16 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



La Salle, 111., at the head of navigation on the Illinois river. 

 Could our young people of Antelope county now make such 

 a journey, just as it was then, I believe that what would 

 strike them as the strangest of all things along the journey, 

 would be the farms cut up into little fields of from five to 

 ten acres each, and all fenced with the old fashioned zigzag 

 rail fence. Not a town that we passed through on this trip 

 from home to La Salle, 111., was anything more than a fair 

 sized village at that date, although some of them are large 

 cities now. 



At La Salle we took passage on a river steamer to St. 

 Louis, where we purchased provisions for the trip, consist- 

 ing principally of flour, parched corn meal, bacon and beans. 

 Parched meal was used because ordinary corn meal would 

 not keep well on such a trip. We also laid in a supply of 

 powder and lead, and a quantity of matches. Tea and 

 cofifee we had no use for, and of sugar we took only a 

 small supply. Peoria was the only city of any size we saw 

 until we reached St. Louis. The city of St. Louis was a 

 revelation to me. I had never been in a place half as large 

 before. There were no railroads running into St. Louis 

 then, but there was a wilderness of steam boats tied up to 

 the quay, or coming in or going out, or receiving or dis- 

 charging freight, the work being done by gangs of negro 

 slaves. The streets along the river banks were paved with 

 cobble stones, and the rattle of the wagons and trucks over 

 these, the screeching of whistles and the hoarse coughing 

 from the exhaust pipes of the steamboats, made a din and 

 racket that was quite confusing to a green country boy from 

 the backwoods of central Michigan. 



The trip from home to St. Louis had been on the 

 whole very pleasant. As stated we led our pony all the 

 way to La Salle, 111., and we also furnished our own pro- 

 visions and did our own cooking, excepting that we bought 

 our bread. I do not remember that we slept in a bed or 



