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Letter from R. Fulton, Ballylay, Leckpatrick


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Letter from R. Fulton, Ballylay, Leckpatrick
My Travels Through America: April 1893


Transcribed/Donated by Faye Logue  & Rodger McCrea


I left Ballylaw at 7 o’clock on the morning of the 28 of April, sailed away from Derry Quay about noon on the tender, was on board the Ethiopia about 3 o’clock, so away we went.

The breeze began to freshen as we rounded Malin Head so we all got a little giddy.  I thought I could weather the breeze as I had a good constitution, but must say I failed.  Well I took no supper that night, was all right next morning, so I did not miss any more meals during the voyage.  We had pretty good weather for 3 or 4 days, but on the fifth it began to blow hard until it was almost a hurricane.  She reeled and pitched so that I could wished I had been at home.  Had I been at home, then I think I would remained there.  I met a Mr. Fanning on board, a nice kind of gentleman which pleased me very much.  He wrote a true description of our trip in prose which he got printed; he sent me three copies of the same.

Next day the weather calmed down.  I was much delighted watching the flying fish as they flew round, hunted as they said by the dolphin.  Also saw 2 whales on my voyage, one very convenient to the boat.  We ran in between 2 icebergs near the banks of Newfoundland, they were an awfully grand sight, though we would rather not have seen them.  But I’m sorry to relate another incident that happened on shipboard.  A poor fellow died of delirium tremens and was buried in a watery grave.  We cast anchor at Sandy Hook on the 10th night and arrived in New York port next morning.

I was hailed by a cabman as soon as I got clear of the wharf who asked me where I was going.  I told him, to the Anchor Line office.  He told me to jump into his buggy as that was what he was there for.  So I took him at his word as I thought he was there for the purpose of conducting the emigrants of the Anchor Liners, but had to pay him my $1.50, whilst if I had known my business, would only have cost me 5 cents on the street cars.  Thinks I to myself, this will sharpen you up my boy at the start, so I paid no more dollars for car rides after that - as I done the remainder of my riding, with the exception of my railway trips, on cable or electric cars which only charge 5 cents, no matter you rode 10 miles.  All small things there seems to be 5 cents.  If you get a plug of tobacco or a bag of cut and dry, it’s 5, if you get a glass of whiskey or a drink of lager beer, it is 5.  Every small thing you want is 5 cents.

They have got street or electric cars through all the large cities of America.  They are driven by electricity - run about 1 mile in 4 or 5 minutes - they are very convenient as nobody walks there.  When looking at them running you would not know how they were driven, no wonder the Dutch man passed the following remark, he said there was no pushy.

I left New York 8 o’clock Tuesday evening and landed in Newark Ohio 5 o’clock next evening, between 6 and 7 hundred miles, went through Philadelphia, Pomeroy along the Susquehanna River by Harrisburg, Lewistown, Huntingdon, Tyrone, Altoona through the Allegory mountains, around the horseshoe curve where you could count all the cars on each side of you without opening a window.  Through Johnstown the place that thas destroyed by flood 2 or 3 years ago and so many lives lost, it is all rebuilt and in good working order again.  It is all Ironworks from Johnstown until Pittsburg, is all coal and ironworks for a distance of nearly 100 miles.  There is a town there they call Derry.

From Pittsburg to Newcomerstown is an oil country.   There is a great many oil wells in this locality, in some places two or three in less than 1 acre of ground.  You can count them, as each well has what they call a derrick built over them of poles 50 or 100 feet high.  Went through Coshocton, a very splendid town.  Arrived in Newark at 5 o’clock tired, dusty and hungry but I was at home when I got there.  Stopped two weeks in Newark before I visited the World’s Fair or Columbian Exposition as they call it.  Was much in the country whilst there, seeing how they carried on the farm work, as they were planting corn and potatoes at the time, and admiring their herds of cattle and suchlike.   Their oats and wheat was covering the ground at this time.  Well if America is ahead of us in a very great many things, I think they are not ahead in good stock.  I have no doubt they keep what kinds pays them best.  Their milk and butter stock are the Jersey or Alderney cow, a small thin badly shaped dun cow.  It is wonderful to hear them tell what milk or butter some of these cows will give.  They have another larger and better shaped cow they keep near the cities for milk alone, Dexters I think they call them.

