Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-07-20
BEAUTIFUL ERIE, PA,
AND SURROUNDINGS
Herman Buchner Concludes Story OF
His Visit There After Absence
of SO Years
Continued from last week.

Four Mile Greek one of Fries plea
sure resorts and there struck the great
Buffalo and Cleveland pike, an ideal
road for an auto and especially when
riding in Packard. Driving east we
had occasional glimpses OF the lake
and passed through miles of grape
plantations the heart of the grape
country. After passing the village Ut
Northeast we crossed the Pennsylvania
boundary and found the roads still
better. At Brocton we retraced our
route to Erie.
Arriving home another surprise a.
waited us. Some one had arranged a
steamboat party. l think it was
Capt. Reilly of the pleasure steamer
Willow.
There were thirteen of us. usually
supposed to be an unlucky number.
But here were IL bright, whole souled
intellectual men and your humble
servant the Joshua of the crowd. felt
it an honor and great pleasure to
be amongst these gentlemen. They
were men who constitute the back
bone of progressive city like Erie.
Their conversation was not trivial but
to the contrary it revolved around the
manner to raise funds to purchase a
farm on which to place juvenile
offenders after first conviction, follow
ing in the wake of Judge Lindsey, of
Denver, Col. who was, l think. the
first who advocated Juvinile courts.
Not ripple marred the CLASSY sur
face of the bay.
We passed out into the lake be-
tween Fort Pressure Isle and that point
of the long arm of land which EN-
braced Erie Bay which is one Ut the
finest land locked harbors | ever be-
held This beautiful sheet of water is
about two miles wide north and south,
four miles long east and west. it has
an almost perfect elliptic shape like
the orbit of the earth. At thTee
mile rate we passed into Lake Erie.
the red eye of the light house winking
to US as a farewell ''have good tima
fellows. = We did. EncircliDg the
buoy in the outer harboT, found that
it had light and it too wlnked at us.
This buoy is charged only twice a
year, ignites itself automatically and
flashes every thirty seconds
enterng the bay a magnificent
spectacle confronted u.s. The melting
ovens Of one of the Iron FoundIies at
the lake shore we're blowing out, it
appeared like the sudden out burst of a
volcano. The reflection on the smooth
surface Of the water was gorgeous, a
grand sight. After turn to the
western end of the bay, rounding one
of the great freight steamers we re-
turned and landed on the pier. | bid
adieu to the genial companions with
the conviction that L had spent one
of the pleasantest evenings in many a
year. [ was sorry that some of my
old chums at home had not been with
me to enjoy this ride, the lunch and
the presence of my companions.
Erie hay and Pressure Isle have a
history which dates back to the early
settlement Of the state. Erie's people
are proud Of the bay. They certainly
have cause to be proud of it; there
is none like it on the chain of the
great lakes. It is located on they
renowned triangle of land which once
was claimed by New York. Massachu-
sets aud Connecticut and was finally
ceded to Pennsylvania by a Patent
signed by George Washington in
1899. 1t was here. that Fort Pressure
was built to protect the advance of the
French into Pennsylvania, Ohio an
Indiana. It was from this bay that
under Admiral Perry the the U. S.
war briggs Lawrence and Niagara.
the schooners Ariel and Scorpion and
the sloops Porcupine and Tigress were
constructed in the year 1919, and
Cl4ICI WdLuO OASo6OA anu NC0HAOJ W
Commodore Barclays British feet on
Lake Erie on Sept. 10, 1918, and from
which was sent forth his famous
dispatch. I'VE have met the enemy
and they are ours 1t is said that
the flag ship Niagara still lies IN
Misery Bay, a body of water that ex-
tends into the peninsula near the
harbcr entrance.
1t is here we're General Mad An
thony) Wayne died and was buried at
TIE foot Of the flag staff of Fort Pres
que where his body remained until
1909 saw large iron cauldron in
the Erie Library building on which
was recorded the legend that when a
son Of the general came to remove
the body of his father it was found to
be in a state Of almost perfect pre-
serVati0n The hOdv was found TO be