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TIIE WOLVERIMS: 
 
 A SERIES OF LETTERS 
 ON THE RESOURCES, GROWTH AND BUSINESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND CITIES 
 
 OP 
 
 MICHIGAN. 
 
 Originally Publwlied in "THE CHICAGO PRICE CL'KRENIV over the 
 nam deplumelof 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 ESSAY ON THE CKEDIT SYSTEM, 
 
 AKD THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE NORTHWEST. 
 By AUG. C. SCHOOLEY. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: 
 
 CHICAGO PRINTERS' CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION, 104 8. CLARK ST. 
 
 1869. 
 
Ki-.tx'jr«d «c««i4iii|r to Aci of Con^rwis?, in the >-?« 1S«9, 
 
 BY AUG> C. SCHOOLKY. 
 
 to tW Cfertt's Offic* of the iho Disjrict Court of tho I'niwd Stitte^ ft* tho 5fo«hcrn 
 Districr of lUiuiii*, 
 
TO THE 
 
 TBAVELING SALESMEN 
 
 OF CHICAGO, 
 
 Through ivhosa ejfort the Trade of the Great 
 Metropolis of the West has been inainly built 
 up, and is every year becoming more widely 
 diffused, this Little Pamphlet 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTEOE. 
 ChiiagOf Jdaroh 1st, 1869, 
 
ADVERTISERS' INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Bowen, Whitman & Winslow (Dry Goods) 48 
 
 Ira P. Bowen & Co. (Gla8.s, China, etc.) inside back cover. 
 
 Hadley Company (Spool Cotton) outside back cover. 
 
 Merrick's (Spool Cotton) 42 
 
 Reynolds, Reed & Co. (Wool House) 44 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Portrait of the Author facing title. 
 
 CITIES AND TOWNS ADVERTED TO IN THESE LETTERS ; 
 
 PAGE, 
 
 Adrian 83 
 
 Albion 18 
 
 Allegan 13 
 
 Battle Creek 14 
 
 Buchanan 2 
 
 Charlotte 20 
 
 Coldwater 30 
 
 Constantine 29 
 
 Decatur 5 
 
 Dortagiac 4 
 
 Eaton Rapids 19 
 
 Elkhart 36 
 
 Grand Rapids 27 
 
 Hillsdale 31 
 
 Hudson 32 
 
 Ionia 26 
 
 Jackson 22 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Jonesville 81 
 
 Lansing 23 
 
 Lawton 6 
 
 La Porte 33 
 
 Marshall 17 
 
 Michigan City 1 
 
 Mishavvaka 36 
 
 Otsego 13 
 
 O wosso 25 
 
 Paw-Paw 6 
 
 Pleinwell 14 
 
 Saginaw City 24 
 
 Saginaw East 24 
 
 St. John's 26 
 
 Sturgis 39 
 
 South Bend 34 
 
 White Pigeon 29 
 
 The Credit System 37 
 
 Commercial Independence of the Northwest 39 
 
Among the Wolverines. 
 
 [Published in a Series of Letters.] 
 
 Michigan, November, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 One among the number of voyageiirs who are daily provided 
 with the facilities of comfortable, safe and rapid transportation 
 over the Michigan Central, your correspondent left Chicago on 
 Friday morning, at eight o'clock, and speeding onward thi^ongh 
 the bracing air, wlielmed in the genial sunlight of the loveliest 
 of our Western autumn days, in two hours he was gazino- at 
 the sand hills of ^ 
 
 MICHIGAN CITY. 
 
 Built just where a memorable example in Scripture should have 
 warned its founders not to build, it nevertheless has not yet 
 fallen nor ceased to grow. 
 
 The harbor improvement is being prosecuted with consider- 
 able energy. Many new and substantial buildings have gone 
 up recently, among them two large and beautiful churches ^and 
 the city, in its external aspects generally, exhibits the enter- 
 prise and thrift of its hospitable inhabitants. Under yester- 
 day's unclouded sky its streets revived pleasing recollections of 
 the past. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 At 7: 23 p. M. I took the train, and in an hour was set down 
 at the Tremont House — not tlie establisliment presided over hy 
 our genial and patriotic friend, Joiix B. Drake, but a worthy 
 namesake at 
 
 BUCHANAN. 
 
 Let no traveler he prejudiced by the name of this town, for if 
 
 the bachelor President did not particularly endear his name to 
 
 his countrymen, a day's sojourn will convince any one that these 
 
 people have done much honor to him in naming the town after 
 
 him. Three thousand inhabitants are here, anud scenes as 
 
 beautiful as they are busy. One rarely sees so graceful a blend- 
 
 ino- of the ornamental and useful in building a town as is here 
 
 witnessed. There is a neatness and cleanliness about every 
 
 store and dwelling that clearly indicates the industry and taste 
 
 of the people, and the success of all branches of business is 
 
 shown by the number and substantial character of the buildings 
 
 recently erected. Through the politeness of Messrs. Ross and 
 
 Fulton, a young and enterprising banking firm here, I obtained 
 
 much valuable information respecting the business affairs of 
 
 the place. May not the general prosperity of the mercantile 
 
 business here be due to the fact that Chicago is the mai-ket 
 
 whence all their goods come ? Nor are manufactures neglected 
 
 here. The place enjoys the advantage of a good water-power, 
 
 which drives three flouring mills, a furniture, a sash and door 
 
 factory, and a turning mill. Altogether, Buchanan is one of 
 
 the most thrifty towns in Michigan. 
 
 XT. 
 
 NiLES, Michigan, November, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Ninety-three miles from the Garden City by the Michigan 
 CentrarRailroad, and twenty-eight miles by river navigation 
 from St. Joseph, on the lake, lies the beautiful little city of 
 Niles. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 3 
 
 Like Elgin, Jtinesville, and others of our Western towns, a 
 river (the rapid and gracefully winding St. Josepli) runs 
 directly through it. On the right or eastern bank is the busi- 
 ness part of the city, which is very compactly and substantially 
 built of brick, with here and there a marble front whieli com- 
 pares favorably with those of more pretending and much larger 
 cities. In its architecture Niles is not wanting in that <piality 
 which is pleasing to the eye, by any means. Just now there is 
 being completed by Dr. Redding, a physician, Avho has proved 
 to be as well versed in finance as he is in physic, a magnificent 
 hotel, which, when furnished, will have cost not less than one 
 hundred thousand dollars. It is situated on Main street, near 
 the river, and is of its kind the cynosure. 
 
 While on the subject of hotels, let me mention the Pike 
 House, built about a year ago, and kept by Mr. H. A. Pike. It 
 is a first-class house in every respect, and deliglitfully situated 
 on the heights overlooking the city and surrounding country. 
 The view from the Pike House is tru.ly picturesque. 
 
 Tiie Bond House has changed hands recently, and, under the 
 management of Mr. H. S. Fay, assisted by the obliging and 
 popular Sam Brown, retains its wonted pati'OBage. 
 
 On the left bank of the river, the bluflT, wliich rises abruptly 
 from the water's edge, is dotted all over with cli arming resi- 
 dences, the most conspicuous of which is owned by Mr. G. A. 
 Colby. It is thought to be one of the finest edifices in the 
 State. G. W. Piatt, Esq., has just completed a fine residence 
 on the east side, which adds much to the appearance of that 
 j)art of the town. 
 
 Niles is surrounded by a rich farming district, and thus far 
 her resources have been exclusively agricultural ; but being 
 endowed with an inexhaustible hydraulic power, a new race is 
 being constructed, and ere long it is expected that a woolen 
 mill and a paper mill will be in operation. Six flouring mills, 
 grinding five thousand bushels of wheat daily, are now con- 
 stantly running. The Niles millers have purchased of the new 
 crop of M'heat 217,100 bushels, and have manufactured out of 
 the same 41,900 barrels of flour. 
 
4 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 Steamers run daily from here to St. Joseph. Gas is just 
 being introduced. The city contains a population of 6,000, 
 publishes two Aveekly papers, and has seven churches, including 
 two African. There are tAvo private banking houses, but no 
 national bank here. All branches of business seem to be in a 
 healthy condition. 
 
 In rambling about the streets one sees abundant evidence of 
 the proximity and influence of Chicago. The architecture is 
 fashioned after the Chicago model. The shrewd, far-seeing 
 merchant perceives the importance of procuring his merchand- 
 ise of the Chicago jobber, from whom he may order one day 
 and receive his goods the next, and at precisely New York and 
 Boston quotations, in many instances getting a superior article 
 of Western made goods. All classes of business men find in 
 the Chicago papers the most reliable news and market reports. 
 Chicago has imprinted her energetic metropolitan character on 
 all one sees or hears. Even Chicago lager, sweetened with 
 Chicago music, flows in perennial streams ; and should you go 
 into a barber's shop, you are offered a Chicago shave, which is 
 very grateful to those who know how well Chicago performs 
 that essential art. 
 
 Ill- 
 
 Michigan, November, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Leaving Niles in all her present glory, radiant with the hopes 
 of a still more glorious future, and being snugly committed to 
 plush, in thirty minutes I was deposited at the sprightly town 
 
 of 
 
 DOWAGIAC, 
 
 distant from Chicago one hundred and six miles. It claims a 
 population of 3,000 inhabitants, is well supplied with churches 
 and schools, and publishes a weekly newspaper, the Cass County 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. O 
 
 Republican, witli a circulation of 1,000. The main business 
 part of the place is composed of a compact row of substantial 
 and commodious brick buildings, occupied by experienced and 
 energetic merchants, who seem to be doing a fair amount of 
 business, dull as the times are. Dowagiac has a national bank 
 with a capital of $50,000, and has other banking facilities, 
 amply accommodating her business interests. 
 
