White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1867-07-18
Correspondence.
For the ChieE)
Chicago to Detroit, by Steamer.

Most Of the readers Of the Chief are famil-
ar with the route from St. Joseph, Mo-, to
Chicago, ILL.,, ria Quincy; while there are |
many, perhaps, who never have travelled from
Chicago to the southern or eastern shores Of
Lake Erie, BY way of the great Lakes; and to
them, even an imperfect description Of this
line, may prove, at least, readable. We there
fore begin our letter from Chicago, and will
be as brief and concise as possible.
At six O'Clock, P. NJ, of June 2Sth, We boar
ded the propeller Z" Acme,' (meaning pe,tee-
tion,) bound for Buffalo, ria Milwaukee and
Detroit. This boat is one of the Western
Transportation Co.'S line, and is owned by the
N. T. Central R. R. Co. We are thus expli-
cit, that travellers may not be duped, as your
was. At four o'clock on the
morning of the 29th, the lines were cast off,
and we we're soon steaming rapidly through the
clear waves of the beautiful Lake Michigan.
The water Of this lake is SO transparent, that
a small stone, no larger than an ordinary apple,
can be seen at the depth of forty feet. So Far,
we were well pleised with our surroundings;
but when we we're called upon to surround our |
breakfast, you can perhaps imagine our disgust, |
mingled with astonishment, to fnd that said |
breakfast consisted of stale bread, with rancid
butter, tough beef steak, potatoes that we could
have squeezed the water out of, without any
possible danger to our physical system, and
coffee that greatly resembled cold dish water;
and this. too, just after leaving the ~ell-stock-
ed markets of Chicago. Silently we wonder ed
Of what our dinner would consist, and calcula-
ted the difference between the length Of time
necessary to reach Detroit and the time re-
quired to starve to death Upon completing
our calculations, We were immensely grati6ed
to find that, with good luck, we should reach
our destination three days before the spark of
life would die out, when fed with such fael as
we were destined 10 have There were but
two of US, passengers, on board, and immedi-
ately we became acquainted. We had taken
this route, under the impression that it would
be more pleasant than by rail. That we had
been mistaken, now became apparent; but alas!
too late to avail US in the least; SO we deter
mined to make the best Of our bad bargain.
/ shall not attempt a description of our dinner,
lest DISCUS. your readers, and lay myself liza
BILE to be called names. Suffice it to say, it
was no improvement on our previous expert
ence.
After a pleasant run of twelve hours, we
reached Milwaukee, distant from Chicago one
| hu and fan - .pc,
ed, we should remain till eleven o'clock-snd
so we did, but until eleven o'clock of the next
night, in the interval taking on a cargo Of
twenty thousand bushels Of corn and one thou
sand barrels of flour. There are five large
i. elevators here, which very materially lessen
the labor of loading and unloading vessels and
cars. The city is beautifully located, COM
pactly built, and contains eighty thousand in
habitants, most of whom are Germans. The
buildings are Of light.colored Milwaukee brick
and some are models Of architecture. Here
'he number OF passengers increased two, max
ing four, ali told. We were rejoiced to see our
number increasing, and abstained from saying
any thing that would have tendency to make
them walt Tor another ooat.
Well: at eleven we we're again under way,
and glad of it; for well we knew, and appre-
ciated the fact, that every hour was lessening
the distance between US and the desired goal
We retired early, as usual, that the time might
pass away as rapidly as possible, and we be OBJ
livious to our sorrows. The following morn
ing We tumbled out, and hastily making our
toilet, went on deck to see where we were.
The shore was about mile from US, and what
was our astonishment to see several houses
and all the trees along shore upside down!
For moment we were nonp!ussed, and had
just begun to think something about the lower
regio,s, when it occurred to Us that we had
somewhere read of mirages, and upon asking,
we found this to be the case. Nearly a mile
and half in front of US was sand bank, which
looked fully four hundred feet high, but when
to be only about thirty feet. Soon after. we
landed at Carp River, Mich, for wood. While
the boat was loading. we passengers went
ashore, and we're so fortunate as to find some
wintergreen and straw berries, which we devour-
cd with avidity, being rke first and only thing
green we found on our trip
The principal points of0nterest between the
last named place and the mouth of St. Clair
River, are as follows: Isle Of St. Helena, in
Lake Huron, Lexington, and Point Edwards
Coming down the st. Clair, Canada was on our
left and Michigan on the right, and we could
at once see the difference The houses on the
Canada side are old and dilapidated, without
paint; and the fences-but there are none
scarcely, so We will pass them by in silence.
On the opposite side, all was life and business
houses we'll built and nicely pai'ted; yards
clean. with the grass cut short of. The day
before, they had celebrated Dom inion Day in
Canada, aRd black eyes set in cut faces we're
frequently seen.
As this is a very exhaustive subject, and has
obout exhausted me, drop the curtain for the
nonce. After my late experience. l have no
hesitation in choosing as nom de plane. for
the present, "ACME."
ScALps AND CoMNERcE.-Judging from
the following which we clip from the
Colorado Transcript. lively time is an
| tirinate ed hunting Indians in that section