February 28th, 1872. Fine.

Early this morning we crossed the border into Ohio. The two states of Indiana and Ohio, together with Missouri and Illinois, are in the northern part of the Mississippi River valley and they are all among the most developed and settled of the large states.

At half past four we arrived at Pittsburgh, the great city of western Pennsylvania. The station was teeming with travellers, as numerous as swarming bees. The hotel by the station, where we had dinner, was magnificent; the dining-room on the top floor could seat several hundred people. All the floors of the building were of white stone and were so similar that even though we were at the very top of the building we felt as if we were at ground level. At half past five in the evening we boarded the train again and left Pittsburgh.

The United States of America originally started its development from the Atlantic Plain. After independence, settlers soon pushed through the Mississippi River valley, and every thirty years or so a great wave rolled farther and farther west. From the time we disembarked in San Francisco harbour until we reached Pennsylvania, we witnessed the panorama of the pioneering development of America unfolding before us.