Scenes In (And En Route To) Kansas Territory, Autumn, 1854, ed. Louise Barry from KSHQ

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Scenes In (And En Route To) Kansas Territory,
Autumn, 1854:  Five Letters by William H. Hutter
Edited by Louise Barry
I.   Introduction
ABOARD the Missouri steamer Polar Star, Andrew II. Reeder,
an Easton, Pa., lawyer and politician, arrived at Fort Leavenworth October 7, 1854, to assume his duties as Kansas' first territorial
governor. On October 24 the editor of the Easton (Pa.) Argus set
out on a journey to Kansas. He was William H. Hutter, aged 29,
a relative (nephew?) by marriage of Governor Reeder (whose wife
was Amalia Hutter). Arriving at the new town of Leavenworth on
the Edinburg, November 4, he remained in the territory at least
till the end of the month; and during that time traveled west, by
way of Kansas river valley roads, as far as Fort Riley.
Five letters describing his journey to, and experiences in Kansas,
which were published in Hutter's newspaper are reprinted here.1
The first two (dated at St. Louis, October 27, and Leavenworth,
November 7) appeared under the heading "Letter from the Editor."
The succeeding three (Soldier Creek, November 14; Fort Riley,
November 18; and Fort Leavenworth, November 29) were headed
"Scenes in Kansas."
II.   The Letters
St. Louis, October 27, 1854.
I determined, before starting out for the "Far West," to take
notes of what I saw, with the hope that they might not prove uninteresting to the readers of the Argus, and at the same time, be of
some service to those who may intend to emigrate in this direction.
I left New York at 6 o'clock A. M., on Tuesday morning the 24th,
in company with Capt. Thomas Heckman of the "Half-way House,"
Louise Bahhy is a member of the staff of the Kansas State Historical Society.
1. From the Easton Public Library file of the Easton Argus, issues of November 9, .10,
December 21, 1854, and January 4, 1855. (The Argue issues of January 11 and 18, 1855,
contain Governor Rceder's letters of December 23 and 25, 1854, from ShRwnce Mission;
and the February 22, 1855, issue has a letter—written at Fort Riley, January 24—by
"Mai." Robert Klotz, one of Hutter's traveling companions of 1854.) The History of
Northampton County, Pennsylvania . . . (1877), p. 167, states that "Col." William
H. Hutter became editor of the paper he renamed Argus in 1844, at the age of 19! On
p. 266, in ibid., is a biographical sketch of Andrew H. Reeder. In 34th Cong., 1st Sess.,
H. n. No. 200 (Serial 869), p. 265, Robert Wilson, Fort Riley, in testimony given May 27,
1856, mentioned that Reeder's "nephew. Col. Hutter" (apparently referring to William
H. Hutter) had a land claim near Pawnee (the short-lived town in which Reeder held some
town-company snares). The biographical sketch of Reeder in Kansas Historical Collections
(KHC), v. 3, pp. 193-205, gives Mrs. Reeder's name as "Amelia" Hutter.
(312)
Letters by William H. Hutter
313
between Bethlehem and Easton, after securing a through ticket to
St. Louis, at the corner of Broadway and Courtlandt streets, at
$28.50. We reached Albany, at 10^ o'clock A. M., and the Suspension Bridge below Niagara Falls, 447 miles from New York at 11M
the same night. We concluded to take this route, over Canada West
to Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis, because it had been represented
as the fastest and best. We were assured that a prompt connexion
would be made all the way through, and that we would reach St.
Louis, 1287 miles, in 50 hours from New York.
We fared very well until we landed on Queen Victoria's possessions, in Canada, and then one disappointment followed anodier.
We left the Suspension Bridge at 12 o'clock on Tuesday night, and
did not reach Detroit until 1 o'clock P. M. the next day [October 25].
The "Great Western Railroad" (as it is termed,) is a grand humbug
and a miserable imposition on the travelling public. The Engineer
himself told me that they had not come up to their time nor made
a connexion in a whole month. The road is a splendid one, the
Cars wide and comfortable, but detention after detention occurred,
and occasionally, when the Conductor thought he was going too
fast, they would run back half a mile and take a fresh start. The
road passes through the most miserable region the human eye
could well rest upon. It is low, swampy and wet, without a single
redeeming feature to rest the eye upon, and seems to be inhabited
by a mixture of Canadian French, Americans, English, Dutch and
Highland Scotch. It would be an uncharitable supposition to imagine the whole of Canada to be made up of such miserable land.
But from Hertford to Windsor, a distance of 284 miles, not a single
respectable looking house relieves the eye from the monotonous
and tiresome view.
The living is in keeping with the appearance of the country. A
look at the "refreshments" in the saloons on the road, was sufficient
to drive away whatever appetite a wearisome ride had engendered.
We stopped to breakfast at London. Although we were to have
15 minutes to dispose of a cup of coffee, we had scarcely been
seated at the table before "all aboard" saluted our ears. A number
of gentlemen, determined not to pay 50 cents for nothing at all,
made a grab for provisions; one who had secured the carcass of a
Canadian fowl, discovered, after he resumed his seat in the cars,
that the Cook had forgotten to separate the foot from the leg of the
fowl. This may be fashionable among the Canadian Cooks, but a
connoiseur in such things, would perhaps prefer having the foot