Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-11-30

d'-tance. They look like spots of white
cloud or smoke on the reddish brown
ti-lds- AT the end of ten miles we come
10 four houses, at the corner of a square.
with well in the middle. They are oc-
cupied by pre-emptors, and each stands
on a different quarter section. Here,
d doubtless, will be stltion. All day We
struggle through black mud,-meet only
three persons-bnt are never eut of sight
Of 'improvements" just starting into life.
At nightfall, close by four more pre-emp-
tion houses, we gain the shelter of the en-
gineer's tent. Spite of rubbers we are
wet and cold. The tent is small and
damp. The fire is Notwithstanding and
-mou 'derin9-rather than burning. The
rain keeps on and wind rises. Fears are
felt that the tent will fall We anbuckle
our roll Of blankets, spread our rubber
pnnchos on the earth beneath them, and
-le~p, pitying those who lack shelter and
beds
Oar cook is An African, with a little
o'hoose tent for his mysteries. Hi
erookery is all of tin and he gives us coffee
In sort of pie-plates. Appetites, if not
ravenaus, would be f4stidious.
12'h.-We start on the fourth rainy
day in succession, but escape with
Sprinkling travel a doz~n miles toward
the Platte River. Reaching the crest OF
the bluffs, wa overlook the far-famed bot
tom-a sort of Nile valley and the river
studded with wooded islands. If the
chores had been encircled by "fre-breaks,"
"a the islands are by water no doubt they
too would be covered with trees.
We pass seven buff,lo skeletons, ante
lopes and ducks. At noon we reach the
house of George NJ 4rtin, the oldest and
most prosperous pioneer in this quarter.
He welcomes us with hearty hospitality
We eat his peaches from the trees; enter
his grainery filled with wheat, oats and
barley, and perceive that the crop of his
corn ocean must fill all outdoors.
We have now traversed the region long
infamaus as the Great American Desert,
and tind it ready to rejoice and blossom
like the rosa. The soil is black veget-
able mould. We measured grass--blue
j int-ti2ht feet bilh. On the other hand.
we saw divers patches of pale green
4r4ss, said 10 betoken an alkalioe, or poor
soil. Far more frequent were patches OF
ID - L
nj lions Of those animals from which it
takes it's name, and which is also preferred
by tame cattle to all other fodder. AL
ways green at the ground, and self-cured
At the top into hay nutritious and
toothsome, it is the main reliance OF
herde for winter grazing. 1t saves them
the trouble of raising grain, and even of
moving hay.
The only drawback ia that wood and
water are both scarce. Yet we drank at
several wells, which had each been bored
a hundred feet deep, iu a single day
Many are no more than a third of that
depth. Stock water is easily collected,
and kept in natural basins which every
where dmple the ground. Where mill
liota of buftloes and antelopes have had
tNtir paradise, there mus be something
for tame cattle to drink.
Trees thinly skirt streams, but the
prairies are treelesa. In ten years they
can be covered with timber. Boilding
m4teri,l il easily imported from Wiseon-
-in, snd coal from low. and Wyoming.
Conp-'itan between mines east and
w"-t il already bringing down the price
of coal,
On the whole tho E stern heart has rea-
son to shoot ont it, main migrAtioual ar
t4ry tn Nehr4,ke. Nor were we surpris1d
on o~l iou at the United States land Office,
il Lincoln. TO ssoertAin that the home-
stead -rs in N-hra4ka have been more
numnrous than in any other State except
Minue-Ote; that in the district we have
int explored, the homesteaaers amount to
9 004 the pre- emDtor- 10 $4,000, and the
purch l-ors Of B. & VI. Reilrotd land TO
more than one thons4nd. Ii Faneuil
Hall il the cr4dle of liberty, here is the
cradle of civi'iz zttiou.