America by river and rail, or, Notes by the way on the new world and its people / by William Ferguson.

Introduction

The following pages are what they profess to be. Notes by the Way. They were written for the most part on the dates they bear, or the following morning ; and the only additions made afterwards are some of the statistical details, embodied from other notes and sources of information subsequently obtained. Many books have appeared recently, treating of the same general subject. Most of these I have read ; and some may think I should have been deterred from adding to the already long list of such books. It seemed to me, however, that I had traversed routes different from those usually followed, and had become conversant, in a rapid sort of way, with matters not always put before the ordinary traveller. So I have ventured to print some of the memoranda made at the time, in the hope that they may fill up some unoccupied crevices in the mosaic of multitudinous contributions to our knowledge of America. I have attempted to collect and record facts and opinions, without permitting myself to enter into their discussion — and here is the result, quod valeat.

IV

INTRODUCTION.

I will only say further, that wherever I went, I experienced the utmost kindness and attention ; and I hope I have not repaid American hospitality by harsh judgments. I have wished not to do so. I have desired to present a faithful picture of what passed before me, to the best of my ability. I could not, however, tell all the story of my experience of the inner life of transatlantic homes, without trespassing on the sacredness of private life, — a procedure which would have been a poor return for the spontaneous generosity which treated us with the affection of tried friends. The recollection of this kindness is not the less endeared, that it is conserved for personal enjoyment.

The introduction to these homes, however, opened to me a new page in the book of American life ; for there, as here, there are two .very distinct kinds of people. The noisiest, and those who appear most, are not always the best ; and one is apt to carry off an impression of the nation from her political stump-orators, and advertising, speculating adventurers. But there is another class altogether, who, while they amass wealth, consecrate it and themselves to a higher service than that of mammon ; and these are, and will continue to be, the conservators of their country. It was not till after I had been some time in the United States, and had already formed opinions not flattering to either its people or its institutions, that I was thrown into contact with this inner circle ; but from that period, my views of American society underwent a revolution. In the hotels and public places, one meets with men who impress you with the idea that they and their fellow-

INTRODUCTION.

V countrymen are a frivolous, reckless, worldly set of rash speculators, money- worshippers and money-getters — while contact with the other class, in their Christian homes, supplies the corrective to the former misleading aberrations ; and we learn with great delight that there are compensating elements in this great society — a balance-weight of moral influence, which, after all, is the real backbone of the social body, the solid foundation of the national building. Were the United States of America to summon such men as these to her councils, and press on, under their guidance, in the spirit of that righteousness which exalteth a nation, it almost seems as if there were no conceivable limits to the future greatness the Eepublic might reach.

There will be found, in the following pages, the evidences of a prosperous growth in population and industry, such as the history of no other nation presents. True of all the Free States, this is especially true of Illinois and others to the north-west. These States possess vast mineral riches, and soils adapted for the most successful agriculture. They are attracting a most industrious and enterprising class of settlers. Towns spring up in the course of a few weeks or months, not to speak of years ; and extensive tracts of country which, till lately, were all but unexplored, yearly add to the industrial resources of the nation. More than this, as I have elsewhere remarked, the rapidity of the past progress of these regions'5' is no criterion of the pace to which their future forward

* The Illinois Central Railway, &c.

VI

INTRODUCTION.

march will be accelerated. The development already exhibited, has quite confounded the most sanguine anticipations of those who ventured to calculate it beforehand ; and any reasonable estimate of further advancement is not likely to be disappointed by the reality.

I claim for those Notes only what they may be found worth. They are here, the fresh impressions of new scenes, full of interest in their actual enjoyment, and not less full of pleasure in retrospect. To the many kind friends, whose good offices and considerate concern tended so much to make my visit to their country one of almost unmixed gratification, I affectionately and gratefully dedicate them.

London, May 1856.

