The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-07-02

field of ripe wheat, rows of young
trees, and corn about q foot high,
looking fresh and green even on
that hot forenoon. The station men
said the dews were very heavy, and
that it rained enough to make crops.
No irrigation had been used on the
garden.
The next station reached was the
important one of Dodge City. Near
it an 1900 feet bridge enables the
railroad and wagons to cross the
river, which thereafter lies north of
the track. Tollmen guard it. A mile
or two to the southeast, in beHuti-
full bend of the Arkansas, close to
the rivers edge, was the Fort, and
along the banks were wagon trains
and cattle. There was ample pas
turage. The railroad has put up
large warehouses here, and wagons
come from Camp Supply and many
other points. The town has wood
en- houses, and some good sized
ones, of the usual frontier finish,
and is evidently q lively place at
night, if not at other times. This
was the place to dine, and q dinner
was ready equal in abundance and
variety to what might have been
looked for in metropolis, and fin
ished Off with q liberal supply OF
champagne. II was grand "chuck-
away" and though for want of
space in the dining room of the no.
tel the tables were set three cOnsec-
utiVe times, all were finally satisfied
to the uttermOst.
Here were frontier men of the
standard type, and several officers
from the Fort. The latter gentle
men were as Jolly and companions
BILE as one need find, and from the
frontiersmen The eastern visitors
learned many strange things. More
speechifying and cheering were in
dulged In. This was the region
where q glass of lager beer or a CT
gar is % cents, and nobody grum-
bles. The bar-keepers at Great
Bend, Dodge City, and Granada, are
on the high road to wealth, if they
carefully "salt down" their profits.
After having become wealthy they
need but to return east and reform,
TO become wise and influential. But
they seld ON do.
The stations of Cimarron, Pierce
vile, Sherlock, Lakin, Aubrey, Syr-
acuse, and Sargent, the latter nearly
on the line between Kansas and Col
orado, are not yet surrounded by
farms, and their counties are wait
ing for settlers to come in and occu-
Ply the land. Heaps of buffalo bones
were at these stations, brought in
by some settlers whose houses we
could not see. They bring now Sc
per ton, and are shipped to Balti-
more, Maryland, where the best
bones are made into knife hadles,
combs, &c, and the refuse into 8
valuable fertilizer, used in all the
eastern states.
From Fort Dodge the country be-
came more uneven, and much of it
was bluffy and stony. The prairie
dogs sat up on their little mounds
by the thousand, holding their paws
like squirrels; revolvers pepDered
away at the little fellows, who dod-
ged under ground with great celeri-
ty. The track began to run close to
the river, which was almost bare OF
timber in this region, and often its
muddy, turbid stream was a quarter
or third of mile wide, dotted with
innumerable green islands, some as
large as a hat, others comprising
several acres. Were it not for these
the swift curreRt might plow a path
down between high banks, bat it
runs almost level with the prairie
and yet rarely overfows it. The
mountain SHOWS melting in the sum-
mer keep the supply of water larger
than it is in the winter. The cur
rent looks as If it might be very
deep, but it is usually only few
feet to the bottom. At one point
above Fort Dodge, years ago, Two
wagon trains attempted to cross,
got into the quicksands, and all
went down, how far no one knows,
more than that neither horses, wag-
ons, or their human freight, ever
emerged again from under the tur-
bid surface of the remOrseless
stream. There are safe fords on the
river at many points, but none
should try to cross who are unfa-
miliar with these places.
Granada was reached at mid
night. The travellers sprang out on
Colorado soil. Here, at the last sta
ton on the remote frontier, was the
only place on the route where there
was room long and wide enough
to seat the whole crowd at once,
and into it the brigade boldly march
ed. 1t was an immense warehouse,
and every one of the go sat down
to the long tables, with plenty OF
room, and a hearty supper was
speedily dished out by the stalWart
men and robust women who enjoy
frontier life.
The town was yet lighted up,
and the dance houses and liquor sa-
looms held forth all their charms,
but the excnrsionists were tired
enough to chunk down" in the cars
and proceeded to do so, despite the
curiosity they might have felt to
see what genuine frontier town
was by lamplight. The morning
showed long row of saloons, two
stores, some neat private residences,
large depots and warehouses, and
the immense mercantile establish
ments of Chick, Brown & Co., and
Otero, Seller & Co. Each of these
houses sells over S1,0O0,000 worth
of goods per year, carried in wag-
ons to. New Mexico and other ter