The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-08-23
NOTES OF TRAVEL.

N trip of the senior editor, and we hasten to corre
H. In point of fact it was no part Of purpose to
:, capture grizzly bears, builalocs, antcOpes 60.
zcllcS, snakes or owls, nor were we within Il
~ thousand miles of Captain Jacks famous lava
" beds. Yet having ridden on the rail- in the
IL vicinity of two thousand miles, and seen great
: deal of country, it is possible we may have seen
p and heard of few things that our readers would
I, he interested in.
/. Our travelling was mainly by the Burlington
# ROAD and It's western connections though We
made divergence to the north up the Missouri
. valley and to"chod the borders of Dacotah
We can say nothing to interest our readers
about ride from Ottawa to Aurora and very
i little about trip from Aurora to BURLINGTON
yet occasionally an item turns up in the most
unpromisng locality. For instance, in passipl
e inc uhpretehtlous village Of Plano huge sign
p stared Us III lhe lace: "CT'ce ?t he True Latte,.
I nay H""'N H''d|"' and "Iion's Hope" Also
another sign; Latter Day Saints Publishing
HOUSE we had often cherished ; longing to
see Inc 'Ity OF the Saints" but the trip We
contemplated did not embrace an extension to
salt Lake, whence our qualification was not q
NIUE TO tnd the true "Iion's Rest" so near home
Piano. We had almost forgotten, is the "Holy
City, of that wing OF the Mormon church which
adhercs to Joseph Smith, son of the ORIGINAL
Joseph, whose mantle the Junior Joseph claim,
To rest upon his shoulders. There are said to me
some 5000 persons Of this faith in the vicinity Of
Plano, mostly wcl-to-dO farmers and exemnIarv
IcittZcnS. Other adhcrcnts of St Joseph ar,
scattered through Iowa. Missouri, Nebraska. and
Kentucky and there is said be even q tlourisbins,
congregation in Florida. The "Prophet" claim,
| $4,000 members on his church rolls and incrcas
ing. lilStolowerS reject polygamy and other sin
iul practices of the "apostatc Brigham" and cN.
| cept that they believe in the Book of Mormon.
their FAITH and mode OF worship differs apparent
| ly little from that of the primitive Methodists.
AS far as Princeton the country looked green
and fresh, as il favored with abundant rain
Wheat and oats, though generally harvested,
looked heavy, and corn was simply enormous
Beyond Princeton, however, the land seemed
parchcd with drought. Corn looked shriyclcd
and stuntcd, andthc grassy hillsidcs were brown.
The natives" assured Us they had had no rain
since the +th of July--it raincd everywhere or
the 4th-and the heat and dust were intolcrab!e
We crossed the magnificent iron bridge over
the Mississippi at Burglington by daylight, and
it Is a structure worth seeing, but not to be de-.
il'''l ~ W IOltl accommodations IN BtrlllL'
ton, You have lIobson's choice" the conductor
had assured Us there is but one hotel in the
place-the Barrett House So we proceeded 10
the Barrett House. 1t is a large building, with
succeed frOnt-but old, and old-fashioned with
low ceilings, aud small, dingy rooms Yet the
fare was pasSably good, and the ~j1.ia polite and
attentive. One meets many worse hotels than
the Barrett
Burlington IS, for the West, quite an ancient
city, It's foundation dating back fifty years or
more. II is partly built in narrow valley mad,
by a small, sinuous stream that years ago tore %
channel through the high bluti,-but It's three or
four main business streets run parallel with III,
lcvcc on the river front the cross streets ascend
ing lay q stcop grade to the bluff. Its aristocratia
residences crown the high bluffs overlooking th.
busy mart below The foundation Of the cit,
like Joliet, is upon limestone, and with this ma
terlal, broken into small bits, the streets are ms
addamized The arrangement is bad in dry weatl
'r The friction of horse feet and wagon wheel,
IrindS the surface INTO an impalpablc dus;
winch rises mist-Iikc into the atmosphere and
)crVadcs everywhere. 1tcOvcrs sidewalk, rras,
oIats, carpets, tabcs-penetratcs your mo-,
ccrct chambers, and covers the clothes and
aces Of pedestrians 50 that all the people looked
Ike mlcrs.
-Four or five Of the best business blocks, includ.
ne Il -plendidncw opera house court house. &c.
we're, some six weeks ago, destroyed by fire
nd very crclitaLIc energy is shown ia rebuild
ne the burnt district Our brief stay gave ~.
line to examine the extent Of her Manufacturers
hich are said To be considerable, nor the otha,
ources Of her evident prosperity The town
a. J,fru NJ ,.lyr ..H- TO-.
endcncc for the Gaid at present Being upon
.els and tanks along the river.
The population of Burlington is placed by The
ensus at about 5000 but Il very important rast
omlttcd-wc mean the pigs and dogs, which
ne encounters everywhere Count them, and
lc population amounts to ut least 10000 Sine
lie destruction of the opera house the principal
nuscmcnt OF the people at night seems to b.
~ fighting. layoritc locality for the spoa
in front OF the Barrel House. Both sidewalk,
ere covered with spectators and the stree,
led with fighting dogs about all night, Will
c vainly courted the god Of sleep q couple OF
cries above.
Leaving Burlington about o'clock in ~.
orning, the ride westward i, very mach like ;:
ic through any well settled portion Of Illno.,.
country al fenced and in thorough cultivation.
tn fine farm houses, large barns, huge grain
icks, orchards Ac. il is somewhat hot and
sty, and We sigh for green fields and limped
-calns which are scarce; butat Rune We eros
beautiful stream when, though uuadmOnsbcd
any mephi-tc odor, we are d:sgus,cd to tinj
named skunk River" Meantime, however,
have passed Mount Pleasant the Athens OF
wa beautiful city OF 1909 iuuabyants, whcre
Z -tatc insane syum j. located ana Fairfield,
)Ssing of the Chicago ~ Northwestern, and on
Oitumwa, where you get "a capita! dinner
is IS We believe, the leading city Of southera
va, contains some 1900 inhabitants, Is hand
nely located and looks thrifty and I.oSpcroU,.
re the b. N VI. -oad connects VIII the De-
Zines Valley X. r., aud as the TWO roads, fey