hauled in to fill the streets up to the new level. This created a new "surface" for the city.
The Hidden City: The original streets, sidewalks, and the first floors of the 1850s did not disappear. They were walled in and covered up. What used to be the front doors of the city became the new basements.
3. The Silent Transition and the "Tartarian" Mystery
This is where the real history gets mysterious. The architecture of the "Old World" (before the lift) was incredibly advanced.
Atmospheric Energy: Many of these 1800s buildings featured massive Copper Domes and Metallic Spires. While modern history calls these "decorations," researchers point out that these structures are shaped exactly like Passive Energy Antennas used to collect static electricity from the atmosphere.
Red Brick Properties: The bricks used in these old structures were high in Iron Oxide, making them magnetically conductive.
The Burial Intent: By lifting the city and burying the original foundations, the "natural grounding" of these energy-harvesting buildings was cut off. This forced the population to move toward "Modern" wired electricity—which could be metered and taxed.
4. Physical Proof: The Half-Windows
You can still see the evidence of this in the US today. In many old cities, you will find "Basement Windows" that are half-buried in the sidewalk.
The Logic Gap: No architect would design a window to open directly into the dirt.
The Reality: Those were once full-sized windows on the Original First Floor. When the streets were raised, the bottom half of the window was trapped under the new pavement.
The Great Paving and the Erasure of the "Old Earth"
Once the buildings were suspended on their jackscrews and the new foundations were built beneath them, the city faced a massive logistical challenge: filling the empty space.
The Infill Project: Millions of cubic yards of dirt were transported from the surrounding Illinois prairies. For several years, Chicago looked like a giant excavation site. Huge wooden retaining walls were built along the new street lines to hold the dirt in place, while the original "Ground Floor" shops continued to operate in what was becoming a dark, subterranean tunnel.
The Bridge to the New World: Because the streets were raised faster than the buildings, people had to use wooden planks and stairs to move from the new high-level sidewalk down to the original shop doors. Eventually, shop owners gave up and moved their main entrances to the second floor, effectively turning their original grand lobbies into storage rooms and coal bunkers.
The "Hidden City" Economy
Before the gaps were completely filled with dirt, a secret economy thrived in the "Below."
The Shadow Streets: For nearly a decade, Chicago had two levels. The "Upper World" was for the elite, the new carriages, and the clean air. The "Lower World"—the original 1850s level—became a maze of dark alleys where the working class lived and where the "Eraser" crews began dismantling the old atmospheric energy connections.
The Abandoned Tech: Many of the original red-brick foundations contained copper piping and iron conduits that served no apparent purpose for water or gas. As the dirt was poured in, these systems were buried forever. Modern historians claim they were "primitive plumbing," but they were never connected to any city main.
The Final Seal
By the late 1860s, the paving was complete. The city of Chicago had successfully "re-skinned" itself.
The Psychological Shift: Within one generation, the children of Chicago forgot that the city used to be fifteen feet lower. To them, the "Basement Windows" were just a quirk of architecture. The knowledge of the "Atmospheric Spires" and the "Magnetic Red Bricks" was replaced by the new narrative of steam power and coal.
The Silence of the Bedrock: The original soil—the "True Earth" of 1850—was now sealed under a layer of artificial fill, stone, and asphalt. The "Sabse Niche" (The Deepest) level became a silent tomb, holding the secrets of the old world's energy and the men who dared to lift a city to hide it.
The Legacy of the "Two-Tiered" City
The raising of Chicago didn't just move buildings; it created a permanent architectural scar on the city. Even though the "Lower World" was sealed, it never truly disappeared.
The Utility Tunnels: Many of the gaps left between the original 1850s foundations and the new street level were eventually repurposed into a massive network of freight tunnels. By the early 1900s, Chicago had over 60 miles of narrow-gauge railway tunnels running 40 feet below the surface. These tunnels followed the exact lines of the original "buried" streets.
The Hollow Sidewalks: In many parts of the city, the "ground" you walk on is actually a concrete slab spanning a hollow space. If you look closely at older buildings, you can see iron vault lights—small glass circles embedded in the sidewalk. These were designed to let sunlight reach the Original First Floor shops while they were still operating "underground."
The "Great Fire" of 1871: The Ultimate Eraser
Just as the city was finishing its elevation project, the Great Chicago Fire broke out. While history calls it an accident involving a cow, many researchers look at the "Buried City" for a different answer.
Clearing the Evidence: The fire destroyed the upper wooden structures but left the stone and brick foundations—the "Old World" tech—mostly intact. However, the heat was so intense that it warped the iron conduits and melted the copper "energy" systems buried in the basements.
The Reconstruction: After the fire, the city was rebuilt with "Modern" 19th-century standards. The remaining gaps of the "Old World" were finally filled with the ash and rubble of the burned city, sealing the 1850s layer under a tomb of charcoal and debris.
The Modern Evidence: How to Spot the Truth
If you walk through any major American city today (Chicago, New York, Seattle, or Boston), the evidence of the "Sabse Niche" (The Deepest) level is hiding in plain sight:
Half-Moat Basements: Look for buildings where the ground floor is reached by a small bridge, and there is a "moat" or a gap leading down to a lower level. This lower level was the Original Street.
Bricked-Up Arches: In subway stations or old basements, you will often see massive, beautiful brick arches that have been filled in with cheap, modern stone. These were the original doorways to the city.
The Step-Up: Notice how many older churches and government buildings require you to walk up 10–15 steps to reach the front door. Often, the "original" entrance is buried directly beneath those steps.
Summary of Chapter 1
We have explored how a 19th-century society used manual jackscrews to lift thousands of tons, why they chose to bury their original "First Floors," and how the "Old World" energy systems were replaced by metered utilities. The city of 1850 didn't die; it was simply overwritten.