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ATLANTIC AND AMERICAN 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 By GEORGE P. NEELE. 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 Jiead at Euston Station, London, on Monday, March 13, 1882, 
 
 EMBODYING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT VISIT OF THE 
 
 DIRECTOBS OF THE LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN 
 
 RAILWAY TO CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES; 
 
 WITH A MAP SHEWING THE ROUTE ADOPTED, AND AN 
 
 CONTAININO MEUOBJ-NDA BELATIVE TO TKANSATLANTIC RAILWAYS. 
 
 "Some said, John, print it."— Buntan, Pilgrim's ^.igress. 
 
 3fonboit; 
 M'COEQUODALE & CO., LIMITED, CARDINGTON STREET, N.W. 
 
 1882. 
 
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 ■'OOMOODAU AHD CO., UMITni, 
 
 OAMBIMOTON ITKIIT, 
 
 LONDON, N.W. 
 
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 ATLANTIC AND AMERICAN NOTES. 
 
 .•p(i 
 
 IT affords me much pleasure, in response to a saggodtioh made by 
 ficiiic of my folIow-olBcers, to give a short sketch of the journey 
 made by the representatives of the London and North Western Railway 
 Company in America during the spring and early summer of last year. 
 
 Our party consisted of His Grace the Puke of Sutherland; his 
 friends, Sir TIenry and Lady Green ; Mr. Russell, widely known as " The 
 Times" correspondent in the days of the Crimean War; Mr. Henry 
 Wright; our Directors, the Marquis of Stafford, M.P. ; Mr. Bicker- 
 SLOth ; Mr. Knowles, M.P. ; Mr. Stephen ; Mr. George Crobfield ; and 
 last, but not least, one who was intimately connected with the whole 
 scheme of the journey, with whom I had many lengthy consultations and 
 communications in perfecting its programme, and whose lamented death 
 has now thrown a dark shadow across our reminiscences, otherwise 
 unclouded — I allude to Mr. Henry Crosfield, our well-known auditor. 
 
 We left London on Good Friday, April 15th, and stayed for the 
 night in Liverpool. 
 
 On starting from Liverpool we experienced the nsual scene of confu- 
 sion at the Landing Stage, enhanced by the fact that there were three 
 steamers, besides onr own, all starting with the same tide ; by one of 
 which a large number of Norwegian emigrants took their departure, 
 and the quay was consequently congested with an nnusnal quantity of 
 passengers and baggage ; after a while we managed to shake ourselves 
 free and find our way to the tender appointed to convey us to the 
 " Gallia," one of the noble steamers of the Cunard Fleet, by which we 
 were to make our outward journey. 
 
 Our friends said "farewell," the tender left our ship's side, and 
 steadily we steamed out of the Mersey. After soi \e time spent in 
 roaming up and down the vessel, in which everything was strange to us, 
 we settled down and obtained possession of the separate cabins, caOed 
 *^ State Rooms," set aside for onr use. Before long the weather 
 
\ 
 
 i 
 
 ,*« 
 
 thickened, and the fog-whistle on the steamer, startling the passengers 
 with its jarring sound, was set agoing at frequent intervals, till we 
 were well beyond Holyhead. 
 
 At the first meal in the saloon each passenger finds allotted to him 
 the particular seat he is to use throughout the remainder of the journey. 
 Accordingly we found the whole of our party appointed to one of the 
 tables which accommodated twelve, being two more than our number, 
 and these seats were occupied, the one by an unsociable Colonel 
 belonging to the United States Army (we met with no end of Colonels), 
 the other by a regular voyager who had crossed the Atlantic several 
 times, knew all about the ship, and proved great alike at playing 
 " poker " and compounding wonderful salads. 
 
 We reached Queeiistown early on the morning of Sunday, the 
 steamer anchored in the harbour, and several of our party went ashore. 
 The Roman Catholic Cathedral forms a striking feature in the panorama 
 of the place, we walked up to it, paid our peuny to go in, and being 
 Easter Sunday found the interior crowded with worshippers. 
 
 Some of us attended the service at the English Church, and then 
 went down to the railway station, waiting the arrival of the train by 
 which letters and passengers leaving London on Saturday night by our 
 Irish Mail were able to join the " Gallia " at Queenstown. In a few 
 minutes these were all on board and we steamed away for the West with 
 the prospect of 2,000 miles of sea-sickness before us. 
 
 We had been warned by experienced voyagers that the time we 
 should be most likely to experience the disquieting sensations connected 
 with the sea voyage would be during the first two or three hundred 
 miles after leaving Queenstown, and we prepared ourselves for the worst. 
 
 All went well and steadily, however, and we gradually sighted and 
 lost sight of point after point on the Iribh Coast, until, as we came to 
 the last lighthouse, called the " Fastnet," the outline oi the land was 
 barely distinguishable, and night closed in upon us ; wL in we rose on 
 the following morning, we were glad to find that the 200 miles 
 had been passed without any unpleasant consequences arising to any of 
 oar party. 
 
 Time will not admit of my giving any lengthened description of life 
 on sea-board; all is strange at first; it is difiBcult to pack yourself into 
 ypnr berth, it is more difficult to get out, bnt practice made us perfect 
 in, this respect, find we became quite nautical before the voyage was 
 over ; Captain Hains, with nis chief engineer, and indeed all the officers 
 doing their, utmost tO; render our voyage pleasant. 
 
 
Daily, at abont five minutes before noon, the captain of the vessel and 
 his chief oflicers on daty are engaged making their observations of the 
 sun, and so soon as the meridian is reached — 12 o'clock is announced — 
 clocks are set, and the calculation of the ship's progress made. Owing 
 to the westward movement of the vessel sailing towards America, it is 
 necessary to alter the chronometers daily, aud this is done by extending 
 the ordinary period of 60 minutes between 11 and 12 noon to 90 
 minutes, an hour and a half thus elapsing between the two ; the day 
 consisting of twenty-four hours and a half — thus, gradually, on the 
 voyage, absorbing the difference of time that exists between London and 
 New York of about five hours ; for when it is noon in New York, it is 
 6 p.m. with us in London. 
 
 Another mild piece of excitement breaking the monotony of the 
 voyage takes place shortly after 12 o'clock each day, when the chart is 
 posted up at the cabin door indicating the number of miles run, and 
 showing the track of the vessel. 
 
 The lowest number of miles mado by the "Gallia" in the day was 
 329 miles ; the highest was 390 miles, this figure being the maximum 
 she had ever attained. 
 
 There are on board all the American Liners — a set of passengers 
 who make this question of daily mileage a source of gambling. In the 
 smoking cabin a regular daily lottery is held ; tickets are drawn 
 representing about the mileage expected to be made, and the holder 
 of the ticket nearest to the figure actually declared is the winner of 
 the pool. Large sums of money change hands by this means — the pool 
 on one of the days amounting to £33. 
 
 The " menu " issued for meals was extremely liberal, and the atten- 
 dants, who only answered to the name of " steward," and paid uo 
 attention »vhatever if you happened unfortunately to call them "waiters," 
 carried out their duties with marked precision, the covers being raised 
 from the dishes at the sound of a hand-gong, and the replacing and 
 removing of plates and dishes being carried on with almost mechanical 
 regularity. 
 
 In the intervals between meals the passengers amused themselves 
 either by a little music in the saloon (which was furnished with one of 
 Broadwood's pianos) ; played on the deck with quoits made of coils of 
 rope, or at bagatelle, with flat discs ; varied occasionally by a tug-of- 
 war. The habitues made up card parties, and played a game known as 
 " poker" for hoars together. 
 
 Atlantic Yoyagers always provide themselves with folding chairs for 
 
\ 
 
 use on the steamer's deck, generally bearing their name or initials on the 
 back; the chairs are cleared away at night, but "early birds" each 
 morning were to be found securing for themselves and pai-ty tb? sheltered 
 and favourite spots for the day's occupancy ; the freedom of promenade 
 along the deck was much interfered with by some of these " squatters " 
 locating themselves beyond the Une in total disregard of other people's 
 convenience. 
 
 There is a great deal of sociability on board among the passengers, 
 and American people are not slow iu making acquaintance. Those of 
 you who knew Mr. Henry Crosfield will be aware what a chatty and 
 genial man he was, he won golden opinions on the voyage, and was the 
 most popular man on the ship : at first the " audiphone " that he used 
 on account of his deafness was a puzzle to many ; still more, when it 
 was found that there was another gentleman ou boai'd who also used 
 the " audiphone," One lady asked me why those two gentlemen were 
 always biting at their black Japanese fans. The second deaf gentleman 
 proved to be a Mr. Rhodes, of Chicago, the actual inventor of the 
 " audiphone." 
 
 I must not omit to mention that on the voyage a poor woman — an 
 Irish emigrant — contrived to contribute an additional passenger to the 
 number registered on leaving Queenstown ; Mr. Crosfield's fatherly 
 kindness was at once elicited, and he managed to collect a very hand- 
 some sum for the benefit of the woman and her baby. On the Sunday 
 afternoon prior to our reaching New York, this baby (which had caused 
 so much talk and sympathy among the lady passengers) made, by Mr. 
 Crosfield's arrangement, a triumphal procession through the saloon, and 
 was received with loud applause. 
 
 We met very few vessels on our way to America, and the approach 
 of one on the horizon was the signal for immediate excitement on deck. 
 
 Our passage out was remarkably smooth and pleasant. Only on one 
 night was a storm experienced ; and on this occasion the remarkable 
 display known as St. Elmo's Fire, consisting of small phosphorescent or 
 electric jets of light glittering from the yard-arms, was to be seen; 
 unfortunately it occurred during the storm, and at such a late hour, 
 that but few passengers were on deck 
 
 The warm influence of the Gulf Stream was very perceptible as we 
 passed across the portion of the Atlantic subject to its action, and the 
 captain stated that he was able to ascertain almost to a nicety the 
 position of the vessel by the temperature of the water taken at certain 
 points. 
 
 \ 
 

 (iais on the 
 ii'ds" each 
 !9 sheltered 
 promenade 
 squatterg " 
 er people's 
 
 )assengers, 
 Those of 
 chatty and 
 id was the 
 lat he used 
 re, when it 
 ) also ased 
 emen were 
 gentleman 
 itor of the 
 
 roman — an 
 iger to the 
 's fatherly 
 pery ' hand- 
 ;he Sunday 
 !iad caused 
 ie, by Mr. 
 ialoon, and 
 
 ! approach 
 on deck, 
 nly on one 
 emarkable 
 ►resccnt or 
 be seen; 
 late hour, 
 
 ibie as we 
 1, and the 
 oicety the 
 at certain 
 
 After passing through the Galf Stream, we came upon the foggy 
 portion of the ocean, lying off the coast of Newfonndhnd, where the 
 discordant fog-horn was again constantly soonding, focusing unpleasant 
 sensations to all the passengers. 
 
 Approaching t'ae American shore, another opportunicy was given for 
 our gambling friends to try their luck. Lots were drawn, representing 
 the registered nnmbers of the New York pilot boats, and the holder ot 
 the number corresponding to that of the pilot who was successful in 
 boarding us and taking the vessel into New York, was of course the 
 vrinner. When the pilot boat was seen approaching, the excitement was 
 great to ascertain his number ; and when he came on board he brought 
 with him a sr.pply of American papers, and the intelligence of the death 
 of Lord B jaconsfield. ' ''•* 
 
 At length the dim outline of the American shore became visible, and 
 under sunny skies, and with a beautifully smooth sea, we gained our first 
 sight of the " New World." The shipping became more frequent, and 
 vessels somewhat different in rig from those to which our eyes are 
 aecnstomed to on the English coasts were met with right and left. 
 
 The usual signalling by flags from our vessel to one of the light- 
 houses was exchanged ; and we had the satisfaction of knowing that the 
 London evening papers of Monday, April 25th, would contain the 
 annooncement of our arrival. 
 
 A little delay, waiting for the tide to serve, took place off the " Bar " 
 near Sandy Hook, the name given to the entrance to the harbour of 
 New York. '-'' 
 
 We were brought to anchor opposite the Quarantine Office, and had 
 to wait there to allow the Quarantine representatives to ascertain that 
 there was a clean bill of health not only amongst the cabin passengers, 
 but also amongst the emigrants, a few of whom came across in the 
 "Gallia." 
 
 When this formality had been gone through, some gentlemen con- 
 nected with the Customs came on board. By the courtesy of the United 
 States Government our party were allowed to pass the whole of their 
 luggage in bulk, and we therefore escaped any trouble in connection with 
 the searching of portmanteaux, &c. This courtesy was shown to us 
 through the good ofiBces of the Hon. Mr. Pierpoint, who had been per- 
 sonally acquainted with the Duke of Sutherland when in England. 
 
 Whilst the passengers were filling up the forms in connection with 
 the Cub jib* Declarations, our vessel had been slowly moving forward 
 round the point of the harbour, passing through the fortifications, and 
 
8 
 
 \ 
 
 bringing into view first the villa residences on the shores and slopes of 
 the river banks, and then the spires, towers, and large buildings of 
 Jersey City, Brooklyn, and New York — gradually the "Gallia" (towed 
 by a couple of small steamers) makes her way through the unfolding 
 panorama towards the appointed lauding place. 
 
 Now there are busy wharves on each side of us — Atlantic steamers 
 in position, loading and unloading ; sailing ships of all nationalities ; 
 large ferry steamers (conveying not only passengers but omnibuses, 
 carriages, and carts), six or eight together were crossing and re-crossing 
 the Hudson, whose narrow waters divide New York from Jersey City on 
 the one side, and from Brooklyn on the other ; steam tugs, taking over 
 railway waggons from New York to the various railway depots on either 
 side of the opposite coast ; and high above all navigation, through the 
 opening vista of the East River, hangs the apparently light fabric of the 
 huge suspension bridge that is to connect New York with its populous 
 neighbour Brooklyn. The scene presented was one of extreme activity, 
 and the extent to which business was being carried on at all points 
 struck us with surprise. 
 
 The wharves are so constructed that vessels are drawn in at right 
 angles to the stream, and do not lay broadside as is the case in the 
 Thames. Each of the large American shipping companies has a separate 
 wharf allotted, to which there are offices attached for customs purposes, 
 and the whole of the baggage is taken from the vessels to these offices, 
 the passengers not being allowed to remove any packages until they 
 obtain the authority of the officials. 
 
 No sooner had our vessel been made fast to the Cunard wharf than 
 half-a-dozen newspaper reporters ran forward, all anxious to be intro- 
 duced to the Duke of Sutherland. His Grace managed to avoid them 
 cleverly at the landing stage, but there were several interviewers in 
 waitmg at the Brevoort House, the hotel at which we stayed, and we 
 were plainly told by the landlord that some information would have to be 
 given to them, as they would not leave the hotel until they had spoken to 
 some members of the party. Mr. Russell kindly acknowledged the bond 
 of union existing between himself and these reporters of the press, but 
 very adroitly shook them off by saying that he had not come as part of 
 the railway contingent, and referring them to me. 
 
 They expected that I should give them a complete explanation as to our 
 object in coming, what we were going to do, where we were going to, and 
 full particulars of every one connected with the parLy. I fear that the infor- 
 mation they obtained hardly came up to their inquisitive requirements. 
 
\d slopes of 
 
 uildings of 
 
 ia" (towed 
 
 e unfolding 
 
 c steamers 
 
 iitionalities ; 
 
 omnibuses, 
 
 re-crossing 
 
 ■soy City on 
 
 taking over 
 
 >t3 on either 
 
 hrough the 
 
 abric of the 
 
 ts populous 
 
 me activity, 
 
 t all points 
 
 in at right 
 case in the 
 s a separate 
 IS purposes, 
 ihese offices, 
 until they 
 
 wharf than 
 •0 be intro- 
 avoid them 
 I'viewers in 
 ed, and we 
 have to be 
 1 spoken to 
 d the bond 
 I press, but 
 as part of 
 
 n aa to our 
 ingi:o,and 
 t the infor- 
 ements. 
 
 9 
 
 On leaving the busy wharves of New York, which fringe the whole 
 river frontage, the first impression an Englishman experiences is that the 
 streets are kept in a most wretched condition; riding in vehicles is 
 rendered most unpleasant owing to the ruts and mounds allowed to exist 
 in the very best streets and avenues. Nothing can be worse than the 
 state in which the roads in that city are allowed to exist. 
 
 The next thing that occurred to us was a sight of the "elevated 
 railway," under which we passed very shortly after leaving the steam- 
 boat wharf. A train of carriages was running right over our heads, 
 upon an apparently slight framework supported by pillars. We passed 
 under two portions of this line of railway, and on a subsequent day had 
 an opportunity of inspecting it throughout its entire length. The trains 
 run at an elevation equal to the first floor windows of the houses, and 
 sitting in the cars the passengers see plainly into all the rooms they pass. 
 The up linen's carried over the pavement on one side of the road, and the 
 down line on the other side. Four separate railway routes traverse the 
 entire length of New York — two of them being over the footpaths and 
 two over the roadways. As an illustration of the extent of traffic, I may 
 add that the numbe" of trains daily running on this system in New York 
 is 3,500, and the number of people conveyed 240,000. {See jipj)endtx, 
 page 49.) 
 
 The population of New York is about 1,500,000, and the streets are 
 laid out in square blocks, crossing at right angles, on the principle which 
 obtains throughout the whole of the modern cities in the United States. 
 The ground plan presented by a series of chess boards, extended one after 
 '^be other, will give the best rough idea I can suggest for the ground 
 plan of New York. The broad roadways running north and south, 
 twelve in number, are called "Avenues," and those that intersect them at 
 right angles are called " streets," and are numbered from 1 upwards to 
 226. The railway stations are known as 27th Street Station, 42nd 
 Street Station, and so on. The Avenue which contains the finest houses 
 is known as the 5th Avenue ; in it will be found the most noted churches, 
 some of the finest hotels, the residences of the Vanderbilts, and the 
 marble mansion of the Stewarts ; it terminates in the Central Park. 
 
 This Central Park (the " Rotten Row " of New York) is remarkably 
 well laid out, the drives well kept, and skilfully conducted round the 
 masses of protruding rocks in situ. Numerous public museums are 
 erected on its borders, and the sister obelisk to our Cleopatra's Needle is 
 placed on an eminence within it. The equipages driving round the Park 
 are of a very showy character. It appeared to be the proper thing for 
 
10 
 
 ladies dririu<j^ there to embosuin themselres with roses, and though the 
 season was early the display of these flowers by the fashion in the city 
 was very extensive. 
 
 Trotting horses in the light vehicles called "buggies" were very 
 nnmeroas, and as there is no protection to the driver from the stones and 
 dirt thrown up by the heels of the horse it did not appear to be a very 
 pleasant mode of taking driving exercise. A story is current of the 
 wealthy Mr. Vanderbilt, who invariably purchases the fastest trotting 
 horses he can obtain, having taken out a friend for a drive of this 
 description, as the animal was tearing along, throwing up stones and 
 mud, Mr. Yanderbilt enthusiastically said to his friend — *'Is she not 
 going beautifully?" The only reply was that his friend had not been 
 able to see anything since he entered the Park, owing to the dirt that was 
 spattering in his face. 
 
 The horses have all long switch tails, said to have the advantage of 
 keeping off the flies. The animals are trained to stand very quietly in the 
 streets, tethered by long leathern straps with a weight at the end, to 
 short standard rails, provided apparently for the purpose, near the doors 
 of the houses : this is called '^ hitching " the horses. There are notices 
 in the parks prohibiting " hitching " horses to the trees. 
 
 The wheels both of carts and carriages are very narrow, and it was 
 a puzzle how such slender frames could stand the bumping and shaking 
 over the badly kept roads they had to traverse. The poles were remark- 
 ably low — below the Ime of the horse's body. The carts are all built 
 sloping downwards towards the rear, and this is said to be for con- 
 venience in loading and unloading contents, which are kept in position 
 by upright movable poles inserted at the ^ad. 
 
 There is one street in New York which corresponds neither with the 
 avenues nor the cross streets, as it intersects them in the manner of a 
 diagonal : it is the celebrated Broadway, the great shopping thorough- 
 fare of the place. The portion nearest to the steamboat quays and 
 wharves is occupied mainly by the offices of the numerous railway and 
 steamboat companies. Passing along its busy thoroughfare, through 
 which from morni-,g till evening " iae full tide of human life is flowing," 
 the visitor will note some splendid buildings of the Insurance Companies, 
 the Post Oflice, the establishments of the various Telegraph Companies, 
 the Newspaper offices, two or three of the Theatres, the American Bank 
 Note Company's head-quarters, large blocks of buildings used as general 
 shops, called "stores," putting such establishments as Whiteley's and 
 Shoolbred's completely in the shade. Hotels of gigantic proportions and 
 
though the 
 in the city 
 
 were very 
 stones and 
 ;o be a very 
 ■rent of the 
 st trotting 
 rive of this 
 stones and 
 Is she not 
 d not been 
 irt that was 
 
 Ivantage of 
 lietly in the 
 the end, to 
 .r the doom 
 are notices 
 
 and it was 
 nd shaking 
 3re remark- 
 re all built 
 B for con- 
 in position 
 
 r with the 
 nner of a 
 thorough- 
 [Qays and 
 ilwuy and 
 I through 
 flowing," 
 'mpanies, 
 )nipanie8, 
 3an Bank 
 8 general 
 ley's and 
 tions and 
 
 11 
 
 blazing restaurants are not wanting to complete the catalogue. In 
 common with many of the other chief streets, its fine vista is sadly 
 disfigured by the introduction of a perfect forest of telegraph poles along 
 the footpaths, with cross pieces and wires running at all angles against 
 the line of buildings. 
 
 The tramways are essentially American, and few only of the best 
 roadways were free from them. There was a class of vehicle much in 
 use in the streets, of a very heavy and unwieldy description — the two- 
 horse omnibus, or " stage," as it is called. There are no conductors to 
 these omnibuses, and the door is held in by a strap worked by the driver, 
 who has a glass at the back of his seat, which enables him on turning 
 round to take a view of the interior of the vehicle, in order to see what 
 passengers he has. Inside the vehicle, but close to the driver, is a 
 receptacle in which each of the passengers is expected to place the exact 
 amount of the fare, generally five cents. If they are unable to place this 
 particular coin in the receptacle, they must hand their money to the 
 driver, through the trap, and among the change given he always includes 
 the required coin, which they then place in the receptacle. In wet 
 weather, there being no conductors, these vehicles are crowded with 
 people, who enter and stand down the middle, regardless of the number 
 of passengers abeady in the omnibus. 
 
 We found the electric light making its way ; it. had been adopted in 
 some few of the shops in New York, but much more generally in connec- 
 tion with the restaurants and hoi^^s. 
 
 Of course it was the proper thing for us to go to Delmonico's, the 
 most fashionable restaurant in the States ; a splendid entertainment, with 
 the most recherche menu, was given there ; the central plateau at the 
 table was one enormous mass of roses. 
 
 The hotels are all large and handsome piles of buildings ; the ground- 
 floor is used as one large entrance-hall, having around it not only the 
 manager's office, but stalls for the sale of papers and periodicals, a 
 bureau for the sale of railway tickets, another for cigars and tobacco, 
 then a baggage office, barber's shop, reading lounge, offices for the 
 telegraph and for the telephone ; also elevators or hoists for conveying 
 the guests to the upper floors ; the hoists fitted with electric calls from 
 each floor, and an indicator showing externally on each landing where 
 the hoist is, and whether it is approaching or receding. 
 
 One of the points to which our attention was called in New York was 
 the excellent arrangements made for the suppression of fire. The entire 
 city is divided into certain sraall districts, each of which has its central 
 
12 
 
 fire depot ; and the whole place may be said to bo iu electric communi- 
 cation with these fire depots, fire-alarms being provided at the intersections 
 of the various streets. The sounding of this fire-alarm at any particular 
 point ritags the electric bell in three of the adjacent fire depots, at which 
 there are men and horses in readiness, both by day and night, to attend 
 to the first alarm. The ringing of the bell disconnects the halter by 
 which the horses stand secured ; trained to the work, they at once 
 spring forward and take their position in front of the fire-engine, and 
 the moment they are there, the harness, which hangs suspended overhead, 
 falls on to their backs, and in less than thirty seconds they are ready to 
 move forward with the fire-engine. 
 
 The twelve men allotted to work with them at night are sleeping in 
 a room up stuirs. Six men trained to sleep on their right side, and six 
 on their left, their fire boots in readiness close by ; at the sound of 
 the electric bell they start up, immediately pull on their fire boots, 
 which have leather trousers attached to them, and rushing down 
 stairs, they take their stand by the fire-engine, on which their coats 
 are placed in readiness ; the doors are thrown open, and literally in 
 a minute the whole gang are ready to move forward and make for 
 the position indicated on the electric dial as the spot from which the 
 alarm of fire has been given. This was done two or three times in the 
 fire office under our inspection, and or another occasion an experiment 
 was made b/ the Duke of Sutherland striking the fire-alarm at a corner 
 of a street selected by himself, and we waited there for the coming of the 
 fire-engines and the men. The arrangements were carried out completely, 
 and from three directions there came fire-engines conveying the men, with 
 hose and ladders, men for the salvage department, and police department, 
 there being in less than five minutes a display of strength ready to prevent 
 the spread of fire, which could not have obtained a very great hold in the 
 short interval allowed it. 
 
 There is but one large railway terminus in New York, that of Van- 
 derbilt's line— the New Tork Central. The others are in Jersey City, 
 and passengers are ferried across the river by large steamers belonging 
 to the various railway companies from their New York wharves to the 
 depots on the opposite side of the river; goods trucks are brought 
 across in like manner and unloaded in New York. 
 
 The whole arrangements in connection with the working of the 
 goods tra£5c at the station wharf, or depot, of the Pennsylvania 
 Railway were shown us, together with an experimental alarm of fire to 
 display the good organisation of the place, prior to our making a tour of 
 
conimani- 
 itersoctions 
 
 particular 
 s, at which 
 
 to attend 
 3 halter by 
 By at once 
 engine, and 
 d overhead, 
 re ready to 
 
 sleeping in 
 tie, and six 
 3 sound of 
 fire boots, 
 ling down 
 their coats 
 literally in 
 make for 
 which the 
 imes in the 
 experiment 
 at a corner 
 ning of the 
 completely, 
 ! men, with 
 department, 
 to prevent 
 hold in the 
 
 It of Van- 
 srsey City, 
 belonging 
 ves to the 
 3 brought 
 
 g of the 
 insylvania 
 of fire to 
 a tour of 
 
 13 
 
 New York harbour, which we did, with a great display of banting, in 
 the Railway Company's ntermer " Juniata"; and then, after inspecting 
 the lofty grain elevator of that Company, the abbatoirs and timber yards 
 on the Jersey City side of the river, we made the first of our long rail- 
 way journeys in the States from Jersey City to Philadelphia. 
 
 We were much struck by the unprotected way in which railways were 
 allowed to pass through the main streets of the towns and villages; 
 not only do the trains travel with road vehicles unfenced right and left 
 of them, but tramway lines intersect the railways, and the public high- 
 ways cross the metals on the level with very indifferent protection. 
 The notice to be met with at the crossings, for there are but few gates, 
 is : " Railway Crossing. Look out for the Locomotive," and people 
 have to look sharp accordingly ! For their protection, however, there 
 is a requirement that warning must be given on approaching each of 
 these crossings, by the fireman ringing a large bell, which is provided on 
 each of the engines. 
 
 I have, however, elsewhere read a paper on the details of railway 
 working in the States [sec Appendix}, and I must not now enlarge on 
 the subject. 
 
 The country between New York and Philadelphia is uninteresting. 
 The frequent advertisements all along the line between those places are 
 probably the most striking feature of the journey ; every fence, every 
 house, every rock that can be utilised, having painted upon them in 
 immense letters, requests to smoke somebody's tobacco or cigars ; to use 
 certain Bilious and Liver Pills, St. Jacob's Oil, Steel Mixture, Hop 
 Bitters, Schenke's Sarsaparilla, or some equally valuable nostrum. 
 Again, on a stretched canvas would be depicted a huge figure of a man 
 holding up a warning finger to a weakly, slim-looking traveller, and 
 saying, " I tell you the best hotel is so and so, and don't you forget it ! " 
 
 We spent a couple of days in Philadelphia; it is a very large, 
 but somewhat monotonous city, with a population of 820,000. 
 Almost all the houses have white marble jambs to the doors and 
 windows ; and although the roads in the city are nearly as bad as 
 those in New York, yet outside the town leading to Fairmonnt Park, in 
 which the recent Centennial Exposition was held, they are verv well kept, 
 and we had a most interesting drive to view the extensive buildings still 
 remaining. The chief of them are to be used as a permanent exhibition 
 of art and industry, gallery of sculpture and painting, and an horti- 
 cultural tropical conservatory ; but the minor houses and buildings pat 
 up in the Centenary year (1876), as models of various national styles of 
 
14 
 
 residences, are being allowed to fall into decay, and show signs of dilapi- 
 dation contrasting very anfaroarably with their pretentious appearance. 
 
 The main streets are all laid ont on the square block principle, bat 
 are not called *' avennes " ; they are named after trees, snch as '' Ghestnnt 
 Street," *' Wahiut Street," &c., the cross-roads being numbered from 
 one upwards ; and the numbering of the houses in the streets are good 
 indications of the position they occupy, thus, No. 1301 in Chestnut 
 Street would be No. 1 next to 13th Street ; No. 1401 would be next to 
 14th Street, and so on. The numbers may appear large, but they are 
 easily identified, so soon as this system is known. 
 
 At Philadelphia we were received by .the Mayor, and shown over 
 Independence Hall, a noted building in the time of the American struggle 
 during the reign of George the Third- It was somewhat curious to 
 observe in one of the rooms the portraits of the Stuart and Hanoverian 
 Kings of England, the other being devoted to Washington, Jefferson, 
 Lafayette, Penn, &c. 
 
 Two remarkably fine buildings are being erected in Philadelphia, one 
 being the Post Office, and tho other the New Law Courts. We were 
 shown over these buildings, ?o far as they were complete, and found an 
 illustration of the American love of display in the dome-like structure 
 which is to surmount the law courts. There was a drawing in the 
 building, showing that the ultimate design was to make it one of the 
 most lofty buildings in the world. Determined to outdo even the lofty 
 spire of Cologne Cathedral, the dome is to be surmounted by a colossal 
 figure of William Penn, in order to make the highest point twelve feet 
 higher than the spire of Cologne. The result will be that the Law 
 Courts will be completely dwarfed by the huge disproportionate adjunct, 
 and its lofty and cumbersome dome-like tower. 
 
 We visited the Academy of Fine Arts, glanced at the paintings, 
 admired its statuary, and were permitted to pass through the schools for 
 drawing and painting, and for modelling from the human figure. In the 
 business portions of the city mules were largely employed in the teams, 
 railway waggons being drawn through the streets by five or six mules in 
 a string. A new railway terminus, with lines on the elevated principle, 
 was in course of construction, with a large goods shed adjacent, admit- 
 tedly modelled on our Enp^lish system. 
 
 The Continental Hotel at which we stayed in Philadelphia may 
 literally be called a marble hotel, the whole of the walls being of that 
 materiaU The floor of the dining hall is laid with chequered slabs of 
 blaek and white marble. The brilliant white of the electric light in the 
 
B Of dilapi- 
 ipearance. 
 inciple, but 
 " Chestnat 
 )ered from 
 :s are good 
 
 Chestnut 
 be uezt to 
 
 they are 
 
 down over 
 n struggle 
 carious to 
 Tanoverian 
 , Jefferson, 
 
 elphia, one 
 We were 
 found an 
 structure 
 'ing in the 
 one of the 
 n the lofty 
 ' a colossal 
 ;welve feet 
 i the Law 
 te adjunct, 
 
 paintings, 
 ichools for 
 e. In the 
 the teams, 
 t mules in 
 principle, 
 3t, admit- 
 
 phia may 
 ? of that 
 i slabs of 
 fbt in the 
 
 16 
 
 ball had a singular effect on the blackness of tho faces of the grinning 
 waiters, the whole of whom were negroes. 
 
 Leaving Philadelphia, and trayelling towards Baltimore, onr train 
 was stopped to enable us to view the stone marking ** Mason and 
 Dixon's " boundary line, separating the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland 
 and Delaware. It iras formerly considered the dividing line between 
 the Free and the Slave States, and, under the old regfme, so soon as a > 
 fugitive slave reached this boundary he breathed more freely, and hailed ' 
 with delight his arrival in " Dixie's Land." 
 
 Here we were on the borders of the Perch Country, a district 
 producing peaches to a fabulous extent. The peach trees were, however, 
 barely in bloom. 
 
 After crossing the Susquehanna by a bridge more than half-a-mile 
 long, we reached Baltimore, where we were met by a deputation from 
 the town and a railway contingent. A steamboat trip round the harbour 
 enabled us to visit the terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, 
 where a large number of emigrants from Norway, who had just landed, 
 were being despatched by train to the districts beyond Chicago, and 
 where we had explained to us the mode of sampling tobacco for customs 
 purposes — tobacco being forwarded in large quantities from Baltimore. 
 A drive through the town and round the park afforded us a general 
 glance at its traffic and position. A gentleman resident in Baltimore 
 described it af a little paradise, enjoying ten months of summer in the 
 year, and self-supplied with fruit, fish, and vegetables at very cheap 
 rates. The population of the place exceeds 340,000; the ladies well 
 deserve their title of the " beauties of Baltimore ! " 
 
 From Baltimore we made our journey to Washington. Our train 
 travelled at reduced speed right through some of the main streets 
 of Washington, with vehicles and foot passtogers unprotected on both 
 sides in the way previouply described. We hardly expected to find such 
 an arrangement in force in the capital of the United States. 
 
 The streets of Washington are remarkably fine and broad, giving 
 width for two tracks of tramway in the middle and ample room at the 
 sides for three or four other vehicles, which wf a not the case in any 
 of the other towns we visited. The city has been planned on a very 
 bold scale. The House of Representatives and the Senate meet in a 
 large central building called the Capitol, a noble pile with a white 
 n.arble dome similaer to St. Peter's at Rome. It stands in the centre of 
 the city, Mid broad avenoes roidiate from it in ereiy direction ; the avenues 
 are nawed after Ibe various States in the Union ; '• Pennsylvania 
 
16 
 
 ATenae" is the finest and the one containing the largest namber of 
 public bnildings. 
 
 We were shown very great attention whilst ip Washington, receiving 
 cards of invitation both from Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, and 
 from the Attorney-General ; the whole of our party were presented at the 
 White House to the late Presidtnt Garfield, who received us in a very 
 courteous manner, and exchanged a word or two with each gentleman 
 of the party. 
 
 I look back with some degree of pleasure to the fact of having had 
 an interview with a man occupying such a distinguished position ; rising 
 from ground so unpromising, struggling with difliculties, weighted with 
 disadvantages, yet making his way to the very highest position in the 
 land by sheer honesty and force of character. 
 
 I was not a little struck by one of the comic publications which found 
 circnlation in the States called Puck^ one number containing a skit on the 
 visit of the London and North Western Directors : the outside cover 
 of this publication has its cartoon printed in colours ; on ^.he number in 
 question was portrayed a large imperial crown, the band fitting round 
 the head having medallions upon it representing the different crowned 
 heads of Europe : — 
 
 There was the Queen frightened by Fenians ; 
 The Emperor of Russia afraid of Nihilists ; 
 The Emperor of Germany in fear of assassination ; 
 The Pope in terror for his freedom ; 
 the motto being — 
 
 " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 
 
 The circumstances that have since taken place with regard to the 
 assassinaition of poor Garfield, show that it is not necessary to be a 
 crowned head to be exposed to such attacks. 
 
 Whilst at Washington we visited the Exhibition of Paintings and 
 Sculpture called the " ''orcoran " Exhibition, and were there met by 
 Mr. Corcoran himself. This gentleman, who is a man of large means, 
 has given to the American nation the paintings in question. It formed a 
 very interesting morning's engagement to inspect them. 
 
 A flying visit was paid to the Smithsonian Institute, a large museum 
 founded by an Englishman, and presented by him to the States, and 
 subsequently we obtained admission to the Meteorological Department of 
 the War Ofiice ; a large map of the States, having marked thereon the 
 observations at the various signalling stations for rain, cloud, direction of 
 wind, temperature, barometric pressure, &c., was displayed, and the 
 
 t 
 
 I fly stem e: 
 I times per 
 The 1 
 principal 
 obtained 
 comparoi 
 lated, an( 
 The6( 
 the land, 
 with reg 
 and Non 
 
 All 
 new8pap< 
 to specul 
 declined 
 that the 
 New Yor 
 storms, ( 
 Washmg 
 
 The 
 the Amei 
 I tell yc 
 deposit a 
 of the en 
 here dulj 
 
 We 
 Senate E 
 being at 
 it was c 
 assassina 
 connecte 
 our visit 
 large tyj 
 has his s 
 
 The 
 statues p 
 humlliati 
 fight, th< 
 
 The 
 Tthe Rive 
 
t namber of 
 
 on, receiving 
 if State, and 
 sentcd at the 
 [ us. in a very 
 lb gentleuan 
 
 ' liaving bad 
 litlou ; rising 
 cighted witb 
 tsition in tbe 
 
 I which found 
 a slcit on tbe 
 )utside cover 
 be number in 
 fitting round 
 "ent crowned 
 
 Bgard to the 
 iSLTj to be a 
 
 amtings and 
 
 ;bere met by 
 
 large means, 
 
 It formed a 
 
 arge museum 
 States, and 
 
 epartment of 
 tbereon the 
 
 , direction of 
 
 ed, and the 
 
 17 
 
 flystein explained on which the telegraphic r'ntelligenco received three 
 times per day was worked out. 
 
 The plan adopted is to have a conference three tlmoa daily of tbe 
 principal ofBoors, when each brings forward the result of the information 
 obtained from the points of observation in his own department, this is 
 compared with the previous announcements, its prospective value calcu- 
 lated, and tbe fore(7ait for the next eight hours transmitted to the papers. 
 
 These forecasts were said to bei generally very correct witb regard to 
 the land, bat tho Meteorological Department disclaimed all responsibility 
 witb regard to tbe weather to be expected on the " British, French, 
 and Norwegian coasts." 
 
 All they were responsible for were tbe intimations sent to the 
 newspapers of their own local prognostications, and while willing 
 to speculate upon the state of the weather for two days in advance, they 
 declined to make any predictions beyond that period. It would appear 
 that tbe clerk of tbe weather kept by the enterprising proprietors of the 
 New York Herald, who occasionally warns us of coming depressions and 
 storms, does not obtain his information to any great extent from tbe 
 Washmgton Bureau. 
 
 Tbe Patent Office is another of tbe sights of Washington. Tou know 
 the American mind is very fertile in what are called " notions," and when 
 i tell you that to obtain a " Patent " in the States it is necessary to 
 deposit a small model in this Patent Office, you will understand somewhat 
 of tbe enormous extent of the miscellaneous articles that are to be found 
 here duly numbered, registered, and laid by in glass cases. 
 
 We were taken, under the auspices of General Burnside, to tbe 
 Senate House and to tbe House of Representatives in tbe Capitol, there 
 being at the time a session of the Senate respecting the " deadlock," as 
 it was called, in the Conkling affair, a complication with which the 
 assassination of tbe unfortunate President was by no means remotely 
 connected. This " Conklmg " difficulty lasted during the whole time of 
 our visit to the States, and day by day appeared in one shape or another in 
 large type in the newspapers. In tbe Senate House each of the Senators 
 has bis separate seat and desk, and, I may add, spittoon. 
 
 The whole ornamentation of the building in tbe way of paintings and 
 statues points towards tbe glorification of H oorge Washington, and tbe 
 huD^iliation of tbe Britishers ; but as the Americans got the best of the 
 fight, they are entitled to display tbe trophies in their own Capitol. 
 
 The authorities at Washington invited us to take an excursion on 
 the River Potomac, and we steamed down as far as Mount Vernon in 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 the Government steamer "Dispatch," one of their small war vessels. 
 Very many of the noted men connected with the American Senate, 
 together with Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and Barnside, Abraham 
 Lincohi's son, Mr. McYeagh, and Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, 
 were among the party. 
 
 The scenery on the Potomac is not very striking ; neith^ir is there 
 much of note aboat Washington's hoase at Mount Yernon. It is a small, 
 old-fashioned residence; the actual furniture used by the family still 
 remains in the rooms ; the bed on which Washington died remains as 
 it was in his day; so also does that on which Lady Washington died. 
 According to the account given to me by one of the ladies of the party, 
 the reason for Lady Washington removing to one of the small upper 
 rooms in the house, was, that she lived, or rather died, in fear of her 
 slaves, it having been directed by General Washington's will that they 
 should be free at her death ; knowing this, she appears to have lived in 
 terror lest her death should be accelerated, and to have secluded herself, 
 living in the upper part of the house with one female attendant. 
 
 From Washington we made a day trip to Richmond and back, meet- 
 ing on the journey, by appointment. General Fitzhugh Lee, a man who 
 was noted in the days of the struggle between the Confederate States 
 and the Northerners. As the train passed along, he pointed out to us 
 the sites of many of the skirmishes, and crossing the Bappahannock, he 
 completely fought that noted battle o'er again. The General has now 
 turned his sword into a ploughshare, and is a jolly-looking farmer. 
 
 At Richmond we found the vegetation very much more forward than 
 it had been at Washington and New York. Lilacs were in full bloom, 
 and the splendid green of the newly unfolded maple gave beauty to the 
 gardens and parks. 
 
 The proportion of black population to white was very noticeable at 
 this place ; but it is a poor town compared with those we had seen in 
 the North. We could only wonder at the pluck of the Southerners in 
 daring to venture upon the chance of war against the forces of the North. 
 
 We went over a large tobacco manufactory, the whole of the people 
 employed being black. The men were in one part of the establishment 
 and the women and girls in another. The various modes of dealing 
 with tobacco were explained to us by the foreman of the works. 
 
 Whilst we wf-e going through the factory a sound of music was 
 gradually audible, and the whole of the men broke out into the singing 
 of anthems ; somewhat different to the singing one would experieoce in 
 looking over a Birmingham or Manchester manufactory. 
 
 
19 
 
 war vessels. 
 
 :au Senate, 
 
 , Abraham 
 
 ry of State, 
 
 h'^r is there 
 
 t is a small, 
 
 family still 
 
 remains as 
 
 ngton died. 
 
 f the party, 
 
 small apper 
 
 fear of her 
 
 11 that they 
 
 lave lived in 
 
 ided herself, 
 
 nt. 
 
 back, meet- 
 a man who 
 lerate States 
 ;ed out to us 
 diannock, he 
 iral has now 
 'armer. 
 forward than 
 a full bloom, 
 )eauty to the 
 
 noticeable at 
 had seen in 
 lUtherners in 
 jf the North. 
 )f the people 
 istabliahment 
 s of dealing 
 rks. 
 
 )f music was 
 the singing 
 experience in 
 
 Leaving Washington, and travelling by the Baltimore and Ohio 
 railroad, we made a detour to Harper's Ferry, The scenery here— the 
 junction of the rivers Shenandoah and Potomac, at a gorge amid lofty 
 cliffs — was the finest we had yet seen in America. The road, the railway, 
 and the rivers all passing through a grand ravine, with pine-crowned 
 cliffs, at this point. We were shown the spot where John Brown was 
 taken prisoner, and where his soul is said to be still marching on. 
 
 From thence we travelled towards Harrisburg, stopping on the way 
 at a small town called Carlisle. 
 
 At Carlisle the Government of the United States has established a 
 large school for the training of the children of the Red Indians, repre- 
 sentatives of probably forty different tribes. This is the first attempt of 
 the kind they have made to reclaim the descendants of the races which at 
 one time owned all this part of the American Continent, and by degrees 
 have been forced to retire as the white man has gradually advanced his 
 footing. 
 
 We passed through several large rooms in which boys, some of them 
 the sons of chiefs, were receiving lessons ; and in other parts of the 
 buildings girls were being educated. Some young American ladies, 
 enthusiastic in the work, were giWng the lessons. 
 
 We also visited the industrial portion of the school, where lads were 
 being trained in carpentering, making saddles, bridles, tinware, and 
 learning other trades likely to be useful to then; in their future 
 career. 
 
 There i' a. great heaviness about their countenances ; their skin is of 
 a reddish copper, ribstone pippin tint ; their hair lank, black, lustreless, 
 and quite straight. 
 
 Captain Pratt is the gentleman in charge of the whole of the arrange- 
 ments of this large establishment ; and he inquired whether we would 
 wish to see one of the Indian lads in full costume and war paint. We 
 were glad to avail ourselves of the opportunity, and ere long a young 
 man appeared fully dressed and decorated. His coming was the signal 
 for an outburst of laughter and applause on the part of his comrades. 
 He was decked out in full array of eagle's feathers, which were attached 
 to the cloak thrown round him ; mocassins upon his legs, and a bow and 
 arrow in his hands. We did not, however, think much of his archery, as 
 he rarely struck the target. 
 
 After he had gone through a, portion of his performances the whole 
 body of children were sommoned by the ringing of a bell to a large 
 Bchoohroom attached to the building, and here, in response to the call 
 
20 
 
 of Captain Pratt, they sang two or three songs in the English tongue, 
 led by the yonng ladies. 
 
 After a word or two from the Dnke of Sutherland, in recognition of 
 the pleasure which we had received from the inspection of the school, we 
 returned to the train, and proceeded to Harrisburg, which is situated on 
 the Susquehanna, here a very broad but shallow river. The town lies 
 very low, its streets are all formed on the rectangular plan, and it is the 
 capital of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 During all our visit this was probably the place at which we least 
 approved of the hotel arrangements. It was roughly American in its 
 style, and did not come up to our ideas of comfort. Rats nearly as 
 Jtu'ge as rabbits were seen running up and down the stairs, by no means 
 suggestive of a night's repose. 
 
 There is one point of interest in connection with Harrisburg which I 
 may mention. The town takes its name from " John Harris," a York- 
 shireman, an extensive trader with the Red Indians. Early in the 18th 
 century, having from ^ome cause offended one of their bands, they seized 
 and tied him to a mulberry tree in front of his house, intending to bum 
 h'm ; while kindling the fire anot- r band of Indians came upon the scene 
 and released him uninjured. The spot is still shown as one of the sights 
 of the place. 
 
 I mention the circumstance simply to show the position between the 
 red and the white man at that date, as compared with that which exists 
 at the present time. 
 
 We slept at Harrisburg in spite of the rats, and next day proceeded 
 towards New York, first stopping on the way to inspect some large steel 
 and iron works, two miles from Harrisburg, and subsequently leaving the 
 train for the purpose of inspecting some noted dairies, and a perfectly 
 model farm. 
 
 Upon reaching New York we proceeded to the wharf, whence 
 the steamers of the ''Fall River" Line sail for Boston. The vessels 
 leave New York in the evening, and passengers after sleeping on board 
 find themselves in the morning at Fall River, a large town of 45,000 
 inhabitants, whence they proceed by train to Boston. 
 
 The steam vessels making this trip, the " Bristol " and the " Pro- 
 vidence," are palatial in character — floating Noah's Arks — fitted, up with 
 large central saloons, with an upper gallery and balcony, with commodious 
 cabins and state rooms surrounding the saloon. Accompanied by the 
 Presideut of the line (Mr. Choato) we occupied so long as daylight lasted 
 a position on the upper deck, and ns we passed along the East River and 
 
m 
 
 lish tongue, 
 
 sognition of 
 e school, we 
 situated on 
 le town lies 
 md it ig the 
 
 ch we least 
 rican in its 
 ts nearly as 
 7 no means 
 
 arg which I 
 3," a York- 
 in the 18th 
 they seized 
 ing to burn 
 on the scene 
 )f the sights 
 
 between the 
 vhich exists 
 
 y proceeded 
 
 i large steel 
 
 leavuig the 
 
 a perfectly 
 
 irf, whence 
 The vessels 
 ig on board 
 1 of 45,000 
 
 the "Pro- 
 ted, up with 
 commodious 
 nied by the 
 rlight lasted 
 t Riyer and 
 
 Long Island Soand he pointed out to us the various places of interest 
 which were to be seen. Two or three large islands exist between the 
 New York and the Brooklyn sides of the river, and upon them have been 
 erected numerous asylums belongmg to the city, such as the Almshouses, 
 Lunatic Asylum, Blind Asylum, Penitentiary, Convalescent Hospital, Idiot 
 Asylum, and Infant Hospital — a singular succession of such establishments, 
 all built of granite quarried by convict labour ~n the islands — and then we 
 arrived at the formidable point called " Hell Gate," a collection of sunken 
 rocks, at one time a source ol terror to the vessels entering Jfew York 
 harbour by this route, but which by submarine blasting has been now 
 almost entirely removed. 
 
 In the early morning, after a most comfortable voyage, a train was at 
 our service at Fall River, and by it we reached Boston. 
 
 Boston, for some reason, is called the " hub of the universe." Can 
 it be that the Bostonians consider, like the fly on the carriage wheel, 
 they are the cause of all the stir in the world? It is said that the 
 question always put by Boston as to a man's capabilities is: "What 
 does he know ? " 
 
 By New York: "What is he worth?" 
 
 By Chicago :" What can he do?" 
 
 At any rate, knowledge and intelligence rank deservedly high in the 
 standard of estimation of Bostonian society. 
 
 The city, being one of the older places in the States, is not con- 
 structed on the rectangular plan ; its central streets more nearly resemble 
 those of an English city than of an American one ; the new portions of 
 the city are formed on ground reclaimed from the low lying edges of 
 the old Harbour. 
 
 Its principal buildings, parks, and places of attraction were shewn in 
 due order as we drove through the city in our usual style, accompanied 
 by a deputation of the town authorities, who, after introducing us to the 
 Governor of the State (Massachusetts) at the State House, took us on 
 board a Government steamer, and made the tour of the harbour, pointing 
 out its elevators, railway depots, and wharves. 
 
 In the harbour lay one or two of the United States armoured vessels, 
 which had been celebrated during the war between the Confederate and 
 Northern States. Here also we were shown the spot at which the chests 
 of tea were thrown into the river by the angry mob of Boston, as the first 
 active demonstration against this country at the commencement of the 
 quarrel between ourselves and the United States. 
 
 In the evening of Saturday a banquet was given to the Directors, at 
 
22 
 
 which several of the leading citizens of Boston were present, and on the 
 neyt day (Sunday) we went to service at one of the Episcopal Churches, 
 where the sermon was preached by the Rev. Phillipps Brooks. 
 < The Americans have very sensibly cnt off all the redundancies and 
 repetitions from 'he English Prayer Book, and thus reduced the length 
 of the morning service. The musical portion of the service was relegated to 
 a selected band of celebrated sijigers, whose voices were listened to ia 
 their portion of the serrice quite as attentively as that of the clergyman 
 in his. 
 
 In the afternoon we had (I fear somewhat tc the scandal of some of 
 the Bostonians) a drive round the city and the outskirts. We visited 
 Bunker's Hiii, where the first collision took place between the English 
 and American forces ; thence we drove three miles to the adjacent 
 town of Cambridge, a place of 60,000 inhabitants, noted like its English 
 namesake for its academical renown — Harvard University being the most 
 celebrated of its institutions ; we visited its splendid Memorial Hall 
 and some of our party had the good fortune to be introduced to 
 Professor Longfellow, whilst others, including myself, drove through the 
 Cemetery of Mount Auburn and round the Chesnut Hill Reservoir back 
 to Boston. 
 
 At night we left Boston, and travelling in the elaborately-ornamented 
 sleeping cars of the Boston and Albany Railway, found ourselves early 
 in the morning at New York. One annoyance experienced on the 
 journey arose from the continual stoppages made by the train at every 
 place where other lines of railway crossed our track on the level, and 
 these are numerous in the States. There is a requirement that trains 
 shall stop at each of these places, and stoppage after stoppage, suddenly 
 made, jolted ui almost out of our berths. On this day one of the 
 longest continuous journeys which fell to our lot was made, for leaving 
 Boston shortly before midnight we reached New York at six o'clock in 
 the morning, and starting thence at 9 a.m. in a special train, provided 
 by the Pennsylvania Railway Company for our accommodation, we 
 travelled through to Montreal — the distance covered in the 24 hours 
 bemg no less than 623 miles. To this train, on leaving New York, was 
 attached the very handsome private car of Mr. Vanderbilt ; two of his 
 sons received us at the N jw York terminus and accompanied us as far 
 as Albany. 
 
 The Une of railway known as the Hudson River Railroad passes 
 along the banks of the River Hudson, and through charming scenery. 
 The prison of '' Sing Smg," where the political prisoners of the United 
 
28 
 
 it, and OD the 
 pal Charches, 
 )ks. 
 
 undancies and 
 ed the length 
 a,s relegated to 
 listened to in 
 the clergyman 
 
 ial of some of 
 We visited 
 m the English 
 i the adjacent 
 ike its English 
 being the most 
 Memorial Hall 
 introduced to 
 ve through the 
 ReserToir back 
 
 sly-ornamented 
 ourselves early 
 ienced on the 
 ! train at every 
 the level, and 
 lent that trains 
 page, suddenly 
 ay one of the 
 ide, for leaving 
 t six o'clock in 
 train, provided 
 umodation, we 
 1 the 24 hours 
 ^Gw York, was 
 ilt ; two of his 
 lanied us as far 
 
 Lailroad passes 
 
 rming scenery. 
 
 of the United 
 
 States are confined, is visible from the line, so is West Point, the 
 National Military Academy. Here, also, is the district near the Catskill 
 MouLtains, celebrated by Washington Irving as " Sleepy Hollow," in 
 Knickerbocker's Historical Sketches of New York. 
 
 It was a lovely summer day on which we made our journey 
 alongside the Hudson, but we were reminded of a different state of 
 temperature by observing at numerous landing stages along the river, 
 large storage houses used for the collection of ice, which forms in great 
 qnimtities in winter, and is here kept in reserve to meet the requirements 
 of New York. 
 
 On arrival at Albany we were met by the Maydr and several residents 
 of the town, and were conveyed in carriages to the State House. '* 
 
 Albany (90,000) is the capital of the State of New York, it having 
 been considered injudicious that the Legislative Representatives of the 
 States should meet in the chief business towns. The local State Senators 
 and House of Representatives are therefore appointed to meet at towns 
 of a second rate character. Thus " Harrisburg " is the State capital of 
 Pennsylvania, whilst Philadelphia ranks as its first city. In the same 
 way Albany is the capital of the State of New York, not bearing the 
 least comparison with the City of New York as a business town. 
 
 The State House at Albany, now nearly completed, is a very noble 
 building, and, next to the Capitol at Washington, will be the largest and 
 most splendid edifice in America ; one remarkable feature in it being the 
 various coloured marbles with which its passages and walls are lined. 
 There are marbles of all tints of colour, either placed by way of 
 uniformity or by way of contrast, brought from various parts of the 
 United States — the whole of them being the product of that country. 
 
 Leaving Albany, where we parted with the Vauderbilts, we took 
 our journey towards Canada in what I may call our own train. It was 
 most courteously placed at our disposal by the Pennsylvania Railway 
 Company, and in it we made our Journey from Now York throughout 
 the States and Canada, the railway companies over whose systems we 
 had to travel kindly permitting its passage over their lines. 
 
 The triain consisted of three vehicles, one being the private car of 
 Mr. Roberts, the President of the Pennsylvania Line, fitted up with day 
 and night compartments, cooking apartment, a well-stocked wine cellar, 
 and an open-end platform, affording an excellent opportunity for inspect- 
 ing the line and the scenery. From this vehicle we could pass into No. 2, 
 one of Pullman's dining cars, which was capable at night of being 
 converted into a sleeping carriage, making up twelve beds — this also 
 
21 
 
 had its cooiing apartment, and very satisfactory meals were produced 
 by the skilled black cook who accompanied us. The third carriage was 
 one for the use of the servants and the baggage. We could pass at 
 pleasure right through the train from end to end, and avail ourselves of 
 the open-end platform both in front and rear. 
 
 We had for the entire trip a conductor to i^ccompany the train on 
 its journey, and a baggage-master to take charge of all our luggage, 
 besides sundry black men who acted as assistants to. the conductors. 
 
 Amongst the points of interest we passed through, I may mention 
 the town of Saratoga, but the month of May is not the season at that 
 place, and the giant hotels for which it is noted were completely 
 empty. In autumn the place is crowded like Scarborough, but at other 
 times of the year it is a deserted town : the huge trunks required by 
 fashionable ladies to hold their extensive wardrobes have been christened 
 " Saratogas " in connection with their constant appearance here in the 
 season. 
 
 The fact of its being early in the season also deprived us of a visit to 
 Lake George, the scenery of which is said to be superior to that of 
 Lake Champlain, which we were now approaching. Our train was here 
 in charge of two young engineers who seemed determined to show the 
 British railway men how smartly they could traverse their length, and 
 regardless of any amount of discomfort the passengers might experience, 
 they were resolved upon making a speed of upwards of GO miles per hour. 
 
 The consequence was, that on passing round the curves on the edge 
 of grand precipices overhanging the lake side, the travelling was by no 
 means pleasant, and at a certain point, one of our directors endeavouring 
 to move from one side of the carriage to the other, acquired a lesson 
 in the laws of gravity, being lurched forward and thrown violently on to 
 the floor of the vehicle. As we travelled through this district the 
 elevated peaks of the Adirondack Mountains were visible on the left- 
 hand side, and those of Vermont on the right. 
 
 At " Rouse's Point " we changed engines, and an unexpected chal- 
 lenge by the Customs officers, as to whether we had " anything to 
 declare," told us we were passing the boundary. Several residents who 
 had gathered at the place gave " three cheers for the Duke " as the train 
 entered on territory owning allegiance to Queen Victoria. 
 
 Darkness came upon us before we reached Montreal, but shortly 
 before arriving at the terminus we were fully apprised by the reverbera- 
 ting noise that we were passing through the celebrated Victoria Bridge, 
 which spans the St. Lawrence within a short distance of the city. 
 
26 
 
 ■e produced 
 ;arriage was 
 sold pass at 
 ourselves of 
 
 the train on 
 
 ur luggage, 
 
 Juctors. 
 
 nay mention 
 
 ison at that 
 
 completely 
 
 tut at other 
 
 required by 
 
 a christened 
 
 here in the 
 
 of a visit to 
 to that of 
 lin was here 
 to show the 
 length, and 
 : experience, 
 les per hour, 
 on the edge 
 5 was by no 
 adeavouring 
 red a lesson 
 )lently on to 
 district the 
 on the left- 
 
 pected chal- 
 mything to 
 sidenta who 
 as the train 
 
 but shortly 
 > reverbera- 
 •ria Bridge, 
 ity. 
 
 This bridge, nearly two miles in length, we inspected the next 
 morning, bat unfortunately the weather was far from brilliant, and at 
 the time we were there a very heavy rain was falling. 
 
 Altogether our first impressions of Montreal were not very favourable, 
 and having seen so much prosperity and activity in the American cities, an 
 unfortunate impression was made upon our minds by the somewhat desolate 
 appearance that Montreal presented, as compared with the towns of 
 interest we had previously visited. 
 
 Our trip next day, from Montreal to Quebec (166 miles), was made 
 by one of the Richelieu Navigation steamers, which ply daily, or rather 
 nightly, between those points on the St. Lawrence. We left Montreal in 
 the evening, sleeping on board, and in the morning came in view of the 
 celebrated citadel of Quebec, adjacent to the heights of Abraham, 
 reviving in our memory the old story of the death of General Wolfe at 
 the moment of victory. 
 
 At the landing stage we were met by carriages sent down by His 
 Excellency the Governor-General, and some of our party were invited to 
 the citadel, whilst others were quartered at the St. Louis Hotel, not very 
 far away. 
 
 Unfortunately the fine weather which we had experienced throughout 
 our journey across the Atlantic, and during our visit to the States, 
 appeared to have deserted us, and we suffered the inconvenience of two 
 or three wet days in Montreal and Quebec. The streets of Quebec are 
 chiefly paved with wood, not in blocks, but with planks laid longitu- 
 dinally, and the footpaths are made in the same way. The street vehicles 
 are strange compounds of cabs, cabriolets, and Neapolitan cal(fches, with 
 huge leather Q springs, surging the passengers about in a remarkable, 
 but unpleasant style. 
 
 The town is divided into two portions, the higher part built around 
 the fortifications and upper Esplanade, and the lower consisting of the 
 shopping portion of the town and the wharves. 
 
 There is an elevator or sloping tramway, somewhat similar in style to 
 that at Scarboro', to enable passengers for a small fee to pass from the 
 lower to the higher level, and thus avoid the circuitous road, or the 
 Jacob's ladder of steps, which otherwise have to be traversed in walking 
 from one part of the town to the other. 
 
 The public buildings and churches are for the most part roofed with 
 tin, in small sections, which give a peculiar glittering effect to the city 
 when the sun is shining. 
 
 One of the first places to be visited was, of course, the heights of 
 
2G 
 
 Abraham. The spot where General "Wolfe met with his death-wonnd is 
 marked by k lofty pillar, with an inscription : 
 
 *'mtKt fell waolfe." 
 
 There must be a divided feeling in Quebec with regard to the results of 
 that celebrated conflict, inasmuch as whilst the English people refer with 
 pride to the victory, the largest portion of the inhabitants are 
 descendants of the French-Canadians, and in one of the CathoUc 
 churches there is an eloquent inscription to the memory of Wolfe's great 
 opponent (General Montcalm), and his skull ig also retained and exhibited 
 as an object almost of veneration. 
 
 It is not a little singular that on this portion of English territory we 
 should not only find the currency and calculations effected in dollars and 
 cents, but should meet with public notices in the French language, and 
 learn that in the Canadian Parliament the French tongue is used in the 
 debates quite as much as the English. 
 
 We spent two evenings at the citadel, the Marquis of Lome being in 
 residence at this period of the year in Quebec, instead of Ottawa, the 
 head-quarters of the Government. On the first occasion a dinner-party, 
 Umited to our railway contingent, and two or three officers of the 
 garrison; on the second, a larger gathermg, or reception, at which 
 several of the members of the Quebec Parliament and their wives were 
 present. At the dinner, one of the entrees consisted of filets of moose, 
 the deer of the northern parts of Canada; the flesh resembled very 
 dark-coloured beef. 
 
 The education of the young folks of Quebec is almost entirely in the 
 hands of the Roman Catholic nuns, and both Protestant and Roman 
 Catholic girls are trained by them. 
 
 The most celebrated establishment is that of St. Ursula, one portion 
 of the nuns living a life of very strict seclusion, others being required to 
 turn their attention to the educational department. A special reception 
 was given to the Governor-General, the Duke of Sutherland, and our 
 party, at this convent. We were received by some high ecclesiastic, 
 and when we entered we took our seats on an elevated dais behind the 
 Governor-General and the Duke, in the large schoolroom, which was 
 very prettily decorated with flowers and garlands for the occasion. 
 
 A body of young ladies, evidently selected for their good looks, was 
 ranged in front, whilst around the sides of the room were the nuns and 
 their pupils, some dressed in .black and some in white, forming altogether 
 a remarkable grouping. 
 '■" The young ladies came forward and sang very nicely two or three 
 
27 
 
 th-woand ii 
 
 IS 
 
 10 results of 
 le refer with 
 )itants are 
 le Catholic 
 f olfe's great 
 nd exhibited 
 
 territory we 
 dollars and 
 
 nguage, and 
 used in the 
 
 rne being in 
 Ottawa, the 
 inner-party, 
 icers of the 
 >n, at which 
 r wives were 
 ts of moose, 
 3mbled very 
 
 itirely in the 
 and Roman 
 
 one portion 
 
 required to 
 
 al reception 
 
 id, and our 
 
 ecclesiastic, 
 
 behind the 
 
 which was 
 
 sion. 
 
 looks, was 
 
 le nuns and 
 
 altogether 
 
 ro or three 
 
 Scotch melodies, no doubt in compliment to the Marquis of Lome and 
 the Duke of Sutherland. At the close of their singing one lassie advanced 
 and made a short address of welcome ; then eight or nine, bearing large 
 bouquets of flowers, came to the front and handed these nosegays to our 
 party. It was a ludicrous sight to see some of the gentlemen encumbered 
 with a bundle of flowers quite as large as an ordinary-sized cauliflower. 
 
 As a great privilege, wp were shown over the whole of the arrange- 
 ments of the nunnery, some of the nuns displaying even the retirement of 
 their separate cells. 
 
 The whole of the domestic arrangements were explained ; the novitiates 
 were also permitted to be interviewed, and a day of most unusual excite- 
 ment was experienced by the residents in the convent. Nothing short of 
 a Govenor-General would have obtained such a departure from the 
 usual rule of seclusion. 
 
 Whilst in Quebec the Governor-General took us in one of his small 
 steamers down the St. Lawrence, and showed us the new graving docks 
 and harbom' in course of construction. 
 
 On this occasion we steamed as far as the Fails of Montmorency. 
 The accumulated snow of winter was still around them, forming a large 
 cone at the base of the Falls ; Lord Lome drawing our attention to 
 the lofty fall (250 feet), reminded us that it was far beyond the height 
 of Niagara, so guarding us against the disappointment usually felt at the 
 first sight of that noted cataract. 
 
 At Quebec, with much regret, we parted company with Mr. Knowles, 
 his health not allowing him to undertake the fatigue of the long land 
 journey that lay before us, and be returned by steamer from Quebec to 
 Liverpool. 
 
 Leaving Quebec in the afternoon, we travelled back to Montreal by 
 railway, passing through a poor country, most of it under fair cultiva- 
 tion, but having no appearance of wealth. We were appointed to arrive 
 at Montreal at half-past nine, in order to witness the introduction of the 
 electric light for illuminating the station buildings at the railway termmus 
 at " Hochelaga," the original Indian name of Montreal. Unfortunately 
 our engine failed on the journey, and instead of reaching Hochelaga 
 at 9.30, we did not arrive until a quarter to eleven. 
 
 A large and enthusiastic mass of people were waiting to receive us, 
 and we hastened at once to the goods shed, which was electrically lighted 
 on what is called the *' maxim " principle. The lights appeared to be as 
 easily regnlated as ordinary gas burners. 
 
 There was great excitement in connection with|the affair, inasmuch as 
 
an 
 
 it was discovered that the electric wires had been cat in four places, the 
 intention evidently being to bring aboat a failure of the electric light and 
 throw discredit upon it. Some of the Directors of the Montreal Gas 
 Company were charged with connivance in the matter, and very fierce 
 invectives were indulged in, the speeches (several of which were delivered 
 in French), being divided between congratulations on the visit of the 
 Duke of Sutherland, and on the progress of electricity, and denuncia- 
 tions of the Directors of the Gas Company. 
 
 On this second visit to Montreal we were more fortunate in the 
 weather, and were more pleased ^ 'ith our inspection of the town and its 
 principal buildings ; it improved on acquaintance ; we made the usual 
 processional drive through the place, culminating in our reaching the 
 Elevated Park, formed on the plateau of Mount Royal (Mont-real), from 
 w\ich the town takes itH name, When standing on this height, 750 feet 
 above the valley, the coarse of the St. Lawrence for many miles was at 
 our feet, and the whole town of Montreal was laid out before as like 
 a map. Every possible attention was shown by both Mr. Hickson and 
 Mr. Seargeant of the Grand Trunk Railway, and through their auspices 
 we found ourselves enrolled as members of the leading literary club 
 of the city. The enthusiasm of the Scotch residents was very remark- 
 able, and the Duke of Sutherland mast have been much pleased with 
 what he witnessed. 
 
 There is a very large Roman Catholic element amongst the Canadians ; 
 the shops at Montreal were filled with a display of Madonnas, Holy 
 Families, Crucifixes, &c., reminding one of a Continental rather than of 
 an English town. 
 
 Early next morning we started by rail to reach the point at which the 
 Lachine Rapids on the St. Lawrence have to be shot. A steamer is 
 appointed to make a trip down these rapids daily, starting early in the 
 morning. There was nothing very alarming in the affair, though the 
 steamer rolled and surged to some extent while coming through the 
 turbulent passage ; had there been less water in the river, the navigation 
 might have been more difficult. 
 
 We left Montreal towards evening, and after travelling a few miles 
 found ourselves crossing the River Ottawa close to its junction with the 
 St. Lawrence. It was the scene referred to in the well-known Canadian 
 boat song, " Row, brothers, row " ; here was St. Anne's where the evening 
 hymn was sung ; there was " the green isle " — " the stream runs fast, the 
 rapids are near and daylight past " — and while crossing the surges of the 
 Ottawa in a way that Tom Moore never imagined, I found the explanation 
 
• places, the 
 'ic light and 
 ontreal Gas 
 very fierce 
 re delivered 
 visit of the 
 d dennncia- 
 
 nate in the 
 own and its 
 the usual 
 taching the 
 real), from 
 ht, 750 feet 
 niles was at 
 ore ns like 
 lickson and 
 eir auspices 
 terary club 
 Bry remark- 
 leased with 
 
 Canadians ; 
 nnas, Holy 
 ler than of 
 
 t which the 
 steamer is 
 larly in the 
 ;hough the 
 iroagh the 
 navigation 
 
 i few miles 
 n with the 
 t Canadian 
 he evening 
 IS fast, the 
 'ges of the 
 rplanation 
 
 of the expression to be met with in all the old editions, " Ut-away tide!" 
 that had always before puzzled me. That night we made our way to 
 Frescott, s!<^eping in the cars of our train, proposing to avail ourselves 
 of the steamer of the Richelieu Navigation to take us through the 
 scenery of the " Thousand Islands," reported to be the most lovely 
 portion of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Unfortunately, when the morning and the steamer came, the weather 
 was so foggy that the captain stated he could not guarantee our being 
 able to make the voyage in the appointed time, and as he added that he 
 might probably, under the circumstances, not be able to start that day, 
 we gave up this portion of the programme with regret, and continued our 
 journey by rail, under the care of Mr. Spicer, the Superintendent of the 
 Grand Trunk. Towards the afternoon we found ourselves skirting the 
 northern shores of Lake Ontario. 
 
 A break-down had occurred on the line, and the road was obstructed 
 by the wreck of a goods train ; fortunately it had taken place just prior 
 to reaching a somewhat shaky bridge. We had to leave our train at 
 this place, walk across the bridge with our luggage past the debris^ and 
 take our places in a train which had been provided on the opposite side. 
 
 M'l-^hi we reached Toronto, a very lively city of 80,000 inhabitants, 
 and the most business-like place we had as yet seen in Canada. A 
 deputation of the Mayor and Aldermen waited for us at night, and 
 arranged for a drive round the city next morning. 
 
 Here we had the pleasure of meetmg Mr. Swinyard, a gentleman 
 formerly well known in connection with the business of the Manager's 
 office at Euston, but now largely interested in the Telegraph Companies 
 of Canada, &c. 
 
 The University and some of the public buildings of the place were 
 duly inspected, and at one of the schools, on the strength of having asked 
 for a half-holiday for the children, the Duke obtained a round of cheers, 
 and " God save the Queen " was sung with much vigour. 
 
 A luncheon at the house of the Governor brought to a termination 
 our visit to this pleasant town. 
 
 From thence we travelled, via Hamilton, towards Niagara, by the 
 Great Western of Canada Railway, meeting with an old railway comrade, 
 Mr. P. Broughtou, now the manager of that Ime. 
 
 We passed under the works of the Welland Ship Canal, which 
 furnishes the means of navigable commnnication between Lakes Erie and 
 Ontario, as a bye-pass to the Palls of Niagara. 
 
 Our interest was concentrated upon the approach to Niagara, but it 
 
80 
 
 ■was nnfortunately pouring with rain when we arrived at Niagara station, 
 about a railfe below the Falls. Here the Niagara river, with its thick 
 green-coloured waters, hemmed in by lofty vertical cliffs of limestone, 
 flows by with a hurried and turbulent rush. A few minutes more brought 
 ns within sight of the Fall, and shortly the whole of the world-renowned 
 scene was before us with its two-fold cataract, its sullen roar, its clouds 
 of spray rising in immense masses of mist to the skies. It is a sight 
 never to be forgotten, but no words of mine can adequately describe it. 
 
 In simple prose, at this place, descending at one sheer swoop of 
 168 feet, rushes the water of the Niagara River, the sole outlet of nearly 
 half the fresh water on the surface of the globe ; of lakes and streams 
 covering more than 150,000 square miles. Lake Superior and Lake 
 Michigan flow into Lake Huron, Huron into Lake Erie, and here, at 
 the rate of 100 million tons per hour, the watery mass falls headlong 
 towards Ontario and the St. Lawrence; seven-eighths of the stream passing 
 by the Horse Shoe Cataract, and the remainder by the American Fall ; 
 the river turning its course from the foot of the Falls nearly at right angles 
 to its previous direction. Though estimated by one writer to equal the 
 roar of all the lions that have lived since the days of Daniel, the noise 
 made by the fall of the water did not come up to my expectations. 
 
 It is remarkable that shortly after the seething waters have fallen to 
 the level of the river they assume a comparative stillness on the surface, 
 so much so that ferry-boats cross from one side to the other with perfect 
 ease. The water in fact appears stunned by the blow it receives in the 
 fall, and flows on sruoothly for nearly half-a-mile before the turbulence 
 of the stream becomes apparent ; from that point in the river there is a 
 continual growing commotion, the lofty limestone cliffs at the side 
 approach each other more closely and hem the stream in, causing it to be 
 thirty feet higher in the centre than at the sides, giving rise further down 
 (three miles from the Falls) to the constant ebullition called the " Whirl- 
 pool Rapids.'* 
 
 Iffy The American Fall is well seen from the point called Prospect Park, 
 where, relying on the protection of a parapet, we viewed quite close to 
 us the water taking its irresistible leap. We followed the water; 
 descending more leisurely by means of the " vertical railway " constructed 
 for the purpose, and stood as close as we could to the bottom of the 
 Fall. The mass of ice and snow which accumulates duriag the winter 
 from the frozen spray of the cataract still formed a mamelon or cone 
 some thirty feet high, which we had to climb to obtain the view. Again 
 ascending by the " vertical railway," we made our way to Goat Island 
 
ara statioD, 
 h itR thick 
 Ihiiftstone, 
 ire brought 
 li-renowned 
 , its clonds 
 is a sight 
 escribe it. 
 swoop of 
 t of nearly 
 11(1 streams 
 and Lake 
 md here, at 
 Is headlong 
 earn passing 
 jrican Fall ; 
 right angles 
 to eqaal the 
 el, the noise 
 itions. 
 
 ire fallen to 
 the surface, 
 with perfect 
 reives in the 
 } turbulence 
 r there is a 
 at the side 
 ing it to be 
 irther down 
 de " Whirl- 
 
 spect Park, 
 ite close to 
 the water; 
 !onstrncted 
 torn of the 
 the winter 
 )n or cone 
 w. Again 
 foat Island 
 
 for a view of the American Falls from the other side ; luul ufter this^ 
 by means of a small bridge, 6 ft. wide, 200 ft. long, underneath which, 
 rushing impetuously, just four feet below, the rapid stream is raging, we 
 came to the point of vantage, close to the corner of the wide semi-circular 
 sweep (2,000 ft.) of the Horse Shoe Fall, immediately before it makes its 
 final descent into the chasm below, whence is ever ascending a volume of 
 spray to be carried away by the winds, as a drenching torrent to the 
 adjoining shore. 
 
 Words fail to convey an idea of the grandeur of the scene. It is the 
 constant, irresistible, ever-moving, unward, headlong, impetuous flow 
 that impresses the mind. Man is dwarfed to insignificance when standing 
 near its majestic force. Well might our respected friend, the late Mr. 
 Crosfield, recite as he did, Buckingham's eloquent lines to Niagara : — 
 
 Hull ! Sovereign of the world of floods ! whose majesty and might , , 
 
 First dazzles — then enraptures — then o'erawes the aching sight. 
 The pomp of kings and emperors, in every clime and zone 
 Grows dim heneath the splendours of thy glorious watery throne. 
 
 No fleets can stop thy progress — no armies bid thee stay,— 
 
 But onward — onward— onward, thy march still holds its way. 
 
 The rising mist that veils thee, ns thine herald goes hefore, 
 
 And the music that proclaims thee, is the thundering cataract's roar. 
 
 Thy diadem is an emerald green of the clearest, purest hue, 
 
 Set round with waves of snow-white foam, and spray of feathery dew. 
 
 Thy reign is of the ancient days, thy sceptre from on high, 
 
 Thy birth was when the morning stars together sang with joy. 
 
 And from that hour to this, in which I gaze upon thy stream, . , 
 
 From age to age, in winter's frost, or summer's sultry beam — 
 By day, by night, without a pause, thy Avaves with loud acclaim '^ 
 
 In ceaseless sounds have still proclaimed the Qreat Eternal's name. 
 
 One or two of the usual points of view were not accessible to us, in 
 consequence of the winter still interfering with the safety of the struc- 
 tures by which visitors ascend or descend to inspect the Falls, and those 
 of ns who ventured along the narrow and dizzy precipice which leads 
 beneath the Fall on the Canadian side, felt that we were standing on 
 treacherous and unsafe ground, in venturing as far as we did under the 
 tremendous cataract. None of our friends would have recognised us in 
 the ugly waterproof costumes that have to be adopted when going 
 through this portion of the programme in connection with a visit to 
 Niagara. 
 
 Not far from the Falls is a cnrions natnral phenomenon, consisting of 
 a " bummg spring." The waters at the place emit into the air solpha- 
 
 Hhg- 
 
 *f^!*' 
 
82 
 
 retted-hydrogen gas, which burns with a brilliant flame three or four feet 
 high when ignited. It was singular to see such a volume of fire issuing 
 from such an incongruous source. 
 
 Though we spent portions of three days at Niagara, during no period 
 wern we favoured with such a gleam of sunshine as to display the 
 beautiful rainbow tinta for which the Falls are celebrated. 
 
 At this point our party was again reduced in number, as the 
 Marquis of Stafford decided on retnming to Quebec, appointing to 
 rejo'n us at New York. 
 
 Leaving Niagara we hastened to Buffalo, and in one respect we were 
 certainly disappointed in this place, for, remembering the charms of the 
 "Buffalo Gals" depicted in song, we expected to see a display of 
 feminine beauty. If there were any such ladies, they certainly did not 
 "come out" on the day we visited the place, as we could not but be 
 struck with the remarkable plainness of the countenances of those we 
 met. 
 
 Here again the usual procession wus formed, the Mayor of the town 
 and the railway celebrities meeting our party and driving us round. It 
 is a busy and black town of 140,000 inhabitants, celebrated for its iron 
 foundries ; the railway passes right through the market place, unfenced 
 in any way ; the tolling of the engine bell being the signal of the train's 
 approach. There is nothing very striking in connection with the place ; 
 bat in the best streets, cailed '* avenues," the unfenced way in which the 
 gardens and grass plots of the houses adjacent come down to the road- 
 way is worthy of note ; all lie quite open to the public, there being no 
 protection whatever in the shape of a boundary fence between the foot- 
 paths and the grounds of the houses ; in many instances the pathway 
 is laid so as to leave a considerable breadth of green sward between the 
 path and the roadway. The Americans call this " boulevarding." 
 
 Leaving Buffalo, the next place at which we made any stay was 
 Cleveland, and here we may be said to have " struck ile," for we visited 
 one of the largest oil works in the United States. Yet the oil is not 
 found at the spot ; it is brought by conduit pipes no leas a distance than 
 eighty miles; the convenien'ie of water and railway accommodation at 
 Cleveland being I presume the cause of its selection. 
 
 Both crude and refined petroleum are despatched from these works. 
 The conveyance of the crude oil employs the very large stock of 6,000 
 iron tank railway waggons, all belonging to this one firm. This is the 
 birthplace of hnuaiui ^ of thousands of the well-known blue-coloured 
 barrels, iu which a mor refined oil is sent out. We saw them in course of 
 
)r four feet 
 fire issuing 
 
 g no period 
 lisplay the 
 
 )er, as the 
 ointing to 
 
 ct we were 
 irms of the 
 display of 
 nly did not 
 not but be 
 f those we 
 
 if the town 
 round. It 
 for its iron 
 e, unfenced 
 the train's 
 the place ; 
 1 which the 
 
 the road- 
 s being no 
 n the foot- 
 e pathway 
 tetween the 
 
 r stay was 
 we visited 
 e oil is not 
 itance than 
 lodation at 
 
 lese works, 
 cof 6,000 
 rhis is the 
 e-colonred 
 
 1 course of 
 
 83 
 
 construction, and the rapidity with which they were tamed out was almost 
 magical. Machinery was arranged for every stage ; directly after the 
 staves were marshalled into circular order, to tighten tliP whole together 
 with iron bands, draw down the hoops, plane the edg<^s, test the barrel, 
 and send it down the long procession of casks that travelled gradually 
 along the trough to the paiut shop. The painting was done by hand ; 
 a broad paint brush is dipped into the composition by the man entrusted 
 with the work, and with one or two turns of the finger the barrel is 
 twisted, painted all round its circumference, on the top and bottom in 
 addition, and is sent rolling to join its companions. Four to five barrels 
 a minute were turned out by one man. 
 
 The formation of the tin canisters was as rapidly carried out. A 
 huge stock of square plates of tin was shown us. By a stroke on 
 the right-hand side and another on the left, one of these plates suddenly 
 assumed the shape of a square canister ; another turn ,iut on the top, 
 second put on the bottom, whilst a third adjustment fixed a tap on the 
 top and the work was complete ! 
 
 Cleveland is called the " Forest City," its streets and squares being 
 shaded by lofty elms and leafy maple trees. The most nottd street is 
 called Euclid Avenue, 2^ miles long ; it is lined with noble houses 
 standing in their own grounds, coming down unfenced to the pathway in 
 the mode I have already mentioned. 
 
 As we drove through tlie Avenue we were informed that Mr. So and 
 So, worth so many dollars, lived on the right, Mr. So and So, worth so 
 many dollars, lived on the left, &c., this estimate of wealth appearing to 
 be the principal gauge of tht .:timation in which tae citizens were held 
 by the representatives of Cleveland. 
 
 T should not omit to mention the huge swing bridge which has lately 
 been constructed in Cleveland, across the river Cuyahoga, connecting the 
 two sides of the city, in substitution for a ferry. The bridge in breadth 
 equals Loadon Bridge, and has such an apparent solidity that to see it 
 swing aside, to allow vessels to pass along the river, was a surprise tu 
 us ijs onlookers. 
 
 We travelled the next day to Toledo, a small port at the extreme 
 west end of Lake Erie (about 50,000 people). 
 
 The grain elevators are the principal pride of the place; these 
 elevators are very bfty constructions, consisting of immense bins for the 
 storage of grain and corn, with mechanical appliances for clearing the 
 contents either out of ships, or out of trucks, when brought alongside, 
 and for raising (elevating) the grain by a kind of Jacob's ladder into 
 
 
 
84 
 
 these huge bins ; there the corn I'emains until orders are received for 
 forwarding it, when it is delivered by means of shoots and endless bauds 
 into ships, or into trucks, as may be required. 
 
 The way in which the wharf frontage of the railway depot had been 
 damaged and torn away during the winter showed how powerful the 
 action of the ice had been along the sides of the Lake. 
 
 From Toledo we travelled to Detroit, our train being drawn by 
 an engine called the " Fontaine." The engine is v'>ry peculiar in its 
 construction, but the patentee expressed himself highly satisfied that 
 it would be the engine of the future. Few people, ho^^evt', beside 
 himself appear to haye adopted this sanguine exptct'i,f ;n. ' -^se to 
 whom he had sbjwn his original scheme told him that tu* cu^iue would 
 not move itself ! but this prediction was falsified, and it must be admitted 
 that he carried out his promise to run our train f,t liixty miles per hour. 
 For several miles we maintained this speed. The peculiarity of con- 
 struction is that the driving wheel is fixed high up on the side of the 
 boiler, acting upon two other wheels, the lower of which rests upon the 
 rails. A notice of the engine appeared a few days back in one of the 
 English railway publications, but the whole system of its construction 
 was condeumed as a mechanical blunder. 
 
 Detroit is a far more important port than Toledo ; it is a place of 
 100,000 inhabitants. AVe were met at Detroit by another deputation of 
 the representatives of the town, and made a tour of the river froiuta^ ■ 
 in a beautiful steam yacht belonging to a Mr. McMillan, the ,. - 
 prietor of the largest railway car-building establishment in the SLrt,.- 
 The city extends about seven miles along tl" sids of the stream, with 
 mills, shipyards, foundries, grain elevators, railway steam fc'-'^s, and 
 warehouses on the banks. On the opposite side of the '•;■ lies 
 Windsor, a u.uch older place, but ou Canadian territory, and here again 
 we were struck with the want of growth on tbe part of the Canadian 
 town as cjmpared with Detroit, where business seemed to be progressing 
 with wonderful rapidity. 
 
 We drove in the usual processional style through the principRi ■•; ^pI^ 
 of Detroit; it is one of the best paved towns in the United r.K: ^^. 
 Circular blocks of pine trees, there called cedar-wood, are usea for 
 making the roadways. A central square named " < 'anipus Martins," and 
 the wide street called Woodward Ave 'le^ ,onii!r<e the principal features 
 of the town. The private houses are geBi^u.^y constructed with 
 verandahs, and to sit outside in rocking chairs, under the protection of 
 the verandah, seemed to be the afternoon custom of the inhabitants. 
 
 t'i 
 
 % 
 
85 
 
 received for 
 dless bauds 
 
 at had been 
 owerful the 
 
 ; drawn by 
 culiar in its 
 itisfied that 
 evc *, beside 
 . '•'^se to 
 iijj,tue would 
 be admitted 
 as per hour. 
 rity of con- 
 i side of the 
 its upon the 
 1 one of the 
 construction 
 
 is a place of 
 eputation of 
 ver froiita^ ' 
 m, the ,. ' 
 I the Si:'ti.- 
 stream, with 
 fe'-'-ifts, and 
 le ■<'>' lies 
 d here again 
 ;he Canadian 
 J progressing 
 
 ncipal st jpIb 
 nlted *,-. ^1. 
 are usea for 
 laitius," and 
 cipal features 
 iructed with 
 protection of 
 abitants. 
 
 Leaving Detroit we settled down for the night in our cars, and in the 
 early morning found ourselves on the shores of Lake Michigan and 
 approaching Chicago. 
 
 This is the great central city of the United States, with lines of 
 railway conver^'ig to it from all directions. It is the point which 
 regulates the railway traffic arrangements for the conveyance of bread 
 stuffs, and meat and provisions to the coast. It is also the centre of the 
 pork packing busiuess. One of tlie newspapers published there gives 
 itself the title of the luter.Oceanic. 
 
 As in other towns the first thing that occurred to us was the 
 wretched state of the streets. The excuse given was that they had never 
 had them ri^ht since the great fire, but, although the city has suffered 
 from fire twice — first in 1871, and again in 1874, — there would appear 
 to have been plenty of time to put the roadways in condition. Some 
 very handsome edifices have sprung up since the last fire, and the town 
 is an illustration of the rapid and substantial growth of commercial cities 
 in the States. In 1830 the place consisted of twelve or fifteen houses, 
 and about 100 inhabitants, whilst in 1881 the population was nearly 
 550,000. 
 
 We were informed by the ^Nlayor of Chicago that one of the establish- 
 ments Englishmen always inspected were the slaughtering places and 
 packing-ofiices in conuection with the Union Stock Depots. He gave 
 such an account of the disgusting details of tlio treatment of the unfor- 
 tunate animals appointed to be made into pork, that I made up my mind 
 ..ct. to accompany that portion of the excursion. From information 
 • eived, I am assured that the statement 'j perfectly correct that 
 unfortunate pigs — to the number of 10,0C0 a day !— are made to run up 
 a plank at one end of the establishment, caught by the hind leg by a 
 vunniiig noose, elevated momentarily to the place of execution, then 
 passed through various stages, and come out in the end, part cut up 
 into joints, and part manufaciured into sausages. Only a few of our 
 party went over the premises, and 1 observed that for some days after- 
 wards they carefully avoided eating either ham or bacon. 
 
 I occupied myself that afternoon in witnessing a game of base-ball, 
 which appears to be the American national sport. The excitement in 
 connection with the match (one between the players of Chicago and 
 Buffalo) was very great ; many thousands were present in the enclosed 
 ground where the matcli was played The result of each innings was 
 telegraphed immediately to clubs interested in the game, and on the 
 ground telegraph intelligence was received and announced of two other 
 
matches which were being played at the same time in distant cities of the 
 States. The game more resembles the boyish one of rounders than it 
 does that of English cricket. 
 
 The day on which we were at Chicago was that appointed for the 
 appearance of the revised Edition of the New Testament. Two of the 
 leading newspapers in Chicago undertook to include in the columns of their 
 (i v\; T)aper the whole of the Testament. I obtained admission to one of 
 thw , and witnessed with much interest the wonderful rapidity with 
 
 which se enonnous sheets of paper were being struck off, folded and 
 sent out for sale. The price of the newspaper containing the whole of 
 the New Testament was five cents., about 2^d. 
 
 One of the places we visited was the Exchange, where the quotations 
 for corn, grain, pork, and provisions are settled. The clamour of the 
 place was simply deafening. It was crowded with a mass of men who 
 looked more like rouglis at a race course than men carrying on commercial 
 interests of the largest value. 
 
 The hotels of Chicago are very extensive. The landlord of the 
 " Grand Pacific," at which we stayed, was very attentive, but seemed to 
 to think that he had the right of patronising us to any extent. 
 
 He suggested to the Duke of Sutherland that there was a performance 
 worth seeing at one of the theatres, and obtained a half-promise that His 
 Grace would attend. Wu dined without any hurry, and presently the 
 fact was elicited that the performance at the theatre had been kept 
 waiting for the coming of the Duke from half to three-quarters-of-an- 
 hour, whilst at the time the Duke was quite unconscious that any promise 
 he had given would have the least effect upon the regular course of the 
 performance. The affair however, was taken in perfect good part 
 by the audience. 
 
 The town itself is upwards of ten miles in length, and is built entirely 
 on the rectangular principle ; the parks are three or four in number, and 
 are well kept, but all look so new, and are of such recent construction, 
 that they appear more like ornamental nursery gardens than parks ; we 
 had a long afternoon's drive through them under the guidance of 
 Mr. Newell, the manager of the Michigan and Lake Shore Railway, in 
 whose charge we had been since leaving Buffalo. 
 
 Outside the town boundary of Chicago to the southward, a miniature 
 city has lately sprung up, which we were shown over. It is called the 
 Town of Pullman, and is rising on 3,500 acres of land, purchased by the 
 Company of that name, the principal proprietor being the gentleman who 
 is known in connection with the sleeping and dining cars. Here are schools, 
 
8; 
 
 tics of the 
 •s than it 
 
 id for the 
 wo of the 
 ns of their 
 to one of 
 idity with 
 olded and 
 e whole of 
 
 [jnotations 
 
 our of the 
 
 men who 
 
 ommercial 
 
 rd of the 
 seemed to 
 
 srformance 
 ie that His 
 esently the 
 been kept 
 ters-of-an- 
 ny promise 
 arse of the 
 good part 
 
 lilt entirely 
 amber, and 
 instruction, 
 parks ; we 
 uidance of 
 A,ailway, in 
 
 [I miniature 
 3 called the 
 ised by the 
 kleman who 
 ire schools, 
 
 hotels, a ])ub]ic library, parks, lakes, pubUc grounds, a station terminus, 
 waterworks, canals, model dwellings, all in counection with the shops 
 jmd factories of the Company. The streets and avenues are 100 feet 
 wide. The works are a model of completeness. The stationary engine 
 which works the whole of the machinery is said to be the largest 
 in the world, and had oiiginally been at Philadelphia at the Centennial 
 Exposition. 
 
 Adjacent to the Pullman Car Works were to be found the Paper 
 Car-Wheel Company's Works, a company formed for the purpose of 
 using paper in lieu of iron for the centres of railroad car-wheels. The 
 [)aper is made from wood reduced to pulp, and, being condensed under 
 hydraulic pressure to solidity like granite, becomes impervious to water 
 and all atmospheric conditions. 
 
 From Chicago, we travelled to Milwaukee, a town of 150,000 
 inhabitants, on the west bank of Lake Michigan, celebrated for its 
 bitter beer. 
 
 The Canadian lines have endeavoured to push their interests as far 
 as this place by running steamboats and floats across to the opposite 
 side of the lake ; it forms a small competitor with Chicago for the corn 
 and grain industries. 
 
 Here we were met by the Honourable Mr. Mitchell, a Scotchman by 
 birth, to whose business activity and enter])rise the town owes much 
 of its present prosperity. We were shown all the points of interest 
 by him, and visited the "National Asylum for Disabled Soldiers," 
 beautifully situated on the outskirts of the town. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell is the president of a consolidation of railways of 
 upwards of 4,000 miles in length, the bulk of which has been promoted 
 by him into the corn-producing districts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, 
 those States having made grants of land in aid of such extensions. 
 
 Leaving Milwaukee, we made a dash towards the prairie districts; 
 and our night journey through the State of Wisconsin brought us at 
 day-break to the Mississip[)i, which we crossed at the town called 
 La Crosse. Our journey thence to St. Paul, a distance of 180 miles, 
 wap. made along the river side. The banks of the Mississippi consist 
 of a series of headlands called "bluffs," jutting up throughout its 
 whole course. Some are precipitous, some worn into strange shapes, 
 some conical, occasionally long frontages of limesi;one cliffs. One 
 ''bluff"" was pointed out to us, called the "Spirit Rock," having been 
 worshipped of old by the Red Indians ; another, the " Maiden Rock," 
 from which some young love-lorn girl sprang into the stream. 
 
88 
 
 As oar train passed along the banks we noticed steamers accom- 
 panying large floats of timber. The steamers are of peculiar construction, 
 having the paddle wheels at the stern instead of the side, and the mode 
 in which they convey the floats of timber (called "lumber") is by 
 steaming behind and pushing the lumber in front. 
 
 By middle day we reached the town of St. Paul, which was 
 decorated with flags to welcome us. This place now numbers 50,000 
 inhabitants, whilst in 1838 not a single house existed on the site it now 
 occupies. 
 
 A log chapel, built by a Jesuit Missionary in 1841, gave the name 
 to the place ; and now, in the course of but forty years, this log hut has 
 developed into a city with forty churches, four public libraries, three 
 hospitals, a State Capitol, an opera house seating 1,200 people, and 
 innumerable mills and factories. 
 
 After a tour of inspection round the place, we ^vere driven in the 
 afternoon of a frightfully hot day ten miles to ^ ineapolis, another 
 town of 50,000 inhabitants. 
 
 These two places are the head-quarters of the milling trade, an 
 enormous quantity of flour being exported thence to all parts of the 
 States as well as to this country. 
 
 At Minneapolis, we were told by the Mayor, in true American 
 style, that there they had the " largest mills upon the planet," and we 
 were asked to accompany him to inspect them. When we arrived at 
 the mills, however, owing to some misunderstanding or miscalculation 
 (though our coming was certainly known), we were told that the works 
 of the mill were " down " ; " they were not working,'' and to be shown 
 over a flour-mill not at work was by no means interesting. It was 
 conjectured that, on the supposition that some of our party were 
 millers, the mill was purposely closed against inspection; but I am 
 assured by Mr. Finlay Dun, who visited the States last autumn, shortly 
 after us, that there cannot have been any intentional discourtesy or 
 unwillingness to allow us to inspect the mill. In his case, the proprietors 
 knew that he was making official and technical enquiries, and afforded 
 him the fullest opportunity for thoroughly completing his task. 
 
 There is no lack of water power in Minneapolis ; the town is 
 situated on the river Mississippi, and the falls of St. Anthony, close to 
 the large mills, are now utilised as power. These falls were formerly 
 celebrated for the beauty of their cascades, but as they were gradually 
 eating away the river banks, they have been shorn of all their attractive- 
 ness, and instead of falling in cascades, have been closely boarded up at 
 
s accom- 
 struction, 
 the mode 
 ") is by 
 
 hich vras 
 rs 50,000 
 ite it now 
 
 the name 
 g hut has 
 ries, three 
 ;opIe, and 
 
 ren in the 
 , another 
 
 trade, an 
 jts of the 
 
 American 
 t," and we 
 arrived at 
 calculation 
 
 the works 
 I be shown 
 ;. It was 
 jarty were 
 
 but I am 
 nn, shortly 
 ourtesy or 
 proprietors 
 id a£forded 
 
 • 
 
 e town is 
 y, close to 
 re formerly 
 gradually 
 attractive- 
 rded up at 
 
 3y 
 
 the sides and along the river bed, and now flow along a wide wooden 
 shoot, being utilised for working saw mills, corn uills, and other similar 
 establishments. 
 
 On the return from Minneapolis we stopped to look at the noted 
 waterfall called Minne-ha-ha (" Laughing Water "), known to all readers 
 of Longfellow's poem, "Hiawatha." It is a graceful and elegant fall, 
 like a thin, glittering veil. The waters shoot over a projecting ledge, 
 and there is a footpath by which visitors easily walk underneath and 
 behind it. 
 
 Shortly after leaving St. Paul early the following morning, two or 
 three Red Indian Squaws came up to the train and spent a profitable 
 half-hour (while we were waiting for Mr. Russell, who had managed to 
 be left behind) in exhibiting their wares, consisting of bead and bark work, 
 reindeer skin slippers, &c. There is nothing inviting in their counte- 
 nances, and all poetical ideas of Hiawatha and Pocohontas vanish at 
 their presence. 
 
 This day after passing along the richly wooded banks of the river 
 Minnesota we travelled towards Sioux City for at least ten hours con- 
 tinuously through the prairie. For miles and miles land destitute of 
 trees stretched right and left in unbroken evenness. Portions of it 
 were well under cultivation, with splendid black virgin soil, eighteen 
 inches deep ; while elsewhere large herds of cattle were to be seen around 
 the recently erected farm shedings. One of the diflBculties of those dis- 
 tricts is the want of timber. So plentiful, however, is the growth of maize, 
 that it is in cases of necessity used for fuel. The States ire making 
 concessions to parties undertaking to plant timber like trees for future use. 
 • Wo were accompanied by a Mr. Drake, the Land Commissioner of 
 the line, and his uncle of the same name : the latter gentleman had been 
 the pioneer of the line at a time wlien neither villages nor population 
 existed near. He and a few friends originally obtained the concession of 
 the land, and had satisfactorily carried out the construction of the line. 
 It is in this way that at the present time railway companies in the States 
 are able to extend their systems, either selling off the allotted land at a 
 premium or renting to fanners willing to settle in the district. 
 
 The Government Survey divides the land into sections, each one mile 
 square; thirty-six of these square miles :aaking a township. The thirty-six 
 squares aro all regularly numbered on a systematic principle. All those 
 with odd numbers are given to the railway company to dispose of, and 
 the rest (the even numbers) are for sale by the State to settlers or specu- 
 lators, one or two being reserved for educational endowments. 
 
40 
 
 Stations are established every six miles, and many of these have 
 gradually developed into villages, and are still developing as an extended 
 acreage of land comes imder cultivation in their neighbourhood. The 
 streets are obliged to be of a certain width, and the frontages of the 
 houses must conform to an appointed line. 
 
 At one of the stations, named Sibley, our party made a long halt, 
 and some of them visited the farmyards which were remote from the 
 line. On their return they expressed themselves much pleased with 
 what they had seen, and with the pluck and energy of the Englishmen 
 and their wives who were settling in these places, and who spoke in 
 terms of satisfaction ut their prospects in the undertaking. Agricul- 
 tural implements were to be seen at all the station yards, showing a brisk 
 business ; and advertisements for " breakers " — meaning men to break up 
 the ground — were posted up at all the stations. The largest English 
 settlement is at a place called Le Mars ; but it was late at the time we 
 arrived there, and we did not make any stay at that station. 
 
 It is in these prairie districts that the enormous number of emigrants 
 we hear of as annually flocking to the States are absorbed. In passing 
 through we came upon settlements made up of various nationalities ; 
 some being inhabited entirely by Russians, some by Norwegians, &c. 
 The whole of them are of necessity obliged to conform to the laws of 
 the United States, and before they can hold land and become denizens of 
 the States they must renounce, or express their willingness to renounce, 
 their allegiance to their former Sovereign. 
 
 We travelled through the night from Sioux City to Council Bluffs, on 
 the River Missouri, close to Omaha. Here in the morning wo were met 
 by Mr. Barnard, the manager of the line upon which we intended to travel 
 to Kansas, and were infoiined that, in consequence of the mischief done by 
 the Missouri in a recent flood, the line, which followed the course of the 
 river, had been washed away in many places, and was impassable. It 
 was necessary for us somehow to get to Kansas, and so commencing our 
 journey by this damaged Une, we soon saw to what an alarming extent 
 the river had affected it. 
 
 On many portions it was doubtful whether we should maintain our 
 stability upon the track, for the train surged up and down more like a 
 ship at sea than a train upon an ordinary line of railway. However, the 
 bogie vehicles stuck well to the rails, which our English coaches would 
 certainly have left ; and after a short experience of this journeying we 
 made a detour of sixty additional miles, to Crest'' n, and towards evening 
 found ourselves again on the banks of the Miss.;Uii, at a point called S 
 
41 
 
 e time we 
 
 Joseph. Again we had to travel with great care, in consequence of the 
 line being on the edge of the river, which here, as farther north, had 
 interfered with the position of the rails skirting its banks. 
 
 The Missonri is not by any means so line a river as the Mississippi. 
 The water is thick, and the river runs black and muddy, whilst the 
 scenery is flat and the blnffs have no interest in their outlines. 
 
 Late at night we reached Kansas, and there next morning our 
 pleasant party had to divide. The Duke of Sutherland and those that 
 accompanied him, Sir Henry and Lady Green, Mr. Stephen, Mr. Russell 
 and Mr. Wright, were to make their way across the continent to San 
 Francisco, whilst we turned in the opposite direction towards home. 
 
 There was nothing of note in Kansas, nor anything of marked 
 interest on the journey thence to St. Louis, if I may except the very 
 forward state in which we found the crops in this southern portion of our 
 journey. "VVe had left snow on the ground at Quebec, but as we 
 journeyed through the State of Missouri wheat was already in full ear. 
 
 ^c. Louis is a large town (the third in the States in point of popula- 
 tion, 560,000 inhabitants), situated on the Mississippi, after that river 
 has received the waters of the Missouri. The principal feature of 
 interest is the tpleudid bridge which spans the river. It is a double 
 bridge, having an upper portion allotted to vehicles and foot passengers, 
 whilst a double line of railway parses beneath. The wharves on the 
 river side were busy with sceam vessals trading to and from all points 
 along the river, and the town is a large railway centre with connecting 
 lines in all directions. 
 
 Another night journey from St. Louis, through Indianapolis, brought 
 us to Cincinnati. This place is situated on the River Ohio, ard lying 
 very low suffers frightfully from heat. Within a month of the time of 
 our visit we heard that so excessive had been the heat that sunstroke had 
 carried off as many as seventy -five people daily for several days together. 
 
 In the churches Japanese fans were considered a part of the fittings, 
 all the pews being provided with them, and men and women alike availed 
 themselves of them. 
 
 The place is surrounded by a range of heights, which are reached by 
 vertical tramways, so constructed that not only can passengers be con- 
 veyed upon them, but carriages and tram-cars with their horses are 
 raised from the lower level of the town to the upper range of the hills 
 which surround it. Trara.cars starting from the centre of the town 
 finish their journey in the outskirts without the passengers having to 
 aUght when passing up the inclines. 
 
42 
 
 At the top of each of these inclines pleasure grounds are formed, from 
 which extensive views of the surrounding country can be obtained, and 
 at which extensive quantities of lager beer are consumed. The German 
 nationality was in the ascendant, and we saw how the German mothers 
 were teaching the young idea how to drink, by giving this beer to 
 children scarcely more than a month old. 
 
 Some of the outskirts of Cincinnati are nicely wooded. We drove 
 through them in the afternoon, and returning late witnessed a sight new 
 to me, that of fire-flies dancing in multitudes in the grass along the 
 roadside. 
 
 From Cincinnati we made a day journey to Pittsburgh, a town of 
 140,000 inhabitants, arriving in that smoky city towards evening. One 
 of the suburbs is named Birmingham, another Manchester, and for 
 blackness and smoke Pittsburgh, with its suburbs, certainly carries off 
 the palm from their namesakes in this country. Judging by the 
 quantity of smoke, the amount of business done was very large. Mills, 
 forges, collieries, and factories, on all sides, were adding to the blackness, 
 darkening the atmosphere to such an extent that from the windows of 
 our hotel, on the borders of the Monongahela River, only the most 
 occasional glimpses could be obtained of the opposite side of the stream, 
 about 300 yards wide. The " smoke abatement committee " had certainly 
 no hand in the arrangements of Pittsburgh. 
 
 The town is somewhat similar to Cincinnati in its situation, having 
 inclined tramways to enable passengers to reach the elevated heights 
 which surround it. 
 
 We spent the forenoon in examining the station arrangements of 
 Pittsburgh, which is a large transfev station of the Pennsylvania Railway. 
 The shunting grounds for goods trafiBc are well laid out on the gravita- 
 ting principle, the ground falling in both directions at a suitable gradient. 
 
 In the afternoon we made our journey from Pittsburgh, through the 
 Alleghany Mountains to Altoona. The guide books all spoke highly of 
 the scenery to be traversed, and it certainly was very beautiful. The 
 line climbed through gorges, reminding us c* the most striking portions 
 of Dovedale and Alton Towers, fresh beauty being developed as each 
 Curve opened out a fresh scene. 
 
 While ascending the incline towards the summit of the range we 
 observed, on the line of rails on which we were travelling, a con- 
 siderable growth ofirgreen vegetation, the line looking like a corn-field 
 in spring, whilst on the opposite line the track was bare and stony. 
 This proved to be an illustration of the flow of the trafiBc over the 
 
48 
 
 5 range we 
 ing, a con- 
 
 line in one direction as compared with the other, for on the journey 
 towards the seaboard, the way we were going, corn in bullc is conveyed 
 in large quantities, and the grain had triclcled down from the trucks on to 
 the track and sprouted into life, whilst nothing of the sort existed on the 
 opposite line. 
 
 The " Horse Shoe Curve," which w« traversed after pusshig the long 
 tonnel at the summit of the line, is well' known as a triumph of engineer- 
 ing skill— a continuous descent c ." six miles along the hill-side, through 
 beautiful pine woods, curving sharply round at the horse shoe, and 
 following the defiles of the mountain slopes. About twelve miles from 
 the summit lies the railway town of Altoona, at which we stayed the night. 
 The morning of the next day was spent iu an inspection of the works. 
 Passei !;er engines, goods engines, carriages, saloons, waggonH, wheels, 
 axles, springs, and the whole paraphernalia of railway appliances were 
 here to be seen in full construction. 
 
 We originally intended to have made a detour hence to f;ee the oil 
 region, and the coal region of the Lehigh Valley, but tiuiv. did not allow ; 
 we had to push forward to reach New York by nightfall. On the way, 
 as our special train stopped at one of the stations, intelligence was ' 
 brought, greatly to the satisfaction of our American friends, that the 
 Derby had just been won by "Iroquois." 
 
 Our course this day layaiong the banks of the River Juniata, and 
 afforded constant scenes of beauty, reminding us of Matlock, only the 
 rivers were wider, the valleys broader, and the hills more lofty. 
 
 This was our final railway journey in the States. Swinging along at 
 nearly a mile a minute, we had a farewell dinner in the train with our 
 friends of the Pennsylvania hne ; and a hearty vote of thanl was given 
 to the manager of that hne (Mr. Frank Thomson), whos'3 kind ofiSces 
 had been actively and constantly aiding us not only in planning our 
 journey, but during its continuance. That evening we found ourselves 
 once more in New York (this time, at the Windsor Hotel), having safely 
 completed our 5,500 miles of railway travelling (an average of 138 miles 
 per day) since our first arrival in that city. 
 
 A couple of days in New York enabled us to see somijthing more of 
 the city and its business developments, and to make farew(3ll calls on our 
 friends. One evening we strolled into a church, adjacent to our hotel, at 
 which a wedding service was proceeding ; the evening is the usual time 
 for weddings in America, no prohibition as to canonical hours existing. 
 
 The Marquis of Stafford rejoined us at New York, and on Saturday, 
 4th June, our party, five in number, met at the White Star Wharf, a'id 
 
u 
 
 at ten the "Germanic" sailed for Kngliuul, in clmrj^o of Capt. Kennedy. 
 Again wo were most fortunate in the weather for our voyuj^o across the 
 Atlantic ; no sea sickness was experienced by any of our party, and 
 pleasant companions rendered the voyage most enjoyable. The twelve 
 o'clock observations were taken in the same way as on the "(iallia," but 
 coming eastward the day was one hour shorter than on the opposite 
 direction: only thirty minutes were allowed to elapse from eleven till 
 twelve o'clock was annoupced. The same system of speculating on the 
 run of the vessel, and balloting for tickets, took place as on the outward 
 voyage. The best day's run we made coming home was 38(1 miles in 
 23i hours, as against the " Gallia," 390 in 24^ hours. It is permitted to 
 passengers on the afternoon before reaching Queenstown to descend to 
 the depths of the engine-room and inspect the nmchinery ; it we ' new 
 sensation to be below the level of the sea and witness the 'ing 
 
 screw-shaft tearing round at the high velocity necessary to maiiuuiu our 
 speed. 
 
 Among our passengers were the Wynaus, American gentlemen, 
 owners of the cigar-shaped yacht, now lying oiY Cowcs. This form of 
 vessel they strongly contended would be the steamer of the future, 
 especially for Atlantic sailing. "We had also Madame Gerster, a prima 
 donna, on board, whose musical fame was such as to deter any of the 
 other lady passengers from venturing to sing in the saloon. A special 
 concert in aid of the Liverpool Seamen's Hospital was given on board 
 (the Marcjuis of Stafford in the cliair), at which this lady greatly distin- 
 guished herself. Colonel Stanford, the Ex-Governor of Cahfornia, was 
 also a passenger. He is the owner of a very large stock farm near San 
 Francisco, and his great hobby is the study of the action and attitudes 
 of animals : he had organised at his place in connection with his trotting 
 ground, a series of thirty or forty cameras for instantaneous photography ; 
 the lenses were brought into action by the actual passage of the animals, 
 either at speed or when walking, and the photographs thus obtained 
 placed in due order in his album (which was constantly on view, and in 
 explanation) gave complete series of views of the action of the horse, &c., 
 in walking, trotting, cantering, leaping, galloping, and so forth, the result 
 differing largely from the conventional mode of displaying such attitudes. 
 
 In now drawing this paper to a close, I take the opportunity of 
 expressing my thanks to the Directors of our Company for selecting me 
 (in view of the inabiUty of our General Manager, Mr. Findlay. at the 
 time to join) as a member of the party appointed to visit America. The 
 journey was a continuous success ! From the hour of our landing at 
 
u 
 
 New Yoi^t to tho dny of oiir departure, tliosc wo mot with nppeflrod 
 to vlo with ono aiiotlior in showinpf us attention. With rcj^ard to the 
 railways, there was a contest of courtesy throughout the wliole journey 
 in (>anada and America; our only regret being that we were unable to 
 avail ourselves of the friendly offers made by various lines for our accom- 
 modation. 
 
 At the hotels our dilTicnlty was to make the managers understand that 
 we did not wish to be boxed-up in a private room, but preferred taking 
 our meals in the ordinary saloon, thus having the opportunity of observ- 
 ing, even at the expense of being ourselves observed. 
 
 Tho menu for meals was always very liberal. Here is ouo for breakfast ; — 
 
 ^rt;il;f:ist. 
 
 Applo8. 
 English Brenkfast Tea. Onlonfr Tea. 
 Chocolate. Green Tea. 
 
 FISH. 
 
 Coffee. 
 
 Smoked Salmon. Frosh Fluli, fried or bnllcd. rotomao Horring. 
 Cod Fish Balls. Bait Mookorel. 
 
 BROILED. 
 
 Lamb Cntletn. Rump Stoak and Fried Onions. 
 
 Sir'.oin Stouk. Veal Catlotx. CalCa Liver. Matton Chopg. 
 
 Uam. Breakfast Bacon. 
 
 FRIED. 
 CalTs Llrer. Frizzled Beef with Cream Dressing. 
 
 STEWED. 
 
 Mash. 
 
 Hashed Bopf. Mutton. Oatmeal. Kidnoy. 
 Cracked Wheat. Chicken. 
 
 Baked. 
 
 POTATOES. 
 
 Stewed, Fried. 
 
 Lyonnaise. 
 
 EQGS. 
 
 Fried. Shirred. Scrambled. Boiled. 
 Omolottes Plain, with Jelly, Parsley, Uam, Cheese, or Ram. 
 
 COLD. 
 Ham. Corned Beef. Tongne. Roast Beef. Chicken. 
 
 BREAD, ETC. 
 
 French Rolls. Wheat Bread. Soda Crackers, 
 
 Graham Rolls, Graham Bread. Corn Cakes. Water Crackers. 
 
 Corn Bread. Corn MnfBns. Flannel Cakes, 
 
 Toast.— Dry, Dipped, Battered, Milk. 
 
 Fruit was always served at the commencement of breakfast. Apples, 
 oranges, bananas, and as the season advanced, strawberries. Tomatoes 
 cooked and uncooked were supplied with every meal. With regard to 
 dinners, the fish ever recurring was "shad," a kin"" of half-breed between 
 a soft mackerel and a softer salmon. Oysters were to be had in May, 
 remarkably delicate in flavour notwithstanding their large size. " Clams" 
 
46 
 
 were constantly in the menu, either raw, or in soup, or in clam chowder, 
 but in no shape did they seem inviting to me. The soup made from 
 terrapin was esteemed a hi^'her delicacy ^han turtle, and would have given 
 a London Alderman a new sensation. The terrapin is a kind of cross 
 between a turtle and a gigantic frog. 
 
 The hotels adopt, for the most part, a fixed price per day for the 
 rooms occupied, including the daily table iVhote meals, 4, 4|, or 5 dollars 
 per day being about the charge at the best houses. At these the bed- 
 rooms have attached to each of them a bath-room and a dressing-room, 
 and are furnished with writing-tables and easy chairs it not being 
 considered otherwise than usual to receive callers in the daytime in the 
 bed-room. The bed-room servants were for the most part Irish women ; 
 the hotel servants, with scarcely an exception, were " darkies." Fees may 
 not be expected, but they are certainly not declined. It fell to my lot to 
 keep the accounts. I found no difficulty in deahng with the calculations of 
 American money; their currency is a decimal system, with the dollar as 
 the standard ; the -lollar is worth 4s. or 4s. 2d. in our money, and roughly 
 the |--dollar represents our florin, and the ^-dollar " 25 cents " — our 
 shilling. The 20-dollar piece in gold is a very handsome coin, about the 
 size of an old George III. penny ; this gold currency is not in very general 
 use, the bulk of accounts being dealt with in paper currency. The notes 
 are known as " green-backs," or disparagingly are spoken of as " shin- 
 plaisters ! " The notes are for 50, 20, 10, 5, and smaller figures of dollars. 
 In settling with cab-drivers they will often produce a handful of dirty- 
 loo :ing notes for 1 and 2 dollars each. 
 
 We found both the telegraph and telephone in very general use, the 
 
 former being almost the exclusive medium for communicating with our 
 
 railway friends, the distances being too great to allow of very rapid 
 
 correspondence by mail service, however veil organised ; the charges in 
 
 the Eastern States are very moderate, but beyond Chicago the tariif rose 
 
 considerably. An arrangement, however, is in force by which half-rates 
 
 only are charged for messages sent after 6 p.m. The telephone was in 
 
 constant employ in the cities ; no ho';el or public office was without one, 
 
 and, as an illustration of its e.\ten?!ve use, I may adduce the fact that 
 
 from our hotel at Boston not only could we speak to any office in Boston, 
 
 but the system was so complete that wo were able also to speak to any 
 
 of the offices in Lowell, a town twenty-six miles distant. The telegraph 
 
 organisati'^n by which banks i\nd public offices can instantly apprize the 
 
 police at their central or district offices of robbery, forgery, or other 
 
 neccc:<5ity for prompt action, was spoken of as highly effective. The 
 
47 
 
 English people are very far bebiad the States and the Canadian towns in 
 many of these respects. 
 
 With regard to the newspapers of America, and particularly the 
 newspaper reporters, I cannot say that any favourable impression was 
 made. Their articles generally struck one as being in bad form ; they 
 dwell much more on the mode of delivery than on the drift of the 
 speeches ; and our own party by no means escaped the offensive but feeble 
 personalities by which they fill their columns. We found, on our return 
 to New York, that one of the daily papers circulating in that city had 
 day by Oay been giving some absurdly grotesque accour s of our doings 
 by an assumed correspondent, who was represented as accompanying the 
 party, btt who evidently had never been absent from Broadway. The 
 newspapei- reporters at Cleveland thought it worth while to state that I 
 objected co be called "•Neeley," for, owing to some unaccountable reason, 
 the Americans did not pronounce my name correctly. From the day of 
 arrival in New York I found myself called " Neeley," and had hard work 
 to get my patronymic recognised ii its proper pronunciation. The 
 President (Garfield) asked me " how I spelt my name? " and I observe 
 that Dr. Russell, in his work •' tlosperothen," containing a very full 
 account of our journey, has failed to give it accurately. 
 
 I cannot speak in too high terms of the bearing and intelligence of 
 the gentlemen, whether directors or officers, representing the American 
 Unes of railway with whom we came in daily communication ; ther3 was 
 none of the swagger and boastfulnss we are accustomed to associate in 
 our idea of the American, nor among the officers of the Army did we see 
 any of the self-laudation and conceit said to be one of their characteris- 
 tics. With Mr. Russell iu their company (he was always called " RuU's- 
 run Russell" in the newspapers) perhaps they iiought it unadvisable to 
 recount too many triumphs. At Chicago wf certainly met with many of 
 the thorough Yankee type, and some of the Chicago men on board the 
 " Germanic " were equally marked in their manners. 
 
 Our visit was of course a short and flying one, but so far as it 
 afforded opportunities for observation, I think I convey the general 
 impression left on the minds of the whole of our party, in saying that we 
 were much struck with the solidity and magnitude of the business, and 
 of the business capabilities of the Uuited States. Every port we visited, 
 every station we inspected, every town we saw, every State we traversed, 
 added its evidence in this dircuou. Everything seemed prosperous and 
 successful. Fluctuations may from time to time occur ; *' corners " 
 and " rings " may occasionally interfere with the legitimate development 
 
48 
 
 of business, but there is in the States a firm understratum of sound 
 commerciul enterprise capuble of almost unlimited expansion, directed by 
 men of the keenest intelligence, men endowed with great originality and 
 activity of mind, and carrying on their work with such energy and vigour 
 ns to make the task a difficult one for the rivals of America to hold 
 their own in the race of competition. 
 
 Speaking individually, I must say I returned from America entertain- 
 ing a high respect for the country, far beyond that I had felt at the 
 outset, but having seen nothing to cause me in any degree to regret that 
 I " remained an Enghshman." 
 
49 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTES RELATIVE TO AMERICAN AND CANADIAN 
 
 RAILl/wiVS. 
 
 Our first experience of American Railways was on the elevated Railway 
 of New York. This line, in many respects, differs from any other on 
 the American continent; it is constructed on a track (gauge 4 feet 
 8| inches), formed through some of the principal streets, about on a 
 level with the windows of the first floor; some portions of the railway 
 are formed on pillars (single ones) placed "1 Mie pa;;hway, the up line 
 above the footpath on one :;"'de, and the di c on the other, thus the 
 
 trains run over the heads of the foot passenger other portions are 
 constructed over the centre of the streets ou doub.j rows of pillars, and 
 run over the heads of the teams using the streets, and o\ r the busy 
 lines of tramways which serve the public of New York. The line takes 
 some sharp curves at the corner of streets where it pursues a course at 
 right angles to its previous route; the speed is considerably modeated 
 at such points. 
 
 The trains consist of four or five long vehicles, called " Cars," with 
 entrances at each end of each vehicle, these entrances forming an end 
 platform to each car by which passengers at the stations pass to aua 
 from the station platform, which on these elevated lines are high plat- 
 forms level with the carriage floor. The seats of the vehicles are ranged 
 in the same way as in a London 'bus, a broad passage existing down the 
 middle. Each car accommodates about fifty people. There is a con- 
 dnctor to each two vehicles, whose duty it is to announce to the pas- 
 sengers the name of each station as the train approaches it, and to open 
 and close the small iron gates leading from the end platforms of the car 
 to tha station platform. The signal to -tart is j^iven by (ho head con- 
 ductor, who rides in the middle of the train, palling (lie rord tiiat runs, 
 throughout the train, to intimate to tlic driver that all is right. 
 
m 
 
 The fares on the line are uniform by all trains for any distance in the 
 city — by the early morning trains 5 cents, during the day 10 cents. The 
 tickets are issued at a small office to passengers as they enter the station, 
 they are clipped by an examiner, and the passengers are requested to put 
 them at once into a box which stands conveniently for the purpose on the 
 platform, close to the entrance. 
 
 The trains are very frequent, the stations very close, but except at 
 the junctions there are no signals whatever ; the rules require the drivers 
 to maintain a constant look-oat, and keep out of each others way. 
 
 The Eames Vacuum Break in the driver's hands, acting throughout 
 the train, is the great defence against accident. 
 
 There are 3,500 trains run daily on the four lines which compose the 
 undertaking, carrying about 240,000 passengers per diem, the average 
 mileage made by each train and engine bemg 102 miles. There were in 
 the first instance two or three separate Companies which organised these 
 elevated railways, but they have been absorbed or worked by one system 
 called the " Manhattan " Railway, it being found advantageoup, I was 
 told, " to operate them as a unit " rather than as distinct undertakings. 
 
 The entire interior fittings of the cars are of wood, no canvas or cloth 
 being used ; the floor has upon it, in lieu of a carpet, a cover of light 
 shafts of wood placed near together, so as to allow an intervening space, 
 an arrangement very necessary in view of the spitting habits of the 
 American passengers. 
 
 On the other American lines the form of passenger carriages is 
 uniform, about 60 feet long, with end platforms for exit and entrance, 
 and a central passage or aisle, with seats capable of accommodating two 
 passengers side by side, the vehicle thus carrying about 48 passengers ; 
 the backs of the seats are reversible, so that the passengers can at their 
 pleasure sit facing their neighbours, or can turn their backs upon them ; 
 the space allowed to each passenger is very limited, and the accommo- 
 dation for luggage or small packages extremely poor. Each car is, 
 however, provided with a water close urinal, and lavatory. Iced 
 water is also furnished for the passent^ers; a heating apparatus is in 
 use in the winter, and compressed gas or kerosene is adopted for 
 lighting. 
 
 Each carriage has a communicaiion cord passing through it, by 
 which the driver's whistle can be sounded, and in addition each car has a 
 cord for the break, which is applied instantaneously by pulling the cord. 
 In the great majority of cases the Westinghouse Automatic JBreak is the 
 one in use. 
 
 th 
 
61 
 
 ;e in the 
 s. The 
 station, 
 d to put 
 le on the 
 
 xcept at 
 6 drivers 
 
 roughont 
 
 apose the 
 ! average 
 e were in 
 ised these 
 ae system 
 UP, I was 
 ;aljings. 
 ,s or cloth 
 ir of light 
 ng space, 
 ts of the 
 
 rrjages is 
 entrance, 
 ating two 
 assengers ; 
 an at their 
 pon them ; 
 accomrao- 
 leh car is, 
 iry. Iced 
 ratus is in 
 dopted for 
 
 ugh it, by 
 h car has a 
 g the cord. 
 3reak is the 
 
 
 The cars are without exception constrnoted with bogie trucks, 
 generally eight- wheeled vehicles, i.e., a couple of four-wheel bogies. 
 Some few of the private cars have twelve wheels, i.e., a couple of six- 
 wheel bogies, many of the Pullman are so fitted, but the majority have 
 four-wheeled bogie trucks. The coupling adopted for these cars is 
 automatic, and one or two patent couplings came under our obser- 
 vation. The " Miller " coupling is the one most in use, but the 
 Pennsylvania Railway adopt the " Janney " coupling ; both consist of a 
 clutch, which, when struck by the opposite coupling, turns partially 
 round and firmly grips it. To ensure a thorough coupling the blow 
 struck has to be somewhat smart, and the connection was not always 
 made at the first attempt. 
 
 We travelled throughout the States and Canada in a special train of 
 three cars, one a private saloon, one Pullman's sleeping and dining car, 
 and the third a car for baggage and servants. A passage existed 
 throughout the train so that we could readily move from one vehicle to 
 another, and the commodious open platform at the ends of the cars 
 afforded an excellent position for inspection while travelling. We 
 frequently made from 50 to 60 miles per hour, but at these speeds 
 the running was never so easy and smooth as that of our own best 
 trains on our own firm roads. A.t from SO to 40 miles per hour the 
 running was steady, and meals could be taken in comfort while so 
 travelling on good lines, but on some of the railways towards the 
 west the usual " trimming up " of the line after the winter had not 
 taken place, ami others had suffered from floods, so that these roads 
 were extremely bad, yet the bogie trucks managed to keep on these 
 uneven and shaky tracks which would certainly have thrown onr rigid 
 engines off the metals. 
 
 The action of the break in our train was quick and smooth. It was 
 Iried experimentaHy by pulling the cord in our carriage while running, 
 and acted promptly and powerfully, bringing the train to a stand although 
 the driver had his steam fully on. 
 
 The passenger engines are all constructed with bogie trucks and 
 " cow-catchers," and they all have the means of applying and releasing 
 the break throughout the train. A heavy bell is hung on the engine, and 
 this is tolled by the fireman as he approaches any level crossing, or nears 
 any busy spot, or phunts backwards and forwards in any station. The 
 clangour of these bells, when two or three engines are moving about in 
 the stations, is most discordant and confusing. 
 
 The appointed time-table called the "Schedule," pronounced 
 
52 
 
 " Skeddle," is that Vbich regulates the running of the trains on the 
 American lines, and in accordance with it the trains travel, and on 
 single lines (the extent of which is very great) meet each other at certain 
 fixed places on the journey. If there is any departure from the time- 
 table owing to the trains running out of course, they are controlled by 
 telegraph messages from sectional head-quarters by a " train despatcher," 
 who is appointed to this special duty. On some of the single lines 
 regulations exist by which, in case of unpunctuality, certain trains have 
 priority over others, and if after the lapse of /re minutes (which is allowed 
 for variation of watches) an expected train in one direction has not 
 arrived, the driver of the other is justified in going forward, expecting in 
 accordance with the printed order that such other train must have been 
 detained from some cause, and that the driver of it, well knowing that 
 he could not keep his appointment, had not started from the previous 
 station. If, however, the train has started and has failed on the journey, 
 it is the duty of the driver to send a flagman forward to stop the other 
 train, and on this system very large portions of the single hncs of 
 railway in America are worked. 
 
 When special trains are run they are spoken of as " wild " trains, and 
 are generally arranged to run as "second portions" of the trains .ilready 
 shown in the time-table, the engine of the fh'st portion carrying a 
 distinctive flag as an indication to any train appointed to meet them on 
 the road that a second portion of the train is following, and that the 
 latter must be crossed at the same place as the first portion, unless a 
 contrary order is given by the train despatcher. 
 
 On some of the lines a block system is being introduced, " absolute " 
 for passenger trains, " permissive " for goods trains ; but even on a line 
 thus worked the special train by which we travelled, when in transit over 
 the single line, was met on a long loop by one of the New York and 
 Chicago expresses, there being no signalman at either end of the loop 
 line upon which the trains crossed. Such a method of working block and 
 conducting trams over single lines was somewhat disquieting to any one 
 acquainted with the chances of misunderstanding in dealing with traflBc, 
 
 Automatic electric signals were in operation on portions of the 
 Boston and Albany line, and on some few other lines, tho signals being 
 put on by the action of the train passing along the rails, and taken off 
 again by the passage of the train at indicated spaces of half-a-mile or a 
 mile. I also observed near Cincinnati, and at one or two other points, 
 an electric arrangement, whereby, so long as an engine or portion of a 
 train remained upon a single line, a danger signal was exhibited against 
 
m 
 
 
 any train approachinf^ in an opposite direction. Tlie same arrangement 
 was in operation at tiie entrance to some of tlie tnnnel.-t, a danger signal 
 being exhibited until the whole train has run clear of the tunnel. Indica- 
 tions are also given in some cases to level crossings of the approach of 
 trains by the same system. So far as electric signals are concerned, this 
 was the only appliance that came under ray notice which appeared to 
 be of any special value. 
 
 With regard to signals generally there is a great diversity in shape, 
 height, and mode of exhibition. On the Pennsylvania Railway the 
 signals are exhibited from an elevated oblong frame worked by hand 
 pulleys from the block signal towers. On the Grand Trunk of Canada 
 the only signals are distant signals, one at each end of the station. The 
 only approach to a home signal to be found at their stations consisted of 
 a small square board suspended from the telegraph office. If the 
 approaching train has to be stopped out of course, the board is turned to 
 show towards the driver, otherwise the board stands on edge, and is not 
 therefore sighted by the driver. 
 
 On other lines no distant signal existed, the only indication to the. 
 driver being a pendent target at the telegraph ofEce, in the centre of the 
 station. If the line is clear for the train this target has to be turned off, 
 and held off by the telegraph operator until the train has passed, as the 
 normal state of the disc if, against the driver. 
 
 A simple flag stuck in a hole in the platform sufHces on some lines 
 as a signal to stop an approaching train; station signals, both home 
 and distant, being entirely unknown on such lines. 
 
 The only c^ass of signal in general use is one attached to the points, 
 of sidings coanected with the main line : if the main line is " right," 
 each of the'^e, at nighu, shows a green light to an ppproaching train, 
 but when 'i;he points are open for the siding a red hght is shown ; 
 during the day time, if the points are open for the siding, a red disc or 
 red cross is shown to the driver ; if all is right for the main line these 
 signals are on edge and not visible. Safety points for loops and sidings 
 are scarcely known. 
 
 Along the line there are occasionally found posts marked W or R ; 
 W signifying " sound the whistle," and R " ring the bell." These may 
 be assumed to take the place of distant signals, but they give no 
 indication to the driver whether the line 's clear oi* otherwise. Large 
 notice boards are adopted on some lines, stating, '' one mile to such 
 a station," " half-a-mile to such a crossing." At night the huge lamp 
 
 jf .i 
 
64 
 
 Trhich the engines carry in front casts a light on these notice boards, 
 and enables the driver to ascertain his whereabouts. 
 
 The junctions of railway lines, which we in England consider most 
 important for protection by signals, are, in America, less guarded by 
 signals even than the stations. 
 
 There are scores of junctions with no men in charge, no signals at 
 them, and no indication to the drivers that such junctions are at hand. 
 In the Boston district they are called " know nothing " junctions, and 
 the expression is by no means an unsuitable one. It is the duty of the 
 driver as he approaches these junctions to come to a istand, and when 
 he sees that the way is clear he crosses the junction and proceeds upon 
 his journey. The law requires that trains should come to a stand in 
 this way, and the stoppages on the journey, where many junctions exist 
 are in consequence very frequent. 
 
 Not only are junctions dealt with in this unsatisfactory way, but there 
 is no prohibition in the States to one railway crossing another on the 
 level. These crossings are in consequence very frequent, and, although 
 no notice-board is required in connection with the junctions, yet the 
 State Legislature -of several of the States requires that there shall be a 
 notification half-a-mile away before reaching these railway level crossings, 
 that a railway crossing will be met with within half-a-mile. 
 
 Whilst the engine-drivers have to look out for each other at the 
 junctions and railway level crossings in the way I have described, the 
 foot passengers and drivers of road vehicles have to look out for them- 
 selves at the level road crossings. With few exceptions no gates exist, in 
 the majority of cases a notice is exhibited : " Railway crossing, look out 
 for the locomotive " or " Look out for the cars ; " and it becomes the 
 duty of foot passengers to look out accordingly. 
 
 Cattle are of course liable to stray on the line at these level crossings, 
 but to prevent this, barriers are placed on each side of the crossing, and 
 a deep trench is made in the four-foot and six-foot spaces, as well as for a 
 short distance beyond, which forms the protection to prevent cattle 
 straying down the line. This arrangement, or one equivalent to it, is in 
 operation universally in the States, and is spoken of as the " cattle 
 guard." 
 
 So far as fences are concerned, in many cases no trouble whatever is 
 taken with respect to them. In some of the States it is the duty of the 
 adjoining proprietors to fence against the railway, and they avoid all 
 expense in connection with them by letting them go into decay. The 
 primitive settler's form of fence — a zigzag erection of rails without any 
 
 senti] 
 
 to CO 
 
 that 
 
 that 
 
 in th( 
 
 are ti 
 
 lines 
 
 I 
 
 frequ 
 
 drive; 
 
 whol( 
 
55 
 
 posts— is the general form; but on lines recently opened, for which the 
 State has laid the obligation of fencing on the railway company, a 
 barbed wire-fence is adopted, which is alike effective against man and 
 beast. 
 
 Not only in the small villages do the lines of railway pass through 
 the main streets anfeuced, but even in snch cities as Richmond and 
 Washington the trains start out along the main thoroughfares, having 
 horse and foot traffic on each side without the least protection. In the 
 town of Buffalo several streets are thus crossed on the level, and the 
 trains pass along the market-square. Lines of tramway cross the lines 
 of railway, and road vehicles and foot passengers appear to possess an 
 equal right with the locomotives, the only warning given of the approach 
 of trains being the monotonous ringing of the bell on the engine by the 
 fireman. 
 
 The City authorities of Chicago and some of the large cities 
 require a limitation in speed for trains while running within the 
 city limits. In Boston the roadways have large suspended* boards 
 extending across them, lowered and elevated to clear and to block the 
 crossing. 
 
 In the town of Newark, near Philadelphia, the roadway is closed 
 whilst the train is passing by a couple of barriers worked on a pivot 
 by a man in charge of the crossing. These barriers are lowered to stop 
 access to the line when a train is approaching, and when the line is 
 clear are raised to a perpendicular position, leaving the roadway free. 
 In the adjacent town of Elizabeth the authorities objected even to this 
 security being given, and preferred to maintain uninterrupted freedom 
 of passage across the roadway, falling back on the arrangement of a 
 noticp'board : " Look out for the locomotive." 
 
 At first sight these things were somewhat stai'tling to our English 
 sentiments, but as duy after day passed in railway travelling, we came 
 to consider them as ordinary circumstances. The newspaper paragraphs 
 that came under notice, recording questions affecting railways, showed 
 that there is some considerable trouble ahead for railway companies 
 in the State Legislatures in this respect, and any accidents that occur 
 are taken advantage of to bring under review the responsibility of the 
 lines for improving the appliances for safety. 
 
 The rejoinder I invariably met with when calling attention to the 
 frequent want of protective arrangements '" America was that the 
 driver had the train thoroughly in hand, and co'nld avail himself of the 
 whole break power of the vehicles at a moment's notice. 
 
 r;3 
 
 V4 
 
6G 
 
 The scale of Fares in operation is regulated on recently opened 
 lines by the State Legislature, but under the old concessions no limit 
 has been placed upon the charge that may be adopted. 
 
 The General Railway Law of New York State proyides that, " The 
 compensation for the transportation of any passenger and his ordinary 
 baggage is not to exceed three cents per mile." 
 
 New Jersey State authorises 8| cents ; 
 
 Pennsylrania State authorises 3 cents for through passengers, and 
 3^ cents for what are called " Way " (local) passengers. A minunum 
 rate of 10 cents is allowed to be charged in New York and New Jersey 
 States, and in computing the fares fractions of a mile may be charged as 
 a fall mile. 
 
 In quoting fares, 5, 10, 15, or 20 cents are adopted as fractional 
 parts, no division of less than 5 cents being made in such quotations. 
 
 On the Chicago Minneapolis and St. Paul Line a reduction is made 
 to clergymen, ministers, and commercial travellers, cards of identification 
 being issued to them at the commencement of the year, authorising 
 station-masters to issue tickets to them at half-rates. 
 
 Contract tickets are very generally issued to commercial travellers, a 
 ticket book, price 15 dollars, covering 1,000 miles. Any passenger can 
 obtain a contract ticket book covering 1,000 miles for 80 dollars. 
 
 On the Erie Line, 600-mile and 1,000-mile tickets are issued at the 
 rate of about 2 cents per mile, available over a limited section, and good 
 for one year. For the convenience of commercial travellers, Excess 
 Luggage Ticket books, consisting of several pages of small square 
 coupons (attached like sheets of postage stamps), each coupon being 
 good for 100 miles, are very generally issued in the States ; they are 
 paid for in one sura, and are torn off day by day as required, on com- 
 pletion of the mileage distance. 
 
 In all the large towns in America notices are exhibited at numerous 
 offices and shops announcing that *' cut railway tickets " at reduced fares 
 are obtainable between stated places. These tickets are the coupon 
 portions of long journey tickets, such as those between 'yew York and 
 St. Louis, Kew York and Chicago, &c., the through tickot being issued 
 considerably below the sum of the local fares. An extensive trade is 
 evidently carried on in the sale of these sectional portions of railway 
 tickets ; the men who keep these offices are termed " scalpers." 
 
 The railway companies are endeavouring ♦o protect themselves from 
 this fraud by issuing tickets limited to a certain number of days, and in 
 Buch a shape that coupons will not be obtainable for separate sale. 
 
67 
 
 By an arrangement between the large companies the sale of tickets 
 for the chief trunk hnes at the hotels has been abandoned, anil an agree- 
 ment has been come to limiting the number of authorised railway town 
 olTlces to three for each company, in such places as New York, Chicago, 
 Washington, Philadelphia, &c. 
 
 The tickets of the Great Western of Canada, and of the Grand Trunk 
 were obtainable at the hotels at Montreal, Toronto, Niagara, &c., for 
 through foreign bookings, but not for local bookings. 
 
 The interior of the Station Booking Offices are yery similar to those 
 in England : Railway tickets for short journeys are on card of the same 
 description as our own ; those for long journeys are long narrow tickets 
 in coupon shape, and the tubes for their reception are made deep enough 
 to accommodate them, the ticket case being therefore much larger than 
 our own. 
 
 A convenient arrangement is in operation at several of the large 
 stations by which an Indicator points to the time at which the next 
 train starts, the tvhole of the stations at which such train calls being 
 enumerated below the Indicator ; the names of the stations are painted on 
 slides in a suitable frame, the slides being varied train by train to afford 
 the correct information. 
 
 The General Waiting Rooms at the stations are large, with good 
 arrangements for warming in winter, and iced water is supplied In the 
 summer. A separate room is provided for ladies, and in many cases the 
 booking office is so arranged that one of the openings through which 
 tickets are issued faces towards the ladies' room. Passengers are kept 
 back until the trains are ready to start, much in the same way as is done 
 on the French lines. 
 
 There are no porters to give any information to passengers or to 
 carry their luggage. The passengers attend to themselves, their baggage 
 having been surrendered to the baggage office at the time of booking. 
 
 In the majority of cases the platforms are level with the rails ; but 
 at country stations in some of the Western States, where goods are 
 removed from the waggons at the same places that passengers are dealt 
 with, the platforms are high, with the object of giving the double accom- 
 modation. 
 
 Trains are for the most part run on the opposite set of rails to that 
 used in England, the up trains being run on the left-hand road and the 
 down trains on the right. This is not, however, the invariable rule, as at 
 Buffalo the Eastern Lines come in on one system, whilst the Michigan 
 and Lake Shore Lines adopt the other arrangement. 
 
 ••!! 
 
o8 
 
 The usual gauge for the lines is the English normal standard of 
 4 ft. 8^ in., but there are other gauges in force— the Erie Line is both 
 6 ft. and 4 ft. 8^ in. They are engaged at the present time in bringing 
 all down to the latter standard. They hare been running freight trains 
 with vehicles '^ mixed," some of one gauge, some of the other, coupled 
 together in their trains. 
 
 The following are the arrangements for the Baggage-check system:— 
 
 The passenger on arriving at the station has first to purchase his« 
 ticket, this being evidence that he is entitled to check his baggage. He 
 then proceeds to the baggage-room, a building hung around with in- 
 numerable leathern straps, having two small brass checks (twins) 
 attached to each strap — the two checks having the same number 
 stamped thereon— one will be handed to the passenger, the other will be 
 attached by the leathern strap to the luggage, and this luggage will 
 only be surrendered on production of the twin check : the " route " by 
 which the baggage is to be checked is determined by the ticket which 
 the passenger holds. If travelling from one large town to another there 
 are complete engraved sets of checks, each route having a separate 
 set ; these are so worded as to be reversible, and can thus be used in the 
 opposite direction: if travelling to a station where baggage is but 
 seldom sent, a perforated card with the name or number of the destina- 
 tion station is attached in addition to the brass check. 
 
 A passenger booking for a long distance journey, and wishing to 
 break his journey, must have his luggage checked only to the point of 
 break. 
 
 There is a baggage-master at all the principal stations as well as a 
 baggage-master with each train; the latter takes an account of the 
 baggage received, sorts it in his car, gets it ready at each station, and 
 gives out with the baggage a list of the checks handed out with it : a 
 return of the whole of the checks dealt with is sent to head-quarters for 
 each train, and the baggage is said hardly ever to go astray. Each 
 station has to hand to the train baggage-master a list of the baggage 
 checks from that place. 
 
 On arrival at destination luggage is carted to hotels or to private 
 houses by the representatives of the " Express " Companies, to whom the 
 passengers surrender their checks for the purpose. 
 
 The parcels traffic, large and small, is in the hands of these Express 
 Companies, for whom three, four, and five large cars are run by the 
 through trains, each accompanied by one or two men on the journey, and 
 met at stations by men belonging to the Express Companies. 
 
These Companies hare ramifications al! over the States, varioas rival 
 routes support and are adopted by the three or four Express Compauien, 
 and though in a few cases some of the railway companies are trying to free 
 themselves from this position, yet they have to work the parcels traffic as 
 u separate organisation, and advertise it as an Express Company, for by 
 this means only can they book their tralHc beyond their own- limits. 
 
 On enquiry from Mr. Abbott, the representative of the Erie Com- 
 pany, why they allowed a remunerative parcels traffic to pass from them, 
 he stated that the Express Companies paid their Company 60 per cent, 
 of the gross receipts, and according to the best calculations the railway 
 company could not work the terminal and transit operations at a less 
 proportion than 40 per cent. 
 
 In addition to the baggage cars and the cars of the Express 
 Companies on the principal trains there is a Post Office car. The 
 arrangement for the conveyance of letters is very similar to that in 
 operation in England, and has no doubt been adopted from it. The 
 Post Office makes a contract with the railway companies for running 
 certain vehicles, which, though marked as carrying the United States 
 mails, are the property of the railway companies. The remuneration is 
 varied from time to time, according to the record taken of the weight of 
 letter bags conveyed. 
 
 On the main trunk lines dining room cars are also run, in some cases 
 belonging to the railway company, in others to either Pullman or 
 Wagner. These dining room cars can at night be converted into 
 sleeping cars. On the Pennsylvania Railroad no less that 125 Pulhnan 
 vehicles are daily in work. 
 
 Between Boston and New York tb^^ sleeping cars are btantifuUy 
 furnished and very commodious. They are highly ornamented with 
 inlaid cabinet work; the interior fittings and arrangements are very 
 complete and compact. The Boston and Albany Company have very 
 kindly given mo drawings of the details of these vehicles. 
 
 The average loading of the through express passenger trains in 
 America is from twelve to fifteen cars ; the speed on the best lines fully 
 forty miles per hour. 
 
 There is an arrangement in force in connection with the payment of 
 excess fares, which touches on the difficulty we experience in England in 
 compelling the prepayment of fares, or rather of making an extra charge, 
 as a penalty, for travelling without previously booking. 
 
 On the Baltimore and Ohio Line an additional charge of 10 per 
 cent, is made in cases where passengers are found travelling without 
 
m 
 
 having previously taken a ticket, and the voucher given to the passenger 
 in exchange for the fare he pays, states that " this excess beyond the 
 ordinary fare will be refunded at any of the stations of the Company on 
 the production of the voucher." This is, of course, the check on the 
 conductor oi the train who collects these fares, and upon whom other 
 than by detefctives there is no ^hock. 
 
 On some other lines 10 cents extra are charged to passengers 
 omitting to take tickets before starting, and this extra charge is retained 
 by the Company. 
 
 Its legality has been objected to, but provided the whole sum paid 
 comes within the maximum authorised by the Company's charter it can 
 be maintained. 
 
 The goods trafiic, or as it is called the " freight department," is 
 worked in a peculiar groove, in consequence of an original want of 
 union or system or organisation between the companies, and, as a 
 consequence, the persons interested in the transmission of freight from 
 the interior have Lad to r.udertake the task of consulting with the 
 various compan'>js, guaranteeing a certain amount of traffic, and then 
 announcing themselves to the public as a " freight line." 
 
 The largest of the? j originally, if not still, independent of the railway 
 companies is the " Merchants' Despatch Line " owning their own trucks 
 called '■' freight cars," and running them over the various lines with a 
 claim for miloage (three-teuths of a cent per mile), having their own 
 general manager with agents all over the States. 
 
 This syi^tem has led to the development of very numerous " freight 
 lines," which the railway companies either now absorb or originate to 
 suit the special flow of traffic ; their names are displayed on the freight 
 cars belonging to each, such .d " The Empire Line," " The Union Line," 
 " The Blue Line," The Whi.e Line," " Hoosac Tunnel Lme," " National 
 Despatch Line," " Continental Line," " Erie and Pacific Despatc'u," and 
 many others ; the cars, many thousands in number, being owned and 
 contributed in proportion to mileage by the railway companies consti- 
 tutihg the route along whic i the " Line " is organised. Each lme has 
 its own general manager, head-quarters, and agents. 
 
 These organisations are an American development of the early 
 railway carrying arrangements of Pickford's or Crowley's, but in their 
 rolling stock ownership they more nearly approach the West Coast and 
 E&st Ccaiit Joint Stock, and they are regulated in their charges by 
 confereuc'>3 Bimilar to our English and Scotch Meeting. 
 
 Between competing places the traffic is "pooled" (thrown into 
 
m 
 
 division), and although there are continual disputes between the com- 
 panies, and constant complaints of some one or other allowing drawbacks 
 and rebates, the " pool " has continued in operation for many years. 
 The companies west of Buffalo, consisting of the New York Central, 
 Erie, Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Ohio, and Grand Trunk Companies 
 constitute one pool; and those west of Chicago constitute another. 
 These latter claim by combination, and hold a mileage proportion of the 
 receipts of traffic to the ports better than that obtainable by the 
 CO upanies east of Chicago. 
 
 The combination between companies to establish these "lines" of 
 traffic is not confined to the through traffic from the interior to the 
 sea-board. There are " lumber lines '' for some sections ot inland traffic. 
 There is a " Union Tank Line " — large ii'on cylindrical-shaped tanks for 
 the conveya-ce of petroleum crude oil. One oil- works at Cleveland 
 owned no less than 6,000 of such waggons. There are also numerous 
 patents for refrigerating cars, used for the conveyance of butter, fresh 
 meat, and market produce, all appointed to run in certain circuits, 
 and owned in proportion to mileage among the railway companies 
 interested. 
 
 There is no demurrage charged on these trucks either for wrong- 
 sending or for delay. Mileage accounts are kept by a separufe office at 
 the head quarters of the various companies. 
 
 The whole railway system of the States seems in hot competition at 
 all points, and the plan of " pooling " the receipts is the accepted 
 panacea for stopping foolish reductions of rates. 
 
 Each set of " pools " has a commissioner appointed, to whom returns 
 are made, and who sees to the due distribution of the receipts, and who. 
 in case of dispute between the railway managers constituting the " pool," 
 is authorised to quote officially any reduced rates for adoption by the 
 conference, and. according to recent agreement (11th March, 1881), he 
 is, in case the reduction is one for ced by the under-quoting or irregular 
 action on the part of any of the constituent members, to nawe the company 
 to blame, and state the circumsiiinces under which he feds bound to adopt 
 • the reduced quotation, and the rate will then be quoted by the railway 
 representatives to tb" managers of the various '"''•fifjht lines" interested. 
 
 There is no cavting or terminal delivery done by the railway com- 
 panies. Consignees are advise ■ of the arrival of goods, and make their 
 own arrangeiiients for delivery. 
 
 Some exceptional cases arise where railway companies have water 
 competition, or where rival lines are more favourably situated in resoect 
 
62 
 
 to access to works, &c. Id these instances the companies have to make 
 arrangements to place themselves on an equal footing. 
 
 The goods trains, or as they are called in the States "freight 
 trains," are much longer than we are accustomed to run in England, but 
 the speed seldom exceeds 18 to 20 miles per hour. Almost the whole 
 stock of freight cars are covered trucks, the average length being 
 30 feet ; but the cars for the " lumber " trade (timber) are specially 
 made 33 feet long, so as to enable two lengths of sawn timber of 
 16 feet (the standard size) to be loaded in them. 
 
 On the Pennsylvania Railway we saw several goods trains of 
 60, 70, and even 80 waggons in one train, thus extending nearly 
 half-a-mile. The engines drawing these trains have ten wheels, the 
 leading pair of wheels being what are called "pony" wheels, the 
 other eight wheels being coupled. Cylinders 20 X 24, with 4 feet 
 driving-wheels. 
 
 The couplings of the freight cars are close, and are made by a 
 central pin dropped down into a looped-shaped link which projects stiflfly 
 from the one waggon, and fits loosely into a slot on the opposite one. 
 The play between the trucks is from five to ten inches. Each truck has 
 a break upon it applied from the roof, and has steps at the side so as to 
 enable the breaksman to ascend. These men pass easily from roof to 
 roof whilst the train is running, though in winter their occupation is 
 extremely perilous. Three or four breaksmen are often seen standing up 
 on the roofs as the trains travel. Owing to the ease with which level 
 crossings are permitted, there are not many overbridges in the States, 
 but wherever any obstruction exists less than 18 ft. clear above the rail, 
 it is protected by a " bridge guard " or high gallows placed about 100 
 yards in advance, with a pendent set of whip thongs, or a light elastic 
 rod, calculated to give a sharp warning to any of the breaksmen on the 
 roof, of danger close at hand. 
 
 The goods trucks weigh from 9 to 10 tons each, and are capable of 
 conveying an average load of 13 tons. When conveying grain 10-ton 
 waggons are used. *ae average load being 15 tons, and for coal the 
 10-ton trucks are expected to carry as much as 18 tons. 
 
 The charge for the conveyance of grain from Chicago to New York, 
 at the time of our visit, was three dollars per ton. Distance 960 miles, 
 thus giving about one-tuird of a cent per ton per mile. 
 
 The bulk of the traffic running to the sea-board consists of grain, and 
 the appliances by means of elevators for loading -and discharging these 
 truck loads of grain are very complete at all places where the trans- 
 
 fires. 
 
63 
 
 shipment takes place, either from waggons into the elevators, thence to 
 be discharged into ships, or from the ships into elevators, thence to be 
 discharged into waggons. 
 
 A train of eleven tracks of grain (15 tons each) was discharged in 
 onr presence at Toledo; the trucks were clear and the corn into the 
 elevator in the coarse of six minutes. 
 
 The railway companies pride themselves on the size of these large 
 elevators, and at places where we stopped the first object desired to be 
 shown to us was the com elevator. 
 
 The freight trains in addition to the breaksman, whose place is on the 
 roof of the trucks as already described, have a conductor, who rides in 
 charge of the invoices in the rear van, which is called the "Caboose." 
 
 It is his duty to see that the whole of the cars in his charge are 
 safely " sealed " and handed over in that condition at the terminal point, 
 or transferred to the onward company. In the case of through invoices 
 they are handed over at the junction to the freight department, and are 
 there checked and a calculation placed on each showing the amount due 
 to the company in respect of such invoice. In the absence of a Clearing 
 House particulars of these invoices are sent to the head-quarters of each 
 company, and the accounts are adjusted week by week between the 
 " lines " and the railway companies interested. 
 
 On some of the railways in recently opened up districts an arrange- 
 ment exists by which the station is used as a shop or store, the building 
 itself being constructed by parties wilUng to open the store, the shop- 
 keeper acting as agent for the railway company, but not being their 
 direct servant. The only staff found by the railway company at such 
 places is the telegraph clerk, or, as he is called, the " operator." 
 
 At all places at which telegraph " operators " are employed the whole 
 of the wires are led into a frame in the oflBce, so that in case of any 
 contact or failure on the part of one wire, any of the others could be 
 made available by the insertion of a connecting switch peg. 
 
 The telegraph is very largely used in connection with railway business, 
 the distances being so long that ordinary letter communication is not 
 readily available to and from head-quarters as in this country. The 
 railway companies have adopted for telegraph purposes an extensive 
 series of codes or authorised abbreviations, an arrangement which, in 
 view of the difficulty we have in avoiding the overcrowding of our wires, 
 might advantageously be schemed by our telegraph department. 
 
 Great attention is paid in America to the appliances for extinguishing 
 fires. At all the principal passenger stations and large goods sheds there 
 
 I!' 
 
 I! 
 
 !l!s 
 
H 
 
 are electric commuiHcatora to annoance the first outbreak of fire, and to 
 indicate its locality. The goods porters are well trained to act on the 
 first alarm, and in one experiment made in our presence the whole 
 appliances were brought to bear and the water was playing in three 
 m'lnutes from the time of the signal beir^ given in thu shed. 
 
 The telephone is being brought into yery general use at the railway 
 stations. In all the large towns the hotels are in communication with 
 the stations, and from any of the oBBces or stations in cities where the 
 head-quarters of the company are situated all the chief oflScers can at once 
 be reached by the same means. 
 
 The question of standard for local " time " in such a wide country 
 as America presents a difficulty in the railway time-tables. In England 
 Greenwich *'"me differs so slightly from local time that uniformity is easily 
 arranged ; in Ireland the adoption of Dublin time only affects accuracy 
 as far as Galway by a very few minutes ; but in the States there is a 
 difference of no less than four hours between 12 o'clock at Portland in 
 Maine and 12 o'clock at San Francisco, and the railway companies have 
 to adopt certain centres for their various standards. The Grand Trunk 
 observes Portland time on one portion of its line, and Montreal time on 
 the other ; at Niagara, Canadian station, Toronto time is in force ; at 
 the American Depot, New York time is observed, a difference of upwards 
 of twenty minutes. This became very confusing in cases such as St. Paul 
 station, where the trains to the West start in accordance with St. Paul 
 local time, and those to the East rnn in conformity with Chicago time, 
 a difference of twenty minutes in the same station. 
 
 I was requested to obtain, while in the States, some particulars 
 as to the organisation of the officers and holders of position on the 
 American lines. There is considerable diversity of system, but the 
 leading spirit on the lines appears to be the president— sometimes a 
 financier, sometimes a practical railway man who has risen up through 
 the higher gradations. He has under him two or three vice-presidents, 
 men responsible for various departments — taking, one the general 
 working of the traffic, with its agreements ; the other, capital, finance, 
 shares, and dividends. 
 
 On some lines the general manager is also vice-president ; on others 
 the vice-president holds the superior position; and whilst the general 
 manager is the head, regulating all outlay, alike of train working, loco- 
 motive, stock and staff, as well as permanent way and works, he does not 
 control the " general passenger agent " nor the " general freight agent," 
 who are responsible to the first vice-president direct ; the fares and rates 
 
 States 
 interes 
 W 
 the fol 
 Statioi 
 Condu 
 $85 to 
 
m 
 
 and the arrangements for attracting traffic being in the hands of these 
 two agents. 
 
 The general manager has usually three chief officers under him :— 
 I. Chief of motive power (locomotives and vehicles). 
 II. Superintendent of transportation (train working). 
 III. Engineer (roads and bridges). 
 He is also the head of the general superintendents of the line (whose 
 number varies with the extent of the mileage of the line), and they in 
 their turn have three assistants under them for their own sections : — 
 I. For motive power. 
 11. Superintendent of transportation. .; . / 
 
 III. Engineer — roads and bridges. ^ " '"'^ 
 
 These superintendents appear to take no cognizance of receipts or station 
 accounts, or of the public applications for rates, «&c., these being dealt 
 with through the general passenger agent and general freight agent, as 
 stated above. 
 
 With respect to new lines, the authority for their construction is 
 given by the Legislature of each separate State. Any syndicate or 
 association of subscribers can obtain the grant of a new Une on 
 submitting the articles of association to the Secretary of the local State, 
 and depositing five per cent, of the estimated outlay. Competing lines 
 can only object if their land is touched, and their claim can then be 
 disposed of in the same way as other proprietors, by the valuation of 
 three independent persons. 
 
 Crossings by one line of another on the level are permitted without 
 any difficulty, and do not form ground for compensation. 
 
 There is in each State a railway commissioner, to whom appeals can 
 be made by the public as to rates, fares, train connections, &c. Some 
 States have one individual tilling this position ; others have a court of 
 three men, but they are not men of railway- experience — a newspaper 
 proprietor, a retired general, a farmer, or occasionally a civil engineer. 
 
 The State of Massachusetts has a regular Railway Bureau as part of 
 its Sw*t" organisation, and it is spoken of as being far ahead of the other 
 States in its action on l)ehalf of the public in connection with the railway 
 interests. 
 
 With regard to the wages paid to railway employes in the States, 
 the following were quoted as average payments per month : — Roadside 
 Station Masters, $30 to $35 ; Goods Conductors, $90 ; Passenger 
 Conductors, $100 to $120 ; Train Baggage Masters, $6U ; Switchmen, 
 $35 to $40. Locomotive Drivers and Firemen are paid a mileage scale j 
 
66 
 
 for Passenger trains, Drivers ii^ cents per mile; Firemen, IJ cents por 
 mile ; for Freight trains, Drivers 4 cents and Firemen 2 J cents per mile ; 
 Breaksmen, $1.60 cents per day. 
 
 Wo had, unfortunately, no engineer in our party to make correct 
 notes of any points of interest that came under observation affecting the 
 engines and rolling stock, the permanent way and works ; photographic 
 drawings of the details of construction were, however, given with the 
 utmost readiness, and I found that on the most highly maintained lines 
 the companies have adopted regular standards for the mode of construct- 
 ing their roads (single and double); the crossings of highways; the 
 laying-in of cross-over roads ; the arrangements of switches and signals ; 
 the construction of water-tanks (said to be frost-proof) ; the tool houses, 
 and various other constructions along the line, go as to ensure uniformity 
 throughout their system. I have obtained photographic drawings of 
 several of these details. 
 
 On the leading lines modern " switches " are to be found, but for the 
 most part the switch in use is the old-fashioned contractor's switch, one 
 which the Americans call the " stul) " switch, the " butt-end" or " sqaare- 
 toed " switch. The expression " points " is apparently a new one and 
 hardly ever used in America. 
 
 The "Wharton switch is largely in use in the States, and though our 
 own facing-point lock and aijcompanying signals give us security where 
 we have such connections on single lines, yet in America this pecnliar 
 switch presents the advantage of leaving an unbroken main line while the 
 switch is not in use, requiring no signals for its protection. When 
 brought into use the tongue of the inside switch rail acts on the wheels of 
 any vehicle taking the siding, and the outside switch rail is elevated so as 
 to catch on the flange and take the vehicle across and over the main line 
 rail. • 
 
 Another arrangement in use is that called the " Lorenz " spring. A 
 spiral spring works back the tongue to its proper position when points 
 have been run through whilst shunting in a yard. 
 
 A movable spring called the " winged frog " or " spring rail " is 
 also in operation, acting upon the diamond crossings when vehicles are 
 being shunted across them. It is said to be effective, and to ensure a 
 iirm through road in place of the opening otherwise presented to the 
 flange of the wheel when going through the crossing. 
 
 The lines of railway in America are not laid as in England with A 
 length of rail terminating on the right and left exactly opposite to each 
 other, but are laid so as to overlap, terminating half.way along the 
 
67 
 
 length of the opposite rail, on the principle called in America " break 
 joint." Sixteen sleepers are laid down for every thirty feet of rail. 
 
 The trains for supplying ballast to th'- line, or for constructing new 
 lines, are cleared in an ingenious manner, by having on the waggon at 
 the rear end of the train an implement similar to a snow plough, with a 
 groove formed in the lower part of its beak. "When the contents of the 
 trucks have to be discharged this plough is drawn by a drum worked 
 from the engine, along the whole of the trucks in the train, which have a 
 guide in the middle fitting the groove in the plough. The ballast is 
 very rapidly discharged by this means. 
 
 Many of the railway bridges in the States are famous for the 
 engineering skill displayed in their construction. The new swing-bridge 
 connecting the elevated railway of New York with the lines along the 
 Hudson River was inspected by us, and its working explained. 
 
 On the older lines some very insecure structures in the shape of 
 trestle bridges exist, and the trains liave to pass over at a walking pace ; 
 the lines had been constructed on the American motto of obtaining the 
 " mostest railroad for the leastest money ! " At all these wooden bridges, 
 and along all the wooden viaducts, a number of vats full of water were 
 placed at intervals as a security against fire, and a man appointed to 
 walk ovei the Une after the passage of any train. 
 
 At viaducts and lofty bridges, and other places where any serious 
 accident might arise should a train leave the rails, a double guard rail is 
 introduced, one to each rail, each guard being placed about ten inches 
 from the side of the rails in the four-foot space. 
 
 Refuge sidings where the lines are double are generally placed 
 between the two lines, the main travelling lines being on the outside. The 
 siding forms a long loop with facing-points to the one line, and trailing- 
 points to the other at each end. These are sometimes one-half, three- 
 fourths, or even a mile long, and they have a post marked " half-way " 
 erected to indicate to drivers that they have reached the middle of 
 the siding. A train having entered in one direction is at liberty to go 
 up to that post, but not beyond. In all long sidings there are switches 
 at this " half-way," so that shunted trains may get out again to the main 
 line. 
 
 Trains shunt into these places in accordance with the time-table 
 ("skeddlo"), and move out again on to the main line when the appointed 
 trains have passed ; the men in charge of the trains work the points for 
 this purpose, there being no fixed signalmen at such places. 
 
 Wo spent some hours in visiting the large works of the Pennsylvania 
 
 |i 
 
68 
 
 Railway at Altoona. It is a repetition of our Crewe and Wolferton 
 united, the whole of the engines and carriages used on the Pennsylvania 
 Railway being made there. The wheels are cast complete, no tyres 
 being affixed ; the plan of chilled tyres is adopted, and the same descrip- 
 tion of wheel serves both for passenger and freight cars. Four-wheel 
 bogies are exclusively used, and the manager of the line explained in 
 detail the whole of the safety appliances adopted in case of the bogie 
 wheel or axle giving way. 
 
 The wheels for the locomotive bogies are 28 inches high, and those 
 for the cars S3 inches. 
 
 The journals for the freight cars are 3i by 7, and made of iron or 
 steel, those for the passengers cars are 3^ by 7, and are all steel. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Company are using Ramsbottom's plan of troughs 
 for supplying water to engines while running, they call them "track 
 tanks," and, by adopting the plan of passing steam into the water, they 
 experience no difficulty in winter through the frost. 
 
 They have a simple plan for coaling engines from the mines in the 
 Alleghany mountains through which their line passes. The coal is 
 loaded into small trucks containing two and a-half or three tons each, 
 and these are tipped as required from an overhead gantry into a large 
 hopper suspended from the gantry, centrally, between the up and down 
 line. This hopper is so constructed that it will shoot the coals into the 
 tender of any engine either on the up or on the down line requiring a 
 supply of fuel. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Railway are now engaged in furnishing a con- 
 tinuous break for their freight cars, more simple than that on the 
 passenger vehicles ; the existing arrangements for applying the breaks 
 in the freight trains being found objectionable. 
 
 The whole of the break blocks used by that Company are of cast 
 iron ; they have entirely abandoned wood blocks, and they are adopting a 
 patent material called phosphor bronze (copper phosphorized) in lieu of 
 braspes for the axles, a saving of <|oO,000 per annum being effected by 
 its use. 
 
 The lathe shop at lltoona is lighted by electric light, which burned 
 very steadily. With lo electric lights a saving in cost over gas of 38 per 
 cent, was reported to be made, gas costing $1.80 per 1,000 feet. 
 
 The electric light is now adopted at many large stations in the 
 States. During our visit to Montreal the first attempt was made to use 
 it both for external illumination and also for sub-distribution at the 
 Montreal terminus. It seemed likely to be a success, for the lights in 
 
 the 1 
 have 
 I 
 "Cli 
 way 
 sistit 
 read 
 bival 
 mud 
 cont( 
 
 appli 
 
 . 
 
 is 
 
69 
 
 ihe large shed were as easily lowered or increased as gas taps might 
 have been. 
 
 At Philadelphia we observed an ingenious arrangement called the 
 " Clamshell Pattern Dredge," for dealing with the mud which finds its 
 way into the docks, an adaptation of the American " Navvy," and con- 
 sisting of a double scoop, working down on perpendicular gaides ; on 
 reaching the bottom the two sides of the scoop close tightly up like a 
 bivalve shell, and when raised the dredge brings up its fall quantity of 
 mud to be discharged into the trucks or flats ready to receive the 
 contents. 
 
 Some of the expressions used in America in connection with railway 
 appliances are peculiar : — ■ 
 
 Where two lines of rails verge towards a single track, the two 
 lines hugging each other without forming a junction (in the 
 same way as exists through Dinmore Tunnel), the line is 
 called a '* gauntlet." 
 
 A railway station is called a depot, pronounced deep-o. 
 
 A bank engine is called a " helper," or " pusher." 
 
 Diamond crossings are called "frogs." Sleepers are called 
 *'ties." 
 
 The engine-driver h called the *' engineer." 
 
 The marshalling of trains is spoken of as "switching." The 
 tipping of waggons as " dumping." 
 
 A train, off the line is spoken of as a " derailment." 
 
 A level crossing is called a " crossing at grade." 
 
 Fish plates are "splice bars," and notice boards are called 
 " bulletin boards." 
 
 The ganger of platelayers is called the "track foreman." Fog 
 signals are " torpedoes," 
 
 If rapid transmission is required for any package, instructions are 
 given to "■ncsh this parcel." 
 
 The expressions " bogie " and " cow-catcher " are not American ; 
 the former is called the "truck," and the latter the "pilot," 
 
 A punctual train is said to be " on time." 
 
 The extent to which puflBng announcements are made by the railways 
 is remarkable. The American time-tables, in the shape called " folders," 
 
7C 
 
 are to be met with at^all hotels, tontaining exaggerated notifications of 
 the advantages of each line, some calling attention to the excellence of 
 their roads, some to the beantj of the scenery; one specially directs 
 attention to the liberal supply at their dining car tables, announcing 
 that the "sqnarest of square meals*' can be obtained on the line; 
 perhaps the most boastful is that of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Line, 
 which advertises its route as the ''Old Reliable! Always on Timel" 
 An enviable position for any Railway Company to maintain! 
 
 GEORGE P. NEELE.