AND H O U T 1 C U L T U II A L REGISTER. 



PUISLISHED BV JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aobicultubal Wabehouse.) 



vol.. X vni.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 1, 1840. 



[NO. sa. 



N. E . FARMER, 



WANDERINGS IN THE WEST IN 18;39. 



No. VI. 



(CotUinued from page 428.) 



The shore of lake Erie appears to be very level, 

 not very much elevated, and covered with very 

 heavy timber, and except at the towns there are 

 very few clearings: the scenery is very uniform — 

 a steep bluff facing the lake crowned with the un- 

 broken forest: there are numerous islands in the 

 lake, generally rocky and uninhabited. 



Thirteen miles from Ashtabula we came to Cod- 

 neaut, upon a small creek near the Pennsylvania 

 line. Here, as at the other places, is a pier with a 

 few warehouses, and the principal village is two or 

 three miles up the creek upon the stage road. Our 

 stop at all these little towns was too brief to allow 

 us to go on shore. 



Twenty five miles from Conneaut and 86 from 

 Cleaveland, brought us to Erie in Pennsylvania, 

 which is situated upon a high, airy spot : it is well 

 built, chiefly with brick, and has some very fine 

 edifices ; the harbor is the best upon the lake, be- 

 ing formed by a low peninsula, nearly in the form 

 of the letter T. It was here that Perry's fleet win- 

 tered after his great victory, and the wrecks of his 

 prizes were sunk. Our stop at Erie was long 

 enough to allow us to go over the town, the thriving 

 appearance of which pleased me much. 



From Erie the country assumes a bolder appear- 

 ance ; high and sometimee rocky hills are seerf, 

 which distinguish the territory of Pennsylvania 

 from that of Ohio. 



When I awoke the next morning we were safe 

 in port at Bufi"alo, having been a little loss than 

 five whole days coming from Chicago, a distance 

 of 1050 miles. ' 



Buffalo is a large well built city, has many splen- 

 did public buildings, and contains probably 25,000 

 inhabitants, and it seems hardly possible that such 

 a city could be produced in the short period of 

 twentysi.\ years, yet that is the fact: the little vil- 

 lage which previously stood there, was wholly 

 burnt by the British iu 181^. Its situation for busi- 

 ness and trade is peculiarly favorable, being at the 

 extreme east end of the lake, and the termination of 

 the great Now York canal : it thus becomes a 

 thoroughfare from the eastern Stales to Canada and 

 the west. 'I he number of steamboats and sailing 

 vessels going and coming is very great. The rap- 

 id growth of the city is owing to these circuuistan- 

 ces. 



From Buffalo I look the cars to Niagara falls, 

 distant 2,< miles. 1 spent about four hours only at 

 the falls, but I made the most of that lime. At the 

 first view of the cataract I was disappointed ; it did 

 not appear so grand as I h'ld expected, but it was 

 because that 1 was not able to realise the magni- 

 tude of the scene. After looking at it from differ- 

 ent points I was better able to appreciate the vaet- 

 ness of the object, and I became more and more 

 impressed with the grandeur and sublimity of the 

 scene up to the last moment of my stay. I was 



the most impressed with the power of the falls at 

 the bottom of the American falls; but I think the 

 best view is obtained from Table rock. I have 

 read perhaps a dozen minute descriptions of Niaga- 

 ra falls, but I had a very faint notion of the scene 

 until I visited the spot. Words are insufficient lo 

 convey a just idea of the falls. 



From Niagara there is a railroad to Lockport 

 connecting with the canal at the latter place, and 

 also a branch to Lcwiston, whence a steamer runs 

 daily down lake Ontario, touching at Oswego : I 

 took the latter route. Lewiston is but a small vil- 

 lage seven miles from the falls : directly opposite 

 is Queenstown, which is only remarkable for the 

 desperate battle which was fought there and the 

 monument to Gen. Brock, which crowns the hill 

 above the town. 



At the entrance into lake Ontario on the Cana- 

 dian side, is the town of Chippewa, celebrated also 

 for a bloody battle. It is very beautifully situated, 

 but does not appear to be a place of great business. 

 Fort George occupies the point below. On the 

 opposite side Fort Niagara frowns defiance. The 

 latter spot is notorious for the Morgan tragedy, 

 which has caused so much excitement in the politi- 

 cal world. 'I he passage down the lake was very 

 pleasant: there are many clearings along the shore 

 showing a great many fine farms and several very 

 pretty villages. 



We breakfasted the next morning at Oswego, 

 and took ihe stage for Syracuse, our company pre- 

 ferring that conveyance to the canal. 



