National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1869-10-01

BY ALBERT d. RICHARDSON,

''"''''' NNNu StOIIB til liIt y.
for the novelty of hunting and camp
ing out, and business journeys to
remote mining regions two or three
hundred miles from the railway, will
continue for years yet; but l;fe on
the Plains-the trip of from two to
three months with its facilating and
varied eXpercnceS--w ent out when
the locomotive came in.
At first, the Mississippi was the
starting point; but by 1850 the fro A..
tier had moved so far Westward
that horses, oxen, mules, wagons,
bacon, sugar, coffee, aud other arti-
cles Of 'outiit" could be procured at
several towns upon the Missouri
River, within the State of Missouri.
Parties set out by the middle of
April, or as early as the spring grass
would support cattle. They usual
~ followed the Platte or the Arkan.
SaS, to make sure of water and grass;
but some were lost in attempting
short cuts, and Others perished mis-
erably from thirst on the trackless
deserts beyond the base of the Rocky
Mountains, where streams are few.
Others yet started so late in the
season that they were caught in the
SHOWS of the Sierra Nevadas, which
fall to the depth Of thirty or forty
feet. The Donner party from Illinois,
thus imprisoned during the winter of
1867, endured untold sutferings.
Many of its members died, some
subslsted upon human flesh, and
the experience forms one of the
darkest tragedies in our pioneer his.
tory. There were companies, too,
cut off by the Indians one from
Arkansas is supposed to have been
butchered by Morm0ns in disguise,
in revenge for the murder of Pratt !:
and MANY emigrants fell victims to
cholera and other diseases. Along
the 1900 from the Missouri to the
Pacific there is doubtless u gra:e
for every mile. AT Virginia Dale,
in Wyoming, n lovely spot fifteen
miles south of the railway, rock
preclplcc is pointed out where a dis
appointed lover cast himself off and
was dashed to peicea. Upon the
long journey many Il young couple
plighted their troth, many a child
was born. many robber or murder
cr was shot or hanged, and many q
deed of daring was done. No field
in history is more fruitful OF stir
ring and romantic incidents, though
Theodore Winthrop, in his John
Brent, is almost the only novelist
who has drawn from it.
The whole region from the Mis-
sour to the Pacific was vaguely
known as "the Palms, though it
embraces almost every variety of
country. First, the emigrant cross.
ed the rich rolling prairins of what
are now Eastern Kansas and Ne
brasia. Their soil grew thinner and
thinner, till they merged into drea
ry, sandy deserts. Upon these be
found myriadS OF little prairie dogs
somttimes living in towns twenty
miles square; herds OF graceful an
teloprS bounding over the hills, and
huge. numbering, ungainly buifa
lres, which numbered millions, and
blackened the landscape for miles
Antelopes and prairie dogs are still
seen from car-windOws on the Tn
ion Pacific Railroad, in Nebrask;
and Wyoning; and along the Kan
Sas Pacific, for II hundred miles, tn,
builalocs yet browse, and trains aro
often stopped to afford them tim,
for getting out OF the way of tn,
locomotive.
After days journey of from ter
to twenty miles, tie company o
cmieran's halted for the night, turn
ed their ANIMALS out to Craze, light
: ed n fire Of bullalo-chips and sup
} ped on pork, hot bread, or ilapjackS
,, and the inevitable tin cups of col
fee. Their truSty guns were KEEP
within reach, and the white skull u
a buffalo, with horns still. on-kiilcd
perhaps, in nero wantonness, b,
some earlier party--served as sea
for each. Atnight they slept sound
~ upon the ground in tents or un
der the bare starry canopy of blue
Across broad rivers the heav
wagons were lioated or hauled; owe
narrower creeks, bridges wer
' thrown up; aud great resources {
ingenuity were developed. If
; wheel gave away, five hundred mile
} from the nearest settlement u cotoI
wood leg with one end dragging 0
the ground behind, was introduce
9 to supply its place. " u pole broke
: another was cxtcmporizcd from tn
nearest "timbcr,' If an OK dice
0 some luckless COW was yokcd in hi
place. Sometimes one family, o
y one party of half - dozen men, joui
|. ncycd alone /; sometimes there wer
! a hundred wagons in n single train
}. with their white covers envelope,
= in vast, unccasing cloud Of dust
s During seasons when emigratio
/, was very heavy, one could climb al
$ cmincnce and see the caravans az
; tending for miles and miles and u
g night every plcascnt campln
y ground was populons village.
There were long delays for hun,
ing lost cattle, waiting for swolle
. streams to subside, and climbin
= sharp mountains. The new road
often led right up the faces of ap
palling hills, instead Of wlndin