 From Mr. G. C. Jones I learn that about 100,000 pounds of 
 wool have been shipped from here during the year. The 
 amount of wheat of the new crop marketed here to date is 135,- 
 000 bushels. The mills have made of the same nearly 18,000 
 barrels of flour. Stocks of dry goods are for the most part 
 pretty full, and were bought mainly in Eastern markets. — 
 Chicago jobbers, make a note of this. Eleven miles toward 
 sunrise brings me to 
 
 DECATUR, 
 
 which sparkling town is one hundred and seventeen miles from 
 the Queen City of the Lakes, and contains a population of 
 2,500. The town has three churches, and will soon have the 
 fourth completed, contains an elegant Union School building, 
 and publishes a weekly newspaper, the Van Buren He^^ublicany 
 with a circulation of 800. There is a flouring mill here, pro- 
 ducing about 200 barrels of flour daily, and rumors are rife that 
 a foundry, which is much needed, is soon to be established. 
 Two new brick stores are to go up in the spring. About 100,- 
 000 bushels of the new crop of wheat have been already 
 marketed here. The surrounding country is highly agricultural, 
 and the best white wheat in Michigan is raised and marketed 
 here. Nor are the environs destitute of scenic beauty. The 
 Lake of the Woods lies just out of town, and is invested with 
 all the romance which its name implies. Mud Lake, though 
 neither euphonious in name nor clearly attractive to the eye, 
 nevertheless, it is said, makes a very good skating park in 
 winter, where the youth and beauty of Decatur may and do 
 disport themselves ad libitum. Trade here maintains a stolid 
 conservatism. Stocks are fairly up, and look neat and clean. 
 
6 AMONG THE AVOLVERIXES. 
 
 Perhaps more frequent visits to Chicago by the merchants 
 wouhl tend to convince them that their interests might he 
 promoted by procuring their goods in your market. The trial 
 alone Avill solve this problem. 
 
 PAW-PAW, 
 
 one liundred miles from Chicago, at the terminus of a branch of 
 the Michigan Central, is the capital of Van Buren county. The 
 town is situated on the Paw-Paw River, a superb water- 
 privilege, which drives a flouring mill, and flows on in its 
 meandering course through a country of surpassing beauty and 
 richness, till it empties in Lake Michigan at St. Joseph. 
 
 PaAV-Paw contains a population of about 2,000, has fii^e 
 churches and tAvo Aveekly newspapers : the True Northerner 
 (Re}iublican), with a circulation of 1,000, and the Van Buren 
 Press (Democratic), with a circulation of GOO. A national 
 bank, with a capital of $50,000, accommodates the business 
 community. The business of the place is carried on by ex- 
 perienced and energetic men, and seems in a prosperous con- 
 dition, though the dullness which prevades all business aftairs 
 in all other towns is also felt here to some extent. Stocks of 
 dry goods do not seem to be in excess for the season, and some 
 orders are being given to Chicago jobbers for replenishing. 
 And now, bidding adieu to the Dyckman House, v/e embark, 
 and gliding over the Paw-Paw Railroad, in a few minutes 
 arrive at 
 
 L AWT ON. 
 
 It is distant from Chicago one himdred and twenty -five miles, 
 contains a population of 1,000, publishes a newspaper, the 
 Lawton Gazette^ and is a thrifty and important village. The 
 smelting furnace of the Michigan Central Iron Company here 
 smelts fifteen to twenty tons of ore per day. Gen. Gilmore is 
 President of the Company, and Gen. Grant is one of the stock- 
 holders. The town gave the stockholder 241 majority for 
 President. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 I AT. 
 
 Michigan, November, 1869. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Fitted out with a pair of willing steeds before a splendid 
 running three-spring wagon, by the enterprising and popular 
 livery men, Messrs. Seymour & High, of Decatur, your corres- 
 pondent has been for the past week traversing some of the 
 wheat fields of Michigan, Taking a northerly direction from 
 the Central Road, I visited the towns of Keeler, Coloma, Water- 
 vliet, Hartford and Lawrence, encountering old friends and a 
 Thanksgiving turkey on the route. 
 
 There are complaints of a stagnation in business aifixirs in all 
 these towns, the alleged causes of which are many and diverse. 
 The failure of the hop crop is the principal difficulty, whicli is 
 materially assisted by the fall in the price of wheat ; and last, 
 though not least, the wretched condition of the roads, which 
 are so bad, so muddy, as to lay a comjijlete embargo on all 
 except that class of irrepressible individuals which is knoAvn iu 
 the country by the various euphonious titles of "runners," 
 "guerrillas," etc. No depth of mud or snoAv, no degree of heat 
 or cold, can intimidate these energetic and jolly fellows. Like 
 Alpine hats, they are to be seen every where and at all times. 
 If this system of canvassing the country should be abolished 
 by the jobbing interest, what would become of the hotel busi- 
 ness in these towns and villages? Hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars are distributed through the country annually by this 
 class alone; and when all other business is dull, this business 
 attains its highest degree of activity — when other channels for 
 receiving money are closed, this one remains an unfailing 
 resource. It may be annoying to a merchant with a tired brain 
 or a torpid liver to be attacked by half a dozen of these bluff, 
 hungry fellows, immediately after a heavy dinner ; but, notwith- 
 standing all this, the system is peculiarly beneficial to him, 
 directly and indirectly. So, messieurs rural storekeepers, we 
 beg your forbearance of our importunities in the future. There 
 
8 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 are better times coming. Wheat is now advancing, and ere a 
 great wliile snow will fall, the roads will be passable, and better 
 trade will come. When the wheat begins to move, business 
 must revive, and collections, too, will be possible. 
 
 The growing crops are looking finely all through the valley 
 of the Paw-Paw, and the next harvest is likely to be as abun- 
 dant as the last in this prolific section of the State. 
 
 Returning to Decatur from the noi'th,Mr. Seymour harnessed 
 a span of superb blacks, and drove me over to Little Prairie 
 Round, six miles south of the Central, where I saw the Premium 
 Farm of Michigan, owned by a Mr. Hathaway, To those who 
 are versed in ornamental and practical farming a visit to this 
 place is a peculiar delight. 
 
 The country through which I drove on this trip seems an 
 almost unbroken chain of farms, studded here and there with 
 growing villages or glittering lakes, or linked together by rip- 
 pling streams running through them like silver cords, turning 
 the mill and factory, and hurrying on to the great deep, which 
 bears away on its swelling bosom the vessel laden with the pro- 
 ducts of these eternal fields, to the great marts of trade and 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 -y. 
 
 Kalamazoo, December, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current: 
 
 Chief among the towns, cities and villages which form the 
 bright constellation that revolves around and gives to and 
 borrows lustre from the great commercial sun of the Northwest, 
 is justly ranked the village of Kalamazoo. Although it possesses 
 every essential feature and characteristic of a city, it has never 
 been incorporated as such, preferring, pex-haps, to be the largest 
 village and voting precinct in the United States, to being 
 numbered among the smaller cities of the Union. Whatever 
 the motive may be for remaining nominally a village, and omit- 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 9 
 
 ting or declining to accept tlie dignity which her growth and 
 cliaracter entitle her to — whether it be modesty or economy, 
 or whether it be mere negligence, it is hard to ascertain. 
 Originally planted in a beantiful forest of burr-oaks, she has 
 rapidly grown in every direction till at present she is more than 
 "out of the woods;" and if we may not call her the "Forest 
 City of Michigan," we may truthfully say, she is the Forest 
 Village of the United States. 
 
 Kalamazoo is exactly mid-way between the cities of Detroit 
 and Chicago, being one hundred and forty-two miles from 
 either city by the Michigan Central Railroad. The St. Jo- 
 seph Valley Railroad, and the Kalamazoo, Allegan and Grand 
 Rapids Railroad, intersect the Central Railroad at this point. 
 The Kalamazoo flows along the eastern limits of the place, be- 
 yond which is situated Mount Holyoke Seminary, an institution 
 established within the past two years. On the west the bights 
 are adorned by splendid residences, with terraced gardens. 
 The college is located there, and is surrounded by a grove of 
 young oaks. Elegant church and school edifices are found in 
 all convenient localities. The place is not more a center of enter- 
 prise and industry than it is a center of learning. There are 
 two public libraries here. The Young Men's Library contains 
 2,084 volumes. Its affairs are managed by skillful officers, and 
 are in a flourishing condition. The Ladies' Library has 1,500 
 volumes. Its finances are in a highly gratifying state, it having 
 at present $2,000 surplus in bank. Mrs. Dr. Stone lectures 
 weekly before the Society, and it is said the proceeds of her 
 lectures have done much to replenish the treasury. This lady 
 was formerly principal of a very popular female seminary here, 
 and on closing the institution last summer, she, accompanied by 
 a number of her graduated pupils, took a voyage to Europe. 
 Since her return she has employed her time and talents in 
 lecturing and writing. She is at present engaged in writing 
 for the Chlcagoan. Two of her sons are the editors of the 
 Daily Telegraph., and her husband. Dr. J. A. B. Stone, is 
 editor of the weekly. The circulation of the daily is now five 
 hundred and fifty; total circulation of daily and weekly editions, 
 two thousand two hundred.^ The paper is Republican in 
 
10 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 politics. Tlie Kalamazoo Gazette (Democratic) is published 
 Aveekly, and has attained a circulation of one thousand one 
 hundred. 
 
