ILLINOIS AND THE LAKES.
Lead mines--Indian treaty--Ride to Chicago--Vast
prairies--The stricken family--Amusing
Adventures--Chicago--Milwaukie--Mackinaw--Indian
encampment.
We spent one day during the present week in passing through the mining
country to visit several of the diggings in Wisconsin, and around Galena,
and also the smelting furnaces, where the mineral is extracted from the ore
and cast into pigs. The country through which we passed was one continued
series of rolling prairies. It was perfectly enchanting to see what a
perfect flower garden was before us wherever we went.
We descended a mine which had been sunk about one hundred feet. The lead
runs in veins either due north and south, or west and east. Veins
frequently cross each other at right angles. If it is a north and south
vein, and a good one--and crosses an east and west vein, it becomes
inferior from that point, and the other assumes a superior character, and
usually is the best lead. The way the miners dig the lead is to pierce down
perpendicularly till they get to the bottom of the sheet--then take the
base out and dig upwards. The lead is usually wedged in between two ledges
of rocks, filling up the crevice, which runs down from fifty to one
hundred feet. It is frequently wedged in so tight that the rocks have to be
blasted to loosen it. I went down about fifty feet where they were at work,
and then passed along in a horizontal direction, about eighty feet, where
the miners were knocking out the lead in the fissures in the rocks over
their heads. We loitered around the mines till the decline of day. The
shades of evening gathered over us before we had crossed the last prairie
on our way to Galena. The moon was just climbing above the horizon, when a
prairie wolf darted across our path, as though scared by the sound of our
carriage wheels, but having run a few rods, turned around to look to see
who were the intruders upon his domain.
An Indian treaty is about negotiating at St. Peters, and a steamer started
from here a few days since to carry up a party who desire to be present at
this gathering of the wild men, and to visit the majestic and stupendous
scenery around St. Anthony's Falls. I had fully intended to have been one
of the party, but on the eve of starting I felt myself forced for want of
time to forego the excursion.
_The Steamer James Madison,
Wednesday Evening, June 19th._
At early dawn, on Monday last, we crossed Fevre river, and started for
Chicago in an open lumber wagon, 'ycleped a stage. Taking our trunks for
seats, we determined we would make the best of every thing, and if possible
keep up good spirits, while we learned the manner in which people travel
through new countries. Our journey, though attended with no little fatigue,
was like a walk over the rosied path of pleasure, compared with a jaunt of
which Bishop Kemper gave me an account. He had made an appointment
somewhere in the interior of Indiana, where it was necessary for him to be
at a given day, and had undertaken to pass over Illinois from St. Louis to
that point by land. He was overtaken by rain which continued a day or two:
the streams became swollen, and the roads, often for miles, completely
overflown. All this time he was obliged to ride in an open wagon, the
bottom boards of which were loose, and often slipping out, rendering it
necessary for him every now and then to get out, and stand in the mud and
water, till the rickety wagon could be again brought into a state of
temporary order. During the last part of his journey he rode all night with
the rain pouring down upon him, and the horses sometimes fording deep
creeks--sometimes plunging into sloughs, and then wading for miles through
the water which had overflowed the road. The office of a missionary Bishop
at the west, if he does his duty, and throws himself with all his heart
into the work, is no sinecure.
Our course from Galena, for the first thirty miles, was through beautiful
oak openings, and over a rolling prairie. After this, on nearly to Chicago,
our path lay through a magnificent, level prairie country. The wide sea of
grass around us was now and then broken by a grove, springing up with
luxuriance and beauty amid the treeless tract of country that stretched
around on every side. These groves are points of great interest, and are
spoken of by the sparsely scattered inhabitants of northern Illinois, as we
speak of cities and towns. The most beautiful of those which we passed were
Buffalo, Inlet, and Paw Paw groves, around or near which were scenes of
massacre and slaughter during the Black Hawk war.
