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POPULAR WORKS
OF
Captain Willard Glazier,
THE SOLDIER AUTHOR.
* * * * *
I. Three years in the Federal Cavalry.
II. Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape.
III. Battles for the Union.
IV. Heroes of Three Wars.
V. Peculiarities of American Cities.
VI. Down the Great River.
VII. Headwaters of the Mississippi.
VIII. Ocean to Ocean on Horseback.
* * * * *
Captain Glazier's works are growing more and more popular every day.
Their delineations of _social_, military _and frontier_ life, constantly
varying scenes, and deeply interesting stories, combine to place their
writer in the front rank of American authors.
* * * * *
SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
PERSONS DESIRING AGENCIES FOR ANY OF CAPTAIN GLAZIER'S
BOOKS SHOULD ADDRESS
THE PUBLISHERS.
OCEAN TO OCEAN
ON
HORSEBACK;
Being
THE STORY OF A TOUR IN THE SADDLE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO
THE PACIFIC; WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EARLY
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES AND TOWNS
ALONG THE ROUTE; AND REGIONS TRAVERSED
BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI; TOGETHER
WITH INCIDENTS, ANECDOTES
AND ADVENTURES OF
THE JOURNEY.
BY
CAPTAIN WILLARD GLAZIER.
Author of "Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape," "Three Years in the
Federal Cavalry," "Battles for the Union," "Heroes of Three Wars,"
"Peculiarities of American Cities," "Down the Great River,"
"Headwaters of the Mississippi," Etc.
* * * * *
Illustrated.
* * * * *
PHILADELPHIA:
EDGEWOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1899.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1895, by
WILLARD GLAZIER,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D.C.
TO
THE MEMORY
OF
My Beloved Mother,
TO WHOSE
Precepts and Example
I AM INDEBTED FOR WHATEVER I HAVE BEEN
ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH
IN
The Journey of Life,
THIS VOLUME
THE RECORD OF MY LONGEST AMERICAN JOURNEY
IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED.
PREFACE.
It was the intention of the writer to publish a narrative descriptive of
his overland tour from the Atlantic to the Pacific soon after returning
from California in 1876, and his excuse for the delay in publication is
that a variety of circumstances compelled him to postpone for a time the
duty of arranging the contents of his journal until other pressing
matters had been satisfactorily attended to. Again, considerable
unfinished literary work, set aside when he began preparation for
crossing the Continent, had to be resumed, and for these reasons the
story of his journey from "OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK" is only now
ready for the printer. In view of this delay in going to press, the
author will endeavor to show a due regard for the changes time has
wrought along his line of march, and while noting the incidents of his
long ride from day to day, it has been his aim so far as possible to
discuss the regions traversed, the growth of cities and the development
of their industries from the standpoint of the present.
[Illustration: Signature]
Millard Glazier
ALBANY, NEW YORK,
_August 22, 1895_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Boyhood Longings--Confronted by Obstacles--Trapping Along the
Oswegatchie--Enter Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary--Appointed
to State Normal College--Straitened Circumstances--Teach School
in Rensselaer County--War of the Rebellion--Enlist in a Cavalry
Regiment--Taken Prisoner--Fourteen Months in Southern
Prisons--Escape from Columbia--Recaptured--Escape from Sylvania,
Georgia--Re-enter the Army--Close of the War--Publish
"Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape" and Other Books--Decide to
Cross the Continent--Preparation for Journey--Ocean to Ocean on
Horseback 25
CHAPTER II.
BOSTON AND ITS ENVIRONS.
Early History and Development--Situation of the Metropolis
of New England--Boston Harbor--The Cradle of Liberty--Old
South Church--Migrations of the Post Office--Patriots of
the Revolution--The Boston Tea Party--Bunker Hill Monument--Visit
of Lafayette--The Public Library--House where Franklin
was Born--The Back Bay--Public Gardens--Streets of Boston--Soldiers'
Monument--The Old Elm--Commonwealth Avenue--State
Capitol--Tremont Temple--Edward Everett--Wendell
Phillips--William Loyd Garrison--Phillips Brooks--Harvard
University--Wellesley College--Holmes, Parkman--Prescott,
Lowell, Longfellow--Boston's Claims to Greatness 32
CHAPTER III.
LECTURE AT TREMONT TEMPLE.
