The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1860-11-16
A Picture OF OhIoin Iaas.

George w. Kendall writes to the New
Orleans Piesyunc an account Of an ex-
porlence in Ohio, a. follows;
The month If October, 1928, found
me Al Sandusky City, Ohio, still a boy,
but almost a man grown, with less than
i've dollars In my pocket, and with no
friend save a good consti.ution-and 4
good constitution, let me here say, 10 one
Ofthe best iricndsla youngmnn ever pos
sesscd. During the summer had trav-
sled the whole length Of the Erie Canal,
and had run the gauntlet Of ehills, fcvers
and all the Ills with which Western New
York was thon afflicted. ! was now on
my way 10 Cincinnati, short Of money,
but full OF hope But how to get TO Gin
cinnatil | do not recollect that there
was at that time any regular conveyance
IN the shape Of stage coach, and even
had there been, my pockets were not
sufficiently plethorio 20 permit me to in
dulge in any such extravaganza Thus
situated, rcsortcd 20 the first and mos
primitive mode Of locomotlon mentioned
in ancient histoFy--i "fOotod it--tramp-
cd every step Of the way to Cincinnati.''
We passed on through
the little towns Of Buoyrus, Tihii and
others, then just springing into existence
and everywhere il was sickness, wretch
edness and want. In some families half
were down with bilious attacks or chills
and fcversi in others, every soul was un-
able TO rise. Third rate saddle bag doc
tors, with fourth rate medicines, were
riding about FRO m place 70 place--younp
men learning their trude-killing more
than they cured. Corn meal, cracked in
rude iron mills attached 10 troes, afford
ed all the brcadstufii rancid pork and
many did not even have that, was all the
meat; coffee and sugar were luxuries
rarely seen; tho milk from the few poor
cows we saw, looked as though Il had
been SKINNED both nt the top and at the
bottom. Much ofthe time while we were
on tho journey, VIC encountered cold,
raw rains, and roads knee deep in mud;
in clear days the sun would come out at
MONDAY, dry and seorching hot, while
the nights would be damp and cheerless,
end the mornings fogg-a dense mias-
ma, into which you could drive peg,
seemed, TO brood over the land. You
could sec ohills and fever everywhere -
Despair sat upon every countcnance, and
I saw but few people on the route who
would not have leit the country At once,
had they possessed those important es-
sentials-strength and the means. Corn
they could raise, yes; but every acre of
land reclaimed from the dense forests,
cost world Of labor, Of suffering, fsick-
ness, and Of death.
Such iS hastily drawn picture Of
what saw in Ohio during the fall Of
1898. ! have not half told the story, for
| have no time and space.
In the year 1899, was in portions Of
lndiana-went up the Wabash Rs far as
Terre Hautc, and saw not little of tho
country; in many parts II was even worse
than in OHIO, for there the dreaded milk
sickness obtained to such an extent that
one was just Hs much afraid Of a bowl of
mix as blle Of rattle s. ..SI.l. SaSkeeither
sides the chiils and fevers and bilious
diseases seemed to be the rule, while a
thoroughly sound end healthy person the
exception. And Encouragement, too,
was plainly marked on half the faces |
saw, and thousands would have gone
back to their homes in the older States
had they possessed the means. Again, a
few years after. travelled pretty much
ell over Illinois. Wisconsin and parts of
Missouri and Iowa, and almost every
where saw suffering, sickness and dis
content. Good crops were made-there
is no denying II; but after they were made
they were valueless-it cost more 20 get
the I'm to market than they were worth
Ia fall and winter raw piercing rains, cold
and cutting winds, und deep sticky mud
were everywhere, while in summer the
sun beat down upon the unprotected prui-
ries with blistering force.