New-York daily tribune., 1856-09-27
THE ROUTE THROUGH IOWA AND
NEBRASKA.
.,rrostondenoe Of The n. Y. Tribune
~ NRRRAsKA CITY. Sept. y. l4Ii

;,,ersncrs,d with hn equal number Of magnificent
distances an beautifully situated ou bluff over
licking the nuoAty Missouri. Strange to say, il
Le. one or two prb,g ges Of climber" about il, and
there are noble Uoods On the rich bottom-lsnd
across the river. The village Itself, IKE other
Western villages, has tavern aud three or four
land tfices, and the principal pursuit OF the ntab'
tant- consists in sitting on the doOSstePs Of thc-s
structures waiting for real estate to rise II does
ire. however very fast, and the name Of the VII
lace nay be more veraciOus 81 some frure time.
At present, in This region. if place is tOlerably
large, it is called town. If Otherwise something
uust be done for it, and it is cbristened Something
City.
This is a good way west. From childhood had
learned by Worcester Geography that Council
Bluffs was tie extreme verge Of tho imaginable
| horizon. When at last the weary stage rolled Inc
| in there felt as strangely as little boy on the
| Canada Railway, who, as the conductor shouted
the name of the little village If London, sprang up.
| hafaWake, behind me, eXclsim:ng: " Do We really
| pass through LONDON, that great city,
Set il down as a general rule that all statements
| Of Iowa Kansas Committees in regard to stage
routes are Incorrect; and in fact those Of every
| body else, for tie oaly fixed rule of the Western
| Stage Company is to do nothing to-day rs 1t was
| done Yesterday. And as each driver goes but ten
| or fifteen miles and knows nothing beyond his own
route and as the agent at each end hardly knows
that il is impossible 10 state at any given moment
" hat will be done. Whom the stage ought to go 1t
stops and when it should stop it goes. No wonder
then if Kansas Committees are wrong, when no
body is right. But il may save some dlsappOint-
mcnt if L say that there is not a single direct stage
route across Iowa to Nebraska City Of any sort,
and that whether one starts from Iowa City or
Mount Pleasant, il is equally necessary to bring up
at Council Bluff, and thence get down the river as
one can, the best way being to take a stage which
leaves vice week fer Sidney, at the convenient
hour Of midnight. Sidney is fifteen miles from this
city, end one must choose between private con.
veyance thence, and hack which is said to run
twice week with the mails.
There is thus no stage line over either Of the
routes which emgrant trains travel to get to this
city and Kansas and this is great Inconvenience.
A route has been talked Of in the newspapers, run
ming directly from Mount Pleasant to this place
through the second tier of cOnnties, in Iowa, but
am satisfied that there is no prospect of its being
opened. In the mean time the one hope of Kansas
emigration is the Burlington and Missouri Rivers
Railroad. Let Eastern capitalists remember this
Al present no person can appreciate the injury
done by the piratcal closing Of the Missouri River
without actually travelling across Iowa. Emigrant
must tOlI week dItT week, Itnedtn n burning sun
over the parcbed ard endless "rolling prairie.
sometimes seeing no house for day or two to-
gether camping often without wood, and some
times without water, and obliged to carry with
them every eatable they use. 1t is no wonder that
they often fall sick on the way and when l con-
slider how infinitely weary Were my four days and
nights Of staging, after as many more of railroad
travel, can only wonder at the patience and forti-
tude which the present emigrants have shown.
As soon as one approaches the Missouri River,
even i'll Iowa or Nebraska, he begins to feel as if
he were in France and Austria. Men are worry
cautious in defining their position and wait to hear
what others will say. Then, perhaps. their tongues
are slightly oosed, if they think there are no
spies about them. But it is no slight risk when
man may have to pay with his life, further down the
river for free word spoken at Council Bluffs q
Sidney, both PrO-Sayery towns
The frst night spent in this place, it seemed a.
ifa synbocal pageant had been got up to remind me
where | was. l sat writing by an open window in
th, beautiful moonlight. A party Of boys in the
street were shouting and screeching playing 'Bor-
der Rutiian" and "stOrmnga fort" In building
beyond, two very inexperienced performers played
martial tunes with drum and fife. Within, the
small tavern rocked with the music and dancing Of
border ball. Thus l sat between tragedy and
comedy.
But there il plenty Of genuine tragedy. Coming
from land where milliODaires think themselves
generous in giving $50 TO Kansas Il do not mean
New.York where they do not give even this, am
afraid converse daily with men who have sacri-
feed all their property III It's service, and are ready
at any hour to add their lives Refugees come
every few days from LeavenwOrth CiN, and tell
with quiet desperation of the wrongs and out
RACES there transacted. "Come, Uncle George"
SAYS the latest informant "haye seat on this log,
and II tell YOU all about it, So Uncle George
sits down, takes out his long jack-knife, selects
convenient STICK and begins to whitte. The intor-
mant takes out his knife, and few bystanders
settle down and begin TO white likewise. Then
comes the story, " all which he saw, and part of
which he was"-how the MissOurians came over
to vote and voted-how enraged they were that
the Free-State men would not vote-how they col
lected in mobs ut last, maddened by whsky-how
they went from house to house and shop to shop,
While men took their wives and children to the
fort, ard fled themselyes-hOw they tarred and
feathered one of Uncle Georges friends. and ran
another out Of town, and murdered another-how,
Ike devils they behaved inside his handsome house.
DESTROYING what they could not steal, shooting
pistols into mirrors and trying at last tO set it on
ire. Z" Your loss can't be less than $4,000, old
fellow" concludes his frank informant, who has
himself lost that or more, "even if they didn't
burn your block of stores, which they allooed 10
DO after / left Uncle George hears it all in
silence, whittes faster or slower according TO the
excitement of the narrative, and quietly says AT
last, with slight moisture IN the corner oi either
eve .'"Well, my old woman was out OF it. anyhow.
Meantime. in regard 10 Topeka and Lawrence
the accounts arc somewhat confused even here
only l25 miles off. The last informant lett Topeka
on Friday, Sept. s. He reports the condition OF
affairs such as YOU have doubtless had narrated be-
fore now. The fortifcations around Lawrence,
sc. the people provided with beef and potatoes,
hut entirely out OF -four and Of lead. As to the
road between here and there, he saw fewer Missou-
rans tbsn previous parties have seeni and there Is