The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-08-22
THE CALIFORNIAN.
For the Californian.
The West---Sketches by a
Traveller.


upper Lakes. 1t liz beautifully situated at the
eastern extremity of lake Erie, on a gentle
swell ofland sloping up gradually from the
shore, 1t is handsomely laid out, with spa
oious streets, and fine buildings; and in the
neighborhood are many elegant country res
licences with grounds tastefully ornamented
with shade and fruit trees. The business as
pect ofthe place corresponds more nearly with
New York than any other city, and it's situa-
ton must render it in time, one of the largest
inland cities in the Union. There are con-
stantly large number ofsteam boats and 9TH
err vessels in the harbor, and sometimes thirty
vessels arrive from the west in day, laden
with wheat. A steam boat leaves daily for
Chicago, a voyage of 1000 miles which is per-
formed in three or four days. / took passage
in one of these boats which might we'll be call
ed floating palace, elegantly and richly fur
nished, d with airy q comfortable state rooms
on the upper deck to accommodate all the
cabin passengers. A band of negro musicians
commenced their performances on deck as
soon we were under way, and continued
their music until the city had faded from our
view, and the shades of evening drawn around
us. We then retired to the cabin where the
ladies favored the company with songs, and
the music of the piano.
We left Buffalo at clock p NJ and at 6
P. NJ. the next day we were landed at Detroit,
having stopped some thirty minutes at Clevc-
land, Ohio,-thus making the passage of 1927
miles in twenty three hours. From Detroit
we passed west on the Central Rail Road 146
miles to Kalamazoo, and thence by stage So
miles to st Josephs Lake Michigan, over
most villainous roads, and by miserable stages
and teams We were dragged along at the
rate of three miles an hour from o'clock at
night until II o'clock the next and most glad
ly did we exchange our mode of travelling and
once more take a steam boat for Chicago.
The country through which we travelled in
Michigan appeared remarkably new. The
wheat and corn crop, after had passed
some thirty miles west of Detroit was very u
bundlnt, but the fields were covered with
stumps girdled trees and some fine fields of
wheat "held doubtful empire" with the pr.
mCval forcsts-the giant oaks appearing as
fresh and green as the naples of our sugar
places, while the wheat was hourishing luxu-
riantly beneath them. The villages so far as
we could see them from the road, were not
large, nor hourishing, and on the whole,
found the march of Improvement in Michigan
less rapid than | had expected. Fifteen or
twenty years since the tide of emigration was
flowing rapidly into this State, and our East
crn farmers imagined farm here equivalent
to fortune. But Wisconsin is now the Ell
Dorado of the West, and it certainly possesses
many advantages for the settler. The eli
mate is comparatively healthy, and the water
for western water, good. The open prairie
land is abundant, and the settler has no diff
Guilty in procuring farm, which will require no
more labor to produce good crops, than our
rich intervals on Connecticut River. He has
only to fence his fields and build his house and
matched sheds for his cattle and he is prepar-
ed to go forward with the different branches
of his farming as prosperously the owners
of our best farms in Vermont. But when we
come to computing of profits, there is still
question how much he has gained. In con-
versaton with farmer from northern Illinois,
/ learned that he could cultivate about 10 a.
ores ofwheat yielding 25 to 30 bushels to the
acre and 10 acres ofcorn, by hiring some help
in harvesting. After his wheat was threshed
he transported it for 40 or so miles in Wagons
and obtained fifty cents bushel for it., and
the corn worth ten cents n bushel Our
farmers from this, can calculate how much
better off they would be in this western cour-
try than in Vermont. 1t is true they would
be in no danger of starving here, and some
times they get their children to school
such schools!-nfter they are old enough to
walk two or three miles But Vermont is not
yet too full of people. There is yet room for
her sons and her daughters, and a well direct
ed enterprise will give them as rich a compe-
tence within own borders as in any other
part of the world to which distance only lends
enchantment. Vermont is rich in resources,
and were half the enterprise and talent which
flows out from her to this western world, too
often to be blighted with disappointment or
buried in the premature grave, directed TO the
development and improvement ofthosc resour-
ces, her hills and her valies would resound
with many glad note ofjoy, from those who
now sigh in distant lands for the homes of
their childhood.
| Vermont is rich in resources, mineral and
agricultural; and were the enterprise, talent
and industry of her youth devoted to the man
ufacture of her productions in our own bor
ders, blending the music of her countless wa
ter falls in full chorus with the ringing of ma
chinery, field would be opened equal to any
other in our country or the world, for the ac-
QUESTION of wealth, and that manly ndepen-
danna of hor octnr which opa av,,ar;nnnas ~,