Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1866-09-04
TT tIIc UIhht tUuuty II HraII.I
From Milwaukee to Cooper, Michigan

The clouds which sank down in
the morning and deluged the earth
gradually raised their emptied folds in
to the sky The afternoon was lows
ry, and land and lake exhaled a mist
which brought on early night. 1t
made no difference we were on the
rail road from Racine to Milwaukee
and there were some articles left in
our Every Saturday.
We reached Milwaukee at half
past Sin the evening. 1t was no
small undertaking to find the Grand
Haven boat. But out Of every pre-
plexity there is way if we only
seek it. | found one by inquirjng Of
an elderly man who had the appear
ancc and manner Of being gentle>
man. He led me through a crowd,
past the noisy hackmen and down
over three bridges to Main street
there ne babe me good evening after
giving me directions to the boat. 1t
vas o long distance down Water
street 10 the wharf Some gas lights
1T the crossing cleaned family thro
+he Mist. Near one of them passed
\ haggard woman, and, further on, |
inquired the way Of a man Of foreign
accent. Otherwise | had the pave
IAe.t all to myself, and my stoga
shoes heralded my approach over its
surface. All was quiet At the boat,
save the FLASHING of a bucket, now
and then, over the sides for water.
n red light suspended from the
smoke stack pointed her out. |
went down TIE gang plank and found
myself, in the midst ofboXes, barrels,
and packages OF goods, on board of a
staunch sea going vessel.
Proceeding through this array of
merchandise to the rear, | ascended
flight of stairs to the saloon and
seating myselfin chair devourcd the
remnants of Every Saturday. lis
curious freak ofcommcrce and OK
plains why SO much merchandise goes
east, that the merchants of Grand
Rapids, Mich con the line OF the De
troit aud Grand Haven r. r. can
sometimes get their goods shipped
from n. Y. to Milwaukee, and rcship
ped back again cheaper than to have
them stopped at the Raj ids At half
past nine the engine began to move
md the lamps to rattle; there was
culver at each revolution Of the
wheels, and, at short intervals the
fog whistle uttered dolafnl sound.
We entered Grand Haven by twilight
BLich, however, only rcvc2 led to us
the white fog. | made two mistakes
natural enough after sleep disturb
ed every three minutes by the dismal
noise Of the whistIo); enc was in
supposng that in the term Grand
Haven, grand is an adjective; the
other was in supposing that the bell
which was ringing on the point BY
me lake, was ringing for meeting
Grand Haven is $50 far rs the fog
would let me see iO composed OF
Pine and sand.
Pine lntrudcs itself into your no.
ticc everywhere, yCG will! see itiniogs
and RATS on the river and in piles on
the shorc-you will see it as props
under houses and stores you will
see cuttings and slashings OF it around
houses in the process of construction,
YOU will see it in charrcd stumps
thick rs grave stones in the Surround
ing swamps The Grand River mo
nopolizcs the region around and YOU
arc Obliged 20 cross a long bridge and
a ferry to reach Mill Point some
three miles inland. A german, clad
in old country blue, will row you
over i'm a stout slliff and land you on
q pair of logs. From this place to
the Rapids the road is direct. At
Mill Point Won are saluted 10y sound
which will aunt you through ives
Tern Mieh.--it will greet you from
every settlement and startle You
from the depth Of the forest. II Is
the sound Of the saw. The mills are
driven by steam and it is amusing
TO notice how the short, energetic
puffs from the steam pipe change TO
protracted brcathings as the saw la~
bors through the log. The mills at
the Point are supplied with logs from
the river above and a large part OF
tho lunbcr from Grand River is man.
ufnctured al this place.
The soil is Il light colorcd sand
natural to pine, but the peach, apple
and cherry thrive in the clearings.
saw large orchard ofpeach trees at
Mill Point the red buds were just
starting into bloom The apple trees
also looked promising the bark was
smooth and Of a russell color on the
stocks. All Of the trees were small
rs they have only recently learned
the adaptedncss of this locality for
fruit raising Farther back from the
lake the peach crop is uncertain and
the present year it is q failure. Dur
ing the extreme cold Of last winter
the thermometer went to 70 and I
below zero. 20 miles from the lake
while near the shore it went only tc
FIVE.
The road to the Rapids passes thro
belt of pine In the border there
arc small openings where tile @Xe
and fire have made unsightly work
Great trunks protrude along tbs
ground or lie crossing each ether
Some monarchs Of the forest, limbiess
and bleached. yet gemain uprigh
with fire smoulderiug in their bowels
I . IA