, 1860-05-10

,nRes there Rf0 6ome poItofo lAnd8 and 18lands |
ia trus, which will yield good crops, but these
,ear vary email proportion to tho whole.
here is no soil At all much Of the way, and then
.lkali nhitens md poisons thousands Of acres
n other places.
The river itself is . humbug, not even Captain
Yates steamer, "Geneva," can erer nasigateglts
waters. have wnded it several times, and its
deepest places did not wet"my feet with pa'r
Of common boots. It has no continuous cbao-
mel, but its waters wind among the sand bars
md low ialands, and ripple over tzeacharous
quicksands. At Cottonwood Springs t~o ofns
ATTEMPTED to CROSS with mules, to hunt Buf1a~
Ioea on the other side We worked a couple OF
hours, got mule cast, badly vet ourselves,
crawled ont, fled for camp, and left the butfa1oes
quietly md securely grazing. This is about al
the buffalo hunt hare had.
There arezmany encampu,ents' Of the Sioux
md Cheyenne Indians on the route. These two
tribes arc now at war with the Pawnees, but are
reryfriendly to the whites aud are awful beggars.
We saw many warlike preparations, and one Of
our party Was fortunate enough to be present
ut grand war dance, but from fear Of being |
invited to partake Of the dog soup, left rather
suddenly.
From Fort Kearney to Denver there are sew |
eral stRanches" with high sounding names. !
"Douelas City, which before ne reached ne |
imagined must be quite town, we found to
consist of one log hut, and vsry good "Cor-
rell" for mules or cattle.
St. Vralns and Lumpkin's Forts are only vast
piles Of decaying, crumbling adobe, erected
Years ago by traders for protection from, nnd
trade with the Indians.
Below Fremont's Orchard is now established
q "cut-of" to Denver, which it is claimed saFea
twenty five to fifty milea in distauce, and much
in sand. The Express Companies are changing
their stations to this " "cut-ofl," and it may
soon become the principal route through. We
came the old route along the Platte, ~ does
majority Of the emigration Jet. The "ent-oa
function is about 100 niles from DcnFer by the
old ropd, We found pretty good grass Tor our
taams. most Of the way from Kearncy, and
+hoee WIN start now will find plenty nearly all
the why
have looked through Denver, and into its
places Of business, md conTersed MUCH VIII
many business men since / CAME here, but
hardly know how or what to write Of it yet.
attempted to count its buildings, but the job is
hard one, for they are greatly scattered Good
Judges tell me there are ut least tnoasaoa
buildings, and think there are. By "oenser'
1mean the united towns Of Denver, Aurar'a
and Highland, for they are now all united BY q
vote Of their respective citizens.
/ It's much larger place than 1 expected TO
| find. Most of the buildings are common frames
clapboarded. aud and unpainted, which g1Te the
plsce g decidedly new and fresh appearance.
noticed several rery respectable well hnlsneo
| brick buildings and several fine wooden stfuc-
tures which would be a credit to any place. l
am told trade is dull and money very scarce, hnt
this cannot long remain so with tho hundreds
of emicrauts dailF rushing in here. OF course
he future depends, in a great degree, upon the
richness of tie mines-that they will prove all
that has been told Of them very few here seem
to doubt-with that this must speedily become
large city. The mania of speculation in cor
ner lots prevails here to great extent-pe1haps
too crest, but hope not.
Building materials are high, lumber selling al
soto $50 per thousand. Carpenters readily
ret s3 per day, and plasterers 80 to r. per day
while "hoss" workmen mud contractors maxi
far ,nore. Brick SO per thousand.
On our arrival here we we're all shocked
the news Of Mr.. Miller's alleged perfidy, con
tanned in the PnEss AND thlsoSs' >o on0
our whole party eTer dreamed he was 'ne pet
son he seems to oe' ana at' oeep' 'es.e' =
Some Of mv friends OBJECT 10 tne eonnee'lon
! his name with mine in your not'ce OF 'ne tua'
ter. He did, it is true, Cross the plans VII
: me, but he did not start from lineage Win ta*
and the day left WAS not at all certain tna
be would go He did, however, come and jo'
us at St. Joseph few days atter, but ne'e
had any business connections or tranhaet'on
with him, and be came, or rather. ne all wef
together, on our journey. As this Is all he ma
). to do with me or any Of our party, anu as
we're all entirely ignorsns OF MS ono eonoue''
hope the mere fact that under sncn e'rcuus''
ces be crossed the plains with US WI" !,
iaiure me or disgrace our COMPANY
: left here soon after hls arrival W.
=, mule, and few provisions IN
a sack, keeping his OVID counsel, and gong
know not whittier. think can sa1e'5 aSSu
Il you that the indignation Of cur party WAS
great, and still is, that II 'hey possessed any
K formation as TO MS "nefe1uoa''
,e readily given. Miller ane" 'n1S a'1 'e'' 49,
5, lence.
se This is really strange countr5-when
down to finish this had no idea TINT II
re- hours would see us pushing for the widest p'
re- Of the mountsins-hut 70 it Is. We have oe
ro, ,hont s;4 of us. with q guide We have
- ,,cod start to urosncct the mountains on