Out in the country they keep some shorthorn breed which they let suckle their offspring.  As for horses they have not so much variety, they are nearly all the
one breed.  They are a long sided, long legged, long eared, long tailed, long winded light boned horse - seem more adapted for driving than heavy carting.  A
thing they don’t have to do often as I never seen a cart there but one, and it was at the World’s Fair and might be over half a century old.  There was not a single piece of iron in the whole cart - and all the tools it seemed to me was required to make it was a handsaw, hatchet and augur.
They have not much manure to haul out for potatoes there, neither do they draw many turf from the mountains or bogs.  

There is one thing I see, that their horses are better breed than ours, you will never hear of a horse running away there, they will stand tied to a hitching post for hours and never move.  This I wondered at until I found out the mystery.  The first day I went out to the country I saw a foal of some two weeks old standing tied to a gate at the end of a field, whilst its mother and another horse was ploughing in the same field, so I seen it was learn young, learn fair.  I believe what’s learned in youth is not soon forgot by either man or beast.  Their 'pigs' are all raised in the fields, I think there’s not many of them goes down in the legs there.  They are a small black breed, a kind of Berkshire.  Their sheep don’t seem large either. We left Newark on the evening of the 23rd May and arrived in Chicago next morning,  a distance of about 400 miles, which is as level as a book.  This day we spent through the town, visiting the central part of the city or the portion which was all destroyed by fire some 22 years ago.  There I saw some of the largest houses and highest in the world, the first house we remarked was 120 yards square, 8 storey high, built of cut granite stone.  The first 3 houses of stones above the ground floor was l4 and 18 feet long alternately, 3 feet deep and 3 broad, these stones must weigh over 20 tons.  This house is a dry goods store - belongs to Marshall Field & Co.

There is another house they call the fair and I think this is well named.  This house occupies the whole block it covers, about 5 acres of ground, is 12 storey high, so it must have 60 acres of flooring, we went into this house to see how business was carried on.  Bought some knickknacks as souvenirs and had a cup of tea or coffee, I don’t remember which, in a restaurant there, as they have everything from an needle to an anchor, I’m very sure.   There was more shop boys and attendants in one floor of that building than in the town of Strabane.

In this house they had a department for every kind of articles that is wanted, in either town or country by anybody and it’s your own fault if you leave it either hungry or dry. The house in this portion of the city is from 8 to 18 storey high and I’ve been in one 21 storey, a house 365 rooms, one of these houses was a Masonic Temple or Hall. There is no going upstairs in these houses.  You can go from bottom to top or from top to bottom, whilst you would be footing one flight of stairs.  All the larger houses have elevators which are running up and down from morning to night. These houses are all built fire proof as this is the part that was destroyed by fire some time ago.  They are nearly all built of iron and brick.  The floors are iron and tile or iron and concrete, so that there is not much danger of a great fire there again.

We spent the remainder of that day through Washington Park, a splendid place, covering some six or eight hundred acres.  I’ve seen there on a Sunday afternoon 60 to 80 carriages pass to the minute all on pleasure, and I must say the best horses I ever saw.  Sunday is not well kept there, as you would see people there at all kinds of work and pleasure.  So I can’t say much for the morals of the place. Well I suppose you think its time I was going to the Fair.  I’m just off now after a good nights sleep, start at 8 o’clock in the morning and stop to 8 at night, a very tiresome job.  This we kept up for four days with the exception of Sunday which came in the midst of them, which was very necessary, as I was never more tired in all my life.

