The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1870-04-07
The train stops, and we are at the Shire

Th0 train Stops, ana we are al the Shlre
town Of Jefferson county. Nature has
done big thing for Fairfield in the way
of soil. It is said that man proposes,
but God disposes," but think man done
little disposing when so much good
farming land was diverted from Its natu-
raj uses. It is known abroad, az the home
of Hon. Jim Wilson, and hereabout as the
abode of Dan Mendenhall, who made his
"pile" in 0ttumwa. The train moves
and you are startled with the announce
ment, "What win you have for break
fast?" and presently we are faring sump-
tuously as if at first class hotel all we
see combines to transform the formerly
slow and tedious journey into one of en-
chantment. We are assured taat full
Pullman train, consisting of six COACHES
and two baggage cars are being construct
ed and viii soon run over tho B, d M.
TEey are to be palace style. with all late
improvements, and to go through to Oma-
ha without change. guaranteeing trav-
eler nightly rest as untroubled as II in
own house. To show the wonderful
the B. d M. r. R. is working thirty-six
locomotives and twenty-five more are be-
ing constructed at Manchester, N. II. Of
those now in use, eight are fast passenger
or express engines, ,and are equal in speed
to those on the Hudson River Road. We
check up again, and the metropolis of
"high old Henry" county in before us,
celebrated for having the largest pile of
stone, and the biggest pile of dirt, in the
State. The first is the Asylum. and the
last you know full well, ia Henry Clay
Dean. How in the world Dean manages
to worry along in Mt. Pleasant, and all it's
Republicanism, and all the other cardina
virtues, including good looking people,
not without hope, however, for we read,
that q while the lamp holds out to burn,
the vilest sinner may return" turn to
a man Of authority and enquire when
the road will be finished to Lincoln, Ne
braska? "By the 18th of June next, and
it is quite likely that before an other win
ter, the connection with the Union Pacific
at Fort Kearney, making the shortest
through route from the East to the far
West"
am glad, for our coal interests in
Old wapello, that the B. & NJ. will coinplete
her branch from Red Oak to Nebraska
City by July LIST the iron and ties are
going forward, and good portion of the
grading is done. We can then answer
the cry that has come over to us" for
more coal. Then, again ottumwa has the
distinction of being on line Of road that
enables passengers from Iowa to Kansas,
to reach their destination, quicker by the
B. & NJ, owing to the close connections
made at Pacific junction with the c. 3. &
st. J. r. R. And she is putting passengers
into Kansas City, all rail, in advance of
any other route, by way of the road down
the Missouri Valley.
am glad to note this pEosperity in a
corporation that has so many interests in
harmony with Ottumwa. In the dining
car, / met gentleman who has resided in
China ten years. He was agent for large
English Tea House, and he has now on the
way to England seventy thousand pounds
Of tea, by bringing it across America. The
flavor of the tea is preserved, and six
thousand miles of sea travel is saved, The
old route from London to China was by
the Cape of Good Hope-distant, sixteen
thousand miles. Some imagine that the
Pacifc..ocean is free from heavy gales. This
gentleman insists that he found it as
troublesome as the Atlantic, so seldom is
the North Pacific traversed by vessels that
no correct chart of it is extant.
j. G. NJ