 The growth of Kalamazoo is not less Avonderful than that of 
 Chicago. On every business thoroughfare large substantial 
 and beautiful stores are rapidly going iq). Among the business 
 blocks recently erected may be mentioned the store of Messrs. 
 liassett & Bates, wholesale grocers, next to the Kalamazoo 
 House. The building is of Joliet marble, four stories and French 
 roof. On the opposite side of tlie street was built last year, by 
 ]Mr. Henry Breese, an elegant store, also of marble, four stories 
 and French roof Its style of architecture is very chaste, and 
 it is regarded as the finest building of its kind on the street. 
 Kalamazoo is not a manufacturing town, although there are 
 large fiour mills, foundries, planing mills, sash factoiies, an 
 organ factory, and a glove factory here. Its chief resource is 
 agriculture. Perhaps the most expansive and productive wheat 
 fields in the State pay the tribute of their harvest to this 
 market, 650,000 bushels of the new crop of wheat grown in this 
 region have been already received and paid for by the millers 
 and shippers of this point; 430,000 pounds of wool grown in 
 the neighborhood have been purcliased by the wool-buyers 
 during the year. The mercantile interests of the place are 
 extensive, and embrace all branches of trade. Some of the 
 Inrgest and best ordered retail dry goods stores in the country 
 are here. Occasionally a stock of goods is found in excess for 
 the present season, and will have to be carried over to the next. 
 This state of things is one of the unavoidable results of pur- 
 chasing in a far-off market, Avhich renders it impossible to 
 ade(piately supply a fluctuating demand. Either a scarcity or 
 a superabundance of goods is sure to be, at times, the result of 
 this practice. Ocnerally the latter, as is now the case in many 
 of the towns along the Michigan Central. When merchants 
 buy at a market near them, they lay in as many goods as tliey 
 tliink can be sold within a certain short period, calculating that 
 no decline in price will be likely to occur the while ; and when 
 Mich supply is exhausted, they repeat the o^Dcration, taking c:ire 
 not to exceed certain limits. A personal visit may be made to 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERIHrES. 11 
 
 the market, where they may select their goods, have them 
 shipped and promptly delivered, — and all at a trifling expense. 
 In this Avay they may supply the most fickle demand; never 
 experiencing a scarcity, never suffering from a surplus. Their 
 stocks must be in exact proportion to the demand ; besides, a 
 great impetus will be given to trade by the spectacle of con- 
 stantly opening new goods, which their establishments will 
 almost daily present to their customers. But the experience of 
 every merchant who procures his goods in a foreign market will 
 compel him to acknowledge that when he goes to that market 
 it will not pay him for the trip to buy goods for a fortnight's 
 trade only: hence he selects a stock which he calculates will 
 last him for three months or longer — often being induced to 
 buy on four months' time, in excess of his original intentions, 
 and waits from ten to fifteen days for the arrival of his goods. 
 Then if, as during the present season, trade drops oiF, his shelves 
 and counters groan under the weight of an over-stock, which, 
 after the four months have elapsed, begins to increase in cost, 
 and from the moment received into his store begins to decrease 
 in value/ To the reckless operator — the speculator — this 
 argument will have no force; for it is his legitimate business 
 to take great risks, with the expectation of making great prof- 
 its; but the pi'udent, solid, thinking mercantile men of Michi- 
 gan will ponder these propositions, and ultimately must accept 
 them as true. 
 
 And now to Kalamazoo, with her ten thousand inhabitants, 
 her generous hospitality, her marvelous enterprise, her charm- 
 ing avenues, and her magnificent views, I bid adieu. 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Twenty-eight miles down the St. Joseph Valley Railroad, 
 south from Kalamazoo, and twelve miles north of White Pigeon, 
 is Three Rivers. This may seem an ungrammatical sentence at 
 first thought, but the fact is strictly thus: There is Three 
 
12 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 Rivers, and there are three rivers, viz. : the St. Joseph, the 
 Portage, and the Rocky. They here form their confluence, and 
 give their plural name to the large, beautiful and growing town 
 which sjDreads along their banks. The stream foz'raed by this 
 concui-rence of water is called the St. Joseph, which winds its 
 way through the fertile fields of this part of Michigan, pays a 
 short but "sweet" visit to Indiana, receiving reinforcements 
 from streamlets here and there, then sweeps around into the 
 State again in the region of Soiith Bend, and flows on in a. 
 northerly direction till it falls into the lake. 
 
 The town of Three Rivers is about 170 miles from Chicago, 
 contains a population of 4,000, four churches, one of them — the 
 Methodist Episcopal — a splendid edifice, just completed, costing 
 $30,000 ; a Union school, three flouring mills, two foundries, a 
 paper mill, a pump factory, and an incorporated Manufacturing 
 Company, which manufactures agricultural implements. The 
 hydraulic power is unlimited, and the town must eventually 
 resound with the hum of the spindle and the click of the loom. 
 There is a national bank and a private banking house here, 
 each doing a prosperous business, and affording am2)le facilities 
 to the business community. The Three Rivers JReporter, a Re- 
 publican weekly, with a circulation of 1,272, is the only paper 
 published here. A visit to the ofiice from which it is issued 
 afforded me a degree of gratification never experienced in any 
 printing establishment before. For the first time in my life I 
 stood in a printing office where perfect order reigns, instead of 
 perfect chaos. Mr. Clute is a business man. " Neatness and 
 dispatch" are terms which to him have a meaning. His estab- 
 lishment is a model one, and the character of his work is in 
 harmony with the general appearance of his ofiice. To him I 
 am indebted for valuable information, and for a splendid view 
 of the town. 
 
 There is a vast amount of business transacted here. The 
 mercantile business is in the hands of experienced dealers, and 
 success attends them. Stocks of dry goods are pretty full. 
 Some orders for " sorting up," however, are being sent to 
 Chicago jobbers occasionally. The hotel accommodations are 
 good. The surroundings are fertile, and it is said to be the 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 13 
 
 richest mint-growing region anywhere in the country. The oil 
 is one of the chief resources of the farmers hereabout. Running 
 back to Kalamazoo, and connecting with the Kalamazoo, Alle- 
 gan and Grand Rapids Railroad, a run of twenty-five miles 
 north brought me to 
 
 ALLEGAN, 
 
 the present terminus of the road. It was opened to this place 
 on Thanksgiving Day, which made the Alleganders pitch into 
 their turkeys with extraordinary gusto. The town is a beauty. 
 It is " among the pines," on the banks of the Kalamazoo, at the 
 head of navigation, and its surroundings are wild, woody, and 
 picturesque. Its chief resource is its lumber interests. The 
 population is 2,500 ; there are five lumber mills, three flouring 
 mills, an axe factory, a foimdry, planing mills, sash, blind and 
 door factories, five churches and a Union school in the place. 
 No better water-power exists in the State. Allegan is the county 
 seat of Allegan county. Some five brick stores have recently 
 been erected, one of them belongs to, and is occupied by, Mr. T. 
 C Jenner, one of the pioneers who commenced with the shovel 
 and pick on the race here, years ago, and has wrought out a 
 comfortable fortune. His establishment is a model of neatness 
 and convenience. 
 
 Two weekly newspapers are published here. The lumber 
 manufactured is chiefly marketed in Chicago. Deer abound in 
 the surrounding forests, and sport-men are here from far and 
 near. After snow falls and sleighing comes, then comes the 
 busy season with Allegan. 
 
 Ten miles ride southward brings me to 
 
 OTSEGO, 
 
 which town has a population of 1,000. It is situated on the 
 Kalamazoo river, has four churches, a Union school, four flour- 
 ing-mills, a woolen factory, a tannery, two foundries, and a 
 steam planing mill. The town is growing; the country about 
 is highly cultivated. A weekly paper, the Otsego Herald^ is 
 
14 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 published here. Stocks of goods are in good condition for the 
 times. 
 
 Three miles by bobsled conveyance and I am in 
 
 PLAINWELL, 
 
 which, like a mushroom, has grown up almost in a single night. 
 About 150 new buildings have been put up in twelve months. 
 The i)opulation at present is 1,500 ; two elevators are erected, a 
 furnace is building, planing mills are operating, and sash and 
 pump factories are turning out their products. There are two 
 flouring mills, two churches, and a graded school. The Kalama- 
 zoo flows placidly through the town. The surroundings are of the 
 richest and most beautiful farms of Michigan. The place already 
 enjoys the benefit of one railroad, and will soon have another 
 in operation, as it is all graded and ready for the track. Stocks 
 of dry goods are light, with an active trade. Plainwell is 
 receiving many of her goods from your market. 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 One hour's ride eastAvard from Kalamazoo, on the peerless 
 Central, and I am in the city of 
 
 BATTLE CREEK. 
 
 It is one hundred and sixty-four miles from Chicago, on the 
 banks of the Kalamazoo River and Battle Creek — a stream of 
 historic fame — which, at this point, profier their resources to 
 the miller and the manufacturer. The stone, the spindle and 
 the shuttle make the music which here fills the ear from morn 
 till night. Every part of the city seems pulsating with industry, 
 the life current of prosperity ahd development. With her 
 splendid surroundings and her internal mechanical forces, her 
 enterjjrise, her euergy and her intelligence, she must be in the 
 future what she has been in the past, one of the brightest stars 
 
AMONG THE AVOLVERINES. 15 
 
 in the galaxy of Western towns, and she is none the less pro- . 
 gressive in her industry than she is in her ideas, four hundred 
 and eighty majority for Gen. Grant bearing testimony to lier pa- 
 triotism and to her desire for peace. Daring tiie Pres, dential 
 campaign one of the largest mass meetings held in this Stat ; 
 took place here. Our galhmt Governor was one of the speakers 
 on that occasion, and made, as he always does, a great speecli. 
 The people of Battle Creek can appreciate an eloquent address, 
 and they propose to give the Governor a substantial token of 
 their appreciation of his services to them at that time. Accord- 
 ingly, a silver ice pitcher, tray and goblets of the most exquisite 
 workmanship have been procured, and, ere this will ajipear to 
 the pubUc, will be presented to him. On the pitcher is this 
 inscription, 
 
 " GOV. R. J. OGLESBY, 
 
 CAMPAIGISr SPEECH GIFT 
 
 From his friends at Battle Creek, Michigan, 
 August 24th, 1868." 
 
 On the tray is the family name of 
 
 " OGLESBY," 
 
 and on the goblets the monogram 
 
 " R. J. O." 
 
 The whole is beautifully executed, and is the work of one of 
 our best Chicago establishments. Let the people of Illinois 
 look to it that Michigan does not outdo them in api)reciation of 
 our heroic Executive. 
 