Well I may tell you that the fair grounds alone cover an area of 700 acres.  The first house we visited was the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building.  This house covers an area of 30½ acres.  It is three times larger than the Cathedral of St. Peter’s in Rome, which is the largest in the world, supposed to be.  There is a gallery around this house; there are 44 acres of floor in it.  There is 17,000,000 feet of timber, 12,000,000 lbs of steel in trusses in central hall, 2,000,000 lbs of iron in roof of nave.  The timber in this building represents 1,100 acres of average Michigan pine forest.  The height of roof of centre of hall is 245 feet.  In this building every nation I may say under the sun had an apartment of its own, showing off their own manufacture and art.  Great Britain occupied a large area and her section is extensive, ample and quite completely filled, rows upon rows of large strong cases are filled with fine wares, containing the solid, substantial and useful.  I would say it was, if not the best, not far from it.

Germany occupied a very large space, France as well.  Italy showed some fine glass, paintings and fancy work glass mirrors, etc.  Switzerland showed some of the best carving I ever saw.  They had a splendid show of Music Boxes, watches, clocks, barometers, telescopes, etc., files, carving and drawing tools.   Siam exhibit appeared grand as everything appeared to be set with diamonds.  They show some splendid dressed skins and horns of animals.  They had elephant’s tusks 9 or 10 feet long which must have been of a very old date.  The Japanese department was one of much interest. The Russian section in this building is particularly distinguished, its fine furs, artistic furniture, magnificent hand made rugs, etc.  There is a case of Jewellery from Ireland which attracts attention, the case contains shrines and relics of historic interest, the tooth of St. Patrick which fell on the door sill of St. Brones Church, another is St. Patrick’s Cross - the Book of Kells is a manuscript of the 8th century and contains the four Gospels in Latin.

The great clock tower which stands in the centre of the building makes an interesting exhibit, on each side of the tower the dials point to the time of day, but each dial shows the time of a different country. This hall is lighted by 10,000 electric lights, in it we spent one day but it would have taken a week to have seen it properly, as every country has an exhibit there of its manufacturing and hand works, etc. Next day we visited the Electric Building, this building covers 9½ acres, this building was specially designed for electrical illumination at night - it is the most beautiful house I ever seen both outside and inside surrounded by statuary and fancy works of plaster and carving outside, as all the buildings are, it is equally as nice inside being surrounded by every kind of electric light of every shade and colour.  The scenery of this place after night, it would be impossible to describe, for to try to do so would only darken the picture.

Here all the Edison works and inventions are exhibited, Telephony, Phonography and Electricity.  Here is to be seen any amount of Phonograph machines - I have listened to speeches from them and music as from a brass band and songs comic and sentimental.  There was nothing pleased me so well as a good old Irish comic song as from a real old Irishman, as it seemed to be an old man’s voice in good humour.  I really imagined I seen him act it - it was so very real.

The next place we visited was the Transportation Building.  These buildings cover an area of 18½ acres.

It includes every appliance and vehicle for carrying purposes, from a cash carrier to a balloon and from a baby’s perambulator to a model engine.  Here is shown all kinds of locomotives, from the first that was built by G. & R. Stevenson up to the Great Flyer who ran from Chicago to New York in 18 hours.  Here they have models of all kinds of steam boats, from the first R. Fulton launched on the Hudson, until the latest invention - the Great Campania who can press the Atlantic in 5 days.  I seen there a model of the Battleship, the Victoria, who perished in the Mediterranean lately, they have also Grace Darling’s boat there, which you have all read of.  Here they have all kinds of wagons and coaches for traffic and farm use both old and new inventions.

Several of the first coaches was fully mounted with splendid horses extremely well harnessed, hitched to the coach with driver on the dickie, the horses so complete that you could see the very veins in their body.  I could defied those who did not know at 20 yards to tell whether they were real or artificial, also men riding on horses just as natural looking.

