The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-01-29
LETTER TROM gORT WAYNE.
A COmparlsOH-FOrt Wayne and It's
Advantages - Us Morality The
Churches, Hotels, &c:
From our own correspondents

All your readers know the locality
of this place. 1t is approached from
the West, BY the Toledo, Wabash
and Western Railway. the train
making its way through vast and al
most u~nalleviated stretches of marsh
and overhowed land, as far as the eye
can reach, 1cdter suggesting the beau
ties and benefits of = squatter sover-
eighty" where that sovereignty is
given over to frogs and fever and
But as you roll into the cor
poration you feel relieved. assured
that you are in the midst of mo
mean city"
Our two cities, you know, have had
q controversy-for there is no need of
talking about rivalry; they are
too far apart for that-but a contro-
versy as to which is growing the more
rapidly, and which has the larger
population. After a two days cir
cumspection, as an honest EYans-UiI-
lain. l am compelled to say that l
think we have a right to the plus
quantity or suhz.
The omnibus whirls you up, not to
the Aventine, as the Romans would
say, but to the AUeline Hotel, right in
the centre of the city, cornering on to
the public square, where the Court
House lifts up its huge, cold presence.
1t is really an imposing building from
its immenseness, but it has nothing of
beauty and is exceedingly u~ninviting.
1t has nothing of what the cultivated
eye would call "1odTn1th of archi-
lecture" and you have a feeling.
Here is the court of seUere justice"
and have an idea that all who hold
Offices there must grow into rigid ad-
ministrators of law and not of mercy;
when, as we know, our Court Houses
are intended for coil as well as crimi-
nal purposes, and where peace hath
its ministries as we'll as Justice, and
that the genius of Protection and
Prosperity are there as well as the
demon Of Vengeance.
On the four sides Of this vast brick
pile, with It's too-high cupola, in
which is a fine town clock, you have,
in as many inches, IN frescO, the statue
of " Mad Anthony " after whom the
city is named.
The business of the city is now
Qu1AG AAlls Au0 AAG tOLG Va AAGlCu64kS
is very much below par. This part of
the country has suffered much. The
adjoining country is low, and in con-
sequence Of the Wetness of the season
last year, prevented the planting of
corn, so that where they usually have
a large surplus. they had scarcely
enough for home consumption.
Wheat did only moderately, and the
price rules SO low that farmers have
not been remuuerated for service and
outlay.
The wholesale business of Fort
Wayne will not compare at all favor
ably with our own city. In dry goods
there is but one house, that of Evans
Il Co. La groceries and shoes they
do better.
The railroad shops Of the two roads,
Ft. Wayne and Pittsburg, also the
Toledo, w. & W. Railway, arc a great
fact in the city's every day history,
and when Ft. Wayne shall have com
pleted its half dozen other roads that
are now in actual process, it will
rank with Indianapolis as a railroad
center, and have all the benefits re-
sulting from such Capitalization.
Aside from its railroad shops. its
manufacturing interests will not COM
pare with Indianapolis or Evansville.
| understood that there was but q
single large iron foundry, then there
is an immense stave and spoke fac
tory, besides a few others (not includ-
ing flour mills) of minor Importance.
This is an immense timber region;
and yet / do not know thatit has any
thing better than Evansville might be
with its water privileges. am led to
speak of this, because of one of the
saw mills / found here, and which,
from its popularity, stands alone,
East or West. 1t is the cutting or
timber, in the rough, for fellows.
chairs, furniture, ~cornices, &C., and
shipping it East In its undressed-(i.
G. neither turned or smOothed) state
to the value of hundreds of thousands
of dollars every year.
The saving is done by belt or
" tape saws. These saws run over
and around wheels just as belts do.
The largest saw | saw in motion was
forty feet in length, running over and
under wheels as 8 belt would do, and
cutting immense logs, with a rapidity
and ease, i. E., with less use of power
than any ordinary saw could do. OF
course. these saws are made very thin.
They thus v a great deal of timber.
As they told me, the saving in timber
alone was more than enough to
keep up the whole running Of th e
establishment. The smaller saws are
called " tape" because they are not
only thin but exceedingly narrow, the
least being less than a quarter of an
inch, and used for what [ would call
twisting saving.
Fort Wayne is like all cities. To
go through its principle streets you
have the same rush and intenseness
of the busy, and the same todfeTaqe
of the idle and vacant. 1t is aston
ishing how busy one-third of the
population is, and how l~istless and
shiftless, and driftless the other two
thirds are.
The morale of the city, I should
think, would compare well with any
of the cities Of the West. They are
doing much to take care OF the suffer
ing here. Beside the Aveline Hotel,
which would be q credit to Evans
vile, they had a far more ~pretentious
building-the Rockwell House-but
because uf an unfortunate location,
it failed for want of patronage and
are nov using it for a hospital. By
the by the Catholics here have vast
power, and have public edifces, the
like of which are rarely met with.
The LutheTans, quite numerous, are
also inauguratIng a hospital on really
Catholic principles, being for all