As no one can conceive the sensation awakened by being out of sight of land
at sea, till he actually stands on the deck of a vessel, that is ploughing
her way through the trackless world of waters that stretch interminably
around him, and strains his eye in vain to catch a view of one single
fading outline of the far off shore--so no one can conceive the emotion
that rises up in the bosom of the traveller as he stands on the broad
prairie, and sees the horizon settling down upon one wide sea of waving
grass, and can behold around him neither stone, nor stump, nor bush, nor
tree, nor hill, nor house. These vast prairies, though bearing a luxuriant
growth of grass, would impress one with a sense of desolateness, were they
not beautified with flowers, and animated with the songs and the sight of
the feathered tribes. The view of the prairie, as it stretches off before
you, often appears like a perfect flower garden. Though we were too late to
see these productions in their rich vernal beauty, yet often they stood
strewn around us on every side as far as the eye could reach, spreading out
their rich and brilliant petals of every colour and hue. An intelligent
lady told me that in a single walk over the corner of a prairie, she
gathered for a bouquet forty different kinds of flowers; and another
informed me that she had been able to gather one hundred and twenty
different kinds. Though the music wafted along over these luxuriant
expanses of earth be usually not so melodious nor varied as that to which
the woodlands echo, there is something very animating in the wheeling of
the plover, the chirping of the robin, and the fluttering of the wings of a
flock of prairie hens, started up at every half mile of your journey. And
then occasionally we saw noble herds of cattle feeding over these vast
plains. Such large, and fat, and noble-looking oxen and cows, I never
before beheld, as I saw grazing amid the luxuriant prairies of Illinois.
There is no fence to stay them in their course:--they range where they
choose amid the ten thousands of acres that stretch unenclosed around them.
I have already intimated that this part of Illinois is as yet but thinly
populated. It is rapidly filling up but for some years the first settlers
will have to endure many hardships, and submit to many privations and
sacrifices, of which we can scarcely form an idea. The following fact will
serve to illustrate this remark. While on our way to Chicago, as we stopped
on one occasion to change horses, I went in and sat down in the only house
in the place. It was a comfortable log-cabin, and all nature looked so
bright and sunny without, I was hardly prepared for demure and melancholy
looks within: and yet the moment I entered, I saw in the countenance of the
good lady of the cabin that her heart was ill at ease. She looked so
forlorn and full of gloom, I determined to enter into conversation with her
and if possible elicit the cause of her depression. After a variety of
inquiries, she was drawn out to give the following sketch of herself, which
I will put down as nearly as possible in her own words.
"We came into this country from western New York several years since. We
have never failed to be amply remunerated for our cultivation of the soil.
In a temporal point of view we have increased in goods. But our children
have never been to school a day since we have been here. We used to go to
meeting every Sabbath, but here often for months there is no such thing
known as public worship. A while ago, there was a minister that used to
come once in three weeks, and preach about four miles from this. But now
he is dead, and we have no preaching at all. We have no ministers and no
physicians. What made me more contented to reside here, was that my oldest
daughter was married and lived my nearest neighbour, about two miles from
this. She had three lovely and promising children, in whom all our hearts
were bound up. But the grave now covers them! They were all cut down one
after another about six months ago by the scarlet fever. We could'nt get
any physician to see them, and they all died within ten days of each other.
And then we had to carry them ourselves to the grave. We put them into the
ground in silence. There was no one to lift up the voice of prayer."
Here the good woman seemed choked in her utterance. She wiped her eyes and
ceased speaking for a moment. I remained silent, and soon she proceeded.
"My daughter laid her loss very much to heart. She never after the death of
her babes wore a bright countenance. About ten days ago she was confined.
Herself and her infant are dead! We buried them about three days since. She
had no physician to attend upon her, for there was none within _thirty_
miles. She had no minister to speak to her words of heavenly consolation,
for there are none near here. Her husband has a good farm, and the crops
look well; but what is all this to him, now that his wife and children are
all gone? He appears desolate and broken-hearted."