Contents

PAGE

Chapter I. Liverpool To Boston .... 1

„ II. BOSTON 5

„ IV. CAMBRIDGE— HARVARD — MOUNT AUBURN . 14

„ VII. BOSTON 35

„ VIII. BOSTON TO NEW YORK NEW YORK . . 41

„ XII. NEW YORK . . . . . . 70

„ XIII. TO PHILADELPHIA AND THE SOUTH . . 92

XIV. CHARLESTON ..... 109

„ XV. CHARLESTON .... 117

„ XVI. UP COOPER RIVER 126

„ XVII. SEA-ISLANDS ..... 140

„ XVIII. A COLOURED CHURCH AND SCHOOL . . 148

„ XIX. NORTHWARDS ..... 152

„ XX. WASHINGTON ..... 157

„ XXI. PHILADELPHIA . . . . . 177

„ XXII. THE ANTHRACITE COAL REGION . . 184

Vlll

CONTENTS.

„ XLI.-

-PHILADELPHIA ....

-PHILADELPHIA ....

-CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS .

-PITTSBURG ....

-NORTH-EASTERN OHIO

-PITTSBURG TO CINCINNATI COLUMBUS

-CINCINNATI

-“ SAILING UP DE RIBBER, DE OHIO ”

-CINCINNATI — MORE SUNDAY SCHOOLS- A GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION -CHILLICOTHE -CHILLICOTHE

-LEXINGTON CINCINNATI

-INDIANA .

-MADISON .

-INDIANAPOLIS .

-CLEVELAND -CHICAGO .

-ILLINOIS .

-CAIRO

-GALENA DUBUQUE

-IOWA

-BURLINGTON ROCK ISLAND

-DETROIT .

-TO NIAGARA -TRENTON -THE ST LAWRENCE -QUEBEC .

-MONTREAL ALBANY NEW YORK

-BALTIMORE AND THE ALLEGHANIES AGAIN

RAILWAY SUSPENSION BRIDGE ON THE NTAC-ARA. LOOKING NORT]

AMERICA : BY RIVER AND RAIL.

CHAPTER I.

LIVERPOOL TO BOSTON.

Our voyage from Liverpool to Boston in the Cunard steamer Canada commenced on Saturday, February 17, 1855. The cold of that season was more severe than had been experienced for a long previous period, and an intense frost, of already some weeks’ duration, had filled the river Mersey with great blocks of ice, rapidly freezing together, and very much impeding navigation, which, indeed, was shortly afterwards, through the increasing severity of the season*, entirely stopped. The clear, cold, bracing weather, and the cloudless sky, betokened a quick and pleasant passage across the Atlantic.

There was little to interrupt the monotony of the daily progress. On Sunday, the 18th, we were skirting the south coast of Ireland, whose snowcovered hills and fields, seen from the sea, and contrasted with the dark colour of the water, had a peculiar effect. By the following day we had left land far out of sight. For the most part confined to my cabin, I got on deck one fine forenoon, and found we were going, with a fair wind, eleven or twelve

A

AMERICA : BY RIVER AND RAIL.

knots an hour, through the blue Atlantic. Two or three gulls were circling slowly and gracefully around us, and the rise and fall of the waves, in long undulations, impressed one with a sense of great power quiescent.

A power not destined, however, to remain quiescent till the end of our voyage. On Wednesday and Thursday it began to get rough, and presently we experienced a gale of extfeme severity, which lasted for twenty-four hours. It commenced with force about ten o’clock on the night of Friday the 23d, and was at its height the same night, lasting till the following evening. As usual, everybody said it was the worst they had ever seen. As it was, it was bad enough. Too ill to go on deck, I nevertheless, in my narrow berth, felt its power and terror. My companions described the waves as tremendous, and quite surpassing any notion which they had formed from description of what they could be. Everything in our cabin was knocked about. Jugs were broken, boxes went sliding over the floor, and the living cargo had to hold on wherever they could get anything to cling to. One very heavy sea struck the ship across the bows. The crash was terrible. The stout ship quivered for a moment under the shock, and there was a sensation as if she had shot down under the wave, and must sink. The water roared along the deck with a noise like thunder, throwing down the great bell on the forecastle, and wrenching off more than one of the doors of the deck-houses. It did not reach the saloon, but filled the fore-cabin three feet deep. One man had his leg broken, and another was severely bruised. It was a moment of deep and solemn impression.