But I must leave this building and go on to another.  We will now visit the machinery hall.  The floor of the main building covers 17½ acres, with the annex building where the boilers and power machinery is for driving all the other machinery, it covers over 6 acres so that the whole building covers nearly 24 acres -this building cost $1,200,000.  Here is the wonderfullest display of machinery the world ever saw, all in full motion.  These machines are driven by engines of 24,000 horse power, it was a place I did not like to stop long in, the buzz of machinery was so terrible.  They have all sorts of machinery you would say ever was invented, from the great power mill for driving electric cars and lighting cities, to the smallest machine.

The Americans seem to do every thing by machinery and make everything.  There was any amount of weaving machines, knitting, sewing, typewriting, printing, sawing, planing, jointing, steel press making, turning, etc.

I seen a machine turning stocks of guns without a man putting his hand to it, the flat part as well as the round, which I could not believe myself if I had not seen it.  They have machines for making the simplest things.  They have machines for making paper from wood.  I seen bales of the strongest paper I ever saw made from cotton wood or fir.  I brought some of it with me.  They can throw a block of wood into a machine there and have it out in a printed newspaper in one hour, this I did not see working but I believe they can do it.

I now turn my attention to the Agriculture Building; this building covers an area of 19 acres - cost between 7 & 8,000,000 dollars.  This building is most richly ornamented with many groups of statuary of great size.  Agriculture and its kindred interests of forestry, dairy and live stock has exhibited space under roof of 90 acres, the buildings costing $1,218,000.  Everything the land produces as a crop with the exception of fruit is shown here, one States exhibition more beautiful than another, every State showing its own kind of crops.  This Exhibit is not confined to the States alone.  Great Britain, France, Germany, South America, New South Wales all lead in the variety of exhibits.  If I had been judge, I think I would have given France first prize for cereals.

In the annex to the Agricultural Building, was the agricultural machinery and implements for farming from all parts of the world, everything that the most practical farmer in the country could desire, from the garden rake to the steam thrasher and the hoe to the sulky plough.  I never saw so much farm machinery in all my life.  In the centre of this building was one bench above another like stairs round and round, these were all filled with implements such as ploughs, grubbers, etc., as clear as silver on top step to crown them all was an old scotch plough with not one inch of iron.  She was probably 100 years old.

There is a tower in the British section of this building; the entire tower is made of bottles of whisky, by a Dublin Distiller.  It contains 1,200 bottles of the very best liquid.  Many a one cast a longing glance at it.

Then we have the hide and leather building.  This building is 150 x 575 feet; the second floor shows 175 machines in full operation, turning out 1,000 pairs of shoes per day.  In this building is seen one of the most interesting exhibits at the Fair, from the fact that all are interested in what they wear on their feet and hands.  In fact everything that is made of leather is on exhibit there.  It was there I saw the largest hide of leather ever I saw, or ever will again.  It would make a carpet for a pretty large sized room.  Then there is the music hall with 500 vocal singers, besides bands both brass and string to no end.

Then there is the Convent of La Rabida, it is an exact reproduction of the convent of La Rabida in Spain, where Columbus found shelter in time of adversity for himself and boy and where he developed his theory of an undiscovered continent in the West.

There is another building they call the Forestry, whose floor covers over 2½ acres. This building is built all of wood; it is entirely surrounded by a row of rustic columns of natural tree trunks with the bark on.  Each state in the union supplies 3 trees typical of the timber of the state.  In this building they have the first woods of every country in the world. I saw three logs from Washington, a spruce, a fir and a cedar 40 yards long and 6 feet in diameter.  I saw a portion about 30 feet of a big tree from California.  They had all the centre scooped out, had what I call a corkscrew stair up inside.

