Finding that this work would be too voluminous for the publication of
letters and extracts from journals, from 1842 to 1847, I have concluded
to omit almost all correspondence, excepting what relates to European,
Asiatic, African, South American, and Pacific coast travel. In the
intermediate years of foreign travel, my winters were passed in the
South, and the West Indies. Going southerly I varied and changed my
routes in every possible manner, in order to pass over almost all the
roads and rivers of our country, now touching the capitals of all the
western and southern States, and then taking cross roads, through
pine forests and everglades, along the banks of low fever rivers
with their rice plantations, upon the bayous and streams whose deep
alluvial produces the sugar crop, and upon the high and low lands
which produce the sea-island and up-land cotton, thereby giving one an
opportunity to see the small towns and villages of our country, and
to study the characteristics of our people, and the mildness of their
peculiar institution, as compared with other countries, and to value
the productions of the south. After escaping the rigors of a northern
winter in the West Indies, my five upward Mississippi trips from New
Orleans, in the month of May or June, would be varied.
After making Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi, a visit, I looked into
Arkansas--Natchitoches and Alexandria on the Red River, I had already
seen. The rising city of Memphis and its producing region demanded
attention. St. Louis, from its commanding position and rapid growth,
could not be neglected. Louisville and Frankfort, in Kentucky, were
not forgotten, and a pilgrimage to Ashland, where the hospitalities
of the renowned and beloved Henry Clay can never be forgotten. The
populous city of Cincinnati, with its fleet of steamers and its
immense commerce, was regarded with pleasure on several occasions. The
passes of the Alleghany mountains through Virginia and Maryland gave
me a chance to examine the coal mines, to say nothing of the mineral
resources of the country. To vary the trips, Pittsburg, the Manchester
of America, and Alleghany, its sister city, came in for their share
of attention in the visits of their iron works--the smoky atmosphere
reminded one of Birmingham, Sheffield, and other manufacturing cities
in England.
The mountain rides through Pennsylvania, and the canal trip to
Harrisburg, the State capital, were suited to the admirer of nature;
a short sojourn among the Germans in the close cultivated regions of
Lancaster brought up souvenirs of Hesse Cassel in Germany.
On other northern-bound trips instead of turning east by the Ohio, I
would go up the Illinois river to Peru and Peoria, then strike across
the prairies to Chicago, or continue up the Mississippi, touching
Nauvoo, the former residence of the Mormons, and visiting Iowa, thence
up the Fever River to Galena, take a look at the lead mines, cross the
prairies in a slow coach, the wild grass and flowers up to the horses’
knees, where the cries of the wolf and the scream of wild birds only
disturb the monotony of these plains bounded by the horizon. At this
early period Chicago and Milwaukie were only in their infancy. I have
looked at them again on several occasions since, but more recently what
was my astonishment to find them large populous cities, with iron arms
extending in all directions, the snort of the iron horse replacing
the cries of the wild beasts of the prairies. In due course St. Paul,
Minnesota, the Falls of St. Anthony, the head sources of the Father of
Waters, Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, with Fond du Lac, Racine
and Sheboygan, had to be seen. The tour of the great lakes, Michigan,
Huron, St. Clair, Erie, Ontario, all the cities of Upper and Lower
Canada, the running of the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and a return by
lake Champlain, formed part of another programme. The interior cities
and capitals of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, were visited
partly before any railroad penetrated them, and of course attended
with much inconvenience and fatigue. During my stay in the north
from time to time the cities of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont were visited, the cotton and
woollen manufactories of Lowell, the whaling mart of New Bedford, and
shipbuilding on the Kennebec river, were looked at, as well as almost
all the railroad routes with their towns and cities in this and other
States.
The inquiry will naturally be, What was the inducement? The answer must
be briefly this: I designed going again to Europe, and I wished to
familiarize myself with every point in our own country, and to obtain
some general knowledge at least of the resources, productions, and
characteristics of this vast territory. Emigration had been setting in
so rapidly, the interest felt by foreigners was increasing, and the
inquiries made by English, French, German, and other races were so
frequent that I hoped to be able to answer all general interrogations,
if not practically, theoretically. The embarrassment to Americans
abroad is frequently great from having too little knowledge of their
own country.
An English traveller in Switzerland once asked me why we had such
frightful accidents by explosion and otherwise on the Mississippi
river, while cases were so rare in England. I replied that
high-pressure steamers were employed, and that the navigation was
obstructed by snags and sawyers, or trees carried down and fastened in
the river-bed. He remarked, that an American had told him our boats
were all low-pressure. I replied, that the gentleman was from the
north, and had probably never seen a high-pressure steamer.
I trust the reader will accept these explanations as an apology for an
itinerant life, and not attribute it all to the passion for travel.
1848.