Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-03-24

II Journey - The< .1nr-eff land
qA4 = Descrlpdsn q the Country
nReute, BY James Byron.
CARBON, BOULDER COUNTY, Col, !
March 9Th, 1877.

March 9Th, 1877.
FRIEND CHARLES -
Well, Charles, my boy, I think it now
about time to dirty sheet of paper
for your amusement. I think it
will not be out Of place to tell you OF
my travels first, as they came first, and
about the times afterward.
Now to begin at the beginning: From
'Cheboygan we had fine run up the
lake, stopping on our way one day at
Milwaukee.
When got to Chicago did your lit
tie business, and staid there with friend
one week, then started for the west.
Now, in itelling you part OF what 1
have seen, may pass over Illinois, las
you have knowledge of it, and cross
the great bridge of the Mississippi into
Missouri. Here, first, ] noticed touch
of the semi-southern climate. The land
is rather fiat, like Illinois, though unlike
it in being pretty well wooded, which
differs from that of the north. Their
trunks are luxuriantly clothed with vines
that run out on their branches, and
swinging Into festoons from tree to tree.
Toward her western border first beheld
the "Box Alder" q very peculiar tree,
which / have seen since in Kansas and
Colorado.
We will pass her towns and farms, (as
there is not much of the peculiar about
them), till we come to Kansas City. OH
the banks of the Missouri. 1t is quite a
large town, but rather scattering in parts,
rs it is built over rather abrupt bluffs
Only half an hour here, then over the
river aud into Kansas. Now the scene
begins to change. Little hills begin to
rise as we rumble along the Kansas bot
tom, sides and crowns are clad with
beautiful trees and shrubs, farms and
cottages intersperse hill and plain, crops
of corn and everything else on the
ground the most luxuriant. And still
we dart onward, stopping at many fine
little towns and stations, the names of
which cannot now give. Still onward;
more hills and less woods. These are
only the hills of rolling prairie. (which
tumble in all shapes and forms like a
rolling sea; yet they look very beautiful,
their baroness being relieved by green
trees and shrubs chequering the sides of
many of them. Thus they continue like
boundless ocean until We pass Topeka.
the capital of the state. On, still, we
boil, pass Fort Riley and gain junction
City. fine little town at the junction of
the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers,
which form the Kansas, also the juno
ton OF the Union Pacific. and a branch
of the AtchisOn, Topeka, and Santa Fe
roads. Here | staid week. and had a
good view OF its hills and valleys. Some
of the upland swells. are rs high as three
or four hundred feet, some of their
crowns resembling a shapely fortress
with a rampant of bare white rock sur
rounding them. With this exception.
the land is the richest I have ever seen.
and the most beautiful farming country
have ever trod on. But in the town.
fas i'm all others in the state), it Is Scotch
Sabbath all the week rOund-nO noise.
no hustle, no man daring to smile lest
God should be angry with him. Yet |
have had very pleasant week here,
roaming its wales and bluffs, and scan-
10 nd far.
away. Here / first witnessed the tar
famed and dreaded pest of these parts
the grasshopper, who had just arrived
from the north four days before did,
and started oil south with a fair wind the
day before I left. These fellows don't
differ in appearance from your own gray
prasshOpper, but L say unto you, they
are perfect gluttons. / have seen the
ground, grass, plant, bush and tree lit
orally gray with them, and sometimes
two and three inches deep. In about an
hour from the time they alight on any
place or thing, there is no more vegeta-
ton seen but bare trunks and stalks.
witnessed their flight south. which was
quite sight. The sun shOne bright, it
blew brisk breeze from the north, and
they, taking advantage of time and tide.
sailed into mid-air, and you never have
seen swarm of gluttons cleave the ether
blue so gaily, from about forty feet OF
the ground, away up higher, than you
could see they were like great and
dense winged snow stolm driving and
glittering along in the sun light. Well.
let them 90. We are well rid of them
i'm Junction.
l start tomorrow. The time has come,
the train has arrived, and off we start
westward along the Smoky Hill valley,
the upland prairie still rising to the north |
i'm fanciful mounds and juts, with few !
shrubs and trees still climbing their
green sides. Stations. towns and fine |
farms still make our journey pleasant,
and seems to shorten the long route till
we leave the course of the Smoky Hill |
which had been in sight for most of the |
day. Now we begin to ascend more
bold and high plain, its swells still ris-
ing higher and wilder as we near the |
eastern border of Colorado. Up and up
we 90, the grade very steep, making but
slow time, the road winding around
bluff and ravine, up and still upward till
night comes. In the early dawn of next
morning, we find ourselves on the great
plains of Colorado. / look out and see
the first antelope close to the track, and
now bounding off on the plain. As soon
as it gets light enough, we see lots more
in greater or lesser numbers, and con-
tinue to see them till within twenty
miles of Denver. some of them seeming
very tame, as they would 90 but a few
rods from the track. The cattle, which
were in great numbers along the road,
seemed to be much wilder, their mount
ed herdmen cantering from place to
place over the plain. Those cattle are
the latest that ever have seen. although
h. IL an chOrf ,u1 gore lilo thor