The land in this section of -the country is hilly 

 and quite stony, but the soil is productive in grain 

 and grass, and fruit trees thrive very well. 



Our route wa.=i near the Oswego canal, passing 

 through the villages of Fulton, Pheiiix and Liver- 

 pool. At the latter place I made a hasty examina- 

 tion of the salt works. The water is obtained from 

 a spring discovered by boring in Onondaga lake, 

 30 rods from the shore. The water is said to be 

 eight per cent, stronger than that of Salina. The 

 salt houses are all similar : they have forty krttles 

 set in a double row, and I was told that from 200 to 

 250 bushels per day were made in each house. 



'1 he salt works at Syracuse and Salina are sup- 

 plied from a natural well in Salina. The salt hou- 

 ses are very numerous, and besides these there are 

 two fields of GO acres each, where salt is made by 

 solar evaporation. I could not learn exactly the 

 quantity of salt made at these tiiree places ; but ic 

 is much greater than I had supposed, and it is of 

 very good quality ; — that which is made by solar 

 evaporation, however, is much the best. 



Syracuse has had a very rapid growth and has 

 become a very important place and is still increas- 

 ing. Its situation for business is equal to any in- 

 land town in the country. I spent two days in the 

 vicinity of Syracuse, and was very much pleased 

 with the country around it. 



I left Syracuse at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in 

 the cars and arrived at Utica .52 miles, a little after 

 dark, and at daybreak the next morning we were at 

 Schenectady, !)0 miles further — and as soon as we 

 could exchange cars we were off for Albany, where 



we arrived at C o'clock. At 7 we left Albany for 

 New York. The passage down the river is very 

 pleasant : Hudson, Catskill, Poughkeepsie, West 

 Point, &c. ore places of interest, ano the hi;ihland» 

 and palisades afford much grand and picturesque 

 scenery. We arrived at New York at 9 minutes 

 past 4, having made the quickest passage on record 

 from Albany to New York. At 5 o'clock I lefl 

 New York, and at 7 Ihe next morning I was at my 

 own house, having travelled since 1 left home about 

 4000 miles, and the last COO of it in Hi) hours, in- 

 cluding stops, 



Genkual Views of the Wistkkn Couktby. 



Those who have read the foregoing pages will 

 perceive that I have travilled through some of the 

 most important portions of our country, and having 

 travelled much with men who are extensivi:ly ac- 

 quainted with other portions of the country, I have 

 received the benefit of their observations and com- 

 parisons upon the spot, and I will now give some 

 general remarks with regard to the soil, climate, 

 agriculture, population, &c., and the conclusions 

 whic*! I have drawn, in the hope that it may be use- 

 ful to some of luy readers and save many from the 

 trouble and sacrifice consequent to an ill-advised 

 removal of their families, with false hopes and un- 

 der circumstances which render such a removal ex- 

 tremely unwise and in a majority of cases unfortu- 

 nate. 



Travelling from the Atlantic coasts westward, 

 the country^ is divided into three great divisions, 

 which are jflainly distinguished from each other by 

 their natural features. I he first is that part of the 

 country which lieseast of the Alleghany mountains, 

 and may be called the Atlantic country, or the east; 

 the second embraces all the country west of the 

 mountains and east of the Wabash river and a line 

 drawn from that river to the west end of lake Erie, 

 and may be termed the middle or forest country; 

 and the third embraces all beyond the Wabash, 

 even to the Rocky mountains, and may be called 

 the prairie country, or tJie far west. 



The first division is distinguished by the une- 

 venness of the surface, being broken into hills and 

 valleys, and generally possesses a hard, rocky soil. 

 This is the country for romantic views and piclu- 

 resque scenery, and better adapted for a grazing, 

 than a grain growing country, though there are 

 tracts in this division, equal at least, to the most 

 fertile districts in our whole country : these tracts 

 arc found in the eastern part of Maine, the valley 

 of the Connecticut river, a tract about thirty miles 

 wide west of Albany, reaching nearly to lake Erie, 

 and a large tract lying in the central and southern 

 portions of P.'iinsylvania; and there may be other 

 tracts of small extent of equal fertility, but as this 

 division has become an old and well settled country, 

 and is generally well known, I shall say little more 

 about it except for the purpose of comparison. 



After crossing the Alleghanies we descend into 

 the great vaUey of the Mississippi and its tributa- 

 ries. Western Pennsylvania and the eastern part 

 ot Ohio are hilly, but the hills are smooth and 



