It Is A Large, Well-Built, Half-
Finished City Lying On A Convenient Waterway, And Spreading Itself
Out With Promises Of A Wide And Still Wider Prosperity.
It has
about it perhaps as little of intrinsic interest as any of those
large Western towns which I visited.
It is not so pleasant as
Milwaukee, nor so picturesque as St. Paul, nor so grand as Chicago,
nor so civilized as Cleveland, nor so busy as Buffalo. Indeed,
Detroit is neither pleasant nor picturesque at all. I will not say
that it is uncivilized; but it has a harsh, crude, unprepossessing
appearance. It has some 70,000 inhabitants, and good accommodation
for shipping. It was doing an enormous business before the war
began, and, when these troublous times are over, will no doubt
again go ahead. I do not, however, think it well to recommend any
Englishman to make a special visit to Detroit who may be wholly
uncommercial in his views, and travel in search of that which is
either beautiful or interesting.
From Detroit we continued our course westward across the State of
Michigan, through a country that was absolutely wild till the
railway pierced it, Very much of it is still absolutely wild. For
miles upon miles the road passes the untouched forest, showing that
even in Michigan the great work of civilization has hardly more
than been commenced. One thinks of the all but countless
population which is, before long, to be fed from these regions - of
the cities which will grow here, and of the amount of government
which in due time will be required - one can hardly fail to feel
that the division of the United States into separate nationalities
is merely a part of the ordained work of creation as arranged for
the well-being of mankind.
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