New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-04-07
NOTES ON TIE MISSOURI RIVER.
Cousvcs3<ses 81 fSe n y. hns.A
Miss oURI RIVER, ON BOARD sTLAsER I


MISSOURI RIVER, ON BOARD SrEAsCER
AUSTRALIA, March Is, 1857.
We left Nev.Yorh on the 2lst Of March. and
arrived. IN due course Of rail- st st. Louis, lying
over. as We say in the West, night or two for
necessary rest What an active, busy, busting
place is Chicago buster. for its size, than New
York. Lots at New-York prices, or above;
sos GOO, | am told, for choice building site:
Crossing the prairies- call 1t prayers, IN West
eyn na,snce-by the Illinois Central Railroad, We
n,ersected the Terre Hsute and Alton Road at
N.,,oon. and 30 10 ST. Louis. Railroads running
north and south in this western world do poor
business. The tide sets east and west. Inc ilIi-
uois Central carries few pssser gers-shose enemy
local But their real estate is OF Immense Vaue'
The easy terms upon which il is sold make IL
profitable investment for the farmer and ~ NOT UNI
frequently happens that dissatisfied with his prairie
bfe the New EDgI,nder abandons MS iarlh ano ioi
feits the first installment
To live on prairie Worse fate than TO live NJ
sea The same boundless view level as tar a. the
eye can reach. In the far distance house, on the
range of the horizon, like ship at sea, but with
this iDferiority in interest, that it does not move
Yet there is something impressive in its vast extent.
N the sportsman tits paradise. PraiV NC iens,
all them " chickens" simply, start Up H every
Every step, futter few feet, then settle again INTO
1he grass. Flocks Of wild ducks start from their
feding grounds. Wild geese take their swift: and
distant flight bird, which I take to be ployer,
Sounds md the great, awkward, long legged
crane, known as the .and-hill crane where viii he
find sand in Illinois y rises slowly from the ground,
OF looms up like an ostrich on the prairie
You ask what IRE those numerous mounds, like
graves in a churchyard, or city OF Prairie dogs.
| They are the homes of the gopher, small animal
like rat, sboundipg in many places, as the farmer
knows to his cost. The land speculator, however,
locks upon them with more favorable eye, for they
| tef I'll erriDely of vet, marshy land.
st Louis is great city, destined to be greater.
She has excellent bituminOus coal wAhln the city
limits. few months will open railroad TO the Iron
Mountain, where you shovel iron from the Surface
of the earth in ineXhsustible quantities sod OF 10
per cent of purity. +, She has her hundreds OF
miles ofnsygatiOn on the Mississippi at least. Tue
Missouri in an Eastern mans view, is scarcely nav
gable at all.
Leaving st. Louis in the afternoon we took the
cars for Jefferson City, and then on board the boat
The Pacific Railroad is one Of the best IN the
country-the best have been on in the West They
run il with speed of twenty-five miles an hour,
and with great regularity. In the Fall they VIII
open another section of thirty or forty miles, and
three years will probably see it completed TO the
Kansas border at Kansas City.
But what a country il runs through to Jefferson
City, one hundred and twenty -6ve miles The
poorest and widest part Of Massachusetts, the
mountains on the line OF the Western Road, between
Springfield and Worcester, is rich and tame COM
paratiyely The soil miserable, except in the
swsmps, where the Missouri has an unpleasant
habit of dropping in unawares, and taking forcible
possession of your bed.
few miles beyotd Jefferson City, the character
of the country changes. The western aud north
western sections of the State are very fertile
prairie land, interpreted with sufficient timber.
At Jefferson City, We took the Pacific Company
Lightning Line boat, the Australia-somewhs Of a
misnOmer, as We shall presently see.
Were yOu ever on board Missouri steamer!
Imagine sn enormous scow, say $50 feet by 40,
drawing three and half feet wster-nO more.
Upon her main deck place the machinery, the
freight, hunks for the emgrants, wood for the fur
naces coal for the stoves, accommodations for the
crew. In her hold put nothing but ballast there
is no room. Ship crew of Germans and Irish -
principally the former. Have no guards to your
boat that you may fall overheard comfortably, and
you have Missouri steamer.
The cabin passengers live (e1ist is better word)
entirely upon the state room deck. Here they eat
sleep, wash (those who indulge in that luxury,
chew and spit The ladies' cabin is here too, part
of the long saloon, distinguished in the day by the
difference in the chairs, at night by drawn curtain.
But the bell rings and we are of. Tomorrow
will write you an account OF our first day. ex-
perience. II.