Having listened to this touching story, I could well understand why the
aspect of gloom sat upon her countenance, and while I endeavoured in a few
words to direct her thoughts to Him who was "appointed to bind up the
broken-hearted, and to comfort all that mourn," I was led to think of the
unnumbered blessings and privileges that we who live on the Atlantic border
enjoy, for which we feel little or no emotions of gratitude. How
unspeakable are our religious privileges! And yet how little are they
appreciated by the great mass of the people! Will not God one day visit for
these things?
In our journey we had some singular and rather amusing adventures. We found
all along at our log inns, for our refreshment, substantial food, bacon and
beans, or fried pork and potatoes, and if we were too dyspeptic to eat
these, we could fast, which is sometimes useful. But at night we frequently
found ourselves placed under more embarrassing circumstances. A single
instance will serve to illustrate a number of analogous cases. I select the
second night after leaving Galena. It is after nine o'clock. The strip of
moon that is visible emits a few feeble rays. The stars, half obscured,
glow faintly in the heavens. Our course is still onward through the
boundless prairie. In the distance may be seen the faint outline of a
grove. We hope to find there a resting place for the night. As we approach
it, we find it is a cluster of trees that grow on either side of Somonauk
Creek. Our driver has already plunged his horses into the cool waters of
the creek. The farther bank is gained. Our course now is beneath the noble
elms that hang drooping over the creek, and spread abroad their branches
forming a thick and dark shade over the road. We see in the distance the
smoke eddying up amid the trees. It is the place where we are to spend the
night--a log cabin, before the door of which is kindled a fire, half
smothered with dirt and chips, whose eddying currents of smoke as they are
swept into the house by the evening breeze expel the swarms of musquitoes
that for several hours had been making acquaintance with us.
When the weary traveller reaches his resting-place for the night, it is a
great comfort to have a bed and room by himself to which he can retire and
seek repose. But this is a luxury not to be expected usually by the western
traveller. They have here what is playfully called "_The Potter's field_,"
a place in these log taverns in which they put strangers--a room designed
as a dormitory, in which all travellers, men, women and children are placed
to lodge! The house which we had reached at Somonauk Creek had a place of
this sort. It was the only room in the house save the kitchen. Two stage
loads had already arrived, and other travellers were coming in. I told my
friend B---- that we must try to secure a bed while we could. In this
Potter's field they gave us a comfortable corner with a straw bed on which
to stretch ourselves. We were among the earliest to seek our repose.
Fortunately, there was one bed enshrouded with curtains, which was assigned
to a gentleman from Vermont and his newly married bride, whom he was
bringing to reside at the west.--They went on stowing the beds with
occupants, and spreading the floor with couches, till _fourteen_ persons
were disposed of, and then they found that every foot of ground was
occupied. The landlord appeared to be full of the milk of human kindness.
When some of our fellow lodgers cried out, that they were half devoured by
musquitoes, he very benignantly replied, "I will open the door and let in a
current of smoke, and that will drive them out." We found some inhabitants
tabernacling in our bedstead that annoyed us more than the musquitoes. Yet
after all we got some rest, and when we rose to breathe the fresh air we
felt that we had abundant cause to thank the Lord for his goodness. However
indifferent had been our lodgings, we remembered that the Saviour while
here on the earth, had not always so comfortable a spot at night to lay his
head as this.
About a dozen miles before we reached Chicago, we seemed to descend to
another _steppe_ of land, where the prairie was for the most part from two
to twelve inches under water. The grass, thus having its roots continually
irrigated, looked very rank; we made but very slow progress through it on
our way. Though that part of Chicago which is built up, stands on more
elevated ground, the anticipated limits of the city extend into this wet
prairie. We saw the lots staked out as we passed, which I suppose have been
sold at a very high price. I could not but think of the remark of a fellow
traveller, who, in speaking of this and several other places, said, "If
each of these places do not become as large as Pekin in China, these city
lots cannot all be built upon."
