Year: 1868

FIRST FLOUR FROM THE WESTERN RE-
SERVE IN New YORK MARKET-The late
w. a. Otis of Cleveland was an earIy
settler in Bloomfield, Trumbull Co. where
"he kept comfortable tavern, and a
store of goods, which he exchanged
with the settlers for their ashes and


wheat.


A writer in the Cleveland Herald
gives the following facts, showing that
the commerce of this vicinity was of
different nature from what it is at pres
ent 'When the Erie Canal was finish-
ed to Buffalo, the wheat of the settlers
on the Reserve, for theft time, became
a cash article. They had an abundance
of grain, which they were glad to dis
pose of at t,oentytiUe cents a bushel,
payable principally in goods. The ca
nal furnished better outlet for potash
than the river. Mr.. Otis determined to
try venture in -four at New York,
which he considered the first lot sent
there from the Reserve, but / cannot
give the year in which it was sent.
There were no -four barrels, and No coop
ers at Bloomfield but a few miles north
towards the lake there was good GUS
tom grist mill. He went into the woods,
cut an oak tree, set his men to saw it
into blocks of the right length, from
which the rough slaves were split. The
wheat which his customers brought in,
was stored at the mill and ground
When the cooper stuff was seasoned, the
barrels were made rough enough but
strong {; his stock of -four and potash was
hauled through the mud 35 miles to the
or was at anchor outside and as soon as
his venture was on board, he took pass
age with it to Buffalo and by canal to
New York. The New York dealers
were surprised and gratifed, for they
perceived at oECe the capacity of a new
country on the shores of Lake Erie, of
which they had hitherto only known
in theory, not in practical results. In
quality the flour was not behind that of
the Gennesee country, which seemed
wonder in their eyes. They purchased
it readily and offered every encourage
ment to the trade and the trader.


Rev Mr. PUNsHoN AT THE CROSBY OPERA
HOUsE.-The Chicago correspondent of the
Cicinnatti Gazette relates the following Itwas
announced, on Friday, that Mr.. Punshun
would Preach in CrOsby's Opera House on
Sabbath afternoon at 3 o'clock, and that tickets
of admission wOuld be issued. These tickets
were distributed from room on the third floor
Ofthe Methodist Church Block, on Friday after
noon at o'clock. Before that hour, the room
was packed, and the stairway crowded to the
pavement with an excited crowd clamOring
for tickets and at last demanding them, until it
was feared that serious trouble might grow
out of this irrepressible desire to hear the Cos
pei 1t looked, indeed, as if the Kingdom of
Heaven, or something else would literally SUI
fer violence, and be taken by force. Chicago
however, could not be kept away from divine
service by the weak invention of tickets. A
genius issued about thousand spurious ones,
fac amiles of the original, which were quickly
taken up on the street at fifty cents piece. l
repaired to the opera house at o'clock with
some little timidity, knowing right well that
an awful crush and possibly mob would re-
suit from the sale of these bogus tickets. The
street in front of the door was densely packed
from side to side. / went in. The surging,
crazy multitude could not be restrained by the
few policemen present, and l found myself
borne along by force as irresistible as the
great horseshoe fall of Niagara. In less than
five minutes after the doors were .Opened the
house was packed like herring box, with an
audience of not less than three thousand peo-
nile