On the end of this tree between 3 and 4 hundred men could get standing room, allowing 2 feet for each.  It cost $20,480 to bring it to the Fair.  This tree was 300 feet high, 101 circum., at base.  There is a building they call the Anthropological, in this building.  This shows the different races of men an women, their dress and costume, I think since the world began.  There can be seen relics from all countries of all ages of the world, articles of warfare and husbandry can be seen that go back several thousand years before the Christian era.  I think the most interesting thing in this exhibit is collection of mummies from Egypt and other countries. Here they have the first chair used In New York for executing criminals by electricity.  I think they have all the different species of birds and animals of the world shown here, all stuffed shown in their most natural positions. Here they had 137 species of Hummingbird, 8 kinds of eagles, 16 of pheasants, 12 species of monkey, 6 of squirrels, 17 of rats and mice. The mines and minerals building is another interesting building, it covers an area of nearly 9 acres.  Here the best of the mineral production of the earth is shown.

I have seen a piece of zinc ore there 12,750 lbs weight, nuggets of coal from Washington State 50,250, from England coal nuggets 60,000 lbs.

Here was shown petrified wood from Dakota in great abundance turned into stone.  This wood was harder than any stone and heavier than iron, you could see the years growth in this timber, here was nuggets of gold worth thousands of pounds.  I believe it was here they showed the different coins of each realm since coin was introduced for the purpose of exchanging merchandise.  They have all the different coins of the world up to the present day.  They have gold, silver, copper and brass and even wood, stone and leather coins from time immemorial, from the size of a saucer to the size of a three cent piece of silver.

I believe that different coins they had if place edge to edge would reach from here to Derry.  There was coins there worth £10 so you could lift them and look at them and nobody seemed to care, I think they must be very honest out there.  I have not seen as many people in Strabane as I have seen at the World Fair, where there was hundreds of thousands every day.

Then we have the Krupp gun exhibit from Germany.  Here they have all kinds of guns with the great 100 tun gun.  The Government building is another splendid house, its dimensions covers a little over 6 acres.  This building shows the War Department, State Post Office, Treasury, Justice, Agriculture Fish Commission, National Museum and Smyth Institute.  The mint shows every coin made in the U.S.  There they have a map of the U.S., 400 feet square, made of plaster.  Here you see the height of all the mountains, the great plains and rivers, also the towns and where placed.

This is a most interesting map.  This building shows many relics of olden times. I go on now to the Fish and Fisheries Building.  It covers an area of a little
over 3 acres, it was supposed by some to be fully the nicest building at the Exposition.  Here they have a great exhibit of both salt and fresh water fish, all
alive.  The Salt water they bring from the Atlantic Ocean condensed to 1/5 its bulk restores it to its original bulk at the tanks by fresh water.  The water capacity at the Aquaria is 140,000 gal.  The large tanks are arranged in a circle around the fountain and are divided into fresh and salt water sections.  The tanks are raised from the floor and the interior of each is modelled after the natural arrangement of rocks and sand as in streams, lakes or seas - among the most prominent to be seen in fresh water are the trout, bream, bass, carp, tench, sunfish, golden ide, red horse sucker and perch, pike, gar, sheephead, goldfish in great schools and hundreds of others in salt water section.  Golden turtle, king crabs, yellow breasts, rock crabs, michogs, tautogs, gunners, fiddler crabs, sand shark - star and pilot fish, etc.  All this fish you can easily see.  The tanks are arranged for that purpose.  In the Government building is the United States fishery exhibit here.  The process of fish hatching is shown, great glass boxes are filled with spawn of fresh water fish.  In small tanks may be seen the little funny creatures in all their stages of development. This exhibit contains everything in the line of sea and coast fishing, specimens of a great many varieties of sea fish and sea monsters are to be seen, walrus larger than an ox, sea lions, seals and other monsters of the deep. 

