The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-07-14

OiUCs
Wetravelled all day with the climber ofth,
Kaw VISIBLE on the south sometimes quit
near Us, then one to or miles dista ut
Our road lay for a considerable distance
along the bank eff what seemed desert
ed bed of the river, which has since made
a new and deeper channel more to tht
south. We trayersed the prairie of course
except where it was cut down by the
creeks couing down from the north to
lose themselves in tho Kaw. The Sol.
dier, the Red Vermillion, and another
Rock creek, were thelprincipal of these
streams. Our road passed St. Mary's
! (Catbolic) Mission. where there is quite
an Indian village and very large ion.
provement, which Iguess white men were
paid to make. Yet, whether to their
credit or otherwise, l believe the truth
cannot fairly be disputed, that Catholic
Missions have been more successful in es-
tablishing permanent influence over In.
dians than any others, except, perhaps,
the Moravians
at the Red Vermillion-still on the
Potawatauie Reserve. but near its west
eru edge-wo dined-the landlady a
II alf- Breed-the dinner the hardest ev-
er paid half dollar for. Doubtless,
however, my eyes will be opened to an
appreciation of cold hog and corn dodger
as delicacies long before they are blessed
with sight of the Sacramento.
A wide, marshy bottom-over which
charioteer seeks an untraversed path,
since rut buries him so much deeper in.
to the mire-les just west of the Vermil-
lion (Which, with two or three other steep
banked streams, We crossed on Indian
toll bridges cheaply built and very prof
liable to their owners;) whence the land
rises into rolling sandy ridges, some Of
them thinly wooded up their sides with
White and Burr Oak. Thence we strike
the oldfasbioned deep, black prairie a
gain-most inviting to the cultivator, but
not SO grateful to the traveller, just after
a soaking rain-and passing the stakes
and runous cabin or SO of one or two
still.born cities. we reach the Big Blue,
which here joins the Kansas from the
North. 1t is nearly as wide as the Kan
sas or Kaw at Lawrence. but of course
neither SO swift nor so deep. 1t is far
clearer, even just after heavy shower,
than the Kansas, as is strikingly esinced
at and below the junction, where the two
streams run for some distance side by side
In the same channel without ming ling,
The Big Blue rises near the Platte, in
what is now Nebraska, but which will be
included in Kansas, If the Platte is ID ade
her uorthern boundary, as it seems likely
to be. ! understand that there is good
deal Of settles men already along its course
and on its tributaries, though judge from
the relative purity Of its water that some
portion Of this region must be less fertile
than the portions of Kansas l have seen.
Manhattan is an embryo city of per-
baps 100 houses, of which several were
unroofed and three or four utterly de.
stroyed BY tornado on the wild night |
passed at Atcbinson q 5th inst) So vi
olent was the tempest that large sign
board was carried across the Blue and
thrown down fully half mile from the
spot at which it was taken up; and other
heavy articles have not since been found.
Several families deprived of home and
shelter BY the hurricane are temporarily
lodged in the basement of the new hotel
just erected here--a three.story building.
So feet BY 33, with limestone walls and
black walnut iuishing-an establishment
of which there is urgent need. The city
is located on the fat. deep bottom in the
forks of the rivers, with high limestone
bluff, afTording capital ID aterial for build
ing just behind it. The Kansas comes
hither from the Southwest, and has Fort
Riley and its large military reservation
fifteen miles distant on its north bank,
with the intended City of Ogden just east
and Junction City just west of it, at
the forks Of the Kansas, whence its more
nortberly branch is known as the Repub-
lican and its more southerly as the Smo-
Ky Hill.
At Junction City, is newspaper--tbe
most westerly, | presume, in Kansas, q.
part from the Pixies Peak region-foup-
dcd and kept alive by an army sutler,
and of course "Democratio" in its incul-
cations. In opposition to it, The Man.
haitian EapresS is abut to be issued here
by NJ. VIvalde, an Italian exile and
devote of Universal Liberty, who will
of course sustain the Republican cause.
[ commend him and bis journal to the
confidence and patronage Of all who
would like a weekly bulletin from the
Far West. spoke here last evening in
the midst of another gathering tempest.
which burst iu rain as closed, and it
continued to fash aud roll all night, with
rain. and is cloudy and
blowing gale to-day. / fear We shall
be stopped by high water on the Plains.
I had hoped to sum up my Impressions
Of Kansas in this letter, but that would
make it two long. Let me close with an
incident which is currently reported
this region as having recently
taken place at crossing af the Big Blue
known as Marysville (of course not the
Marysyille of Bull Creek) some 50 miles