Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-07-23

the smoother sands of its dry bed OF
course, the water Of its stagnant pools must
be prejudicial to man or beast. Atlength
we crossed its deep, trying sand and left it
behind us, passing over high divide
much cut up by gullies through which the
water Of the wet seasons flows and tears
its way to the Arkansas on the south or
Platte on the north, until we struck, at
last evening, the first living tributary to
the Platte-a little creek called Beaver,
which l have not seen on any map
1t is about ten miles east of the Bijou, with
which it probably unites before reaching
the Platte.
After leaving the valley of Big Sandy,
the grass of the uplands becomes better,
and is no longer confined to the water-cour-
ses. 1t spreads in green luxuraince up the
southward slopes Of considerable bills, which
seems to be owing to vast drifts Of snow in
| Winter swept over and off the tops of
bills by the fierce prairie winds aud piled
up here to hight of fifteen or twenty feet,
to be slowly dissolved by the warmer suns
of the spring months and thus give rise
to an after growth of grass which contrasts
strongly with the surrounding sterility.
! AT Beaver Creek we saw for the FIRST
time in many weary days-for more than
200 miles at the least--a clump of low but
sturdy Cottonwoods thirty or forty in num-
ber-part Of them laid low by the devas-
tating ak, but still giving hope that the
desert was nearly past. Aud, six or seven
miles after, just os night was falling, we
came in sight of the Pines, giving double
| assurance that the mountains were at hand
Pixies Peak, in the west-south- and
! Longs Peak in the west-north-west-(t the
latter nearly the direction of Denver)-
had stood revealed to us hours before by
the CLEAN of their snowy dadems, as the
morning sun dspeled the chill mistS of the
preceding night; but their majesty was q
bleak and rugged one; while the Pines,
| though but scattered clumps of the short
and scrubby variety known in New Eng
land and the South as Pitch Pine, lent a
grace and hospitality to the landscape which
only the weary and way-worn who have
long traVersed parched and shadeIess de-
serts can appreciate. They grow here
mainly in steep ravines, and often show
marks of fire which the baroness of the sur
rounding praries-sterile as "pine plains"
are apt to be-renders to me inexpicable.
Possibly, the fires that scorched them were
kindled in the leafy carpet spread beneath
them by the trees themselves.
This is but the northern outskirt of the
Pine region, which stretches far south, thro
Arkansas and beyond, and soon thickeniGg
into forests and widening to breadth of
some sixty miles. Scattered as it is, could
hardly repress a shout on meeting it. And
it was pleasure to see last evening the
many parties Of wayworn gold-seekers en-
camped beside our way, after their long
journey through woodless region, sur
rounding great, ruddy, leaping fires of the
dead ptch-wood, and solacing themsel YES
for their long privation by the amplest al
lowance of blaze and warmth. For the
climate of the American desert is terrible.
Be the day ever so hot in the SUMS unsoft-
ened glare, the night that follows is sure
to be chill and piercing, driving the mus
ketoes and buffalo-gnats to their hiding
places directly after sunset The fierce
praire-wind searches to the marrow lice
froze quarter of an inch thick on the
Plains on the 26th of May, aud shower
at this season is very apt to be accompanied
by hai, as well as thunder and lightning
trust Our country has no harsher climate,
save high among her grandest mountains.
From the Bijou to Cherry Creek-some
40 miIes-I can say little of the country,
save that it ia high, rolling prairie, deeply
cut by several streams, which run north
eastwardly to join the Platte, or one of the
tributaries just named. We passed it in
the night, hurrying on to reach Denver,
and at sunrise this morning stopped to
change mules on the bank of Cherry Greek,
twelve miles south of this place (Which is
situated at the junction of the creek with
the south fork of the Platte.) The foot
hills" of the Rocky Mountains seemed but
a few miles west of us during our rapid
ride down the smooth valley of the Cherry
Greek, which has fine belt of Cottonwood
only, but including trees Of immense size
not less than three to four feet in diameter
The soil of the adjacent prairie seems light
and sandy, but well grasSed, and likely to
yield Oats, Potatoes, &c, but the elevation
(hardy less than 5000 feet, the proxim-
ity of the Rocky Mountains, whose snow.
covered crests, cleaning between and over
the foot hills, seem hardly twenty miles dis
tant, must ever render the growth of corr
difficult if not absolutely impossible. =
Wheat, understand, has been grown fifty
to eighty miles south of this with mode
rate success. Still, if the adjacent GolC
Mines realize the sanguine expectation
now entertained here, this region will re
quire Millions on Millions worth OF Food
from the rich prairies and bottoms Of Kan
sas proper, Nebraska, and Missouri, and
we shall need but the Pacific Railroad TO
open up most benefcent Home Trade,
and give the rich valley of the Missouri
aud its immediate tributaries better mar
kets than those of the East.
Aud fervently trust that the fond ex
pectations of these gold-seekers, however
chastened, may not be disappointed Fol
the sake of the weary, dusty, foot-sorC
thousands have passed on my rapid jour
ney from civilized Kansas to this point,
pray that Gold may be found here in bound
less extent and reasonable abundance
Throughout the next six weeks, they will
be dropping in here, hundred or more
per day, aud trust that they are not to
be sent home disappointed, spirit-broken
, penniless. If they must recross the greaI
desert with their slow-moving teams, may
| - 4 D. 4 lfs.tk H.,