The Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1865-1870, 1868-11-25
THE STRUGGLES OF CIVILIZATION
IN THE GREAT BASIN"

u
along so Unanimously in the wake
the great railroad is fast destroyin
that realm of romance and wild adyer
ture, the American " Frontier" Thi
is none the less true because the civil
cation wherewi,h the great Plains ar
being rapidly rescued from the contro
of the red savages is too darkiy tinge'
with the turbulent life Of the large pro
portion of white ones who accompan,
and lend terror to it. The Railroad il
plscing white men in possession of the
vast tractof country where the aborig.
ines have so long been the sole masters
for their domain is thus cut in twain
by the most practicable and irresistible
currences at Bear River City are what
mnst have been long antici pated by
those who are familiar with the pecul-
lar population which has accompanied
the construction of the railway. The
wild enterprise which has led to the
settlement of the ephemerai " cities !"
CT the Plains has been inseparahle from
grand rush of the elements of yio
lence aud outlawry which have, for so
many years, been accommodating along
the borders of Missouri, Kansas and
Nebraska, which have had their day in
Colorado and Montana and which will,
perhaps, finally wear themselves out
against the rugged and sturdy civiliza-
tion of Nevada, Idaho and California
rebel army of the Northwest, deserters
from Union regiments, marauders and
bushwhackers from Bleeding Kansas
aud Border Rufian Missouri, refugees
from justice, highwaymeu and cut
threats from the cess-pools of vice |
everywhere, have struck for the Plains
as to a Paradise of outlawry and nnin-
terrupted license. The genius of sb-
solute lawlessness was never before in
si'ed to so great and promising feast.
Texas absorbed, in its day, the surplus
vice and wickedness Of the West and |
South California next invited to itself
these aud other bad elements; Nevada,
Idaho and the bordering territories
next came to be their promised land ;
aui By the time the old stock of ruff
fans was pretty efIectualIy decinated
AID tanned, the sudden opening Of the
Union Pacific Railway tapped the over
crowded reservoirs which had long been
f Hing up by accum ulations from the
States lying east Of the Rocky Noun
r.ins, fni the stream OF pollution
Il ed out into the Great Basin. Men
who are familiar with the scenes Of
-ioience SO common in the earlier days
Of California and Nevada and who have
ateiy crossed the Plains, declare that t
hey never beheld anything half so y
alarming and utterly lawless as the t
scenes which came under their notice 5
n the settlements and at the stations y
which border the line OF the railway o
# course "the law " is thing Of de- :,
is:on 10 such places. Ia those new r.
owns the bold and fearless trapper, the n
esoiute and daring Indian scout have II
cen superseded by the murderer and ~
40 scape g.llows. 1t is a matter of o,
purse that the enterprise which builds - ~
1859 settlements is the outgrowth of W
,dustry and certain amount of sta e'
iliiy and sober intention aud il
ouid seem tha, even they who com
,se the better parts of the population, ~ ~
ave been driven, in sheer self protec- dr.
on, 10 take the law into their own 81
lads and appeal to the bullet and the tw
curt of Judge Lynch to reciity the W.
gan,ic evils by which they are sur tw
unded. Murder by the Wholesale ~, In
mes to be met by a not less general Tt
distance from the better class whom WI
ou;rages and brigandage, robbery an
ID theft are dealt with summarily and SIC