Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-08-23

over 700 acres and maintained b.
the city for the pleasure of 1T
people and the thousands of visitor
who visit Detroit every year, at al
annual expense of 100000. l
contains many charming driveway
and miles of lagoons upon which
are hundreds of canoes and othel
pleasure craft; an immense bathing
pavilion, fountains, statuary, flower
beds, conservatory, and large ac'
quarium which has ponds contain.
ing fish from all parts of the world
there are spacious play grounds
athletic field, golf links, and almost
everything possible for the amuse.
ment and entertainment of the
people. We also visited the great
automobile manufacturing plants, the
largest in the world, the stove
works, the Burroughs Adding Ma
chine factories, the great drug man
ufacturing plants, and numerous
other institutions of a public nature
besides driving along miles of beau
tiful boulevards and parks. For
cleanliness, for modern uildings,
for great manufacturing industries,
for large and varied parks, and in
everything that goes to make up a
most ideal city in which to live and
to do business, we have never seen
the equal of Detroit.
The next afternoon a special
steamer was placed at our disposal
for trip down the river twenty-siX
miles and return, giving us a splen-
did view of the harbor develop
ments, the city, Belle Isle Park, Bob
10 park on the Canadian shore, an
other delightful summer resort, and
many other points of interest We
passed on the way the Spanish flag
ship Of the feet destroyed by Dewey
at Manila, Don Juan de Costa,
which has been repaired and was
anchored in the harbor. Lunch was
served on board ship, an orchestra
furnished music for a dance, and the
afternoon and evening was very
pleasantly spent.
The entertainment of the follow
( ing day consisted Of a trip about
the. city on special street cars. end
/ Ing at the immense plant Of Parhe,
I9ayis & Co., manufacturing cnem-
lists, the largest in the world. Here
an elaborate course luncheon was
served, after which the crowd was
divided into parties and in charge OF
guides we were taken through the
various departments Of this inn
mense plant. after witnessing the
/ private fire department respond to
/ alarm of fire and throw many
streams of water over all parts OF
the plant, showing the precautions
taken to prevent destruction of the
plant by fire. There was time left
after this to see part of ball game
between Detroit and New York be-
fore boarding our train for the can
adian trip.
While Detroit has been pushing
ahead in the commercial world by
leaps and bounds, this noted city Of
beauty has also been growing more
popular with the travelling public as
a city we'll worth seeing. Pleasure
travellers, auto-tourists, bridal coup
les and convention attenders to the
number of half million or more
have Detroit down as the proper
place to stop a few days. enjoy it:
inside beauty and make it the cen
trail point from which to make side
trips.
Each year this class of visitors in
crease as the popularity of Detroi
spreads and few of these half mil
lion strangers that go there eacl
year realize that this is the tentl
city on the continent in size AM
more than two centuries old. Con
sidering that the population increas
ed 63 per cent during the past de
cade, at present being just short o
the half million mark, great man.
people doubt the venerable age o
Detroit.
To go back a little it might b
: mentioned that Antonion de la Mot
te Cadillac was the first white ma
, to break the silence of the forest
hereabouts-that is on the sit
where Detroit now stands. He cam
with a band of fifty traders, fift
soldiers, a priest missionary 10 tn
Indians and a grant from the Kin
of France for fifteen thousand acre
{ of ground. This was the beginnin
of what now is Detroit. 1t was o.
: July "a, 1901, that this little ban
/ landed on the banks of the Detroi
) River and started to clear away tn
forests. They first built stockade
called Fort Pontchartrain, some 10
hnuSac aud stortpd m clear ava