The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-12-06
MIR. Stearns at Home.
NOTES OF MY JOURNEY ACROSS THE
CONTINENT.

On stating Judge Kingman's panegyric
on the Wyoming lady jurors to General
Sherman, he inquired What might be
the effect if the Laramie saloon woman
should get on the jury? if decent wives
might not get indicted them, as well as
the loose women Of Laramie now p
Hostile Indians generally give railway
tracks wide BERTH Like the builaloes,
they seek retreat beyond the hills.
When the great Plains are grdironcd
with railways there will be no more
trouble with the Indians. Government
subsidies TO railways are cheaper than
Indian wars to the government.
But all along in the railroad towns
small numbers Of Indians and sIuaws
appear, begging of passengers by the
trains. Two bits" is the tribute they
generally demand, and silver is more
readily sought than stamps Nickel five
cent peiccs are mo good"
If these beggars arc fair specimen of
the race, don't wonder at the prejudices
against them on the border. How could
Poetry dream Of
"the poor Indian, whose untutorcd mind
Sees God in the clouds and hears him in the
wind -
He is a mystery to philosophers. You
could better believe, with an old Massachu-
setts divine, that they are better imper-
soni6cation of the devil, than children of
the Lord. Filthy to the last incident of
disgust, and covered with vermin; ever
begging, but never evincing gratitude for
favors. When they have stood by the
platform and "begged the train" once,
some of them would stow themselves on
the platform of the baggage car,and show
the same faces with the aspects Of the
same cherished griefs, at the next station.
On our return. their squaws lifted up
their children to the car windows, and
offered to sell them for "t,co bitS," (25
cents y others would sell, but wanted
"tour hts" One thing is certain, this
loafng beggary will never elevate these
people.
Gray's Peak is, as if a grist Of broken
rocks had been let down into a stream
from hopper in the clouds, till the pile
accumulated to the height Of l4,25l feet.
On the 9th of August the day after
our visit, snow fell on this Peak to the
depth of Is inches, and covered all the
mountains, and timbers overlooking
Georgetown, Colorado.
What is styled "thc great plains" is
not an extended level surface. but rolling,
with hills and mountains in the distance,
and with deep channels occasionally pro-
duced by streams, and the plain spread
ing nearly level away above their bluffs.
From Cheyenne to the summit of the
Nevadas, the railroad bed is seldom lower
than 5000 feet above the level Of the
ocean. At Sherman it is S,240 feet and
from thence to Aspen, no where less than
5000 feet. On the 10Th of October our
train ran from two to three hundred miles
through a snow storm across this elevated
region There is an alkali region on the
Kansas Pacific Railroad, extending about
100 miles each way from Kit Carson.
The buffaloes do not range over this
region, but further east along the valley
of the South Platte On the Union
Pacific Road the Alkali region commences
about fifty miles west of Laramie, and
extends, with exceptional locations, to
California. The Humbolt valley is, how
ever, productive, and cattle ranches and
an occasional field of wheat, are seen along
its borders. So of Weber river and its
canons.
But Alkai is regarded as an essential
element in the production Of wheat crops.
These crops are attributed to the predomi-
nance of this element in the soil of
California. And it is not impossible,
but the railroads may yet find profitable
frcights in transporting Alkali from these
plains to recuperate the 10 be worn out
soil of Iowa and Illinois. What may be
done with these Alkali plains by way of
local agriculture where irrigation is
practicable, is yet to be ascertained by
experiments.
There is very little attractive scenery
on the Union Pacific Railway this side of
the Wasatch mountains, or within about
$50 miles of Salt Lake. Here the road
finds its way through narrow and deep
gorges, part of them being known as
the Weber canon and Echo canon and
others of less note. The Devils Gate
is noted pass of the Weber river be-
tween two spurs ofthe overhanging noun
tains.
Salt Lake extends quite up to the
station at Ogden. Ii is matter of 'ur-
prise, that some Yankee has not already
erected Salt works there.
Does the freight charged by the rail
roads render the business impracticable !
If so, the companies had better reverse
them. II is said that this water contains
more salt in solution than any water
found in the world. Coal dug along this
road is being carried to Stockton aud sold
for Sl5 a ton. But half the freight
charged would increase this business to a
degree that would almost support the
road