The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1869-04-01
A Pacific Railroad Town.
CURIOUS SCENES AT BRYAN, EIGHT HUN
DRIED MIES WEST OF OMAHA.


CURIOUS SCENES AT BRYAN, EIGHT HUN
DRIED MIEs WEST OF OMAHA.
"Carleton" writes to the BOSTON, Jour
nat the following account of the present
terminus of the Union Pacific Railway
the town of Bryan, 500 miles west of
Omaha:
The United Stetes at the present time
can exhibit one thing not to be found in
any other country-a Pacific Railroad
town. BY that we do not mean a town
like Omaha, which is an old established
city, bat one of the mushroom places
which grow up in night, last wee4 or
two, and then are torn down and moved
on to another locality. The railrord is
pushed forward so fast, and the terminus
changed so often, that town only gets
under way before it is pulled down and
sent forward to new place. You can
find houses at the present terminus, Bry-
an, eight hundred miles west of Omaha,
which have been put upand taken down tif-
teen or twenty times. The people who
live in them are American Arabs. They
are not only nomads, ever on the move,
but they can steal and plunder as adroitly
and with as little compunction of con-
science as their brethren the Bedouins.
Civilization and Christianity have not re-
fined or softened their inhuman nature.
Let me not be understood to say that
every man in one of these railroad towns
is villain, or a blackleg on the coun-
trary, honest men are to be found who,
after bearing patiently with rufians, till
patience, ceases to be a virtue, and there
being no law or order, or organized So
ciety, take matters into their own hands
and become a terror to evil-doer When
some fragrant crime has been committed
murder or assassination-these law
abiding men purify the place by hanging
the murderers to the nearest tree, or ifno
tree is near, they extemporize gallows
by tiliting up the tongue of a wagon, and
sending the rufian into eternity before
the body of his victim is cold. Such sud.
den punishment is like lihtning on sui
try day-purifying and invigorating.
1t was late in the evening when We en-
tered the new town of Bryan, then about
two weeks old. We rode up wide street,
bright with lights flaming in the windows
of the restaurants and saloons, each shop
man and barkeeper trying by arrange
ment of kerosene lamps and cclored glass
es to outshine his neighbor in his endea-
vors to attract a crowd.
"There was a sound of revelry," and
Bryan had gathered the largest part of
her population for high time. There
was such dancing and fddling, such drink
ing of healths, shufling of cards and rat
tling of dice, as we never saw before
From the dance saloons came the sound of
hurdy-gurdies, violins and banjoes, the
rattle and clatter of the double shuttle
and plantation breakdown, mingled with
shouts and oaths, the jiugling of glasses,
as the rudemen, wild with whiskey, and
ruder women, decked, in silks, satins,
founced and rufAed, and glittering with
trumpery jcwelry, went whisking in each
| others aams round the room.
The railroad company have laid out
the town and are selling lots at high
prices Of course, these lots will have
very little value after the road is opened,
but the town is built as if there was a
limited amount of land available for a city,
the shops and houses are all crowded to-
gether, and if fire were to break out on
the windward side all would 60.
! Here is q town two weeks old, with a
population of five thousand On every
! side we hear the sound of saws and ham,
mers Here is a man putting up his shop,
which he has brought from the late ter
minus at Green River. The boards are
all numbered like those of window shut
ter. He will have it completed in an
hour or two, his goods in and ready for
trade.
Here is German and his wife unpack-
ing the chests which contain mugs and
glasses. In a few minutes he will have a
lager. beer saloon in operation.
Yonder Yankee has established a
bakery, building his oven Of bricks made
on the spot. He is selling hot ginger
bread and seed cakes, and has large
pile of bread in one corner and pumpkin
pies on his shelves.
The saloons during the day are not
much patronized, but are thronged al
night. 1t is lively town. The whole
population live on a small territory and
are dependent wholly upon the railroad
for supplies. Were the cars to stoDrrun-
ming the community would be brought to
the verge of starvation in week but
that contingency is not thought of, and
this crowd of railroad followers are here
to gather up the spoils which pass from
the treasury of the company through the
workmeu into their hands.
The French chemist, Tardieu, extract
! al tho colorin0 mattar from some impOrt