The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-08-05

receive another letter from me here.
after my stated intention of going
to Cheyenne two weeks ago. But
my experience of the course of life
has convinced me that it is much like
the Irishman's pig, Of which, when
dressed and weighed, he said it
didn't weigh half as much as I ex-
pected, an be jabers / always knew
1t Wouldn't" In other words, we
may reasonably calculate that the pre-
else thing we expect will very seldom
happen. The man who always breads
one accident is certain to die By some
other, and he who has a ervou dread
Of mad dogs, runs FIVE hundred more
chances of being snake bitten
or struck by lightning. 1t be-
gins to lock now as if L
would have to spend the next
two months only in the mountains.
and return to this region late in the
autumn. On my return from FIRE.
mont, / received letters from Indiana,
directing me to examine certain lands
in the Papillon Valley, and soon after
another request in regard to lands in
Sarpy County. ] have now finished
both, and will positively take the 4 p.
NJ. train to-day for Cheyenne. | have
been in Nebraska nearly five weeks.
When l arrived the heated term was
inst beginning, and closed but a few
days ago. Such protracted and in
tense heat was never before known in
| Nebraska; a week of uncomfortably
warm weather Is the most they have
/ ever had at once, but this continued
an entire month, and adviees from
every part of the West report the
same intense and unusual heat. The
hottest day in Omaha the mercury
rose to 106o in the shade, and with
out the cooling breezes we must have
! suffered intensely. AS it was, many
| cases of un-stroke occurred In the
harvest-ield, and of a party of FIVE
/ hundred Mormons from Great Britain,
who reached here that day, twenty
we're struck down, of whom FIVE died
before reaching the end of the road.
The drouth has also been very
great, and sod corn and potatoes be-
| gin to wither, but on old ground the
| corn has attained it's full hight, tassel-
1 CA GA0 0AAhOA9 8IA GAAOno III - Va
drouth. The wheat has also been
harvested, and the yield is very heavy,
though help Is so scarce that many
farmers are moving their wheat with
machines, raking and stacking it like
hay.
Last week / made my last excur-
sion to the country, taking the Elk
horn road, leading a little south OF
west. -Four miles out / stopped at a
Mr.. B~enton's, who had forty acres oil
moved wheat still lying on the
ground, and two men sick at his
house from sun-stroke. Their fall,
two days before, had created a panic
among his hands, who all left, and
refused to work any more. Seven
miles out brought me TO the Big
Papillion, and half a mile up the
valley lay the land | came to exam.
inc, on which / spent the better
part of the day. The farmers were
busy making hay along the creek.
where the grass was some four feet
high and very rank. This common OF
" prairie hay looks nice, and stock
eat it very readily, but farmers differ
In regard to it, some maintaining it to
be as nutritious as timothy or clover,
which others deny. By a little cult
walton a kind of grass called the
" blue-jOint" is grown, which makes
the finest hay in the world; but many
years will pass before the farmers
here will pay much attention to cult
waited grasses, there is so much non.
resident land to run over and select
from. This piece of land has a fine
rock quarry, the first / have visited
in Nebraska. The State is deficient
in rock and coal, but abOunds in sa
lines. A company has just begun tc
a. manufacture salt In Lancaster Coun.
ty, just southwest Of Lincoln City,
the supply is inexhaustible, and viii
be a source of immense wealth te the
State. This quarry here is Of
fine red sandstone, and must be
exposed to the air several weeks
before being laid up in the
wall. The quarry is IN a narrow gorge
running in from the west, and follow
ing up the hollow, prospecting fol
minerals. aud occasionally soaring
up a copperhead, which are a little
too thick for comfort in the gorge, ]
came put on the high prairie twelve
! miles from town, and spent the night
with a Mr.. Wilson, I believe that's
the nancy, the oldest settler and a
noted farmer In that region. Four
teen years ago the little knoll of ten
acres, which is now such a beautiful
country place, was the center of an
unbroken waste. Far as the eye
could reach not a house or a stick OF
timber was to be seen. The scant
herbage of the knoll had been worn
away by camping parties of Pawnees,
with whom it was a favorite spot,
when Mr.. w. arrived IN the month of
May, 1884, with all his earthly pos
sessions IN two wagons their contents
ana teams. One year was consumed
10 breaking sod, building, and getting
ready to farm, and for years after
marauders OF every kind, human
and animal, devastated his
helds, wandering bands of Pawnees
stole his stock, and at the end of four
years he vas with difficulty able To
pay the Government for his land To-
day 1T IS difficult to conceive snch =
state of affairs so short a time apo
The traveller approaches his house he
tween magnificent fields of corn and
wheat, along a broad lane bordered
by wild morning-glories to the foot of
the knoll. The front of the grounds
IS heavily shaded by a row of trees,
none less than a foot in diameter,
From the main entrance a bordered
walk leads to the house, lined on each
side by triple rows of Lombardy pop
lars. back Of which spreads a dense
forest of maple, cottonwood, willow,
walnut and box-elder.
To the rear IS a large and well kept
garden. The grounds are lively with
every variety Of domestic fowl. while
hey o2d on the are hundreds OF
acres OF cultivated land; and still
further, large herds Of cattle and
drOqeS of sheen all the nrnnartu a