Morning journal and courier., 1883-10-09
1nuYusl snh GOtrisr.
Tuesday. October 9, 1888.
A GIance at Chicago

And Other Points West-PrairIes and
 Prairie Dogs-A New Haven Boys Notes
 of Western Travel
 A New Haven boy in the West writes as follows:
 DANvmLE, Ill, Sept. l, 1883.
 About six months since, one beautiful morning in April, I stood on the deck of the Elm City as she steamed down the harbor and watched with an eager eye New Haven as it disappeared in the distance. I was leaving home, dear old New Haven, for new scenes and faces. now pen you this letter and narrate a few points of interest. Per baps the most wonderful sight I have seen, taking all things into consideration, is the city of Chicago. As one walks through the crowded streets of this metropolis Of the West and consider that from @ community of less than hundred fifty years ago it's popu- lstion has swelled to the immense figures of five hundred thousand and more, why 1t cer- tainly seems wonderful. And it seems the more so when you call to mind the great fire which resulted so disastrously to the city only 1 a few years since. Scarcely any trace can now be found of that immense conf agration. 1 The buildings on most of the principal busi- ness streets are surprisingly regular in their construction, producing an effect of sym | metry that is seldom seen in cities of such
 size. The shipping of Chicago is increasing | constantly. As 1t was with melt probably is with many in New Haven, that the fact of 1 the great number of vessels leaving Chicago for foreign ports is unrealized. The Well
 land canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario, | connIetes an unobstructed course Of travel
 for crafts large and small between Chicago | and the Atlantic ocean.
 l The cable line of street cars is something l novel These seem curious enough as one sees a train of three or four coming down the street with no impelling force vi5isle. Bat the mystery is all solved when you board the first car and watch the man operating 8 clamp which runs through the bottom of the car down between two iron 1 strips placed one inch part Tn the center Of the track and attached to the cable at will. The cable underneath the track travels as l fast as horse in an easy trot and is run by engines of great power. Care has to be l taken in crossing the streets on the line of this railroad, and several persons l who were over-Venturesome have paid | for it with their lives. Chicago can we'll boast of it's elegant residences and many | of it's public buildings, also of it's long, fine 1 streets and avenues. One of the most | charming of these is Michigan avenue, ex-
 tending as it does for long distance on the shore of Lake Michigan This and the other | large fresh water lakes eastern people often 1 hear about but no one can form proper | conception of them and their immensity un- til they have with their own eyes beheld them There was something awe inspiring in the picture, as I stood upon the shore of l Lake Michigan and cast my eye oyer that
 broad expanse of fresh water, with no land l oir6k cfe
 and sailing vessels blowing their course in
 different directions, tugs busily flying hither | and thither and small boats with their snow
 white sails blown here and there before 8
 fresh breeze. The scene was interesting to
 me, and the more so probably from the fact
 of my having seen those similar many times
 at my sea-bordered home. The waves were 1 of considerable size but choppy, with an ab l gence of that roll always seen in salt watsr. l The color of the water is different too, being
 clear and of grayish hue. One evening just at dusk passed through Galena. This
 is small town on tributary of the Missis l sippi, in the northwestern part of Illinois l It is Grants birthplace. Comparatively feN l years since it the distributing point fol 1 Chicago, being then the larger of the two l It is quiet town of only few hundred inhab l itants A few miles west of here is to be seer
 the Mississippi river, crossing it there and a
 St. Louis, three hundred and fifty miles be
 low. have been able to form good idea o 1 the river as it increases in size. At the frs
 named point it's waters are quiet and clear
 and there is considerable marshy ground ol
 St. Louis it is much wider ant
 of necessity somewhat rougher. II
 it's journey of several hundred mile
 it manages to accumulate great amount O
 refuse matter, which, with the waters of tn
 Missouri which flow into it above here, give
 1t muddy appearance. The river present
 8 busy scene at this point with it's man,
 steamers and other craft going up and dowl
 constantly. St. Louis is large, fine ant thrifty city, but it evidently is very mucl
 crestfallen at the idea of Chicago walking of
 with the laurels which it once possessed fo 1 being the largest and most contemplating citJ
 of the West. Kansas City is no insig nifcant 1 place. A gateway to the southwest as it is it is destined to incre ase in size for years to
 come. The city officials of New Haver
 would be staggered at the thought of having
 to do any such grading as is being done there 1 In places whole squares are being lowered
 fifty feet; some of these are built up with
 many fine residences. The work has been | ordered by the authorities of the city, and I will be completed in course of time despite l the remonstrances of the parties concerned.
 It will greatly beautify the city, and enhance the value of property. The t'Great Muddy, D ! as western people seem disposed to style
 the Missouri river, rolls by here, and muddy 1 enough 1t is too. Unlike the Mississippi, ! this river is navigatsd very little, and 1 wise are they that give it 8 wide berth.
 Twice year government boats ply it's
 waters way up into Dakota, laden l with supplies for the forts; but the passage | has to be made with great care, as the river l changes it's channel many feet in few
 hours at times. Sounding has to be kept up | necessarily and someone stationed at the bow ! to push away large logs that come floating down frequently with great force, owing to I S piftn6aa n I drowned in the Missouri at Nebraska City. | Three men started to row across in little | skiff, and when midway in the river their boat 1 was caught in whirlpool and swamped. In | moment three souls were struggling in the l angry waters. Boats at once put out to | their rescue. One man was brought | to the shore conscious, one insensibIe, having l sunk twice, but the third had gone to his
 long home, and had been carried out of sight l in the undercurrent. The river differs very little at point one hundred and fifty miles ! north of Kansas City, as it flows hurriedly 1 and wildly between the cities of Council | Bluffs and Omaha. It is crossed here by a 1 large iron bridge, resting on eleven immense 1 piers, which is owned by the Union Pacific | railroad. This structure is 8 paying | them more than any other division of the road. A train crosses every hour during the day, and there is always 8 ! multitude waiting to cross. Three and one half miles separate the two cities and each individual wishing to traverse this has to part with twenty-five cents this is not an excur sion rate either. Until they were compelled
 to reduce the rate the company charged fifty cents for the same trip. This is good ex- | ample of the power of monopoly The prairies of the West are intensely interesting | to a newcomer as they stretch out in one wide, level expanse before the eye for miles
 and miles until they seem to be lost in the | distant horizon | | ing whizzing over one of these prairies in Nebraska when a gentleman touched my shoulder and remarked that we were about to pass through 'tdor