Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-12-17
THE NEW WORLD IN ms WEST

Ihcre Is so much that is new, strange and
interesting in the vast country which lies
west of the Mississippi TINT we cannot re-
frSin from laying much Of it before our
readers. [EDs. News
For several years young men in the East,
aud perhaps with families, have |. zen trying
| TO ascertain in what way tney couli 20
West aud do we'll but the answer has been
discouraging, because even il they should
ent r land under the Homestead act, sew
eral hundred dollars would be required -
TO build q house, and 10 (, nee forty acres,
stock proof, viii alone cost SIOO. But [
think now that can answer the inauii v
TO theii satisfaction, aud have it from Col.
Lines, who came to this State with a COM
pany Of colonists from New Haven, armcd
with Shnrpe's rifles fur ishei by the wesn
6ers OF Mr.. Beecher's church. It Is this ;
Let young man be able only to get hitLer,
aud thea tske land TO rent. Uf course he
viii mud IL difficult on his arrival 10 find a
man who will rent place, but he can work
around, and a chance will offer after a
while. Then he should keep some stock OF
his own, commencing only with a COW, if he
can do no b tier, and in n few yafs the
increase will give him quite herd after
that 1t will be easy for him TO get land Of
his own. Of course, he must be som ebody,
and have patience n nd other common-sense
qualities; for nothing good can be predicted
| of one who likes q dram, or is unfaithful to
girl, and the sooner he steps back out Of
the way the better for himself and the
| world. The rea son why the stock business
is here recommended as a sure way for a
4 young man to get start, lies in the fact
that the large cities of the East, supported
| permanently by manufacturers and iin ense
capital, need all the beef that the West can
supply; aud as the demand is certain to in-
| crease rather than to diminish, the present
high prices may be consi Iered as fixed for
a long term of years.
JUNCTION ciTY-THE C .UxrRY DEYoyD.
Junction City is scarcely more than two
| years old, and tho lgh many Of the houses
are built of cottonwood lumber, which
makes poor bu ldings, business is SO brish.
aud SO many people come from distant quar-
ters to trade, that it is like Atlanta or Chi
cago in miniature. Here the rough men Of
the border FIST apP~ar TO the traveller, and
even the business men have a short, ready
way, and the pr .vincialisms and peculiar
use Of words are noted l saw two friends
meet; each said to the other, How :" and
each answered the same as il the inquiry
i
| yeu DO to-dly:" function City is three
miles hey hd Fort Riley, where the smoky
| Hill on the right and the Republican on the
left unite to form the Kansas river. Twenty
years ago the Great American Desert began
at Fort Riley, for it was supposed so inra
pable of producing grain or human food
that Government forbade any attempt Mt
| farming to DO made. All hey ead was the
buffalo range, and the surface was covered
with the short carly grass which grows only
| where this animal frequents. hut since the
buffalo has receded westward, the buffalo
grass has disappeared; the prairie grass
has taken its place. aud the country has
been found well fitted for human abode. Ii
is particularly to be noted thai since the
buffalo has n, rains have become more
frequent, and the region has ceased to be
afflicted with drouths. The eIplanaiiou OF
this change is in the statement OF theory,
that the buffalo, by constant tramping and
in vast hers, makes the ground so exceed.
tingly hard that when rain falls il imme
diately runAoff, leaving the ground as dry
as before, when, as q consequence, only
buffalo grass eau grow. aud there can be nc
dew, hencs no evaporation, and, there.
fore, no rain, at least no local showers, ant
II is the general prevalence Of these Whicl
make Summer crops grow. This condition
, includes a cause and a sequence, making
circuit complete in itself When the prairit
grass comes in there are dews and evapora
tion, aud the planted fields retain and Civ,
of moisture, aAd hence rains descend.
All the way from Kausa, City the roaS
passes through the bottom Of tho Kansa
J River, wi ioh is the most magnificent an,
fertile valley in the world. Ii is full n
fertile as tho Mississippi Valley, and as it j
not subjected to annual overflow the re
wards of the hushandmcn are much NOR
certain. This valley is usually about fos
3 miles wide. sometimes it is twice that width
o and then the country rises in gentle swells
: called bluffs, although in reality hardy de
\ serving the name In these stone suitabl
= for building is almost Invariably found l
: the greatest = bu ndauce, and il can be quar-
o ried at a triaing cost. Nor are tie quar-
. ries confined 10 the vicinity Of the river
J for they are found on high ground over
u large part Of the State. At junction Cit
Q the stone assumes 4 more solid character
, Ii is qaarried in great masses, and when
j first comes into the air IL is 50 soft that
u NAV be sawed into blocks. The Stat,
= House at Topeka is built Of this stone.
J. Twenty miles further 10 the no.ed town
: Abilene, whence Texas cattle are shipped |
y New York. The distance to Texas is aboV
;, GOO miles, and everywhere We saw the TEX
= herdsmen riding ON swift ponies, adorns
y with immense gearing of straps, buckle
and apparatus, while the rider wears lor
- spurs, which touch the ground when
- walks. The town itself ifinsignihcant, b
there is q large hotel for droVers, and thu
"a have that institution OF the greatest poss
:, bic importance to drovers, a bank. Va
. sums are invested ia the business, and son
of the most sntcrprising cattle men fro
m Illinois may be seen on the ground, togeth
of with the crowds Of small buyers. A thre
n year old Texas steer sells for about g.
ic but the meat will not be first class until I
al animal is eorR-fed, and generally he b
n, hesn.t taken 20 Illinois. This year, howev
mt so much corn is grown in Kansas that
I'd hnishing touch will be given here, and M
essaiily this must b. done this year, at LEI
so far as taking cattle to Northern Illino
sh where the crop is smaller than II has be
10 or many years.
ror Nine miles beyond Abilene is Solom
as City, scarcely more than n village, a
10 close to the town comes down SOlomoa q,
ir. to enter the Smoky Hill, which is near
solomon river, which on the map in use
years ago seemed so remote that the puT
n did not dream that they would ever see
ne; il. as il always musi have been, paste
anu most Etub-o htfcAuAs A<ooo eHe" ~ .
MD wide, fringed with a few scattered tre
md edged by banks like those Of canal
his run. down through vast meadow Of prai
- grass, mere like . familiar stream in . '
settled aud thrifty valley, than an unknO
river in the heart Of an American des'
IUas told that some Of the best landF
the State for hundrees Of miles lie up
..h .,ream, but the settlements extend only
fnI or 40 miles from the mouth. IL seems I
or there 10 vast extent Of unsXplorst eouE
hen in this direction that 10 300 miles Ia
,ro. direction by At least so IN another,
eks living where the waters Of the Republi
for and the Saline inelose and interloek '
bird the Solomon. Only few white men
the ever been through the country, and II is
the ocsnpisd BY ou,lswsd indians, who be-
sun 20 reservations in the north and south,
me, whose hand Is against every sShiae-a =
aud IL 10 said that there are vAluss,e mine