Hannibal journal and western union. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1851-1852, 1851-11-13

the prairies were on FIRE, and as the sheet. Of |
flame with which they were enveloped far as the
eye could reach went leaping and cracking up
ward until il seemed TO lick the very heavens,
dense volumes Of smoke rolled through the at
mosphere enveloping earth in still deeper haze
As we crossed one Of the magnificent prairies
on the Grand river "divide,n one Of the com
pany in thoughtless moment fired some of the
decayed grass. In a short time we were envel-
oped in the flames, which, spreading rapidly,
threatened destruction 10 The claim and clearings
Of the only settler for some miles round. The
flames werS RAPIDLY driving before the wind
when we set TO work to save the poor fellow
and his habiation from the effects Of cur COM
rade's thoughtlessness. A neighboring thicket
furnished us the weapons with which to fight
the "fire king After one hour Of the hardest
work we ever did in our5lives we finally sue
cecded in overcoming it, literally whipping it
out. | do not know what chance traveller
would have thought of it, coming upon suddenly,
and beholding party oftwenty men, each armed
with huge brush, and whipping the flames like
so many Devils. AT any rates, we had the sat-
isfacton Of knowing that we had saved an hon
est farmer from the destruction which ollr COM
rade's thoughtlessness had well-nigh entailed
upon him.
Az length we 'stool upon the grand divide"
which separates the waters which flow into the
Missouri from those Of the Mississippi. This,
one Of the noblest prairies in the whole West is
some ten miles in breadth, and runs unbroken
from the northern boundary Of the State almost
TO its southern extremity. The eye wearies, as
standing in the centre Of it, one endeavors to
seek limit TO its vastness. a From this "divide"
onward, till the valley of the Mississippi is
reached, the streams are beautifully limpid and
transparent, and present a very different APP
pearancc from the muddy streams which Aow
westward to empty their waters into the Mis-
souri,. There is presented, too, marked differ
ence in the soil that lying east of the ''divide"
being much less rich and fertile than to the west
ward Of it.
BY the time we reached Palmyra-not the
Palmyra of the ancents, but the snug little county
seat Of Marion county-the season was far adj
vanced. The glories of autumn were fading
fast away. The dew no longer rested upon the
praires in tie morning; but the decayed vegeta-
ton gittered with the boar frosts, which cracked
beneath our feet as we went to our labor. The
keen norther whistled through the trees, strip
ping them of their foliage and scattering it ruth
Iessly about The nights had become cold and
sharp, and buffalo robes and blankets smacked of
comfort
/. Just as we rolled into Hannibal at the end of
our line on the Mississippi, slight fall of snow
announced the descent of Winter. Our field la
bors were now over; the survey finished. Par
taking here for a few days of the kind hospital
ity of the citizens, and in the enjoyment of the
luxuries with which we had for some time dis.
pensed, we rested from our labors. AT the end
of a few days more we started from Hannibal to
retrace our steps back TO st. Joseph. The prai-
ries through which we had SO lately passed were
IL, l.. = 1 IL
: appearance of dreariness and desoaton. Ter
days hard walking took us back to st. Joseph
and we again trod its streets, having been absent
on our tramp Just two months, and having pedes
trinated some five hundred miles.
Kind reader-if have not already dropped
from me by the way-side--herc would take my
leave of YOU. This is not the place nor mine the
pen to dwell upon the vast resources of this no
bic region, agricultural and mineral, nor TO dem
onsrate its peculiar physical ada ptation for rail
; way purposes, the object which our reconnais
sance had in view. This has been done by othe
hands. In a few years the steam-horse vii
rush snorting across this beautiful delta, linkin
! with his iron bands the two noblest valleys @
Il the West. The almost unbroken solitude whic
> now reigns over these professionalism saw
u by solitary squatter here and there, and by tn
California and OregOn-bound Immigrant, as froV
Illinois and Indiana with his oX-team slowly an
: tcilingly westward he wends his way-will il
" the course Of time be succeeded by the busy hun
Of civilization and the throng OF dense popula
. ton. Sooner or later this day must come to pas
g Narrow minded prejudices and party bigotr
g NAV retard it for while, but come it will. L
/ the day come when it may long will it be ell
le the memory of our pioneer tramp over these ne
p bic prairies shall pass from my mind. In Il
future it will linger around me like the shade
~ of some pleasant dream. b.
y ST.. JosEPH, Missouri. N