FROM CLYDE TO CALIFORNIA. 
 
GRHENOCK I 
 
 BLAIR; PRINTER, HERALD OFFICE, 
 CATHCART STREET 
 
FROM THE CLYDE 
 
 TO 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 WITH JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE GREENOCK HERALD. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 GREENOCK: 
 WILLIAM JOHNSTON, HAMILTON STREET. 
 
 HELENSBURGH: JAMES LAMONT. 
 
 GLASGOW: WILLIAM PORTEOUS AND co. 
 
 1882. 
 
J 00 
 
 u. c. 
 
 V OF 
 
 IFIC c 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 .A REASON is generally given for the publica- 
 tion of a book. The reason fpr the appear- 
 ance of the present volume cannot be better 
 expressed than in the following extract from 
 one among the many, communications re- 
 ceived: .-yj ;.!;* II ,:-Ab: *'!&* 
 
 ' ' I cannot refrain from telling you how 
 very greatly I am enjoying the account of, 
 I am told, your tour in America that is 
 appearing in the * Greenock Herald/ .... 
 and I write to express not only thanks but a 
 strong hope that you will publish your letters 
 in a collected form by and by. I have been 
 under the impression that I read more of 
 American travels, newspapers, etc., than most 
 folks, and was conceited enough to think 
 myself nvell posted up about a country which 
 
11. 
 
 in some respects is more worthy of imitation 
 than we are disposed generally to admit ; but 
 before your letters are done, I will have 
 added to my knowledge a great many side 
 lights of a very interesting kind." 
 
 In compliance with many requests of a 
 like nature, the papers have been handed 
 over to the publishers, who have kindly 
 undertaken their issue in the present form ; 
 and if they add some information, however 
 little, of a great country and a great people 
 so closely allied to us in bonds of friendship 
 and race, it will be a source of pleasure and 
 gratification to the writer. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGES. 
 
 I. Queenstown Sandy Hook Montreal 
 
 Quebec . . . v . . ,. 17 
 II. Toronto Niagara Falls Buffalo . . 18-36 
 III. Akron Chicago Ogden Salt Lake 
 
 Cit y 37-59 
 
 IV. Corinne The Great American Desert . 60-69 
 
 V. Sacramento -Omaha -San Francisco . 70-86 
 VI. China Town Oakland * . . 87-101 
 VIL Car Life The Duke of Sutherland's 
 Opinion of American Railroads 
 Chicago. . . . . . 102-114 
 
 VIII. The Union Stock- Yards Water Works 
 
 on a Gigantic Scale Boston . .115-125 
 IX. Cotton Manufacture in America New 
 
 York Rochester . ... . 126-140 
 
 X. Home Journey Parting Words to Plea- 
 sure-Seekers and Farmers Conclu- 
 sion . . * . . 141-152 
 
!' f - 1 
 
FROM CLYDE TO CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 QUEENSTOWN IRREPRESSIBLE BEGGARS AND THEIR WITTY 
 OBSERVATIONS THE " BANKS " SUNDAY WORSHIP ON 
 BOARD SANDY HOOK DECORATION DAY MY FIRST 
 
 "COCKTAIL" THE BAY, A FAIRY-LIKE PICTURE SOME- 
 
 THING LIKE A STEAMER MONTREAL RUN THROUGH 
 THE RAPIDS THE WHARVES AND ELECTRIC LIGHT - 
 - QUEBEC NOVEL HAY PRESS. 
 
 a strong desire to see the New World and 
 * its many wonders, its people, and how they manage 
 matters in the States and in the Dominion of Canada, I, 
 along with a friend, took passage for New York in the 
 latter part of May, 1881, in the good ship " Gallia," one 
 of the Cunard Line of steamers, and became members 
 of its floating population for the time being. In giving a 
 description of our rambles (which were pretty extensive, 
 stretching away to Salt Lake City and San Francisco) 
 over the American Continent, I do not intend to give a 
 dull diary of our proceedings the miles we travelled, all 
 the places we visited, and so on ; but merely to note those 
 occurrences that took place and the things I saw which 
 were of most interest to me, and different from what I 
 may have observed at home. 
 B 
 
After leaving Liverpool, Queenstown was soon reached, 
 where two hundred and eleven mail bags were tumbled 
 on board. The mail service between Britain and America 
 must be something enormous, and shows the intimate 
 relationship that exists between the two countries. Having 
 a few hours at disposal, a number of the passengers 
 went ashore, and on landing were immediately surrounded 
 by a multitude of female lace merchants selling handker- 
 chiefs, sprigs of shamrock, broom, &c., the articles of 
 merchandise being a mere pretence for begging. These 
 irrepressible beggars were very jocular in their way, and 
 one of our party being annoyed at the importuning of one 
 old wizened-looking dame, sent her to " Old Nick," which 
 was a mistake on his part ; for she gave him her blessing 
 in most choice Irish language, ending her flowery oration 
 by seriously cautioning us all to avoid him for the 
 future, for there was not the least doubt that he had 
 a close and intimate relationship with his satanic majesty 
 himself. 
 
 Another old dame among the plentiful crop, a pro- 
 fessor in the art of begging, was told by one of our party 
 that he had no small money. " Och," says she, "don't 
 be after minding though it is not small, for sure I'll take 
 any money but matrimony !" and on his giving her a small 
 donation, she deluged him with such a shower of blessings 
 on his saintly head, that it induced an elderly-looking 
 passenger to look into his purse for a small coin too, 
 since blessings were going so cheap. He hooked out a 
 
penny, and was searching for another, when the blessing- 
 vendor exclaimed with a wicked, fun-loving leer in her 
 eyes, " Och, my dear Mr Smith, I was sartin I had met 
 yes before." " How is Mrs Smith and all the family ? 
 sure my prayers for their happiness have never ceased ;" 
 and having got all she could get from our party, she went 
 off skipping for joy like an ancient " Cutty Sark," to 
 make an attack on another party of passengers. The 
 general appearance of Queenstown reminded me of Mill- 
 port on a gigantic scale, with forts on each side of the 
 channel, and another fort right ahead, while the convict 
 island is situated behind. 
 
 We leave this city of forts, and steam on, and are soon 
 passing Cape Clear, the most seaward point of old Ireland, 
 and enjoy our voyage and the company till we reach the 
 
 " Banks," 
 
 " Where sailors gang tae fish for cod." 
 
 We saw these hardy toilers of the deep hard at work, 
 for we passed through a large fleet of two-masted 
 fishing boats, each boat having a number of skiffs with a 
 man on board busy fishing for cod. Some of these frail- 
 looking skiffs were several miles distant from their ships, 
 and one of them came quite close to our steamer, and its 
 occupant holding up a huge cod, newly caught, made a 
 bold effort to wave it round his head. More than sailors 
 fish for cod, for several whales were seen in the distance 
 coming to the surface to blow and spout, and then diving 
 down out of sight. This part of the ocean seemed 
 
pretty much thronged with living things whales, pellocks > 
 dookers, and Mother Carey's chickens, flocks of which 
 would rise in front of the vessel, and perform strange 
 evolutions on the surface of the sea. We had also an 
 occasional glimpse of passing vessels in the distance, which 
 set us wondering what they were, and where they were 
 going. The Queen's birth-day was loyally held on board. 
 A concert was got up in the evening, the singers being- 
 supplied from volunteers amongst the passengers. 
 Nor was our piety left at home, for we had divine 
 service conducted in the saloon, in the Church of 
 England form, by the doctor of the ship. The service 
 consisted of a morning hymn, reading of prayers, and 
 a chapter from the New Testament, winding-up with 
 the hundredth Psalm, to the tune of "Old Hundred." 
 We had no sermon. If a minister had been aboard, it 
 is likely he would have been put to use. As it was, the 
 service was conducted with simplicity and decorum. 
 
 The number of vessels about us increased. It was 
 evident we were nearing our destination, and, at ten 
 o'clock on Monday morning, land became visible. We 
 passed Sandy Hook, and, as we sailed up the bay to the 
 pier, the view around us was like some exquisite picture, 
 or a scene from fairyland. It was "Decoration Day," the 
 day on which the graves of the soldiers who perished in 
 the late civil war are decorated with a profusion of flowers 
 and flags, and it is held as a national holiday. There was 
 a regatta in full swing, and the water was quite alive with 
 
palace steamers, with their many tiers of decks towering 
 aloft. Pleasure excursions by the dozen crowds of 
 beautiful, swift-gliding yachts made up a panorama, for 
 the splendour and ever-changing beauty of which I never 
 saw anything before like it. On we sail through this crowd 
 of holiday pleasure-seekers, and reach the pier. There 
 was a multitude of on-lookers, amongst whom we did not 
 expect to see a known face ; but great was my surprise 
 and pleasure on observing my brother-in-law and his son, 
 who had that morning arrived from Boston (230 miles), 
 having learned that I was coming by the " Gallia," and 
 so confident were they that she would be up to time, 
 they had engaged our state-room to proceed with them 
 that night to Boston. The health doctor passes us, and 
 the Customs officials check and pass our belongings, and 
 we speedily get bundled on board the u Bristol," a float- 
 ing palace steamer bound for Boston. She would not 
 sail for a couple of hours, so we step on shore, and a 
 sign over a cafe attracts our attention. It is the tail, 
 legs and heels of a retreating "rooster." On the 
 right there is in full pursuit the head and neck of 
 another very infuriated-looking bird, with its feathers 
 bristling on end. This we presumed to be a Yankee 
 cafe-keeper's mode of advertising the invigorating 
 qualities of his blend, so we enter and experience our 
 first New World sensation, in the shape of a cooling 
 drink in Yankee phrase, "a cocktail" sucked through 
 straws from a tumbler. I said it was good, and so did 
 
my neighbour, having in our school days had many a 
 suck at milk barrels through straws. 
 
 We get on board of our floating palace, a vessel very 
 much larger than our famed " Columba," broader and 
 higher also, and though looking grand and stately, yet 
 lacking the firm, substantial appearance of our own 
 favourite river boat. Still this wonderful production, 
 sailing between New York and Fall River, is a complete 
 scene in itself, a veritable four-storey floating palace, with 
 dining saloons sumptuously and luxuriously furnished, one 
 of which accommodates one hundred and thirty to dinner 
 at one time, with thirty black waiters in attendance. 
 Those who wish to dine enter by one stair and retire by 
 another, while no one is allowed to enter the saloon until 
 room is provided for him at the table, intimation of 
 that being passed from a waiter in the saloon to 
 another in the stair-case, who passes him on to another 
 who conducts him to his seat. 
 
 You go on board the steamer on the second deck, 
 which is nearly on a level with the wharf, and is used ex- 
 clusively for cargo, with the exception of a portion 
 set apart for embarking and landing of passengers, and 
 where all the officials have their offices. From here a stair 
 descends to the dining saloons under, and another 
 ascends to the upper deck and saloon. Going up these 
 stairs one is impressed with the idea that he is enter- 
 ing a grand stately church. Just fancy the proportions 
 of the saloon. It is 140 feet in length, about 30 feet in 
 
width, and 30 feet in height, with an opening or gallery 
 80 feet long by 20 feet wide, circular at the one end, and a 
 stair-case at the other, by which ascent is had to a passage 
 about 4^2 feet broad, running all round above the saloon, 
 and opening into a range of state-rooms on each side, 
 each room being seven feet square, and accommodating 
 two sleepers. These sleeping rooms are draped with fine 
 lace curtains, and have all the requisite toilet conveni- 
 ences. This boat can accommodate in the state-room 
 800 sleepers at one time, and when the extra beds are all 
 laid out in the saloons and passages, there is sufficient 
 accommodation for 1,500 sleepers. In fact, there is 
 scarcely a limit to this boat's carrying capacity, as on one 
 of her excursion trips there were 3,500 people on board! 
 Saloons, state-rooms, everywhere that passengers congre- 
 gate, are finished in gold, and tastefully painted in rich 
 colours, and beautiful gasaliers are fitted-up where 
 needed as they make their own gas on board. But, if 
 by accident fire gets hold of such boats, there is no hope; 
 up she flares, like a box of matches, and Heaven help the 
 passengers, for help or escape there is none, except from 
 the life-buoys, two of which are in each state-room, and 
 printed instruction how to use them. The upper deck or 
 roof is very high, and no passengers are allowed on it. 
 There are spaces on each deck at the bow and stern, 
 beyond the extremities of the saloons and state-rooms, 
 which are set apart for the musicians, and for the passen- 
 gers to enjoy the view; but these spaces are far too limited 
 
8 
 
 for the number of passengers. The saloons are wholly 
 surrounded by state-rooms, which deprive one of the 
 pleasant look-out that one has on board the " Columba," 
 and that class of steamers so famed on the Clyde, 
 which, though not so large as the American floating 
 palaces, are yet more comfortable and secure looking, 
 more fitted to stand a little rough usage from the 
 elements as experienced in Scotland. These floating 
 castles would not do for Clyde river traffic, being too 
 unwieldy, but they are admirably suited for American 
 habits and American waters in the summer time, when 
 Jonathan and family are in perpetual motion. 
 
 Landing at Fall River, we take the train to Boston 
 the " hub " of the universe around which all nature 
 revolves, as the Yankees describe it. At this city we 
 make our stay short, as we intend, on our return, to 
 spend a few days in it, so we proceed to Wells River, a 
 thriving little village in the State of Vermont (Green 
 Mountain), situated about one hundred and sixty miles 
 north of Boston. Here we were very hospitably received 
 by Scotch relatives, three generations of whom had been 
 born on American soil ; and it added much to our plea- 
 sure to meet such a long line of descendants, all hale and 
 healthy only sorry that we never had the pleasure of 
 meeting with the original settlers, who, a few years since, 
 had gone the way of all living, after having spent over 
 half a century in their adopted country, in the midst of 
 their family and descendants, some of whom now hold 
 
honourable and responsible positions in various American 
 cities. 
 
 Some of our friends drove with us into the country, to 
 introduce us to others of our relatives, who are farmers, 
 and from whom we got some hints on American 
 farming. However, we were not very favourably im- 
 pressed with what we saw in that line. The district was 
 so hilly, and the roads steep, so that we had almost con- 
 cluded that there was not much in American farming 
 after all. On stating my opinion to one of the farmers, 
 and saying that I would prefer a farm in the Highlands 
 of Scotland to one in the Green Mountains of America, 
 he replied " Well, that may be so, but if I hae read 
 Burns' ' Twa Dugs ' richt, I think we hae the best o't. 
 The farms you see here belong to ourselves, and we 
 dinna need to fear a factor's snash ; and, although we 
 hae gae severe, lang winters, we get aye guid weather for 
 our harvest. But, since you're going further west, don't 
 form your opinion about American farming frae what you 
 see here, as you will see things very different as you go west." 
 We took his advice, and found he was pretty correct. 
 
 This district could not be called mountainous, 
 although the hills are very bold, and the summits are 
 covered with either growing timber or green pasture, 
 forming a great contrast to our heath-covered hills at 
 home. Heather will not grow there, and a sprig of it is 
 very much prized. It was the request of a friend on part- 
 ing that when writing I should enclose a sprig of the 
 
10 
 
 heather in full bloom. Owing to the steepness, the 
 ground is in general much better adapted for grazing 
 than for raising crops. 
 
 The village, though small, is central, and well suited 
 for the farmers in the surrounding district, who meet there 
 to do their banking and general business. There is a 
 considerable trade done in farm implements, and in the 
 manufacture of furniture, and also in lumber; the trees 
 being cut in the uplands are tumbled into the river, and 
 floated down to the mills. 
 
 Here we observed what was new to us, a wood shed 
 erected over the bridge crossing the river. This is done 
 to the greater number of American bridges, the object 
 being to protect them from exposure to the climate, it 
 being more economical to renew the shed occasionally 
 than to reconstruct the bridge. 
 
 We now part from our friends, and proceed to Montreal, 
 and when about thirty rniles distant from it, a Custom- 
 house officer joined the train, and accompanied it during 
 the remainder of the journey, employing his time in 
 examining and passing the baggage of passengers for the 
 Canadian side, so as to save their time on arrival. 
 
 The Victoria Bridge being reached, forms a connecting 
 link between Montreal and the States. Here the engine 
 that brought us to this point has to give place to another 
 engine, kept exclusively for crossing the bridge its 
 qualification being that it emits no smoke, which would 
 be injurious to the bridge, which is a large iron tube over 
 
one and three-fourths miles long, supported on twenty- 
 three stone piers about twenty-five feet above the surface 
 of the river, this being sufficiently high to allow steamers 
 descending the rapids to pass under. A strong current 
 in the river is quite apparent for a short distance below 
 the bridge. The river is not affected by the tide for 
 many miles further down. Any vessel going further up 
 the river than the bridge must pass through the canal, 
 the locks of which are two hundred feet long by forty-five 
 feet wide, admitting vessels of pretty heavy tonnage. 
 
 We put up at the Ottawa Hotel, a gigantic establish- 
 ment for the lodging and entertainment of travellers. In 
 taking an early morning stroll, I was struck with the 
 novelty of observing on the pavement opposite every door 
 blocks of ice of about ten or twelve inches square, and 
 opposite the various hotels whole cart-loads of it shot- 
 down on the pavement, like cart-loads of coal at home. 
 Went to Lachine, a distance of about nine miles from 
 the city, and came back to Montreal by way of the 
 rapids. Opposite Lachine there is an Indian settlement, 
 and the Indians seem to be in a well-to-do, contented 
 condition. The river St Lawrence at this point is narrow, 
 being one and a half miles broad, and in going out into 
 the rapids the water has the appearance of a huge boiling 
 pot for a few miles of the journey, and when we get into 
 the swift part the river is divided into three channels by 
 two islands that block the combined flow of the waters. 
 At this critical part of our water journey the steamer is 
 
12 
 
 piloted by an Indian through the central channel, where 
 the commotion is somewhat startling, and on one side of 
 the channel the river appears to be falling over a ledge of 
 rock about eighteen inches or two feet above the water in 
 the channel. The most rapid part of this river race is 
 about two miles long, and it is said there is a fall or 
 incline in that distance of forty feet. It does not appear 
 so much when coming racing down, but on looking back 
 the incline is more visible, and rather dangerous looking, 
 though we got down safely. We would not be surprised 
 to learn of a grand smash there some day. 
 
 At Montreal, between the buildings and the river there 
 is a broad esplanade along the front line, on which there 
 is a stone parapet wall, surmounted by an iron railing on 
 top. The wharfs, which are on a much lower level, are 
 of great breadth, extending from the esplanade into the 
 river. They are constructed of wood, and are approached 
 from the esplanade by stairs for passengers, and by 
 inclines for the goods traffic. The sheds on the wharfs 
 are of wood and iron, and are removed during winter 
 and re-erected in summer. Some of the wharfs have 
 the electric 'light fitted up to illuminate the sheds 
 and river frontage, and it is said that the lamps are 
 removed in winter, and fitted up anew when the ice dis- 
 appears. The grain elevators are objects of interest to 
 the uninitiated, and the speed with which a ship is loaded 
 with grain is extraordinary. Barges with these elevators 
 take their stations alongside of ships to be loaded, and 
 
the boat loaded with grain, which has come down through 
 the canal, takes its place on the other side of the elevator 
 barge. The elevator, by means of a jib, is dropped into 
 the grain boat, and men keep shovelling the grain into 
 the elevator, which runs the grain to the barge, where it 
 is dropped into a hopper and weighed. It is then dropped 
 into another hopper, and is again raised so high as to dis- 
 charge into the ship. Before the grain is weighed a 
 fanner is so arranged as to clear it of all dust. The grain 
 boats are both wide and deep, carrying from five hundred 
 to seven hundred tons, and each elevator discharges, 
 dusted and weighed, four thousand bushels of grain per 
 hour, thus rendering the loading of a ship comparatively 
 quickly and easily done. 
 
 We took a run down to Quebec, which is built at the 
 junction of the St Lawrence and the St Charles Rivers ; 
 built, too, in a very irregular manner, badly constructed 
 wharfs and streets, some of the footpaths being from one 
 to two feet above the level of the roadway, and the only 
 stone wharfs they can boast of being along the St Charles 
 River. Those on the St Lawrence are all constructed of 
 timber. The town is divided into what is known as the 
 upper and lower towns. The upper town has a very im- 
 posing appearance, as seen from the river, though there 
 is but a comparatively small portion of it in view, the 
 greater part of it being concealed by a very prominent 
 elevation, extending several miles along the river, and 
 surmounted by an impregnable -looking fortress, so 
 
14 
 
 situated as to be a safe protection to the town, the sur- 
 rounding district, and the entrance to both rivers. 
 
 We took a run over the scene of the great fire which, 
 on the morning of our visit, had destroyed upwards of 
 eight hundred buildings, a fine Cathedral, and an 
 Orphanage which had accommodated eight hundred 
 children. It was a pitiable sight. Thousands of unfor- 
 tunate people were encamped on the Commons, in the 
 midst of what little property they had saved from the 
 devouring elements, amongst which we observed live 
 stock, such as cows, pigs, and poultry. Anxious mothers 
 were tending their poor children, who in their turn were 
 taking special care of their little trinkets, pet-birds, rabbits, 
 &c., and waiting till the return of some member of the 
 family with the glad tidings of having secured some place 
 to shelter them. This calamitous scene, apart from its 
 extent, was very different from what in this country we are 
 accustomed to see after a conflagration. The houses 
 being wholly constructed of wood, there was little or no 
 debris to be seen, except smouldering embers, American 
 stoves, and isolated brick chimneys, which, when seen from 
 the Plains of Abraham behind, resembled very much a 
 distant view of a cemetery, with its tall monuments and 
 snapped columns. Where the buildings are all or nearly 
 all of wood, when fire catches them they soon blaze up 
 with fierce intensity, as in this fire whose work we were 
 looking at, for even the rails that were laid along the 
 streets were turned and twisted by the intense heat, some 
 
of them bent up in the form of an arch three feet above 
 the sleepers. With our stone buildings at home, we 
 have but a faint idea of the devastating power of a fire in 
 an American city. This explains the extreme anxiety 
 of the citizens to meet promptly, with their splendid fire 
 brigades, any outbreak of fire. 
 
 We returned to Montreal, and took passage for Toronto 
 on board the s.s. "Algeron." There were only twenty 
 saloon passengers, but further on in the season it is said the 
 numbers will increase from six hundred to seven hundred. 
 Passed through the canal to Lachine, a distance of* nine 
 miles, with five locks, and a rise of forty-five feet. Then 
 through the Cornwall Canal, eleven and a half miles, with 
 seven locks, rising an additional forty-eight feet, and then 
 through another canal with nine locks, with another rise 
 of eighty-two feet, so that we found ourselves rising in the 
 world rising towards the level of the immense lake region 
 of North America. 
 
 We stopped at Prescot to receive passengers from 
 Ottawa, and while there we saw at work an American 
 portable hay press, which was placed on four wheels. 
 When it is being removed from one place to another, it is 
 drawn behind a four-wheeled lorry and two horses the 
 lorry and horses being an indispensable part of the press, 
 not only for removing it, but for giving it motion when at 
 work. They are, in fact, the engine that works the press. 
 The lorry is constructed with a roller at each end the full 
 width of its bottom; round these rollers are flexible bands. 
 
i6 
 
 across which are fixed strong, narrow pieces of wood 
 which form the bottom of the lorry. When work is to be 
 commenced, the hind wheels are taken off the lorry and 
 the back-end let down to rest on the ground, thus giving 
 a great incline to the bottom, on to which the horses are 
 put, their weight on the incline causing the bottom to 
 revolve, and setting in motion a large pulley on the side 
 of the lorry. A belt passes round the pulley, and also 
 round a small pulley on the side of the press, which 
 stands a little a-head. The whole now works easily. A 
 rail, about three feet high, is supported round the lorry to 
 enclose the horses. The bottom revolves, the horses, as 
 if ascending a steep hill, keep moving, but never get 
 out of the spot. In the course of our travels we observed 
 this horse tread power applied to various other purposes, 
 such as mixing lime and cutting timber into lengths for 
 stove use. It is a very novel labour-saving arrangement. 
 Indeed, the more that I saw of America, the more numerous 
 did I find adaptations of all kinds to save manual labour. 
 
 We continue our pleasant voyage up the St Lawrence, 
 with the Dominion on our right and the United States on 
 our left, a splendid waterway for the two great countries* 
 and also a clearly defined boundary between them. 
 
 We arrive at Brockville, which is a thriving village. 
 Just now it boasts of five churches, each having a beauti- 
 ful spire and minerettes; also, some public works, where 
 a considerable trade is done in tanning, lumber, grind- 
 stones, &c. 
 