 Battle Creek has a population of 7,000, has two Aveekly 
 newspapers, the Journal^ Republican, and the Constitutional 
 Union, Democratic. There is also a religious pa})er })ublished, 
 called The Herald and Mevieio. It is devoted to the propaga- 
 tion of Adventist doctrines. Tliere is a water cure here, which 
 jDublishes the Health Meformer, monthly. This paper is also 
 under the auspices of the Adventists. 
 
 The city is well supplied with churches and schools. Messrs. 
 Burrell & Eldred are just completing a splendid block of stores, 
 one hundred feet deep, twenty-four feet front and three stories 
 
16 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 high, with marble cohimns. The Battle Creek Journal office 
 is now removing to the third story of this block, where it will 
 have greatly improved quarters. Messrs. Pettee & Howe, dry 
 goods merchants, will occupy one of these stores on January 
 1st, 1869. When the fixtures are in, it will probably be the 
 finest establishment of the kind in the place. 
 
 A. C. Hamlin, banker, is building a new and magnificent hall, 
 at a cost of $30,000. The block is three stories, with French 
 roof. It is nearly completed, and Avhen done it Avill be an orna- 
 ment to the city. Were it in Chicago or Detroit, it would be 
 dignified by the name of Opera House. The city has a steam 
 fire engine, housed in a beautiful building. The celebrated 
 "Vibrator" threshing machines are manufactured here. A 
 national bank, with a capital of $100,000, established in 1865, is 
 doing a prosperous business. 
 
 The mercantile business is not overdone. Stocks seem to be 
 quite full, but probably not in excess. The dealers are moving 
 cautiously, and, of course, wisely. More intimate relations with 
 the Chicago market might be of advantage to them, as it would 
 enable them to buy often and run their business on less capital, 
 besides being in constant receipt of fresh goods. 
 
 If the taverniers on the Michigan Central would buy some 
 coffee and give it to their guests, instead of the dirty, warm 
 water, flavored with a kindred essence, I feel authorized by the 
 traveling public to say, that the aforesaid peregrinators would 
 certainly appreciate the f(l)avor. " A word to the wise is as 
 good as a feast.'''' Also, let me remind them that tariff begins 
 with T. 
 
 As it snowed the entire time I was in Battle Creek, I am un- 
 able to say much of the general appearance of the place, or of 
 the personnel — save in a few instances — of its inhabitants, but 
 a glimpse, now and then, between the whirling snow flakes, re- 
 vealed features which, since the creation of Adam's wife, have 
 solely and exclusively belonged to pretty girls, and from the 
 number of gay turnouts which I saw under the same disadvantge, 
 
 " Like meteors flash by," 
 during those terribly cold and stormy days, I suspect that Bat- 
 tle Creek is not at all wanting in gallant young men. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 17 
 
 "VIII. 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Twenty minutes' skating over the icy rails, with the thermo- 
 meter 10 degrees below zero, and the whistle announces that 
 you are entering the delightful town of 
 
 MARSHALL, 
 
 which at 8 o'clock p. m. presents a gorgeous winter scene. 
 Windows grotesquely frosted by stern old Winter's artistic 
 hand supersede the curtain and the blind, and shut out from 
 your gaze the gay sleigh-riders who are making the frigid air 
 resound with their merry music ; and 
 
 " Oh ! the snow ; the beautiful snow! " 
 
 it clings in Alpine splendor to the evergreens that deck the 
 yards of the stately mansions here and there, as if it never 
 woidd relax its cold embrace. A frozen nose, an ear, a finger 
 or a toe, is not enough to placate the wrath of the ruthless 
 m^onarch, Winter ; and since with overwhelming force he has 
 overtaken the few retreating stragglers of Autumn, his war 
 upon them is marked by a cruelty that seeks to hide itself, and 
 mocks its ruined victims by arraying them in robes of royal 
 magnificence. The trophies of his triumph are erected every- 
 where. He flings his white robe upon the lap of earth, and sits 
 in state upon his crystal throne. His breath hushes the ripple 
 of the lake, and hangs his mirror upon its bosom. He paints 
 his portrait on the window, and writes his signature upon the 
 winding stream. The garnished ruin, the robe, the throne, the 
 mirror, the portrait and the signature to-day make Marshall a 
 scene of Arctic grandeur. 
 
 Youth, beauty, refinement, taste, wealth, luxury, activity and 
 success, add to the charms of the place. Six thousand people 
 2 
 
18 AMOKG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 grouped together in a social community engaged in every pur- 
 suit in life, give a civic character to all one sees and hears 
 Fashionable costumes and polished manners are the results of 
 civilization and progress, and Marshall is not wanting in these. 
 Public enterprise spreads her intrepid wings over the town, 
 and a new railroad to Greenville on the north is to be con- 
 structed. The road will be called the Jonesville, Marshall and 
 Grand River Railroad. 
 
 There are two weekly papers published here. A female 
 seminary under Episcopalian auspices, and called Perrin Insti- 
 tute, is established, and has pupils from all parts of the country. 
 
 The town has an excellent water privilege, and mills and fac- 
 tories exist in abundance. There are two public halls, the 
 Academy of Music, and Eagle Hall, and two national banks. 
 It is a "red hot" Democratic town, and gave the " astut-e 
 statesman " and " Farmer of Deerfield" a majority of one hun- 
 dred in the recent election. 
 
 Eleven miles further eastward is 
 
 ALBION, 
 
 a town of both classic name and fame for D. D.'s and Profes- 
 sois and students, and I suppose learning abounds here. The 
 population is 3,500. The Kalamazoo river flows through the 
 place, and furnishes a good water power. There are three 
 flouring mills, a foundry, and machine shops here. Two papers 
 are published weekly. A hotel, 60 by 150 feet, and four stories 
 high, is about to be erected. A large Town Hall and other 
 buildings are projected. There is one national banking insti- 
 tution here. The principal business street presents a fine show 
 of substantial brick stores, chastely ornamented with mouldings 
 and cornices. 
 
 Tlie surrounding country is rich in agricultural resources, 
 aHd in developing these Albion must continue on in her career 
 of prosperity and happiness. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 19 
 
 ix:. 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 An hour's ride down the Grand River Valley Railroad, in 
 agreeable company, through scenes varied and beautiful, deriv- 
 ing additional charms from a brilliant winter sun, and an ex- 
 hilarating atmosphere, and I am set down at the town of 
 
 EATON RAPIDS. 
 
 On the Fourth of July last the whistle of the locomotive 
 awoke the citizens from their dreams of isolation and seclusion ; 
 the bell of the iron horse tolled the death-knell of the stage- 
 coach era, and Eaton Rapids rejoiced in the doubly auspicious 
 return of the day that ushered in a nation's birth and bound 
 them to the civilized world by railroad ties and iron bands. The 
 advent of a railroad is the dawning of the highest civilization, 
 and henceforward these people will move on that higher plane, 
 and their activity will be intensified. With 1,600 inhabitants 
 churches, schools, and other moral, mental and physical forces, 
 she will i^ush her industrial and commercial resources to a speedy 
 development. Enjoying the combined water powers of Grand 
 River and Springbrook, she must eventually become a manufac- 
 turing center. Already two flouring mills, four lumber mills, a 
 custom woolen mill, and an axe factory, are in operation. Two 
 large brick stores and seventy-five dwellings have been put up 
 during the year. There are two good hotels in the place, and 
 the traveler will find himself well cared for in either of them. 
 There is a Masonic lodge and chapter, and two Good Templar 
 lodges in the town. Thus it will be seen there are warm hearts 
 and cold Avater in great abundance here, but I must bid them 
 adieu, and betake myself to the road again, where I seat myself 
 in one of the new and comfortable coaches of the G. R. V. R. R., 
 the gentlemanly Mr. O. F. Hall, conductor, and, in a few mo- 
 ments, am off for 
 
20 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 CHARLOTTE, 
 
 a female, not of the genus homo, but of the genus town. She is 
 stately, symmetrical, beautiful, growing luxuriantly, instinct 
 with industry, and breathing the pure prairie air. Clumps of 
 leafless burr oaks are standing here and there in her limits, as 
 if counseling together what to do to escape the ruthless axe 
 which has decimated them from year to year. It is to be hoped 
 that a growing sentiment in accord with the pathos of " Wood 
 man, spare that tree," will yet save them^^from the cruel fate of 
 their comrades. 
 
 Charlotte is thirty-six]"miles from her connection with the 
 Central at Jackson, and will be, for a few brief days, the termi- 
 nus of the road. Since September she has been a member of 
 the great family of railroad towns. She is no foolish virgin, 
 and her kerosene lamps have been kept " trimmed and burning.'' 
 Her outskirts are clean and spotless, and she is no " whited 
 sepulchre," for with such choice spirits as John Morris, agent 
 of the G. R. V. R. R., Wm. Benjamin, proprietor of the Phojnix 
 House, by whom I advise all strangers to be " taken in," Sher- 
 wood, Hazlett, Saunders, and so on ad infinitum, hospitality is 
 an instinct, and politeness an impulse of the heart. Then there 
 are ladies, too, whose names I have not forgotten, yet forbear 
 to print, but for whose presence Charlotte, with all her natural 
 and artificial charms, might be 
 
 " Unloved, unlionored and unsung." 
 
 The population is modestly estimated at 2,500, but a magnifi- 
 cent frescoed public hall, 50 by 100 in dimensions, a lecture asso 
 elation and other kindred institutions, having for their object 
 mental and moral culture, would seem to indicate double that 
 number of inhabitants. The stamp of cultivated taste is visible 
 everywhere. The ornamental and the useful have wrought 
 hand in hand on the stately dwelling and the massive ware 
 house. Such dry goods establishments as Messrs. E. and J. 
 Shepherd, J. M. and W. A. Haslett's, S. P. Jones & Co.'s, and 
 such grocery stores as E. T. Church & Co., bespeak enterprise 
 and success rarely equaled in towns of the size of Charlotte. 
 Messrs. G. W. & S. C. Sherwood are building, on the corner 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 21 
 
 opposite the Phoenix House, a splendid brick block for a hotel, 
 to be opened on May 1st, 1869. It will cost |20,000. The 
 Charlotte Republican^ a live weekly newspaper, edited by Mr. 
 Saunders, is issued here. 
 
