THE EL DORADO OF THE WEST.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 70, 22 March 1875, Page 4

THE EL DORADO OF THE WEST.

Under this bead a correspondent of the London Standard gives the following account of the City of Chicago, and of his experiences in travelling by rail from thence towards San Francisco: — There is, perhaps, no city in the world which is regarded with such pride by its citizens as is Chicago. This, feeling of pride has, it appears to me, greatly inoreased since the two fires. The work that has been done aince the first fire is little short of marvellous. The streets are not only rebuilt, but they begin to look old, as if a premature age were succeeding to their precocious growth. It is difficult to believe that all the business quarter of Chicago is but two years old. To mount to the top of one of the great '-* elevators," to look over this wilderness of houses, stretching away on all sides farther than one can see, and to know that twenty years since Chicago was a village, recalls Alladin's palace run up by a friendly demon in a single night. .The devastations of the last fire are still patent, and it appears to me that . Chicago will be far longer in obliterating its traces than it was in recovering from the first and more extensive calamity. This, no doubt, arises from the fact that whereas upon the first occasion the whole of the business quarter was swept away, the last fire confined its ravages to a less important part of the town. An immense space is still bare of houses, and although in most instances tho ruins have been cleared away, and in many cases building has recommenced, there are still many tall shells standing, among them two or three chapels, whose congregations appear less anxious (o reconstruct thorn than the business men have proved themselves in respect of (heir offices and ebops. But the wonder of the stranger is not that Chicago was burnt twice, so much as astonishment that it has not been burnt twenty times. Many of the streets are paved with wood, and although wood may in a temperate climate, and when well laid down, make an excellent road, it is, when roughly and carelessly laid in a climate of fierce heat and bitter cold, the worst of all possible pavements. In very many of the streets it is worn into a mere friable touchwood. The footways are of wood also, and there are in one quarter hundreds of acres of wood yards. In the centre of these yards raila are laid down upon the worn-out wooden roads, and along them move locomotives and long lines of plankJaJen waggons. Anything more dangerous could not be conceived. Chicago is perfectly conscious of its weakness in this respect, and takes, it must be allowed, considerable precautions. There is a lofty observatory in the middle of the city, and from this at night fires are perceived, and notice given by the rioging of bells and the blowing of a steam whistle. The number of the street in which the fire takes place is indicated by the number of whistles. The whistles sound once every ten minutes or so while the fire continues. Both nights I slept in Chicago there were fires j indeed, there were two during the first night, and my sleep was broken by the hoarse whistle, which seemed to sound every moment when I happened to doze off. I imagine the inhabitants are so accustomed to it that they cease to notice it, Chicago, however, at present, in spite of its fires, continues to increase, and the distances from the centre to the outskirts are very great. The citizens have just completed an elaborate system of drives round the town. I observe thnt Chicago is not a favorite with the rest of the States. Whether it is that its citizens are rather too much inclined to brag, whether it is jealousy of its rising greatness, or whether it is a feeling of indignation that Chicago has presumed to have a bigger Gre than any other place, I am unable to say, but certainly neither Chicago norChicagans hre popular. Several times I have been warned to put no faith in Chicago. " It is rotten, tir ; there is nothing solid aboub it. St. Louis and Cincinnati, Boston and Philadelphia, are solid. A man owns his house, and owns his business; be is what he seems. Chicago is built with other people's money; it is mortgaged, sir, from end to end; the businesses are just propped up. One day, sir, there will be a smaßh. Once get a panic, and half the Chicago houses will go down, and they will bring down with them half the banking houses in the east. I tell you, sir, ii's rotten from end to end." How this may be I cannot guess, but, rotten or not, Chicago is a wonderful and magnificent city, and I am in no way surprised at the pride with which its people regard it: But for all that I should be very sorry to have money invested in insurance offices which do much business in Chicago. The rottenness which is most patent is certainly that of its wooden streets. Despite its energy, its bustle, and its splendour, Chicago is not one of thoße cities which one leaves with regret, and 1 was by no means sorry when the whistle sounded and I was fairly on my way westward. I do not know, by the way, that the whistle did sound. It £ jldom does so before starting. When the guard and the engine-driver arrive mutually at the idea that it is time to start, the train goes on. Sometimes the conductor gives a warning shout of "All on board," more often he does not. It matters little, however, for the ladies have always taken their seats in time, and (he men stand upon

the platform and talk until the train begina to move, and then jump on to the steps leading to the platforms between the carriages. There is no notice here against getting on to the train when in motion, and although accidents may occasionally take place — for I saw the notice of a young officer being killed the other day in this manner — they must be very rare indeed. Notices, however, would not be of much use were they put up, for one notice, which is affixed to the door of every carriage, "No person is allowed to stand upon tho platforms of the carriages," is universally disregarded. Here one goes to smoke, here one escapes from the hot atmosphere of the cars and tho noise of the children. Here one can get a good view of the country through which one is passing, seeing both sides, and being able, by standing on the steps, to look out beyond the cars and to see well in front and behind. The platforms are kept at a uniform distance of three or four inches apart by a patent coupling and buffer apparatus, which the law requires to be universally used. Thus by no possibility could any one fall through between the carriages. As a coupling apparatus this patent is admirable. It is self-fastening, and very strong. It binds the carriages so Ormly together that the whole train starts simultaneously. There is no succession of jars as carriage after carriage feels the impulse from ahead, and with equal steadiness and absence of jerk is the stopping effected. * * * * The traveller west has a choice of several different routes from Chicago to Omaha. I went by what is known as the Rock Island route, selecting it because the station was close to my hotel at Chicago. The journey thus far occupies about twenty-four hours, and the ecenery is flat and monotonous in the. extreme. The time, however, passes rapidly in a Fulman's car. It is not that the seats are more comfortable, for they are not as comfortable as those of an English first-class carriage, but you have plenty of room — for you have two seats — you can open a table and play a game of chess or ecartu with your friend. These long journeys should always be made in company. You can go out and smoke your cigar on the platform, can wash when you feel dusty, and read when you are tired of everything else. Better still, you can, at least as far as Qgden, which is three-fifths of the journey between Chicago and San Francisco, have a state-room to yourself at a small additional charge. These state-rooms hold four berths, but can be retained by two or three passengers. When the beds are Btowed away for the day you have a snug little room about Bft. by 7ft., with a sofa, two arm-cbairs, aud a table. This is luxury, and here you may smoke if you choose. With a state car and a pleasant companion the journey, passes quickly, and I can safely say that at the end of five-and-a-half days' travelling I arrived at San Francisco no more tired than I should have been after as many hours in an English railway carriage. From Chicago to Omaha the change from a high cultivation to the lonely prairie comes very gradually. At first the villages and small towns are thickly scattered, while between them are farms with extensive holdings aud well-kept fences. Gradually theße become fewer and rougher. The villages are now few and far between, the farmhouses are little better than log huts, andj the fences altogether disappear. At times, for loog distances, not a house or a sign of human habitation is to be seen from the train, but settlers are fast coming west, and I should imagine that there was but little land near the line of railway east of Omaha still unoccupied.