Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-06-14

at night, and our conductor lock ed
the door during the night. Before
we reached Evenston we discovered
and made tho acquaintance of our
oountryman, Arthur Blakcly, of
Darlington, son in-law OF Mr.Streoter
of Platteville. He is brakeman On
the road between Green river and
Evanston. At Evanston he intro
duced US to his pleasant young lady.
Both were very glad TO see someone
from Grant County. At Hillard
there are large smelling works,
number of kllns TO burn charcoal,
(see cut in late number OF Harper's
Weekly. The wood is run dove
from the mountains through fume
26 miles in length Evanston is large
town. Business is good. As we pass
along Bear river Vegetation makes
its appearance again aud the oye is
relieved from the endless, bar
rem plains of Wyoming Terri
tory. Will continue my next from
Utah. Yours, A. ScHMITT.
Second Letter.
The Mormon Land-The Mountain Passes-
Humboldt w elis-Meeting Old Grant
County Citizens-Census OF
Passengers-In California.
According to promise we will continue the
description of our journey I'VE were greatly
disappointed in our imagination as to the land
OF the Mormons. There are few good fertile
valleys in Utah and had it not been for the
Mormons we doubt whether it would have
been settled at all by this time. ( The greater
portion of the land will not produce without
irrigation. After we passed through the
largest tnnnel on the road we descended to
the wonderful Weber CANYON. The Weber
River winds its way between two high nouns
tains, which at places are Just far enough apart
for the river to pass through, and the railroad
had to be cut through these rocky bases The
river rolls and tumbles over rocks and cliffs
with such force that its waters are splash
ed into a perfect foam. The scenery becomes
so magnificent that the passengers constantly
look from one side to the other and repeat
ordinations of wondermcntS Among the
most noted scenes in the Weber Canyon is the
Devils Slide, the Thousand Mile Tree q 900
miles from 0maha) and the Devils Gate, thro'
which we pass before we come to Ogden.
and gardens are we'll cultivated From here
our train 1.-THE Emigrant) is hitched on the ex-
press train and we go with good speed through
the Territory. Passing Corrinne and the Salt
Lake at sunset we arrive at Wells, Nevada,
the next morning Wells is named after the
noted Humboldt Wells, near this place These
basins of water resemble wells, they are of
unknown depth, and are undoubtedly extinct
craters. Good soil and grazing ground appear
as we reach the Humboldt Valley, but we could
not see any settlements. This is the best vail
ley we have passed since we left Nebraska,
but as we pass along towards the Humboldt
Lake the valley becomes dessert again. The
Humboldt river is over three hundred miles in
length and is growing smaller on its way to
the lake. This lake takes up the waters OF the
river but has no outlet. <The first important
town we strike i'll Nevada is Elko9 We slept
out as our train stopped and were greeted by
our friend George Collins, of Lancaster. He
is at work in printing office and is doing
well. At Battle Mountain we met an old
pioneer from Grant County, Mr.. VIM. Davis,
of Beetown We gladly answered questions
as long az our train stopped He particularly
wanted to know as to the welfare of his old
comrades Theodore Barber Gen. Calls, and
others. We had by this ti,ae overtaken the
emigrant train which had left Omaha the day
before we left The Express left us and both
emigrant trains were formed into one, which,
with the freight cars to which emigrant cars
are attached, was the longest train we ever
saw, and slowly, like a huge serpent, it crept
along. At 0rena our train was stopped at
o'clock A. NJ. AT daylight we saw the Express,
which had left US in the evening, before US.
The engine had capsized and they had to
H,,sl 4 faof IL
Here we had to stop six loag hours, nothing
but sand sage brush and barren mountains in
sight. We went ont gathering wild flowers
that grew sparingly among the sage brush and
we had as pretty a boquct on cur dinner table
We could have picked in the bay windows
Mt Lancaster. Passing through the train we
thought by the looks of the passengers it was
rather cosmopolitan. To pass the time and
for curiosity We took census of the passen-
gers and found that we had 43l on board,
representing II nationalities, namely; Ameri.
cans lG8, English "a, Irish 60 Canadians 81,
Scotch 90, Polanders 2, Italian 10, Swedes 4,
Danes |, Germans Ga, French IL, Norwegians
4, Portuguese 7. Swiss 8, Mexicans 2, Iungari-
ans g. and Chinese l. We thought we were
well paid for our trouble and the passengers
liked the idea well. BY this time we had
reached the Humboldt Lake and the Alkali
Desert Here we saw, occasionally, bleaching
bores, marking the track of the old emigrant
route. At the Truckee River we saw the FIRST
green trees in the State ofNevada, and if Ne
vada has no better land than what we have
seen, we don't think much Of it as an agricul~
tura State. From here we follow the Truckee
River land it our Lancaster boys ever want to
go trout fishing we advise them to come here,
we are sure that the fishing is better here than
it ever will be on the Austin 3ranch), and
soon strike the state line Of California. The
eye is relieved from the everlasting dreary
looking barren lands of Nevada Here large
pines cover the mountain sides, and every eye
is on the lookout aot to lose any Of the sights
along the Truckee river. Here night over
takes us again and the next morning we saw
the sun shine on the Pacific slope. My next
from California. Yours, A. ScHMlTT.