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February 30 Telescope from the steamer ahead gave us the assurance that she was going her best licks. As we gained on her, the excitement increased, and soon all of our passengers--men, women and children--were out on the guards, excited with the race and in the enthusiasm of the moment, wishing all sorts of good luck to our gallant craft and, I fear, much of ill luck to the one ahead. The spray dashed upon the lower decks of both vessels as they "walked the waters like things of life." ...In half an hour we had neared her so as to read her name--the Gen. Harrison, bound from Toledo to Buffalo. Each dash of our wheels brought us nearer, ...and just as we were about passing, the bell of the Harrison sounded, and both engines stopped. The Harrison gave us her passengers for Sandusky, then dropped astern and headed down the lake, while we, then at the mouth of the bay, pursued our course for this city. The Harrison was badly beaten, and her passengers showed it plainly by the chagrin of their looks. A boat race is of thrilling interest, especially when one is on the fastest boat, and our gallant Scott bore herself admirably in the contest. Success to her and her clever captain. The window in my room, in the Exchange (by-the-bye, an excellent hotel ), looks out upon the bay, and as the rain has ceased since I commenced, and the sun is now shining, the prospect is a delightful one. The islands in the distance look like green spots in the "desert waste" of waters around them, and add much, if indeed not all, to the beauty of the scene. Sandusky, dignified with the title of "city," is a thriving place and bids fair to be one of the greatest commercial points, if not, indeed, the very greatest, between Buffalo and Detroit. The bay is a noble sheet of water, with a depth of eight feet of water at the lowest stage, and if necessary, I under- stand, from those I have confidence in, that by pursuing a circuitous route in entering, which is marked out, that a much greater depth can be had. I had been led to believe that only the smallest class of boats could get in, but I find that injustice has been done, for many of the largest class of boats visit this city without difficulty. The citizens of other points in the vicinity, finding it to their interest to disparage, have done so, and I am sorry to say, with effect. A vessel has never been wrecked in Sandusky Bay. The Mad River Railroad, leading to Cincinnati from this place, is now finished, with the exception of thirty miles, and is doing a heavy business in both freight and passengers. It is said to be a good road. Another railroad, intended to connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Zanesville, is completed as far as Mansfield and is under contract for the greater part of the remainder. Having twice passed over the finished part, I can speak as one who knows. It is, for a flat rail, one of the best roads in the Union, being solid, substantial and perfectly straight--scarcely a curve in the sixty-odd miles to Mansfield. The passenger cars are substantial and beautiful. The depot is a massive and beautiful stone building, built at an immense cost, and is an ornament to the city. The route through this city to the south, and to the southeastern cities, will be travelled much by the Michigan people, as well from the speed as the cheapness and ease of travel, and hence it is that I have spoken particularly of the rail roads leading from this place. The capital of Ohio is but twenty-four hours travel from Detroit, and Cincinnati but little more. The completion of the roads will make it much shorter. Steamboats and rail roads, nowadays, seem, as the telegraph really does, to annihilate both time and space. . . ."