 There are two steam flouring mills, two steam lumber mills, 
 three steam planing and turning mills, with shingle mills at- 
 tached, and two foundries and machine shops, which make agri- 
 cultural implements. The place is quite destitute of water 
 power. Battle Creek, which is here a very small stream, runs 
 along the margin of the town. 
 
 To Charlotte, Eaton, and all concerned, let me say : You are 
 henceforth to enjoy facilities of locomotion and transportation 
 second to none in the country. Your road is well officered and 
 managed, and remarkably smooth for a new one. Your cars 
 and coaches are first-class. You have the Great Michigan 
 Central, with its unlimited facilities, its excellent management, 
 its polite and efficient train officers, its magnificent coaches, 
 and, especially, its splendid ladies' cars, placed at your disposal 
 at your junction with it, and a few short and delightful hours' 
 skipping along the " snow-bound " surface in the direction of 
 sunset, brings you to the greatest city in the world ; the great- 
 est for rapidity of growth ; the greatest for her success in sur- 
 mounting obstacles; the greatest for her energy and public 
 spirit ; the greatest for her agricultural and commercial import- 
 ance, and the greatest for her railway communications ; though 
 not the greatest in mere numbers of population. She is metro- 
 politan and she is your emporium. Her storehouses contain all 
 that you produce, and everything that you consume. She is 
 your natural, your economical market. Her accumulated wealth 
 flows back on you in a thousand ways. Her prosperity, her 
 greatness and her glory belong not alone to her, but to you, 
 and the great Northwest. 
 
 Jobbing fifty millions of dry goods annually, and three hun- 
 dred millions more of other merchandise, circumstances over 
 which her sagacious merchants have no control make her your 
 best market to purchase these commodities ; and do you seek a 
 contiguous market for your wheat and wool, she ofiers it 
 to you. 
 
22 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 And now, commenrling Mr. H. P. Hall and his livery estab- 
 lishment to the driving world, I take Charlotte by the hand 
 and say, farewell — 
 
 " A word that must be and hath been 
 A sound that makes us linger, — 
 Yet, farewell." 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 Two hundred and eight miles from Chicago, on the Grand 
 river, is situated the city of 
 
 JACKSON. 
 
 Like all other cities and towns on the Central, it is a hive of 
 industry — a brilliant scene of refinement, activity, and rapid 
 growth. Two hundred buildings have been erected during the 
 ye.i,r. The population is 12,000. The Jackson Citizen, a daily 
 paper, has a circulation of 1,000, and is an ably conducted Re- 
 publican journal. Ample banking facilities are furnished to the 
 business community by two national, and an equal number of 
 private banks. Large quantities of farm products find a market 
 here. 
 
 Jackson is a railroad centre. The Grand River Valley, the 
 Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw, and the Michigan Southern, 
 intersect the Central here. Through the politeness of Mr. 
 Bingham, agent of the State Prison, I was enabled to visit that 
 institution, and witness the manner in which the convicts are 
 employed ; also to learn much that may interest the readers of 
 the Prjce Current. The prison is undoubtedly the largest, 
 if not the most remunerative, manufacturing establisliment in 
 the State. The walls of this den of striped apjjrentices to penal 
 industry are 500 by 600 feet, and Avithin them are quarters for 
 seven hundred of these hardened " sons of evil." The present 
 number of prisoners is six hundred and thirty, including a dozen 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 23 
 
 women. Twenty-four of the prisoners are in solitary confine- 
 ment, and the bahince are at work on " the job." In the wagon 
 shops are one hundred and twenty. The cigar factory, which 
 is run by Messrs. Rollings wortli Bros. & Sign or, employs fifty 
 men. In the leather dressing and horse collar shop a hundred 
 men are at work. There are also one hundred in the cabinet and 
 agricultural tool shops. The remainder are at work in the other 
 depai-tments of the institution. Last year the prison ran behind 
 about $5,000, but it is thought by Mr. Bingham that it will sus- 
 tain itself this year. 
 
 Now on the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw road, seated in a 
 luxurious coach, Mr. E. A. Todd conductor, an hour and thirty 
 minutes' ride over smooth rails brings me to the capital of 
 Michigan. 
 
 LANSING 
 
 is thirty-seven miles from Jackson, and two himdred and forty- 
 five miles from Chicago. With a prescience of her future 
 growth, she has " spread herself," and will probably never be 
 obliged to extend her present city limits. What she most needs 
 just now is a street railway connecting the upper and lower 
 towns, thus consolidating the elements of her strength. She 
 has many beautiful buildings, and there is abundant evidence 
 of increasing wealth and cultivated taste on every side. Of the 
 public buildings the largest and most beautiful is the State 
 Reform School building. It contains at present four liundred 
 and fourteen boys, nine of whom declared their political prefer- 
 ence for Gen. Grant, and all the rest voted for that other 
 fellow. 
 
 The Lansing House, kept by Mr. M. Hudson, is a large and 
 first-class hotel. Its dimensions are 120 and 110 feet front, 
 with wings 70 feet each, and entertains two hundred and fifty 
 guests. It was erected two years ago. There is an agricultu- 
 ral and a female college in the place. Thel^aniiing liepublican 
 has a capital stock of $60,000, and employs one hundred hands. 
 Last year there were issued from this ofiice 240,000 books. 
 There are many fine stores here ; that of H. Ingersoll is one of 
 the best in the State. The beautiful Grand River flows directly 
 
24 AMOKG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 through the city, and a part of its ghissy surface is fenced in 
 for a skating park. All the world skates ; why not the beaux 
 and belles of Lansing? "All aboard!" The bell rings, and 
 away we speed through the biting atmosphere, through the 
 whirling snow, toward the north pole, and at respectable bed- 
 time are shown to an elegant apartment in the Taylor House, at 
 
 SAGINAW CITY, 
 
 the principal feature of which is the beautiful and spacious hotel 
 last named, built and kept by Hon. W. H. Taylor, than whom no 
 man knows better " how to keep ahotel." Street carspass the 
 door every ten minutes, running to 
 
 EAST SAGINAW, 
 
 a most beautiful and wonderful little city. With a population 
 of 15,000 she publishes two daily papers, one of them having a 
 circulation of 3,000. The Saginaw river runs between the two 
 cities. They are rivals. Saginaw City is pinhig away at a rate 
 that encourages her citizens to believe that she will eventually 
 become the larger of the two; yet East Saginaw is in such a 
 prodigious ^ic^^e that no doubts are entertained that her •^^- 
 cendancy will be joreservec? to the latest day. However, that 
 " destiny that shapes our ends " will ultimately unite the two 
 Saginaws, and make one great city — the metropolis of the Wol- 
 verine State. Already their combined populations amount to 
 23,000. " Ye are the sa/i!of the earth." From its manufacture, 
 and 400,000,000 feet of lumber annually — the largest product of 
 any point on the continent — Saginaw has an income of fourteen 
 millions a year. Her gigantic resources and interests demand, 
 and will soon secure, the improvement of the river, so that the 
 largest vessels may pass into her harbor without delay or dan- 
 o-er, and her railway communications are already adequate to 
 her utmost need. The Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw is a 
 splendidly managed public thoroughfare, and brings the 
 Saginaw Valley seventy-five miles nearer Chicago than any 
 other route. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 25 
 
 Xll. 
 
 Michigan, December, 1868. 
 
 Editor Chicago Price Current : 
 
 "Merry Christmas" descended upon me ere I had bid my 
 adieu to lumber and salt, so substituting the " compliments of 
 the season " for the sad phrase " good bye," I started back on 
 the J. L., & S., and in a couple of hours landed at the National 
 Hotel at 
 
 owosso. 
 
 The National Hotel is kept by " Jake ; " it is, hy Joe ! The 
 National Hotel beats the nation; it does, by Jake !. 
 
 Owosso is a thriving town of i3robably 2,500 inhabitants, 
 situated on the Shiawassee, a stream of considerable size, 
 which aftbrds a fair water-power here, and finally empties into 
 the Saginaw a short distance above Saginaw City. The Jack- 
 son, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad crosses the Detroit and 
 Milwaukee at this point, but the arrangements are such as to 
 seriously incommode the traveling public who wish to change 
 cars, by a somewhat annoying and perhaps unnecessary delay 
 of four to six hours. It could be wished that a change of time 
 might be made by these roads, so that this detention would in 
 the future be avoided. 
 
 The Owosso Woolen Mill, a new and substantial brick es- 
 tablishment, Messrs. Warren, Earl & Knill, proprietors, com- 
 menced operations on the 3d of September last. It has been 
 running only one set of machineiy, but has a capacity of 
 three. The other two sets are soon to be put in motion. The 
 average product of the mill since opening has been 700 yards 
 per week. Cassimeres, satinets, flannels, blankets, and yarn, 
 are manufactured, and compare favorably with the goods of 
 any other Western mill. The 10-4 blankets are especially fine, 
 made from Leicester wool four inches long, are combed but 
 little, and weigh 9^ lbs to the pair. 
 
26 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 Through a rare atmosphere, under a bright and cheering 
 winter sun, joyously and swiftly we glide along the T>. & M., 
 greeting Ovid with a " merry Christmas," and stop for the 
 night at 
 
 ST. JOHN'S. 
 
