New-York daily tribune., 1859-06-07
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
MORE OF KANSAS.
MsSHATTAS, May "a, l6'

pa :, tbis point, iD order TO ga time 10 visit
r....hs aid Manhattan, and sun up my impres
-. of Kansss for THE TRIBUNE. Our rosf
f.m Lesye.wor,h lay Ioyer the heavy hill west
~s,d hich LSavenworth must soon cut down o'
A will cut her down materially, passing through
tAe r.eb valley Of Salt Creek and over diV'de l""
that Of the Stranger, which we t'rded az Eas'oo'
ylllsse Of thirty to fifty houses. famous tor bordef
puAssp outrsees in Io56. The blafis OF The
Stranger are here one to two hundred ieet high,
generally timbered With Oak, &c, and so covered
nth limestone boulders that scarcely more than
half the ground 10 visible. These boulders are
generally oblopp and irregularly fiat, making the
hest Of stoDe.wall. | am Informed that nne feos
# capital wall is regarded as but falr "cek
w.rk Tor q good walbuider, working oY hlmseit'
We pass out of the valley just beyond Eas1'n
pi,ise to the slightly rolling PRAIRIE and 6e"ce'o''"
for totty miles 10 Topeka our way lies through
sS.tly beaying sea of grass, with timber generally
,;.ibe slopg the water on either side. oc-
sasiopaJy, however, We descend from the crest oi
he prsrie into barely perceptible hollow ana
now nothing but grass and ky are Visible, the TWO
meeting ut the borzon on every side DO nov
sle this region quite 20 well as the more rolliog
-.unt,v south of Olatbe and Prairie City, across
Bull Creek and the Msrais drs CygDes, but 1t IS
y.,y fertile, fairly wooded, and sufficiently irrega-
hr in surface TO carry of the water and leave few
or no marshes or slouehs exec pt in the road where
ths frequent crossing of unbridged water courses
n attended by jolt and sjerk which render a doze
DANGEROUS and at the same time scarcely possible.
1, rdipg over such roads, oil the. pleasure must be
l,sbk IN through the eyes alone.
We stopped for dinner at the crossing of Grass
hopper Creek, at the Village of Osa"kee, once
Ne seat Of Jefferson County and Land Office,
both now removed Grasshopper Falls, believe,
v<xt obtained the coveted distinction of being
shire town; but aootber popular vote removed it
thence to OskalOOsa, on the road from Leiven-
worth TO LecOmptOD, on the very line OF the
Delaware Reserve which still covers good part Of
Jefferson as well as Of Leavenworth and WyaDd0t
Counties Osaskee, how probably four years old,
IL therefore in II state Of dilapdation aud decay,
Ike good many Kansas cities which figure largely
Oh the map Its business having left II, ITS great
hotel WAS very mysterously burned, and presume
tAe insurance. on it was duly paid We dned here at
q very modest but comfortable tavern, kept by
kisd and worthy Pennsylvania Dutchman, who
recognized me from our meeting at the Wing
National Convention at Harrisburg, nearly twenty
years ago. Bearing south If vest FROM Osa askce,
we crossed Rock and Muddy Creeks (neither Of
them mare rocky nor muddy than the Other), and
were Obliged by the lack of bridge (now being
repsred) over Halliday Creek, to keep on west 70
petty village called Iudianoa, whence We
turned a sharp angle through the magnifcenily
fertile and admirably tlmbered bottom OF the
Kaw or Kansas to the Topeka ferry,
which we reached h.ile after sundown, but were
delayed by great contractors traio which had
been all dny crossing, and was likely to be good
pnrt Of the morrow, so that we did not ge. across
ano into Topeka Till nearly dark. | noticed with
sOrrow that the oxen which draw these great sup
ply wagons are often treated very craely, not
merely in respect to the beating and whaliog which
every human brute delights in bestowing on every
live thing over which he domiuecrs, but witn re-
gard TO food and driub. Here were cattle that had
stood in the yoke all that hot, dry day with notho
river mad with thirst, they were all but kaocked
down for trying 20 drink. | was assured that oxen
are sometimes kept in the yoke, without food or
drink, for two days, While making one OF these
river crossings. There can be no excuse for this
Those which haze long to wait ought to be taken
oil snd driven n mile or more if necessary to grass
and led there; at all events they should be waered
ut les.t twice day. How can competent
train. .master-to say nothing of humanity-over
,ork the pehcy of this
The n,er is here wider than at Lawrence OF
Wysndot below, is nearly as m ,ddy as the Missouri
and runs with q swift current even to its banks.
An attempt had been made during the dag to swim
across a drove of cattle; but the strong current
carried them below the ferry landing on the south
whence the steep bank forbade their getting out
30 that they went down the river several miles, 40
three oi them we're drowIed The expcdment o
s~immiDg proved wretchcd economy, alike in tim,
and money
TOPEKA is village Of probably loo houses anC
I,0O0 inhabitants situated on the north line o
Shawnee County, which has the Sac and Fox Re
serve on the south the Potawstamio on the north
west, and the Delaware nj little distance on the
north east. Along the north bank Of the river OPP
posite, party of Halt Breeds have reserve mile
wide by twenty miles long, sDd give the good-ior-
nothing rascals credit for admirable Judgment 10
selecting their land. There is probably not an acre
Of their tract that could not be- made to produce
one hundred bushels Of she'led corn by the appli-
cation Of less labor than would be required TO pro-
duce thirty bushels on the average in New-Torh or
New-Epgsnd. The soil is river deposit four to
sin feet deep; the timber large and choice-Oak,
Elm, Bass, Black Walnut Sycamore, Ac, With 4