ARRIVAL.

About midnight on Wednesday the 28 th, we reached Halifax, and from thence to Boston we had beautiful weather. The sea, in the usually vexed Bay of Fundy, was perfectly smooth ; and, though it was cold, it was clear and sunny. On Friday morning we came in sight of land, the not unpicturesque shores of New England. We gazed on it with a double sort of interest : — the interest with which one approaches a new country, and which regards with delight every object presented where all is new ; the interest, too, with which one remembers that it was here that the struggle for independence first commenced, — a struggle which had its origin alike in the best virtues and worst defects of the parental stock.

The distance was too great to enable us to distinguish accurately' the peculiar character of the shores. They are not marked by any bold feature, but present an undulating line of seemingly low cliffs, covered with wood. Nevertheless they are the forest-clad shores of the Western World, and this invests them with an interest, and gives them a beauty, which more familiar acquaintance might deny them. The bay between us and them was studded with fishing-boats, adding to the interest of the scene.

As we neared Boston, about two in the afternoon, the features of interest multiply. We can discern the white houses of the coast-towns, and presently we are sailing among the numerous islands of the magnificent harbour ; while fair before us lies the city, clustering over the gentle eminence on which it is built, and presided over by the imposing State-house, on the highest and central point. We landed at a suburb called East Boston, separated from the main town by an arm of the harbour, and found it a work of some tediousness

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to get our baggage up to the examining-room, and of more annoyance to open all our packages, and allow the curious officials to look over our chattels. We were told the examination at Boston was a mere formality. It was indeed a farce, but for all that, it was much more strict than what I was afterwards subjected to at Liverpool, on my return. However, it was over at last, and we got our boxes and ourselves, with five more, eight in all, and an incredible quantity of baggage, stowed in and on a “ stage,” — a sort of overgrown coach, holding nine inside, and hung on leather straps, — and so we trotted merrily away from the wharf. We mounted to the roof, and it was joyous to be moving through the clear air on shore, with every thing new and strange around. The arm of the harbour was crossed by a steam ferry-boat. Our great coach drove into the boat, which moved across, and we drove out again, — the round ends of the boat fitting into corresponding recesses in moveable piers, which rise and fall with the tide. So, through several streets, teeming with what to us were novelties, till we reached the great hotel of Boston, “ The Kevere.”

CHAPTEE II.

BOSTON.

An American hotel, as all who have read any recent book of travels in the United States must know well, is a very different affair from an English one. We strode through a marble-paved hall to an office in one corner, and writing our names in a book which lay open for that purpose, the numbers 133, 134, and 135 are placed opposite them, and we are free of the house. Three or four porters, of whom there is always a supply waiting in the hall, laid hold of our baggage and carried it up-stairs to the rooms indicated by the numbers placed opposite our names. We are now possessed of a bedroom, of which we carry the key. It contains every convenience which a traveller requires, down to writing materials; whilst in some conspicuous place is put up a note of the hours at which meals are served, and other particulars useful to know. Henceforth we have no more trouble. Our bedroom is our private sitting-room ; there are public parlours luxuriously fitted up — those for ladies especially so — and at the fixed hours there are sumptuous meals on the table in the eating-hall. There is no trouble in ordering dinner ; you come and go just as you find it convenient. In addition to this, each room has a box assigned to it in the office, and numbered to cor-

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respond, into which, letters or cards which may be left for yon are put. These boxes or pigeon-holes are arranged in a conspicuous place, so that you can at a glance tell, without requiring to ask, whether there is anything for you or not. You miss, too, the long rows of bells which disfigure an English hotel hall. The wires leading to each room sound one bell, and uncover at the same time a number arranged below it.. The person waiting reads off the number to one of the attendants, who answers the call, and the cover of the number is replaced by touching a spring. Such are some of the more striking of the novel features of an American hotel ; and when I add that the parlours were carpeted with Brussels, and the chairs and sofas covered with cut velvet, and that the eating-hall is a magnificent apartment, floored with black and white marble, and decorated with white and gold, so as to have a very cheerful look, I think I have said enough upon the subject of American hotels. It was exquisite luxury, after the confinement of our close state-rooms, to plunge into a warm bath, and afterwards complete one’s toilette without having to catch at something to keep you from falling, or go heeling about the floor.

