The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-04
TALES OF A Traveller.
ReeolIectIeRs OF Drumming IN the
Early Days.
From e chieago ne.

lEln OF curtis & Son. and am very sure
that I was one OF the first made my
first long western trip forty-four years
aso. ana I've Just returned from a trip
that took me to the Pacific coast
81 sometimes wonder. when meet the
busy, pushing drumners Of to-day. the
men who are used to rapid travelling. the
best Of hotels, and good living generally
I sometimes wonder what they would do
i they were suddenly put back and made
TO do as We had 10 nifty years ago or a
little less. Some of the poorest Of them
would give up their Jobs, but I think that
the rest would stick TO it and make a sue
cess OF the business, just as they did in
those days
Nearly fifty years aao. when the bust
ness Of selling goods by samples was in
its infancy, and when the drummer had
but Just been discovered, we were COM
PEELED to make slow trips. and. OF course.
not many of them in a year Then 1t
took about three weeks TO so from Port
land 10 Chicago, and dealers ordered
goods enough to last six months. Then
the drummer had TO endure many priva-
tons. but we We're a hardy set, and were
content with little, that is, If we could
/ get plenty of orders. The villages We're
miles and miles apart then, and yet we in
! HbHib way ret INC coming EDDlliEftAdA I'M
I pOTtance Of many of them and knew that
we must keep in with the men who were
trying to build up a trade under what
I seemd many times to be disheartcnins
/ circumstances
Il have passed hundreds Of nights camp
/ ing out when on long trips, with only
/ blanket for d covering and the ground for
/ d bed. We, who drummed trade in the
/ west then in behalf of eastern houses,
/ didn't mind that, but We did object to the
| rattlesnakes sometimes. II didn't pay to
| have them get too familiar. We We're
/ happy when we could travel by canal boats
| or by steamboat, but the dreadful western
I stages were what tried our patience.
Time and time again, but for the fact
that my samples and baggage had to be
/ carried, I should have preferred to walk,
1 and could have beaten the stages under
! ordinary circumstances. Many times
/ did walk, but It was beside the stage, with
a rail on my shoulder, ready to help pry
/ the stage itself out of the mud.
! In those days canals were the best. The
| canal boats would make from two to three
miles an hour, but if the time was long
/ the stories told by the captain and passen-
/ gers were commonly good; the beds were
hunks, but they fed US well-that is. as
! things went then.
/ OF course, the ordinary every day meal
4 Of the drummer of to-day, the meal he's
/ inclined to grumble at, would have seemed
/ a Thanksgiving feast to us. We expected
little and commonly got exactly that Still,
as / said we were content, and even hap
/ Ply, If only business was good.
1.-THE drummers Of to-day won't see the
startling changes we have seen, who be-
gan back nearly fifty years ago or
course, the old time drummers who tray
eled in New England saw less of the rough
and tumble Of life than we who went west
and who struck out boldly for trading
posts, that we We're destined IN many
| cases to see grow to be great cities. Still,
I never went through any Of the thrilling
/ experiences people tell of as a part Of the
| life then, and I am inclined to think that
/ adventures come to those who seek for
them.
1--WE made long trips in those days. lor-
ger than most drummers would think OF
taking now, for then one man had to do all
he could and cover as much ground as
/ possible. Fcrty-three years ago / went
/ from Portland to New York, then by canal
| to Philadelphia, from there to Pittsburg
| by canal, from there to St Louis by boat.
down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, and
from St. Louis to st. Paul by boat
In those days St. Paul was but trad
/ ing post. There We're a few business
| houses, but 1 saw a sight then that no
/ man will ever see there again. 1t seemed
to me that there We're at least 1000 In
/ dams at The post trading their furs. They
brought them in curiously constructed OK
carts, made without the use of a scrap of
iron the wheels a section Of a tree, and
drawn by one OK dashed to the poles
/ They were a drunken crowd, all but q
/ few, who seemed to be a committee APP
pointed to keep sober. and to see to it
/ that the others were not cheated. Some
times the crowd would give a yell that
! fairly seemed TO take the roof off.
Il went then to the falls of St Anthony
and looked az the surroundings. Where
| Minneapolis now stands there was not a
single building. When / was there last 1
went to the falls, and, as l looked as the
/ great cities, I wondered if it was possible
! that could have been there before they
were built 1t seems strange, and almost
beyond comprehension, that my business
career could have antedated these cities.
! and even the commercial Importance Of
/ Chicago Itself; but so 1t IS, and am still a
! vigorous man
"You spoke Of having visited Chicago
/ forty-four years ago. Mr. Curtis, What
sort of q place was 1t them"
/ Then there was but one railroad.
/ small local affair, rather cont smptu-
! ously called the milk route. I went there
/ from Buffalo by boat and was Ave days
I on the way. I tried TO DO a little bust
ness every time we stopped to wood UP on
the way. and, in fact. we drummers had
/ that system on the route from St. Louis
to St. Paul and along the canals" re-
1 Piled Mr.. Curtis.
81 reached Chicago Saturday night, and
put up at wooden hotel on Lake street.
near where the fremont house now
stands.
I'm those days Chicago had but few
brick buildings, and the wooden ones were
seldom more than two stories high. In
fact am unable to recall z single build
| ing more than two stories high. There
was not sidewalk, except on Lake
street, and that was Of wood, and tbs
water came up through with almost
every step. Steamboats, and stages
I brought people there. and about the
most interesting sight was old Fort Dear
born with doors and log sides pierced
( with balls. There was not foot Of
paved street in all Chicago when first
struck tbs place, and yet even then-and
it was the time Of small things-there
was that same belief IN Chicago and the
same dash and push that you see now
I in tina. great city Then the best hotel
! in Chicago was only g poor affair. kept
in country style, and able TO accommo-
! date but e few guests
1.-THE drummers Of to-day are bright
80 l--Fv4 f~.f sf-.~r