17 
 
 One of Sir Hugh Allan's sons has a fine residence here ; 
 there are also many nice private buildings; and here 
 Nature is again laid under contribution to do manual 
 work, for nearly every private building has attached to it 
 a wind-mill (resembling a gigantic Chinese umbrella), 
 set on a high frame, which is used for pumping water to 
 the cistern on the house top. 
 
i8 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THOUSAND ISLANDS A FAIRY SCENE THE LIMESTONE 
 
 CITY PROFITABLE PRISON LABOUR MINERALS DEAD 
 
 FISH TORONTO, THE QUEEN CITY WOOD-WORKING 
 
 MACHINERY MAMMOTH STABLES TWELVE THOUSAND 
 
 GALLONS OF WHISKY THE CATTLE TRADE ON A BIG 
 
 SCALE AMERICAN FARMING A "BELL COW " RIVER 
 
 PILING AND ICE PLATFORMS SUGAR-MAKING DIAMOND 
 WEDDING NIAGARA FALLS AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 
 UTILISATION OF THE FALLS BUFFALO SOBRIETY AND 
 SAVINGS BANKS. 
 
 j]T/EAVING Brockville, we enter on a fairy scene 
 ~*^ the Thousand Islands and are at length in their 
 midst. On right and left, before and behind, they lie 
 about us, from the size of a parlour table to several miles 
 in extent, all clothed in rich verdure, the trees drooping 
 with heavy foliage. One small island had two slender 
 trees upon it, about twelve feet in height, with a quantity 
 of ferns about their roots a little gem of beauty. Some 
 had farm stock and comfortable-looking farm-houses upon 
 them. On others were to be seen gorgeous mansions 
 of the American gentry. 
 
 The Thousand Islands seemed to have been so named 
 before they were counted ; for the precise number, 
 according to official returns, is 1692. They are famed 
 residences during the summer months for citizens of New 
 York and other large cities, and it is a favourite boast 
 
19 
 
 among the many boatmen that, in their light and graceful 
 craft, the same guest may be taken through different 
 scenes every day during the season. The beautiful and 
 romantic scenery is simply that of our own Loch Lomond 
 repeated on a grand scale. 
 
 After passing through this fairy archipelago we reach 
 Kingston, or the " Limestone City," as it is called, arid a 
 very clean, thriving, healthy place it seems. Some 
 of the houses are built of brick, but the largest number 
 are built of limestone hence its name. Having two 
 hours to spend here, we visited the Court-house, the 
 Cathedral, and the New College. About two miles dis- 
 tant from the city is the prison, to which are attached 
 two hundred acres of land in which are stone quarries. 
 The working of these quarries and the cultivation of the 
 ground keep the prisoners fully employed at profitable 
 work, and near the prison is a very large asylum. 
 Both prison and asylum are said to have been built by 
 prison labour. This is putting criminals to profitable use, 
 and is a great improvement on "crank-turning," suoh 
 as we have in some prisons at home. 
 
 The agent of the Steamboat Company was very com- 
 municative, and gave us a sight of all the specimens of 
 minerals the district produced, among which were silver, 
 lead and iron ores. The iron ore contained twenty 
 per cent, and some as high as sixty per cent, of pure 
 iron. We inquired if they had coal in the neighbour- 
 hood of the iron? "That," sa,id he, "is the only 
 
20 
 
 thing we want, to give full development to the port ; 
 so we have to export the ore to get the iron ex- 
 tracted." 
 
 He shewed to us a beautiful specimen of slate the 
 finest, indeed, that ever came under our notice, but the 
 slates cannot be used, as slates are imported from England 
 and sold at less cost than these fine ones can be taken 
 out of their own quarries there being no duty on this 
 article. " Slates," our informant added, " are the only 
 things imported on which no duty is levied ; but the re- 
 presentative of Kingston has had his attention drawn to 
 the slates, and to the prospect of a large industry being 
 developed, if an import duty were put on, even although 
 there should be only one quarry in the State." Whether 
 right or wrong, this is their method of developing the 
 resources of the country. 
 
 When we were about thirty miles from Toronto, our 
 attention was attracted to the immense number of dead 
 fish floating on the surface of the water. There were 
 thousands all round, and in appearance like good-sized 
 herrings. We inquired at the captain the cause of such 
 a strange sight. He informed us that it was nothing 
 new. For several seasons past the shores, all along, were 
 covered with smelling dead fish, and farmers in the 
 neighbourhood were in the habit of carting them away to 
 manure their lands. It is conjectured that at this season 
 of the year an epidemic overtakes this kind of fish ; but 
 the probability is that it results from the escape of 
 
21 
 
 noxious vapours, caused by volcanic action at the 
 bottom of the lake. 
 
 On our arrival at Toronto, we put up at the Walker 
 House, a very comfortable and well-conducted hotel, and 
 having breakfasted we sallied out to spy the "Queen 
 City," as it is styled. We were favourably impressed with 
 the number of stately churches and lofty spires, and 
 more particularly with the sedate demeanour of the 
 people, who were evidently wending their way to their 
 respective places of worship on this pleasant Sunday 
 morning. The appearance was that of a quiet Scottish 
 Sabbath, and having joined the throng, we went into a 
 modest-looking place of worship called the Catholic 
 Apostolic Church. The service was new to us, being 
 conducted by no less than eight officials dressed in 
 various costumes or robes, each taking part in the 
 ceremony. Except for the dresses, it was difficult to 
 know who was the priest and who were the apostles. 
 Though a little strange to us, the service was impressive. 
 The Sacrament was dispensed at its close, and the whole 
 was conducted in such a solemn manner as to leave no 
 doubt on our minds that we were amongst a religious 
 and God-fearing people. 
 
 After dinner, we took a stroll through the city, and in- 
 quired for Jervis Street, where we had learned that an old 
 Greenockian had his place of business ; having discovered 
 his sign, we did not feel disposed to disturb him on 
 Sunday, but went about two miles along the street taking 
 
22 
 
 observations. The street was very wide, and well shaded 
 on both sides with maple, chesnut, and poplar trees. The 
 sideways were all formed of wood, and between them and 
 the carriage-way on both sides along the whole length of 
 the street extended a broad green plot. Neat, substan- 
 tial, self-contained villas were on each side of the street, 
 ornamented with nice patches of green lawn and flower- 
 plots in front, rendering this part of the city clean and 
 pleasant-looking. 
 
 After walking on for a considerable distance, we turned 
 to the left, and entered the Queen's Park, a large and 
 handsome pleasure ground, where we spent a pleasant hour. 
 Numbers were strolling about, and stump orators were 
 dotted over it, holding forth to knots of listeners their 
 views on various topics. 
 
 We returned by a Grand Avenue leading from the Park 
 to the city, concluding from what we had seen on our 
 short stroll that Toronto had a fair claim to be called the 
 "Queen City," and that it far surpassed anything we 
 had in the old country, with one exception; there were 
 very few drinking fountains and seats in the Park and 
 avenues, however, and, on account of the extreme heat, 
 they would have been very acceptable. 
 
 On Monday we called on Mr J. B. Smith, an old 
 acquaintance, who had been twenty-five years resident 
 here, and who was carrying on the lumber and joiner trade 
 successfully. We were taken over his extensive premises, 
 and saw wood-working machinery used for the prepara- 
 
23 
 
 tion and construction of nearly every article of woodwork, 
 which, to our view, seemed carried to the height of per- 
 fection. Our friend then asked us to ride with him to 
 see a stable he was just finishing, and on arriving at 
 it and looking at its grand appearance, we would not 
 have been surprised if he had told us that we were visiting 
 some public institution instead of a stable. But you may 
 guess our surprise when, on ascending an easy incline, we 
 saw before us a long, wide, and lofty hall, all formed of 
 wood, and fitted up to accommodate six hundred and 
 fifty horses. The ground-floor was adapted for car- 
 riages, &c., the second floor for horses, and the third 
 floor for grain and provender. The general aspect of this 
 immense horse lodging-house had more the appearance of 
 a public building than a stable. 
 
 We had heard of the mammoth proportions of the 
 American hotels and had some pleasant experiences of 
 them but we certainly were not prepared to see the 
 same system carried out on a scale so enormous for the 
 lodgment of horses. Our friend, seeing that he had 
 surprised us, resolved to surprise us still more, and 
 conveyed us to the large distillery of the Messrs 
 Gooderham & Worte, where 12,000 gallons of whisky are 
 daily manufactured from grain. After having been taken 
 over the vast premises, we were shown the conclusion of 
 the process issuing from a pipe three inches in diameter, 
 standing upright in the centre of a cistern through 
 which the liquor welled up and overflowed into the 
 
24 
 
 cistern. On the top of this pipe a gauge constantly 
 floated, so that any variation in the strength of the 
 liquor was at once detected by the attendant on duty. 
 
 Our attention was then drawn to the fact that after the 
 grain was put into the vats, it was not taken out or again 
 handled in any way at the distillery, but was run along 
 with the potale or liquor from which the whisky had been 
 extracted into a large vat that stood on a lower level, but 
 still sufficiently high to allow the mass to run through a 
 pipe and discharge into a series of vats at the extensive 
 byres belonging to the same firm, fully three-fourths of a 
 mile distant from the distillery. In these vats the potale 
 and draff are stirred by machinery until they resemble 
 gruel, which is distributed by a series of rhones into the 
 troughs in the byres, which are seven in number and in 
 the aggregate accommodate 4,500 head of cattle. At the 
 time of our visit there were only 3,600 in the stalls, a 
 number having a few days previous been sent by the 
 Grand Trunk Railroad to Montreal, there to be shipped 
 by the Allan Line to the Clyde. The cattle in another 
 of the byres were sold for the Clyde, and some of them 
 were to be despatched on the following day. They were 
 sold at 5^4 cents per Ib. live weight, the animals varying 
 in weight from sixteen to nineteen cwts. each. The 
 byres are square, two-storey buildings. The upper storey 
 is used for holding provender. The cattle stand in the 
 low flat in long rows, head to head, with a feeding-trough 
 between, and a rail over the centre of it, on which a gang- 
 
25 
 
 way is laid for the attendants to walk from the one end 
 to the other. After the season's cattle have been dis- 
 posed of, the byres are cleaned and disinfected, the 
 old floors lifted, and the building exposed to the air 
 for several months. About the end of August, the floors 
 are re-laid with new wood, and all prepared to receive 
 stock for the next season, competent parties being sent 
 over the country to purchase lean cattle, which are taken 
 to the byres and fed during the winter, so as to be in 
 good condition by the month of June, when they are 
 sold for export. 
 
 Amongst the cattle in the byres were some with nicely 
 dressed horns, having polished brass knobs on the tips* 
 These, we were informed, had been kept for ploughing 
 or dragging timber, for which purposes they are much 
 more used than horses. 
 
 It is the custom in our country to supply stall-fed 
 cattle with a good bed of straw or sawdust. With the 
 Canadians this comfort is altogether disregarded. They 
 find by experience that cattle are more healthy and 
 thrive much better on bare boards than on a bed 
 of straw, which has a tendency to generate gas and 
 produce disease. This treatment is certainly not very 
 comfortable looking, though the result is said to be 
 very satisfactory, the death-rate being not more than 
 i per cent, during the season. 
 
 Another point is worthy of notice. With stall-fed 
 cattle at home the manure is worth from 2 to ^3 per 
 
26 
 
 head per annum, whereas, with the Canadians, it is of 
 no value. It is run out into the dungstead, which extends 
 the whole length of one side of the byre, and is divided 
 into sections ; and any farmer or market gardener who 
 will guarantee to keep a section clean for the season, 
 will get the manure for the taking away. 
 
 Returning from our excursion, we drove up to the 
 office, and, on stepping from the buggy, we observed a 
 man sitting on a log, his back against the wall and his 
 face exposed to the sun. Mr Smith remarked that 
 there was something wrong with that mart, and, stepping 
 up to him, gave him a shake. He opened his eyes, and, 
 with a debauched stare in his countenance, uttered some 
 incoherent words. Mr Smith folio wed' up with " Where 
 do you come from?" and, as if attempting to raise himself 
 up and collect his thoughts, he muttered out "Greenock," 
 and that he was wanting work. We felt somewhat 
 chagrined at the idea that the first intoxicated man we 
 had seen, hailed from our native place. This little 
 incident led to a conversation about foreign workmen. 
 On asking Mr Smith if he ever employed any of our 
 home workmen, he said he had them frequently, but it 
 was very difficult to get along with them at first. They 
 were so prejudiced in their views, they insisted on 
 their own way of doing everything, but a very few days 
 took this conceit out, when they saw how the Yankees 
 could go a-head of them. When they did adopt 
 the Yankee methods of working they got on very well. 
 
27 
 
 Leaving Toronto, we took train to Owen Sound, 
 situated on the Georgean Bay, Lake Huron, 122 miles 
 distant. The railroad follows very much the surface of 
 the ground ; the roads all cross the rails on the level. 
 Large billboards are fixed up at these crossings, with the 
 intimation in bold letters, " Look out for the train," and 
 if any unfortunately come to grief through their own 
 carelessness, the fault is their own and not the company's. 
 This line of railroad is for the greater part of the way 
 through a forest which in some parts is cleared only for the 
 railway lines ; other portions are cleared for nearly a mile 
 on each side. Some of the fields are in a fair state of 
 cultivation ; others have stumps of trees sticking up from 
 three to four feet above the surface, indicating the 
 depth of snow on the ground at the time they were cut. 
 Hardwood roots rot in from five to seven years, but pine 
 roots take from twenty to twenty-five years. 
 
 Where the land is clear there are always a number of 
 shanties erected. The farms here vary much in size, 
 being from thirty to one hundred acres. When a farmer 
 clears a bit of ground he erects a shanty to live in, then 
 plants an orchard ; every farmer has an orchard, varying 
 in size from half-an-acre to three or four acres, and keeps 
 a horse and buggy to convey his surplus produce to the 
 nearest village or market town. When a sufficient 
 quantity of ground is cleared, he plants corn, wheat, 
 and potatoes, and also keeps a number of cows, one of 
 which has a bell hung round its neck, which keeps 
 
28 
 
 ringing with every motion of the cow. The other cows 
 follow the " bell cow," and thus their whereabouts in the 
 forest are readily got at. 
 
 A farmer told me of a curious instance of the force of 
 habit in a " bell cow," which had worn the bell for a long 
 time, but it was taken off, and she got so grieved, so out 
 of sorts, and so low spirited, that the farmer began to 
 treat it as unwell. But it showed no symptoms of 
 recovery, till one day one of the children in his pranks 
 decorated the cow with its bell, when it instantly re- 
 covered its usual sprightliness, and went at once to the 
 grass, with all the other cows following. 
 
 There are quite a number of public works at Owen 
 Sound, considering its size, and the Harbour Trustees 
 are piling for a long distance down into the bay, on 
 both sides of the Sydenham river ; and in this operation 
 our American friends again employ the agencies of 
 Nature to assist them. 
 
 The piling is done in the winter season, when the bay 
 is frozen over. The lines for the piles are drawn on the 
 ice, and holes are cut just the size of the pile, which is 
 then dropped through, and driven to the proper depth, 
 the ice making a fine platform for carrying on the work. 
 When the ice melts, then the piles will be floored over, 
 and the wharves are complete, Nature kindly assisting in 
 doing the scaffolding work, and charging nothing ! 
 Wood is abundant, and is the only fuel the farmers use. 
 The ashes are preserved, and soap is made from them. 
 
29 
 
 They make their own sugar from the juice of the 
 maple, a tree similar in appearance to our plane tree. 
 The maple is tapped in the spring, when the sap is 
 ascending the trunk, and it runs best when there is a 
 keen night's frost, followed by a warm, sunshiny day. 
 The quantity of sap got from such trees gives about 
 from three to five pounds of sugar each season. The 
 sugar-making season is a busy time with the farmers ; 
 it is done in the open air, and is generally a merry, 
 social gathering of the young men and women all round. 
 
 We met an old man, aged ninety-six, and wife, aged 
 eighty-four. They had celebrated their " Diamond Wed- 
 ding" a few weeks ago sixty years of wedded life in 
 this land of many marriages and so many divorces ! On 
 remarking to him that it was surely a healthy place, 
 " O yes," he replied ; " if I had a little money and 
 a pony to carry me about, and could get a bit of pork 
 and a little whisky now, and then, I think I could get 
 along very well for twenty-five years yet." 
 
 On our arrival here we were very cordially received by 
 a native of Renfrewshire, who, with his good lady and 
 family, spared no trouble to make our visit very enjoy- 
 able. A few years ago he had purchased a farm about 
 two miles distant from the village. On it he had erected 
 a two-storey dwelling, a perfect model for comfort and 
 convenience. Much hard labour must have been spent 
 in bringing what of the land is cleared into its present 
 state of cultivation; judging from what we saw of it in its 
 
30 
 
 natural state, it must have been very rough to begin with. 
 All along the Bay for about one-fourth of a mile inland, 
 was thickly dotted over with boulders, some of large size. 
 Our friend informed us that it is supposed they have 
 been deposited there by icebergs, and the distinctly 
 marked line of elevation to which they extend along the 
 shore bears out that idea. In this district were birds of 
 beautiful plumage. The yellow canary and humming-bird 
 were very plentiful. In the evening the whip-poor-will 
 was heard, but could not be seen. As darkness in- 
 creased the sparkle of the fire-fly became more visible, 
 as it darted from place to place. 
 
 The water in the Bay was remarkable for its purity. 
 At a depth of from twenty to thirty feet one could see the 
 fish swimming, and could count the pebbles in the 
 bottom, as if the depth were not more than from four to 
 five feet, and we could not believe that it was more until 
 we saw it tested. Our friend drove us to Leith, about 
 twelve miles distant. This is but a poor representation 
 of Leith as known to us in Scotland. There is little 
 doubt that at the time it was named there were better 
 prospects in view, as were indicated by a deserted hotel 
 and stabling accommodation, and several uninhabited 
 dwellings, also a pier constructed on the lake. The 
 site is a good one, with a fine waterfall, but the only busi- 
 ness carried on is in a flour mill, a smithy, and a wright's 
 shop. In all our travels this was the only place we 
 observed on the decline. A few years ago a branch 
 
railway was promoted to a neighbouring village about 
 eight miles distant, which had the effect of diverting 
 trade from the place. Some of the people are still in 
 hopes of a branch being promoted, and new life in- 
 fused into the port. On the way we were informed that 
 Miss Quarrier had been there a few days previously getting 
 some of the Scotch orphan children settled with the 
 farmers in the district. 
 
 In order to give us some idea of travelling in the bush, 
 our friend, on our return, drove us about eight miles 
 through a forest, a considerable part of which had been 
 lately burned. Many of the tall, charred trunks of the 
 trees were still standing, some of them burned half 
 through. There was no road for a great part of the 
 way, until we came to a shanty where about two acres 
 had been cleared. From that there was a cart track for 
 the remainder of the way, but the jolting was such that 
 we could scarcely keep our seats in the buggy. 
 
 Next day we visited the village, and were introduced 
 to a baker who was getting a patent oven fitted up, 
 which was something new to us. It was just so far 
 advanced that we could see the principle on which it 
 worked. Looking into the oven was like looking into 
 the paddle-box of a steamer. Passing horizontally 
 through the centre was an axle, on which was fixed, at 
 each side of the oven, a ring of large diameter. Between 
 these rings a succession of shelves were hung on pivots 
 (like paddle-floats), but in such a way that the shelves 
 
32 
 
 always kept level as the axle revolved, motion being 
 given to it by an engine, which is so regulated that, as 
 each shelf comes opposite to the mouth of the oven, it 
 stops a short time to allow the removing and replacing of 
 trays with bread. If the bread be not properly fired, 
 it is allowed another revolution in the oven. By this 
 method the firing is very regularly done, and no peels 
 being required for filling or drawing the oven, the bread 
 is brought round to the workmen at its mouth. 
 
 After leaving the village, we drove several miles into 
 the country. On the way we had a beautiful stream on 
 the one hand and an extensive forest on the other, until 
 we arrived at a nice cosy spot (Inglis's Falls), where 
 there is a vast amount of water-power, not one-tenth of 
 which has been utilised. There is at present a grain 
 mill and a woollen manufactory, from which a great 
 amount of woollen cloth is sent into the market. The 
 inhabitants consist only of the families of those who 
 are engaged in the works. 
 
 After seeing all the various processes of manufacture,, 
 we were introduced to Mr Inglis (the proprietor), with 
 whom we were very soon on familiar terms, as it transpired 
 in the course of conversation that, about thirty years 
 before, we had been shopmates in Dunn's Machine Works 
 in Glasgow. This discovery led to considerable inquiry 
 regarding old shopmates. After recounting some of the 
 incidents of former times, and getting a photo, of the 
 falls, we said good-bye, and proceeded on our way. 
 
33 
 
 Where the land has been brought into cultivation, it is 
 divided into fields by what are known as snake fences, 
 which are formed of pieces of timber all cut to one 
 length, and laid zig-zag with the ends resting on each 
 other, there being from seven to eight pieces in the 
 height. Fences formed in this manner require no 
 nailing or fixing into the ground, and are easily removed 
 from one place to another, if necessary to a re-arrange- 
 ment of the fields. Another kind of fence is common in 
 some places where the stumps had been cleared out of 
 the ground. These stumps were ranged in rows, with 
 their roots all in one direction, forming a very secure- 
 looking fence. 
 
 No use visiting America without seeing Niagara, so we 
 made that our next point in our rambling journey. We 
 got excellent accommodation in the Prospect House. 
 The American Falls, which are the smaller of the two, 
 are about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and were lighted 
 up in the evening with seven electric lamps of various 
 colours brigh, tred, green, &c. and an effort was made 
 to show an artificial rainbow. Though a pretty sight, 
 and very well done with the aid of the electric lights, it 
 was a great way deficient in effect compared with the 
 real rainbow that is seen there during the daytime. The 
 spray that is sent up from the Falls by the air getting 
 compressed and forcing itself through the mass of falling 
 water, rises in an ever-varying column of vapour, which 
 condenses and keeps the neighbourhood, for a consider- 
 
34 
 
 able distance around, in a perpetual shower of rain in 
 fact, something like our Greenock weather ! The American 
 Falls, though only about half the size of those on the 
 Canadian side of the river, seem, from a utilitarian point 
 of view, to be the most valuable. 
 
 On the Canadian side, the ground rises very much, 
 and the road running along the bank will render it more 
 difficult and more expensive to take advantage of the 
 immense motive power of the Falls. There is no 
 question but they will be utilised, and that very 
 speedily. On the American side the ground is more 
 advantageous, being pretty level, and the water is to 
 some extent already taken advantage of. A canal has 
 been cut for nearly a mile down, and a large grist mill 
 and a lumber mill are now getting power from the water 
 of the Falls. The tail-race which discharges the water 
 from these works is conveyed by a tunnel cut through 
 the solid rock, to appearance some forty to fifty feet from 
 the surface. There is also another large work being 
 erected by a joint-stock company, said to be of Free 
 Lovers, for electro-plating purposes. This curious social 
 community who require to electro-plate their question- 
 able morality, now turn their electro-plating propensities 
 to things material. But the canal mentioned above 
 has been undertaken by several companies, all of 
 which were ruined save the present company, who seem 
 determined to make it a success. This is but the 
 beginning of the utilisation of this vast water-power, and 
 
35 
 
 time and the restless ingenuity of the American mind 
 will develop it to an extent yet undreamt of. 
 
 The burning spring in the vicinity of the Falls in- 
 terested us greatly. This is a spring of water continually 
 boiling up, and gives off a gas which, when a lighted 
 match is applied, flames up and burns on the surface of 
 the water, or if a tub is inverted having an inch tube 
 through the centre of it, the gas burns like ordinary coal 
 as \ but the peculiarity of it is that you may hold your 
 hand in it or a handkerchief and it will not burn them. 
 The water of this spring is used medicinally ; and I met 
 an old farmer up in the high lands, who told me that he 
 was half English and half Scotch, was seventy years of 
 age, and that he made it a point to visit this spring and 
 drink of the water three times in the year, and he never 
 required a doctor! 
 
 On the American side of the river the people are very 
 'cute everything is 25 cents, If you even look a man 
 in the face, he will almost charge you the 25 cents ! 
 On the Canadian side, it is scarcely so bad; but they have 
 a little more of the tact of the rat-catcher. They offer 
 you something free, then close the trap on you when 
 they have got you in. 
 
 The whirlpool, of which so much is said, is not of 
 great account, but the rapids are a fine sight before 
 reaching the whirlpool. Having satisfied our curiosity at 
 the Falls, we left for Buffalo, and visited the Town Hall 
 and public parks. Mr A informed us that, when he 
 
36 
 
 came to the place fourteen years ago, there were 70,000 
 of a population, and it now numbers 164,000. 
 
