Litchfield enquirer., 1877-10-18
Sporrana m <fae Nast. A


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 l I 3sa1sslrdx Uzrox. I S lE %I E7 0et. 1877, 6U r MIR. Eplarse l1a onF last @eeE in ktie yoodss xea proposed to scopts sabCnt land see tie country, more than before.
 Three of our party had business to attaua
 to at tahome, and. rn Tuesday morning. Sept, 25sh. they. bid farewell to .sThe Old Camp" anda: startad at six o'clock on foot f 1T the Brancll, where they took the two Iorlock train f r Ola Judea. Tuesday
 mornng a, party of us left camp and
 struck across to the Ausable river about 20 miles to the north We passed through
 tue most beautiful forest of pine timber imaginable. No fires had swept through it and there was no uaderhrnsli. The
 trees seemed to be very. .nniformiR size
 and height. and dasrstraight as gan-barrels
 up to sli6ieit of from 100 ssos l25g feet i wfta,eut srsacAipesa hnab. Wesaw sew ral
 deer skipping away ahead of us. ost of rf-
 fe rauge We 1canapsa TOT The: night , on
 the bank of the river; and next morning.
 caugh, fish for breakfast. Here our par
 ty divided again. part striking back fol
 camp. and the rest pushing on down the
 river to the town of Oscoda, where the river empties into Lake Huron. Here are seven large lumber and salt mills, and
 two days were very pro6tably spent in sszs sInining them. fka .qL @fs 1 A little description of these mills may not be out of place here. s Nearly all the steam saw-mills run salt works in connec- ton. Immense piles Of slabs and saw dust are piled all about the mills, free to any enc who win draw them away. so that steam costs in reality nothing ., Salt wa
 ter can be reaeled at almost any point along the Michigan 1coast of Lake -Hnron by bor1ng from le00s to 15O0 feet. Flew-
 ing wells of fresh water are reached fGat Eabeut 400 feet. The salt water ia pumped into hanks where are placed . number Of steam condensing pipes. which evaporate the water, leaving the crystalized salt at
 the bottom. Twelve hundred barrels of brine is evsporated every AS hours ineaoh tank, making 100 barrels of salt, Some of, tue mills run six and eight tanks each.
 The largest saw mills are capable of fturu- ling ont two handred thousand feet of Plumber per day. There are hundreds of mills along this 'coast each turning out on an average of say one hundred thou sand feet pef dsg The question lssaral
 ly arises ''how long can thls last?" Pine timber never sprouts, so there can be but
 one cutting in conversation with alarge land and tinlber dea,ler few days ago he remarked that it had been 'sscertained by
 actual computation that at the present rate. of cutting timber there could not be single tree left standing in the state of Michigan. twent five years from nov. and that i, not taking into consideration the great forest fires which some yaars con- samer more than, ali the saw mills. The most wide a.caEe actiue, business of the place seems to be carried on by feas. We
 ~lll not state why we, arrived. at this con- clusion or enter into n,i,sute details. but simply say that on Saturday we:had a ter rible itching to visit some interesting point far distant from Oscoda, consequent ly wetooks the next steamer for Detroit. Our retreat was admirably managed and
 we had steamed far out from the harbo-
 before single flea mad ''smelt rat.""o
 The party that left the Ausable river on "Wednesday. feache,l camp Thursday. On Friday they bid farewell to the old log cabin, walked to West Branch, took train for Bay City, and staamer for Detroit, whore. on Monday morning. we all met, took a stroll about the city and visited some of the large fouring mills. At 10 a. m., we went aboard the steamer again and arrived in Buffalo Tuesday, night, having had most delightful ride. Dur ing the seventy odd hours we were on Lake Huron and Erie we were out of sight of land most of the time, but the waters were as calm and peaceful as you ever saw Lake Waramang. On Tuesday morn ing we ticketedEto Philadelphia Uia. the Lehigh Valley R. R., and had delight full rlde down through the Valley of the Snsquehanna, We could not but note the marked contrast between the low fiat Michigan lands we had just. left and this lovely Valley. We also noted the marked similarity between the inhabitants of the two sections in their way ofanswering all queries for information. One simple word
 (which must have been snnknoRna to Web ster for, we can't find it's definition in any of his 'worksl usually answered our most simple. as well as most puzfinga questions. They spell it in this way = dam mo- 2. and accent it according to the feelinss of thes speaker. .'.f' ss.aE ,zssssaM ssptoate We passed through the interesting and historic Wyoming Valley through Pitts ton and Wilkesbarre. at the latter place we passed the encampment of the. fifteen Ihpndred U. s. Regnlars who have re- mained aince The. Riot.a as-eE .s9s.ssL x z't.t' On leaving Wlikesbarre another mon- fstrous four drive wheel engine was hitch- ed on.s ahead of our train = A genheman standing near us pointed to fheasummit of the mountain nearly overhangiag Wilkes barrs. and remaEkgd that our hain woSla Ego psar the top q ghat moultain. We sups Eposed he was joking. but. on starting again. ye iinnediateIs struck an up RrSds which grew sleeper and .sseepeF. gass va wound up<Ahea mountain sides Que en- zine broke her couplings and got away. but she was Soon captured and on ws l went again, higher and higher. The fire | men kept shoveling fn coal; a streak of bumipg guels 7aewYons fzpn underyshe reas eAr. plsd blazins ies uarked our pros gress $ up the mountain. All at once we