As I had determined to reach Ottawa by nightfall, I was compelled to ride nearly all day in a drizzling rain which at noon was followed by a heavy thunder shower. This I took advantage of by stopping at Seneca for dinner, and then pushed forward. Was forced to halt again at three o'clock on account of rain, and being near a farm house was invited to "come in" while the good people took care of my horse.
Overtook a troop of boys on horseback near Ottawa and had their lively company into town. There I met an old acquaintance—Mr. Kean—who was among the first to greet me. My time was passed pleasantly here, and I would do injustice to the proprietor of the Clifton were I to forget the many courtesies politely extended to me while his guest.
One hundred and Thirty-third Day.
Harrison House,
La Salle, Illinois,
September Twenty-first.
Left the Clifton House, Ottawa, at two P. M. The weather was still in an unsettled condition which obliged me to make my way as best I could between showers in order to keep my lecture appointment at La Salle. I considered it fortunate that my route was now along the west bank of the Illinois, a stream in which I had long been interested owing to the important part it played as a convenient and favorite water course for the early explorers of the Valley of the Mississippi. Between its verdant banks, Joliet, Marquette, La Salle and others glided on their way to the great stream. How the lover of history and adventure thrills at the accounts of La Salle's Fort Crève-Cœur, and his colony scattered over this same region of country!
Probably none of these historic men paid a more flattering tribute to "La Rivière des Illinois" than Hennepin, the priest, who, when passing down it to the Mississippi was not too much oppressed with anxiety to admire its charms. What a different appearance its shores presented in 1680 to that of 1876! In place of the forest, waving corn fields under high cultivation attracted my attention on every hand, and in contrast to the wilderness inhabited by the savages whom Hennepin encountered, I saw an emigrant train peaceably moving along on its way from the East to the promising country west of the Mississippi.
One hundred and Thirty-fourth Day.
Harrison House,
La Salle, Illinois,
September Twenty-second.
The equinoctial storms were now at their height and as my lecture at Davenport was not to be delivered for some days, I decided to spend a day or two in this pleasant little city, until "Old Sol" had "crossed the line."
I found that this is the centre of important coal and lead mines, which I should have visited and examined, superficially at least, had not the inclement weather prevented. Through the courtesy of Colonel Stephens, editor of the La Salle County Press and a colonel in the volunteer service during the late war, I was introduced to many of the citizens who told me much of the history and enterprises of their town.