Subject of Lecture--Objects Contemplated--Grand Army of the
Republic--Introduction by Captain Theodore L. Kelly--Reference
to Army and Prison Experiences--Newspaper Comment--Proceeds
of Lecture Given to Posts 7 and 15--Letter to Adjutant-General
of Department 70
CHAPTER IV.
BOSTON TO ALBANY.
_First Day_ of Journey--Start from the Revere House--Escorted to
Brighton by G. A. R. Comrades--Dinner at Cattle Fair Hotel--South
Framingham--_Second Day_--Boston and Albany Turnpike--Riding
in a Rain-storm--Arrival at Worcester--Lecture in Opera
House--Pioneer History--Rapid Growth of Worcester--Lincoln
Park--The Old Common--_Third and Fourth Days_--The Ride to
Springfield--Met by Wife and Daughter--Lecture at Haynes
Opera House--_Fifth Day_--Ride to Russell--The Berkshire Hills--_Sixth
Day_--Journey to Becket--Rainbow Reflections--_Seventh
Day_--Over the Hoosac Mountains--_Eighth Day_--Arrival at
Pittsfield--Among the Lebanon Shakers--_Ninth Day_--Reach
Nassau, New York 81
CHAPTER V.
FOUR DAYS AT ALBANY.
Nassau to Albany--Among Old Friends in Rensselaer County--Thoughts
of Rip Van Winkle--Crossing the Hudson--Albany as
Seen from the River--Schoolday Associations--Early History--Settled
by the Dutch--Henry Hudson--Killian Van Rensselaer--Fort
Orange--Peter Schuyler and Robert Livingstone--Lecture at
Tweddle Hall--Call at the Capitol--Meet Army Comrades. 110
CHAPTER VI.
ALBANY TO SYRACUSE.
_Fourteenth Day_--On the Schenectady Turnpike--Riding between
Showers--Talk with Peter Lansing--Reach Schenectady--Lecture
at Union Hall under G. A. R. Auspices--_Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Days_--Go over to Troy--Lecture at Harmony Hall--Visit Old
Friends--_Seventeenth Day_--Return to Schenectady--_Eighteenth
Day_--In the Mohawk Valley--Halt at Amsterdam--Reach Fonda--
_Nineteenth Day_--Saint Johnsville--_Twentieth Day_--Little
Falls--_Twenty-first Day_--Utica--_Twenty-second Day_--Rome--
_Twenty-third Day_--Chittenango 118
CHAPTER VII.
TWO DAYS AT SYRACUSE.
Walks and Talks with the People--Early History--Lake Onondaga--
Father Le Moyne--Discovery of Salt Springs--Major Danforth--Joshua
Forman--James Geddes--The Erie Canal--Visit of La Fayette--Syracuse
University--Lecture at Shakespeare Hall. 132
CHAPTER VIII.
SYRACUSE TO ROCHESTER.
_Twenty-sixth Day_--Grand Army Friends--General Sniper--Captain
Auer--Stopped by a Thunder-shower--An Unpleasant Predicament--
_Twenty-Seventh Day_--Jordan, New York--Lake Skaneateles--
_Twenty-eighth Day_--Photographed--Entertained at Port
Byron--Montezuma Swamp--_Twenty-ninth Day_--Newark, New
York--Journey Continued Along the New York Central Railway--Another
Adventure with _Paul_--_Thirtieth Day_--Fairport--Riding
in the Cool of the Day 141
CHAPTER IX.
FOUR DAYS AT ROCHESTER.
Rainstorm Anticipated--Friends of the Horse--Seven-Sealed Wonder--
Newspaper Controversy--Lecture at Corinthian Hall--Colonel
J. A. Reynolds--Pioneer History--Colonel Nathaniel Rochester--William
Fitzhugh--Charles Carroll--Rapid Growth of City--Sam
Patch--Genesee Falls--The Erie Canal--Mount Hope--Lake
Ontario--Fruit Nurseries 147
CHAPTER X.
ROCHESTER TO BUFFALO.
_Thirty-fifth Day_--Churchville--Cordiality of the People--Dinner
at Chili--_Thirty-sixth Day_--Bergen Corners--Byron Centre--Rev.
Edwin Allen--_Thirty-seventh Day_--Batavia--Meet a Comrade of
the Harris Light Cavalry--_Thirty-eighth Day_--"Croft's"--More
Trouble with Mosquitoes--Amusing Episode--_Thirty-ninth Day_--
Crittenden--Rural Reminiscences--_Fortieth Day_--Lancaster--Lectured
in Methodist Church--Captain Remington 158
CHAPTER XI.
