The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-07-21


wretched cabin and an acre or so Of
broken and fenced prairie showed what a
pioneer bad been doing in the last two or
three years, and beside it was tavern-
the last, | presume, this side of Pixies
Peak. 1t consisted of crotched stake,
which, With the squatter's fence aforesaid,
supported ridge. pole, across " hich some
old sail cloth was drawn, hanging down
on either side, and forming cabin some
six by eight feet. and perhaps from three
to five and half feet high-large enough
to contain two 'wbiskey barrels, two de-
caDters, two glasses, three or four cans of
picked oysters and two or three boxes of
sardines, but nothing of the bread kind
whatever. The man probably understood
his business better than we did, and had
declined to dissipate bis evidently moder.
ate capital By investing any part of it in
articles not of prime necessity. Our
wants being peculiar, we could not trade
with him, but after an interchange of
courtcsies, passed on.
Two miles further We crossed. by a
bad and difficult ford, "Cbapman's Creek,
running south to the Smoky Hill, border
ed by thin streak Of timber, and me.
andering through liberal valley of glori-
ously rich prairie. Here we passed the
last settler on our road to Pixies Peak.
He has been here two or three years, has
seventy-fve acres fenced and broken,
grew 5000 bushels of corn last year, has
a fine stock of Horses and cattle around
him, with at least eight tow headed chill
dren under ten years old. His house
judged superfcialy, would be dear at
fifty dollars, but | think be neither needs
nor wishes to be pittied.
Our road bore hence north Of west,
up the left bank of Cbapmau's Creek. on
which, 23 miles from Junction, we halted
at "Station g." at IL, a. m, to change
mules and dine This station should be
five miles further Oh, and three or four
miles further south, but cannot be, for
want of wood and water. There is, Of
course, no house here, but two Sun all tents
and brush arbor furnish accommoda-
tons for from six to fifteen persons, as
the case may be. A score of mules are
picketed about on the rich grass; there is
rail pen for the two cows. Of our
landlady's two sun-browned children,
(girls of ten and six respectively one was
born in Missouri, the other at Laramie.
| was told that their father was killed by
Indians, and that the station keeper is
her second husband. She gave US an
excellent dinner of bacon aud green's, good
bread. applesauce and pie, and would
have given US butter bad we passed few
days later; bat her cows had been over
driven, aud needed few days quiet and
generous feeding. The water was too
muddy-the predjudices of education
would not permit me to drink 1.-THE
spring being submerged by the high wa
ter of the high brook, which was the on
ly remaining resource. She spologized
for making US eat in her narrow tent
rather than under her brush arbor, say
ing that the last time she set the table
there, the high prairie wind made clean
sweep Of table-cloth and all upon it,
breaking several of her not very sbund-
ant dishes. have rarely made better
dinner, though the violent rain of the sec.
ond previous night nigh drowning out
the whole concern.
We were in the wagon again few
minutes before noon (the hours kept on
the plains are good), for we had 35 miles
yet to make to-day, which, with mule
team, requires long afternoon. True,
the roads are harder bere, less cut up
aud less muddy than in eastern Kansas;
but few men think how much up and down
is saved them in travelling over civilized
region by bridges and causeways over
water-courses. We still bept north ol
west for several miles, so as to cling to
the high divide between Chapman's Creek
and Solomon's Fork, (another tributary
of the Smoky Hil), so far as possible
Soon we saw our first antelope, and, in
the course of the afternoon, FIVE others
but not one of them seemed to place a
proper estimate ou the value of our so.
ciety. Two of them started up so near
US as to be for moment within possible
rife shot; but they wideued the gap be-
tween US directly. We crossed many
old buffalo trails and buffalo heads near.
ly reduced to skeleton, but no signs
that buffalo have been so far east this
season. Two or three of the water
courses we crossed had here and there
q cottonwood or stunted elm on
I its banks, but the general dearth of tim
Der is fearful, and in dry season there
can be little or no water on this long 81
miles. But it must be considered that
| our route avoids the streams, and ot
course the timber to tbe utmost. The
creek on which We are encamped "a
branch of Solomon's) is now a fair mill
stream. but in dry time mig ght doubtless
be run through nine inch ring. 1t has
considerable wood on its banks-say a
belt averaging ten rods width,
| Twenty miles back the rock suddenly
changed entirely from tbe universal lime
stone of Kansas east of Chapman's Creek
to decaying red sandstone; the soil ol
course becomes sandy and much thinner;
- Al