* This all accomplished, we had half an hour to spare before the hour of tea ; and, with the impetuosity of curious strangers, we sallied forth to see something of Boston. In the course of our first walk, undertaken at random, we discovered the water-works, — a massive building of granite. It covers, as we afterwards learned, an area of 40,000 feet, and holds 3,000,000 gallons of water, which is brought from the Cochituate river. Continuing our walk, we came to the ridge of the hill behind the State-house, and had

BOSTON.

before us a most magnificent sunset. The golden glory shone on the water, which sweeps round on that side of Boston, and bathed in its warm tint the buildings around. We might have thought that it was already summer ; but, turning into “ The Common,” a small sheet of water, still icebound and alive with little sleighs, reminded us that the winter was not yet gone, and that the glow around us was only coloured light.

The Common is a park containing about 49 acres, and ornamented with some well-grown trees. It slopes upwards to the State-house, which commands it. The walks are a favourite promenade. Here the militia companies have their reviews, and here, too, the citizens of Boston assemble for their open-air meetings and galas.

Later in the evening we went forth again, enjoying the excitement of walking up and down the streets of a place new to us. As we returned, we passed a fine building, the front of which was profusely decorated, and brilliantly lighted up with three rows of a dozen lamps each. It bore the name, “ Boston Museum.” Looking up from the outside, floor after floor seemed full of cases of stuffed birds, &c. : so, to make the most of our time, we determined to take this opportunity of examining the treasures of science and art which we expected to find collected here. We paid the fee of 25 cents or Is. demanded at the door, and were ushered into a fine hall full of paintings, sculpture, specimens of natural history, and other things, but too dimly lighted for us to be able to examine anything satisfactorily. The museum was evidently not the attraction. A broad flight of steps ascended at the further end, and thence floated strains of music. Thither, too, the stream of visitors directed itself, and mixing with the crowd, we

AMERICA : BY RIVER AND RAIL.

found ourselves in another large hall, which was neither more nor less than a theatre. We afterwards learned that, until lately, Boston had no regular theatre ; that theatrical representations were gradually introduced under the name of “ spectacles,” in connexion with museums, until at last the mask was thrown aside entirely, and theatres are now built and used as such. The Boston museum was one of these intermediate theatres, and the piece which was acting when we entered was called “ The Magic Mirror, or the Spirit of the Age,” — a “ grand allegorical Japanese romance” — “ a museum spectacle ” — not a play !

We saw a part of “ The Magic Mirror.” It was a strange attempt to mix the moral with the mirthful, — a compromise between instruction and amusement, in which, as might be expected, the former goes to the wall. Thus, scene first is entitled, “ The Dark Clouds of Apathy” — the spirits of Independence, Education, Liberality, Peace, &c. discovered sleeping. Then the genius of Idolatry is introduced, and apostrophises the spirits — “ Sleep on, in apathetic clouds, enwrapt, ye spirits ! Idolatry’s dread foes, sleep on ! ” The Spirit of the Age, however, makes its appearance. This, of course, is America, and there is reference in the whole to the recent expedition to Japan.

“ Clouds of darkness ! quick away !

Behold the Spirit of the Age ;

Dark night shall turn to shining day,

And change Japan’s historic page.”

The spirits engage to aid the enterprise, and the banner of freedom is unfurled — said banner being the stars and stripes. The piece drags on through twenty-one scenes, introducing a Yankee sailor and a Japanese sweetheart, together with a “ regular Vermonter,” who

BOSTON.

speaks through his nose in the Sam Slick vernacular, and is tall enough to be characteristic of the big-boned “ Yankee proper.” It winds up with —

« A GRAND ALLEGORICAL PICTURE— THE GENIUS OF AMERICA.

“ Songs of triumph, millions shout,

In thy cause let all engage ;

Let no nation be without Thy spirit — Spirit of the Age.