THREE DAYS AT BUFFALO.
"Queen City" of the Lakes--Arrival at the Tift House--Lecture
at St. James Hall--Major Farquhar--Aboriginal History--The
Eries--Iroquois--"Cats"--La Hontan--Lake Erie--Black Rock--War
of 1812--The Erie Canal--Buffalo River--Grosvenor Library--Historical
Society--Red Jacket--Forest Lawn--Predictions
for the Future 171
CHAPTER XII.
BUFFALO TO CLEVELAND.
_Forty-fourth Day_--On the Shore of Lake Erie--_Forty-fifth Day_--Again
on the Shore of Erie--Bracing Air--Enchanting Scenery--Angola--Big
Sister Creek--_Forty-sixth Day_--Angola to Dunkirk--_Forty-eighth
Day_--Dunkirk to Westfield--Fruit and Vegetable
Farms--Fredonia--_Forty-ninth Day_--Westfield to North East--Cordial
Reception--_Fiftieth Day_--North East to Erie--Oliver
Hazzard Perry--_Fifty-first Day_--Erie to Swanville--_Fifty-second
Day_--Talk with Early Settlers--John Joseph Swan--_Fifty-third
Day_--Swanville to Girard--Greeted by Girard Band--Lecture at
Town Hall--_Fifty-fourth Day_--Girard to Ashtabula--Lecture
Postponed--_Fifty-fifth Day_--Ashtabula to Painesville--The Centennial
Fourth--Halt at Farm House--_Fifty-sixth Day_--Reach
Willoughby--Guest of the Lloyds 183
CHAPTER XIII.
FIVE DAYS AT CLEVELAND.
An Early Start--School Girls--"Do you Like Apples, Mister?"--Mentor--Home
of Garfield--Dismount at Euclid--Rumors of the
Custer Massacre--Reach the "Forest City"--Met by Comrades of
the G. A. R.--Lecture at Garrett Hall--Lake Erie--Cuyahoga
River--Early History--Moses Cleveland--Connecticut Land Company--Job
Stiles--The Ohio Canal--God of Lake Erie--"Ohio
City"--West Side Boat Building--"The Pilot"--Levi Johnson-Visit
of Lorenzo Dow--Monument Square--Commodore Perry--Public
Buildings--Euclid Avenue--"The Flats"--Standard Oil
Company 206
CHAPTER XIV.
CLEVELAND TO TOLEDO.
_Sixty-first Day_--Again in the Saddle--Call on Major Hessler--Donate
Proceeds of Lecture to Soldiers' Monument Fund--Letters
from General James Barnett and Rev. William Earnshaw--Stop
for Night at Black River--_Sixty-second Day_--Mounted at Nine
A.M.--Halted at Vermillion for Dinner--Lake Shore Road--More
Mosquitoes--Reach Huron Late at Night--_Sixty-third Day_--Huron
to Sandusky--Traces of the Red Man--Ottawas and
Wyandots--Johnson's Island--Lecture in Union Hall--Captain
Culver--_Sixty-fourth Day_--Ride to Castalia--A Remarkable Spring--
_Sixty-fifth Day_--Reach Fremont--Home of President Hayes--_Sixty-sixth
Day_--Reach Elmore, Ohio--Comparison of Hotels 221
CHAPTER XV.
FIVE DAYS AT TOLEDO.
Ride from Elmore--Lecture at Lyceum Hall--Forsyth Post, G. A.
R.--Doctor J. T. Woods--Concerning General Custer--Pioneer
History--Battle of Fallen Timbers--Mad Anthony Wayne--
Miami and Wabash Indians--The Toledo War--Unpleasant Complications--
Governor Lucas--Strategy of General Vanfleet--
Milbourn Wagon Works--Visited by a Detroit Friend 231
CHAPTER XVI.
TOLEDO TO DETROIT.
_Seventy-second Day_--Leave Toledo--Change of Route--Ride to Erie,
Michigan--_Paul_ Shows His Mettle--_Seventy-third Day_--Sunday
--Go to Church--Rev. E. P. Willard--Solicitude of Friends--
_Seventy-fourth Day_--Ride to Monroe--Greeted with Music--Hail
Columbia--Star-Spangled Banner--Home of Custer--Meet Custer
Family--Custer Monument Association--Received at City Hall--Great
Enthusiasm--River Rasin--Indian Massacre--General Winchester--
Battle of the Thames--Death of Tecumseh--Monroe
_Monitor_--_Seventy-seventh Day_--Lecture at City Hall--Personal
Recollections of Custer--Incidents of His School Life--_Seventy-eighth
Day_--Leave Monroe--Huron River--Traces of the Mound
Builders--Rockwood--_Seventy-ninth Day_--Along the Detroit
River--Wyandotte--Ecorse--_Eightieth Day_--Letter from Judge
Wing--Indorsement of Custer Monument Association 243
CHAPTER XVII.