We must go now to the Horticulture building, dimensions, 200 by 998 feet, floor area over 6½ acres.  It has a dome in the centre 132 feet high.  Here can be seen fruit of such enormous proportions that a simple statement of their size would not be credited.  Apples, peaches, pears, plums, grapes, lemons, pineapple, cucumbers, potatoes and many other variety of fruit and vegetables, each of which would make a meal for a small family.  In this building there is a crystal cave to represent a cave in South Dakota that was found out a year or two ago.  I was in it, it is well lighted with electricity, on top of this cave they have tropical plants of all varieties, palm trees, from tropical climates plants growing without earth, or any substance whatever.  Outside this building there was many fruit trees from tropical climates, they had orange and lemon trees as well, ladened with fruit which looked splendid and any amount of foreign plants and flowers.

We will turn now to the Fine Arts building, the floor area of this building is over 5 acres, there is 13,000,000 bricks in this building, 1,350,000 pounds of structural iron, 3,000,000 feet of timber.  This building is fire proof; there is 16 rooms in it. Great Britain was not behind in this department.  Italy was very good, so was the United States.   This was the most splendid display to the lover of fine arts the world ever saw.  The display contains almost every conceivable subject that a Sculptor could utilize and fashion from marble and bronze.  This building and its exhibits, the city of Chicago is going to buy out for a museum. There is what they call the Women’s Building.  I was not in it although I believe everything was very perfect and very grand.  There was the bee and honey exhibit, the Dairy exhibit which was not finished, so I did not see the 12 ton chocks and the livestock exhibit was not finished, so I did not see the stock.  Then there was the battleship on the lake and several other buildings besides the state and foreign buildings.  They had a splendid artificial lake through the grounds which looked very natural; there was all kinds of waterfowl on this lake besides lots of little boats driven by gas or electricity for pleasure.  They had a wooded island in the centre of this lake with little wild animals running through it such as squirrels, etc., and lots of fowls.  This island was nicely adorned with flowers and shrubs. Besides all these there is 47 buildings called State Buildings one got up by each state.  These state buildings are built by the state according to their own style of architecture and each state exhibits it own produce, crops, fruit, mines and minerals, its animals and vegetables.  I cannot go over each State individually. I will give an illustration by showing one or two states and their produce.  The California State building has the grandest display of fruit I believe can be got in the world; in fact, you could not mention a fruit that is not on show there. They have potatoes there 6 lbs weight, Late Eose they call them, beetroot or mangle, 75 lbs, Hubbard squash, 81 lbs, orange pumpkin, 140 lbs.  Washington State shows baskets of potatoes 3 lbs weight, mangola 30 lbs, turnips 25 lbs, parsnips 3 feet long, fish, fowls and animals.  They show the skeleton of a mastodon there 15 feet high, horns about 8 feet long and about 27 inches in circumference, wonderful looking animal, had model farms in full working order (150 bushel of oats to the acre) nugget of coal 50,250 lbs weight, red fir tree 9 feet diameter, spruce tree 8 feet.  The building stood on 4 squared logs of wood each log was 45 yards long, 3 x 4 feet thick. They had a flag pole of 200 feet long in one piece standing erect at the entrance; the doorstep was a flag of red sandstone 26 x 8 feet. All other state buildings had something similar.

Now I must leave Jackson Park and visit what is known as Midway Plaisance - here all the foreign villages are.  I cannot go into a minute description of the villages. There is 80 acres under these buildings.

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Laplanders marry at the age of 10 and 12 hence it is possible to become many times a grandparent. I was in an Australian menagerie, saw a great many kinds of wild animals, saw some wonderful things done by them.  Thing I thought was an impossibility, was in a place they call the Libbey glass works; here they were moulding and manufacturing glass into every shape and form.  But what drew my attention most was spinning and weaving it.  I saw a man spin more glass in 5 minutes than all the old women in Ulster would do in a week.  Also two young girls weaving it, it was as fine as silk.  The Infanta or Queen of Spain bought the making of a dress of it whilst I was there.

