The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-06-24
A Visit to Chattanooga.
CHIoKAMAUGA PARK, GA, ,
June 20, 1898.

Last week after going through the regu-
lar routine of guard duty and the succeed
ing fatigue work which in this particular
case turned out to be day spent in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the company kitchen,
wrestling with fire and water, wood, kettle,
and potatoes which had to be pared instead
of taking the usual six hours off duty,
managed to secure twelve hour pass which
permitted visit to Chattanooga and Look
out mountain, Saturday.
The pass was from nine o'clock in the
morning until nine at night, but after the
Saturday morning inspection of quarters
was over, it still lacked several minutes of
nine when Corporal Chas. 81. Watson, of
Ann Arbor, and myself, who were already
to 90, presented ourselves at the guard
house to have our pass endorsed by the OFF,
Ger of the guard. 1t is about three miles
from our camp to Battlefield station where
we were to take the train for Chattanooga,
and the sun is pretty hot, as may be mag
ined. Consequently 1t was WITH a very
profound impotence that we saw the only
mule team in sight pass the guard house
and get well started down the road while
our pass was being signed. AS soon as 1t
was in our hands again we stopped all
standing on ceremony and started on run
for that mule team in spite of the distance
1t had gained and the fact that most of the
drivers have orders to allow no persons to
ride with them. suppose we did not run
much further than from THE TIMES
Office to Hall Bros. grocery, but it seemed
like mile at the very least before we
caught it and climbed In.
We thought by this time that our prln.
cipal trouble was over with and began to
speculate on the possibility of those four
mules getting down to the station In time to
catch the nine o'clock train into ChattanOo-
ga. But just as we were beginning to feel
a little relieved, up came one of the livellest
and wettest of all the wet showers we have
here. We had left our rubber blankets in
camp-rnbber blankets do duty as umbrel-
las down here--and II was only owing to
aboard after we did that there were three
rubber blankets for six fellows. We got
out of the difficulty by dividing them up
and sitting in under the drivers seat, and
really did not get more than a sprinkling,
though our ''shines" had parted company
with our shoes, evidently glad to leave US.
The mules logged along just as fast while it
rained as at any other time, however, and
we seemed to be approaching Battlefield
station and nine o'clock at about an equal
pace. A short distance from the station
the team began to 60 slowly on account of
the jam of wagons, and in order to gain an
extra hour in Chattanooga we jumped out
and ran the last quarter of mile through
the mud and hot sunshine which followed
the showers, and pulled up to the platform
of the station with plenty of time to catch
the ten o'clock train and to find out that
nine o'clock was the only hour during the
day when train did not leave for the city.
This Battlefield station, or Lyle, which.
ever one chooses to call it, is curiosity in
itself, and the time was not altogether lost
which we spent there. When the 31st Mich
igan came here there was scarcely store in
the neighborhood; in fact there was hardly
an indication of freight house. Now there
is good passenger station, several freight
houses, one or two of which could about
hold all the OwOsso freight houses at once,
while there dozen places Of business from
an, ordinary lemonade stand to telegraph,
telephone and express Offices, dry goods
booths, barber shops, and several quite ex-
tensive retail stores, branches of some of the
big wholesale and retail houses not only Of
Chattanooga but the county at large Judg.
ing from reports and pictures of the western
mining towns 1t is the regular characteristic
mushroom town, but we were willing to
leave it when ten o'clock came.
The twelve-mle ride into the city was
quite uneventful, Lookout Mountain being
almost constantly in sight in spite of the
most devious windings which any rough
bottomed road bed ever made, and we soon
found ourselves again in the city after more
than months absence from it. The city
itself itself is not a small one by any means,
and one of the same size in the north would
furnish din and confusion enough, but here
while there are electric cars enough the
streets are strangely quiet and free from the
hurried jostle and rush and clatter and bang
of one of our busy northern cities.
We went directly TO the Chattanooga
Times building which is near the station.
and has tower which overloOks the city
completely. Up under the gided dome Of
the Times building we looked out on a real
ly beautiful sight. Old Lookout seemed
but little distance away, while away in
the other direction appeared broad band
of muddy colored water which by some op.
tical illusion seemed to be raised above the
level of the city below like a big reservoir
Going down from the tower we stopped
for a moment to watch the Mergenthaler
linotype machine at work, Corporal Wat
son also being printer then started out to
see the bridge over the Tennessee river