St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-16
FROM SNOW TO ROSES.
A Trip Over the Illinois Central to the
City Of the Worlds Exposition.
Interesting Gossip by the Way, the Country
Passed Through, and Superb Railroad
Management.

cago on Lne take 'front.' almost exActly a. the
same point where we parted Eve days after
the great fire had burned itself out. For
hours we enjoyed an inspection Of q part Of
the district which we had left in smoking
ruins years before. Towering marts Of bust
ness, cable cars and palatial hostleries were
among the wonderful tran nsformations evolved
BY the plucky Chicagoans, which bad COM
pletely effaced the land marks Of anti
burning times One familiar sight met
our eyes, The massive stone walls Of the
depot the foot Of Lake street we're still stand
ing and these bore the rounded, splintered,
chan neled lickings Of the FIRE iend.
When / came In yesterday from Boston,
said my friend, was perfectly surprised to
find such 4 terminus. / had come from the
shores Of the Atlantic, surrounded with
every comfort and convenience, had feasted
upon all the Injuries aud substanuals which
could be obtained in any land j bad been
so carefully attended that the Hotel Vendome,
the Hoffman, the Continental or Grand Pa
ci6e presented no attractions either for per-
manent or transient sojourn, and then 10 be
landed by the Michigan Central railroad in
such a barn Of de pot was a very rude
awakening. II was ID first shock had re-
ceived in my trip to the Worlds exposition
at New Orleans, but suppose / viii have
many now that have arrived in the ''rowdy
west" 1 did not wonder at the readiness
with which the genial con iuctor grasp@d my
sensations when be said:
"This is the depot OF the Illinois Central
railroad, but they win build an elegant ter
minus as soon as they obtain the ground for
its location. 4"
BY the way" be continued, "slnce the
New Orleans exposition has been the topic Of
interest our eastern men have had our ter
ritOry excited about this great road from the
lakes 20 the gulf. We know all about the
personnel of the men who are connected
with the great east and west lines, but this
Illinois Central railroad has never come
under our purview. A Boston Hsrdld man
said he went to call upon the president OF
the road with much trepidation, because he
was said to be peculiarly averse TO the society
Of men connected with the press. When he
entered 4 plainly furnished room he
found q gentleman writing at q desk.
In answer 10 his inquiry President Clarke,
the tall, gray haired Jackson looking sort OF
q man gravely arose, accepted his card,
courteously bade him be seated, and In q
few minutes the Hubite found himself thor
oughly interested by man who is said to be
personally acquainted with the position Of
every spike between Chicago and New Or
leans, aud between Sioux City, Iowa, snd
Centralia, Illinois. Afterwards the Bos ton
man met q nunber OF the officials and lead
ing emplopes, and be found that many Of
them had been in continuous service on the
road for more than a quarter of a century.
Perhaps this may explain why We have never
heard very much Of the Ini50is Central rail-
road, as It has never been widely advertised
by means of serious accidents"
Although / have found newspaper men
and the general public possessed OF very lit
tie information concerning the roads which
connects the orange groves with the ice
fields, every railroad man / addressed in
formed me that Superintendent Jeffery was
acknowledged TO be one Of the finest mechan-
ical railroad men in the country, and the
name Of Tucker was synonymous with square
dealing and promptness; that every passen-
ger agent in the country knew and esteemed
A. Ii. Hanson, aud that the Illinois Central
railroad was a very conservative institution,
| which had educated and continued in its en-
ploy a large number of the most capable aud
trustworthy railroad men to be found in any
country, not to say anything about such men
as Marvin Hughitt. Of the Northwestern and
Joseph F. Tucker, the arbitrator, aud others
who hold prominent positions in the railroad
world. Well, I'n excuse the depot, the barn
like terminus, II these old tried railroad men
put US through safely TO New OrIeaus in time
to see the opening of the exposition"
on THE ROAD.
At O'Clock that evening we were settled
on one Of the new Pullman buffet sleepers,
which have been recently Dlaeed upon the
Illinois Central railroad, and were speeding
by the Aladdin like city Of Pullman, whose
electric lights were scarce perceptible
through the ice encrusted windows Of the
car. Within, all was bright and comforta-
bic. A merry party were gathered in the
smoking compartment They had speedily
become acquainted and were, as Boston,
said, swapping experiences. He led of By
enlarging upon the accommodations of the
Michigan Central and the great cantiiever
/ a
man from 81. Louis spoke in ardent terms
OF the Chicago & Alton ''lunch," +" but he was
speedily overwhelmed BY man from
Denver who ehanted the praises OF the menu
OF the dining cars on the Caie4go, Burling-
ton * Quincy railroad. In turn came in a
Dakota man, who claimed the''feeding on the
Ceieago, Milwaukee & 81. Paul railroad din
ing cars beats the Palmer house all holler. {"
An Englishman commenced TO tell about the
road beds in England, ''you know" but was
shortened in his patriotic gratulations by the
entrance Of Father Patten, the1conduetor
Boston was impressed with his appearance,
and discovered that he had been in the en-
ploy Of the road for thirty years. He found
the sleeping car conductor Was q real Creole,
whose father had been governor Of Louisi-
ana In antebellum times, and that the por-
ter bad been q slave Of one of the richest
families in the south. The ''ysnkee'' aud
the "Brtisher'' increased the contents of
note books, while the others sought their
berths.
Just at daybreak we were awakened by the
porter, aud We found that as We slept we had
passed through some Of the best agricultural
parts OF Illinois and several Of its most inter
estiug towns. Among the were, Kankakee, with
its fine water power, its arcade and the I'LL
nois eastern asylum for the insane, which
DR.. Dewey and his associates have placed in
the front rank Of such institutions; Cham
palgn, the seat Of the Illinois Industrial uni
versity; MAttoon, Efingham, etc. We had
crossed several important railroads and re-
ceived acccsions Of passengers from both
the east and the west. At Odin we connected