FOUR DAYS AT DETROIT.
Leave Ecorse--Met at Fort Wayne--Sad News--Reach Detroit--
Met by General Throop and Others--at Russell House--Lecture at
St. Andrew's Hall--General Trowbridge--Meet Captain Hampton
--Army and Prison Reminiscences--Pioneer History of Detroit--
La Motte Cadillac--Miamies and Pottawattomies--Fort Ponchartrain--
Plot of Pontiac--Major Gladwyn--Fort Shelby--War of
1812--General Brock and Tecumseh Advance on Detroit--Surrender
of General Hull--British Compelled to Evacuate 265
CHAPTER XVIII.
DETROIT TO CHICAGO.
_Eighty-fifth Day_--Leave Detroit Reluctantly--_Paul_ in Good Spirits
--Reach Inkster--_Eighty-sixth Day_--Lowering Clouds--Take
Shelter under Trees and in a Woodshed--Meet War Veterans--
Ypsilanti--_Eighty-seventh Day_--Lecture at Union Hall--Incidents
of the Late War--_Eighty-eighth Day_--An Early Start--Ann Arbor
--Michigan University--Dinner at Dexter--_Eighty-ninth Day_--Dinner
at Grass Lake--Reach Jackson--_Ninetieth Day_--Comment
of Jackson _Citizen_--Coal Fields--Grand River--_Ninety-first
Day_--A Circus in Town--Parma--_Ninety-second
Day_--"Wolverines"--_Ninety-third Day_--Ride to Battle Creek--Lecture
at Stuart's Hall--_Ninety-fourth Day_--Go to Church--Goguac Lake--
_Ninety-fifth Day_--Arrive at Kalamazoo--Sketch of the "Big Village"--
_Ninety-sixth Day_--Return to Albion and Lecture in Opera House--
_Ninety-seventh Day_--Lecture at Wayne Hall, Marshall--_Ninety-eighth
Day_--Calhoun County--_Ninety-ninth Day_--Letter to Custer
Monument Association--_One Hundredth Day_--Colonel Curtenius--_One
Hundred and First Day_--Paw Paw--_One Hundred and
Second Day_--South Bend, Indiana--Hon. Schuyler Colfax--_One
Hundred and Third Day_--Grand Rapids--Speak in Luce's Hall--_One
Hundred and Fourth Day_--Return to Decatur--_One Hundred
and Fifth Day_--Again in Paw Paw--_One Hundred and
Sixth Day_--Lecture at Niles--_One Hundred and Seventh_ Day--Go
to La Porte by Rail--_One Hundred and Eighth Day_--Return
to Michigan City--_One Hundred and Ninth Day_--Go Back to
Decatur, Michigan--_One Hundred and Tenth_ to _One Hundred
and Twenty-second Day_--Dowagiac--Buchanan--Rolling
Prairie 279
CHAPTER XIX.
THREE DAYS AT CHICAGO.
Register at the Grand Pacific Hotel--Lecture at Farwell Hall--Visit
McVicker's Theatre--See John T. Raymond in "Mulberry
Sellers"--The Chicago Exposition--Site of City--Origin of Name
--Father Marquette--First Dwelling--Death of Marquette--Lake
Michigan--Fort Dearborn--First Settlement Destroyed by Indians
--Chicago as a Commercial City--The Great Fire--An Unparalleled
Conflagration--Rises from her Ashes--Financial Reorganization--Greater
than Before--Schools and Colleges--Historical
Society--The Palmer House--Spirit of the People--_One Hundred
and Twenty-sixth Day_--Again at Michigan City--Attend a
Political Meeting--Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees--"Blue Jeans"
Williams--_One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Day_--Leave Michigan
City--Hobart--"Hoosierdum"--_One Hundred and Twenty-ninth
Day_--Weather Much Cooler 333
CHAPTER XX.
CHICAGO TO DAVENPORT.