 There were three very large Savings Banks within 
 speaking-distance of each other, where sums as low as 
 half-a-dollar are taken in, and in all our wanderings up 
 and down, we could not see even one intoxicated person. 
 These two signs, sobriety and saving habits, are significant 
 of this city's remarkable progress. 
 
37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A CITY OF LIGHT A GAS AND OIL FIGHT A HINT FOR 
 GREENOCK CHICAGO CATTLE GRAZING ON A LARGE 
 SCALE THE NOBLE INDIAN IN THE MORMON COUNTRY 
 OGDEN A RIDE ON THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD 
 AMONG THE MORMONS THE FINEST CITY OF MODERN 
 TIMES SALT LAKE CITY A HINT FOR PLANNING MODERN 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS SURROUNDING LOCALITY, WHAT IT 
 WAS AND WHAT IT IS. 
 
 next journey was to the City of Akron, in the State 
 of Ohio, a busy, thriving community of about 20,000 
 inhabitants. The Akronites are a go-a-head people, and 
 don't stick at trifles ; have their eyes open for all 
 improvements, and the brains to take advantage of them. 
 A gas company had the lighting of the city, but the 
 Corporation and the public were not satisfied with the 
 prices charged, so they got discontented with their gas 
 company for charging too much, and the Corporation 
 hung the city with oil lamps, and lamps and gas burned 
 lovingly side by side for several nights, to the great 
 satisfaction and enlightenment of the inhabitants. The 
 gas company were beat, the lamps were victorious ; but 
 dull oil did not suit the tastes of the Akronites ; they 
 went in, head over heels, for the electric light, and got it 
 too ; and when all the lights are fixed up, Akron will be 
 
38 
 
 a city of light not a light hid under a bushel, but a blaze 
 of light in the midst of darkness ! 
 
 The city stands on about two square miles, and two 
 lights are already erected. One of the two is placed on 
 an iron pillar of huge proportions ; it is about two feet in 
 diameter at the base, erected on a strong, solid foundation, 
 and rises to the great height of 220 feet above the surface 
 of the ground. The spire of the Mid Church in Greenock 
 is about 1 60 feet or thereabouts, an estimate can thus be 
 formed of the height of this huge iron pole. The other 
 light is placed on a tall wooden mast fixed on the 
 top of the College for Akron boasts of a College also- 
 and these two lights illuminate a large section of the 
 city. We could read newspaper print with the greatest 
 ease at a considerable distance say as far as from the 
 railway station to Cathcart Square, or about 300 yards from 
 the light. When the eight lights are in full operation, 
 Akron will be the best lighted of all cities. It is 
 asserted that the electric light will be as cheap, if not 
 cheaper, than gas, and water power not being handy, the 
 electric machinery is driven by steam power. 
 
 Sir William Thomson recently pointed out Greenock 
 as the most favourably situated town in regard to water 
 power being applied for lighting by electricity. In the 
 recent report by Mr James Wilson, C.E., of the Water Trust, 
 the same idea is ventilated, and as deputations have 
 become so common of late, a deputation of the Police 
 Board might be despatched to Akron to look about 
 
39 
 
 them, and on their return report on what they saw ! The 
 deputation would enjoy the trip ; whether the ratepayers 
 would, is another question. 
 
 Akron is a most energetic, thriving, busy city. We 
 visited a very large work, the Buckeye Agricultural 
 Implement Manufactory. At the time of our visit they 
 were manufacturing one hundred and five reaping 
 machines daily, and sending out daily one hundred and 
 thirty, thus reducing the stock they had accumulated 
 during, the winter months. The same company have 
 another work equal in extent, and doing as much 
 business, in another city. All the labour in these 
 manufactories is done by the piece, and the workers 
 make good wages. We also went over an extensive 
 carriage factory, in which the average weekly out-put of 
 " buggies " ranges about thirty. One marvels much 
 where they all go to, and who buys them. 
 
 We left this city of light for Cleveland, from where, 
 the same night, we took the steamer and crossed Lake 
 Erie for Detroit. Arriving there the following morning, 
 we went straight on to Pontiac, about thirty-five miles 
 distant, and then proceeded to the residence of my 
 apprentice master, who had for a considerable time 
 carried on business in Greenock as a contractor, and 
 though it was over thirty years since he left, we still 
 continued to keep up a friendly correspondence, and to 
 visit him was one of the objects I had in view when I 
 left Scotland. 
 
40 
 
 I remembered that he used to have a great antipathy to 
 book canvassers and pedlars. When any of these entered 
 his premises, if he was present they were very soon shown 
 the way to the door, so I arranged with my travelling 
 companion that he was to keep a little behind while I 
 introduced myself to my friend as a pedlar. 
 
 He met me at the door, and asked me to enter. His 
 features were little changed from what they were thirty 
 years ago, with the exception that his hair was now white. 
 Seeing him so little altered, I imagined that it was the 
 same with myself, and that he would at once recognise me. 
 However, in that I was mistaken. I produced a pair of 
 spectacles, which I offered for sale, saying that he would 
 find them a decided improvement to anything he had 
 been in the habit of using, as they would have a tendency 
 to renew his youth, and bring former days to his recol- 
 lection. He now became as obstinate with me as he 
 used to be with the pedlars. He would neither listen 
 to me nor would he look at my spectacles, but began to 
 denounce all hawked goods as trash, and took out of his 
 pocket the pair he was using, and said he had lately 
 bought these in Detroit for a quarter of a dollar, and he 
 would defy me to produce as cheap and as good a pair 
 out of my whole pack. I tried them, and said they were 
 very good, but mine were a great deal better, and if after 
 trying them he did not admit that it was so, I would 
 make him a present of them. At last he put them on, 
 and I handed him my card, saying that, as it was small 
 
41 
 
 print, it would be a good test. Looking at the name, he 
 exclaimed, "What is this?" Looking again, he says, 
 " Greenock !" then looking at me, he said, " You are not 
 the man named here." I assured him that I was. He 
 said, " No, no, that cannot be." Re-asserting that I was 
 no other, he walked out of the room, and instantly 
 returned, and, standing at a distance, he eyed me from 
 top to toe as if he had been taking my measure, at the 
 same time saying, " You may have got my address from 
 him, but one thing is certain, you are not the man whose 
 name is on this card." 
 
 I then related to him several incidents of our former 
 days, all of which he remembered and admitted to be 
 perfectly correct, but still he had doubts as to my 
 identity. While this was going on, I could not help 
 saying to myself May not the Claimant have been the 
 right man after all ? All this time we were standing; my 
 friend now asked me to be seated, and brought in my 
 companion and introduced us to his good lady and 
 granddaughter, and made all haste to get his horse and 
 buggy ready to go for our baggage. 
 
 The knowledge I had of his personal affairs in former 
 times enabled me to dispel all doubt as to my identity, 
 and the greater portion of the next few days was spent in 
 answering questions, and relating the many changes and 
 important events that had taken place in Greenock during 
 the past thirty years, which appeared to be much 
 appreciated by my old friend. He occupied a nice 
 
42 
 
 ottage about a mile distant from the town of Pontiaa 
 The plot on which it is built is bounded at the back by 
 a mill pond, in which there is a plentiful supply of fish 
 and small turtle, which we frequently saw basking in the 
 sun on a little eminence in the centre of the pond. 
 Beyond this pond was a marsh, from which came a variety 
 of sounds some as if from a wild bull, while others were 
 hoarse and short, as if you had struck a coarse table bell 
 and instantly put your hand on it and stopped the sound. 
 We were told that it was the cry of the bull-frogs. We 
 went down several times, but could never see them. We 
 were anxious to see the little animal that could send forth 
 such a volume of sound. Pontiac, which is in the State 
 of Michigan, is a busy market town where farmers come 
 to make purchases and dispose of their produce. In the 
 main streets there is a row of stakes from six to eight feet 
 apart, and about five feet high, extending along the kerb 
 on both sides of the street. These are common to any 
 one to tie up his horse while he attends either 
 church or market. My companion often gave free 
 expression to his feelings on the cruelty of the people 
 in leaving their horses so long exposed under a scorching 
 sun. 
 
 Our friend was much delighted in pointing out to us 
 everything in which he knew they were ahead of us 
 in the old country. A day was set apart for visiting 
 places of interest, among which was the Michigan State 
 Asylum for the Insane, which is a very imposing structure,. 
 
43 
 
 situated about three miles distant from Pontiac. In the 
 portion of the building that is completed there are over 
 three hundred patients, so that the Americans, along with 
 all the good things they enjoy, have a pretty fair share of 
 lunatics amongst them. 
 
 Our friend having considerable experience of the delay, 
 expense and annoyance connected with purchasing or 
 transferring a piece of land at home, was anxious that we 
 should accompany him to the Government Land Agent's 
 Office and to the Registration Office, where we would see 
 the expeditious, simple and economical method of trans- 
 acting business as practised by the Yankees. 
 
 On a previous occasion, while in Toronto, I had an 
 opportunity of witnessing how expeditiously a land trans- 
 action there can be completed. I accompanied Mr 
 Smith, who went to take off a new township (which, if I 
 remember right, is ten miles square) of forest land, to 
 clear it of the growing timber. The object of our visit 
 was stated. The agent produced the map, pointed out 
 the limits, stated the terms, and the transaction was 
 completed with as little delay or ceremony as we would 
 have here in purchasing a barrel of flour. 
 
 At the Register Office the books were produced, and 
 we were shown the various stages through which several 
 plots of ground had passed from the original purchase 
 through a number of transfers, with mortgages and searches, 
 some of which had been done without the assistance of 
 an agent. 
 
44 
 
 The following is what was given to us as the items of 
 expense : 
 
 Blank Deed, ... ... ... ... ... 0.12 
 
 Filling up Blanks, ... ... ... ... i.oo 
 
 Justice of Peace, Swearing and Testifying, ... 0.25 
 
 Recording Deed, ... ... ... ... ... i.oo 
 
 Abstract from Register, ... ... .. ... 4.00 
 
 Blank Deed for Mortgage, ... ... ... 0.12 
 
 Recording do., ... ... ... 0.75 
 
 The whole amount for title deed, mortgage and registra- 
 tion is seven dollars twenty-four cents, being under thirty 
 shillings of our money a mere fraction of what it would 
 cost for similar documents at home. 
 
 It was during our stay here that the attack was made 
 on the life of the President ; the sad event caused great 
 excitement, people driving in from the country to get the 
 latest particulars. The morning following the dastardly 
 attempt we were awoke about one o'clock by loud knock- 
 ing at the door : this was one of the neighbours with the 
 latest news, to the effect that there was still hope of the 
 President's life. 
 
 Much to our regret, we had to make our stay short, and, 
 parting with our old friend, we returned to Detroit and 
 purchased railway coupons right on to San Francisco, 
 taking the first train to Chicago, where we spent only two 
 hours, as we intended spending a few days there on our 
 return. 
 
 For many miles after leaving Chicago the fields are 
 covered with various kinds of crops, but as we proceeded 
 on our journey the principal crop grown is Indian corn. 
 
45 
 
 Orchards are plentiful, and occasionally vineyards were 
 visible. 
 
 We arrived at Omaha, thus completing a third of our 
 long journey in comfort and safety, and having stopped 
 to change carriages, we travelled onwards. In a short 
 time we gradually got into the midst of immense fields 
 where cattle were seen grazing in thousands. The herds- 
 men are all mounted, and in several instances they had 
 the cattle gathered in large groups, but for what object 
 we could not learn. As seen in the distance the group 
 of cattle reminded one of a fox-cover in Renfrewshire, 
 the mounted herdsmen, the sportsmen round the cover 
 and the stray dogs outside, kept up the resemblance. In 
 some cases, where the cattle were not so closely tended 
 by the herdsmen, and a stream or pool of water near, the 
 cattle were to be seen standing in the water, nothing 
 visible of them but their backs and heads, and seeming 
 to enjoy their cold bath. 
 
 Along the railroad were to be seen great numbers of 
 prairie chickens and huge butterflies, some of them of 
 most beautiful colours. We were now running along the 
 level prairie lands, where there was nothing to break the 
 monotony of the view save a solitary tree now and then, 
 or perhaps a farm hut away in the distance, reminding 
 one of the ocean with a ship appearing occasionally on 
 the horizon. 
 
 There are many villages along the line where the trains 
 stop, some of which are kept up by the railway company, 
 
46 
 
 and at most of them there is a refreshment room or dining 
 saloon, which is generally attended by black waiters. In 
 some instances the blacks had given place to Chinese 
 waiters, and everything in the shape of refreshment is 
 served expeditiously, and on the shortest notice. At 
 some of the stations there were to be seen Indians with 
 their families a wretched, dirty lot, quite different from 
 the " noble red Indian " of the novelist. They did not 
 beg, but merely sat in their dignity and dirt, and looked 
 on. Some of their children, who had bows and arrows, 
 were kept very busy by the passengers placing a coin on 
 a peg, when the boy who struck it off with his arrow 
 claimed it. At this work, the boys, who were from 
 eight to ten years old, were remarkably clever, and 
 the certainty of their shooting quite astonished the on- 
 lookers. The Indian dwellings were situated outside of 
 the villages. They are called " dug-outs." The roofs of 
 them were very like the potato pits on a Scotch farm. 
 
 At Larmie city we came across what was to us a 
 singular spectacle. It was a train decked out in mourn- 
 ing. Some of the carriages had three huge black and 
 white rosettes placed on each side of them, and black 
 and white pennants and festoons hung from the roof on 
 each side of the rosettes. This strange mourning display 
 was said to be on the occasion of the death of one of 
 the " conductors " of the line. 
 
 We were now far beyond the bounds of civilisation, 
 save what was clustered in the villages along the line. 
 
47 
 
 The bones, white and bleached, of numerous cattle that 
 had died, lay on each side of the rails. They lay in 
 clusters here and there some fresh looking, as if the . 
 animals had died but this season, and others as if they 
 had lain for years. 
 
 We had traversed a great distance of level and 
 undulating prairie land. Each little village along the 
 line seemed the outposts of civilized life; and in the 
 future this vast expanse will probably be a cattle-rearing, 
 grain-growing country, whose surplus products will be 
 carried by railway to the seaboard for shipment to other 
 countries. 
 
 This Union Pacific Railroad is a great undertaking a 
 mighty agent in colonising and developing the vast 
 resources of the lands through which it runs, and every 
 year adds to the population, wealth, and trade of this 
 portion of the United States. 
 
 Having been now two days on the train after leaving 
 Omaha, and running a distance of about 940 miles, and 
 7,500 feet above the sea level, we passed from the 
 territory of Wyoming into Utah. About twenty miles 
 further on we arrived at Evanston, where the train 
 stopped half-an-hour. This is a thriving village, with 
 about 2,000 inhabitants, where there are extensive saw- 
 mills and coal mines. The Railway Company own some 
 of the mines, and also extensive engineering workshops, 
 which employ a number of inhabitants all the year round. 
 This station was very much admired by the passengers, 
 
4 3 
 
 most of whom dined at the Mountain Trout Hotel, where 
 they were very expeditiously served by Chinese waiters, 
 who were all dressed in their native costume, and wore 
 their "ques." They all spoke good English, were very 
 polite, attentive, and anxious to give information to 
 all who asked it. The Chinese have a settlement here, 
 with their Joss-house and other native attractions. On 
 leaving the dining-room, our curiosity was excited by a 
 number of Indians who had come upon the scene, with 
 their children, some of them very gaudily dressed with 
 shining trinkets, furs, and feathers, and their faces daubed 
 over with red paint. They did not beg, but there was a 
 vacant stare in their countenances which told its own 
 tale; when anything was offered them, they took it as if 
 with reluctance, and turned their faces away, putting one 
 very much in mind of the look of a dog to which you had 
 offered a large piece of bread. 
 
 While the train was stopped at one of the stations, a 
 gaudily-dressed, tall, masculine-looking female Indian 
 took up a position on the platform of our car. In her 
 hand she carried a fine little tomahawk, very highly 
 polished, and the handle decorated with rings and round- 
 headed brass tacks. One was driven into the end of the 
 handle, fixing a rosette of various coloured ribbons. 
 The weapon seemed more ornamental than useful. 
 When spoken to she did not answer. She was handed 
 a coin, and asked if she could speak English, but she 
 gave no symptoms of hearing, when one remarked tha 
 
49 
 
 she was perhaps a dummy. The engine-driver, who had 
 been looking on, said if we gave her two or three glasses 
 of whisky we would very soon hear her speak English 
 like a politician. He said the greater number of the 
 Indians who frequented the stations pretended they had 
 no English until they get drunk, and then they could 
 speak English very well. 
 
 The Railway Company on this line allow the Indians 
 to travel free upon all freight trains, so that it is quite 
 common to see Indians and their families perched on 
 the top of a truck of goods or in cattle trucks. Some of 
 them travelled short distances by our train, but did not 
 mix with the passengers. They kept on the platform 
 outside. It is said that the Railway Company have got 
 the Indians under the impression that they only have the 
 right to ride free, because the railway belongs to them. 
 Under this impression, they do their utmost to protect 
 the line from being injured. It is well for the safety of 
 the trains that the Indians should remain in that belief 
 were they to take up a position antagonistic to the 
 railway, the consequences might be serious for both the 
 Railway Company and the passengers. 
 
 From this point on to Ogden is about eighty miles, the 
 line having a gradual fall of over 3,200 feet This is the 
 grandest, though the wildest and most dangerous, part of 
 the journey. It is difficult to say whether there is most 
 danger from the treacherous-looking narrow ledges, deep 
 chasms, and sudden turns that the train has to follow along 
 
 
 
50 
 
 the margin of the Weber River, or from the shattered over- 
 hanging mountains which you imagine the vibration of 
 the train would set in motion at any point. The close 
 proximity of the mountains above and the rapid flowing 
 of the river beneath give an apparent velocity to the train 
 that is terrific. This feeling is intensified by the rushing 
 sound of the train and the steam whistle, the echo of 
 which is heard overhead reverberating from cliff to cliff 
 as if you were in the midst of a thunder storm. Here the 
 curves of the line are so sharp that the passengers in the 
 front carriage are for a moment just within speaking- 
 distance of those in the last carriage, when all of a sudden 
 the front carriages turn in the opposite direction, and the 
 train, which is over seven hundred feet long, assumes the 
 form of the letter S. This exciting scene continues for more 
 than thirty miles, until we pass the Devil's Gate and Slide, 
 where we emerge into the open country where cultivation 
 is carried to great perfection by the Mormon settlers. 
 In a short time we arrive at Ogden City, where all have 
 to change carriages, this being the western terminus of 
 the Union Pacific and the eastern terminus of the Central 
 Pacific Railway. 
 
 After an hour's delay, we take the train on the Utah 
 Central Railroad to Salt Lake City distance, thirty-two 
 miles. The fare is about threepence per mile, and it is 
 one of the best paying lines in the States. This railroad 
 was one of the enterprises of Brigham Young. When 
 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads were completed 
 
5 1 
 
 they met near Ogden, their combined length being 1,914 
 miles. Necessarily a great deal of material was left 
 over, which was purchased and used in the construc- 
 tion of this line, which is thirty-two miles in length from 
 Ogden to Salt Lake City, it being completed within 
 nine months from the time the ground was broken. 
 There was little cutting or filling up required, as it 
 passed through a level track of country from five to six 
 miles broad, having the Salt Lake within a mile and 
 a-half on the right and a mountain range about four 
 miles to the left. 
 
 There are several stations and villages along the line, 
 the inhabitants of which are chiefly employed in agricul- 
 tural pursuits. Arriving at Salt Lake City, and taking a 
 run over it, we came to the conclusion that, with one 
 exception, it was the finest city that we had yet visited, 
 the streets being 130 feet wide, all set off at right angles 
 and at such a distance from each other as to give ten 
 acres to each building block. Some of these blocks are 
 again sub-divided into four building plots, and those 
 in the workmen's district are again sub-divided into 
 eight building plots, giving one and a quarter acres to 
 each plot. The ground is generally used as an orchard, 
 and the houses are all placed back at a uniform distance 
 from the line of the street, so that there are invariably 
 fruit trees between the streets and the houses. Four of 
 these blocks, containing over forty acres, are walled in 
 and set apart for religious institutions. On one of these 
 
52 
 
 plots stands the Tabernacle, a large, rough-looking build- 
 ing, about two hundred and sixty feet long by one 
 hundred and fifty feet wide and eighty feet high, with 
 semi-circular ends, and covered with a dome roof, 
 supported on a succession of stone abutments, each 
 about ten feet broad and three feet thick. 
 
 The thickness of these abutments and the spaces 
 between them, all of which are doors, form the exterior 
 of the building. The breadth of the abutments runs in 
 towards the centre of the building and forms the support 
 for the back of the gallery, which is carried round the 
 two sides and one end. At the other end is a platform, 
 whereon the grand organ is placed, on each side of which 
 are the seats for the choir, which numbers about four 
 hundred voices the one side being occupied by females 
 and the other by males. 
 
 In a line right in front of the organ there are three 
 pulpits, each being at a lower elevation as they recede 
 from it. Elevated a little above the area beneath 
 the third pulpit is the elders' bench. On each side 
 of the pulpits are seats for those who take an active part 
 in Church matters, and who occasionally address the 
 audience. In the area there is a passage all round next 
 to the external walls. Other three passages run the 
 whole length of the area. In the middle passage, and 
 right in the centre of the building, there is a grand 
 ornamental fountain, from which, during service in 
 summer months, there is a flow of iced water. In the 
 
53 
 
 roof there are several cupolas, and the ceiling is a 
 complete network of festoons, formed of evergreens and 
 flowers. Each panel on the front of the gallery has a 
 shield or ornamental design, in the centre of which a 
 letter is placed. These letters give the motto, "God 
 Bless our Mountain Home." 
 
 Though there is accommodation in this building for 
 thirteen thousand people, yet there is never any crushing 
 or inconvenience on entering or leaving ; those on each 
 side of the centre passage walk along towards the 
 exterior, and a door faces them at whatever point they 
 reach. Three minutes are sufficient at any time to evacuate 
 the whole building. The Tabernacle is used for worship 
 during the summer season only, it being too large for 
 artificial heating. , 
 
 In the winter season the meetings are held in the 
 assembly hall, which is a beautiful granite building 
 erected on the temple block alongside of the Tabernacle. 
 It has a centre tower, two spires and a great many 
 minerets, is heated by steam, lighted with gas, and has a 
 grand organ, and is seated to hold about three thousand 
 people. On the east of the same block a temple on a 
 grand scale is at present in course of erection. The 
 mason work is about forty feet above the surface. 
 Judging from what is already done, this promises to be 
 the most substantial and picturesque building in the city. 
 
 On the occasion of our visit, had we not known that 
 we were in the Mormon Tabernacle, we could not have 
 
54 
 
 observed the difference from a Presbyterian Church by 
 either the rendering of the service or the matter of the 
 discourses, which, after the usual prayer and praise, were 
 delivered by an occasional layman, who left his pew and 
 ascended one of the pulpits. At the close of the service 
 the President stated that since his last intimation eighty- 
 one thousand dollars had been subscribed towards the 
 erection of the new temple, and there were now only five 
 thousand more required for its completion. There was 
 no money collected at either of the diets. 
 
 There is a general impression that Salt Lake City is 
 inhabited by Mormons only. Such is not the case now, 
 though it was so at first. It is said that there are 
 twenty-one thousand Mormons and about seven thousand 
 Gentiles, who are of various religious denominations. 
 The Methodists, Episcopalians, and the Presbyterians 
 have each their places of worship in the city. 
 
 After dinner, we resolved to have a view of the city 
 and its surroundings from Ensign Peak, that being the 
 mountain at the base of which the city is situated. 
 Shortly after starting, we had a friendly chat with one 
 of the settlers, to whom we made known our intention. 
 He asked how long we expected it would take. On tell 
 ing him, he advised us to go no further, assuring us that 
 the distance was three times what we anticipated, and it 
 would probably be dark before we reached the peak. 
 We took the hint and postponed our trip till the following 
 day, when we set out a-new, and long before arriving 
 
55 
 
 at the summit, we found we were much indebted to our 
 adviser of the previous evening, and were forced to the 
 belief that our vision as to distance was much more 
 deceptive than usual, which defect we attributed to the 
 rarified atmosphere and elevated position of the country. 
 Ascending towards the peak, the ground was literally 
 teeming with animal life, of which every step gave an 
 indication, by the efforts of numerous insects springing to 
 the side as if to make way for us, conspicuous amongst 
 them being the grasshopper, but very different from those 
 we are accustomed to at home. Some of them were 
 larger than the humming bird, their flight seldom exceed- 
 ing more than from thirty to forty yards. We made 
 several unsuccessful attempts to capture one, but, when- 
 ever we came within reach, it took a spring and repeated 
 its flight with as much vigour as before, so we gave up the 
 chase. There were indications of an old cart road a long 
 way up the steep incline. This somewhat puzzled us, 
 until we observed at various places little artificial mounds, 
 one of them within a few yards of the summit. These 
 had been thrown up by the original settlers when exploring 
 the mountains for gold. The cart track referred to was 
 that along which the workmen conveyed their implements 
 as far up hill as that mode of conveyance would permit. 
 No mineral having been found of sufficient value to 
 remunerate the miner, Ensign Peak has been spared the 
 indignity of being subjected to disfiguring operations, 
 and is now likely to be left alone in its natural beauty. 
 
