Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1915-07-14
: Letter From John Ely.
Union Township,
Genevieve Co., Mo.
July 7th, 1915.


EDITOR NEWS
Here we are at last in little old
Missouri, after trip of seven days
and hall, through the states of Wis
consin, Illinois and seventy-fve miles
south of ST. Louis. We had a glori-
Gus trip all the way down. Our Ford
car chugged cheerfully on day after
day with but very few delays, of no
particular account. Had one pune
ture of an old inner tube that had
been patched up and was not expected
to last long. We staid one week in
Sheboygan County, Wis, my old
boyhood home, and while there did
considerable running around with our
car. We found the roads ideal after
leaving Amigo and the farther south
we got the more they seemed to i'm
prove. Central and Southern Wis
consin has some of the most beauti-
full farms; large, commodius, modern
style farm houses, roomy barns, and
the silo which is in evidence every
where. Large fields of ripening rye,
clover, corn, sugar beets, potatoes
and the finest f1ocks of Holstein COWS
imaginable, and with cheese factory
at every cross road.
All the way through Wisconsin,
John, our chauffeur, was wild with
delight. In fact we were all delight
ed and some one, when not all of our
party, was either whistling or sing
ing all the way down. The weather
was glorious. We put up for the
night at some town and were treated
with the greatest of kindness every
where
We reached the great busy burg of
Chicago at nine O'Clock in the evening
and entered the city by way of Sheri-
dan road We headed for Michigan
avenue where thousands of automo-
biles were running in every direction
crossing and recrossing each other in
a most bewildering manner. But
John gritted his teeth, looked straight
ahead and carried us through nobly.
We finally reached our destination
8444 South Carpenter street at eleven
thirty. We staid three days and had
most interesting time visiting the
Art Institute. the White City, the
Board of Trade and many other
places of interest. The children we're
delighted with everything they saw
and one and all fell in love with our
great lake city. Our trip thru the
great corn state of Illinois was one
continual round of surprise and
pleasure. We had perfect roads all
through the state and our ''little old
tin Lizzie, Gas they sluringly but un-
Justly call Ford cary seemed to par
take of our hilarities and carried us
through without a hitch at the rate
of one hundred and seventy miles per
day. We found acres and acres of
corn all the way from three to eight
feet high. The large fields of winter
wheat and rye are all cut showing an
abundant harvest. The people we
met all through the state treated us
with the greatest of kindness and
were amazed en- learning we came
through all the way from North
ern Wisconsin.
We staid several hours in Spring
field and visited the home OF Abraham
Lincoln. We registered and were
shown through the entire house by
the custodian, nephew of Abraham
Lincoln's. Among the host of inter-
esting objects we were shown letter
written by George Washington. John
and | sat on the identical sofa on
which Mr.. and Mrs. Lincoln used to
sit before they were married. | also
sat in the Daniel Webster chair
We had dinner at st. Louis on the
Fourth of July, after crossing the
river. On reaching Bonnie
Terre, about seyenty-five miles south
of ST. Louis, our good roads came to
an end and we got on the very worst
roads we ever struck. Owing to the
recent rains the very bad roads were
made much worse by being washed
out. Sharp flint rocks are all over
the roads and our tires suffered
severely. Most small creeks, rivulets
and rills are not bridged at all, but
gargle and ripple laughingly across
The roads. We ran through them
with our little old Ford. although
In some instances the water is alarm
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