_One Hundred and Thirtieth Day_--Followed by Prairie Wolves--Reach
Joliet, Illinois--Lecture at Werner Hall--_One Hundred
and Thirty-first Day_--Ride on Tow Path of Michigan Canal--Morris--_One
Hundred and Thirty-second Day_--Corn and Hogs--Arrive
at Ottawa--_One Hundred and Thirty-third Day_--Reach
La Salle--_One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Day_--Colonel Stephens--_One
Hundred and Thirty-fifth Day_--Visit Peru--_One Hundred
and Thirty-sixth Day_--Mistaken for a Highwayman--_One Hundred
and Thirty-seventh Day_--Fine Stock Farms--Wyanet--_One
Hundred and Thirty-eighth Day_--Annawan--Commendatory
Letter--_One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Day_--A Woman Farmer--_One
Hundred and Fortieth Day_--Reach Milan, Illinois 354
CHAPTER XXI.
FOUR DAYS AT DAVENPORT.
Cross the Mississippi--Lecture at Moore's Hall--Colonel Russell--General
Sanders--Early History of the City--Colonel George
Davenport--Antoine Le Claire--Griswold College--Rock Island--Fort
Armstrong--Rock Island Arsenal--General Rodman--Colonel
Flagler--Rock Island City--Sac and Fox Indians--Black
Hawk War--Jefferson Davis--Abraham Lincoln--Defeat of Black
Hawk--Rock River--Indian Legends 372
CHAPTER XXII.
DAVENPORT TO DES MOINES.
_One Hundred and Forty-fifth Day_--Leave Davenport--Stop over
Night at Farm House--_One Hundred and Forty-sixth Day_--Reach
Moscow, Iowa--Rolling Prairies--_One Hundred and Forty-seventh
Day_--Weather Cold and Stormy--Iowa City--_One Hundred and Forty-eighth
Day_--Description of City--_One Hundred and Forty-ninth
Day_--Lectured at Ham's Hall--Hon. G. B. Edmunds--_One
Hundred and Fiftieth Day_--Reach Tiffin--Guests of the Tiffin
House--_One Hundred and Fifty-first Day_--Marengo--_One Hundred
and Fifty-second Day_--Halt for the Night at Brooklyn--_One
Hundred and Fifty-third Day_--Ride to Kellogg--Stop at a School
House--Talk with Boys--_One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Day_--Reach
Colfax--_One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Day_--Arrive at Des
Moines--Capital of Iowa--Description of City--Professor Bowen--Meet
an Army Comrade 386
CHAPTER XXIII.
DES MOINES TO OMAHA.
_One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Day_--Leave Des Moines with Pleasant
Reflections--Reach Adel--Dallas County--Raccoon River--_One
Hundred and Fifty-eighth Day_--Ride through Redfield--Reach
Dale City--Talk Politics with Farmers--_One Hundred and
Fifty-ninth Day_--A Night with Coyotes--Re-enforced by a Friendly
Dog--_One Hundred and Sixtieth Day_--Cold Winds from the
Northwest--All Day on the Prairies--_One Hundred and Sixty-first
Day_--Halt at Avoca--_One Hundred and Sixty-second Day_--Riding
in the Rain--Reach Neola--_One Hundred and Sixty-third
Day_--Roads in Bad Condition--Ride through Council Bluffs--Arrive
at Omaha 401
CHAPTER XXIV.
A HALT AT OMAHA.
The Metropolis of Nebraska--First Impressions--Peculiarity of the
Streets--Hanscom Park--Poor House Farm--Prospect Cemetery--Douglas
County Fair Grounds--Omaha Driving Park--Fort
Omaha--Creighton College--Father Marquette--The Mormons--"Winter
Quarters"--Lone Tree Ferry--Nebraska Ferry Company--Old
State House--First Territorial Legislature--Governor
Cummings--Omaha in the Civil War--Rapid Development of the
"Gate City" 409
CHAPTER XXV.
OMAHA TO CHEYENNE.
Leave _Paul_ in Omaha--Purchase a Mustang--Use Mexican Saddle--Over
the Great Plains--Surface of Nebraska--Extensive Beds of
Peat--Salt Basins--The Platte River--High Winds--Dry Climate--Fertile
Soil--Lincoln--Nebraska City--Fremont--Grand Island--Plum
Creek--McPherson--Sheep Raising--Elk Horn River--In
Wyoming Territory--Reach Cheyenne--Description of Wyoming
"Magic City"--Vigilance Committee--Rocky Mountains--Laramie
Plains--Union Pacific Railroad 420
CHAPTER XXVI.