“ Burst all barriers, set all free,

Traverse earth, and air, and sea ;

Shew all mankind ’tis thy decree To bless them all with Liberty.”

A very modest assumption! but perhaps America has to learn a little more about freedom for herself before she is quite able to dispense it to “ all the world,” and especially to that poor miserable worn-out little island of Great Britain.

Is there not a great lesson connected with this feature of Boston morals \ Public opinion stamped theatregoing as wrong, and theatres were abolished. It was deemed inconsistent with the profession of religion to witness a play, and plays were banished. But,

a new generation hankered after the forbidden pleasure ; and as supply almost invariably equals, if not exceeds, the demand, so now, “ museum spectacles” have led the way to “ theatres,” and the rage for scenic representation is perhaps greater in Boston than in any other town of the United States, except New Orleans. It may be that equally the religious character of the Puritan capital has retrograded. Certain it is that Boston is now the stronghold of Socinianism.

Chapter III. Boston

Saturday, March 3. — We met at breakfast at half-past eight, and made the acquaintance of buckwheat cakes and molasses. Then to the monument on Bunker’s Hill. We took a wrong bridge, and got to the Cambridge side, but easily found a road and bridge leading to Charleston, where Bunker’s Hill is. This part of the town is quite intersected by railways. These cross the streets in all directions on the level, and are in most cases without any protection. A sign-board, stretched full in front across the whole breadth of the street, bears the legend, “ Railway crossing. — Look out for the engine while the bell is ringing and, in addition to this, a gate is, in some instances, shut across the street while a train is passing. The onus of responsibility seems to be thrown as much as possible on the unlucky passenger. Should he get smashed after the above-mentioned admonition, he is supposed to be himself to blame.

The American engine and car are both very different from ours. The locomotives are much larger, and have three striking peculiarities. The chimney or smokestalk is in the shape of a great inverted cone, the object of the broad top being to hold an arrangement for preventing pieces of burning wood blowing out. This

BOSTON.

huge chimney is balanced by a house at the opposite end for the drivers. Without such a protection they could not stand either the summer heat or the winter cold of this climate. The third peculiarity is in the arrangement of the wheels. The driving wheels, varying in number from two to four pairs, are placed together behind, while in front two pairs of small wheels support a swivel platform beneath the engine, — an arrangement introduced to give facility in turning. The carriages, or cars, as they are called, are similarly supported. Two pairs of low wheels support at each end of the car a swivel platform, and on these the car, usually a very long one, rests. The cars are entered from both ends. A longitudinal passage runs up the middle, and on each side of this the seats are arranged in pairs. The backs of these are moveable at pleasure, so that the occupant can sit with his face to the engine, or the reverse, as he pleases. Each car holds about sixty passengers. There is a narrow, platform at the ends, and it is easy to step from one car to another. The conductor can pass through the whole train ; and this enables him to collect fares and tickets whilst the train is in motion. A cord is passed along the roof of each carriage, and connected with a bell beside the engineer, so that the conductor can signal to him to stop or go on by pulling the cord, in whatever part of the train he may be.

Charleston seems to be an independent city. It has a city government, town-hall, and other municipal matters of its own. It is a pretty suburb of Boston. The white houses, with their green Venetian windowblinds, look very clean and cheerful.

The hill on which the monument commemorative of the battle stands is a slight rising ground, not reaching

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seemingly more than seventy or eighty feet above the level of the sea. It is open around the monument, which stands in an elevated square, reached by flights of granite steps. The monument itself is an obelisk of hewn granite, two hundred and twenty feet in height. There is a stair to the top. We ascended, carrying a lamp with us, for the way was all but dark. There are narrow windows on one side, and at these rain had entered, covering the steps with ice. When we reached the top, we were repaid for the labour of the ascent. There is no access to the exterior, but there are windows on each side. From one we looked down upon the Navy Yard, 100 acres in extent, and over to East Boston, and out upon the bay and its islands. Towards the south, the view comprises Boston itself, with the State-house capping the whole, and blue hills in the distance beyond. Northward and westward, it commands a panorama of suburban scenery which even now was pretty, and in summer must be beautiful.

