The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-06-11
Correspondence.
MOTIFS BY TIE WAY.

ley passing through Rome ana Mosel!e, tWo
small villages OF 800 inhabitants each, reaching
PEORIA.
Grown TO be beautiful city OF $4,000 inhabi-
tants IL company with Mr. Geo. Mykins, well
known 20 the citizens OF Ottawa as former
salesman in the popular dry goods house of
VIM Re6dicb, now Reddick 4 Gillen. we spent
few hours walking around the city, but as it
was rather lato We cannot give your readers
that de ,oription of this lively place that we
could, h I'd We more time. Suffice it TO say, that
Peoria is growing. lively city, business of all
kinds being now very good: and Peoria will,
ere long, be one of the great inland cities of Hi
nois. Mr.. NJ. having concluded to make Peoria
his home, is building nice residence, and when
finished, will make one of Peorias fairest daugh-
tiers its mistress We take the liberty Of max
this happy. event in Mr.. Ms life public little
in advance of the time, for which he viii excuse
Us, as we know he WILL being, as he is, gentle
man in every sense of the word.
After kindly farewell, with many regrets
that We could not stay longer, we shaped our
course westward from Peoria, passing through
some nice farming country and by many inc
farm houses. reaching Pennington, a village of
$500 Inhabitants, on the G. B, & q. T. Il. Far
mington j. not place of any Importance, any
more than being a market for the farming COM
munity surrounding it, the only noticeable fea-
tUro bong the absence Of saloons and dogger.eS,
where fusilists won't to irrigatc their tonSlS
with corn juice the majority of its citizens ba-
ing strongly opposed to this slow-poson process
Of ,lutliing Oft this mortal coil. and accordingly
do not allow its sale in the place.
leaving Pennington. litter dinner, we come
10 Norris, a small village four miles south of
Pennington. Six miles farther on We come to
CANTON, FULTON co.,
1 city of five thousand inhabitants incorpora-
ted in 1866. The city is scattered over Il good
deal OF ground cannot boast of very good pub
lie buildings nor very clean streets. In early
days it was proposed TO locate the county seat
here, and after considerable wire pulling, vot-
Ing and quarrelling, the legislature finally
fixed Lewiston, sixteen miles south Of it, as the
county seat, it being the nearest centre town in
the county. In anticipation OF this the found.
ers Of the town left square in the centre of it,
wherein to build court house, which is now
turned into a hay market, and place for farm.
ers to feed their teams, and is. indeed, disgust
ing place, ana would be more of {. credit to the
citizens than it is now ii they would hire some
of the loafers aud "cullud pussons" standing on
the corners chewing tobacco and swearing, and
give it a good cleaning.
Canton. determined on having Its own wav
IN one thing or another, put in bids for the fair
ground and got it located here and pretty
level place it is too, with Il fine mechanics flo
raj and art hall, besides = good observatory and
buildings fol stock and teams. 1t can boast of
splendid graded school five stories high, erect
ed in 1866, four good churches, and Il few nj ce
residence. In the line OF hotels, Canton IL sad
~ behind other Illinois towns Of smaller popu.
lation. \ good hote well kept, would be re.
munerativc to it, owner or owners. and is badly
needed
Katie Putnam aud her excellent dramatic
troupe were billed herr for three nights COM
mencing may 9th and Jas. T. Johnscn's circus
for the 18th.
Canton has two newspapers, the Fulton Ledger
and RgiSter, one the organ of the national repub-
!ican party, which predominates here: the other
the advocate Of equal taxation and white men
to govern.
/ must not forget that Grants tayorite beve-
rage is here forbidden by law, as in Pennington,
which Il indeed strange, when we consider that
the law makers of Fulton county, the majority
of them at least, voted tor the illustrouS follow
er of Bacchus.
sSlXteeh plies south or Canton, come 10
Lewiston. the county seat OF Fulton county, a
neat village of 1900 inhabitants, containing the
court house, very good building graded
school fave stories high, very similar to the one
IN Canton, QUILT III the same year by the same
workmeu, some good private residences of its
business men and lawyers, good public build
ings, four churches, the Catholic, Unitarian.
Episcopal and Methodist, all good structures,
and each credit to their owners Lewiston
supports one newspaper, the LaioU. a kind of
neutral sheet depending on both parties Tor its
fustenance, once in a while sabbliny in the
muddy pool Of politics.
TINS section OF Illinois is rather hilly with an
abundance OF fine timber, chiefly oak with Jew
hickory and maple In,er> persed Between Can.
ten and here Is one of the finest maple groves to
be found in AL the state. Gardens and early
crops look fine all along, but would be benefited
very much 10y good tall of rain, a thing great.
ly needed here at present. Corn in this part is
well up and hos thai dark green color which be-
speaks warm soil and good weather
From Canton, our whole route was all the
way through the timber And must say that
got quite tired OF going up one hill and then
going down another. Whole farms have been
gru6bed out of the woods here and have been
puzzled TO think why men viii spend whole
lifetime digging and routing or the tou Of clay
hills among trees and stones when tlcv cam,
here in an early day, when god prairie VS..
plenty and IS cheap So tim1rr: still ..,,uc ni
them nave miuc good farms Ia il, woud. rul
have qE!te comfortable houses; tier, again c,l,.
e,s have 'ocd all their Ar-' d.,., .,r,,i uo,, u,
the evening OF life, they have sor,, n,,r, .oro.
cleared Others eighty and ,.uu ...i , l,., l,y.,.
to leave their children. F,,ius ,r,. D,..,, l.r,
as general thing, do lut r' riI ,,,u,,.,r ,rtr,
those oi northern Illinois
vi. | II