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EARLY RECOLLECTIONS
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS
BY WM. C. HOYT
June 7th, 1873
"Young man, go west I" This trite saying is said to have originated with Horaqe Greeley, but this is a mistake. Thirty-seven years ago, in a village inn where usually congregated, after the labors of the day were over, the saints and singers of my native village, an old, gray-haired savant addressed this saying to me. "Why? says I. "Why, because, " says he, "in a few years this will be an old town. This will be the place for old men, but young men should go west. You go and find a good location, settle down, attend to your business, grow up with the place, and in a few years you may be a member of Congress, or of the Legislature of your adopted State. " These remarks of this old sage, of course, filled my, head with ambitious notions, and I thought if I could rise in the world, and become a member of Congress, or even a member of the Legislature, I would be willing to pack up my things and go west.
In the summer of 1836 I embarked on board of a steamboat at Buffalo, bade my father farewell, and started for the west—Michigan. Michigan was then a western territory. It lay very near sundown, was the abode of Hottentots, Yankees, Frenchmen, and muskrats. Detroit was a small city and there was a vast wilderness extending from the vicinity of this old town to the north pole. We had a prosperous voyage, and after a pleasant ride of about three days, I landed on the wharf in the city of Detroit, I think Dr. Whiting, now living, was the first man I became acquainted with in this place.
Michigan
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