 Whether the Evangelist, or the Revelator, I am unable to 
 divine. Certainly there was no good news awaiting me ; al- 
 though the town is something of an apocalypse in its way. It 
 is the county seat of Clinton county. With a population of 
 2,500, it publishes two weekly newspapers, has three hotels, 
 plenty of stores, and is building an establishment for the manu- 
 facture of wooden ware and implements. The company is in- 
 corporated with a capital of $100,000. The surrounding country 
 is said to be very fertile. But the hour for departure has ar- 
 rived ; so, " good bye, John " — St. John — and away we fly 
 down the beautiful valley of the Grand River, through the 
 frosted trees glittering in the morning sun, passing the pictu- 
 resqiie town of Lyons lying on the left about a mile away, and 
 are eoon startled from our contemplation of the beautiful scenes 
 all around us by the euphonious name of 
 
 IONIA. 
 
 She is a perfect love of a town. In summer, when arrayed 
 in her trailing emerald robes, trimmed with the vine and the 
 rose, she must be charming. Yet her beauty is not all masked 
 by the ermine snow, and I gazed at her architecture, which is 
 a combination of the Gothic and Io7iic, with a peculiar 
 pleasure; and her majestic heights, surmounted by those 
 elegant mansions, were to me a delight and an inspiration. 
 Soon a railroad from here to Lansing, thende to Battle Creek, 
 will put her in direct communication with Chicago. Four 
 thousand population and fourteen dry goods stores. " That's 
 business." 
 
 On the road again, thundering along toward the lake, across 
 bridges, through the forest, now among the hills, on the em- 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 27 
 
 bankments, in the cleeiJ cut, on the broad plain, then by the 
 river's edge, we go like the winds, and at sunset arrive at 
 
 GRAND RAPIDS. 
 
 Not quite; for the Detroit and Milwaukee road does not run 
 to the Gypsum city. A branch — the city horse railway — con- 
 nects with it at a place which we were told by a young lady 
 was called "Dapo." After a ride of a mile and a half we were 
 brought up standing to the city, which stands solid and stately 
 upon her immense plaster^ which is now drawing the attention 
 of the fertilizing world. When the Kalamazoo, Allegan and 
 Grand Rapids Railroad shall be completed, Avhich will occur 
 by the first of April next, a new era will dawn upon the 
 business of the place. Grand Rapids will then be in direct 
 communication at all seasons with the metropolis of the West, 
 and facilities of the first-class will be afibrded her for a more 
 intimate business and social relationship with our great city. 
 The benefits of a freer intercourse between the people of the 
 two cities must, of course, be mutual; and while we need, and 
 must have, her plaster, her lumber, and her furniture, we ought 
 to, and can, supply her with her merchandise upon as favor- 
 able terras as she can obtain it elsewhere. We shall thus be 
 developing each other's resources, and building each other up ; 
 and when the Garden City shall have achieved a growth of 
 half a million of population, the eighteen thousand of the 
 Gypsum City will have swollen to at least one-fifth that number. 
 Chicago will soon hold Grand Rapids in her iron grasp, and it 
 will be but another fulfillment of the " manifest destiny" of all 
 Western towns. 
 
 The annual product of plaster bene is 25,000 tons, and 300,000 
 barrels of stucco. The lumber sawed amounts to 25,000,000 
 feet annually. The hydraulic power is said to be the best in 
 the State. The largest furniture factory in the United States 
 is located here. There is a woolen mill and other manufactur- 
 ing carried on. Two daily papers, enjoying a generous patron- 
 age, are in existence. The city has a delightful situation. The 
 business portion of it is built on the plateau running back from 
 
28 AMONG THE W0LYEKINE8. 
 
 Grand River to the bluiFs. The architecture is of the best, the 
 materials being of brick or stone. In a few instances a plaster 
 front may be seen, which is very beautiful, but not considered 
 durable. The main street is compactly built up; many of the 
 blocks are five, and some six stories high. A new and large 
 hotel is nearly completed. The churches are especially beauti- 
 ful in construction, and occupy the most delightful part of the 
 city. The bluffs in the rear of the business part are a series of 
 natural terraces, upon which are splendid residences of various 
 styles of aj'chitecture. On the whole, Grand Rapids is a mag- 
 nificent little city. 
 
 Strangers visiting here should not go away without calling ©n 
 Mr. Albeit S. Smith, manufacturer of gypsum ornaments. 
 Every one, certainly, wants a specimen of plaster to carry home 
 with him, and if he will call at the establishment of Mr. Smith, 
 he can have it in a match box, a paper weight, a card dish, a 
 goblet, a vase, a bracket, or in any article of use or ornament 
 be can name. 
 
 Michigan, Januaiy, 1869, 
 Editor Chicago Pkice Cukeent : 
 
 In a former letter we used the expression, " gentlemen's car," 
 which seems rather odd, and may need a word of explanation. 
 
 Every traveler is familiar with the feminine gender of this 
 phrase, and will readily comprehend it. Many great railway 
 lines running out of Chicago are supplied with "ladies' cars," 
 and it is but fair to our sex— and in this we think the Porosis 
 will agree with us— that we should have on every passenger 
 train the counterpart to these: gentlemen's cars; cars into 
 which ladies without husbands or escorts could not properly be 
 admitted, and where woman certainly would be a little out of 
 her sphere ; coaches of the first class, furnished in luxurious 
 style, with all the facilities for shortening the tedious hours of 
 a long voyage, where the "tyrants" might retire from the 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 29 
 
 society of the " dear creatures " and consult with each other, 
 discuss the great question of female suffering, or color their 
 meerschaums. Now " smoking cars " are nothing new, but it 
 has remained for the Michigan Southern road to supply those 
 addicted to this manner of using the "weed" with superior 
 accommodations for regaling themselves. Gentlemen will 
 smoke occasionally, and they prefer not to be obliged to go into 
 a second-class car to indulge the habit;. hence the Michigan 
 Southern has done well in providing genteel, comfortable, and 
 well ventilated coaches for them. While speaking of this road 
 let us add that the *' coupler, buffer and platform," Miller's 
 patent, in use on this great thoroughfare, is one of the finest 
 improvements in modern railway affairs, making, as it does, a 
 continuous platform, so that passing from one car to another 
 when the train is in motion can be done without the slightest 
 danger of accident. Those going over this road will not fail to 
 notice this admirable improvement. 
 
 WHITE PIGEON, 
 
 the junction of the St. Joseph Valley Railroad, and a town of 
 about one thousand inhabitants, is one hundred and nineteen 
 miles from Chicago. The place possesses considerable interest, 
 is growing some, and its business, at present, exhibits some 
 degree of activity. Three milet^ north, on the St J. V. R. R., is 
 
 CONSTANTINE. 
 
 Here the river St. Joseph is seen rolling placidly along. 
 Boats formerly ran up the river to this point. The town con- 
 tains 2,500 inhabitants. There is a woolen mill, two flouring 
 mills, a foundry and machine shops, and a furniture factory 
 here. A union school edifice is being built, at a cost of $40,000. 
 Altogether, Constantine is an enterprising, active and beautiful 
 town. 
 
 STURGIS 
 is a lovely town. Its population is about 3,000. It claims to 
 be the largest town in St. Joseph county. Two weekly pa]3ers 
 are issued here. A foundry and cabinet factories are in opera- 
 tion, and a sash, door, and blind factory is to be erected. The 
 
30 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 Indiana and Grand Traverse Railroad is gi-aded from here 
 about thirty miles south, and will probably be opened from Fort 
 Wayne to Grand Rapids by Jidy. This is now one of Michi- 
 gan's most important public enterprises, and it is being prose- 
 cuted with vigor. 
 
 Twenty-four miles' ride down the Southern, under a clear sky 
 and through a mild atmosphere, and we are in 
 
 COLDWATER, 
 
 which, at whatever degree of temperature, is preferable to being 
 in hot loater^ and from all a stranger sees or hears, or e\ew feels, 
 on coming here, he will not be at a loss to comprehend why 
 6,000 human beings prefer being in Coldwater to being any- 
 where else. The city certainly is one of the most delightful in 
 Michigan, and it can hardly be more pleasant for residence than 
 it is profitable for business. On our debut on Chicago sti-eet, 
 our experiences were in many respects similar to those of a 
 promenade in Chicago city. We were jostled by a croAvd of 
 well-to-do farmers; collided with an anxious-looking merchant 
 rushing bankwards with a package of almighty dollars ; 
 squeezed throixgh a throng of noisy speculators, and were so 
 attracted by a bevy of bright-eyed Wolverines of the feminine 
 persuasion that we stubbed the box-toes of our prodigious pon- 
 toons, and came near sprawling, and only escaped a serious /a^?, 
 perhaps, by retiring to our room in the Southern Michigan 
 House, whence we could look out and calmly contemplate the 
 busy scene below, sans peril. The Coldwater river, a small 
 stream, flows along tlie southern part of the city. The churches 
 are numerous, very fine, and centrally located. There is a semi- 
 nary in the place. 
 
 Two newspapers are published here. One of them, the 
 Mepiihlicany circulates eighteen liundred copies, and is anexeel- 
 lent local and advertising paper. It is issued from an office 
 supplied with all the modern improvements and facilities for 
 doing first-class work. There is a woolen mill and a linseed oil 
 factory here. The city burns gas. Its surroundings are rich in 
 agricultural resources, and as a trading point it is unsurpassed 
 by any town on the Southern road. 
 
AMONG THE WOLVERINES, 31 
 
 Michigan, January, 1869. 
 
 Editok Chicago Price Current: 
 
 Leaving the pleasant portals of the Southern Michigan 
 House, at Coldwater, an hour passes and we are snugly har- 
 bored at the Waverly, in the enterprising town of 
 
 JONESVILLE. 
 
 The place has a population of 2,000. It is situated on the 
 head waters of the St. Joseph river, which is here a very smaU 
 stream, scarcely affording power sufficient to drive an ordinary 
 grist mill. The chief feature of the^town is the extensive woolen 
 mills of Messrs. H. R. Gardner & Co., so widely known in the 
 Northwest. It is the largest establishment of the kind ^ in 
 Michigan. It employs five sets of machines and sixty-five 
 hands, turning out an average of four hundred yards per day. 
 Beauty of style, superiority of finish and quality, are the dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of the products of these mills. 
 
