Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-09-29
of the Cedar Falls Gazette.
LETTERS FROM A ROWING TOWNSMAN.
mo. T.
AsT0R HOUSE, New YORK, /
September ly. iSk5.

HoAsn .too's, tsESSNNNSS
September lS, i&i5.
EDS. GAzETTE:-In hotel Is very
poor place to write a letter, but you re-
auested we to write you, and here goes.
left the Cedar River week ago,
bound for the Hub of the Universe"
the Atlantic coast, and all along the
shore. Yes am going over among
those wicked Yankees, who sell bsss-
wood hams, wooden nutmegs, &C.,
and what Is worse, the outside world
has eaten them, and called them good.
That Yankee land,--which was to be
left out in the cold,-has redecming
traits, and with all her faults " l love her
STILL" Prospectively now see the
fresh lobster the fat oyster, the fresh
cod and haddock, just taken from the
briny deep, and Of which haste to par
take to say nothing of the delicious
fruit,-the peach, the pear and apple,
which are abundant in the East this
year.
Let pae here s2y wc-d about my
journey to this viiiage, uia Chicago,
Cleveland and Buffalo, ovey the New
York g. Erie r. rand, by the way,
the latter is the best way of getting here.
You take an early breakfast in Buffalo I;
ears, over splendid road, you land
here in sixteen hours, a distance Of 46O
miles, and hardly realize that you have
been ovcrsO great and varied terri
tory. After leaving Buffalo you soon
pass over bridge 234 feet above the
water, and you might think that if you
should fall you would stand good
chance to get hurt; but, as you are only
a passenger, you can keep your seat and
ride safely over. There are over mil
lion feet of lumber in the bridge spoken
of. But am ahead of my journey, for
want to say that after leaving aexe-
land with fourteen passenger coaches,
and when all was going finely, a crash
was heard, shock was felt, and the
train came to stand-s<sil, AZ Jump
ed from the cars, and we saw the next
two cars ahead of the osas in which !
sat, gently laying on their sides by the
track, and men, women and children
crawling out the best they could
'W4Ast ,Nas most remarkable, none were
killed, and but one hurt to draw blood
but many badly frightened. j helped
pull 'em out of the wreck, and after be-
ing delayed about nine hours, steamed
away again.
Ispoke of Cleveland, and let me say
1t is one of the best places in the West,
and is growing rapidly. The travel
through there is enormous, and give
you the amount daily Of one line only,
while there are tlree ether roads, daily,
besides the steamboats,, and all of which
go crowded. ] took the item of the
Lake Shore road, which sends three
trains per day each way, and they aver
age from ten to seventeen coaches each
train; and they bring besides, on an
average, three hundred emigran.s daily
from the East. They are now building
a union depot for the three ,roads, 800
feet long and 180 wide, of stone and iron,
which will be the best structure Of the
kind in the United States, and will
coast a million dollars.
Well now return to my starting
point, New York. I am stopping few
days at the Astor House, though Mr..
Astor does not keep 1.-THE lives out
back, and rents his house! 1t is COM
place to stay at. / am remind-
ed Of your village while looking from
my window ut the present moment
and yet ! see difference,-this village
is larger than yours. "The Astor" is
larger than the Garter or the "In-
man." There are more hacks going to
and from this house than Wilcox has
there are more drays and express .wag-
ons, on the .street, than are owned by
your tseorge Clark the question of
sidewalks 10 settled ,-gEade, width Ssc.,
land the school houses are finished,
while ewith you, VI reEasunher right, the
natall down, nor the school
house finished. But AN @his will be
done; this village is the Oldest, and has
got little the start Of yaE, that's all.
i want to write you all about the
county, the crops, &C., but I must defer
doing so until can find o more quiet
spot, and then will write you more full
~. / go from here, via Springfield, to
Boston and my native home, and will
tell you in my next some things I have
seen and heard, that cannot tell now.
By the way 1.-The landlady here must
,soyk very hard to cook for so many
bonsdAss, and what an awful big coffee
pot she must have. O, thunder! what
as noise outside. There's music going
through the street, and believe there
are mere than forty folks already In the