The New Hampshire Gazette

MISCELLANY

To the Editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette.

I take the liberty of sending you a few
sketches of a country but little visited or
little known. They are gleaned from oc-
casional conversations with a friend, who
was formerly in the habit of annually vi-
siting that section of our country, of which I
have here attempted a light description.
That they may derive an interest from be-
ing new, and a reception at least not un-
welcome, from the motive with which they
are given, is the limit of my expectations
or wishes:

Sketches of the Upper Lakes, including the
settlements of Detroit, Mackinack and Green
Bay.

In making a voyage to the upper Lakes,
the most convenient port to make for, from
this place is Erie. From thence you can
at any time in the summer season, secure
passage on board some merchant vessel
bound for Detroit or Mackinack. Lake
Erie is not so wide but you can at all times,
of a clear day, see land on one or the other
of its shores. Though not so large as the
lakes above, it is not generally considered
of so safe or pleasant a navigation. In
comparison with Lakes Huron and Mich-
igan, it is narrow and shallow. It affords
but few good harbors, and is subject to fre-
quent and heavy squalls of wind, creating a
short quick sea, more dangerous and un-
pleasant than the mountainous roll of Lake
Huron. The first harbor you make on this
passage, is at the islands, near the head of
the lake: a large cluster, in the midst of
which stand the Put in Bay Islands, render-
ed so famous in our late war: here you
are, not unfrequently, compelled to lie for
several days, waiting a wind for Malden.
Your course from Erie, which had been a
little south of west, is now changed to near-
ly N. N. W. to the mouth of Detroit riv-
er. The islands in this cluster are very nu-
merous, nor do I know that they have been
counted; some of them are large and well
timbered, of a good soil, and affording quan-
tities of lime-stone from whence the inhabi-
tants of the southern shore of the lake are
supplied with this article. They are again
subdivided into smaller clusters, and are de-
signated by the sailors "the old sow and
her pigs, the old hen and her chickens, the
three sisters," &c.

On some of these there are inhabitants.
One of the Put in Bay islands had been
much improved by Col. Edwards of the
Connecticut Reserve, who had a good farm
and a stock of cattle on it at the commence-
ment of the war but since his death in 1813
has been little or none attended to. From
Erie to these islands is 150 miles, and from
thence it is 30 more to the mouth of De-
troit river, which you greet with infinite
pleasure, after suffering as you frequently
do, in a boisterous and unpleasant passage of
six or even days, in a small but dirty ves-
sel: though latterly the accommodations
have become much better, and the steam
boat will almost destroy the unpleasantness
of a lake voyage. Malden, a small, dirty
town of a few houses and a British garrison,
you leave on the east side, and pass a little
above the mouth of the river, up which you
continue your course nearly due north.
This is a beautiful strait, through which all
the waters of the upper lakes pass on to the
Falls of Niagara. It is from one to two
miles wide, and deep enough to receive
ships of the largest class—at Malden alone
it is narrow, and divided by the island of
Bois Blanc, the ship channel running on the
west or British side. Fifteen miles above
this on the same side, is Sandwich, a small
but handsome town, on the bank of the
river, from which you have a full and beau-
tiful view of the city and settlement of De-
troit, extending for nearly three miles on
the bank of the river. This view, of a
clear day, is extremely picturesque and beau-
tiful; as the wind gently wafts you up the
river, its green banks, fine farms, covered
with orchards, and their houses of singular
order of architecture, which you can but
just discern through the trees planted around
it, of various fruit, or in full bloom, and at
every point or high place, the large wings
of a windmill attached to a neat round
white building, cutting the air, form and
finish out a scenery, you can contemplate
only with emotions of pleasure.

Detroit is a very old settlement, com-
menced by the French about the time Phila-
delphia was, by Penn. The houses par-
ticularly in the settlement above and below
the town, are built of frame or logs of one
low story, and as frequently on a large
ground plot with high roof, you would fre-
quently imagine the garret to be the larger
part of the house. The town in 1805 was
entirely destroyed by fire, since which it has
been rebuilt upon a better plan. It has
two streets running parallel with the river,
and intersected by two other streets and
two alleys at right angles. The main or
second street from the river is remarkably
broad, and having a sandy or gravelly soil,
is seldom muddy; there is only a part of it
paved. The beauty of the place is much
injured by the want of a street on the river
bank, where the houses have been built so
close as to destroy all passage betwixt them
and the water. This place has no springs
or wells; water for all purposes is taken
from the river. Three miles from the town,
on the bank of the river, are two small
springs, denominated "the Spring Wells."
where all classes and fashions resort to in
parties of pleasure.

PEREGRINE.