t was a still, clear day, bright and sunny. A
column of vapor rose many hundred feet above the falls, white as snow
where it was absorbed into the skies, and iridescent at the base, which
was wreathed in ceaseless rainbows. A practical eye could not fail to
observe that a portion of the enormous force here running to waste has
been utilized by means of a canal, dug from a point above the falls to a
plateau two miles below them, whereby some large grist-mills and
paper-manufacturing establishments are operated with never-failing
power. The usual round of sightseeing was performed on the following
day. When we remember that there is conclusive evidence of these falls
having been at a former period fully six miles nearer to Lake Ontario,
and consequently that there is a daily though infinitesimal wear going
on, it leads one to speculate as to what will be the probable result
when the great falls shall have receded so far as to open, at one
terrific plunge, the eastern end of Lake Erie.

Another day and night in the cars over the Great Western and Michigan
Railroad brought us to Chicago. Fifty years ago only a scattered tribe
of the Pottawatomies inhabited this spot on the shore of Lake Michigan,
where is now located the most important capital of the Northwestern
States. The commercial growth of Chicago is the natural sequence of its
situation at the head of the great chain of lakes, which form a medium
of unequaled inland navigation, supplemented by a railroad system of
nearly a score of trunk lines which centre within its limits. A drive
about the town served to impress us with a due appreciation of its
business enterprise and rapid growth in all the departments of education
and of art, which characterize a prosperous American community;
especially was a spirit of intense activity observable, entering into
every element of trade and business. The private houses of wealthy
merchants adorn the environs, while Lincoln and South Park, lying on
either side of the city, rival anything of the kind in Europe or
America. Chicago is the natural centre of the grain trade of our
continent, and we had almost said of the food-supply of the world, a
statement exemplified in the fact that, during the last year, one
hundred and fifty millions of bushels of grain passed through its
elevators.

The next objective point was Salt Lake City, the distance being over
sixteen hundred miles, to accomplish which we passed four days and
nights in