The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-08-23
CHICAGO & PADUCAH RAILROAD.


lcauIhS CIIiLcHS from lhiCagO, Aurora &C
/ bound for an excursion over the new Chicag,
q Paducah railroad, now opened via Strcator
! Pontiac, Fairbury, &c, to Windsor, in Shclb,
county, 146 miles south of Ottawa In III,
" party we noticed f. f. IIinckley, president o
the road, as well as of the Chicago d Iowa
and one or two other railroads, Robert Har
ris, superintendent of the Chicago, Burlington
IL Quincy road; Samuel Powell, general tick
ct agent of the Chicago, Burlington Il Quincy
road Gen. 5. A. IIubut; Deacon VIM BrosS
Judge l.. 5. Trimbc, of Paducah, Ky; John
L. Blunt, chief engineer Of the Chicago and
Paducah road; Hon. ID. b. Waterman of An.
rora; Hon. G. NJ. Rochelle; Charles s. Tsflan,
J. +. Stewart, j. F. Gillette, 7. b. Shumway,
freight agent and W. c. Sisson, general super.
intendcnt Of the c. & p. road, Mr.. Macy, of
llowcs Il Macy, bankers n. Y. city; with
other gentlemen froul Chicago and Aurora,
and representatives OF the Chicago press.
The party laid over at Ottawa till morning,
and again took the road about o'clock, be
ing joined by Il number Of our prominent
citizens, among whom we noticed COL Cush
man, f. c. Allen and NJ H. Swift bankers
). L. King, ) w Chccyer, Henry Strawn, J.
f. Porter and John Stout manufacturers and
John Manley, Hon. VIM, Rcddick, Chas Todd,
Howard, of the Clifton, Jcr. Wood, Col. Hapc-
man, H. f. Clark, S. b, Gridley, Geo VI. Rad.
clitle, and dozen of others whose names do
not now occur to us
Leaving Ottawa in two coaches, at Strcator
a halt of an hour was made to enable the par
~ TO take look around the town and inspect
the coal mines. Here palace car was added
to the train, and the party were joined by Col. |
Plumb, David Strawn, Fossct Plumb, and nu.
mcrous other local notabilticS
The next run was TO Pontiac. where little .
molc human freight was taken on board, and /
at Farbury, in another brief pause, Col
Marsh, Mr. Taylor, banker, and numerous
others Joined the party.
There was now no pause, except for a min
ltc or two at Il time, until the party reached
Bcment, in Piatt county, where a sumptuous
'epaSt was spread at the Bement House, kept
)y Mr. Thomas As the hotel was consider
IDLY smaller than the Grand Pacific, in fact. ;
not projected on a scale to accommodate over
hirty or forty guests at a time a sudden de d
scent of about $50 very hungry men was rath
II staggering But Mr.. Thomas seems to have ,
appreciated the eXigcncy, and made his prcpa G
ations accordingly. 1t is sufficient to say, .
hat he found seats for all and abundant to =,
at prepared in style TO do no discredit to o
my first class Chicago hotel. ~
The next pause was at Windsor, which was -,
cached between two and three o'clock. Here :,
wealthy citizen, l.. S. Baldwin, ESD, sup J.
'lementcd the libcrality Of the railroad com ,
amy by an extra treat, at which, besides :
hoce fruits and cdibleo, something Il little O
trongcr, we fear, than lemonade was sci out .
The start homownyd from Windsor was p
r.,,ls at tuout otz O'clock, aud the onIypause -
n the way was to take supper at the Fair il
ury House, where the party enjoyed another -
plendid meal. Arriving at Ottawa about - p
night the train again lay over until morn n
~. -
In hurried run like this, Of course, one f..
lS little opportunity to take notes of the 81
'untry, IFS improvements, prospects, &c. il
he general feature OF the country from OF
reator to Windsor is that of well watered, r.,
ell timbcred, but rather fat prairie.
Six or eight miles south of F4irburg we
lsscd the new town of S!rawn, already quite
village" and located on the edge of Mr..
rawn'S little cattle farm of 1900 acres, and w
ION which about thousand head of cattle 81
arc seen quietly grazing. The town rises III
to some importance, ~ the proposed point '"
Junction with the C. d T. of 4 branch to 49,,
n from Strawn 40 miles eastward, crossing RI
, Illinois Central at Buckley and striking co
where it connects with the Dan. nj
lie ~ Ninccnncs to Coyington thus opening -,
Strcator and Ottawa direct road to In.
'napois and putting all the region north I'M
west in direct connection with that rro,, tn,
lroad center. Eli Strawn, Esq. is Presi. -,
nj OF the proposed branch road, and is
wing it with great energy, being quite ext
ltdcnt of having il under contract by the
ing. S Stt
Passing Strawn in Il few miles the train no
likes the extensive domain of Mr. Sullivan, raj
- has here a cattle farm OF 10000 acres in ont
= bod" the track running for eight con ~, -"
uouS miles over his land
notable circumstance on the route is the COZ
nbcr OF cross roads one meets At Sirea- a.
We ''"SS ordh'h Oh me Chicago " AL latl
road and the pckin road; at Pontiac the to ;
icago n Alton road; at Fairbury the Tolc- not
Peoria n Warsaw; at Gibson the Bloom SSon
ton n Lafdy cite, a. Mansfield the Indian. the
lis, Bloomington ~ Western; miles fur Thi
south, the HAVANA branch of the same was
/; at Monticello, the Decatur branch of
same road; at Bcmcnr, the Toledo Wab- 7
X Western road; At Hammond. the Ind MOI
III. Central; at Lovington. the Paris & furi
atur road; st sullivan, the Sullivan & ton
atur; and 81 Windsor, the indianapolis hav
, -