 Four miles eastward we find 
 
 HILLSDALE, 
 
 A valley among the hills ; a delightful town— built up in the 
 most usbstantial and beautiful manner, and still rapidly grow- 
 ing. She is extending her main business street, and covering 
 het- picturesque hills all over with charming dwellings. ^ Four- 
 teen brick storehouses and a proportionate number of residences 
 were elected last year. At present her population is 5,000. 
 There is a commercial college in the place. Hillsdale College, 
 an institution well and favorably known throughout the coun- 
 try, has a conspicuous and beautiful location in the northern 
 section of the town. 
 
32 AMONG THE WOLVERINES. 
 
 Two weekly newspapers are published here. The Hillsdale 
 Standard circulates 1,500 copies. Everything seems to be in a 
 flourishing condition, although in business no extraordinary 
 activity can exist at this season of the year. 
 
 We leave the charming atmosphere of Hillsdale with regret, 
 and a ride of sixteen miles brings us to the beautiful town of 
 
 HUDSON, 
 
 which vies with Hillsdale in its charms. It contains 3,000 in- 
 habitants. The business portion of the place is compact and 
 presents a scene of rare attractiveness. The Tiffin river flows 
 through the town and furnishes a fair water power. The place 
 possesses some facilities for manufacturing. There is an exten- 
 sive spoke and hub factory, and a cabinet factory here. A fine 
 public hall has recently been completed. The Comstock House, 
 a large and comfortable hotel, is one of the attractive features 
 of the town. Two papers are published ; churches and schools 
 adorn and edify the place. The surroimdings are fertile and 
 productive. 
 Eighteen miles on the road and we enter the city of 
 
 ADRIAN, 
 
 the metropolis of Southern Michigan. Twelve thousand peo- 
 ple, mingling in the scenes of busy life, in circumstances of 
 wealth, luxury, refinement, energy and intelligence, form a politi- 
 cal, social and moral power ; and Adrian can boast of this num- 
 ber, perhaps more. Let her numerous and magnificent churches, 
 with their lofty spires, proclaim her moral strength. Let her 
 five splendid school edifices and her college speak of her intel- 
 ligence and her purpose to difi'use education and knowledge. 
 Let her stately storehouses and her beautiful dwellings show 
 her wealth and taste. Let the rapidity of her growth tell of 
 her energy, and let the manners of her people exhibit her re- 
 fiiaement and hospitality. 
 
AMONG THE HOOSIERS. 33 
 
 Indiana, January, 1869. 
 Editor Chicago Price Current: 
 
 Wliat with a meerschaum to suck, a harmonica to blow, and 
 a hixurious chair in the gentlemen's car on the M. S. and N". I. 
 R. R., our ride of fifty-eight miles on a frosty and radiant morn- 
 ing of one of the mildest January days, was one to be remem- 
 bered for its exhilaration and its pleasure. 
 
 LA PORTE, 
 
 the door to Northern Indiana ; a large door ; a strong door ; a 
 beautiful door. The door to agriculture ; the door to commerce ; 
 the door to manufactures; the door to wealth and refinement; 
 the door to hospitality, with the latch string hanging out. 
 
 La Porte contains a population of 10,000. Kerosene and tal- 
 low furnished the "light of other days," and now Laporte burns 
 gas. 
 
 A national bank and two private banks accommodate the 
 business community. Two woolen factories, two large flouring 
 mills, and two furniture factories are busily employed. A 
 newspaper, the Union and Herald, pays weekly visits to the 
 homes and firesides of 2,000 Hoosier fiirmers, mechanics and 
 business men. A public library circulates its volumes among 
 those who for knowledge are athirst, and a seminary is training 
 the minds of the "coming man" and woman. Clear Lake, 
 which is large enough to ripple, float a duck or freeze over, 
 touches the northern limits of the city, and at present supplies 
 the skaters with an excellent park on which to enjoy themselves. 
 The Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad, connecting 
 with the Southern here, is completed as far south as Rochester. 
 
 La Porte is growing and improving. There are many large 
 and beautiful stores in the city. Messrs. Davidson Brothers, 
 have built and have occupied for about two months a very fine 
 marble front double store, 40 by 90 feet, and four stories high. 
 This intelligent and energetic firm appreciate the advantages of 
 a near-by market, and accordingly purchase largely in Chicago. 
 
 Mr. P. King, another of the leading merchants of the place, 
 lias a large double store 46 by 80 feet in dimensions, and four sto- 
 3 
 
34 AMONG THE HOOSIEKS. 
 
 ries in heiglit. It is admirably arranged tliroughout, but the 
 carpet room, on the second floor, is especially fine, and rarely 
 equaled in the country. 
 
 Out of the rigors of business life there comes, unexpectedly 
 sometimes, a genial, social element which in a degree, miti- 
 gates the vexatiousness of disappointed ambition. Those Avhose 
 task it is to move the now stagnant waters of the business world, 
 turn them into their accustomed channels, and caiise them to 
 surge and foam, and dash on to the great ocean of success and 
 profitable transaction, will appreciate the atfability and courtesy 
 of such a business man as Mr, Julius Barnes, who, if not a 
 merchant prince, is none the less the prince of politeness. 
 
 A sunken rock, or an iceberg, is a real and fearful obstacle in 
 the channel before an unskilled navigator, while an " umbra- 
 geous oak," casting its spectral shadow far into the stream, may, 
 on a dark night, alarm him quite as much, but being too near it 
 to turn his helm, in an agony of despair he lets go, and pre- 
 sently is astonished to find that he had passed over the obstruc- 
 tion unscathed, and that it was nothing but a shadow after all. 
 In the stream of commerce are not many wrecks just noAV, 
 though some are aground, and many more at anchor, or rather, 
 becalmed. Now, it is very kind to a green navigator who is 
 endeavoring to keep " agoing," and to create by his own hloto- 
 in<j the im})ression among old mercantile mariners that a breeze 
 is inflating their sales, we say it is kind in them to gracefully 
 weigh anchor and haul out of his way, leaving the channel per- 
 fectly clear to hhn. 
 
 And now taking leave of " mine host" of the Teegarden, we 
 bid La Porte an revoir, and applying once more to the Southern 
 for transportation, are whirled away toward the East, and in a 
 jiffy reach the regal city of 
 
 SOUTH BEND, 
 
 eighty-six miles from Chicago, lying along, "high and dry," on 
 the west bank of the lovely St. Joseph, is the home of Schuyler 
 Colfax. The city contains at present about 10,000 inhabitants. 
 It is clothed in beauty and throbbing with industry. With a 
 
AMONG THE HOOSIERS. 35 
 
 capacity for manufacturing beyond calculation, it ali-eady has 
 nine furniture factories, a wagon Victory — almost, if not quite, 
 as celebrated as Schuttler's — a pump factory, a clover 
 machine, and a drill factory. A paper mill will shortly 
 be erected, and woolen, and even cotton mills are talked of as 
 possible within a few years. The Singer Manufacturing Com- 
 pany have put up a building of brick, 40 by 150 feet in dimensions, 
 for the manufacture of their celebrated sewing machines, which 
 will be in operation in a month hence. The Company intend to 
 erect another building of the same dimensions. The whole will 
 employ, when completed, two hundred and fifty hands. This 
 Company employs in all its branches in the United States about 
 3,000 hands. Their capital stock is now five millions, all owned 
 by the workingmen of the Company. 
 
 South Bend began to burn gas about a month ago. There is 
 a workingman's library in the city. Two newspapers are pub- 
 lished ; one of them, the St. Joseph Valley Register, ^ir. Col- 
 fax's old paper, has a circulation of two thousand. Indiana 
 provides libraries for each township in the State, stocked with 
 general reading matter. The numbei' of volumes is proportioned 
 to the population of the town. The number of volumes in the 
 South Bend Library is seven hundred. Each family is allowed 
 two volumes per week. This is an excellent system, and worthy 
 to be adopted by other States in the Northwest. 
 
 The University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's Academy are 
 about two miles from the city, and are patronized by both 
 Catholics and Protestants, from all parts of the Union. The 
 D wight House, in its internal appointments, is one of the cosiest 
 hotels it has been our good fortune to stop at for many a day. 
 Its rooms are large, airy, and elegantly furnished. Not a thing 
 is wanting to the convenience or comfort of the most fastidious 
 guest, and the table is furnished with the best that the market 
 aifords. We remember the banquet of" Chapter twenty-nine," 
 when the parlors and dining hall of this little hotel shone re- 
 splendant, and we forgot that we were not in one of the grandest 
 hotels in the country. 
 
36 AMONG THE HOOSIEES. 
 
 MISHAWAKA, 
 
 is ninety miles from Chicago, and claims a popi^lation of 4,000 
 inhabitants. It, too, is on tlie St. Joseph river, and is a sprightly 
 and important town. There is considerable manufacturing 
 going on here. The place is growing quite rapidly, and there 
 are abundant signs of prosperity on every side. There are 
 several fine dry goods stores in the place, which seem to be 
 doing a fair trade for this season. 
 Eleven miles eastward we find 
 
 ELKHART, 
 
 with 4,000 population, a woolen factory, a paper mill, and two 
 weekly pajjers. The place seems to be an active trading ])oint, 
 and has many large and elegant stores. The Elkhart river here 
 reinforces the St. Joseph with her waters, and the place enjoys 
 a first-class hydraulic power. The Air-Line road branches off 
 from the Michigan Southern at this point, while the main line, a 
 few miles further east, enters the State of Michigan. 
 
THE CREDIT SYSTEM. 3? 
 
 THE CREDIT SYSTEM. 
 