56 
 
 Fatigued and out of wind, we arrived at the summit, 
 and were amply rewarded for our labour in the magnifi- 
 cent and impressive scenery that lay stretched out before 
 us. A little to the left, and apparently at our feet, stood 
 the city, which is about three miles square, the ponderous 
 Tabernacle and the half-built temple forming prominent 
 features in the foreground. At the base of the mountain, 
 and just in front of us, is the plain through which we had 
 passed on arrival, beyond which is the green marsh land 
 receding in the distance till it merges into the Salt Lake, 
 whose water is seen reflecting, like a vast mirror, the 
 different objects on its shores. To the left, and beyond 
 the city, is the rich valley of the Jordan, covered with 
 crops and studded with farm-houses, which seem like 
 specks in the distance, and ultimately are lost to view 
 before reaching the base of the mountains which enclose 
 the valley on each side. 
 
 Some of the deep gorges and fissures on these bleak 
 mountain sides are covered with snow, giving them a 
 pleasant variegated appearance, in beautiful contrast to 
 the alternately green and yellow fields in the plains 
 beneath. The dissolving snow forming little streamlets, 
 trickles down the slopes which, in former times, found 
 their way through the barren plain into the Jordan, 
 leaving little streaks of verdure along their course. 
 What a contrast is the present scene with the past ! 
 
 Thirty-four years ago, the evicted Mormons came 
 upon the scene, claimed this desert as their home, and 
 
57 
 
 with firm resolution and willing hands turned Nature's 
 stores to their own purposes. Having fixed on a site for 
 their city, they set to work to form ponds in the creeks, 
 and to cut a canal along the sides of the mountains, 
 intercepting the streamlets a little way above the plain, 
 and leading the water to such points as were most 
 advantageous for the irrigation of the plain. Descending 
 from the peak, we stood for a little on the bank of the 
 canal right over the city, and contrasted the barren sage- 
 covered land above with the gardens and orchards of the 
 city beneath and the rich, fertile fields beyond, and had 
 to confess that whatever may have been the faults or 
 failings of the Mormon settlers, the scene before us 
 showed an amount of industry and perseverance that it 
 is doubtful if it can be equalled anywhere else. They 
 have, in very truth, made the " wilderness to bud and 
 blossom as the rose." 
 
 From this point we descended into the city, and had 
 a pleasant stroll through the streets, where we found 
 much to engage our attention. From the canal we had 
 just left there was a stream of water flowing down on 
 both sides of each street. The channel-ways for this 
 water were about eighteen inches wide, nine inches 
 deep, and formed of wood, with little sluices at points 
 suitable for diverting part of the water into the gardens ; 
 its chief use being for irrigation and flushing of gutters, 
 the domestic supply being brought in iron pipes from 
 the water works at City Creek Canon, which is at such 
 
58 
 
 an elevation as gives sufficient pressure for extinguishing 
 fires, and for that purpose there are stand-up hydrants 
 placed at short distances along the sideways. 
 
 To these hydrants are attached the hose for watering 
 the carriage-ways, which, during the summer months, is 
 done every day except Sunday, this being part of the 
 duty of the men of the fire brigade. Outside of each 
 footpath, between the water course and carriage-way, 
 there is a fine row of shade trees, while on the other 
 side of the footpaths the trees of the orchards overhang 
 the pathway, forming a pleasant, cool, shaded grove to 
 walk under the pleasure being much enhanced by an 
 abundance of flowers, and all kinds of fruit overhead, 
 quite within arm's-reach, and in many cases considerable 
 quantities lying on the footpaths. None of the citizens 
 are tempted to pull them, as everyone has an orchard of 
 his own, in which there are apples, pears, cherries, 
 peaches, apricots, grapes, &c. Every kind of fruit 
 seems to grow to perfection, except the gooseberry, 
 which is very small, hard, and covered with small thorns. 
 
 Tramway cars are run in every direction from the 
 centre of the city to nearly three miles distant, the 
 driver acting the part of guard. The cars are drawn by 
 mules, each of which is branded with the letter Y, the 
 latter being at one time the property of Brigham Young. 
 
 Not having observed any policemen in our rambles, 
 we inquired how it was if they were dressed in plain 
 clothes? We were informed that there was no such 
 
59 
 
 official required ; that the city was divided into wards, 
 and each ward had a surveyor or master who attended 
 to its interests, and intimated to the inhabitants when 
 their labour was required to carry out any public 
 improvement. There was no evading this intimation ; 
 each had to turn out or send a substitute, and had at all 
 times to take the responsibility of protecting his own 
 property. Our informant stated that formerly they 
 had neither lawyers nor publicans, but now that a great 
 many Gentiles had settled amongst them, both these 
 occupations had got a footing. 
 
6o 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SALT LAKE TO OGDEN A PAISLEY MORMON'S EXPERIENCES 
 
 NO END TO INTRODUCTIONS TO SCOTCH SETTLERS 
 
 EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION CORINNE NORTHERN EX- 
 TREMITY OF SALT LAKE RIVERS RUNNING IN, NONE 
 RUNNING OUT THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT CLOVER 
 
 VALLEY ITS DEEP WELLS A LOST RIVER A FIELD 
 
 WITH HALF-A-MILLION OF CATTLE THE MAIDEN'S GRAVE 
 THE UTILITY OF FLUMES. 
 
 now resolved to bid adieu to Salt Lake City, 
 regretting that we had not a few days to spend 
 in visiting the rich silver mountains and gold mines of 
 its neighbourhood, more particularly the notorious Emma, 
 of which we had heard so much, and which is only 
 thirty miles distant. Taking train, we concluded to 
 spend a short time at Ogden, where, on arrival, we had 
 scarcely stepped on to the platform, when one of the 
 railway officials, who originally hailed from Paisley, hear- 
 ing our Scottish accent, at once claimed kindred with us, 
 and like all others with whom we had met on our journey, 
 there was no limit to Mr John Crawford's attention and 
 kindness. Finding us strangers, and having a few hours 
 to spare, he at once proposed to leave off duty and 
 act as our guide, and even pressed us very much to lodge 
 with him for the night. The former offer we accepted, 
 
6i 
 
 the latter we declined. Having arranged about our 
 baggage, he then proceeded to show us over the city, in 
 course of which we thought there was to be no end to 
 his introducing us to Scotsmen, who, a few years ago, had 
 settled there with little or nothing to begin with, now 
 carrying on extensive businesses of their own, and many 
 owning large blocks of property, the result of their in- 
 defatigable perseverance. As we passed along, our friend 
 occasionally drew our attention to the extraordinary fer- 
 tility of the district, which in his own recollection was an 
 unproductive, barren waste, with nothing to recommend 
 it but the natural beauty of the situation and the advantage 
 of little streams of water from the mountains that had 
 been intercepted by an artificial canal, and distributed 
 over the soil so as to produce the luxuriance now before 
 us. We were taken round till reaching our friend's 
 residence, more than a mile distant from the station, 
 where he owned a plot of two acres, on which were 
 erected two very compact and comfortable houses; one 
 acre was used as an orchard, the other acre was grow- 
 ing alfalfa, of which he gets four crops in the twelve 
 months, producing sufficient to keep two cows and a quey 
 all the year round. Here the wife and a little son and 
 daughter were busily engaged, the young ones pulling 
 fruit, and the mother, with a machine, taking the heart 
 out of apples and stones out of apricots, and cutting 
 them up into thin slices, so as to be easily dried. All 
 round their dwelling were set long broad tables, as if 
 
62 
 
 prepared for a public banquet. These tables were covered 
 with various kinds of fruit, cut into thin slices and drying 
 in the heat of the sun, so as to preserve them for winter 
 use. After we had been introduced to the family, the 
 young ones exerted themselves very much to secure from 
 the upper branches of the trees the best and ripest of the 
 fruit to make us a present before leaving. In the course 
 of conversation, our friend said he had all along been a 
 working-man, he had no debt, and what he had shown 
 us was his own saving. The trees were the growth of 
 fifteen years, at which time he had purchased his plot, 
 when all around was a desert covered with sage brush 
 and sun-flowers, with scarcely a tree within sight. Now 
 all around were streets and dwellings, with gardens and . 
 orchards, producing every kind of vegetable, flower, and 
 fruit. In conversation, it transpired that our new 
 acquaintance was brother-in-law to a very much-respected 
 and long-established merchant in Glasgow, with whom we 
 have had frequent dealings. Our friend said that over 
 twenty years ago, having become a convert to the Mormon 
 faith, the other members of his family ever after looked 
 upon him as a black sheep. True to his faith, he preferred 
 to sacrifice the society of his friends rather than his reli- 
 gious convictions. About eighteen years ago he left his 
 native country, landed in America, and decided to make 
 that country his home. There was no railroad over the 
 desert at that time. The journey then occupied several 
 months his gun being his best friend by the way, often 
 
63 
 
 securing him a supply of fresh meat ; and as we parted, 
 he said that he never had any cause to regret the course 
 he had taken. 
 
 Resuming our journey westward by the Central Pacific 
 Railway, after leaving Ogden and for a considerable 
 distance we passed several villages and well-cultivated 
 farms, orchards and gardens. The district owes its 
 fertility in a great measure to artificial irrigation by the 
 water from the creeks and mountains being intercepted 
 by canals and turned on to the land at suitable places, 
 this being altogether accomplished by the persevering 
 industry of the Mormons, who are the principal inhabitants 
 until we come near Corinne, about thirty miles from 
 Ogden. 
 
 At Corinne we were informed that the Gentiles have 
 always been in possession of this .place, and are likely to 
 keep it There is some very good land here that can be 
 got on very moderate terms ; but the want of water for 
 irrigation is the chief obstacle to its being taken up. 
 About forty miles from where we started, we came close 
 by the northern extremity of the Salt Lake, where for 
 many miles we have a beautiful view of it, with the 
 Monument Rock (in Ailsa Craig fashion) towering out 
 of the water and forming a very prominent object in the 
 scenery. The lake is said to be about ninety miles long 
 and fifty miles broad. Within the last three years the 
 American Government had it surveyed to ascertain if 
 there were any visible outlet from it or any whirlpool 
 
6 4 
 
 that would indicate an underground outlet but none has 
 been discovered. We observed flowing into it, at several 
 points, the Jordan, the Weber and the Bear rivers, all of 
 considerable size. There are besides these a number of 
 other streams continually flowing into it, and although 
 there is no outlet from it, yet there is never any perceptible 
 rise or fall in its waters, which are very dense and salt, 
 six gallons when evaporated leaving one gallon of solid 
 salt. 
 
 Passing through the great American desert, we get 
 into Clover Valley. Here is Wells Station, where there 
 is a village of about three hundred inhabitants arid 
 railway workshops. This place derives its name from a 
 great many wells that are in a plain situated near to the 
 village. These are over thirty in number, and are very 
 deep, a line having been put down 1500 feet without 
 reaching the bottom. 
 
 Near to this is the source of the Humboldt River, 
 which for the next four hundred miles runs through a 
 valley of the same name, supplying in its course several 
 irrigating canals. The railway follows very much the 
 same track until reaching the Humboldt Bridge, where 
 the river crosses to the left of the line, then very shortly 
 ceases to exist as a river, the water gradually spreading 
 out into a large sheet extending over an immense plain, 
 until, by process of irrigation and evaporation, it becomes 
 altogether imperceptible, except in its fertilising effects 
 on the extensive hay meadows and grazing pastures which 
 
65 
 
 in the distance extend far beyond the range of the naked 
 eye. It is said that there are over four hundred thousand 
 head of cattle constantly grazing on these pastures. 
 
 Amongst the many novelties that attracted our attention 
 in passing through the desert, were the emigrant mule 
 trains we occasionally overtook by the way. All 
 were following the old emigrant road, which in some 
 instances runs close by the railway, at times taking the 
 higher lands for a nearer route. In several cases we 
 observed them encamped near a railway station, or at 
 some spot where their mules could forage food for them- 
 selves. As seen from the car windows, jolting slowly 
 along, they exhibited a very melancholy and worn-out 
 appearance, and, judging from their looks, they envied 
 very much the rapid motion of the train as it passed. 
 
 At a few points along the line, it appeared that rock 
 blasting had been carried on with great vigour, judging 
 from the immense blocks that had been thrown a great 
 distance from the cutting. Occasionally we observed on 
 the margin of the line little ridges, which appeared to be 
 graves of workmen who had died, or had been killed 
 while the line was being constructed. No doubt was left 
 as to this being the case, on observing three side by side, 
 with a rude wooden cross placed at the head of each. There 
 was one grave that could scarcely fail to attract attention, 
 both from its prominent position and the clean, tidy 
 enclosure that surrounded it. It is known as "The 
 Maiden's Grave." This is at "Gravelly Ford," where 
 F 
 
66 
 
 the Humboldt River spreads out for a short distance, and 
 is easily crossed; it was a fine camping place, where 
 emigrants rested and set their cattle free to graze. Here 
 is the story of the maiden, as it has been recorded : 
 
 " She was one of a party of emigrants from Missouri, and 
 at this ford, while they were in the camp, she sickened 
 and died. Her loving friends laid her away to rest in a 
 grave on this point of the land, in plain sight of the ford. 
 But while her remains were crumbling into dust, and 
 she was fading from the memory of all, perhaps, but her 
 immediate relatives, the railroad builder came along, and 
 found the low mound and decayed head-board that marked 
 her resting-place. With that admiration of and devotion to 
 woman which characterise Americans of even the humblest 
 class, they made a new grave, and surrounded it with an 
 enclosure a picket fence, painted white and by the 
 side of it erected a cross, the emblem of the Christian's 
 faith, which bears on one side this legend c The 
 Maiden's Grave ;' and on the other her name * Lucinda 
 Duncan.' All honour to the men whose respect for true 
 womanhood led them to the performance of this praise- 
 worthy act an act which would have been performed by 
 no race under the heavens but ours, and not even by 
 them, indeed, to the remains, under similar circumstances, 
 of a representative of the sterner sex." 
 
 Continuing our course we reach Humboldt House, 
 one of the regular dining stations of the line, and the most 
 pleasant we have yet reached. Perhaps it is rendered all 
 
6 7 
 
 the more attractive from the fact that, for nearly four 
 hundred miles, we have seen little or no cultivation by 
 the way, not even a good-sized tree. Here, in the midst 
 of a desert, we are all at once landed in a little paradise, 
 surrounded with shady trees ; a few fields with heavy 
 crops, also a garden and orchard well stocked with 
 vegetables, flowers, and fruits ; and water, though brought 
 from a great distance, is very liberally supplied to 
 fountains, fish ponds, &c. 
 
 Everything is done to make the hotel and its surround- 
 ings pleasant and comfortable for the tourists who choose 
 to stop by the way, to visit the sulphur mines and springs 
 that abound in the neighbourhood. The station is ex- 
 tensively used for loading sulphur. Having spent half- 
 an-hour here we resume our journey, and very soon 
 reach the White Plains, which are very appropriately 
 named, the whole district being covered with a deposit of 
 salt, resembling very much a slight fall of snow, or the 
 hoar frost that is often seen in winter mornings. About 
 twenty miles further on, and half-a-mile to the left, 
 we came in view of the springs, which are said to be 
 boiling hot. Their locality is easily made out from the 
 steam that they give off ascending like mist in the air, 
 A little further on, and to the right, nearly two miles dis- 
 tant, we observe at the base of the mountains extensive 
 works in connection with the salt springs. The water is 
 pumped from the springs into the pits, and allowed to 
 evaporate by the heat of the sun ; the salt is then shov- 
 
68 
 
 elled out of the pits, and taken down to the railway, 
 where there are several loading stations with large quan- 
 tities lying in bulk ready for shipment. The salt is said 
 to be very pure, but, as seen lying at the station, it has a 
 very dirty appearance. 
 
 In passing along there were many things that attracted 
 our attention, but what seemed to us the greatest novelty 
 were the flumes, many of which we had observed by the 
 way, though we had no opportunity of a close inspection 
 till now that we had reached a station in the neighbour- 
 hood of works where one terminates. A flume is just a 
 Scotch water trough, though somewhat different in form 
 and construction. A Scotch water trough has a bottom, 
 and two sides, while a flume has two sides but no bottom, 
 its section being very like the letter V with its points a 
 little extended, till it is about from two and a half to three 
 feet wide at the mouth, the intersection of the two sides 
 being placed downward and set upon trestles supported 
 by a bracket on each side, the trestles being placed about 
 six feet apart. At this point the flume is from eighteen 
 to twenty feet above the ground, and seemed to be the 
 same height, so far as we could see it along an easy as- 
 cending incline. We are informed that along its course, 
 in some places, when crossing valleys, it was from seventy 
 to eighty feet above the ground, and about fifteen miles 
 long, in which distance it had a grade of nearly one hun- 
 dred feet to the mile. Flumes are principally used to 
 convey water from mountains to mines, public works, and 
 
6 9 
 
 sometimes for irrigation and domestic purposes. This 
 mode of conveyance is preferred where the water has to 
 be carried across valleys or over a district with a gravelly 
 bottom, and which if carried in canals would be probably 
 altogether lost before reaching its destination. These 
 contrivances are also used for conveying timber from the 
 mountains to the mines, log succeeding log, only one oc- 
 cupying the width of the flume at one time, and the dis- 
 tance of fifteen miles is accomplished in less than half-an- 
 hour. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SACRAMENTO OMAHA NOVEL HARVESTING PROFESSOR 
 LEVI AND LAND TENURE REFORM AMERICAN COMPETI- 
 TION LAND LAW REFORM, AND HOW A SCOTCHMAN 
 SOLVED THE PROBLEM HIS EXAMPLE WORTH FOLLOW- 
 ING SAN FRANCISCO ITS WHARVES, TELEPHONES, AND 
 MINT. 
 
 jpDASSING from the State of Nevada into California, it 
 ^ is not long till we encounter an immense row of snow 
 sheds. We previously passed through some compara- 
 tively short ones, but here we have nearly forty miles at 
 one stretch, but as they are passed in the night-time, 
 when most of the passengers are asleep, they are but 
 little observed. They are constructed principally of 
 wood, the roof being sometimes flat, so as either to carry 
 weight or allow the snow from the mountains to slide 
 over them. Where the ground is such that the snow will 
 not slide from the upper side, a couple-roof is used. 
 
 In no case did the sheds appear to be entirely dark. 
 There are so many openings at the bottom, and bad 
 joints in the cleading, that there is always a fair supply 
 of light to the inside. In long stretches of this kind 
 there is always danger from fire in dry seasons. In 
 order to meet any such emergency, there are, at short 
 intervals, sections where both sides and roof are covered 
 
with corrugated iron. There are also self-acting fire- 
 alarms, which communicate with a station at the ex- 
 tremity of the shed. The alarm indicates the exact 
 position of the fire at the station, when an engine, which 
 is always kept in readiness with water tanks and a fire 
 brigade, is at once despatched to the scene of action. 
 
 In the evening we retired to rest in the midst of a 
 bleak, uninhabited district. In the morning when we 
 awoke, the scene was completely changed. We were 
 now passing along the side of a hill, to the right of 
 which was a beautiful valley, with a river winding along 
 its course, and the ground rising gently on each side, 
 with occasionally a cosy-looking dwelling, and well- 
 cultivated gardens and vineyards. Since crossing the 
 muddy Moursie river, all the streams by the way were 
 naturally clear and transparent, while these we were now 
 seeing were dark, and so thick with mud as to give an 
 apparent sluggishness to their motion. On inquiry, we 
 learned that this was the effect of the operations of the 
 gold diggers, who divert the water from the river at some 
 point suitable for giving them a good head of water when 
 it reaches their claim. They then direct it with as much 
 force as they have at their command on to a strata of 
 gold ore. The water carries off all the mud, leaving the 
 heavy metals along with gold. The water, thus polluted, 
 finds its way by little streamlets back to the river from 
 which it was taken, and which in its turn becomes so 
 thoroughly polluted that in some instances the natural 
 
72 
 
 bed of the river is completely silted up, and the water 
 forced into a new channel in some cases much to the 
 loss and annoyance of the proprietors who have land 
 near its course. 
 
 As we approached Sacramento, the country gradually 
 spread out into a great plain. To our left there were 
 extensive orchards in various stages of growth, from the 
 newly-planted sapling to the ten-year-old full-bearing 
 trees. These orchards have a beautiful appearance in 
 passing. Looking up the long lines of trees, each space 
 between them has the appearance of a long avenue, 
 converging to a point in the distance. This continues 
 for miles, till at length we gradually get into a great 
 farming district, where the whole country seems to be 
 one extensive wheat field, with no apparent break in 
 view, except an occasional farm-house, and the roads 
 and fences, which are but " few and far between," and 
 scarcely observable, unless you get an end view of them 
 in passing. 
 
 For a considerable distance after leaving Omaha, we 
 admired very much the natural richness of the country, 
 and the great extent of green crops we passed by the 
 way. Little then did we think that what we admired so 
 much was in a few days to be so entirely thrown into 
 the shade. Here we are, as if it were, in the midst of an 
 ocean of grain, quite ripe, the harvest in full swing, and 
 the reapers busy at work. Our attention was arrested 
 by the novelty of American harvesting. The grain is 
 
73 
 
 not cut close to the ground, neither is it tied into 
 sheaves, built into stacks, or dragged into barns, as is 
 usually done in Scotland When a field is to be cut, a 
 central spot is fixed on as a depot, where all the grain is 
 carted to. Each reaper is drawn by horses, and has 
 three waggons to attend to it one waggon alongside of 
 the reaper being filled, the second waggon at the depot 
 discharging its load, and the third travelling from the 
 depot to be ready to take its place alongside of the 
 reaper when the other is full, so that there is no need 
 for stopping till the reaping of the field is completed. 
 The straw being of little value, the reaper is set to cut 
 about half-way down, or as low as will ensure getting all 
 the heads of the grain. The reaping being completed, 
 the steam-thresher comes alongside of what appears to 
 be a mound of straw, and in a surprisingly short time it 
 is threshed, and the grain winnowed, measured, filled 
 into sacks, and made ready for the market, without 
 being removed from the field where it grew. 
 
 After the grain has been removed, the hogs, cattle, 
 and poultry are driven into the field, to pick up what 
 best suits their respective tastes, and the straw they leave 
 is the only manure required for the next season's crop. 
 
 Seeing immense piles of sacks of grain lying exposed 
 in the fields and at the stations, we remarked to a 
 farmer that there was surely a great risk in leaving the 
 bags so exposed to the weather ; if it came on rain, the 
 grain would swell and burst the bags, and get destroyed. 
 
74 
 
 He laughed, and, in reply, said it took a little time for 
 old country people to understand their American climate, 
 and assured us there would be no rain for two months to 
 come. He informed us that when we went from sixty to 
 eighty miles further south, we would find, instead of 
 waggons, a threshing machine accompanying the reaper, 
 and the grain being threshed, winnowed, weighed and 
 filled into bags as it was being cut by the reaper. 
 
 As an instance of the encouragement given by 
 Americans to new inventions, there is at present a 
 large premium offered to anyone who will produce a 
 portable flour mill to accompany the thresher in the field 
 that will successfully grind the grain into flour as it is 
 being threshed ! Many of our Scotch farmers think this 
 is impracticable, they being under the impression that 
 the grain would require some time to dry after being cut. 
 On this point there need not be the slightest doubt. 
 Owing to the hot weather, the grain, when newly cut, is 
 so dry and hard that it might be used for shooting 
 sparrows. 
 
 In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Scotch 
 farmers had peculiar ideas for machine labour farming. 
 The late John Kelso Hunter, in his " Retrospect of an 
 Artist's Life," relates when he was a boy that an old 
 farmer, an elder of the Church, was the first in the parish 
 who "used fanners to dight his corn, and for such 
 transaction he was put under the lesser excommunication 
 of the Church. He was deemed unworthy to eat God's 
 
75 
 
 bread unless he was willing to wait for a wind from 
 heaven to winnow the grain. As he had applied to the 
 devil for help, he could not remain in connection with 
 the Church ; and unless he repented and laid aside his 
 winnowing machine, he would be put under the greater 
 excommunication by being given over to the devil and 
 damnation for ever ! " 
 
 A few weeks ago, the Earl of Dalkeith, presiding at 
 the dinner of the West Teviotdale Agricultural Society 
 at Hawick, referring to the agricultural depression, said 
 " that better judges than he could pretend to be thought 
 farmers were only under a passing cloud, which would 
 soon clear away. He did not think American competi- 
 tion so overwhelming that British farmers could not 
 contend with it." 
 
