2-888-298 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Great Central Railway Depot, Detroit, Michigan, U.S., 1850. The depot '...is one of the largest works of its class in the States, having a water front of nearly 1900 feet, and a wharf 40 feet wide, with a depth of water in the dock ranging from 12 to 22 feet. The Depot itself is 100 feet wide, and 800 feet in length. Two storehouses have lately been added, together with a circular engine-house, 150 feet in diameter the vast dome of which is prominent in the Illustration...From Detroit the line of rail takes a westerly course, entirely across the peninsula, a distance of 220 miles, to New Buffalo terminus, on Lake Michigan whence the communication is continued across the Lake, 60 miles, to Chichago [sic] Illinois, by steam-boats. Two trains are despatched daily, making the transit of nearly 300 miles in twenty-four hours; whereas the journey round the Lake is 750 miles and occupies four or five days.' From "Illustrated London News", 1850.