Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-10-29
A Trip OH the Union Pacific.
OMAHA. Neb.. Oct. 20. rs,


/ Ed. BuILETlN:-Wc write you Il
few notes of travel that may interest
you, and maybe your readers. On
election day p. M. we left our home
on the Wapsic, and after n cool ride
we in due time arrived at Cedar
Rapids, and at Browns Hotel we
partook of the eatables as provided
/ by mine host. We there met our old
citizens, Jernegan and Baker, travel
ing in their respective avocations.-
In due time the G. n. w. train came
along and we found sleeper in read
mess for our occupation, where we
reposed our tired limbs and enjoyed
pleasant night, booming along to-
ward our destination at the rate of %
miles an hour. AT 1890 "A. M. we
rode into the magnificent depot at
Omaha, located on the vest side of
the "Big Muddy" and in due time
we were ut the residence of our
friend, c. Wiltse, whose name will
be recognized by many of our citizens
rs one of the school teachers of indie
pendence in days gone by; and as
one of the interchangeable workers to
advance the youthful mind.
! Tuesday, the 10Th, found us on
board the western train, bound for
Grand Island, l55 miles west of
Omaha, on Il pleasure trip, On the
train we found our old citizen, ii. ID.
Watts, and friends on their way to
California. The weather was lovely:
the real, old-fashioned Indian summer
day being here in all of its loveliness;
the smoky atmospere and hazy, balmy
air tended to give me an idea of a
tropical climate, the distant trees on
the Platte River looming up isolated,
loking like Palm trees in the dis
lance. At one place on North Bend
we disturbed thousands Of geese, and
they rose in perfect clouds as we
doomed along. We only wished that
we might stop and pay our respects
to them, but the L. p. cars don't stop
for such tritles.
The shades of evening come down
around us, and still we rush along;-
not over hill and dale, but up the
Platte Valley, where the eye can rest
Oh the most lovely scene that one
can imagine; the distant farm houses,
surrounded by fields Of corn. But
what strikes the eye of the traveller as
| the greatest of wonders, is the vast
amount of grain raised, and no fences
to tell where one farm ends and an
other begins, all ont on the open
prairie, the wild grasses of the valley
as it were, being welded to the
labors of the farmers grain. The
cattle are all under the charge of the
hcrd-man, and the grain grows Sc
curely, although no fences mar the
scene.
In due time, at 7 Il. NJ, we arrived
at Grand Island, where friends await
ed us. We were taken to the resi-
dence Of Joseph Fox, where the most
bountiful supper awaited us, which
zee hugely enjoyed, The next day
we rode down On to the Grand
Island, which is 4 small spot in the
Platte River, so miles long. The
farms and corn standing ont in the
cold were simply huge. Here we
found the much talked of .lihuH soil,
which lay glittcring in the sun like
salt spread on the surface, and corn
growing among 1t with perfect i'm
punity. The alkali soil is no draw
back to lhe farmer, and crops are not
injured thereby, but in reality ben,
Gifted.
The Platte Valley is bound to be
the garden of the West, and fifty
years hence will support vast popu-
lation, and proaurc millions Of bush
els of grain for the supply OF Tie
markets of the world.
Thursday we returned to Omaha,
the same lovely landscape, smoky at
mosphcre and warm, balmy weather
continued to the end. We have come
to the conclusion that the Platte Val
ley is the most wonderful of the
works Of nature, and very productive;
the only objection to the locality be-
ing the scarcity of wood, but with the
vast coal mines Of Wyoming on the
west, the want of wood is not felt.
Tomorrow we leave for q hunt,
and in due time we will return to
our home. Yours truly,
I'm ONO ~ .pNI,