CAPTURED BY INDIANS.
Leave Cheyenne--Arrange to Journey with Herders--Additional
Notes on Territory--Yellowstone National Park--Sherman--Skull
Rocks--Laramie Plains--Encounter Indians--Friendly
Signals--Surrounded by Arrapahoes--One Indian Killed--Taken
Prisoners--Carried toward Deadwood--Indians Propose to Kill
their Captives--Herder Tortured at the Stake--Move toward
Black Hills--Escape from Guards--Pursued by the Arrapahoes--Take
Refuge in a Gulch--Reach a Cattle Ranch--Secure a
Mustang and Continue Journey 435
CHAPTER XXVII.
AMONG THE MORMONS.
Ride Across Utah--Chief Occupation of the People--Description of
Territory--Great Salt Lake--Mormon Settlements--Brigham
Young--Peculiar Views of the Latter Day Saints--"Celestial
Marriages"--Joseph Smith, the Founder of Mormonism--The Book
of Mormon--City of Ogden--Pioneer History--Peter Skeen Ogden--Weber
and Ogden Rivers--Heber C. Kimball--Echo Canyon--Enterprise
of the Mormons--Rapid Development of the Territory 446
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OVER THE SIERRAS.
The Word Sierra--At Kelton, Utah--Ride to Terrace--Wells,
Nevada--The Sierra Nevada--Lake Tahoe--Silver Mines--The
Comstock Lode--Stock Raising--Camp Halleck--Humboldt River--Mineral
Springs--Reach Palisade--Reese River Mountain--Golconda--Winnemucca--
Lovelocks--Wadsworth--Cross Truckee River--In California 458
CHAPTER XXIX.
ALONG THE SACRAMENTO.
Colfax--Auburn--Summit--Reach Sacramento--California Boundaries--Pacific
Ocean--Coast Range Mountains--The Sacramento Valley--Inhabitants of
California--John A. Sutter--Sutter's Fort--A Saw-mill--James Wilson
Marshall--Discovery of Gold--"Boys, I believe I have found a Gold
Mine"--The Secret Out--First Days of Sacramento--A "City of Tents"--
Capital of California 465
CHAPTER XXX.
SAN FRANCISCO AND END OF JOURNEY.
Metropolis of the Pacific Coast--Largest Gold Fields in the World--The
Jesuits--Captain Sutter--Argonauts of "49"--Great Excitement--Discovery
of Upper California--Sir Francis Drake--John
P. Lease--The Founding of San Francisco--The "Golden Age"--Story
of Kit Carson--The Golden Gate--San Francisco Deserted--The
Cholera Plague--California Admitted to the Union--Crandall's
Stage--Wonderful Development of San Francisco--United
States Mint--Handsome Buildings--Trade with China, Japan,
India and Australia--Go Out to the Cliff House--Ride into the
Pacific--End of Journey 476
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Wayside Notes _Frontispiece_.
Views in Boston 33
Scenes in Boston 39
Boston and Environs 49
Commonwealth Avenue, Boston 57
Leaving the Revere House, Boston 71
Riding Through Cambridge 77
View in Worcester, Mass. 81
A New England Paper Mill 85
Old Toll-Bridge at Springfield 91
A Massachusetts Mill Stream 95
The Springfield Armory 99
A Mill in the Berkshire Hills 103
A Hamlet in Berkshire Hills 107
Suburb of Pittsfield 111
A Scene in the Berkshire Hills 115
State Street and Capitol, Albany, N. Y. 125
River Street, Troy, N. Y. 129
View in Schenectady, N. Y. 133
View in Mohawk Valley 143
A Mill Stream in Mohawk Valley 139
A Flourishing Farm 157
An Old Landmark 161
The Road to Albany 121
View of Rochester 171
The District School-House 177
Rural Scene in Central New York 183
The Road to Buffalo 189
Juvenile Picnic 205
A Cottage on the Hillside 211
Haying in Northern Ohio 221
Just Out of Cleveland 225
On the Shore of Lake Erie 235
Sunday at the Farm 241
A Home in the Woods 245
Country Store and Post Office 255
An Ohio Farm 265
Outskirts of a City 279
A Summer Afternoon 303
The Country Peddler 313
A Mill in the Forest 321
No Rooms To Let 335
Rural Scene in Michigan 341
Spinning Yarns by a Tavern Fire 345
A Hoosier Cabin 355
A Circus in Town 359
A Country Road in Illinois 381
An Illinois Home 385
A Happy Family 395
An Illinois Village 399
The Road to the Church 404
An Iowa Village 419
On the Way to Mill 427
A Night Among the Coyotes 431
High School, Omaha, Neb. 441
Omaha, Neb., in 1876 437
Sport on the Plains 449
Pawnee Indians, Neb. 453
North Platte, Neb. 457
Plum Creek, Neb. 463
Cattle Ranch in Nebraska 467
A Mountain Village 471
Captured by the Indians 477
Deciding the Fate of the Captives 481
Escape from the Arrapahoes 487
An Indian Encampment, Wyoming 495
Sheep Ranch in Wyoming 503
Mining Camp in Nevada 507
A Rocky Mountain River 513
A Lake in the Sierra Nevadas 517
