Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-11-12
Correspondence Columbus Journal.
THE KANSAS EXCURSION.
SHERIDAN, kansas, Oct. 2!

/
SHERIDAN, KANSAS. Oct. 20.
Ny last left our excursion party at
Barnum's Hotel, ST. Louis, where
they were entertained during their
brief sojourn, not only satisfactorily
but sumptuously. | know nothing,
experimentally, of the other hotels of
St. Louis, but Barnum's is no hum
bug, its name to the contrary not
withstanding.
AT FIVE p. m. the party embarked on
the Missouri Pacific Railway for Kan
sas City. Travelling by rail in the
night is generally worse than a blank
In ones existence, and, SO far as lively
company aud a luxurious sleeping
coach would permit, was so In this in
stance. Morning found US nearly
across the great State of Missouri,
steaming through an uRdulating prai-
RE country, much of it wearing an ap-
pearance of desertion or of primitive
wilderness. Such a country without
railroad would be little better than q
wilderness. but railroads are the great
eiYiliZers of this continent Wher-
ever you follow them, even though it
be into the haunts of the wolf and
| the bison, you are sure to find if not
| school houses and churches, at least
traffic, enterprise, whisky, dissipation,
crime, and all the cOHeomitants Of civ
/ ilizatiOn. Western Missouri is by no
means destitute of these signs of pro
gress and in her splendid soil and eli
mate lie richly treasured the elements
of future empire.
There was no section of the insur-
| rectiOnary territory where the twin
curses of slavery and rebellion left
their baleful influences more painful
! ly recorded, more disastrously i'm
! pressed than in this portion of Mis-
souri, Nowhere did Gods sweet heav-
ems look down on so much Of the
coWardly and treacherous barbarity of
the rebellion as here. Anarchy and
| desolation followed in the train of
war, if the partisan buccaneering of
| this region may be dignifed by that
name, but the vast natural resources of
| the country, yet comparatively intact,
united with the infusion of & progress
sive social element, have given this
great State a new birth from which
she is rapidly developing a new and
| glorious career.
The Missouri Pacific is one of the
best managed railways in the State,
and is probably destined to become a
part of the great Southern route to
California. It was originally con
structed with the broad gauge, but in
single day its entire line was chang.
! ed, recently, to the narrow track. This
was done to adapt it to the gauge of
the Kansas Pacific, whose immense
trafc has already become a controlling
element in Railroading The equip
ment of both roads is now fully as
| good as that of any Western line !;
| yet both roads are still in the infancy
of their improvement, and the time
! is not distant, we may say even now is,
when one may travel through these
haunts of the buffalo, the antelope
and the Indian as luxuriously and
swiftly as through any section of the
Union.
Arrived at Kansas City the excur-
sionists had breakfast. so called,
though it is a proclamation of the word
to use it in this connection otherwise
than as a poetic fiction. IF sloppy
coffee, leathery beefsteak and butter
strong enough to draw the excursion
train, constitute breakfast, you are en-
titled to call our Kansas City eating
by that name, There was no delay at
this place, not even enough for par
tial mastication, and no opportunity
given for seeing this ambitious me-
tropolis of Western Missouri. It Is d
city set upon a hill, but not one that
cannot be hid, for only small portion
of 1t, and that the least preseDta BILE
portion, can be seen from the cars. The
place has a fgurative population of
| thirty aud an actual one of twenty
five thousand people, is the center of
seven lines of railway, and has a new
railway bridge over the Missouri which
cost over a million dollars. The city
is rapidly improving, and is giving
] LeaYenWorth a lively race for the ad-
vantages and hOnors of being the fu-
ture metropolis of the north western
valley of the Missouri.
A few revolutions of the wheels
! brought US from the Kansas City de-
pot across the State line and over the
bridge spanning the KaW. We were
now in the State Of Kansas, and spin
ming along at breezy pace over the
| Kansas Pacific, as smooth as any sec
ton of the track between Columbus
and Sheridan. At ST. Louis we found
col cutting atmosphere, and traces
of snow, continuing most of The way
through Missouri But now all this
was changed as if by magic, and we
SKINNED along the meanderings of
Kaw, under the cloudless but dreamy
heaven OF one of the lOVeliest Indian
summer days that ever Wrapt earth and
sky in the spell of its enchantment.
The scenery is not bold or striking,
on the contrary quite tame, but in the
charm of this voluptuous day, could
; not help being beautiful. The atmos.
phere was exhilarating, yet soft as
balm. and the river shone in the soft
ened light like the subdued CLEAN oi
J silver.
, A briefride brought Us to Lawrence
J and then to Topeka, two thriving
young cities of the prairie, of which
: more may be said at another time. Al
, along, the appearance of the country
i betokened an exhaustless soil, and du.
. ring our short stop at Lawrence, the
: black vegetable mould, carried by the
: incessaut wind of the prairie, Wal
constantly driven in our faces. A few
miles out from Kansas City we turned
aside for freight train of thirty one
cars, laden with Texas cattle, the traf
ic in which Is one of the industries Of
. this country. OF crops, corn seemI
to be the great staple, and single field
were ra-sed which must have beer
! from three TO FIVE miles in length.
Beyond Topeka, towns or rathei
t ''cities" (ihey have no towns or villages
5 out here) are less frequent aud NOR
t modest in size though not in preten
tions There is probably not one o
: these embryo cities from State Line Il
; Sheridan which is not in confident an
: ticipation a coming metropolis. AnC
Q so rich is the country in productiv,
f power. so encouraging the develop
3 ing OF its young energies, that it is u
! wonder these great things are expect
2 2 ed Kansas is undoubtedly rich il
the elements of a great empire, and a
: this day one scarcely dRres to doub
s that her fondest dreams will be real
Q lied.
After passing Topeka, the burnin
! prairies gave an additional novelty t
: the scenery. The long, dry, sedg
e grass which covered the broad plain
9 and low hills wherever not cultivate