Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-10-10
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a Few Things Rsmembersd q :

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4 Few Things Remembered o. :
stage Journey.
BOISE Cry, Idaho TERRITORY,
Sept. %, 1877.
DEAR CouRIER-I have an expert
cnce to relate this time that, however
little of interest it may contain, will |
I think have the merit of being new
10 most Of you.
In the gray dawn of q cool Septem-
bcr morning the coach, with many q |
Of whip and line, and last
grand sweep came round in a grace
full curve to the hotel door. BY the |
way, that same hotel must have been
one of those Mark Twain stopped at
when he crossed the plains. There
the three waiting passengers took
their places. two within and one out
side with the driver. The outside
scat is the one everybody wants. |
The coaches on this line are small,
comfortably only four pas
sengers.
The first thing that struck me-as IL
seemed to strike every one--was tho
dust. 1t is alkali and finer than flour.
1 never saw anything like it, SO in
sinuating and penetrating. 1t got
into my eyes, made acquaintance with
my nose, powdered my face, hung q
white fringe on eyebrow and eye
lash, and If I CHANGED to open my
mouth the volume that went down
my throat was really appalling, and
they said it wasn't good day for
duet, either. Soon passengers, driv-
er, coach and all were the same color
"a grayish white.
The road is rocky in places.
Though up hill and down yet it is al
most q continual rise for the first
hundred miles. l think it would be
difficult to imagine moro dreary,
desolate landscape. l only remem-
Der seeing three or four farms the
whole distance Of 300 miles between
Kelton and Boise Valley. Not q liv-
ing creature, not q tree or flower,
nothing but the bluish-green Of the
sage brush. I could imagine We
were in some poor little boat sailing
over o shoreless sea, the mountains on
every side, like huge waves, threat
ening to engulf us.
The first day we stopped for dinner
at place called the "City OF Rocks"
Only few Of the rocks were visible
from the station. They tell mo it is
the most beautiful scene by moon
light; great white rocks that look as
though some giant had carried them
and set them down there; with very
little imagining you can-see churches,
houses. and all the buildings that go
to make up a city. Near this place
is a track made by wagon more than
ten years ago that is as plain as it
was the day it was made; It was an
emigrant wagon and was burned and
the emigrants killed by the Indians.
Not far from here we had glimpse
of the old emigrant road.
There is no more tragic or roman
tic landmark in any country in the
world than this old emigrant road ;
it is one continuous graveyard it's
whole length from the Missouri riy-
er. For miles and miles through
these alkali deserts the road has been
worn down by the thousands of
wagons that have passed over it till
you eau step from wagon out on
the ground. This road has not been
in use for years, and yet it is as plain
as when the last wagon passed over
it, and will be many, many years
hence if left to nature. The reason
of this is there is 80 little rain and the
| winds blow east and west and keep
it clear of dust.
L La nf &hn Arct
hundred Gone days journey | had
the outside seat. We were in the
highest part of the mountains; the
silence and Loneliness were almost
oppressive. Here the scenery was
grand, mountain after mountain, all
covered with the inevita BILE sage
brush and all the same color, save
where distance gave them purple
hue, pale or deep as they were near
or far think one must travel over
this country to appreciate and under.
stand the difficulties that Gen. How.
ard has had to contend with in his
chase after the Indians. The ground
he has gone over Is of the same char
acter only more rugged and noun.
| famous.
| l must tell you about that stage
driver, he was character, in his way,
equal to Ben Holiday himself. His
fund Of information and anecdote
was inexhaustiblc; SO romantic and
entertaining forgot to be tired.
He was an old California miner
had prospectcd all over this western
country; had been to Europe and
South America was a philosopher,
astronomer and geologist. He -said
all this part of the world was of vol
canic origin where we were had once
been a vast inland sea. He had found
shells and fossil remains on the high
est mountains, and other indications
to prove his theory, etc, etc. The
stations are all built of hewed logs,
partitioned with cloth and papered,
the ceilings are muslin and thin,
swaying up and down with every
passing breeze, it almost made me
sea-sick. There was one thing about
these stations particularly noticeable,
they were 40 neat and clean; we got
good meals, too, and you may guess
our appetites were not poor.
About ten miles from one of the
stations are the Shoshone Falls, on
the Snake river. heard gentle
man, who had seen both, say that
they exceeded Niagara in granduer.
They can see along the banks where
the falls have cut their way up the
river for two hundred miles, what
millions of years it must have taken.
The Snake river is one of the most
marked features of this strange cOun-
try. Where we crossed, it was very
deep and narrow, of a peculiar gray
color. and is so strong of alkali, that
no animal can.drink it !; it is river by
itselfin all the world; it winds lite
snaky way over hundreds of miles
between banks of dark lava stone,
without tree or shrub of any kind
except bush they call grease wood,
which takes its name from an oily
substance that adheres to your hand
If you take hold OF it, it is one Of the
mysteries of nature where this grease
comes from, here where everything
is alkali.
We left Kelton Tuesday morning
ON Friday afternoon we had our first
view of Boise valley from the hills
overlooking ii, five miles distant from
Boise City. think can understand
q little of what the feelings are OF
those who cross the desert, when they
reach an oasis. l cannot tell you
how beautiful the green grass and
trees looked to me. / seemed to see
them in new light and realized as ]
never did before, how little we ap.
preciate the every day blessings that
surround us. G. l.. G.
FROM IDAHO.
| IDAHO Cry, IDAHO Terry, October
l, lS77.-MR. EDIToRs: Seeing q gen.
eral invitation in your paper to de-
linquent subscribers to the COURIER
Ito call and nav the amounts due il on