Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1859-04-14
Correspondence Marshall Co. Republican.
WYANDorT CRY, Kansas TIL
March u. 1850.

WYANDorT CRY, Kansas T.,
March q, 1859.
Mr. MATTISGLy-I promised to give
you an account of our trip West, de-, and
now proceed to redeem the pledge. We
left Plymouth, you rememb Der, Thursday,
March 10th, and got to the Michigan Cen
trail r. r. on Tuesday, March 10. at what
is called the Dyer station on the Joliet
Cutoff. Nothing of importance occurred
between Plymouth and Dyer, save on Mon
day when on the open prairie. the rain
commenced falling in torrents and the
wind blew almost a tornado, which caused
us to stand still an hour, our wagons be-
ing placed side by sile to shelter our hor
scs from the blast | never saw such mud
dy roads as we hal in western Indiana.
We shipp,l at Dyer for Joliet. ILL.,,
which place we reached at P. NJ, same
day. Joliett is fine looking place. full
of life and business. Here we changed
S1iS iOt cru, lti-s WiciC VIC afItNcQ AT
A. NJ, anil made arrangements to so by
water to St. Louis, st arting for that place
about . p. m. same day. The Illinois
was on "a high" hal got out of its banks
and on either sida might be seen one ex-
tended sheet of water. The river was al
most covered with ducks seemingly as
| thick as the biackbirds in old Marshall
We passed Alton in the night as well as
several other important towns. and landed
at St. Lonis at a. m, (next morning?)
distance 800 miles.
St. Louis is decidedly some. We re-
manned there till Saturday, 2 p. NJ, (buy
ing provisions, &,..) when we left for
Wyandott aboard the fine steamer ID. A.
January. commanded by Capt. Gilman.
The January is a splendid boat SINE 800
feet Tong. There were aboard some 400
passengers, horses and wagons / don't
know how many. In approaching the
Missouri river we could see ct some dis
lance the difference in the color of the wa
ter. the Mississippi being blue and the
Missouri very mu Idly, and always remains
so. There arc many beautiful towns a
long the latter stream. DoonviIle and
Lexington are both fine cities. DoonviIle
is said to be the garden spot of Missouri.
Kansas city is the last town in Missouri,
within two miles Of Kansas river. Wy
andott City is two miles from Kansas City.
and is In full view from the levee at the
latter place. and vice versa. The Mo. river
thus far is very crooked, its banks in ma
ny places precipitous and peering up 200
feet high. Those heights and bluffs seem
to be composed Of limestone Wild geese
along sand bars were about as thick as
saying that in many places we saw 1000
or more in flock. We landed at Wyan.
dott Thur sday. March Oath. Icing little
more than FIVE days on the river from ST
Louis-distance 430 miles. Mr.. c. c.
Carpenter, formerly of Indiana, now o.
this place, accompanied us from St. Louis
He is considered gentleman of veracity-
has been to Pixies Peak-dug nine day,
and got 1913 60 at Cherry creek. and use,
a pan only. He will return to the mines
again shortly.
Mr.. Armstrong, the Wyandott Indian
(who by the way is as much white man a
many others. got aboard at Jefferson City
He is well informed aud is a minister. ii
and Dir. Carpenter advised us take the San
tate route
We struck some fifteen sand cars in tn
Missouri river coming up, some of whicl
brought us up standing. We had to "bac
: of" some times the distance Of two mile.
J. Twice we were blown ashore despite of al
n efforts to keep the current. The secon
e time we were blown with sufficient fore
: to have smashed things into "gin shop.
but fortunately the shore proved to be
i piece of bottom land washed square dowr
n and the boat struck its whole length at I'll
same time o that no damage was donc.-
r A beautiful boat called the "Silver Lake
o phys upon the waters of the Kansas rive
g We are now camped near Mr.. Arm
e strong's, two miles from Wyandott. II
lives in as fine brick house as l evt
saw-has large farm in one of the pre-
'e test places ever bcheld;-he is said to
: worth $500. 900. Wyandott is destine
6 to be City, it being natural point, ju
rc at an elbow in the Missouri and the moui
le o. the Kansas river The Missouri at til
t place comes directly from the Nortl
makes q short turn and runs Easterly
n Kansas City. The Kansas river comes
IS at this elbow direct from the South, 1
h that the compass points N. mp the NJ
5, and S. up the Kansas. Wyandott is
:, :, the West side of both these rivers, as bea
:. Itifully located as any one could wish for
Ic:ty. The land around here is rolling, M