Chicago is truly an interesting place. It has sprung up here in three or
four years--a city--as by the wand of enchantment. I had heard much of this
place, but must confess I was not prepared to find so large and interesting
a town. Its situation on either side of the Chicago river is too well-known
to need description. It has quite the air of an eastern town. There is a
fine brick Episcopal Church just completed. Our stay was very brief in
Chicago. Almost the first sound we heard after our arrival, was the ringing
of the bell of the large and beautiful steamboat, _James Madison_, which
was on the eve of departure for Detroit and Buffalo. As we might have no
other opportunity of going by the lakes for the next ten days, with the
specimen of land travelling that we had just had, we were not long in
making up our minds whether we would avail ourselves of this boat, or
direct our course to Detroit through the Michigan woods. We gave Chicago a
very hasty survey, took our passage on board the James Madison, and as the
shades of evening gathered over us we found ourselves skimming over the
waves of Michigan lake.
_Mackinaw, July 20th._
We this morning found ourselves bounding over the green waters of the
Michigan with the Wisconsin Territory on our left. About nine o'clock, A.
M. we landed at Milwaukie. A bar in the river prevented the steamboat from
going up to the town, but we found ourselves amply compensated for our long
walk by a view of this interesting place from several of its streets and
more elevated parts. The whole site of the town, in connexion with the
adjacent country, is richly entitled to its Indian name,--"THE LOVELY
LAND." Less than two years since there was scarcely a frame house on the
spot, and now there is a population of nearly three thousand, with
buildings that will compare in stability and elegance with those found in
our large eastern towns.
It was towards evening when we approached this picturesque
spot--Mackinaw--where the wide expanse of water, and the dark evergreens of
the islands, and the thronging multitudes of wild men, gave to this point
in my journey a novel appearance. I think this would be a most delightful
retreat for an invalid who wanted retirement, a cool, invigorating
atmosphere, and inducements to active exercise. It would be impossible for
a man to be here long without having new trains of thought awakened in his
mind, or without being led to contemplate the human character under several
new aspects. Mackinaw is an island of about nine miles in circumference.
There is a fort occupying the elevated parts of the town, which is now
vacated, the troops having been withdrawn to be present at the treaty at
St. Peter's. This circumstance, in connexion with the great number of
Indians now present, has created some uneasiness in the minds of the
inhabitants of this place, especially as the Indians are very much
dissatisfied with the attempt to palm off on to them goods in part for
their annuities, when money had been promised. Already has a council been
held among them, and the hint has been dropped that they can bring a
thousand warriors into the field. The first object that met my eye on the
low pebbly shore, as we approached the island, was the beautiful lodges,
and well made bark canoes of the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes. The whole
appearance of their encampment in this wild spot is picturesque and
imposing. Each family had their bark canoe, which was now drawn up on the
beach, and lay beside their lodge or tent. In this canoe, made of the outer
rind of the birchen tree, they carry their family, and furniture, and all
their worldly effects--children, dogs, fishing-tackle, guns, their tent,
cooking utensils, and themselves. Their tent, or lodge, consists first of
five or six tapering rods, which are set up so as to form a cone, and then
around these are placed a coil of matting, made of reeds or flaggs, and
arranged in such a manner as to form a series of concentric or circular
covering, each lapping upon the other like the scales upon a fish. In the
centre of the lodge a fire was kindled, a hole having been left in the
upper part through which the smoke could pass off. Around the fire were
spread the blankets and bear-skins, which furnished both beds and seats. We
entered several tents and were kindly received. Almost the first
countenance of a white man upon which I looked after reaching the shore,
was the bright sunny face of our beloved brother, the Bishop of Michigan. I
never had a more unexpected or joyful meeting with a Christian brother. We
spent two or three hours in the most delightful Christian intercourse.
Bishop McCoskry was on his way to visit Green Bay, Milwaukie, and other
parts of Wisconsin. It was only a few hours, before our steamers were again
moving forward through the deep green waters, to their several places of
destination.