Travel log dated August 13, 1848

Abstract

Travel log dated August 13, 1848 describing the writer’s attendance at the Free Soil convention in Buffalo. He describes in detail his travels, including a two-page account of his trip to Niagara Falls, where he landed at Chippawa on “Victoria free soil”. From there he travelled to the Falls, where he went to Table Rock, travelled in a steam ferry boat to the suspension bridge, crossed the rapids to Goat Island, and went up [Terrapin] Tower. He writes that “as I stood in the awful place the Table Rock and looked in that deep yawning gulph [gulf] below a beautiful rainbow was seen, as was the case at various other points…next went up to the top of the Tower which stands in the edge of the water near the precipice of the Horseshoe falls. This is indeed a solemn, awful place-- the most interesting place I had visited…I felt that it was the work of an Omnipotent friend.” An entry on the last page dated Nov. 7, 1848 describes the creation of a free soil club “by the Free Soilers of this town”, adding that “today we have been called upon to vote for electors for president, the result has been for Van Buren 146, Taylor 92, and Cass 52”.