The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1870-05-21

1 Paclhc Road, which were to take us across the
remainder of the great desert, over the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, through the Sacramento and
the San Ioaquin Valleys, TO Oakland, opposite
San Francisco.
We had feared that we should miss the com.
| forts of the Pullman cars In this we were
most agreeably disappointed. We found tho
sleeping cars CT the Central Pacific road all that
| we could possibly desire indeed, truly luxu-
! rious, and in nowise inferior to any ever trav-
! eled In After spending two days in them we
| were scarcely moro fatigued than if we had
spent the time IN our own cabin on the bluff. A
fpart of this was, however, due to the character
OF the road over which we travelled. Towne, the
general superintendent, whom every Illinoisan
knows OF should know, has made his mark on
that road, till it is entitled to be ranked among
the very first OF the nation. The defects (and
they were not many or great which existed
when he came last summer have been removed,
and you now glide along over the even rail with
scarcely a Jar TO remind you that you are on
railroad. Illinois may well be proud for having
furnished such men as Towne. although she
may regret losing her choicest railroad talent.
When we swoke the next morning, after a
quiet and refreshing sleep. we found that we
were beyond the snow. and were informed that
we had run out OF the storm at eleven o'clock
the night before. The cold northwest wind,
however, blew bleak and chilly, and AS it swept
over the sage brush desert. which was on every
hand, stretching clear away to the more desolate
rocky ranges of mountains, some of which were
generally in sight, q shuddering remembrance of
the untold suherings which thousands of our
countrymen had endured years before in that
land of desolation, -wending their slow and te-
dious way from comfortable homes in the East
towards this land of gold. How many agonizlng
sighs, how many groans OF anguish were there
thrown to the needless winds, how many stretch
ed their exhausted forms upon those forDidding
beds of sand and alkali, never can be known
But let them pass. Their suffering found an
end, even though it was in death, and it can do
them no good now for US to make ourselves I'M
happy by remembering them too often.
Early in the day we passed the Humboldt
Wells, and all day ran down the Humboldt VAL
view of grass p!ats and willow thickets among
which few squatters had stopped their wagons,
in which they still sheltered their wives and lit
tie ones, while they were cutting willow brush
to make their cabins and their fences. Before
the middle OF the afternoon the river had at
tanned it, maximum. and began TO diminish in
size as it passed into q region of more porous
earth. Early in the night we passed the sink of
the Humboldt, where this strange river disap-
pears in great lake, surrounded by marshes,
and deep only tor short distance in the centre
where alene tie water is said to be sweet.
At five ociocl; tie next morning / awakened,
| and on looking out the window saw we were go
ing round the great horse shoe bend, one heel of
which is bur little above Truckey, whilo the
other almost az, rh guIr, hundreds OF feet above
az i. enters the first Tunnel from the east over.
looking Bonner Lake, that beautiful little sheet
of water in the bosom Of the mountains. 1t de-.
rivcs its name from the Bonner party, who mis-.
erably persisted there b. starvation, when there
! Looked up by The winter SHOWS. You may re-.
member the -ad story, which filled the papers at
the time,
BY sever. clock we had attained the summit
OF the iGoun JAIN. where ] got Gu. to look at the
grcar mountains Of snow, which were piled up
on ri,e nountans OF rock. When l first looked
out saw VIC had passed into the region of snow,
which increased rapidly as we assembled the
mountain, as was manifest whenever we could
get glimpse outside the snow sheds. These
forty miles of snow sheds! To see them at once
suggests forty miles Of great big barn, only they
GIe much stronger built with heavier timbe.s
than any barn in Ia Sale county. Indeed, they
must be strong enough 70 resist an avalanche
from higher mountain when it comes. Indis.
pensable as they are, these snow sheds are
! great nuisance in some respects. Ii they shut
out the snow, they shut out a great portion OF
the light Of day, and also shut out the view TO O
great deal of the grand scenery Of these grand
old mountains. However, forty miles are soon
passed On a railroad, and long before we got 70
Colfax, our breakfast station we had left the las,
behind. But not so tho snow. Although in lesl
quantity. that still covered the ground. We
wore = little behind time, so that it was nine
o'clock before we ran around the great o. &. and
drew up at Colfax. As soon as possible We
dashed down the mountain and passed Cape
} Horn. Observed with interest the gold washing
at Dutch Hats, where whole sections Of sid,
| hills have been dug and washed 70 great depth
. This mornings ride afforded the finest scenery
have over witnessed from a railroad car, and
: have been informed by great travellers that n,