The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-10-04
Trnvcling-Past and Present.

That are brought every morning to me.
Trnve1ing-Past and Present.
An exceedingly interesting article
appears in the New York Herald of
the Goth inst, from which we extract
the following:
tits only forty-fve years ago-in
the year 1819-that the men of this
State conceived the great project of
uniting the lakes of the West with
the ocean by means of o canal. De-
trolt was then French tradinp-post.
Chicago was wilderness, and Buffalo
was unknown. A Journey from New
York to the Falls of Niagara fire.
quently required weeks for perform
ance. Even when travelling by rail-
road from Auburn to Albany, the
Journey from Buffalo to New York
consumed week. In two days and
half, men are now carried comfort
ably from New Yolk to the other side
OF the Missouri River, at Atchison.
Mr. Lewis, of, Geneva, was eleven
days in going by the ordinary method
OF that time from that place to Utica.
a space of time in which, with less
labor and fatigue, he could now
travel from New York to those por-
tlons of the Rocky Mountains where
the water flows into the Pacific Ocean.
Such are few of the changes
which have taken place in this coun-
Try since 1925, when the Erie Canal
was opened.
Three hundred years ago, the old
Roman roads in England had become
useless, and the best highways in that
country were mere bridle-paths, often
impossible by rains and floods. The
surface of the country was like that
of half-peopled island in the Indian
Ocean. The great thoroughfares lead
ing into London were ''little better in
winter than rivers Of mud diversified
with break-neck gullies" In 1853,
an act was passed for paving the
highway between the Strand Cross
and Charing Cross, one o: the chief
and central thoroughfares of the me-
tropolis, which was described in the
preamble as being very jcopardous
to passengers, as well on horseback as
on foot, both Ill winter and summer,
by night and by day"
A century and Il half later, in 17O3,
the roads in the part OF England then
farthest advanced in civilization were
IN condition now scarcely known
even in any of the by-roads of our
Northern States. In that year, Prince
George of Denmark, the consort of
Queen Anne, travelled from Ports
mouth to Petworth on visit to the
Duke of Somerset. The narrative of
the Journey gives a striking idea of
the miseries of travelling in those
days-even to princes:
''We set out at 6 in the morning.
and did not get out Of the coaches.
save only when we were overturned
or stuck fast in the mire, till we ar
rived at our journeys end; 'twa hard
service for the prince to sit fourteen
hours in the coach that day without
eating anything.
ellis h;ghncss' body -oosu;i, would
have suffered very often, if the
nimble Doors of Sussex had not fre-
quently poised it or supported it on
their shoulders. * The last
nine miles of our way to the Dukes
cost us six hours to conquer"
This was only hundred and sixty
three years ago.
Until late in the sixteenth century
mere animal power furnished the
only means of transport for men or
merchandise. Pack or saddle horses
were used exclusively.
When Queen Elizabeth removed
her court, it required "a, 900 horses
to accommodate herself, suite, and
household. 1t was not until, 1864
that she INDUCED in the luxury of a
coach. At that time :'onc Boonen, a
..Dutchman, became the Queen S