First home   Carl de Haas, Richard McMillan’s great-grandfather, emigrated to Calumet, Wisconsin, in 1847. This image of his first homestead comes from Winke fur Auswanderer, his book of advice for emigrants, widely sold in Germany.

Winke für Auswanderer: Hints for Emigrants
IV. Inland to Milwaukee

Carl and his party took the Newton, a Hudson River steamer to Albany, the train to Buffalo, and a Great Lakes steamship to Milwaukee — a far more comfortable part of the trip. He warns against taking the heavily marketed canal boats from Albany to Buffalo. Transportation inland is expensive, but the train is worth it.

The route from New York to Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin, is about 300 German miles long, with great windings. One can travel from New York to Albany on the Hudson in half a day, from Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie in either about two days by railroad or eight to 10 days or by canal boat. The greatest stretch by far is covered by steamer on the lakes —Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Michigan in four to six days.

Last winter a Dr. Hebbe came to Elberfeld, and introduced himself as agent for a New York company which transports immigrants inland in America. This man tried to persuade the people to sign contracts in Germany, and where he was not successful, he gave them cards with the address of his firm. We heard in New York that the latter had a subordinate business, the firm of the main agency was however Wolf and Rischmueller, and this agency was recommended to us from many sides. But we were advised by reliable people to keep out of dealings with agents, and this advice proved to be the best. Wolf and Rischmueller asked $15 for a steerage passage to Milwaukee, without board, with steamer and train; Dr. Hebbe, whom we found in New York, asked $14 for the same as steamer and canal-boat, and $28 for cabin passage to Milwaukee with board. Our fellow-travelers who took steerage passages on the steamer with no contract paid $7.50 to Milwaukee and their baggage on the railroad was free. We took cabin passages to Milwaukee and paid for the entire trip including board on the steamer, $13.50. (On the railroad there is only one class for emigrants, and the New York to Albany trip takes 12 hours which are pleasantly spent in the spacious and friendly steerage of the Hudson steamers; the trip costs 50 cents.)

This would then be my advice for these who come after us: Have nothing to do with representatives of agents who promise cheap transport to the interior, on the steamer into New York. These representatives receive considerable percentages for each immigrant they bring to their office; the agents on the other hand get relatively small remuneration from the ship owners who are certain the immigrants must use their ships. The canal boats are pulled by horses at a snail’s pace from Albany to Buffalo, over water which is always foul-smelling in summer. Their owners try to compete with the railroad which is more than five times as fast, and these people are behind the agents in New York. This is also the reason the latter recommend the canal trip so urgently and stress the cheapness and comfort. One should not be misled by these, but take the train from Albany and by all means not the canal boat. If one makes no contract one has the further advantage of choosing among the ships due to sail, and one is never exposed to the danger that tickets issued by the agent may not be accepted in Buffalo, a situation which has actually happened frequently.

In New York we took the large Hudson steamer Newton, over 300 feet long and more than 70 feet wide. We were all amazed at the splendor and comfort of this ship. We left our bags in the rear part of the ship, without worrying about them, and they were piled up with the other emigrant baggage into a high pile. The tickets are taken at the captain’s ticket office any time during the trip. The trip costs only half a dollar, but baggage is weighed before unloading, and we for instance had to pay $2 for our 14 pieces. A young man from Elberfeld appeared on the steamer immediately after our landing in Albany, trying to get guests for an inn there where he was a waiter. He had attended our meetings in Elberfeld the past winter and crossed in April on a Swedish ship from Bremen. He is a cigarmaker, but could not find work in his line, and when his money ran out in Albany he had to take the waiter’s job there, which, he said, gave him a good living. His inn, by the way, was not to be recommended very highly.

The railway station in Albany is not far from the steamer landing. The immigrant trains leave at 1 p.m., seven hours after the steamers arrive. The cars are very comfortably arranged and no one has to stand. No one should hesitate to use the immigrant trains; the so-called gentlemen’s trains have few advantages over these and are much more expensive. One disadvantage of the former is that they sometimes are very heavy because of the crowd of persons and the mass of baggage. As a consequence, the trip is often considerably slowed up and at steep places the immigrants are requested to get out and help shove the train, which happened to us twice. The further events of the trip do not belong here.

