East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1862-03-11

4
Besides dwelling in wilderness, h
}" prizes only mans work. He rends yor
"to visit road, bridge, pretty vii
"lage; but that you should admire larg
/" trees, or wild scenery, is to him incom
prehensible. We could make no on
" understand usndo ,haoHiA
At last he called upon MAJOR Johl
Biddle, the Register of the Land Office
and, with friend, represented themselve
as persons who had not quite made ul
their minds 10 establish themselves il
the country, but were interested to know
the price and situation of the Govern
ment lands. De Tocqueville adds -
Major Biddle understood perfectly
what we wanted, and entered into mum
ber of details, 10 which we earnestly lis
tened. This part he said Showing us
on the map the river ST. Joseph) Seems
to me to be the best suited to your pur.
pose. The land is good, and large vii.
lages are already founded there; the road
is so well kept up that public conveyances
run every dayTl Well, we said to our
selves, now we know where not to go,
unless we intend to travel post over the
wilderness. We thanked Major Biddle
for his advice, and asked him, with an air
of indifference, towards which side of the
district the current of emigration had, up
to the present time, least tended. This
way he said, without attaching more i'm
pOrtance to his answer than we had
seemed to do to our question, towards
the Northwest About Pontiac and its
neighborhood, some pretty establish
ments have lately been commenced. But
you must not think Of fixing yourselves
further of; the country is covered by an
almost irppenetrsble forest, which ex-
tends uninterruptedly towards the North
west, full of nothing but wild beasts and
Indians. The United States propose to
open a way through it Immediately, but
the road is only just begun, and stops at
Pontiac. / repeat that thereis nothing
to be thought of in that quarter" iaa
The author adds that, after thanking
Major Biddle for his advice, they deter
s mined to take it in a contrary sense"
Had they understood the character of
that gentleman, they would not have felt
compelled to practice such a
ruse to have obtained the desired inform
alton. There was no gentleman in the
Territory more honorable or high.mind-
ed, than Major Biddle not one who
would have been more gratifcd to have
dispensed the hospitalities of his mansion,
Or who would have more cordially entered
INTO the plans of the distinguished stran-
gers, and given them the desired inform
.tion, had they frankly disclosed their
purposes. The next day they proceeded
On horseback on their way, towards Sag
nav, taking Pontiac on their route
The writer gives graphic description of
the wild scenery which he and his COM
psnion beheld for the first time on their
Journey through the wilderness,-of their
arrival after sundown at Pontiac, then
"about twenty very neat and
pretty houses" clustered within clear
ing of about square half mile; of their
stay in Pontiac, and of the words of ad.
vice that were uttered by one of those
oracles of wisdom, known as a village
They left Pontiac next morn
ing, and called at Mr.. Williams, some
miles in the forest, to obtain information
as to the route, the dangers from Indians,
Sc. Mr.. Williams had long dealt with
the Chippeways, and had son then es-
tablished at Saginaw, who gave them all
needful information. They pursued their
journey, occasionally meeting Indians
aud pioneer woodsmcn, and long after
dark they reached the settlement at Flint
river, then consisting Of two or three
huts, and as they were about to climb
over fence, they were saluted by great
black bear, that, standing on his hind
legs aud at the very extremity of his
chain, showed as clearly as he could, his
to give them fraternsl hug.
No attempt to reason with such a porter
would be observed, aud hallooing at the
top Of their voices, they were relieved by
the appearance Of man coming from
one of the huts, who invited them to come
in, where they rested over night, ana the
next morning, with Indian guides they
proceeded through wilderness of forty
miles, to Saginaw, having lost their way
once or twice on their journey. Night
fall came, and thus the writer describes
his. impressions in the solemn woods -
= The air under the, trees became damp
" aud cold. In the dark, the forest as
sumed new and terrible aspect, Our
" ewes could distinguish nothing but con-