New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-05-24
LLTTERS FROM THE VEST.
TRAVELLING II OLD AND MODERN TINES.
Corre,pobleuoe Of The y. 7. Trbuns.
uFTROIT. Thnr.day. Nav 10. lSl5.

weuts were ordered from NeW-Jersey AMI the
I vicinity of New-York City to Ticonderoga, and
10 one WHO now passes from NewYOrk to Al
bauy in the floating palaces Of the North River,
or by the quicker mode of the Hudson River
Railroad cars, it is a matter of wonder how
| travellers ever accomplished long distar es
eighty years ago. ] have before me the manu-
script "iournal" of an officer Of the frat New
jersey Regiment in tse expedition TO the North
/ in the summer Of I776. This regiment was COM
handed BY Col. William Winds, whose voice
was said to be the loudest in the army. Let
me extract few sentences from this Old jour
nal to contrast with the comfort and expedition
Of present travelling through the valley of the
Hudson:
"May ns56l. Embarked for Quebeck. p
Sailed up the North River Little way aud stayed
al night Sd. Sailed up y. River, stayd at Poukeep
sic Dock Part of he night, or nigh The Dock. fth.
Sailed up the River within 20 or 90 miles Of Albany
4 head wind keeps ne longer here than We should
otherWire BE-. 9Th. SABBATH; sailed up the River a.
far ss East Camp, there lay too all Night;
on shoIc Got eggs, sider, aud rum and fish. Brough
ihCm on Oh BoTd and sold them TO the men. 9th.
Sailed a Little way ny the River, got aground and
stoyd all night. 1tb. Sailed up the River far
Kertorhook, stayed ell night by reason could not
iii a smaller cIait 9Th. Aryd at Albany Beiwixt
ara % CLOCK.
This was long passage, but not an unusual
enc for those days When Fulton applied steam
10 the driving of boats il; was thought wonders,
miracles, had been performed to reduce the
passage from New-York to Albany from three
and six days down to two, and at last to one.
those Of us who are not forty years old remem-
Der when il required whole day to make the trip
in North River steamer, but even that is quite
thrown into tie shade b. the expeditions move
nents Of tie Isssc Newton and tie Aida.
Let modern steamers be compared with the
sloops which carried Winds Regiment 10 Albany,
in l176, and we ind some progress. II we take
the land-travel we have an equally striking con
trast. In lcO5 young man travelling from
Berkshire County, Mass. to Morris County, New
jersey, performed the journey on horseback,
making over the rough mountains aud roads from
thirty 10 forty miles a-day, "from sun to sun
At best the journey was tedious and wearsOme,
occupying the best part of week. lie gained the
Hudson Valley and following its east bank crossed
the river at AewDurgh and then climbed the hills
and mountains Of Orange County; thence into
New-Jersey by journey which would appal any
modern tourist. This is the first step. Then
ns.nss sL. ..~sv-,vsvh iu a ufgnt ana nay convey
ing passengers from NewYOrk 10 Albany. In
going from MOrristown to West Point Washington
had many mountains to cross, but now how de-
III, =.
Hudson Valley and reaching Albany in four hours
Surely times have changed
But the ears ready at Albany 10 show YOU
what steam can do IN carrying you westward.
brief conversation with your companion, with time
enough for the gentlemanly conductor to inspect
your ticket, ard you are in Schenectady. 4 little
more talk good deal OF admiration of this splen-
did Mohawk valley, which fits by you like a
dream, and you are ut Utica. Step out here, my
tris aud | Oh tl. Lara fla-
man stood when he told Inc that his father,
Welsh engTsnt, forty years ago took two weeks
Of hard labor to bring his family from Newlork
City to that place. They went in slooPs to Alba
ny, aud thence "poled' their small boat up the
Mohawk to this spot. We have done IN eight
hours what that Welshman accomplished in fourteen
daps Some advance, certainly. But new steam
giant swift as the wind is to hurry us of 70 SYRIA
cuse and the good people OF Rochester will hardly
have reached their tea-tables before our horse
will utter d tremendous neigh, as much az 10 say,
- the gentlemen who took early breakfast in
" New-lork this morning are here, and if they
" don't choose 10 stay they may have good supper
"on Lake Erie tonight Huzza Huzza
But am hurryiDg westward so fast as TO forget
to make historical comparisons. | am acquainted
with some who forty and fifty years ago made
their way on horseback from the Hudson TO Lake
Eric-dnd At some seasons of the year a month
was consumed in the journey. The stage travel,
except in the Sumner and Fall. through miles of
slough and over corduroy bridges awful TO
think OF, was insuflerable often requiring as long
time to perform twenty-five miles A. il now takes
to 90 from Albany to Buffalo. But i. there not
better time coming Is not ClntOn's ditch
dug And have they not swift packets running
in il Take. for instance, 1888 the point OF
comparison. \ Jerseyma whs had given bis vote
in the Legislature for the Camden and AmbOy mo-
nopely, as he would have done for similar road
to TIE moon, visited Rochester in 1888 to attend
the marriage of a niece aud when he returned rs
founded bis neighbors by relating how he went
from New-lOrk City TO Rochester in a week -
part OF the way in the steamboat part in the stage
coach, and part in the elegant and swift packets
On the Erie Canal The married couple preferred
TO come across tie country TO New-Jersey n their
own conveyance, and made the journey in about
hye days
BUT must relate one more incident which indi-
Gates progress What would the sensible peo-
pie OF Rochester have thought of my old friend
the JERSEY legislator. ii in l-33 when bound
hcmewsTd. fearing a rush of passengers on the
North River steamboats, be had stepped into some
Office in Rochester requesting that the following
message might be sent 10 Albany: " To the Can
tain Of the swallow: | am just off for Albany
reserve two state-rooms for mel" ANY one would
have laughed at him a. crazy, and exclaimed;
Poor fool be will 60 as fast as any message We
can send ~ Well, last Summer in the hight of
the travelling season was al Rochester with the
very man who in 1905 took almost a week 10 make
the journey from Berkshire County 10 New-Jersev.
and learning that there was rush for the steam
ers On the Hudson, proposed 10 him 70 telegraph
10 the captain Of the Hendrick Hudson 70 reserve
state-rooms for his family. lie looked very in
credulous, and meme the less so when be saw tie
operator take the biz of paper and after few mo-