We stayed only one day in Buffalo. Like Albany, the city did not impress us as favorably as one might expect from its location on Lake Erie. The streets were dirty and many pigs were running about in them. Buffalo’s commerce is already quite considerable, and its industry also is flourishing nicely. We found good rooms with Wilhelm Schmitz, who was recommended to us in New York. One need not worry about the chance to travel from Buffalo to Milwaukee; steamers leave almost daily. We had the choice between two, of which we chose the first, which tried to entice the immigrants by siren-like tones from a poor orchestra on deck. We paid $8 for cabin with board, the steerage passengers paid $2 without board. All baggage was free. The prices have been squeezed down by the great competition.

The trip from Buffalo to Milwaukee is not without danger (in some seasons more dangerous than all the rest of the journey). It is well to select a new, strong ship and better to wait longer in Buffalo than to go on a poor vehicle. Both inner and outer furnishings on these steamers are very like the river steamers, but totally different from the European steamers. In the latter the main quarters of the passengers are below water level; on American steamers the finest and best quarters are as high as possible over the water. The body of the ship, which is usually very pointed in front, goes quite deep and is used for loading wares. It also contains the sleeping quarters for the sailors and deck passengers. The latter are put on the deck of the ship. Usually a number of chests are piled up here, and between them those passengers who could not get one of the few sleeping-quarters below deck, sleep. These deck passengers must take with them food for six to eight days, since one cannot be sure that the trip, usually four to five days, will not take longer. It is best to take bread and cooked meat for, as one can imagine, the only stove is usually too much in demand to be counted on. If there is time one can buy bread at one of the several stopping places where the ship lands to take on wood.

Above the actual deck of the ship is a regular building, which contains the cabin. This cabin, reached by a stairway on each side, has a large salon in the middle, with dining-table for 100 to 150 persons. On one of the narrow sides is the bar; on the other is the room for the ladies, which the men may enter with special permission of the ladies. On the two long sides of the salon, which is lighted from above, are the very comfortable and elegant bedrooms, each numbered and containing two beds. Beyond these bedrooms is a wide covered promenade.

The table on our ship was richly and tastefully served. Only here did I really get to know the exaggerated attentiveness of the American toward the fair sex. No gentleman may sit down until all ladies are seated; no lady may take something herself at table for the gentlemen are obligated to wait for a sign, and reach everything to her with the greatest courtesy. I saw several inns in Philadelphia which had separate entrances for ladies and for gentlemen. When walking with a lady in the street in America, one must pay attention that the lady walks nearest the buildings. After the cabin passengers have dined, a bell is rung for the deck-passengers, for these may have meals in the cabin if they wish, morning, noon or night for two shillings. They get what the cabin passengers leave, which are still very good meals. The water of the inland lakes is very pure and is cooled with ice for the passengers, as is the case everywhere in America in the hot summer. At various places, particularly in the passages from one lake to another, there are shallow places, where the ships frequently get stuck. This happened to ours on the third day of the trip at evening. Despite all efforts, the ship could not be freed and we had to stay there till morning when another ship came and pulled us away from the rocks with a chain (all ropes broke). We had no further accident to complain of, and arrived in Milwaukee July 23rd at 3 a.m.

During our trip we had heard that one must pay an average of half a dollar per chest in Milwaukee for the use of the piers (landing-places built out into the lake). We had to pay only $3 for our 14 pieces. In Milwaukee there was great discontent because of cheating, which the pier owners practiced on the immigrants. The owners had been very seriously requested by a deputation of Milwaukee German immigrants to lower their demands on the immigrant, who is usually poor. Their price for us, at least somewhat lower, may well be a consequence of this measure. When we were in Milwaukee, the plan was just under discussion to build a pier at municipal expense and give immigrants free use of it. The latter should then take only those steamers from Buffalo whose captains pledge to land at the city pier.

Milwaukee lies at the mouth of the Milwaukee river, where it empties into Lake Michigan. The city has grown up in two decades from a few small fur dealers’ huts to one of the most important cities in America. In the United States the cities are usually laid out immediately according to a large-scale plan and the streets are all marked off from the beginning. Someone builds here, another there, and the houses often are far apart. This is why the newer cities in America have a rather vast appearance, which does not please the eye accustomed to the closely built cities of Europe. New York, Philadelphia, and Albany have more resemblance to European cities. Buffalo, Detroit and most of all Milwaukee give the other impression.

