New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-12
FROM WASHINGTON.
TIE FAR wEsT-LIFE ON THE PLAINS
Idsrril correspsndsnce of tn. N. Y Tribune.

90 ANOihOio ioCdtioh lOI the study OF men ana
manners as this Washington. Men are here more
,srsQarious-more genial--the crust of etiquette
and reserve thaws quicker aud one makes dozen
intimate acquaintarces while he would be making
two or three in commercial emporium. There
ne slj people here but they are very few, aud not
ipereasing-the atno sphere is not conge0ia Even
he o{lice-se ekers are communicative and conf
len;ial-thcy hope that awakened and satisfied
curiosity will epgender sympathy. Washington is
The spot whereon to observe American character
In oil it's phases, aud rapidly advance to prof.
cheney in the study
My rightband neighbor at the last evening
had iuit arrived from the California trail, Salt
Lake aud the Plains, wherein he has spent the
better part Of the last half dozen years. He was
IA shrewd, sharp-eyeJ, ffeeh hearted man, whom |
lido not choose to indicate more olosey, bat whose
Information seemed TO me so fresh aHd his views
10 toe main so sensible that l have concluded
while the Country is waiting for the House to
orssnze, receive the Message snd proceed TO
bu,ness--to sketch them for the readers of THE
TRIBUNE.
He says that, though there will be no further
hostlies this season--bosh our troops and the
say@es having moved off into Winter quarters
yet sc have an ugly war with the Sioux on haad,
which must cause considerable bloodshed next
season ard render the Plains impossible By em
grant traiBs to Say nothing Of smaller parties. lie
justi6es Gen. Harvey attacks on tte band near
the North Platte last Summer, assuming that the
Sioux desired and had prepared for the outbreak
of hostiIities. The iOux are very large nation
or tribe composed Of many bands, which traverse
vast region stretching from NewMexico nearly
or quite to the British line and from our settlers
huts in eastern Nebraska to the gOrges and Gallons
of the Rocky Mountains. He thinks these are
now fierce for revenge and will not make peace
till after they shall have been severely handled
His description Of Autumnal gatherings of 10;
dian traders at the several forts ON the great trail
were more graphic than any transcript can make
of it, These traders visit and often follow the sew
eral tribes, selling them all sorts of notions es-
pecialb The desolatiDg fre.water, aud picking up
their fuIs, buffalo robes, &c, with the money they
receive from the Government as annuites or pay
ments for isnds. Having sold out, or being ad.
monished by the blasts Of Autumn that it is time
TO look bomsward they drop in at Fort Hall, Fort
BridRer, & c. there to swuit the passage of trains
or troops moving toward the Mississippi. Gam
bling is the chief business during these balts for
CON psny- gambling not for pastme nor for trihing
stakes, but for large sums of money. My informant
saw, only few weeks since, four traders, whose
united wardrobes would not have brought over
Eve dollars, playing euchre for four hundred
dollars corner, or sixteen hundred dollars
IL A .;t
ting thus often relieves trader or trapper Of the
fruits of several years traffic. privatiOn and peril
He saw Que blsckleg Who dropped in on party of
traders thus collected and soon won from them
Thirty FIVE Thousa1d Dollars in cash, beside all
their cattle and horses The Generalization and
Eretchedness attendant on this state of things
cannot need calculation.
Mo new friend is utterly skeptical as TO the
p1ac.icsbility Of Pacific Railroad over the Mis-
souri or middle route; but do not think his rea
sons conclusive Tie says the Road must run here
through noun tain csnons into which the snow is
annually blown from the inclosiDg mountains aud
piled up to depth Of forty feet-that the desrth
of water and fuel or timber would Of tself be fatal
Sc But careful survey may discover other and
more practicable passes through the mountains
than tbose with which he is familiar; timber may
No cut in the mountains and foaied down the
strssms while fuel may easily be grown
on the plains By planting it and keeping
of the fires. On fertile, we'll plowed
land locust might be grown large enough for loco
motive fuel in four or FIVE years from the seed
while oak aud hickory might be started at the
s,ms time 10 be used when the locust shall have
been once cut over. My friend admitted in an
aver TO NV questsns that he had found coal at two
or three spots between she Kaw River aud the
Sierra Nevada; but in how many places 1t exists
unseen aud unsupported by him, he knows no
mare than do. He thinks grain cannot be grown
on large portion of the plains for want OF rains
and dews in Summer; but until the earth has been
ployed and subsoiled to a considerable depth-two
feet. at least he cannot safely decide that the
d,outb Of Summer is a bar to grain growing. l
am confident that most grains may be grown on
the dryest portion OF the arabic plains IN reason
able abundance He had seen oats sold on those
plains at Sc so per bushel Corn also is usually
high.
My friend gives horrible account OF tue
moral and social condition OF the Mormons win
whom he spent some months. He left them wal
lowing deeper and deeper in the slough OF MI
thy seusuality, with certainty OF going from
h,d 20 v,orse ill their whole fabric Of imposture
is exploded by the miseries it creates and dinuses
He saws the women are nearly all anxious to ny
from the horrible den especially those who have