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In this chapter, Cronon explains how the transportation competition between the water ways and railroads, were influenced by seasons as well as economic advantages to the merchants and farmers. Cronon talks about the railroads and expansion of the river as “second nature” because it shaped the landscape where ever it went.  He also explains that the city’s greatest strength was also its greatest weakness; during raining seasons, the flat land was tarnished with horrible muddy conditions and flooding in the cities. the problem with that was the water would not run into the rivers, instead it would just sit on the land and make deep mud pits that would be nearly impassable as Cronon explains.  Since the river that passed through the land was guarded by extended sandbars, bigger ships were unable to traverse through them.  People of Chicago tried many different projects to widen the river and expand the river but many were of no success and companies went bankrupt trying to complete the task. When Railroads began to rise up from the ground the farmers took advantage of the expedited means of transportation to send their crops to Chicago; this is because Chicago had the highest sells output for the farmers. as peter explained in his post on, The Theory of City Development, “it made sense for there to be a big city [Chicago] in that commanding of a economical position in the middle of the US. Since Chicago was the gateway to the west as Cronon declares it, The development of the city was crucial to the future of the United States.  The need for Chicago to be sustainable led to other great projects such as raising the city up more than 10 feet in certain areas to fix the sewage system were major investments that needed to  be completed. Overall, Cronon has a romanticized emotion attached to the city and its history and because of that there is a minor bias toward the importance of the city.