 Before the Great Hebellioit the Northwest was bankrupt. 
 Two causes may be assigned for this, eitlier of which might 
 have beeu sufficient. First, she maiiiifactiired iio thing; second, 
 she bought every thing on credit. Her merchants procured 
 their wares in a far-off market, and trusted them out to every 
 body. Under such circumstanees success was a miracle and 
 failure the rule. The war came, and credit was refused. They 
 found their way to Chicago, accepted our tertiis, paid cash for 
 their goods, went into manufacturing, and began to make 
 money- Peace came, and thejr, forgetting the lessons of the 
 past, again demanded credit, obtained it, and again are lan- 
 guishing. Why? Because biiyijtg on time, though it does not 
 enoMe the merchant to do so, invariably induces him. to sell on 
 the same terms. Grain, pork and beef may be his security; 
 but suppose they are down, the holders of these products will 
 not sell them, and he must wait. If they would sell at market 
 value at harvest time — if farmers would keep their property 
 moving, whether it was up or down, as the merchant must do, 
 all would work well ; but they will not : hence the merchant 
 who sells them on credit must give them twice, and often thrice, 
 the time he gets on his goods, or close his business and go into 
 liquidation. Besides this, the system of procuring supplies of 
 merchandise in a distant market turns the balance of exchange 
 against us, and it is only a question of time when we shall again 
 be in a bankrupt condition, if this ruinous policy be not aban- 
 doned. 
 
 l^ow let us look for a moment at the economical aspect of the 
 question. 
 
 Were it not for the inevitable disaster that sooner or later 
 overtakes the merchant who does business on the credit system, 
 every Chicago jobber would be glad to avail himself of the 
 3* 
 
38 THE CREDIT SYSTEM. 
 
 immense profits wliicli Eastern jobbers realize on their time 
 goods. Every dealer knows that there is a diiFerence of ten 
 per cent, at least between cash and time prices. Let the Mich- 
 igan merchant go East in February and buy his spring stock. 
 On four months' he will purchase goods to sup})}y his trade 
 through March, April, May and June. It will take twenty days 
 often to get his goods in store. Ten days after receipt of goods 
 he may, if he is able, discount his bills, getting five per cent, 
 off — still i^nying Jive per cent, more for the goods than if bought 
 for cash. On the first of April he can buy the same goods of 
 the same parties five per cent, lower than he bought them in 
 February, in May five per cent, less than in April, and in June 
 ten per cent, less than in May; but he has bought them in Feb- 
 ruary, and cannot avail himself of the reduction. Perhaps his 
 trade is dull, and he will have to carry some of them over to 
 the next season, shop-worn, and with a year's interest added to 
 the cost ! Now it seems pretty clear from these figures that it 
 makes a difference of twenty-five per cent, to the New York 
 jobber, and in his favor, w^hen he sells fancy goods on four 
 months' time to the Western retailer. If the retailer Avould go 
 to New York every thirty days, he might take advantage of the 
 decline, but the distance and expense forbid this ; yet there 
 would remain the five per cent, additional for the privilege of 
 having " four months "marked on the head of liis bill, and there 
 is no way to countervail this except to buy for cash. 
 
 Let no dealer imagine that because he has always discounted 
 his bills he is an exception to the rule here laid down. He may 
 continue to discount, an,d he may not. The terms of his con- 
 tract do not require him to do so,, and the shrewd jobber does 
 not fail in making his prices to always proi^ide for the contin- 
 gency. The past season has been one in Avhich the best of 
 Western merchants have been unable to discount four months* 
 bills ; and the disastrous failure of the veteran house of Lathrop, 
 Ludington & Co. is one of the unhappy results of such inabil- 
 ity. Perhaps no four months' house in the United States is 
 pecuniarily strong enough to run a single year, if the time 
 were taken by all their customers, instead of anticipating their 
 paper. 
 
COMMERCIAL IN^DEPENDENCE CF THE NOKTIIWEST. 39 
 
 The credit system, however, is not absolutely ruinous. In 
 the purchase of lands for agricultural pursuits it has been, and 
 is, a great benefit to the individual and to the country. Why? 
 Because it stirrudates the production of roealth, and furtlier, 
 there can be no decline in the value of the soil of our country. 
 Its appreciation is inevitable ; and, besides, from the enduring 
 and immovable nature of this species of property, and the terms 
 of its conveyance, it may be, and invariably is, mortgaged for 
 the debt, thus securing the seller against any possibility of loss; 
 but in sales of merchandise, or other personal property which 
 is liable to fluctuation, where the title in fee usually passes from 
 the seller to the buyer the moment the goods are delivered, 
 credit only stimulates the consumption of wealthy and can be a 
 benefit neither to the individual nor to the country at large. 
 
 OOMMEEOIAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE NORTHWEST. 
 
 The experience of the decade now just closing proves that 
 the Northwest can manufacture its own domestic fabrics, and it 
 should distribute from its great commercial centre the foreign 
 goods it consumes. When the Pacific Railroad shall bo opened, 
 it will have superior facilities for doing so, and a new era will 
 begin in this bi-anch of commerce. The West must become a 
 great commercial empire. She has every essential element, and 
 the only qiiestion is, shall we pursue a policy that Avill develop 
 our vast resources and secure at once our commercial inde- 
 pendence, or shall we simph' develop the resources of the soil, 
 and leave our mineral wealth burrowed in the earth, and allow 
 our powerful streams to go " unvexed to the sea?" Sliall we 
 continue to be all farmers and middlemen, dependent upon 
 Eastern manufacturers and enpitalists, or shall we be farmers, 
 manufacturers, mereliants, and ca))italists ? Shall we continue 
 to exchange the products of our eternal fields for the cotton and 
 
40 COMMERCIAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE NOKTHWEST. 
 
 woolen fabrics we Avear, or shall we make these at home, and 
 sell the surplus of those for greenbacks or gold? Corn is king, 
 and his throne is here. All the world acknowledges his sove- 
 reignty, and pays tribute to him. If that tribute cannot be paid 
 in goods, it will be paid in gold. As soon as the Nortluvest 
 shall comprehend this fact, she will act upon it, and henceforth 
 her independence will be assured, and she will be imperial, for 
 being endowed by nature with gifts surpassing all other parts 
 of the world, Avhen her resources shall be developed her 
 aggrandizement will be supreme. She has the power now to 
 cause the wealth of the world to flow into rather than out of 
 her borders, and whatever policy will tend to permanently 
 secure this ingress of riches should at once be adopted. If 
 Western merchants will avail themselves of the obvious advan- 
 tages which the great distributing city of Chicago offers them 
 for obtaining their supplies, the point will be gained. The 
 capital already here will be kept circulating in the community, 
 and the entire profit will be enjoyed by the business of the 
 West. In its increase it will build up our city, creating and 
 enhancing the demand for every Western product. The tide 
 of aecumidating wealth will flow back on every town and 
 hamlet; it will open mines; it will discover coal-beds; it will 
 construct railways ; it will dig canals ; and it will unite the 
 great lakes to the ocean. It will establish factories on every 
 stream, and give employment to every idle hand. It will build 
 churches, it will found colleges and schools, and diftuse learning 
 throughout all its ramifications in the Northwest; and while 
 metropolitan Chicago rises up in majesty and splendor from the 
 lake, as Venus rose from the sea, the neighboring towns and 
 cities will form a string of pearls about her neck which must 
 rise and fall with her every respiration. Proud of her gems she 
 will be, and they in turn may feel proud of her, whose imperial 
 beauty they will adorn and augment. 
 
IRA P. BO¥EI & CO., 
 
 Importers and Jobbers of 
 
 Crockery, China, Glassware, 
 
 Lamps and Kerosene Goods, 
 
 ^0. 170 Lake Street, Chieago. 
 
 Ira P. Boweii. Asa ^Villiams. W. S. J. Sherwood. 
 
 Orders will receive ProiDpt and Careful Attention. 
 
 Wfdte Granite in Original Orate><^ assorted for Country Trade. 
 
 White Granite in Open Stocl\ Plain and Figured. 
 
 C. C. Blue Edged., Yelloio and HockingJmrn Ware. 
 
 China.^ Glassware., Fancy Goods, French, English and 
 German, cdl of our own importation, wJdch we offer at 
 Neio York prices loith addition of actaal freight. 
 
 The Largest and Best Assortment of American Glassirare. 
 
 An Endless Variety of Turrdders, Goblets, Salts and Glass 
 Set^, i'lated Goods of the very hesthrands and cdl thehe&t 
 manufacture. Kerosene Goods. Lamps of every kind 
 and Pattern. Chimneys, the largest stock in tlie West. 
 Chandeliers and. Bracket Lam jjs for Stores, Chtirches and 
 LL'Uses, with the lat>'St Improvements. 
 
 All oar Goods are of the l>e^f quality, and at prices that iclii 
 enahle huyers to meet the closest competition. 
 
HADLEY COMPANY 
 
 NEW SIX-CORD, SOFT FINISH 
 
 SPOOIi COTTON 
 
 Maiiufiictured by new Macliinery, embracing all tlie latest improvements known 
 in the maiuifacture of Spool Cotton, and witli special reference to tLc severe 
 requirements of the Sewins; Machine. 
 
 It is guaranteed equal or superior to any known Thread, and under such 
 guarantee is sold by leading Retailers in all principal cities, with the greatest 
 satisfaction to the consumers. 
 
 The little PICTURE BOXES, of Three Spools, different numbers, (put 
 up in Cartons of Forty Boxes or Ten Dazen Thread) are furnished without 
 extra charge, and are found by Retailers very attractive and useful in its 
 introduction. 
 
 Attrat'live Circulars, ^villi IVaiiic and Address of 
 Retailer at foot, are ftirnislied in quaiitily upon request 
 to all i>urelia*>ers of Iladley Thread. 
 
 ENCOURAGE HOME MANUFACTURES! 
 
 The new Hadley Thread is for sale bv 
 
 BOWffl, WHITMN « WINSLOW, 
 
 IS and 17 R.andoHph Stm^ Chicago. 
 
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