The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-06-12
THE FAR WEST.
A Journey to the Verge of Civil,
ization.
The Great Pacific Railway,
END OF THE TRACK. d. T.,
JUNE 4. tS6S.

| miles west OF Sneyeune III OhcOIas or
las it is proposed to call this part of the
| territory Wyoming.
From Omaha the road runs south
west about thirty miles until it reaches
the Platte river; it then follows the
! river for nearly five hundred miles,
gradually rising until it reaches Sher-
man station, % miles west of Chey-
enne, on the summit of the Black Hills,
this is said to be the highest railroad
station in the world. 1t is 1888 feet
above the level of the sea. The grade
of the road in ascending and descend
ing these hills, averages ninety feet to
| the mile. Looking westward from this
point, across Laramie plains, at a dis
lance of only fifteen or twenty miles,
capped peaks is plainly visible; and
away Off to the south, hundred miles
or more, in Colorado Territory, is seen
Longs Peak, lifting its snowy head
above the clouds. From the summit of
the Black Hills the road rapidly de-
sends for about ten miles, until
it reaches Laramie Plains. where it
turns towards the northwest and con-
Iinues this course until 1t rounds the
northern end of the Medicine Bow
Range, where it resumes its westward
ly direction, passing through Bridger's
Pass and on into the Utah Valley.
Having now briefly described the
beyond this point, will return to the
Missouri river and describe more in
detail what the traveller sees along the
route. In passing out of Omaha
through the bluffs, there is cut with
| banks MS high as the top of the cars;
this is the only cut for 800 miles! For
n few miles the country is slightly
| broken with few cottonwood and elm
trees along the streams. The soil is
very rich alluyial, small patches of
which, hero and there, is in corn and
wheat. The corn is about large enough
for its first hOeing and the wheat five
or six inches high and thick set in the
ground. Thirty miles out you come in
sight of the treacherous Plutte. 1t is a
broad, shallow, muddy, rapid and good
for-nothing river. 1t can't be naviga-
ted and is scarcely fordable. Its
quicksand is ever varying and
changing the channel, so that
where 1t is only knee deep to-day
1t may ten feet deep tomorrow. The
railroad runs up on the north side oftEe
river, generally half mile or more
from the banks; only once or twice in
| five hundred miles does the road run
along close TO the river bank, and then
only for n short distance. When you
are forty miles out from Omaha, you
look from the car windows and you see
all that is to be seen in the way OF
scenery for the next four hundred
miles. On the left, Off across what
may be called the river bottom, at the
distance of probably half mile, you
get glimpse of the muddy river near
the opposite bank, which appears only
two or three feet abOvs the murky
tide. Beyond the river, extending five
I or six miles to gentle bluffs, IS another
treeless plain. On your right, miles
away towards the north, are CORES
ponding elevations called bluffs. Not
a tree nor shrub is anywhere to be
seen; not a farm house nor anything to
relieve the perfect monotony, save now
and then Il herd of auteloPes scamPer-
ing in terror from the snorting
iron-horse or a community of prairie
dogs standing erect on their little
mounds and barking at the train as it
dashes through their village. On the
south side of the river is the old wagon
road formerly used by the government
and western bound immigrants. It is
now but little used, and here and there
may be seen the ruins of the adobe
ranches, where freighters were wont to
stop and refresh the inner man. In
going up the valley saw one train of
fifty wagons-said to be Mormon
train-bound westward on this road.
The farther up the valley you 90, the
poorer the soil, and the shorter the
grass becomes. AT Cheyenne-5l5
miles from OmahR-nothing but sand
and gravel, thinly covered with grass
about an inch long. Indeed, this whole
Platte Valley, except five or six miles
OF the lower part OF it, Is utterly
worthless as farming region. FIRE.
mont, Columbus, North Platte and Fort
Kearney are the most important sta
tions on the Road between Omaha and
Cheyenne. AT all stationsI saw a squad
of soldiers-reminding me: of rebel
lion days along the Baltimore d Ohio
nj kNa, n
you get to Cheyenne can be called a
town, except the places above named.
At ali other stopping places there is
nothing to be seen except the squad of
soldiers, the station house, the water
tank Unto which the water is pumped by
a wind MILL a wood pile, and two or
three groceries and groggertes.) Chey-
enne is an example of the mushroom
growth of western towns. Last July
au engineer while engaged in laying
| out the town was scalped by the In
dams; now it has population of about
s ,OO0-claiming, however, 5000 or 1000.
There are several firms doing large
business in Quitting goods; but now
that the railroad has gone on and left
it, the town is on the decline. 1t is
now pretty certain that the Branch
road to Denver will leave the main
| road forty or fifty miles east of Chey-
enne. When this becomes a fixed fact,
it will decline as rapidly as it grew
up.
Across the Black Hills, on Laramie
plains, 60 miles west of Cheyenne, is
Laramie City-oHly a month old II has
q Mayor and City Council, a trl-weekly
newspaper, four or five dry goods and
grocery stores, twenty-five or thirty
restaurants, forty or fifty saloons, with
such euphonious and significant appel.
lations as "Shamrock," "Germanfa,"
"Western Slope" Pacific, Free and
Easy" and ';Pig and WHISTLE" But
the largest buildings are gam bling
halls and dance houses. There are
several of each. The majority OF the
buildings are light frames "boarded up
and down" and implanted, which have
been moved from Cheyenne and other
places east; the remainder are frames
covered with canvass. The gambling
halls are so or 60 feet long and 40 or so
feet wide. They are crowded every
evening with railroaders and miners,
many OF whom are green enough to bet
their last dollar at faro, three-card-
monte, or some other swindling game.
It makes one sigh in pity at human
| depravity to witness the scenes in these
hellish dens.
J Aside from those connected with the
Railroad, the population of Laramie
City (?) is composed of gamblers
thieves and "fallen angels" The Rail-
road Company is building large no.
tel and extensive machine shops at
| Laramie, which gives assurance that
it will always be an important point on
the line. But it can never be much OF
| a city, as the soil is alkaline, and the
scrubby pine timber Is forty or MY
miles off, on the mountain sides. Eve.
~ board and shingle and mouthful
eaten there must come from east OF the