Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-06-14

came in sight of the Black Hills anc
the Rocky mountains. The peaks
were covered with snow and present
ed a beautiful appearance. We
reached Cheyenne at noon +; it looks
like many other Western towns OF
mushroom growth, and I should
Judge that it really melited hard
name, from the character Of the PEG.
pie. As we neared the Black Hills
the scenery grew more beautiful and
interesting, high piles of rock thrown
together in every conceivable form
and shape, great boulders lying one
above the other as if they had been
carelessly placed there to form q
grand monument of power. There
are also hills of solid rock 500 feet
high, destitute of Vegetation except
occasionally 8 pine tree rears its
| mead from some crevice. We arrived
at Sherman at 3 p. NJ. This is the
summit, being S,235 feet above the
level of the seattle highest eleva-
ton on the road. There was plenty oil
snow, and the train stopped twenty
minutes and the passengers one and
all were out for o snow ball. Now
we commence the down grade here
ofore we had two engines, the aver
age grade from Cheyenne to Sherman
being SO feet per mile. At Carbon
there are extensive coal mines the
main shaft goes down between the
main and side track. AS it is
brought up it is placed on cars ready
for distribution along the road
Sunday, May 1st-Stopped 20
minutes for breakfast at Bryan. ALI
that makes this Of any Importance
is the car machine shop. The soil is
Of red sand, with but little vegeta-
ton, wild sage being the only herb
that grows. 1t grows very rank
and stout and is used by the emf.
grant for fuel. Church Buttes is q
small way station, but is somewhat
noted for the moss agate found in its
vicinity. In the afternoon we reach.
ed Echo Canyon which surpasses any
scenery l ever beheld, and one tc
realize it would have to pass through
for words fall powerless to pain
such grandeur. 1t is 20 miles long
as we enter high rocks loom up of
different forms, some forming an
acute angle, others being abrupt
with perpendicular sides, while again
Others look like high castle stand
ing on q fearful eminence. Small
pine trees from Is inches to 4 feet
high are scattered about, adding to
the beauty of the scene. This being
down grade all steam was shut off,
leaving the train to be managed by
the brakeman. We reached Ogden
at six P. NJ. where we changed cars
for the c. P. r. L. Here the road
from Salt Lake City forms a juno
ton with the Pacific roads. I had q
great desire to visit that place, but
felt that | could not spare the time.
A few miles beyond Ogden l saw the
first John Chinaman. Quite large
party of them were camped beside
the the track, employees of the r. r.
Company. The G. p. r. r. employ
only Cinnamon for track hands, ow-
Jag to the meager price for which
they work. At 7:30 we reached Cor
rienne, and found that the stage was
full for the next trip. We secured
seats for Tuesday, then found our
way to hotel. Tuesday morning at
3 A. NJ we found the stage crowded,
three on each seat and one with the
driver. This was the worst part of
the journey, travelling night and day
without chance TO sleep. Our
route lay between the mountain
ranges. These valleys are we'll
adapted for stock raising cattle feed
out all winter. In Idaho are some
very fine farming lands, and in
the valleys of Montana are fine
places for ranches but in order to
raise grain they irrigate, as it rains
but very little.
Saturday, May 7tb, early in the
the morning we reached Helena,
tired out and scarcely able to hold
our eyes open. After refreshing
sleep took stroll about town. 1t
numbers about 1000 inhabitants, the
population having decreased since
1867. Business Of all kinds is dull,
Some of my friends wished me to
give true statement of affairs here
AT present there is a grand rush for
Cedar Creek 7; probably many will be
as glad to rush away, as is generally
the case in new mining regions.
Nearly all placer diggings are at a
stand still, owing to the scarcity of
water on the Atlantic slope. There
are hundreds of men who have been
her for years that are not worth q
cent. Some are men with families,
steady and industrious, but they can
not raise cent to get homo with.
Others are more fortunate. 80 per
cent. are of the first class, leaving 10
per cent. that are lucky. l would
advise every man who has any bust
ness East to stay there but if you
are out of employment and wish to
run the chances, here you can find
plenty of hard work and rough fare.
"Mitch" and myself are the sole oc-
cupants of a small cabin about 10
miles from Helena. we have one
neighbor. At present we are pros
pecting for lode fresh piles of dirt
are thrown up every day, and the
mountains can testify that if we fail
it is not on account of fearing hard
work. GEO. T. COPELAND.
Helena, Montana Ter May IL, 1879.
n@-Another Sam Patch has ap-