I had almost forgot to tell you of the Great Ferris Wheel, which is 250 feet high running perpendicularly, it has 36 cars round the rim for the purpose of carrying people.  Each car holds forty persons so that it can carry 1,400 people at once; it makes one revolution in 20 minutes.  The weight of this wheel when full of people is 1,200 tons, it is all built of iron very near the form of a bicycle wheel. I think it is about time I was leaving this great Fair.

Next day we went to see Armour’s slaughter house but were disappointed as it was Decoration Day, the workmen getting a holiday.  But we saw it in a miniature scale at the Fair.  Armour’s slaughtering firm when working full hands, I was informed, slaughters 2,500 sheep, 3,500 cattle and 4,000 hogs each day.  There is several other firms of the same sort in Chicago, but none of them so large.

We went to see the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a Congress of rough riders of the world.  This show is outside of the Fair grounds.  This is a most extraordinary entertainment.  The marksmanship of Colonel Cody or Buffalo Bill as he is called, Mr Baker and Miss Oakley defy the world.  They can break 4 glass balls about half size of a cricket ball thrown into the air by a machine all at once, each by a single bullet from a repeating rifle before they fall.  Buffalo Bill himself can break 20 glass balls in quick succession thrown up by a man on horseback at the full gallop, Bill following at the same speed and not miss a single shot.  This is by a repeating rifle also.

The exciting and interesting riding of Bucking horses or Bronco shows by cowboys, the feats of skill and strength of the Arabs, the clash and daring horsemanship of the Cossacks, the beautiful evolution of the various soldiers of the world, the representation of life and customs among the Indians, together with Buffalo hunts, lassoing, capturing and riding wild horses and other wild west scenes, make it one of the most exciting and enjoyable entertainments the world ever saw - I have saw there the Indian war dance done by real Indians, their battles with whites and among themselves, splendid scene.

Now I think it is time I was leaving this great city Chicago which is only 65 years old, it covers an area of 160 square miles with nearly 1½ million inhabitants, and I think they expect it will soon be as large again, as they have streets and footpaths made and laid out for 7 or 8 miles outside the city.

Left Chicago on the 1st day of May, stopped another week at Newark and 3 days at Cleveland - a very nice town on the shore of Lake Erie.  Left Cleveland on the morning of 8th June, took the lake shore route amid splendid scenery.  The half of the country from Cleveland to Buffalo is vineyards, they are planted in rows about 6 feet apart so that they can labour them with horses, they appear to be well kept.  Went right on to see the Niagara Falls, the most magnificent sight in the world.  There is two falls, the water is divided at the mouth of the lake by a little island they call Goat Island.  About 2/3 of the water go over the horse shoe or great fall, the remainder over the American falls.  You might have some idea of this immense cataract, when I tell you that it is 3,000 feet broad and 20 feet deep on the edge or brow of the precipice, falling to the enormous depth of 160 feet into a boiling chasm - and to get some idea of the rapids below the fall some 2 miles, imagine a flood of water 200 feet deep and about 400 feet broad confined between two rocks 100 feet above that, running down hill 50 or 100 feet to the mile, an awfully grand sight. There is 3 suspension bridges across these rapids.  I went over one of them to have

it said I was in Canada, had to pay to get on it.  Stopped there about 1 hour then started for New York.  Stopped there one night with friends, went to see Brooklyn Bridge next day, another great wonder of this place.  (Page torn)  Began to get homesick when I saw one of the Anchor liners, ready to start for Moville, thought I would go along the Furngoia) got my ticket signed and off I goes.  Had a splendid passage home, left New York on the 10th June, arrived in Ballylaw on the 20th safe and sound and was glad to see all my friends and relatives and they seemed to enjoy seeing me.

The only thing I regret now is that I did not stay another week or two in that wonderful country.

I have told you what I could in as few words as possible and if I have told you an untruth, I do not know it, neither did I mean it.  So I bid you good night.


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