The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-07-02
interesting Letter from the west.
On board steamer "TRoFIc,"l
June goth, 1857. Z

I'm these fast times, be sees so much worthy
Of note that It is hlrd TO mention all; never
theless, agreeable to promises will give
you such incidents as strike me most forci-
bly, In this flying visit to Kansas, country
which is just at present attracting more at.
tention, perhaps, than any other in the Union
At Cleveland you buy through ticket for
S2l 90, with choice Of routes by Chicago or
Indianapolis. Eight O'Clock next morning.
brings you to Chicago, the Mecca Of the
West, and as nobody passes through there
without stopping, fol.owed custom. For
thirty miles around the city the county
seems like one vast, half.submerged swamp.
II is said more rain has f1llen in and around
that city this year than for many years pre-.
vious. The Republican papers there were
pitching into Judge Douglas pretty hard for
his speech made at Springfield a few days
before, copy of which send you. l no.
ticed the most bitter one lying on his table
at his residence is about three
miles out. 1t is delightful home, and
everything aroend is pleasant. His vile, q
toll, graceful lady, quite comes up te ones
idea OF the beautiful.
We left Chicago by the Alton road, and
for miles and miles it was nothing but an
'unbfcken plain, without Tree Or shrub or
stump, or aught to change its sumensss.-
After we passed Bloomington, 12S miles
from Chicago, occasionally few trees, a
ravine, and once a saw mill in full blast,
would remind me Of my own Ohio home;
but the next moment they were gone, and
again all was as before. We passed many
farmers breaking up prairie for wheat. They
generally had eight yoke of cattle to plow
-four yoke abreast, and with several plows
in field. 1t reminded me very strongly OF
an OK hippodrome. Wheat through Illinois
does not look as we'll as in Ohio, but corn
and potatoes are much more forward. Ino.
ticed the singular absence of roads and fen
ces; we sometimes ran 90 miles without
crossing road except at stations, and in
place of fences they divide off by bitches,
frequently two miles long. We reached
st Louis at two the next morning. spent
but few hours of daylight here, yet long
enough to notice, what was rather strange,
the comparative absence of negroes. In
passing through dozen streets and meeting
several hundred persons, saw but two
blacks. They seem to look on free solism
here very much as they do in Ohio-the
more place has of it. the more they avoid it.
From st. Louis to Jefferson city, l25 miles,
is by far the finest section through which
have yet passed; well watered-well tim
bereG-the finest of building stone, inex
haustible mineral productions, and healthy
climate; it must be desirable locality.
d. not think there is better State in the
Union than Missouri. I am told it is set-
tling very rapidly and principally by North.
ern men. The owner of twenty slaves TOLD
me at Jefferson city that he had no doubt il
wouldbe free State in a few years, and
that "he was.going to. take his nggers South
and sell then before the d-ed yankees stole
them" 1t is a mistaken idea that the dis
cussion of slavery is. forbidden here's you
can talk about it as freely as in Chic.
The Pacific Railroad to Jefferson city runs
nearly all the way, on the bank Of the Mis-
souri,. On. epe side the rocks rose 60 or 70
feet, and shelved over until they darkened
he window at my side. On the other, al.
most straight down 40 or so feet the river
flowed, surging and foaming as if anxious to
give US a soak. / felt rather tickish. |
had much rather be talking politics with
spelman than riding on the Pacific Rail-
ro,d. The Usage, which we crossed a few
rods from its confluence with the Missouri,
is the finest river l ever saw, and if. it wcs
not so soon lost in the mighty Missouri,
would, be called majestic. Jefferson city,
the State Capitol, is not as large as Raven.
ma, though nearly, as old place, and yet its
natural advantages are first rate. Improved
farms in its vicinity sell for from $40 to $I2
an acre, and better farms never were.
l must confess do not think as much Of
slavery as when started. If brother Aus
tin would visit this country he could find ma.
terial enough to make an abolition speech
six hours long. At Jefferson city we enter
on the Missouri; to call it water would be a
misnomer, for it is mixture of fine sand
and water, making stream the muddiest
and most disagreeable of anything that runs
Besides its muddiness it is the most difficult
and dangerous Of all the American rivers to
navigate. 1t is very wide, and filled with
immense and constantly changing sand bars
that in many places extend two thirds across
the stream. At every rise large deposits
are made, increasing their heigth until a
COMPLETE area of bottom land is formed, or
the current entirely carries away the origin
al deposit and the channel is once more re.
stored to the place where but a few days be-
fore barren sand bank had raised its naked
form to trouble, perplex and annoy the navi-
CATION. The bottoms, FIVE or six miles wide
each side, have all been made by the action
of the water, mostly in q few years. The
edges of the banks ploinly indicate, BY the
different layers, that not century has pass.
ed since the entire bottoms of tie Missouri
have been carried away and Reconstructed.