A Cascade by the Roadside 525
View in Woodward's Garden, San Francisco 533
The Pacific Ocean, End of Journey 541
OCEAN TO OCEAN
ON
HORSEBACK.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
From earliest boyhood it had been my earnest desire to see and learn
from personal observation all that was possible of the wonderful land of
my birth. Passing from the schoolroom to the War of the Rebellion and
thence back to the employments of peace, the old longing to make a
series of journeys over the American Continent again took possession of
me and was the controlling incentive of all my ambitions and struggles
for many years.
To see New England--the home of my ancestors; to visit the Middle and
Western States; to look upon the majestic Mississippi; to cross the
Great Plains; to scale the mountains and to look through the Golden Gate
upon the far-off Pacific were among the cherished desires through which
my fancy wandered before leaving the Old Home and village school in
Northern New York.
The want of an education and the want of money were two serious
obstacles which confronted me for a time. Without the former I could not
prosecute my journeys intelligently and for want of the latter I could
not even attempt them.
Aspiring to an academic and collegiate course of study, but being at
that period entirely without means for the accomplishment of my purpose,
I left the district school of my native town and sought to raise the
necessary funds by trapping for mink and other fur-bearing animals along
the Oswegatchie and its tributary streams. This venture proving
successful I entered the academy at Gouverneur in August, 1857, from
which institution I was appointed to the State Normal College at Albany
in the fall of 1859.
I had been in Albany but six weeks when it became apparent that if I
continued at the Normal I would soon be compelled to part with my last
dollar for board and clothing.
The years 1859-60 were spent alternately at Albany as student and in the
village schools of Rensselaer County as teacher--the latter course being
resorted to whenever money was needed with which to meet current
expenses at the Normal School.
Then came our great Civil Conflict overriding every other consideration.
Books were thrown aside and the pursuits of the student and teacher
supplanted by the sterner and more arduous duties of the soldier.
During my three years of camping and campaigning with the cavalry of the
Army of the Potomac I was enabled to gratify to some extent my desire
for travel and to see much of interest as the shifting scenes of war led
Bayard, Stoneman, Pleasonton, Gregg, Custer, Davies and Kilpatrick and
their followers over the hills and through the valleys of Virginia,
Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Being captured in a cavalry battle between Kilpatrick and Stuart in
October, 1863, I was imprisoned successively at Richmond, Danville,
Macon, Savannah, Charleston and Columbia, from which last prison I
escaped in November, 1864; was recaptured and escaped a second and third
time, traversing the States of South Carolina and Georgia in my long
tramp from Columbia to Savannah.
The marches, raids, battles, captures and escapes of those days seem to
have increased rather than diminished my ardor for travel and adventure
and hence it is possibly not strange that on leaving the army I still
looked forward to more extended journeys in the East and exploratory
tours beyond the Mississippi.
With the close of the war and mustering out of service came new duties
and responsibilities which I had hardly contemplated during my school
days. The question of ways and means again confronted me. I desired
first to continue the course of study which had been interrupted by my
enlistment, and secondly to carry out my cherished plans for
exploration. Having a journal kept during my incarceration in and
escapes from Southern prisons, I was advised and decided to amplify and
publish it if possible with a view to promoting these projects.
Going to New York, I at once sought the leading publishers. My
manuscript was submitted to the Harpers, Appletons, Scribners, and some
others, but as I was entirely unknown, few cared to undertake the
publication and none seemed disposed to allow a royalty which to me at
least seemed consistent with the time and labor expended in preparation.
