Friday, August 28, 2009 11:21 AM CDT
USA's Yesterdays: America in 1876 - A Scotsman takes this nation's measure
By Hal Malehorn
Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the United States was like in its centennial year — especially as revealed by a visitor from afar?
Well, that is just what John Leng, editor of the Dundee (Scotland) Advertiser set about finding out. And he detailed his findings in a work titled (appropriately enough) “America in 1876.”
That he was pleasantly informed as a result of his quest is apparent in his inscription at the beginning of the work: “Dedicated to the Many Kind Friends Who Assisted in Making the Visit to the United States Full of Pleasant Recollections.”
In truth, the author’s writings describing his visit were not intended for publication in book form; they originally appeared in print as letters from this continent to readers of his newspaper back in Dundee. But so many friends urged wider circulation that Leng was persuaded to make the set more generally available.
John Leng had arrived in Philadelphia aboard a vessel of the White Star Line. He disembarked in mid-summer following the opening of the monumental celebration of this nation’s centennial, in the City of Brotherly Love. Although the city was experiencing “a hot spell,” Leng dutifully toured the exhibits in Fairview Park on Philadelphia’s west side.
There he was impressed with the examples of America’s manufactures, and agricultural abundance — especially those of the Midwest. “Illinois and Iowa seem to be modern Goshens, abounding in corn, cattle, and timber,” he noted.
Having satisfied his curiosity in Philadelphia, Leng continued his cross-country jaunt to Niagara Falls, where he underwent the obligatory experiences at that site: the wet and wild descent into the Cave of the Winds behind the American Falls; the sunshine illuminating both cascade and spray; the appearance of multiple rainbows; a swim in a rock-bound pool.
Leng’s next stop was Detroit, and thence overnight by sleeping car to Chicago, where he remarked upon both the size of the city, and the speed with which it had recovered from its disastrous fire just five years before.
Chicago (Leng found) was a city of great hotels, in particular the Palmer House, the Grand Pacific, the Sherman and the Tremont — all quite large and first-class. Some of the downtown structures, he reported, towered eight stories into the air.
And while that city’s grain elevators, waterworks, stockyards and Board of Trade merited almost-mandatory visits, Leng was most taken by the reversal of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This was achieved by deepening that waterway on its west end, thus reversing the drainage of the entire urban region.
1876 was a presidential election year; this prompted Leng to remark that “the electoral system is already becoming complicated.” The rules and dates for elections varied as to their purpose: one set for choosing the nation’s president, another for congressmen, still another for judges, a fourth for state legislators, a fifth to fill local political offices.
Still, he observed that “in the great Republic, it is possible for a rail-splitter, surveyor, and country attorney to become one of the greatest Potentates on earth, and to die lamented by his own countrymen, and all civilized nations.”
Crossing by rail the Great Plains, Leng was bemused by the “burgs,” such as Buffalo Station, Arroyo, Monument and Monotony, each calling itself a “city,” though each population numbered fewer than 25.
The transcontinental railway won Leng’s plaudits all the way to California, as it was an engineering marvel of its day — or any day. In fact, for three hours one day Leng rode on the locomotive’s cow-catcher, where he enjoyed “a visual feast of wild and rugged grandeur.” Names of spires en route intrigued him: Witches’ Battlement, the Tombs, Pulpit Rock, Needles and Sentinel.
Leaving Ogden, Utah, Leng discovered that for one 600-mile stretch there was not one white inhabitant. But, to enliven the journey, the wooden trestles bridging deep gullies creaked ominously beneath the weight of the passing train.
Arriving in San Francisco, Leng intended to travel on to Oregon, but discovered a 275-mile gap in the railway system. This missing link, while forcing him to continue his trek to Portland by stagecoach, allowed him a chance to tour the riverine salmon canneries along the way.
Judging from the number of fish tossed aside, and the waste involved in reckless processing, Leng opined, “There is some danger of the business being overdone.”
Everything about Oregon’s Willamette Valley stirred the author — its climate, its farms and orchards, its river, its people. As Leng was there in September, the spring wheat was just then being gathered in, then “headed and thrashed.”
The wonders of the age — steam-powered threshers — were employed (in addition to threshing) in a variety of farmstead tasks: cutting wood, steaming foodstuffs, operating other labor-saving devices, and even churning butter.
From Oregon the author ventured farther north, traversing Washington Territory. His rail ride through seemingly endless forests was almost overwhelming. Eventually he arrived in Seattle, where he gloried in the beauties of Puget Sound.
Back by ship to San Francisco, Leng foresaw great things for that city by the bay. After all, it was the principal West Coast outlet for products of mining, agriculture and lumbering. And, in turn, it was the chief terminus of incoming commerce from the Orient, India, New Zealand and Australia.
Unhappily (Leng wrote), while the Californians relied on the labor of Chinese and Japanese immigrants, the white employers were continually abusing them. Apparently the merchants and other elites (he surmised) were offended by the orientals’ industry, thrift, sobriety, neatness and honesty.
The other unfortunate circumstance of San Francisco (Leng suggested) was its likelihood of being swallowed up by earthquakes.
Returning to the East Coast by rail, Leng was severely critical of only one American custom: the political campaigning that seemed to have become a perpetual phenomenon.
On a more positive note, as he departed America for Scotland, Leng noted that his baggage everywhere had been handled “quietly and in good order, with never a misadventure or delay.”
It’s safe to say that modern-day travelers, having experienced Leng’s good luck with their baggage, would likewise consider it a marvel — and maybe even a miracle!
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