The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-08-10

whicA, g Macon, SheIbina and Palmyra,
we're rendered familiar to the people Of Iowa
~ events in which they figured during the |
mr.. But amongst Ill these towns, young and
BID, there arc none of any special note for
business, beauty, tprospects Of futuretI
they are simply prairie towns,
With populations ranging from one hnpAeed
to several hundred, and without any spsoikl
internal or exterhal.
ST. Joseph is on the Missouri, two hundred
and six miles from Quincy, and is one Of the
old toxnsUf shn SECTION " NJ SSantfy.
Joseph Roabideanx settled there many years
ago and established : Trading House. and
amazed fortune ff6nfhis 9ndisn and Santa
Fe trade, and the town was laid out en-hia
lAnd md nsissa, h beiae ! 0.ahoic, aftsrhis
patron Saint Roubideaux, by the way, still
lives in 81. Jo., very old man. in moderate
circum stances, his very 'fast' boys having
squaudered his great accamulations.
was somehow disappointed in ST. Jo.;
and yet it is a town Of rome $4,000 inhabi-
tants, with evidences of considerable business
md life, and once had the mnnopoly of
the .outfit traden Of the Far West,
It is located on the sandy bottom, and the
sandy knowls along the Missouri river, and il
hemmed in by sa91E ridge, extending from
the river around back Of it. The sand on
the fat is '.loose'' to an indefinite depth, and
on the higher ground there is enough loose
sand aaying through the streets and into he
doors and Windows to cover every thing up
daily, and to render it generally disagreeabls.
Business is not Is good - il has hsen, and
yet there are number of business houses, -
veil az dwellings, inprossss Of erection, and
very general spirit Of improvement prevail
ing. The people there are 50 pleased with tbs
progress of their raiiroeas 70 the Northwest
and the Southwest that they do not seem 10
realize the fact that other railroads have cut
OF their jobbing trade and imitsd thern.to .
local but improving retail trade for the future.
Aud We, it seems to me very clear that Omaha
with branch of the Pacific railroad extend
ing already nearly two hundred miles, and to
be opened to It. Kearney next month, must
cut st. Joseph of on the North, while the ex-
tension of another branch of the same great
road through #. Riley, gives Leavensorth.
Kansas City and Lawrence the advantage of
ST. ph in the competition for the trade
of the southwest.
From St. Joseph we followed the big
Muddy by rail down to Weston. some forty
miles, through varied country, sometimes
billy and barren, again through numbered hills
and down into wide and reh bottoms, with
occasional big corn fields and big coru, re-
minding one of '.the Wabash country OF early
days.
Weston did mt take my fancy at fret sight.
and consequently took the steam ferry boat
for Lesvenworth City, seven miles further
down the river, and arrived there at = o clock,
making the trip from Keokuk in less than "a
hours ] made up for that, however, by a
detention of Is hours at ST. Joseph, and a
detention whose duration is not yet deter
mined on this sand bar.
Leavenworth City il, think, on the whole,
the best town West of the Mississippi river
above ST. Louis. 1t is pleasantly situated
at slight elevation above the river, on an I'M
dulsting surface, with ample room to spread
in an anlphitheatre whose rime makes very
pleasant drive Of some ten miles, with the
town nearly all the time in full view. The
population is estimated at some twenty thous
and, and many of the business houses, as
well as the dwelling houses, are very fine
structures. and the whole appearance of the
city is bu siness like, lively and attractive. The
Catholic Cathedral. in process of erection, is
q remarkable building OF magnificent proper
tons, and if completed in the style com
meaced will be one of the most splendid
Church edi6ces in the West The market of
the town seems well supplied, and we noticed
larger number Of market wagons, and n
more abundant supply of marketing, than We
remember to have observed anywhere outside
of the larger cities.
A short distance above the town, on a
beautiful plateau at the top of the highe st
bluffs | saw on the Missouri, stands Fort
Leavenworth, most delightful place. Here
are Arsenals, Hospitals Ordnance buildings,
Store houses. Officers residences, Soldiers
quarters, and stabiag for thousands of horses,
with ornamented grounds and public squares,
constructed and embellished without regard to
expense. We saw no place in our travels which
presented 30 many attractions for Z snmmer
residence in these piping times Of peace"
as Fort Leavenwo rth. Around the Fort and
extending down TO the city, lay the Cove rn-
ment farms with fields OF ample dimensions.
many OF them now waving in corn. and others
garnished with mammoth Hayricks 1t vas
on one Of these farms that Jim. Lane sho,
himself, and l passed over the very spot
where he fell, in the course OF my rAmbles.
The people Of Kansas are, mnch giyenIto
politics, and the leaders have the reputation
of being somewhat ambitious and selfish. not
to say c3rrupt And Les.enworth which
is the chlri city Of Kansas and abounds in
men of wealth, and rich politicians. are said
to be preparing TO make very heavy invest.
mentsi IN The Senatorial election next winter !
wake mp at sunrise and learned .hsk !
though " had got off that sasd bar. we were |
still forty miles from keokak. but think !
now >ha.i get to the GATE Cry Office in /
advance OF the mail, and can consequently |
gain time and save money by handing this in |
with my own hands. The Andy johnson Is !
q magnificent boat, and her officers verb |
clever gentlemen, to whom We tender the /
tribute cf our grateful acknowledgement |
for many favors,Fn spite of that obstructing
sand bar J.B.H.
IS ~
IOWA TESS.
zs& g. /
--BoRSE Of the Noapariei is at home again
With a new wife and increased journalistic