I had now spent my last dollar in the Metropolis in pursuit of a
publisher, and in this dilemma it was thought best to return to Albany,
where I had friends and perhaps some credit, and endeavor to bring out
the book by subscription. This course would compel me to assume the cost
of production, but if successful would prove much more lucrative than if
issued in the usual way through the trade.
Fully resolved upon retracing my steps to Albany, I was most fortunate
in meeting an old comrade and friend to whom I frankly stated my plans
and circumstances. He immediately loaned me twenty dollars with which to
continue my search for a publisher and to meet in the meantime necessary
current expenses.
On reaching Albany an attic room and meals were secured for a trifling
sum, arrangements made with a publisher, and the work of getting out the
book begun. While the printer was engaged in composing, stereotyping,
printing and binding the work, I employed my spare time in a
door-to-door canvass of the city for subscriptions, promising to deliver
on the orders as soon as the books came from the press. In this way the
start was made and before the close of the year hundreds of agencies
were established throughout the country.
The venture proved successful beyond my most sanguine expectations, and
where I had expected to dispose of two or three editions and to realize
a few hundred dollars from the sale of "Capture, Prison-Pen and Escape,"
the book had a sale of over 400,000 copies and netted me $75,000, This
remarkable success, rivalling in its financial results even "Uncle
Tom's Cabin," which had just had a run of 300,000 copies, was most
gratifying and led to the publication, at intervals, of "Three Years in
the Federal Cavalry," "Battles for the Union," and "Heroes of Three
Wars."
The temptation to make the most of my literary ventures lured me on from
year to year until 1875, when I laid down the pen and began preparation
for my long contemplated and oft deferred journey across the Continent.
Being now possessed of ample means, I proposed to ride at leisure on a
tour of observation from OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK.
My preference for an equestrian journey was in a great measure due to
early associations with the horse, in jaunts along country highways and
over the hills after the cows, as well as numerous boyhood adventures in
which this noblest of animals frequently played a conspicuous part.
Then, too, my experience in the cavalry largely influenced me to adopt
the saddle as the best suited to my purpose.
Reflecting further upon the various modes of travel, I was led to
conclude as the result of much experience that he who looks at the
country from the windows of a railway car, can at best have only an
imperfect idea of the many objects of interest which are constantly
brought to his notice. Again, a journey in the saddle, wherein the rider
mounts and dismounts at will as he jogs along over the highway, chatting
with an occasional farmer, talking with the people in town and gazing
upon rural scenes at his pleasure, presents many attractive features to
the student and tourist who wishes to view the landscape, to commune
with nature, to see men and note the products of their toil and to
learn something of their manners and customs.
Having therefore decided to make my journey in the saddle, I at once set
about to secure such a horse as was likely to meet the requirements of
my undertaking. As soon as my purpose was known, horses of every grade,
weight and shade were thrust upon my attention and after some three
weeks spent in advertising, talks with horse fanciers and in the livery
and sale stables of Boston, my choice fell upon a Kentucky Black Hawk,
one of the finest animals I had ever seen and, as was subsequently
established, just the horse I wanted for my long ride from sea to sea.
His color was coal black, with a white star in the forehead and four
white feet; long mane and tail; height fifteen hands; weight between ten
and eleven hundred pounds, with an easy and graceful movement under the
saddle; his make-up was all that could be desired for the objects I had
in view. The price asked for this beautiful animal was promptly paid,
and it was generally conceded that I had shown excellent judgment in the
selection of my equine companion.
A few days after my purchase I learned that my four-legged friend had
been but a short time before the property of an ex-governor of
Massachusetts and that the reason he had but recently found his way into
a livery stable on Portland street, was that he had acquired the very
bad habit of running away whenever he saw a railway train or anything
else, in short, that tended to disturb his naturally excitable nature.
This information led to no regrets, however, nor did it even lessen my
regard for the noble animal which was destined soon to be my sole
companion in many a lonely ride and adventure.
The unsavory reputation he had made, and possibly of which he was very
proud, of running away upon the slightest provocation, smashing up
vehicles and scattering their occupants to the four winds, was
considered by his new master a virtue rather than a fault, so long as he
ran in the direction of San Francisco, and did not precipitate him from
his position in the saddle.
As soon as I was in possession of my horse the question of a suitable
name arose and it was agreed after some discussion among friends that he
should be christened _Paul Revere_, after that stirring patriot of the
Revolution who won undying fame by his ride from Boston and appeals to
the yeomanry the night before the Battle of Lexington.