In the open space at the top are fixed two small cannon, with inscriptions bearing that they were used in the war, and in a recess in the basement there is a pretty marble model of the original monument which stood on the hill. The present one seems to have been begun in 1823, and only finished in 1843.

After the transaction of some business, we proceeded, under the guidance of a friend, to the State-house, but being Saturday, the Legislature was not sitting. There is a good entrance-hall, containing a fine marble statue of Washington, by Chantrey. We ascended to the cupola, over the rotunda, and from thence we had a view around, even finer than that from the summit of the monument, though much of the same character. We saw both the chambers, which are comfortable

BOSTON.

enough ; and then we went on to the City-hall to call on the Mayor. The council-chamber is a handsome room. The Mayor has a raised seat at the centre of one side, and the aldermen sit in a semicircle around, each having a comfortable arm-chair and desk. A semicircular rail behind them keeps out oi ttoWol.

The Mayor, who is a physician, was not at the City-hall ; but as he lives at the Tremont-house, we called upon him there, and found him in his consulting-room, or “office,’’ as physicians* and surgeons* consultingrooms are always called in the States. He received us most courteously, and said that if we would call upon him any morning between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the City-hall, he would gladly give us permits to all the city institutions ; adding, that if there were others we wished to visit, and which were not under the control of the corporation, he would doubtless be able to find access for us to them too. This was only a foretaste of the invariable courtesy we met with everywhere.

We made our first acquaintance with an American table-d’hote to-day. The dinner was not a large one, but was managed most quietly and well, and was very good. We drove afterwards to Harvard College and Mount Auburn. It was a beautiful afternoon, the horses went a fast trot, and we enjoyed the drive out through the pretty suburbs towards Cambridge very much. The route was north-west, crossing the estuary of the Charles river by a long bridge, then through a gently undulating country, for the most part covered with country houses in every variety of picturesque style.

Chapter IV. Cambridge Harvard Mount Auburn

Cambridge is an incorporated city, and dates from 1630. It is three and a half miles from Boston.

We found Harvard University to consist of a series of buildings scattered in a large park, containing some good trees, chiefly elms and maples. Most of the buildings are old, but about fourteen years ago the principal library was removed to a handsome Gothic structure of granite, just then finished. I like the tout-ensemble of the whole very much. With the exception of the new library, the buildings are very plain houses ; but there was an air of quiet and retirement this spring evening over the place which was fascinating. Open stiles in the paling admitted us to the park. On the left is the Theological Library, and a hall containing some old portraits ; beyond it stands one of the boarding-houses. On the right, opposite the Theological Library, is another boarding-house ; and beyond it, the oldest building of all, the Law Library or Dane Hall. In front is a large building, containing the chapel, lecture-rooms, &c. ; and beyond it, at some distance, is the new library, called Gore Hall.

We were fortunate in finding the library open, as it is not usually so on Saturday, and was so to-night for

CAMBRIDGE HARVARD.

some special purpose. Mr Sibley, tbe assistant librarian, was there, and was most kind in shewing us over it. It is admirably arranged. There is a lofty central-hall, along each side of which the books are placed in shelved recesses, like little chapels ; above these is a gallery, with smaller recesses for books. The hall contains some busts ; among them one of Everett, one of Roscoe of Liverpool, one of John Adams, the second president of the United States.

Among the literary curiosities shewn to us were Walton’s Polyglot , the copy which belonged to Hyde, Lord Clarendon. A Latin Bible, given by J. Gardiner of Boston to the person who presented it to the college, and interesting because J. Gardiner s father received it from the hands of Charles I. himself. I think this is its history. I may mistake the name, and perhaps Gardiner was the Boston man who got it from the son of the royal donatee. A Foulis’ Milton, folio, splendid, given by a London Lord-Mayor to Phillis Wheatley, a negro poetess, whose slim volume of not unmelodious verses is also here. A beautiful Greek MS. Play, said to be worth £1500. A Psalter, with the autograph, “ FFrancis Bacon’s Booke.”