 It will be a great misfortune should the industrious 
 British farmer pin his faith to such statements as these, 
 coming as they do it may be with perfectly honest 
 convictions from interested parties. Let him take 
 advice, and, if at all practicable, go, examine, and judge 
 for himself ; then he will have little difficulty in coming 
 to the conclusion that the cloud which he is told will 
 soon pass away is gradually becoming darker, and will 
 ultimately completely settle over him ; while the landed 
 proprietor will, in his turn, learn that he has more to fear 
 from the "immense and far-reaching consequences" of 
 American competition than appears at first sight ; and no 
 Land Bill that is likely to be passed by the British 
 
7 6 
 
 Legislature can put him in a position to fight successfully 
 against odds so overwhelming. 
 
 Let the farmer and the landowner take an unprejudiced 
 view of the facts, and each judge the case for himself, at 
 the same time bearing in mind that the American farmer 
 gets no State aid, as is sometimes asserted, his advantage 
 being altogether in the rich, cheap land, and a climate 
 naturally suited for raising and ripening his crops, the 
 result being that there is little more than one-third of the 
 labour required for harvest operations, while the same 
 applies to nearly the same extent in the preparing of the 
 soil for the seed. From the time the American farmer 
 breaks the ground till the grain is ready for the market, 
 the saving in labour alone is more than sufficient to meet 
 the expense of conveying his produce from the farm to 
 the Britsh market ; the British farmer's proximity to the 
 market being fully compensated to the American farmer 
 by his labour-saving advantages. It is the rent of the land 
 that the British farmer has mostly to contend with, and 
 where the landed proprietors will in the future have to 
 play an important part in coming to the rescue. 
 
 The American farmer generally owns the land which 
 he farms, and can purchase the very best agricultural 
 land at from five shillings to two pounds sterling per 
 acre. If it be so situated that the water for irrigation 
 requires to be purchased from a Water Company, it will 
 cost from two to four shillings per acre, and the labour 
 attending the irrigation will cost from two to three 
 
77 
 
 shillings per acre. Taking the maximum of the last two 
 items, and giving the farmer five per cent, on the money 
 invested, the total annual cost will be under ten shillings 
 per acre for land as good as that for which our home 
 farmer is paying in rent from two to three pounds 
 sterling per acre. This state of matters very naturally 
 suggests the question Who is responsible for such high 
 rents ? It certainly is not the landlord, who advertises 
 when he has a farm to let, and gets offers sometimes 
 from twenty to thirty competitors, all of whom seem 
 respectable men, with considerable capital at their com- 
 mand. No one would deny the landlord the right to 
 select the offerer that is most favourable to himself. In 
 this way the rent of the land is regulated by the 
 competition amongst the farmers themselves. 
 
 It would be well for the farmer if he could but see 
 the change that farming is undergoing at the present 
 time, a change that is brought about in a great measure 
 by the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad 
 having opened up immense tracks of agricultural land 
 and facilitated the conveyance of its produce to the 
 British market. In the San Joaquin Valley there is a 
 track of rich land about two hundred and fifty miles 
 long and forty miles broad, where a few years previous 
 to the opening of the railway no crops were cultivated, 
 the land being considered worthless. The whole 
 district is now one continuous wheat field, yielding 
 heavy crops, irrigation taking the place of rain. Along 
 
7 8 
 
 the line there are many similar tracks of land waiting for 
 the farmer to make them productive. 
 
 Before departing from that vital question for the 
 farmer the question of land tenure reform I wish to 
 refer shortly to what Professor Leone Levi has said on 
 that matter. He states that "all must lament the 
 depression in agricultural industry, but the cause of it 
 was want of sunshine and the excess of rain, and that 
 what agriculturists now wanted was not protection from 
 foreign competition, but improvements in our land laws, 
 greater facilities for investing in land and for the transfer 
 of land, and the removal of the privileges which kept 
 the ownership of land in the hands of a very few 
 individuals." 
 
 The Professor is right so far, but I am afraid he fails 
 to grasp the full reality of the practically unlimited 
 resources of America in grain-growing, cattle-rearing, and 
 their remarkable facilities of transport. So far as can be 
 seen, the foreign competition, which is all but ruining 
 the farming interests at home, seems but in its infancy, 
 and the time is not far distant when American produce 
 of all kinds will flow into this country like a mighty river, 
 breaking down all competitive barriers, and forcing a 
 revision of our land laws to an extent that even Professor 
 Levi cannot forecast the limits. 
 
 As an instance of how men of intelligence and energy 
 solve this intricate problem to their own profit, the 
 following conversation that we had with a Scotch farmer 
 
79 
 
 will clearly show. He was a fellow-passenger with us 
 from Liverpool to New York. There were the father, 
 mother, four sons and four daughters. The youngest 
 son and daughter would be 12 and 14 years of age 
 respectively : all the others were grown to manhood, and 
 had the appearance of being the right sort of people to 
 better their condition in the new world. 
 
 The father and mother seemed to possess a consider- 
 able amount of common-sense and sturdy independence. 
 Here is the tale, as told to us by the father " Our lease 
 was at an end this term, and for several years past we 
 had just been working for the landlord. The last two 
 years we had to encroach on our capital, in order to 
 keep square with him, and every year that was becoming 
 more difficult to do. I began to lose heart, and was 
 always speaking of going to America. My better-half 
 seeing that I was in earnest took speech in hand, and 
 said c You will do nothing of the kind. Would you 
 take us away to a place that you ken nothing about, and 
 do not know a living creature there ? But I'll tell you 
 what to do Just leave me with the family and the farm, 
 and I'll do the best I can with them till you come back, 
 and you can go to America and see what like a place it 
 is before you take us there.' I thought this was quite a 
 practical suggestion, and turned my attention to making 
 arrangements to proceed on a voyage of discovery, and 
 shaped my course for Minnesota, where I fortunately met 
 an old acquaintance, from whom I got some information 
 
8o 
 
 as to the best place to invest in land. The result was 
 that before returning I purchased eight hundred acres of 
 land at eight dollars (325) per acre, being six shillings 
 per acre less than I formerly paid of an annual rent. 
 Previous to returning, I made arrangements for cropping 
 a portion of the land, and have now about 200 acres in 
 crop. I am now proceeding there, with my family, to 
 take possession, and have resolved to make it my home 
 for the remainder of my life." 
 
 This was a most practical solution of the land 
 question. Our hard-headed friend who heretofore 
 simply toiled at home year after year to pay his rent, 
 was now in possession of an estate of eight hundred 
 acres in his own right, purchased, too, at six shillings 
 less per acre than that of rent he paid at home. This 
 little incident is well worth pondering over by our 
 farmers in this country, and should lead them to look 
 over the water for bettering their circumstances, instead 
 of competing and unduly raising the rent of farms at 
 home. 
 
 Leaving the wheat district, we pass through a great 
 extent of swamp land, where there are large herds of 
 cattle grazing. They appear small in size when seen 
 amongst the long grass on which they are feeding. 
 Shortly after emerging from these swamps, we arrive at 
 the Strait of Carquinez, where the train is divided and 
 transferred to a ferry boat, in form like an enormous raft, 
 propelled by two engines, which are placed in the centre, 
 
8i 
 
 the one right in front of the other, and two lines of rails 
 on each side. This boat is 425 feet long, 115 feet 
 broad, and draws about six feet of water. The railway 
 engine proceeds on board with the first half of the train, 
 and a spare engine pushes the second half on board, 
 then pushes it on shore on the other side. The whole 
 time occupied in dividing and crossing (about one mile), 
 and connecting on the other side, is about twenty 
 minutes. In an hour more we arrived at Oakland, and 
 were run into the bay on a wooden platform, about three 
 miles in length, where we left the palace cars and 
 proceeded on board a large ferry boat, where the 
 upper deck is exclusively for the use of passengers, and 
 the lower deck, which is on the level of the piers, has a 
 cabin fitted up on each side for passengers, and the 
 centre is reserved for two lines of horse carriages, lorries, 
 or vans, of which a great number pass from one side to 
 the other, the distance being about three and a-half miles, 
 and occupies about a quarter of an hour. The water in 
 the bay has a very dirty appearance from the mud sent 
 down from the diggers in the gold regions. 
 
 But we proceed on our journey. As we leave Oakland 
 Pier and approach San Francisco, we get a good idea of 
 its extent and surroundings. The full length of its 
 frontage to the bay is a succession of wharfs and docks, 
 and several vessels lying at anchor in the bay, the whole 
 presenting a forest of masts between us and the city. 
 Right ahead, and to the left, is the only apparently level 
 
82 
 
 ground in the district, on the left corner of which stands 
 Rincon Hill, sloping gradually down towards the wharfs. 
 On it is erected the Sailors' Home. The situation is well 
 chosen for such an institution, as it commands a very 
 extensive view of the bay, wharfs, and shipping. 
 
 Looking to the right, and away in the distance, the 
 whole district appears to be a succession of hills. In the 
 foreground, the two more prominent of these (Russian 
 and Telegraph Hills) rise very abruptly at about a mile 
 back from the wharfs. The level part between these hills 
 and the wharfs has been partly reclaimed from the bay by 
 levelling down some of the smaller hills that once formed 
 the foreground. A very extensive work of the same kind 
 is at present being executed at the extreme end of the 
 wharfs, and to the north of Telegraph Hill. Some of 
 the principal warehouses and business premises occupy 
 the site where a few years ago large ships were riding at 
 anchor. As we draw near the wharf, the lines of the 
 streets, with fine mansion-houses on each side, can be 
 easily traced over the crown of the hills, giving a very 
 picturesque appearance to the city. 
 
 Having landed, we took up our quarters at the 
 Occidental Hotel, where we got a very refreshing bath 
 and a good dinner, then go in search of an old shop- 
 mate who had been over twenty years resident here. 
 Having found him, it was some time before he recog- 
 nised me, but, on learning that I was his old shopmate, 
 he gave me a very hearty reception, and before parting 
 
33 
 
 he arranged to spend the following day with me in 
 visiting places of interest 
 
 It may not be out of place here to relate a littte 
 incident which took place that evening, as it shows how 
 closely visitors are watched and traced out when 
 travelling in the States. 
 
 On returning to our hotel, the hall porter handed me 
 a card, saying that the lady named on it called a few 
 minutes after I had gone out, and seemed much 
 disappointed that she had not seen me before I left. 
 Looking at the name, I said " It is a mistake ; it can't 
 be for me ; I never knew any person of that name, so 
 you must have misunderstood the lady." He replied, 
 "I beg your pardon, sir, there is neither mistake nor 
 misunderstanding about it, as the lady came in, asked 
 for you, and examined the visitors' book, and satisfied 
 herself that you were the gentleman she wanted to see, 
 and that you would find her at the address on the card." 
 Having heard much about the 'cuteness of Yankees for 
 entrapping strangers, I concluded that this was one of 
 their methods of setting a trap, and resolved to pay no 
 attention to it. Next day, after our excursion, and 
 while at dinner, I showed the card to my old shopmate, 
 and stated the circumstance to him. He suggested that 
 after dinner we might take a walk in the direction of the 
 address and see how the land lay. On doing so, and 
 finding it a most respectable part of the city, I went to 
 the address, and was there met by a Chinese servant, by 
 
84 
 
 whom I was conducted up two stairs and introduced to 
 a respectable looking lady, who said, " I presume you 
 
 ate.. Mr ." Replying that I was, she then said, 
 
 " Oh, beg pardon, it is a mistake ! " then said to a little 
 boy who was standing at her side, " Run away and tell 
 your mother that it's not uncle." She then explained 
 that she had a brother in Glasgow who was of the same 
 name as myself, and under the impression that it was he 
 coming on a visit, she had watched my progress from 
 Omaha on to Salt Lake City, then on to the hotel here, 
 and being anxious to save me the trouble of searching 
 for her, she had left her address at the hotel. It seemed 
 a great disappointment to her that it had not turned out 
 as she expected, but it was arranged that when I got 
 home I would call on her brother. I have done so, and 
 found him the managing partner of an extensive estab- 
 lishment in Glasgow. 
 
 Leaving the hotel and getting into the street, we in 
 Scotch fashion looked up to make our remarks on the 
 weather, when we observed at from fifty to sixty feet 
 overhead what appeared to be a large net thrown over 
 the city, wires crossing each other in every conceivable 
 direction. Our friend informed us that they were the 
 wires of the telephone, which had become of late a 
 great institution with them, and this being the great 
 business part, of the city, there was a wire led into nearly 
 every house in the district. 
 
 We set out for the United States Mint, a new and 
 
35 
 
 extensive erection, which is fitted with the most improved 
 machinery of its kind, and is open to visitors two hours 
 a day. We were first conducted into the chamber 
 where the gold and silver ore is seen, in the state in 
 which it had been received from the diggers. We were 
 then taken from place to place, to see all the various 
 stages of manufacture from the melting of the crude 
 ore until turned out current dollars. The silver, after 
 being melted and refined, is cast in bars about nine 
 inches long by one and a half broad, and about one inch 
 thick. It is then passed through a succession of rolling 
 machines, until it is brought to the proper breadth and 
 thickness of a dollar. At this stage it has the appearance 
 of a strip of hoop iron ; it is then handed over to a 
 workman, who passes it through the finishing roller. 
 It is then taken up by another workman, who stamps it 
 into blank dollars. This stamping machine moves at 
 a great speed. There is another man in close attend- 
 ance, whose duty is to weigh one out of every twenty. 
 When that number is completed, the machine stops for a 
 few seconds, and if the weight is correct, the process is 
 continued at the same rapid rate as before. 
 
 The blank dollars are then handed over to the finisher, 
 who stamps them with the head and eagle. From 
 thence they are conveyed to the testing-room, where a 
 number of females seemed to be very comfortably 
 engaged at a long table some busy weighing and 
 adjusting, others packing the dollars. Any that are too 
 
86 
 
 light, or much too heavy, are sent back to be melted over 
 again. In this hall there were five of these machines 
 three for silver and two for gold. The three for silver 
 were the only ones in operation at the time of our visit. 
 We were informed by the superintendent that these three 
 machines produced three millions per month. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO HOTELS CHINA TOWN CABLE TRAM- 
 ROAD, A UNIQUE INVENTION ITS APPLICABILITY TO 
 GREENOCK GOLDEN GATE PARK OAKLAND EPISODE 
 OF THE CARTSDYKE FLOOD. 
 
 SLAVING satisfied ourselves as to how the "almighty 
 dollar" is fashioned, we pass out of this huge 
 money-making factory and again mix among the men 
 whose energy and intelligence have transformed, in so 
 short a space of time, the grain-coloured sand hills of 
 San Francisco into a great and noble city on the shores 
 of the Pacific Ocean, the emporium of fleets that traverse 
 its vast extent in all directions. 
 
 The next building to which our attention was directed 
 was the City Hall, which will be a very fine structure 
 when finished, but there is only one-half of it completed 
 and occupied. The mason work of the remainder is 
 pretty well advanced, and the large columns on the front 
 are of cast-iron. On the portion that is finished it 
 requires very close inspection to detect what is iron and 
 what is stone. There is not much difficulty in piloting 
 your way through the city, the streets being very regularly 
 laid out in most cases crossing each other at right angles, 
 although they vary much in width, being from 60 to 120 
 feet, and some of them very inferior in their construction 
 
88 
 
 The carriage-ways are in some cases macadamised, in 
 others they are formed of cobble stones, which resemble 
 round stones that have been picked up on the beach. 
 The side-walks in some of the business parts are paved 
 with stone, in others asphalte, but in most cases they are 
 formed of three-inch planks. Some of the principal 
 streets are lined on each side with very handsome and 
 substantial business premises, private buildings, and 
 hotels. 
 
 Of the hotels, the Palace is the most extensive and 
 complete. It occupies a block about 350 feet square, 
 and is built all round eight storeys above the level of the 
 street, with a large court in the centre, covered in with a 
 glass roof at the full height of the building. The fronts 
 to Montgomerie Street and the court are all of white 
 marble, producing a most brilliant effect when illuminated 
 by the electric light. Notwithstanding the great extent 
 of this building, it beyond doubt requires much more 
 accommodation for the extensive business carried on in 
 it. As a proof of this, there is an overhead covered-in 
 passage across Montgomerie Street, connecting the hotel 
 with a large building on the opposite side of the street. 
 Even that is not sufficient to meet its requirements, for 
 there is another overhead passage across a side street, 
 from the second to a third building. The last two 
 buildings are used for sleeping accommodation only. 
 All the business is carried on in the Palace Hotel. 
 With the three buildings they have accommodation for 
 
8 9 
 
 over eighteen hundred persons. Strangers visiting the 
 city, though not resident in the hotel, are allowed the 
 use of the hoist to get to the roof to have a view of the 
 city. 
 
 China Town was fixed on as our next field of research, 
 and towards it we directed our steps, and found it the 
 most dilapidated, and, we might say, the most degraded 
 part of the city. It is inhabited by Chinese alone, there 
 being in this district from twenty-five to thirty thousand. 
 During the week some of them are employed as house- 
 hold servants, shoemakers, tailors, and in various other 
 employments. They are a great eyesore to the working 
 men on account of their working for very small wages, 
 said to be from two to three dollars per week. Sunday 
 is a day of recreation with them. On that day we 
 observed that the barbers' shops were extremely busy. 
 They all get shaved round the neck and face, and about 
 half-way up to the crown of the head. The dressing 
 they get that day costs them about one-fourth of their 
 week's earnings ! They are remarkably clean-looking in 
 their persons, but most filthy in their overcrowded 
 habitations. They are great in all sorts of dried meats. 
 Ducks are dried and spread out -like ling fish; pigs are 
 hanging roasting in bulk, and sold in small quantities, as 
 a matter of economy in the saving of fuel. 
 
 Of the many Yankee inventions that we observed by 
 the way, there is one to which the city of San Francisco 
 lays claim, and of which her citizens have just cause to 
 
90 
 
 be proud. It only requires to be known to be adopted 
 by all cities that are built on rising ground. It is the 
 cable tramroad, the invention of Mr Halliday, a wire-rope 
 manufacturer, and by birth a Scotchman. For easy, safe 
 and comfortable travelling, it is, in many respects, a 
 decided improvement on the ordinary horse cars, and can 
 be used with perfect safety where horse cars are quite 
 impracticable. In this city many of the streets pass 
 right over the tops of the hills, ascending on the one side 
 and descending on the other. 
 
 The cross streets along the hill sides are partly dug 
 into the hill on the high side, and partly made up by the 
 debris on the low side. Where these streets intersect 
 each other, the ascending street, to the extent of the 
 breadth of the cross street, passes on the level, then 
 ascends the next section on the incline, till it comes to 
 the next cross street, where it again crosses on the level. 
 On these level crossings the cars usually stop to set down 
 or take up passengers. Though the level crossings, 
 are used for this purpose, there is no difficulty in 
 stopping on the incline. We observed a car stop with 
 the greatest of ease when descending an incline of one in 
 eight, and then silently resume its course down hill with 
 an easy, sliding motion. 
 
 The cable tramroads are similar to the ordinary horse 
 car rails, with this exception, that there is a tunnel, or 
 tube, extending the whole length in the centre between 
 each set of rails. This tube is about three feet deep and 
 
two feet wide, and is formed with strong cast-iron frames, 
 set about five feet apart, and to which a casing of 
 sheet iron is fixed to form the tube. The outside of 
 this iron casing is filled in to the surface of the street 
 with concrete. To these frames are fixed rollers, over 
 which the cable works. At the surface of the street and 
 in the centre between the rails, running the whole length 
 of the rails, are two iron plates about four inches broad, 
 screwed down to the top of the cast-iron frames, with one 
 inch between them, forming a longitudinal slit the whole 
 ength of the railroad. The driver stands inside of a 
 small car, called the dummy, which goes before the 
 passenger car. From this dummy an iron arm passes 
 down through the slit into the tube, where the connection 
 is made with the cable. When the driver wants to stop 
 the car, he pulls a lever which disconnects the car from 
 the cable (which continues in motion), and at the same 
 time presses down a brake from under each side of the 
 car on each of the rails. When the lever is pulled in the 
 opposite direction, the brakes are raised, the cable 
 connected, and the car again set in motion. 
 
 The driving power is got from a stationary steam- 
 engine the one we examined is 50 horse-power 
 placed in a large building on the line of the street on the 
 top of the Russian Hill. The wire cable, which is about 
 one inch in diameter, is led into this building and passed 
 round a large wheel that is always in motion, and stands 
 on shears like the slide-rest of a turning lathe, and is free 
 
9 2 
 
 to move backward or forward so as to accommodate itself 
 to any expansion or contraction of the cable that may 
 result from a change of temperature. It is this wheel 
 that gives motion to the cable, and which has never been 
 known to break. When any of the wires give way, they 
 are seen when passing through the engine-room, and the 
 defective part of the cable is stopped there during the 
 night when the cars have ceased running, and the faulty 
 wires are replaced previous to the cars beginning to run 
 next day. Looking from Russian Hill, the situation and 
 its surroundings very forcibly reminded us of the view 
 from the top of the Whinhill, behind Greenock. If we 
 substitute the Cloch for the Golden Gate and Helens- 
 burgh for Oakland, but only about four miles water space 
 between, then there is beneath us about the same extent 
 of level ground hemmed in by the hills behind and the 
 deep waters in front, with a large fleet of vessels riding 
 safely at anchor in its well-sheltered bay, and with Lone 
 Mountain Cemetery beautifully situated between us and 
 the Golden Gate. But here the similarity ends. Before 
 us is a city, the growth of less than half-a-century, 
 occupying all the level ground and extending over the 
 hills, with streets double the width of ours, and about six 
 times the number of inhabitants ; with trade and 
 commerce in even a greater proportion, and still 
 extending at railway speed. 
 
 Returning to the city, we took a walk down Market 
 Street towards the wharves, where preparations were being 
 
93 
 
 made for the erection of an extensive building. At first 
 sight there appeared to be an unnecessary quantity of 
 timber used in the foundation. The whole area was dug 
 out to a depth of nine feet below the level of the street 
 and six feet beyond the building line, so as to give a sunk 
 flat. This area was closely laid with a floor of pine, six 
 inches thick. On the top of this floor there is another of 
 the same thickness laid across the first, making a floor of 
 twelve inches over the whole area, and extending five 
 feet outside of the walls. On inquiring if it was really 
 necessary to use so much timber in the bottom, we were 
 informed that it was, and that all the buildings in that 
 neighbourhood, having sunk flats, were done in the same 
 manner. The flooring forms the foundation of the walls, 
 which are built near the level of the street with cement, 
 and made thoroughly watertight, the floor being caulked 
 under the walls before the building is begun, and, should 
 there be any appearance of water, the rest of the area 
 can be caulked at any time, the advantages of the timber 
 being a regular foundation and a dry sunk flat. 
 
 The day being now far gone, and our rambles having 
 been very extensive and interesting, we felt an inclination 
 to seek the privacy of our hotel, which having obtained 
 we began to reflect on what we had observed during the 
 day. What most prominently presented itself to our 
 mind's eye was the striking resemblance that the general 
 outline of the district bore to our native place, and the 
 ingenious appliance here resorted to for overcoming the 
 
94 
 
 natural disadvantages that are common to both. The 
 fact that this appliance is as applicable to the one place 
 as the other brings it within the range of possibility that 
 Greenock may, at no very distant date, be extend- 
 ing southward over the hills, harbours and building 
 yards stretching along its shores, and stores, public 
 works and workmen's houses occupying the level ground 
 that is at present taken up by the mansions of our 
 merchants, who may find it more respectable and 
 advantageous to take up their residence in the hill 
 district, and to be taken up and let down by the cable 
 tramroad, worked by engines stationed on the tops of 
 Corlic and the Whinhill. 
 
 Next day we resolved to have a comparative trial of 
 the cable cars, as against the horse cars. A very short 
 trial enabled us to decide which was the most preferable to 
 travel by. Though our course by the cable car was .very 
 much up hill and down brae, where horses could not 
 possibly be of any service, yet the stopping and starting 
 were done silently and almost imperceptibly (the rate of 
 speed never varying), and the sensation created by the 
 motion was more like a slide on a sheet of very keen ice, 
 than a ride along a street on a tramway car. 
 
