Year: 1860

October 2Sth, 1860.
DEAR Col. AS per agreement, I dro,


you few lines from the Empire State


First, as to the trip: 1t is no longer ,


journey requiring as in times past, days


weeks and perhaps months of preparation


but thanks to direct routes and the power


of steam it has become very simple every.


day matter. Having been some fifteen


years in the west and just wishing to visit


once again the scenes Of our boyhood and


youth, our schoolboy days and college as.


sociations, we took the notion to make the
journey; no, we did not even wait to con.


slider preparations, or scarcely bid friend


or neighbor good bye: we simply did as


is the custom, we took the train at White


water, and in seemingly less time than it
takes to recur to it and recount the Incl
dents, we came, we saw, and we are here.


First, the smooth rolling train Of the Mil.
& Miss. Road with its every wheel and
rail and axle taxed to their utmost with the
fatness and abundance of the late joyous
down on time in Milwaukee. Here we have
an hour or two to get cup of tea and look
about the city, to see the new and pretty
street railroad cars, to transact some little
business matters, and still ample time to
look after our "big box, little box, band
box and bundle," and bestow ouselvcs
snugly aboard the noble steamer Milwau


k"e now lying at the dock with tall columns
of dense smoke rising from her huge fun.
nels, and about to leave. Next, at the
command aud under the care of the ever
watchful, calm and gentlemanly Mcbride,
we are transported, in double sense, by
that safe, beautiful and luxuriantly furnish
ed vessel across lake Michigan, in q few
hours, while ''rocked in the cradle of the
Deep" we enjoy sweet and refreshing
sleep in one Of her stately rooms. Next,
with ample time between to look back upon
the rolling lake and then upon the noble
ship, and reflect how safely we have pass.
cd the imaginary dangers Of the deep blue
waters; but further still to look again
after big box, little box, band box and bum
dle,' and finding them all right, we step
aboard the waiting train and are soon again
fleeing, bounding, flying; on, on, through
Michigan by the Detroit 4 Milwaukee T.


r. towards Detroit. Here we notice new
feature in railway management, or at least
a phraseology of the conductors peculiar to
English roads (This road by the way, is
under the control of the Great Western
road and is conducted on the English sys-
tenn We noticed that before train was
allowed to start it must be known and an
nounced that everything was in order, in
short the word, invariably, instead Of go
ahead as is the Yankee custom, was "all
right" 'go aheadr' We commend this
custom to the American people. At De-


troit we again have an hour or two to look
about; we see the rapid growth of the
beautiful city; the great depots for freights,
the ever moving feet of vessel going out
or coming in, or passing each way on the
river and giving faint idea of the immense
trade of the west, and also full time if need
ed to look after the boxes, &C.. &c. BY
this time the spacious steam ferry boat,
fully laden, floats us across the river when
longer train than any we had yet seen
awaits our coming We scramble aboard
and take our seat for ride through Cana
d. to Suspension Bridge by the Great


Western road. Here we find smoother
roads and faster travelling, and if in the
night rare treat awaits US. This road is
now lately furnished with set of sleeping
cars that rival in beauty, comfort and lux
ury any Of the first class hotels Of the pre-
sent times. These new cars are vastly in
advance of the ones first introduced, with
their clumsy hunks and dirty shelves for
berths, and are not probably surpassed by
any in use in this or any other country
Surely night travelling on railroads with
such accommodations is no longer tire
some journey but holiday enjoyment


We reach the Bridge; yes, the Bridge, as
yet unrivaled in importance in considera-
ton of its height and length; its location
and surroundings. We pass over Niagara
river, the boundary between New York and
Canada, and while suspended in mid air,
the train with slackened pace moving ma
jestically on, we hear the roaring and see
the rising spray of the falls. The falls
whose name and fame are heard throughout
the world. No American citizen who can,
without too much cost or Inconvenience,
should neglect or fail to see, for once at
least, that great work and wonder Of nature


The river boiling, rushing, tumbling and
foming full two hundred feet below US, now
looks in the pale moonlight like bright
ribbon of moving sparkling silver; all else
is hushed except the painting engine; We
soon alight on Yankee soil and after a mo-
ments delay, net to look after boxes &C.,
for by this time we find they arc safely and
carefully attended to by the baggage men
but to step about the spacious depot and
take cup of tea or coffee, an oyster stew
or broiled fowl, or any other of the dozen
like dishes spread out so temptingly as not
to be passed by. Here by the time We are
ready an engine with train attached comes
flaming, crashing and laundering into the
depot and halts to take us on board and
still eastward on the N. York Central road.


We take our seats, are soon arranged and
away we fly. Now We find still smoother
road and still faster travelling.


By the time the morning dawns We are
near Lockport, and looking out we see it
has been raining; the roads are muddy, the
cars are dripping, the barns and fences and
trees, and everything looks as though fair
wea her had long since departed, As the
day comes in and we are hurried on still
further eastward towards Rochester we see
still more plainly the effects of the long
continued wet weather. Here again we are
made sensible of the distance we have come
in so few hours. First VIC find our watch,
that never before failed us, quite at fault !;
being the best part Of an hour too slow
We find rain and mist, and fog. and wet,
and mud, and mold, and moss, and gloom,
almost universal, The fences and roofs
green with living moss, the potatoes rotting
in the fields and in tn" cellars, the corn
molding and settling in the little shocks,
upon the softened, wet and muddy fields !;
all, all, looked sad and gloomy, except the
rich pastures and the Joyous bounding
brooks. When we left Wisconsin the air
was clear, the sky was bright and the
weather beautiful. In two days we find
ourselves in land where rain and fogs,
and mist, and mud reign supreme. On en-
quiring we find this kind Of weather has
been continued for several weeks and has
greatly Kindred the gathering of the fall
crops, such as corn, oats, potatoes and ap-