The Ottawa free trader., 1877-06-23
The Press Excursion.


! evening, numbering l32 members, filling three
! Pullman cars as guests of the st. Louis, Kansas
City and Northern Railway, in charge of c. X.
Lord General Passenger Agent. We reached
The Missouri river, at Brunswick, at daylight on
/ thursday morning. takln" breakfast at the
/ splendid diaing hall belonging to the railroad
company, at Lexington Junction. Following
along the river, we next reached Kansas City,
arriving at II o'clock on Thursday. The river
was very high, and in some places the water was
over the track. Great changes have taken place
on the Missouri river since u years ago. Then
al the tTatlc was carried on by steamboats,; now
the railroads do the business, and not steam
boat is TO be seen, and the old river towns have.
gone TO decay.
At Kansas City the Atchison, Topeka and San,
ia Fe Road took charge of the party, Mai r. j.
Anderson Genl Passenger Agent, Topeka and
Capt. SamI b. Hynes, Genl Agent, st. Louis, ac.
companying US. We travelled on the south bank
Of the Kansas river until we reached Topeka,
where the road takes more southerly direction
and passes over some Of the finest farming lands
IN the country. After leaving Topeka for some
distance the country is sparsely settled most of
the Lard being in the hands Of spectators, who
go. possession Of it when the capital was loca-
ted there; but soon the country becomes more
thlcky settled, and we pass some very finely
improved farms, with good orchards. We pass
through the thriving towns Of Empora, Flor
ence and Newton, reaching the valley of the
Arkansas at Hutchinson: passing through Great
Bend and Larned, and reach Dodge City at about,
9 o'clock on Friday morning 1t had been rain
ing almost necessarily since we left st. LOUIS
and the ground was saturated with water, so
that great care was necessary to prevent acci~
dents from land slides washed out culverts;
and after passing Dodge City about % miles, as
we were approaching small, deep stream, the
engineer stopped the train, just as his engine
was partly on the bridge and discovered that
the bridge had been washed out so much as to
make it dangerous to cross and we were backed
down to Dodge City Had he undertaken to
cross the stream the whole train would probably
have gone through the bridge, with great loss
Of life. Backing down to Dodge City, we re-
maincd there until Saturday morning. Dodge
City is place of about 700 inhabitants. 1t is on
one CT the principal cattle trails from Texas, and
at times there are over 100000 cattle in the
vicihlty They are now beginning to arrive,
there being about $4,000 along the river at pres.
ent 1t is rather hard place when all these
cattle droyers are here. There are four dance
houses, and faro and other games are carried on
openly.
On Saturday morning We made another start
The country after leaving Dodge City is gener-
ally very level and covered with short buffalo
few improvements or settlers--occasionaly see-
+; tl,l,
dogs, standing on their hind legs and watching
us we pass; and occasionally an antelope.
Buffalo are scarce in this region at present. hav.
ing gone north. We travel along the Arkansas
river the whole distance from Hutchinson to
Pueblo, a distance of s29 miles, and arc ascend
ing at the rate of feet to the mile, and whes
We reach Pueblo will be a,774 feet above the sea-
level, AT Grenada we cross the Arkansas, and
berih to see the adobe houses, the settlements,
becoming thicker. Soon after leaving Nos, All.
mas which we reached about O'CLOCK, we came
in sight of the mountains, the Spanish Peaks on
the left and Pixies Peak on the right. We reach
Pueblo about Z o'clock, and after supper are
transferred to the Denver and BIO Grande Mar.
row Guage Railroad. There was some difficulty
in making the change, as we had a number Of
broad guage men with us, such as Rounds, Sui
lvan, Harlow and Buck, but were soon all set
tied and on our way to Denver. The Denver and
Rio Grande is a good smooth road, and they
make good time. We arrived at Denver about .
O'Clock Sunday morning, and stopped at the
American House.
Sunday opened brightly, and as soon as the
party had got little rest we started out to get
a sight of Denver The city seems to be settled
in great part by Ilinosans. Our former towns
man, Herman Silver, Esq, lives here, holding
the position of Superintendent of the U. s. Mint;
and with his family we spent very pleasant
afternoon, taking drive around the city, which
is beautiful aud very finely built. 1t contains
population of about 10000, has the Holly water
works, and several school buildings, &C. From
here you can see Longs Peak, Pixies Peak, and
several ranges of mountains, covered with snow,
which to an Illinoisan is a novel and interesting
sight. The party had a good rest, and on Mon
day were ready to take new start.
On Monday morning We took the cars ON the
Colorado Central r. X by the special invitation
and courtesy of W. G. Brown, the General Ticket
Agent, for Idaho Springs, So miles west of here,
IN the mountains. This road has just been fin
ished to the Springs, making six miles less oil
staging to Georgetown, the distance now being
II miles The ride was wild and romantic. After
reaching Golden, 10 miles from here the road
leads up Clear Creek Canon. The distance from
Golden to Idaho Springs is so miles, and the dill
ference in altitude Is l,575 feet. The quick turns
on the road the lofty precipices, the succeeding
ranges of mountains, some of them still covered
with snow, form a majestic scene. There are
NOR. and shorter curyps on the Colorado Central
Railroad thar on any road in the country, and
the grade Is in some places very steep, reaching
at one point 225 feet to the mile. tits wonder
'u piece OF engineering. The new road from
Floyd's Hill to Idaho is a good pieco of work,
md, considering that this was the first tram,
rode very smoothly.