 We again embark on this pleasant-going cable tram- 
 road. Never can there be a smoother mode of transit 
 than this noiseless, easy-gliding motion. It seemed as if 
 you were seated before a moving panorama of streets, with 
 peoples of many nationalities passing before you. We 
 
95 
 
 reach the Golden Gate Park, which is about three miles 
 distant from the city. Part of the route is through the 
 city cemeteries, which are very extensive, well kept, and 
 situated in the immediate vicinity of the park. The 
 one belonging to the Roman Catholics is the most 
 conspicuous on account of an isolated mound (Lone 
 Mountain), which occupies a very prominent position in the 
 midst of the ground, and is surmounted by a large cross, 
 which serves as a landmark to point out at a distance the 
 locality of the dead. 
 
 On leaving the car, we took a stroll through the 
 Golden Gate Park, which is worthy of notice, though it 
 is in some respects much inferior to many of the public 
 parks we have visited yet there is none that so well 
 illustrates the indefatigable perseverance of the Americans 
 in overcoming natural disadvantages. This park is one 
 of the chief resorts of the city pleasure-seekers. It is 
 about 1,200 acres in extent, and occupies a very 
 exposed and elevated position. Part of the ground is 
 closely planted with trees, amongst which, in some 
 secluded spots, large conservatories have been erected, 
 and are apparently doing well. Other parts are laid 
 down in green lawn and ornamented with neat flower 
 plots. . A considerable part of the ground is still in its 
 natural state, and is gradually being brought into a fair 
 state of cultivation. The whole is very extensively laid 
 out with serpentine walks and well-formed carriage 
 drives, which seem to be much taken advantage of 
 
9 6 
 
 and immensely enjoyed by the citizens, judging from 
 the easy, aristocratic manner in which we saw them 
 driving along. 
 
 Towards the western extremity of the ground there 
 rises a large hill or mound, round which the carriage- 
 drive is formed, and from the summit of which there is a 
 very extensive view towards the Golden Gate and right 
 on to the Pacific Ocean. It is only eight years since the 
 first attempt was made to bring this ground into cultiva- 
 tion. Previous to that it was a waste of sand, such as is 
 still to be seen in the surrounding district, where the 
 whole surface of hill and dale is as smooth and even as 
 newly-fallen snow; and, when viewed from the mound, 
 it resembled very much in appearance a large extent of 
 ripe grain, which on closer examination turns out to be 
 an immense surface of yellowish sand, not unlike a sandy 
 sea-beach, where there is a succession of little ridges or 
 waves with a few inches between each. 
 
 There is not a tuft of grass visible on the whole 
 surface. It is like working against nature to bring such 
 land into cultivation, and it is scarcely credible that it can 
 be done, when one takes into account the barren ground 
 to begin with. No rain during the summer half of the 
 year, the moisture being supplied by irrigation and 
 exposure to the westerly winds which invariably set in 
 from the Pacific every afternoon. However, these 
 disadvantages may be compensated to a certain extent 
 by there being very little difference of temperature 
 
97 
 
 between summer and winter, it seldom being so cold as 
 to freeze, with a very moderate quantity of rainfall in the 
 winter. 
 
 Having had a very satisfactory stroll through this 
 desert park, we resolved to see some of the more fertile 
 city resorts, and made our way back to the pier, where 
 we took the ferry-boat to Oakland, which may be said to 
 be one of the city suburbs. The time occupied in cross- 
 ing the bay was about fifteen minutes, the distance being 
 three and a-half miles to the end of the pier, which is of 
 itself over two and three-fourth miles long and over one 
 hundred feet in breadth. All the railway engines that 
 ply on this pier are fitted with force pumps, so that if at 
 any time, by accident, fire should break out on the pier, 
 each engine can, at a moment's notice, proceed to the 
 scene of danger, and act the part of a fire brigade in ex- 
 tinguishing the fire. It is about seven years since the pier 
 was constructed, and the company, fearing that when the 
 timber should begin to decay the expense of the up-keep 
 and the inconvenience to the traffic would be great, have 
 already set to work to provide against such a contingency 
 by filling up with stones and clay alongside the pier and 
 amongst the piles. This is intended to be carried out 
 about two miles into the bay, and is expected to be 
 pretty well consolidated before the timber gives way. 
 
 Oakland is the permanent residence of many of the 
 gentry and merchants of San Francisco, who daily pass 
 to and fro. The present population is said to be about 
 H 
 
9 8 
 
 sixty thousand, and an average of eleven thousand 
 persons cross every day. The ferry-boats leave every 
 half-hour, and in order to give greater facilities to the 
 increasing traffic, it is at present in contemplation to 
 have them plying at shorter intervals. 
 
 It is difficult to realise the possibility of such a short 
 distance intervening between so stirring a commercial city, 
 built on a bleak, mountainous sandy waste, and one that 
 is so completely rural and occupying such an attractive 
 and fertile plain, enlivened with such luxuriance of fruit, 
 flowers, and shade trees, the oak holding a very con- 
 spicuous place amongst them. 
 
 The streets are very wide, and all the buildings have a 
 neat, clean, and substantial appearance, each having a 
 large piece of ground; even retail shops, warehouses, 
 and stores occupy detached buildings. The city extends 
 over a radius of nearly five miles, and enjoys the privi- 
 lege of a free State College, where both sexes prosecute 
 their studies in the higher branches of education. No 
 intoxicating liquors are allowed to be retailed within two 
 miles of this institution. 
 
 As regards railway travelling, the citizens here enjoy a 
 very exceptional privilege. There are seven or eight 
 local stations within the city boundaries, and all passengers 
 entering and leaving at any of these stations travel free if 
 they don't go beyond the city limits. This is a privilege 
 that we could not at all comprehend, until an old 
 acquaintance, who is resident there, informed us that 
 
99 
 
 when the railway was being promoted, the city of Oakland 
 occupied the position most favourable to its approach to 
 San Francisco. The Local Authority of that date made 
 a bold stand, and would not consent to the line passing 
 through the city unless the company agreed to the terms 
 that they proposed, which resulted in securing free 
 trains to all parties who did not travel beyond the city 
 boundaries. 
 
 In the course of our wanderings we came to the store 
 of a Greenockian settled in Oakland. He was, unfor- 
 tunately, from home, but his wife, a Scotch woman, 
 welcomed us in the kindliest manner possible. Coming 
 as we did from the old country, was warrant sufficient 
 for a hearty welcome. Our countrymen abroad are 
 intensely Scottish in their feelings, and everywhere in our 
 travels we found their kindly words and hospitality 
 towards us unbounded. Neither time, trouble, nor 
 expense was spared on their part to entertain and make 
 us feel at home among them. Our friend's wife was 
 overjoyed at our visit, and in the course of our conver- 
 sation related an incident in her life so singular that it is 
 worth reproducing, more especially as the leading 
 episode took place in Cartsdyke. 
 
 "I remember," she remarked, "when but a little girl, 
 I one day got hold of a paper containing the narrative of 
 the Cartsdyke flood. I read it with absorbing interest, 
 and one most touching incident became indelibly fixed 
 in my mind. It was the story of a child in its cradle 
 
100 
 
 being carried by the flood out of its parents' house and 
 found floating in the river, like a second Moses, asleep 
 and unharmed. My father found me in tears over it, 
 and scolded my mother for allowing me to read matters 
 of so exciting a nature. We emigrated to America, and, 
 after many vicissitudes, in course of time I got married 
 to my husband. About two years after our marriage, 
 when my husband and I were one evening entertaining 
 each other by relating some events of former times, I 
 told him how deeply I had been impressed by the reading 
 of the story of the child in its cradle voyage in the Carts- 
 dyke flood, and, to my utter astonishment, my husband 
 told me that he was the Moses of the episode that I had 
 wept over in my childhood ! " 
 
 Such was the story related by our friend's wife, far 
 away from the scene of its occurrence, and once more 
 demonstrated that "truth is stranger than fiction." I felt 
 interested in it, from the simple and correct manner in 
 which she told it, and from the fact that I was aware of 
 the particulars at the time it occurred, and also having 
 heard it repeated a few years ago by the father of the 
 child, whose mother was drowned in the house out of 
 which the cradle, with its precious cargo, had been swept 
 by the flood. The time allotted for our trip to the Far 
 West had now been exceeded, and we were reluctantly 
 compelled to forego visiting many places of interest that 
 were On our programme, and we now turn our attention 
 to the home journey. Some will, no doubt, be curious 
 
101 
 
 to learn something about car life crossing the desert, and 
 the expense attending it. To such we willingly give a 
 sketch of it, and of railway travelling generally. 
 
102 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO TO OMAHA CAR LIFE ITS COMFORTS 
 AND FACILITIES REQUISITES FOR THE OVERLAND 
 ROUTE THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND'S OPINION OF 
 AMERICAN RAILROADS RAILROAD TICKET SYSTEM - 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 distance from San Francisco to Omaha is 1920 
 miles; time occupied, four-and-a-half days. The 
 ordinary fare is ^20, with -2 i6s extra if you take the 
 palace car and sleeping accommodation. Anyone who 
 undertakes this journey will find the latter sum very 
 profitably spent. The ordinary cars are the property of 
 the Railway Company, but the palace cars belong to Mr 
 Pullman, who gets permission from the Company to place 
 them on the line with two attendants on each car, and the 
 2 1 6s is the remuneration he gets forgiving the Railway 
 Company the use of the cars and attendants. 
 
 Each car is about seventy feet in length, and has 
 accommodation for twenty-five passengers. There is a 
 platform at each end of the car, with a stair on the side 
 of each platform. On entering from one end you pass 
 between the gentlemen's smoking-room and lavatory. In 
 the lavatory you find all toilet requisites, including towels, 
 soap, brushes and combs ; also a drinking fount with an 
 abundant supply of iced water. Attached to the lavatory 
 
103 
 
 is a W.C., &c. Passing into the car, there are ten seats 
 on each side and a passage up the centre; toward the end 
 is a private state-room for the accommodation of a family 
 or private party. Beyond this state-room, and at the 
 extreme end, there is the ladies' lavatory. Each car is 
 provided with a stove, which is indispensable in the winter 
 season. 
 
 The ordinary car tickets and the palace car tickets are 
 purchased at separate offices. If two are travelling 
 together and starting from the extreme end, it is well to 
 purchase them the day previous, so as to secure a section 
 that is, that you get the seats looking face to face 
 during the day, which can be transformed into an upper 
 and lower berth during the night. Having secured this, 
 the attendant will fit up or remove, just as you may 
 desire, a neat little table between the seats, at which you 
 can either read, write, play cards, or dine. This section 
 is exclusively your own to the end of the journey, and is 
 sufficiently large to accommodate other two seated at the 
 table, should you meet with agreeable companions, and 
 desire to have a chat or a game with them by the way. 
 If you wish, you can break the journey at any station by 
 applying to the guard, who will supply you with a lay- 
 over ticket for any length of time you may desire. You 
 can always get a train at the same time and place any 
 day, but you forfeit your claim to your section of the 
 car, and have to take any berth that may be vacant 
 at the time you resume your journey. 
 
104 
 
 The attendant, who is generally a darkey, is ever 
 ready to assist and take charge of any little thing you 
 may have, and prepare your bed whenever you desire it. 
 This he does very neatly and expeditiously by removing 
 the table and placing two bearers between the seats, 
 pulling the seats on to the bearers, then the backs slide 
 down into the place of the seats, and form the bottom of 
 the lower berth. He then pulls down a part of the 
 ceiling which is hinged and forms the bottom of the top 
 berth, on top of which is stored the cross divisions, bed, 
 bed clothes, and curtains. These are put into their 
 places and the curtains hung up all is ready for you to 
 retire; as for myself, I never before enjoyed more 
 refreshing sleep. 
 
 It is not necessary to take a supply of food with you, 
 as there are stations where the trains stop for breakfast, 
 dinner, and supper, about half-an-hour being allowed for 
 each meal, which consists of from six to eight courses. 
 The first course at breakfast is generally fruit or oatmeal 
 porridge. It is very seldom you require to ask for 
 anything, the courses being set before you more rapidly 
 than you are able to discuss them sometimes three or 
 four on the table before you at one time, and an 
 abundant supply in every one, the cost varying from half 
 to one dollar each meal. Anyone not inclined for three 
 full meals a day can get supplied at the lunch counter, 
 where there are all kinds of fruit, bread, butter, eggs, 
 tea, coffee, milk, and spirits. You just help yourself to 
 
what you want, and pay for what you use. These dining 
 rooms are said to be the property of the railway company. 
 The experience here given is in the month of July. In 
 the course of our journey we had several changes of 
 temperature, from excessive heat to moderate cold, so it 
 is well to be provided with clothing suited to both 
 summer and winter but by all means have as little 
 baggage as possible, and should you have any, get it 
 checked to your destination, and it will likely be there 
 before you, thus saving much trouble and anxiety. 
 
 From San Francisco to Omaha is by far the most 
 pleasant part of the journey, and it is rendered all the 
 more so on account of the average rate of speed not 
 exceeding eighteen miles an hour, giving to the traveller 
 a fine opportunity of viewing the varied and ever-changing 
 scenery through which he is passing, in some parts very 
 minutely. There are parts where the line is very circuitous 
 in its course, but there are also hundreds of miles in 
 succession where the train moves almost as straight as an 
 arrow: 
 
 Owing to the slow motion and straight course of the 
 train, you do not experience the jerking and jolting that 
 so frequently accompany railway travelling. Another 
 point on which the traveller's mind may be at perfect 
 ease there is little or no risk from collisions, even 
 though the line for the greater part of the way is a 
 single one. There are stations where the line is double, 
 and at these stations the trains going in opposite direc- 
 
io6 
 
 tions meet and pass each other. The one is never allowed 
 to proceed until the other has arrived. 
 
 During the summer months a passenger train leaves 
 Omaha and one leaves San Francisco every day, so that 
 there are always eight direct passenger trains between the 
 two places, four travelling in each direction, with just a day 
 between each. If you break the journey at any station, 
 you can rely on resuming it any day at the same place 
 and hour as you left it. 
 
 On arriving at Omaha, which is the terminus of the 
 Pacific Railroad, we have to change and take the Rock 
 Island Railroad to Chicago. On this line we have all 
 the comforts that we enjoyed on the Pacific. We are 
 passing through a district that is all under cultivation and 
 fairly inhabited, and instead of having to dine at stations 
 by the way, there is attached to the train a dining-car,, 
 where you get first-class attendance, and meals at 75 
 cents each. Any one who did not feel himself at home 
 during the whole journey, must have had himself to 
 blame. He had perfect liberty to walk from one end of 
 the train to the other; to stand on the platform and 
 gaze on the surrounding scenery; or be seated in his 
 own section, and have greater attention paid him than he 
 could possibly enjoy in his own private residence. The 
 railway company keeps a servant on the train, who, to 
 supply the wants of the passengers, is kept all day long 
 travelling from one end of the train to the other. In 
 short, he is a moving market. One time he comes along 
 
icy 
 
 with a large basket of fruit, another a great variety of 
 confections ; next, cigars, then pastry, and occasionally 
 with an armful of literature, which he distributes freely 
 amongst the passengers, taking it up on his return if they 
 are not inclined to purchase. He can supply you with 
 almost anything, from the latest quarterly to the daily 
 broadsheet, with its varied contents and latest stirring 
 events. It created no small surprise amongst the pas- 
 sengers when he supplied them with the San Francisco 
 newspapers which contained their names, and stated that 
 they were on their way as visitors to the city, while at 
 that time they were 800 miles distant from it ! 
 
 The train from Chicago eastwards, had all the con- 
 veniences that we enjoyed on the Pacific Railroad, 
 but our pleasure was very much marred owing to 
 the increased rate of speed at which it travels on 
 this section of the line. The speed is nearly double, 
 and reminds one of a trip to London on the Flying 
 Scotchman. Everything around, apart from the train 
 itself, is almost a blank. Still, there is much less risk 
 from accident at the stations there than there is on the 
 home railways. There are no station platforms, and the 
 passengers enter and leave the cars with greater ease and 
 freedom than we do. Should one accidentally fall, there 
 is no risk of being crushed between the platform and the 
 foot-board; besides, the lowest step of the stair to the car 
 platform is so far above the ground that it will pass over 
 the most corpulent person without inflicting injury. 
 
io8 
 
 American railroads generally cross streets and public 
 roads on the level. It is quite exceptional to find rail- 
 roads crossing streets on bridges, and no uncommon 
 thing for a train passing through a city to run along the 
 centre of the street the same as our tramway cars do. 
 Every railroad engine has a large bell suspended over the 
 boiler, and when nearing a crossing or station, or running 
 along a street, it is the duty of the stoker to keep pulling 
 away at the bell until the engine is either stopped or has 
 passed the station. In addition to the bell, each engine 
 is also fitted with the shrieking, brain-splitting steam 
 whistle that is so much used on British railways. But 
 the Americans prefer to use the bell, which they say is 
 much more effective in warning people against danger, 
 without startling and confusing them, and is preferable 
 on account of its soft musical sound being less liable to 
 annoy sick persons, or to startle young, spirited horses. 
 For some time at first the ringing of these bells impressed 
 us with the idea that we were at home on a Sabbath 
 morning and in the neighbourhood of a Scottish village 
 church, where the bell was reminding the villagers of 
 their sacred duties. 
 
 Last summer the Duke of Sutherland and a party 
 (said to be railway directors) travelled over a considerable 
 portion of the American continent, with a view to ascer- 
 tain what of the American railway system could be 
 profitably introduced into this country. It must have 
 surprised many to find on their return a paragraph going 
 
109 
 
 . the round of the press that after having travelled over 
 20,000 miles they had not seen anything that could be 
 introduced with advantage on our railways. That may 
 be perfectly correct from a shareholder's point of view, 
 but if, instead of interested shareholders and directors, 
 a party of tradesmen or merchants, whose occupation 
 requires frequent railway travelling, had set out with a 
 view to gain information and report their experience to 
 the public, they certainly would have returned with a 
 very different report from that of the Duke and his party. 
 At the same time, it must be admitted that on saloon 
 and Pullman carriages there is not much room for im- 
 provement. Those in use here are nearly equal to those 
 in the States. Had his Grace and party been under the 
 necessity of travelling in this country as second or third 
 class passengers, their report would probably have been 
 very different from what it was. 
 
 Apart altogether from the safety and convenience 
 experienced on American cars, their system of dealing 
 with tickets is very different from ours. In this country, 
 tickets are generally sold at the stations and are only 
 available for the day of issue, or you forfeit your right to 
 use them, and should you neglect or not have time to 
 procure your ticket before entering the train suppose 
 you enter at Langbank and leave at Port-Glasgow you 
 have to pay the full fare the same as if you had travelled 
 from Glasgow. It is seldom that tickets are purchased 
 at American stations. There are agents in all the cities 
 
no 
 
 who make it their business to sell tickets for the railway 
 companies, and they can supply you with tickets for the 
 various competing lines to the same place. You need 
 not ask these agents which line is the most pre- 
 ferable to travel by. They make it a rule not to give 
 any information as regards the advantages of one railway 
 over another. Their only aim is to sell the tickets and 
 get the commission. When you purchase a ticket it is 
 good till used, and should you change your mind and go 
 by a different route, you can dispose of your ticket. 
 There are plenty of agents who buy and sell such tickets 
 (at a reduced rate, of course). After leaving one station, 
 and before arriving at the next, the guard passes from 
 one end of the train to the other, looking every person 
 in the face as he goes along. It was astonishing how, 
 amongst such a number, he never failed to pick out new 
 comers, who, on producing their tickets, get them 
 punched, and any who were not furnished with a ticket, 
 the guard supplied them with one, along with a small 
 slip. The passenger had to pay ten cents more to the 
 guard than if he had purchased his ticket from an agent; 
 but, if within ten days he produced his slip at any of the 
 company's offices, he would get the ten cents refunded. 
 The slip and the ten cents are merely a check on the 
 guard for having received the fare. 
 
 Having heard so much of Chicago and its many 
 attractions, we resolved to break the journey there and 
 spend a short time in its vicinity. After taking up our 
 
Ill 
 
 abode at the hotel, we called on an extensive merchant, 
 to whom we had a letter of introduction, and to him we 
 were much indebted for making a good use of the short 
 time at our disposal, he sparing neither time nor trouble 
 in showing us over and around the city during the day, 
 leaving us the mornings and evenings to survey the parts 
 in the district near to our hotel. The city is situated 
 near to the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, and is 
 bounded on the east side by the shores of the lake. The 
 Chicago river runs from the lake westward for nearly a 
 mile into the city, where it very abruptly divides into two 
 branches at nearly right angles to the main river, one 
 branch extending north and the other south, dividing 
 the city into three sections. After these branches have 
 extended several miles in each direction, they curve to 
 the west and embrace the central portion of the city. 
 The three sections of the city are connected by thirty- 
 three bridges and two tunnels under the river. Most of 
 the bridges are set on pivots in the centre of the river, 
 and when swung round and standing in the direction of 
 the river, a vessel can pass on each side of the bridge. 
 The time occupied in opening and shutting the bridge 
 does not exceed five minutes, and even that short period 
 at certain times of the day in the business part of the 
 city interferes so much with the ordinary traffic, that 
 it takes nearly half an hour before order is again 
 restored. 
 
 The tunnels under the river are situated in the busy 
 
112 
 
 part of the city, and are generally used at times of inter- 
 ruption on the bridges. The tunnel begins to descend 
 about a quarter of a mile from each side of the river, and 
 when near the side of the river extends in breadth and is 
 then divided by two central abutments extending across 
 the river and forming the supports of three semi-circular 
 archways, one for foot passengers and the other two for 
 horses and carriages going in opposite directions. All 
 the telephone and telegraph wires from each side of the 
 river are brought to these tunnels and carried under the 
 river so as not to interfere with the masts of the shipping. 
 We passed through the tunnel in one of the carriageways, 
 and found the causeway, which is of wood, in a most 
 deplorable condition, it being the only thing that we 
 could find fault with in the whole place, and perhaps is 
 the only remnant of the old city that escaped destruction 
 by the great fire. The river and its branches are of 
 immense value to the city, giving over thirty miles 
 of navigable water frontage, capable of being converted 
 into wharves or slips, fully two-thirds of which have 
 already been utilised, thereby enabling vessels to load or 
 discharge their cargoes throughout the centre of the city, 
 while comparatively little accommodation is provided 
 along the lake frontage. According to our view, Chicago, 
 in respect of its business, pleasure resorts and gambling, 
 also for its wide and airy streets, and fine, massive orna- 
 mental buildings, far surpasses any of the other cities we 
 had visited. This is perhaps due in a great measure to 
 
the destructive fires that ravished the city, the effects 
 of which there is not a vestige to be seen. 
 
 The Post Office, which is on a grand scale, is just 
 being completed. It stands on a block of ground one- 
 eighth of a mile square, and is built several storeys high 
 all round fronting the streets, while the court in the 
 centre is covered with a glass roof, and is open all 
 through, presenting a forest of iron columns. The office 
 during night is illuminated by the electric light. The 
 hall in the east front is set apart for merchants' boxes, of 
 which there are thousands, all like pigeon holes, open 
 next to the office, and a small glass door with lock and 
 key next the hall. Each box has a number on it, so that 
 the merchant who knows his number looks into the box 
 and sees if there is anything for him without opening the 
 door. This is an arrangement that is in all post offices. 
 We observed in small villages farmers come into the 
 office, go to their box, unlock it, and take out their 
 letters without troubling anyone in the office. 
 
 Tne County and Corporation Buildings occupy an 
 entire block of the same extent as the Post Office. One 
 half of this building is completed, and is now used for 
 holding the various courts, the other half being nearly 
 ready for the roof. 
 