The houses in the latter cities are almost all farmhouses, generally not constructed for long duration. A foundation is seldom laid. At the four corners and perhaps in the middle of the side walls a few stones are piled, the main beams placed on these, to which the light timber-work is joined. The latter is then covered with board on the outside. Windows and doors are usually quite decorative. In the front of the farm-houses in the country a balcony-like structure resting on wooden columns is added. In the front of the city houses, builders usually disguise one of the gables by lengthening the board wall of the pointed gable, thus forming a rectangle. The houses are plastered inside as in Germany. The cost of such a house varies, depending on size. The smallest kind costs about $150. The stores in Milwaukee are, as everywhere in America, splendid and complete; there is little that one cannot buy here. We visited an iron and tin-ware store, which occupied three entire floors of a large building. The Milwaukee river is too shallow to be useful for commerce. Its mouth is to be widened and deepened however, which will give the city a fine harbor.

In Milwaukee we lodged cheaply and well at the Mansion House, run by Bertchy, a German. But what one finds in strange abundance in every city of America, we found here too: bedbugs. There was no charge here, nor in previous lodgings, for storing our baggage.

Our first errand in Milwaukee was to find the joiner F., who, as we heard on the way, had found work there. He was very content, and from his wages of 1 1/2 Thaler Prussian per day, could provide well for his family and save enough also so that he hoped to follow us the next spring. The master cabinetmaker K., who had come with us, soon found work and remained for the time in Milwaukee. For many reasons, I advise that every tradesman who comes to America with little and has the prospect of getting good work permanently remain in Milwaukee for a time. The rent is low and food is cheap. There are many German doctors there, who are all busy. The German population is very numerous; one hears German everywhere on the streets.

I should like to say a few things about the purchases which the emigrant has to make in Milwaukee. The cost of transportation inland is very high. If the chosen settlement is very distant, one can take only the most essential things besides one’s baggage. Whoever has more than $600 at his disposal would do best to buy a yoke (two head) of strong oxen and a strong wagon in Milwaukee — but only if he can be sure that he is not buying a fence jumper or fence breaker. Many oxen have a natural urge to jump fences, the zig-zag enclosures in America, and these are called fence-jumpers. Other oxen crowd backwards against fences or throw them over with their horns, and these are called fence-breakers. The latter can be recognized by holes in their horns. A rod is fastened in the holes, with a piece of pointed wood in the middle. The point hurts the nose of the ox when he uses his horns. One cannot tell a jumper by outward signs because fence jumping is hindered by a long piece of wood which hangs in front of the chest and is attached to a wooden ring around the neck. Also, one should not buy oxen which are too old; one can tell the age by the number of rings on the horns. A yoke of oxen, bought from drivers, cost between $40 and $60. One can almost always buy oxen in the settlements for $40 to $50. The American wagons are very comfortable but usually rather lightly built. A two-spanner costs $40 to $50.

Beyond the oxen, I advise that one take window frames. Here only sash-windows are made. Whoever wants windows with hinges will do well to bring some with him from Germany with the proper panes for the log cabin (panes carefully packed in hay), the necessary axes (one for every adult man), a hay-bark, two pails (at half a dollar), some chairs (good ones at half a dollar each), a table, (we bought a large one in walnut for $3.50.) Since the emigrant must buy all or part of his needs the first year, he can supply himself in Milwaukee with a quantity of rice and dried apple slices, which are cheap and easy to cook. If he has space left on his wagon, he should take coffee beans, sugar, salt, and such along. He will save 25 or 50 percent when he goes inland. The fine and very convenient American cookstoves are two or three dollars cheaper in Milwaukee than inland, but I would nevertheless advise that one should not take one along. A stove with its equipment (pans, kettles, frying-pans, etc.) increases the load by at least 250 pounds, and a too heavily laden wagon can scarcely be moved along the bad inland roads. Also, a cast-iron stove breaks easily or cracks on the long trip. Our stove cost $15.50 in Fond du Lac, the same one cost $13 in Milwaukee. Our wagon with two horses cost $20 from Milwaukee to Calumet. My book boxes had to be left behind in Milwaukee for the time being because the driver (who, by the way, was formerly an office-boy in Germany) considered the load too great.

III. Arrival in New York      Top of File      V. First view of Calumet