St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-11-25
A Journey West.
TOPEKA, KAN, Nov, 1881

nave never NlSlJtu Tile w eSl. Hc
first day it was too foggy and rainy to
admit of our seeing much. The delays
made us so late that it was dark long
before we reached Montreal. | was
very sorry, as had hoped to see the
suspension bridge and some of the fine
buildings. Could judge something of
the length of the bridge by the length
of time it took to cross it, but could
see nothing in the darkness. l regret
that so much of the journey had to be
made in the night.
The next morning dawned bright
and beautiful, and we had one of those
perfect days that come to us occasional
ly in the fall. 1t seemed as though we
had entered new world. The rocks
and hills of Vermont had disappeared
and we saw only level fields. Occa-
sionally through the day, the country
was rough and rocky for short dis
tances, but for the most part it was de-
lightfully smooth. But oh, such
fences Our Vermont farmers would
hardly be willing to give up so much Of
their hilly lands, let alone the level
fields, to be covered with fences. These
were built mostly of rails and set at
such short angles as to cover wide strip
of ground; and the large, level fields
were divided and subdivided to a de-
gree that was perfectly astonishing.
Farther on the angles were made lit
tie longer, but what was gained in
land was made up in time and timber
Two posts were set and the rails cross
ed through these, looking like a con-
tinuOus pair of bars. Another variety
was in favor still farther on. Two
posts were driven one or two feet
apart, meeting at the top; boards were
nailed across the top and on each side,
making it resemble an inverted sheep
trough. The railroad fences were
made almost entirely of wire.
But | will leave the fences and try
to describe some of the houses. Occa-
siOnally we saw pretty cottage houses,
and sometimes larger ones of stone or
brick, with good barns and other out
buildings, reminding one of home.
But the most of them were very small !;
many of these were built of logs, some
were covered with clapboards and
painted, while very many were simply
covered with rough, unpainted boards.
Generally the front had two windows
and door. Then a window in each
end, and small clean to" at the back,
with four-light window, completed
the structure, the whole looking so
small it did not seem possible that a
family could be comfortable in it. The
barns were still smaller. Often the
roof was fiat, with more or less hay
stacked upon top. But i'll most places
the hay and straw were each stacked
upon the ground. Even here, very few
have barn large enough to hold the
hay. But think our Vermont stock,
accustomed to hay that was cut and
stored in barns in June or even July,
would object, most decidedly, to eating
such hay as we see here at West.
At Port Hope we had our first view
of Lake Ontario. At Toronto we saw
vast quantities of coal stored. Also
many nice buildings; among them the
Capitol buildings. But that part ot
the city seen from the car windows
had dirty, grimy look, caused by sc
much coal smoke, l suppose. And
from this time forward we had Goa
: and coal smoke in abundance.
pleasant contrast to Toronto is Guelph
a clean, pleasant place, with many tini
buildings of stone. Limestone is mucl
used for everything where stone il
needed from Toronto out. At Breslal
we saw the first windmill, but afte
+ that found them very frequent. Thes'
q are used for pumping water for vari
a GUS purposes, often for use in tn,
q creameries, which are often seen il
these Western states.
; At Sarnia our train and another wer
T run upon a steamer and taken acrOs
the st. Clair river to Port Huron, wher
y we were once more landed upon Uncl
l. Sans soil. Unfortunately it was i
: the night, so we could see but little i
; crossing the river, except the variou
l. colored lights of Port Huron, whic
S looked very beautiful across the watel
= At Sarnia a custom house officer cam
Il in to examine all baggage not checke
through to Chicago. At South Ben
IS we saw the mandatory where al
n made the famous South. Bend farl
e wagon, in use throughout the Wes
e AS we neared Chicago all began to fe,
impatient to get there before dark, a
= we must there be transported to othe
depots to take the various trains b
n which we were to pursue our .jOurne,
lie Our train was due there in the mOrI
ing, but we had been so hindered b
p freights all the way, that it was almo,
dark before We entered the city. Eve
Z, when we got very near, it took Ion
n time to get past all the freight train
When we came to see what quantiti,
of cars were gathered in, around tn
one depot, we could form some faiI
" idea of the inconvenience which I'll
freight blockade has caused through
IN out the West.
At Chicago, being in the dark he