Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1840-09-15
PRAIRIE SKETCHES

HE SAND 1iLLS.- w nau Deen tWen-
ty-fiyo days and nights upon the plains
The excitement derived from contempla-
ting the vast ocean of grass had begun to
yield to solitary and desolate sensations,
and our thoughts more often reverted to
home, the friends and the kind ones we
had left One afternoon, when the sun
had commenced Its evenings descent in
the West, its glancing rays lit up an ire
9ular display of silver in the distant hori-
ION which attracted our attention. Ere we
had time to breach any definite conjecture
touching this new spectacle, one of the old
travellers rode up and told us we were
looking upon the Sand Hills, which stretch
hundreds of miles along the Mexican bank
OF the Arkansas.
With the sunlight the new scene faded
away, but the next day brought it nearer,
and on the third, from morn till evening,
our eyes were fixed upon the singularIy
beautiful prospect. The Irregular hills,
presenting their declvites of sand TO the
sunbeam, assumed so forcibly the appear
ance Of clustering domes, temples and
spires, that it became all bat impossible to
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marble city lay before US in the desert, and
our busy imagnations soon peopled the
streets with buslling mutitudes, and excl
ted within us a strange yearning to press
forward and look again upon our fellow
men. Those who have looked upon the
limestone bluffs up the far Mississippi
may conceive tho haIucination which here
came upon US. There the preciptous cliffs
irresistlbIy impress upon you the idea Of
ruined palaces and Notifications here
Some ancient city Of Eastern magnifcence
seems to rise. not as mysterious ruin, but
in lile-Ike reality, tempting you to believe
in fable and all the dear entertainments of
romance.
The old traders with whom we travelled,
doubtless smiled in their sleeves at our OK
CARNATIONS of surprise and delight, and, in
or by way OF rarentheSs, we will Just COM
INIT to type remark touching this same
seIl-grataatory smile. We, knowing that
we were yielding to romantic conceit,ye
feeling pleasure from the deception, fanci-
ed ourselves mentally favored above our
rude companions; they, knowing that our
lanciful city was desoIate region of sand,
INDUCED no doubt in like dreams of superb
GRITTY; and thus each party yielded senti-
ment OF pity 10 the other; for we pitied the
traders that they could not enjoy even the
'5aseless fabric Of our pleasure; and they
considered US simp'otons, plying us accor-
dingly,lor not knowing that sand hills were
not marble walls.
Few have travelled these western deserts
and those who have are not likely to troub-
lie pen and paper about their ourneyings.
The green plains, the wild flowers, the
GamcIess buds and blossoms that for untold
centuries have scented the desert breeze,
still wait the pen Of poet and historian, and
the humble scrlbbler Of the present page, if
ever known, will long have been forgotten,
ere the wild gardens Of the West are inter-
sected by the Macadamsed walks of ciyili-
cation. When Western enterprise pierces
into the yet uncultivatcd regions Of far Mis-
souri-when the log cabin of the distant
settler is seen upon the shallow banks Of the
ADMINISTRATION cities rise where now tire
advancing plough has not yet disturbed the
sunHowero the tall green blade--hen may
VIC hear and listen with interest TO the his
tory OF early pioneers, and our grandchd-
rem will yet wonder why their fathers and
grandatheTs spoke not more nucnlly about
the g Iorious inheritance left to the uncuItu-
red children Of the West.
The sand hills of the Arkansas will be
levelcd, and the yet lingering red tribes will
be swept away before the tide of cmgra-
ton; and when the original owners OF the
soil are gone, then viii such simple records
as the present become valuable and per-
haps be sought after in vain. 1t may be
told, perhaps, that a crowd of harumsca-
rum youths traversed the waste, but who
they were who shall tell What writer
will picture to future generations the wild
delight experienced by the first travellers
who looked upon the sand hills of the Ar
kansas