 Very few of the streets are causewayed with stone, 
 
 most of them being formed of round timber, from six to 
 
 nine inches diameter, cut into nine inch lengths and set 
 
 on end, the interspaces being filled in to the flush with 
 
 i 
 
H4 
 
 gravel and asphalte, while the footpaths are formed of 
 stone. The stones are seven and a-half feet broad by 
 fifteen feet long, the length of the stone being the full 
 breadth of the footpath, and from seven to ten inches 
 thick, the thickness being sufficient to form the crib for 
 the gutter course. The causewaying of the street and 
 gutter courses was in some instances very unsatisfactory; 
 but we were informed that the City Commissioners had 
 just lately settled a contract for the renewal of thirty 
 miles of streets, all to be completed within eighteen 
 months. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PARKS AND BOUVELARDS OF CHICAGO THEIR BEAUTY 
 AND GREAT EXTENT THE UNION STOCK-YARDS THE 
 BARTHOLOMEW OF PIGS A FOURTEEN MILES LONG 
 STREET WATER WORKS ON A GIGANTIC SCALE A BIG 
 THING IN SAFES. 
 
 ||N the following day our friend had arranged to drive us 
 ^^^ to the stock-yards, and to visit several of the public 
 parks by the way. Besides the parks within the city 
 boundary, there are seven on the outskirts, ranging in 
 extent from two to five hundred acres each, and situated 
 from two to four miles distant from each other, all being 
 connected by well-kept boulevards, extending from the 
 one park to the other, and forming over thirty miles of a 
 continuous carriage drive, exclusive of what is within 
 the parks. We were informed that it was in 1869 tn ^t 
 the State authorised the formation of this chain of parks, 
 the ground previous to that time being a barren prairie. 
 That such a transformation could be accomplished in 
 so short a space of time is almost incredible. The 
 work is more like the growth of a century. The 
 boulevards, varying from two to three hundred feet in 
 breadth, are beautifully laid out on each side of the 
 carriage drive, with an endless variety of design in 
 
n6 
 
 flower plots and shrub beds. In the parks there is an 
 enormous extent of well-dressed lawn, very artistically 
 laid out with carriage drives, serpentine walks, and 
 artificial lakes connected by little streamlets, crossed 
 here and there by rustic bridges. We observed in 
 passing a corner of one of the lakes, under the shelter 
 of a plantation, a wharf and a fleet of boats, with an 
 attendant, kept there for the use of the visitors. There 
 are also conservatories, zoological gardens, restaurants, 
 hotels, and stabling. In short, there is no expense 
 spared to make the boulevards and parks of Chicago a 
 resort where the citizens can enjoy themselves to their 
 hearts' desire. 
 
 Paris, with its boulevards, and Versailles, with its 
 artificial lakes, are far behind Chicago. However, there 
 is one advantage that Paris possesses it is placed, as it 
 were, in a large natural basin, and there are many points 
 where you can get into a position on the elevated rim of 
 that basin, and take in the whole extent of the city at 
 a glance; whereas, Chicago being situated on an 
 extensive prairie, cannot be viewed to advantage except 
 from towers or high buildings within the city. 
 
 Leaving the parks, we shape our course for the Union 
 Stock Yards, which are about seven miles distant from 
 the centre of the city, from which there is a conveyance 
 every few minutes by either car or rail. The yards 
 occupy 345 acres of land, all laid out into pens very 
 much in the same manner that a city is laid out with, 
 
streets, crossing each other at right angles. There is 
 accommodation for over 130,000 head of live stock at 
 one time. Direct communication is had with all parts 
 of the country, eighteen different railways carrying their 
 cargoes direct into the yards. The slaughtering and 
 packing-houses are very extensive buildings, several 
 storeys in height, and placed alongside of the pens, with 
 which they have a connection by an incline gangway 
 leading from the pens to the top flat where the killing is 
 done. We visited one of the most extensive (Mr 
 Armour's work), who has 40 acres of the pens set apart 
 for his own use. 
 
 When killing operations are going on, there is a party 
 to keep the incline gangway always full of hogs, which 
 are driven into a pen in the upper flat, at the place of 
 execution. This pen holds from ninety to a hundred hogs, 
 and when closely packed the door is dropped down, and 
 four strong young men step in amongst them, each 
 seizing one by the hind leg, to which he fixes a chain, 
 the other end being attached overhead to a pulley, to 
 which a man attends and sets it in motion. The hog 
 is suddenly jerked up, being suspended by one of the 
 hind legs and the head hanging down ; the chain is then 
 transferred to an overhead iron rail or gallows set on an 
 incline, so that, with a slight push by the hand, it slides 
 forward to the executioner, who stands with knife in hand 
 on a little platform in the corner of a long trough, and 
 with a quick motion of the hand he quietly performs his 
 
n8 
 
 diabolical work, disposing of five of his victims every 
 minute until the pen is emptied, when it is again speedily 
 filled, and the process repeated. He could easily despatch 
 three times the number, could they only be suspended 
 and forwarded to him. In the intervals, he eyed us with 
 a smile on his countenance, inviting us to try our hand, 
 but we gratefully declined the kind offer. It was difficult 
 to make out what was being said, the noise being such as 
 you might imagine to be in the neighbourhood of a 
 thousand pairs of bagpipes in full blast ! 
 
 As the carcases passed from the hands of the execu- 
 tioner, the blood flowed into the trough under, from 
 which it is drawn off in the flat beneath. On reaching the 
 end of the trough, the carcases are dropped into a long 
 cistern full of boiling water, the width of the cistern 
 being the length of a hog. At the extreme end there is 
 a curved iron grating, the full width of the cistern, that is 
 continually dipping down and lifting out the water, and 
 when a carcase is put in at the one end, the grating lifts 
 one out at the other and throws it on a table, where it is 
 passed through a machine which scrapes off the hair. 
 The carcase is again suspended to a rail by both the 
 hind legs, and is passed on where a number of men are 
 kept opening and disembowelling, who in turn pass it on 
 to other men, who divide it in two, when a man seizes 
 each half and carries it to a bench, where another stands 
 with a heavy cleaver in his hand, and with two strokes 
 he severs the fore ham and hind ham from the side. 
 
n 9 
 
 Other three men are kept constantly carrying off, one the 
 fore and another the hind ham, and the third the side, 
 each to separate sets of men who are kept dressing their 
 respective parts. 
 
 We were then taken to where the sausages were being 
 made, and to the curing and packing. Considering the 
 nature of the work, it was surprising to find in all the 
 departments everything so scrupulously clean. This 
 may be accounted for owing to there being a plentiful 
 supply of hot water for washing, and steam power keeping 
 fans in motion, sending a current of fresh air through ice 
 into every part of the works. Our visit was in the month 
 of July, when least business was being done. The daily 
 killing at the time of our visit was three thousand hogs 
 and five hundred head of cattle, employing about thirteen 
 hundred men in the work. In the cool season, Armour's 
 daily killing averages eleven thousand five hundred hogs 
 and seven hundred and fifty head of cattle, employing 
 three thousand workmen in the different operations. 
 Within the stock-yards there is a large hotel and stabling 
 for several hundreds of horses, as well as a bank and an 
 office of the Board of Trade. 
 
 Throughout the whole work, in every department, the 
 strictest regard is paid to the division of labour the 
 extent of the operations rendering such comparatively 
 easy. In the immediate neighbourhood of the yards 
 there is a large town inhabited by the employees and 
 their families. Returning to the city, the most direct 
 
120 
 
 course is by Halsted Street, which passes the stock 
 yards right through the city, and is fourteen miles long 
 in one straight line. By the way, there was pointed out 
 near the centre of the burned district the only house that 
 had escaped the great conflagration. Seeing that it was 
 constructed of wood, we inquired how it had not shared 
 the fate of the others, and learned that the proprietor, 
 when the fire was distant, seeing that danger was 
 approaching, set to work and stripped the inside of the 
 house of carpets, bed-clothes, table-cloths, c., and spread 
 them over the outside of the house, and kept them well 
 saturated with water while the fire was raging in its vicinity. 
 Leaving the straight course, and passing through 
 Lincoln Park, we reach the City Waterworks, which 
 are the most gigantic and marvellous of the kind that 
 have ever yet been undertaken. Lake Michigan 
 being the fountain from which the water is taken, the 
 supply is inexhaustible. In order to avoid the impurities 
 of the Chicago river, the water is drawn from the lake 
 fully two miles distant from the nearest land. There a 
 building, one hundred feet in circumference, rises above 
 the surface of the water, which at that point is about 
 thirty-five feet in depth. That building is founded on the 
 bottom of the lake, and is surmounted by a lighthouse and 
 signal station for the accommodation of vessels navigating 
 the lake. In this building there are fitted up apartments for 
 the waterman and his family, the centre being reserved 
 for the shafts that admit the water to supply the city. 
 

 
 SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE WATER SYSTEM 
 
 Length of Old Tunnel from Crib to North-side 
 
AI ; -& ' ' C M A Ivf fi t ft 
 
 CHICAGO, SHOWING THE CRIB IN LAKE MICHIG. 
 
 or Works, two miles; Ground broken Marrh TT T A>, . r^^^i^f^ ;^ 
 
THE OLD LAKE TUNNEL, THE NEW LAKE TUNNEL 
 
 irnn of 1866; Cost, $600,000,00. Length of New Tunnel from Crib to N 
 
- - . inftff.-frrrri.^-T-^w s :i- 
 
 THE TUNNEL UNDER THE CITY AND THE TUNNEL 
 
 West-side Pumping Works, six miles; Work commenced July 12, 1872; ( 
 
UNDER THE RIVER AT LA 8ALLE STREET 
 
 Completed Oct. 12, 1874; Cost, $1,600,000,00. 
 
The first tunnel, begun in 1864 and completed in 
 1867, is about two and a-quarter miles long, and five 
 feet inside diameter. The second tunnel was completed 
 about six years ago, and is six miles long by seven feet in 
 diameter. Both tunnels are water-tight, built of brick, 
 and in each case fully two miles of the tunnel is carried 
 out under the bottom of the lake at a depth of seventy 
 feet from the surface of the water. 
 
 Each of the tunnels has an upright shaft rising in 
 centre of the building on the lake, where the inlet of the 
 water to the tunnel is regulated by the superintendent. 
 The water being admitted there, flows through the tunnel 
 to the pumping station, where it rises to the level of the 
 surface of the lake in a large receiver near the pumps. 
 The station we visited is on the short tunnel, and has 
 four steam engines constantly at work, these having a 
 combined power of three thousand horses, throwing at 
 each stroke 2750 gallons of water into a large upright 
 iron pipe or tower 175 feet in height ; from this tower the 
 water gets its pressure for distribution over the city. 
 Round the outside of this iron pipe is built a stone wall 
 with a space all round, where a spiral stair ascends to the 
 top of the tower which terminates with a balcony that is 
 free to visitors, and from which there can be had a very 
 good view of the lake and city. 
 
 This is not the only source from which water is got. 
 Many manufactories, some of the parks, also the stock- 
 yards, get their supply from Artesian Wells. Several 
 
122 
 
 years ago a party who had been affected by the oil mania 
 commenced to bore in the hope of finding oil. Though 
 disappointed in their expectations, they were rewarded 
 by the discovery that an abundant supply of water could 
 be obtained at a depth of from seven to nine hundred feet, 
 and there are now between forty and fifty of these wells 
 throughout the city, some of them supplying large 
 quantities of water. 
 
 We now take the train for Boston, distance about 960 
 miles, fare ^4, and time 36 hours. Boston bears a great 
 name as a fine city, with many attractions. However, we 
 were not so favourably impressed with it as with some of 
 the other cities we had the pleasure of visiting. No 
 doubt it has attractions in the shape of extensive business 
 premises, fine buildings, beautiful parks, and within the 
 ast ten years the business part of the city has had the 
 advantage of the purifying influence of the flames. Still, 
 the Local Authorities have not availed themselves of that 
 opportunity of having it re-modelled. Fine buildings 
 have been re-erected on the old lines. The streets are 
 narrow and very irregular, with a great many triangular 
 blocks so much so that it is almost impossible for a 
 stranger to pilot his way without the assistance of a guide. 
 In the central part of the city, near to the Post Office, is a 
 large fire-proof block, known as the Equitable Building, 
 which is deserving of notice on account of its being used 
 as the vaults and offices of the " Security Safe Deposit 
 Company," who carry on a business that is scarcely 
 
123 
 
 known in this country, while with the Americans it is 
 almost indispensable on account of the combustible 
 materials of which the greater number of their buildings 
 are constructed. This building is thoroughly fire-proof. 
 The roof and floors are altogether stone, brick, and iron, 
 and the stairs are marble and iron, there being litttle or 
 no wood used in the erection. As a building, it has 
 altogether a very neat, substantial appearance. Not- 
 withstanding that, the strong iron gratings of the 
 external openings, embedded in the stone walls, with 
 the heavy iron door and shutters, and the court- 
 dressed officials that guard the entrance are more sug- 
 gestive of a prison than of a place of business. On 
 entering, you pass into a large, handsomely-finished hall, 
 where attendants are in waiting to receive customers and 
 assist them in getting access to their property, and to 
 restore it to the safe, when they have their business done. 
 The vaults containing the safes have all double doors, 
 constructed of iron and secured with combination locks, 
 which no one man can open. It requires two men acting 
 together to effect an entrance, and that can be done 
 only during business hours, which are from 9 A.M. to 4 
 P.M. These doors have in addition self-acting time- 
 locks, which fasten on the doors being closed, and 
 are governed by clock-work, and when closed at 4 P.M. 
 it is impossible for any one to open them ; even 
 those who know the combination of the other locks 
 cannot effect an entrance before nine o'clock next 
 
124 
 
 morning. There is also direct electric telegraphic com- 
 munication between these locks and the nearest police 
 station, so that should there be any tampering with 
 the locks, the alarm is at once given at the office, and 
 the police are speedily at the point of attack. These 
 premises are always under the supervision of armed 
 watchmen, who are constantly traversing round the 
 vaults. At short intervals, each watchman has to pass 
 over his beat, at each extreme of which there is a record- 
 ing electric clock, which communicates with the manager's 
 residence. Should any of the watchmen neglect to be 
 at the clock at the right time to record his visit, the 
 alarm is sounded at the manager's house, and infor- 
 mation conveyed to him on whose beat the neglect has 
 occurred. 
 
 The business of this company is to receive for safe 
 keeping, against either fire or burglars, all kinds of 
 valuable property, such as wills, title deeds, bills, bonds, 
 money, jewellery, &c. All classes patronise the com- 
 pany private individuals, trustees, merchants, corporate 
 bodies, and bankers some of whom, we are informed, 
 deposit their money and valuable documents with the 
 company every evening and remove them back to their 
 place of business every morning. Adjoining the vaults, 
 there are comfortable rooms of various sizes, where 
 any person who has documents deposited can have a 
 room to examine them at his leisure. There are larger 
 rooms, where trustees or corporate bodies can meet and 
 
125 
 
 hold consultatio ns and examine their documents without 
 the necessity of removing them from the premises. 
 There is also a spacious reading-room, where the 
 merchant patrons can consult the daily commercial 
 papers, and also have telegraphic communication with 
 every important city in the States. Within the walls 
 there is still a considerable quantity of unappropriated 
 space where safes can be fitted up when required. 
 
 Depositors can be accommodated to the extent of 
 their requirements. The safes in the vaults being 
 Divided into various-sized compartments, the smallest 
 size being two and a-quarter inches high by four and 
 three-quarter inches wide by twenty-one inches deep, for 
 which the rent is 2 per annum ; while one at twenty- 
 one inches high by fourteen inches wide by twenty-one 
 inches deep, is 20 per annum. There are several 
 sizes between these two. That rent entitles the depositor 
 to the use of a room and assistance of a servant at any 
 time he requires to examine his property. At the above 
 rate, a safe nine feet wide by eight feet high, divided 
 into the smallest size, will yield an annual rent of over 
 ;i,ioo sterling. Some of the safes are divided into 
 larger compartments, so as to hold tin cases or 
 trunks, silver-plate, paintings, &c., and when deposited 
 in such packages are charged one per cent, on the 
 owner's estimate of the value. If an extra bulk com- 
 pared to the value, then special rates have to be 
 arranged for. . 
 
126 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COTTON MANUFACTURE IN AMERICA FROM A MANU- 
 FACTURER'S VIEW FROM AN OPERATIVE'S VIEW 
 COLORADO BEETLE SEA BATHING AND ITS ATTRAC- 
 TIONS SURF BATHING, ETC. ALAND LEAGUE MEETING 
 NEW YORK ELEVATED RAILWAYS NEW YORK 
 WHARVES BIG FERRY BOATS THE GREAT BRIDGE 
 ROCHESTER. 
 
 SLAVING exhausted the time allotted for our stay in 
 "* Boston, we proceed by rail to Fall River, which is 
 48 miles south, and is the point where passengers 
 ship on board the steamer for New York. Viewing the 
 city from either the boat or rail, it has a dull, monotonous 
 appearance, the houses being all detached, with a con- 
 siderable extent of ground to each, which is used either 
 for ornamental gardens or for orchards, but principally 
 for orchards, on which there was an abundant crop of 
 various kinds of fruit. Many of the footpaths were 
 strewn with cherries, which were over-ripe and had fallen 
 from the trees. It is the custom there to employ boys 
 to climb the trees and pull the cherries. The boys get 
 as the reward for their labour the half of all they pull, 
 and the owner of the orchard claims the other half as 
 his share. 
 
127 
 
 Entering the city, we soon discover that it is not the 
 dull place we had anticipated. There is activity and 
 bustle at every turn. It is only the wide streets and the 
 great extent of ground on which the city stands that give 
 it the quiet appearance. It is one of the great centres 
 of American cotton manufacture. There is no other 
 work carried on within the city unless what is requisite to 
 supply the immediate wants of the inhabitants. This 
 place has been judiciously selected for such an industry 
 on account of a succession of natural ponds, about two 
 miles distant, and covering an area of about 3500 acres 
 on the high land. The water-shed to these ponds is but 
 trifling; the supply is chiefly derived from springs that 
 furnish sufficient water to give a constant supply to a very 
 rapid stream from which the city takes its name, and 
 which furnishes a constant flow of 7300 cubic feet per 
 minute, or about three times the quantity of the Greenock 
 Shaws water supply for driving purposes. The increase of 
 the cotton manufacture in this locality has fairly out- 
 grown the water-power of the district. Some of the mills 
 lately erected have had to adopt steam power, the falls on 
 the stream being all taken up. In 1870 the population 
 was 27,000, with thirteen mills in operation. It is now 
 about 55,000, with forty-five mills running, and four at 
 present in course of erection, all of which are owned by 
 joint-stock companies. 
 
 In our travels here we made the acquaintance of a 
 quiet old gentleman who had been long extensively 
 
128 
 
 engaged in cotton manufacturing. In course, our 
 conversation turned on the cotton trade. He claimed 
 great credit for the Americans in respect of their enterprise 
 in that trade, and their now being able to manufacture 
 the best cotton goods that the world can produce, and at 
 no more expense than in England, notwithstanding having 
 to pay higher wages. On asking if they had much of an 
 export trade, he replied they had practically none. Up 
 to the present time they had not been able to produce as 
 much as would supply their home market, but if they 
 continued to increase their manufacturing power during 
 the next ten years at the same rate as they had done in 
 the past ten, they would not only supply their home 
 market, but would have a large surplus to export, arid 
 he was confident they would outstrip England in the 
 markets of the world when the time came that they had 
 to come into competition. Continuing, he said England 
 had long had it all her own way, and what was to hinder 
 her ? She had the advantage of having good machinery, 
 with cheap coal and iron, at the time America was, as 
 it were, in her infancy, and did not know that she had 
 stores of the latter at her own door. Now that they had 
 discovered the advantages they had, they were gradually 
 turning them to account, and could now manufacture all 
 kinds of machinery equal, if not superior, to what was 
 produced in England. So in that respect the two 
 countries were nearly on a par. But we have one 
 advantage you will never enjoy in England. We get the 
 
129 
 
 cotton brought by rail from the south and laid down 
 at our works ; whereas to England it has to be shipped 
 there, then the time and interest of your money, the 
 freight to and fro, and the double insurance all this 
 gives us a profit on our manufacture. Being strangers 
 to both the trade and our informant, we were not in a 
 position to question any of his statements, which were 
 very plainly made. 
 
 In the course of our rambles we got into conversation 
 with an intelligent cotton operative from the old country, 
 who had been twelve years resident in America, and got 
 his opinion of the trade from a workman's point of view. 
 He said there were perhaps some changes at home since 
 he left, but in several instances, he thought, the Americans 
 were much ahead of the old country. In his department 
 each man had to attend to six looms, being double of 
 what he did at home ; but, again, he said the webs were 
 narrower, being only twenty-eight inches broad, and the 
 yarn was a little coarser and not so closely driven home, 
 but there were some of the factories that produced a 
 finer cloth than the one in which he was employed. 
 
 The conversation we had with the old cotton manu- 
 facturer brought to our recollection that when on our 
 way from Boston to Wells River, we passed through the 
 city of Manchester, which is situated on the river Merri- 
 mac, about sixty miles north of Boston. There, for over 
 two miles along the side of the railway, is a succession of 
 large cotton factories, built of brick, and all apparently 
 K 
 
130 
 
 new. With such facts before us, we had not the least 
 doubt that America was making rapid progress in the 
 manufacture of cotton goods. For the satisfactory 
 survey we had of this city, we were indebted to two 
 friends who had placed much of their valuable time at 
 our disposal, and who said they would not allow us to 
 return to Scotland until we had seen one of the summer 
 resorts or coast residences of the American gentry. Next 
 morning, before breakfast was over, they were at our 
 residence with a carriage. They preferred driving to 
 travelling by rail, so as to give us a better idea of 
 the district through which we were passing. The 
 destination, fixed on was Newport, situated on Rhode 
 Island, fully twenty miles distant from Fall River. 
 Rhode Island is the smallest of the American States. 
 The trip was most enjoyable, as it was through 
 a well-cultivated district, the farms being much like the 
 better class of farms we had been accustomed to in 
 Renfrewshire; but in almost every instance there were 
 attached to each farm an old orchard, with a young one 
 coming on to take the place of the old one. 
 
 The windmill seemed to have been of late an indis- 
 pensable part of the machinery of an American farmer, 
 many of them being prominent objects in the district 
 some of them in ruinous condition. We halted several 
 times by the way and spent a little time in gathering 
 bramble-berries and huckle-berries, which were very 
 plentiful, and growing to great perfection. The bramble- 
 
berry is just the same as our bramble-berry or " black- 
 byde," growing along dyke-sides and hedge-rows, but is 
 not so prominent as ours, as the bushes are not so high, 
 but spread more like runners along the ground, and are 
 pretty much concealed among the long grass, but easily 
 detected by the berries when fully ripe. The huckle- 
 berry is in every respect the same as our blae-berry, with 
 the exception that the shrub on which it grows is much 
 stronger than with us, it being from twelve to eighteen 
 inches high. In several districts, these berries are a very 
 important item in the revenue of the farmer, who gathers 
 them and sends large quantities into the market in boxes 
 or baskets. In all hotels and restaurants they are usually 
 set down to meals. 
 
 We stopped at a potato field to examine the ravages of 
 the Colorado beetle. Here we saw them in great force. 
 They were to be seen crawling along the road and on to 
 the dykes enclosing the field. The beetle is in form and 
 size very much like a common coffee bean, and is 
 covered with a hard brown and yellow striped crust, like 
 our black beetle. Under this crust there are a pair of 
 slender wings, by which it can fly from one place to 
 another. The beetle at first sight reminded us very 
 much of a fancy shirt stud. The farmers were doing 
 everything in their power to destroy the pest, by going 
 over the field with dusters full of flour and Paris green, 
 and wherever the eggs were visible a little of the dust was 
 applied to the leaves, and it seemed to have the desired effect. 
 
132 
 
 Arriving at Newport, and getting clear of our horse, 
 we walked a short distance to the shore, which looks 
 right out into the Atlantic. Here our attention was 
 arrested by a scene that was entirely new to us. Within 
 a bay on a sandy beach, surf bathing was going on in 
 grand style. . Stretching along the bay is a village of 
 small bathing-houses, constructed of wood like sentry- 
 boxes, and set closely together, with several streets 
 running back, lined on both sides with these houses. 
 Between the sea and the bathing-houses, there was a 
 long line of carriages belonging to the gentry who had 
 come, some of them with their families, to bathe, others 
 to enjoy the sport in looking on at those who were 
 bathing. Here were hundreds, composed of both sexes, 
 all classes, and various ages, from the child of four years 
 old to the gray-headed sire of four-score, all seemingly 
 much pleased with the amusement. On resolving to have 
 a bath, you go to one of the offices, where you pay your 
 money and get the key of one of the bathing-houses, 
 where you get your bathing-dress. Having donned it, 
 you are ready to take your place amongst the crowd 
 and share in the excitement, which is very invigorating 
 and amusing. 
 
 Looking out on the Atlantic, the water is apparently 
 quite smooth, except near to the shore, where there were 
 always three waves following each other, with a consider- 
 able distance between each, one making its appearance 
 in the distance as the nearest spends its force on the 
 
133 
 
 beach. At a considerable distance from the shore, the 
 bathers could be seen standing in the space between the 
 waves, little more than knee-deep. When the wave 
 approaches them, if they did not leap up on the crest of 
 it, it would wash clean over them. They could be seen, 
 after the wave had passed, " sprachling " and trying to 
 regain their feet. Surf bathing is not swimming, but 
 tumbling and dancing amongst the waves. When you 
 return to your house, there is a tub of clean water standing 
 opposite your door, into which you step to clean the 
 sand from your feet, and from this tub you go into your 
 house, where you have towels and all toilet requisites for 
 dressing. When bathing operations begin, a flag is 
 hoisted, and as long as the flag is up, all bathers must be 
 dressed. When bathing is to cease, the flag is taken 
 down, and, half-an-hour after, bathers may go in undress 
 if they choose. 
 
