Our boat was rather large for the stage of water this time of year, and
we proceeded rather slowly, but I cared little for speed as bed and
board were extra good, and a first cabin passage in the company of
friends, many of whom were going to the same part of Wisconsin as
myself, was not a tedious affair by any means.
At night gambling was carried on very extensively, and money changed
hands freely as the result of sundry games of poker, which was the
popular game.
We reached St. Louis in time, and here was the end of our boat's run.
The river had some ice floating on its surface, and this plainly told us
that we were likely to meet more ice and colder weather as we went
north. We concluded to take the Illinois River boat from here to Peoria,
and paid our passage and stepped on board. We were no more than half way
through this trip when the ice began to form on the surface of the
water, and soon became so thick and strong that the boat finally came to
a perfect standstill, frozen in solid.
We now engaged a farm wagon to take us to Peoria, from which place we
took regular stages for Galena. Our driver was inclined to be very
merciful to his horses, so we were two days in reaching that town, but
perhaps it was best, for the roads were icy and slippery, and the
weather of the real winter sort. From here we hired a team to take four
of us to Plattville, and then an eighteen-mile walk brought me to
Mineral Point, the place from which I started with my Winnebago pony in
1849.
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