 During bathing hours there is a line of omnibuses 
 plying between the city and the bay. There are also 
 refreshment rooms and stands fitted up, covered with 
 awnings to protect visitors from either sun or rain, 
 the advantage of which we experienced in one of 
 those sudden changes of weather, a thunder-storm and 
 very heavy rain unexpectedly breaking out all at once, 
 turning the roads into a sea of mud, whereby we were 
 very much crestfallen, thinking our day's pleasure was at 
 an end, while we had before us a twenty miles' drive 
 through mud and rain. 
 
134 
 
 Our friends had more hope of the day, and proposed 
 we should take the 'bus to a hotel and have dinner. By 
 the time we had this done, we were surprised to find the 
 storm over, and the roads almost as dry and more 
 pleasant than before the storm. We again set out to the 
 shore. This time we walked several miles along the 
 cliffs, with the Atlantic beneath us on our left, while on 
 our right was a succession of palatial residences at a con- 
 siderable distance back, with a large space of pleasure 
 ground intervening between these mansions and the 
 cliffs. After several miles' travel, we began our return 
 journey, and got to the street on the other side of these 
 mansions, where we found the fronts to the street even 
 superior to those facing the Atlantic. It being now the 
 afternoon, there appeared to be no end to the fine 
 equipages that were rolling along. It seemed to us as if 
 all the citizens were in carriages. Setting out on our 
 return journey, we passed through the city cemeteries, 
 which were of such extent as to impress us with the idea 
 that we had formed but a poor conception of the extent 
 of the city and the number of its inhabitants. We 
 reached home at a late hour, much gratified with our 
 day's excursion. 
 
 The following day being a holiday at Taunton, it was 
 very prominently announced by placards that an excur- 
 sion party from that place would visit Fall River, and hold 
 a Land League meeting in the New Public Park, where a 
 number of influential gentlemen would address the 
 
135 
 
 meeting and give a full exposition of the wrongs of 
 Ireland. Being curious to learn how the Americans 
 viewed this question, we made a point to attend to hear 
 ' the discussion. The meeting, which was largely attended, 
 was held in a large hall within the park. But the speeches 
 were not up to the mark. We were informed that some 
 of the best speakers did not put in an appearance. 
 However, we much admired the mild way in which all, 
 with one exception, referred to the question. At the 
 same time, all were agreed that Ireland's grievances were 
 the result of the oppression and misrule of the British 
 Government. 
 
 We had in the course of our journey endeavoured 
 as much as possible to learn what assistance, if any, the 
 American Government rendered to the Irish Land 
 League. The invariable reply was that neither the people 
 nor the Government took any interest in the question, 
 although it was admitted that considerable sums of money 
 had been collected and sent home to support the League, 
 not from the American people, but from a class who had 
 been starved out of Ireland, and after a short residence 
 in America had entered business on their own account, 
 and carried on successfully, some of them amassing large 
 sums of money. 
 
 In visiting some of the larger cities, particularly San 
 Francisco, we were very much surprised when our friend, 
 in passing along, pointed out some of the finest buildings 
 in the city, followed frequently by the remark that they 
 
136 
 
 were the property of some Irishman who had started a 
 few years ago with little or no capital. One very plain- 
 looking gentleman was pointed out as being an Irish 
 millionaire, who had lately retired from a very lucrative 
 business. Our friend remarked that these were the people 
 who sent home the money to keep up the agitation in 
 Ireland with some of them the feeling being so strong 
 that a hundred or even a thousand pounds would be 
 given with as little hesitation as a shilling would be given 
 to a Presbyterian Church in Scotland. However, the 
 people composing this large meeting did not seem to be 
 of the class who had much money to spare. They were 
 altogether belonging to the working-class, the greater 
 number taking little interest in the question of Ireland 
 and its wrongs their object simply seeming to be one of 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Well satisfied with our visit to Fall River, we now bade 
 adieu to our friends, and left the same evening by 
 steamer for New York, where we arrived next morning. 
 This was the only place where we had been unfortunate 
 in the selection of our hotel, it being one that is much 
 frequented by American merchants, and where the whole 
 establishment is managed in a rough-and-ready manner, 
 with very little ceremony, so that we lacked many of the 
 comforts that we so much enjoyed in other places. How- 
 ever, our stay in the city was but short, so that we felt 
 the inconvenience less. As a result of our short visit, we 
 have but little to notice, but were very much disappointed 
 
137 
 
 with the city in its general appearance. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of merchants' warehouses, though the streets 
 were wide, the footpaths were continually blocked up with 
 goods, compelling passengers to walk on to the carriage- 
 way. In some parts the traffic on the streets is very 
 much relieved by the elevated railroads, which are 
 constructed of iron columns and beams; across these 
 are wood sleepers, on the top of which the rails 
 are fixed. A line of rails runs along each side 
 of the street, near to the sideway, the height being 
 such that the passengers in the cars look right into the 
 houses of those who inhabit the second and third flats. 
 These lines on each side of the street are joined near to 
 the stations by a platform extending between the two 
 lines, and it is only in the neighbourhood of these 
 stations that the sleepers are covered with flooring. The 
 trains are in general very short, consisting of from 
 three to four well-finished carriages, and a rather light 
 steam-engine, the whole at certain points taking very 
 sudden turns, when requiring to turn from the main line 
 into a street crossing at right angles. There is a uniform 
 fare of ten cents to whatever place or distance you go. 
 These elevated railroads, as observed from the Central 
 Park, run a considerable distance into the country, 
 probably in the expectation that the city will shortly 
 extend in that direction. 
 
 The New York wharves are constructed so as to give 
 much accommodation, with a small water frontage ; and 
 
138 
 
 to concentrate the traffic as much as possible to the 
 central district, jetties are run out into the river, along- 
 side of which the vessels lie with their bows towards the 
 mainland. While admiring the great extent of shipping 
 and the excellent accommodation provided for it, 
 there was yet a temporary appearance about the whole 
 system which was almost offensive. This is perhaps 
 owing to the whole being constructed of timber, some 
 of which was showing signs of decay, and in some cases 
 repairs had been done so clumsily as to give a ricketty 
 appearance to the whole affair. However, this state of 
 matters will probably disappear by-and-bye, as timber 
 gets scarcer and dearer, and stone comes into more 
 general use. 
 
 Between New York and Brooklyn the river is more 
 than half a mile wide. All along the frontage on both 
 sides there are" several ferry stations, and large steam 
 ferry-boats, with their hundreds of passengers, plying 
 every few minutes between the two cities. In crossing, 
 it is no unusual thing to have within view at one time 
 from ten to a dozen of the steamers crossing at various 
 angles to either side. These, with the usual traffic up 
 and down the river, present a very animated scene, in 
 which there must be great risk and danger from collision. 
 The platform of the wharves is so formed as to receive 
 the platform on the bow of the boat, which, when run 
 into its position in the dock, is almost as neatly fitted as 
 could be done by the plane of a carpenter. 
 
139 
 
 The boats are constructed so as to carry in the centre 
 all kinds of waggons, carriages and cattle, while cabins 
 are fitted along the sides for the comfort of passengers. 
 They remain only a few minutes at the piers, when they 
 return with their hundreds of passengers. These boats 
 are fitted up with gas, which we were informed was for 
 use in the night traffic, the steamers continuing to ply 
 every half hour during the night. 
 
 An attempt is being made to construct a bridge across 
 the river between New York and Brooklyn. It has been 
 in course of construction over ten years, and is now three 
 years past the time in which the work was to have been 
 finished. At the present time there is more than one- 
 third of the work still to do. The towers of the bridge 
 on both sides of the river are finished, and, being about 
 270 feet high, are objects that attract much attention. 
 The main cables that are attached to the tops of them are 
 stretched across the river, hanging in the air like an in- 
 verted arch, about one- third from each side of the river. 
 The cross beams are placed in their position, suspended 
 from the cable. It is when passing under that you can form 
 an idea of the magnitude of the undertaking. The height 
 from the surface of the water to the floor of the bridge is 
 about one hundred and forty feet, so as to be out of the 
 reach of the topmasts of vessels passing under. The in- 
 cline from the towers on to the New York side is already 
 formed, and comes in at the level of the street at the City 
 Hall Square, near to the new Post Office, which will be 
 
140 
 
 about half a mile distant from the tower. At that point 
 it will be about eighty feet wide, and ascends by a very 
 easy incline. It is said that besides a promenade for foot 
 passengers, there will be four or five lines of carriage 
 ways, which, from the width of the span, will produce so 
 much vibration that it may have the effect of deterring 
 many from using the bridge. 
 
 Having made the best of the time at our disposal here, 
 it was agreed that I should proceed alone to Rochester, 
 about four hundred miles distant from New York, and 
 situated on the Genesee River, some eight miles up from 
 Lake Ontario. On entering Rochester one would con- 
 clude that there were not more than from rive to six 
 thousand inhabitants in the city, while there are actually 
 eighty-five thousand, there being only a small portion of 
 it that is closely built, and that in the neighbourhood of 
 the Post Orifice and other public buildings. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ROCHESTER, CONTINUED A SPREAD-OUT CITY ITS IM- 
 MENSE WATER POWER CEMETERIES RAILWAY ENTER- 
 PRISE HOME JOURNEY PARTING WORDS TO PLEASURE- 
 SEEKERS AND FARMERS CONCLUSION. 
 
 is difficult to form an estimate of the population of 
 American cities at first sight, owing to the great extent of 
 ground belonging to each house. Rochester, of all the cities 
 I have seen, is in that respect the most deceptive. The 
 whole district has the appearance of an immense forest, 
 where the trees have been cut down to form streets and 
 sites for the houses and gardens. Any one desirous of 
 obtaining ground on which to erect either a public work 
 or a dwelling-house has only to apply to the Government 
 land-agent, from whom he can get an out-and-out purchase 
 of, say, twenty acres of land, the whole cost of which, 
 including the expense of the title, will be less than the 
 that of the mere title alone to twenty poles of ground 
 in Scotland, which would be afterwards burdened with an 
 annual feu-duty of from ;io to 12. 
 
 On the Genesee River, which passes through the city, 
 there are three waterfalls, giving an immense power. The 
 upper one in the centre of the city is over ninety feet 
 high. There are two of less height a little further down 
 
142 
 
 the river. On each of these falls are situated engineering 
 works and mills of various kinds. The power obtainable 
 is so great and so much taken advantage of that sites 
 cannot be got close to them on which to erect works. 
 
 But American ingenuity has devised a method of con- 
 veying the power to sites at a distance, whereby it can be 
 fully utilised. I had the good fortune to be shown over 
 a large engineering work to which the power has been 
 conveyed. It is situated nearly a hundred yards distant 
 from the fall, another large work and an open court 
 occupying a site between it and the fall. The power is 
 transmitted over the top of this latter work and court by 
 means of a half-inch wire cable, worked over a pulley at 
 the fall and another on top of the building, at a height of 
 fifty feet above the ground. The same half-inch cable 
 was said to have been over seven years in use, and had 
 not required any repair during that time. 
 
 It having fallen to my lot to spend a Sabbath here, and 
 not having specially visited any of the American burying- 
 grounds, I resolved to spend a few hours amongst the 
 tombs, and with that view took the car to Mount Hope 
 Cemetery, which is very extensive and well-chosen for 
 such a purpose. It consists of hills, valleys and lakes, 
 the great objection to it being rather much natural wood- 
 ing intercepting the view of the city. On the highest 
 mount there had been a high wooden erection, which 
 had become dangerous and was removed, and a stone 
 one is in course of being built, from which an extensive 
 
143 
 
 view will be had all round. The monuments here 
 appeared somewhat strange the stag, dog and lamb, in 
 bronze, being much in use. The ground was very 
 artistically laid out with footpaths and avenues, all of 
 which had name-boards put up at the corners of the 
 avenues. As a specimen, there was Prospect Avenue, 
 Highland Avenue, Lake View Avenue, &c. There were 
 several funerals taking place during our visit, thus giving 
 an opportunity of contrasting the American mode of burial 
 with ours at home. One was that of an old lady, widow 
 of an English barrister. The inside of the grave and the 
 ground, nearly seven feet all round, with the earth dug out 
 of it, were tastefully covered with twigs of green cedar and 
 spruce, giving the grave and ground much the appearance 
 of being lined with a carpet. There was a great concourse 
 of mourners of both sexes. It is the custom there for the 
 carriages containing the chief mourners to precede the 
 hearse, and the acquaintances to follow it. 
 
 After the coffin had been lowered into a pine safe in 
 the bottom of the grave, the relatives placed their immor- 
 telles over it. Then the funeral service was read, and the 
 mourners retired, leaving the grave uncovered. In the 
 case of another funeral the coffin was placed in a mauso- 
 leum, where it would be allowed to remain from four to 
 eight weeks, when the relatives would again meet and 
 have it removed and interred in the ground. 
 The mausoleum, which is fire and burglar proof, is 
 octagon in form, with a dome roof. One of the sides 
 
144 
 
 forms the entrance. Each of the other seven sides has 
 three stone shelves in the height, fitted up for the recep- 
 tion of coffins. This mode of sepulture did not appear 
 to be approved of by the inhabitants generally. 
 
 Tramway cars ply along every second street from the 
 centre of the city for a long distance into what we would 
 call the suburbs, but what to the American is really part 
 of the city. The horse-paths in the suburbs were in a 
 most objectionable state of repair. Otherwise the car 
 service seemed very efficient and economically conducted. 
 In this city no guards are employed, the driver discharg- 
 ing the duty by keeping a sharp look-out for customers. 
 There is a uniform fare of five cents, irrespective of dis- 
 tance. A passenger, on entering the car, walks forward 
 towards the driver and drops his fare into a little re- 
 ceiver, like a letter-box, with glass sides. The driver 
 casts a glance into the box, and, if the correct fare has 
 been deposited, he touches a spring which cants the 
 bottom, and the fare drops into a little chamber beneath, 
 and the bottom adjusts itself to receive the next fare. 
 The cash chamber is accessible only to the manager and 
 cashier, who may take out the cash either at every course 
 or in the evening, when they get the whole day's earnings 
 all at once. In no case is the driver allowed to handle 
 any of the fares, but he is allowed to give change to 
 accommodate the passengers. For this purpose he is 
 furnished at the office with a number of small envelopes, 
 on each of which there are printed, in large figures, 10, 20, 
 
145 
 
 25, or 50 cents, according to the value of the money in 
 the envelope. In every case the change is so arranged 
 that there is a five cent piece in the envelope. If the 
 passenger has not got a five cent coin, but supposing he 
 has a twenty five cent piece, he hands it to the driver, 
 who gives him in return a twenty-five cent envelope, on 
 which are printed these words, " Open this and put the 
 fare in the box." This done, the passenger takes his 
 seat in the car. Any passenger desirous to leave, gives 
 notice to the driver by pulling the bell, and the car is 
 stopped. Much pleased with the visit, we left by rail in 
 the evening, and joined our friend in New York next 
 
 raorning ' Bancroft LflxM 
 
 The day of departure for the Clyde having arrived, we 
 went on board the steamer and started on our home 
 journey, having been much gratified with our excursion. 
 The next day we began to recount some of the incidents 
 of our experience of the past two months, and of many 
 things that cropped up in our mind's eye. ' The most 
 prominent of these were the kindly feeling and hospitality 
 that were extended to us wherever we went, leaving an 
 impression that is certain to be of life-Long duration. 
 
 On many occasions we observed what appeared to us 
 to be a very peculiar domestic habit with some of the in- 
 habitants. In several instances, we met with well-to-do 
 people, amongst whom were retired merchants, who, 
 instead of enjoying their quiet family residence, were 
 living in boarding-houses, somewhat after the fashion of 
 L 
 
146 
 
 hydropathic life in Scotland. These houses, in external 
 appearance, could not be detected from a private family 
 residence, and generally contained from ten to twenty 
 boarders. Our first impression regarding the boarders 
 was that they were either transient visitors or people in 
 reduced circumstances. We soon learned that such was 
 not the case, but this mode of living was resorted to as 
 a matter of economy. 
 
 Some of the wealthiest inhabitants, who turn out the 
 finest equipages, will not take the trouble and annoyance 
 of having horses of their own, but they have their own 
 carriages and servants, all with the exception of the 
 driver. There are parties who make a trade of hiring 
 out first-class horses. With one of these an arrangement 
 is made to take charge of the carriages, and supply horse 
 and driver on the shortest notice ; and by the aid of the 
 telephone, they are as speedily called forth when required 
 as though they were kept on the premises. 
 
 We had long been under the impression that Americans 
 were much given to boast of the great things they pos- 
 sessed and of the great works they performed, and put 
 themselves forward as being the greatest in everything ; 
 but such was not our experience when we came in close 
 contact with them. However, it must be admitted that 
 we heard a deal of boasting, but it was by natives of our 
 country who had been a few years resident there, and 
 were no doubt anxious to entertain us by showing us 
 the land of their adoption to the best advantage. As an 
 
147 
 
 instance, two old acquaintances were showing us over an 
 aristocratic part of a city. They seemed to know all the 
 outs and ins of the occupants of each mansion. As we 
 passed along one was pointed out as the greatest exporter 
 of grain in the world, another as being the most extensive 
 railway shareholder in the world, and another as the 
 richest man in the world This brought us to a stand, 
 and the question was put to our informant if there was 
 just one such " richest man " in the world in America, as 
 we had on two former occasions had the residence of 
 such a man pointed out to us ! This, to our great relief, 
 had the effect of checking the bounce for a time. 
 
 The Americans don't need to boast of their works 
 they speak for themselves. When we look at the great 
 extent of their country, the fine, fertile districts, inter- 
 spersed with rivers, lakes, and harbours, and natural 
 water-falls giving power to immense numbers of factories, 
 with coal and iron to an unlimited extent in addition 
 to which, there is the fostering care taken of inventive 
 minds, assisting men of indefatigable energy and perse- 
 verance, who overcome almost insurmountable obstacles, 
 and who are already making themselves felt in our own 
 country, it requires no great foresight to predict that, 
 in a few years hence, several of the industries of this 
 country will be very seriously affected, and some may 
 have to succumb altogether. As for agriculture, it is 
 already a doomed industry in our country. 
 
 Many must have felt sorry that the Right Hon. W. E. 
 
148 
 
 Gladstone, at the dinner given to his tenant-farmers on 
 the Hawarden estate, on the i2th December last, had 
 not been more accurate in pointing out to them what 
 was the real cause of the severe trial through which he 
 said they were passing. The following are the Prime 
 Minister's own words: 
 
 " It is now about forty years since I first began to 
 attend these dinners, and certainly I have seen many 
 changes in that time. The first of these years were years 
 of very considerable trial and pressure, and they followed 
 or accompanied the introduction of the legislation known 
 as Free Trade. But those years, which were marked by 
 some scarcity in the season, and by some other trying 
 circumstances, were followed by a quarter of a century 
 which, as far as I know, was a period of great and more 
 general prosperity to agriculture than had been known 
 in this country for a long time before; and the test of 
 this prosperity was to be found in this, that almost every 
 article of agricultural produce went up greatly in price. 
 Of that there is no doubt whatever. Wheat, of course, 
 being of great importance here, constitutes an exception, 
 but still there has been no very great fall in the price of 
 wheat. Other products barley, oats, meat, wool, butter 
 cheese, almost everything else that the farmer is interested 
 in went up in price, and went up in a manner which 
 showed it would not go down again to its former level. 
 And even in this period of distress, if we take, for example, 
 the article of meat, in which a great deal of pressur e has 
 
149 
 
 been felt, you know perfectly well that, at the worst, 
 the price at which the stock has been sold, or the 
 price which the butcher has obtained for meat, has 
 been very much higher than it used to be fifty or sixty 
 years ago." 
 
 From this point he led his tenants on with a semi- 
 political harangue, cautioning them to beware of his 
 political opponents, against whom he said he did not 
 wish to use hard words, but termed them political quacks. 
 After getting the farmers to the point of applauding and 
 hear, hearing, he ventured to set before them the serious 
 evils from which he said they were suffering. "The 
 special -evils from which you suffer are due to bad 
 seasons and bad trade. (Hear, hear.) The bad seasons 
 which it has pleased God to give us have given you much 
 less in quantity and quality, much less of agricultural 
 produce to dispose of; and while you have had less to 
 dispose of, the bad trade of the country has taken away 
 to some considerable extent the means of those who 
 ought to have purchased your produce. Therefore you 
 have at once had a diminished supply to send to market, 
 and you have had to look for a diminished price. That 
 is a fact which we have one and all before us, and which 
 we so much lament." In the whole speech foreign 
 competition and high rents, the chief causes of farmers' 
 grievances, are kept in the background, the only reference 
 being that he " was not aware that there had been any 
 considerable increase in rents in this part of the country," 
 
and as to foreign competition, it was not even referred to. 
 Now, just contrast the speech of the Premier with that 
 of Mr Campbell, M,R, delivered on the i8th December 
 last. (Mr Campbell is member for the Ayr Burghs, and 
 is of the same shade of politics as Mr Gladstone). In 
 his address to the farmers, he pointed out to them the 
 real cause of their grievances so plainly as to put the 
 question beyond all doubt. " Our farmers have had 
 hard times the past few years, and I wish I could say I 
 saw signs of improvement. The most important factors 
 in bringing about their difficulties have undoubtedly been 
 the bad seasons and the American competition, but it is 
 difficult to say which of these has been the more power- 
 ful. Mr Gladstone calculated that the loss to agriculture 
 through bad seasons has been about ^120,000,000, and 
 Mr Caird, putting it another way, says that the loss of 
 tenants' capital has been in some districts one-third and 
 in others a half. Looking at the question in this light, 
 you see that it becomes not merely a class question, but 
 one affecting the interests of the whole community. And 
 even supposing that we are to be favoured with a series 
 of good seasons, it is to be doubted whether they would 
 counteract the effects of the foreign competition. For 
 my part, I do not think they would. So far as we can 
 see, this competition is likely to increase, for as the 
 railway system is extended in America, fresh fields will 
 be opened and larger fleets of steamers be made available 
 for transport. Russia, Australia, and New Zealand are 
 
all coming into play, and are certain still further to add 
 to our imports." 
 
 With regard to the extension of railways in America,, 
 the following cutting from the Deseret News^ of the 
 1 4th December, shows that railway making is being pro- 
 ceeded with at a truly railway pace: "The past year, 
 notwithstanding its many calamities, has been in many 
 respects one of unexampled enterprise and prosperity. 
 In nothing is this more apparent than the rapid and 
 extensive construction of competing Trans-Continental 
 and other railways. It is estimated from reliable data 
 predicated upon official returns that more railway iron 
 has been laid in the United States within the past year 
 than during any similar period in the history of the 
 country ; the various new roads and extensions footing 
 up the grand aggregate of over six thousand miles. Some 
 years ago we thought the construction of the Union and 
 Central Pacifies' a great undertaking, but now there are 
 not less than four similar main lines reaching out for the 
 waters of the Pacific, besides one running down into 
 Mexico, with auxiliary and competing lines all over the 
 country, and the almost daily announcement is, still 
 they come." 
 
 It will thus be seen that the entire continent of North 
 America will at no distant date be covered with a net- 
 work of railways, and the food supplies from an enormous 
 and almost unlimited extent of country will be poured 
 into Britain in sver -increasing quantities, rendering it 
 
152 
 
 more and more difficult for our farmers to compete 
 against it, handicapped as they are at present with high 
 rents and manifestly unjust land laws. 
 
 To those who have some time and money at their 
 disposal, a few months' travel through the States and 
 Canada will be found at once enjoyable and profitable. 
 Such has been our pleasurable experience; indeed, so 
 much so, that we have a strong desire to see more of 
 that great country. 
 
 The voyage across the Atlantic is re-invigorating to the 
 human constitution, physically and mentally. -The 
 transit from one place to another in America is per- 
 formed in comfort and safety. Everywhere our common 
 language is spoken (a great convenience in travelling); 
 everywhere is the intercourse civil and courteous, and 
 everywhere we found ourselves among a God-fearing 
 and law-abiding people. To the farmers of this country 
 we emphatically say Your hope of a brighter future, 
 your redemption from a life of profitless toil, lies in the 
 fair and fertile fields of the West, in the vast tracts of 
 virgin soil in Canada and the States, as yet untouched 
 by the industry of man ! 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY