Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1877-06-28
A Gender Eoors Tramp.
RAPID Cry, ID. T., June 1G, III.

the Hills left Pierre at 4 O'clock, a, IL. on
Monday the 18th, with a fair load of pass
engers, and made good time over IA solid,
dry, but somewhat rough road, through
what a few weeks ago was eXecrated as an
unfathomable bed of gumbo. This gumbo
business | regard as q very small detFiment
TO the road from Pierre or any other which
may be adopted. 1t is only bad in the
spring and during very wet weather, and
then it lasts but a short time, as it dries up
time after wet weather ceases, and becomes
almost as hard as a macadamized road.
And this accounts for the %roughness in the
road in some places, as the soil dries 50
rapidly and becomes so hard that it re-
quires a good deal of travel over it to wear
it smooth. The Pierre road is a good one,
is unquestienably the shortest, and is III
u%ndoubted favor with freighters. | be.
lieve, however, that the road can be very
materially shortened, by cutting off I'M
necessary curves and giving it a more gen
orally direct course to those portions of the
Hills to which g vast majority of the
freight and travel tends. The road, as now
travelled, is unnecessarily crooked, and |
firmly believe can be shortened at least
fifty miles between the river and Dead
wood. This will be settled as soon as The
permanent starting point on the Missouri
is fixed upon, which | hope and am daily
expecting to heal has been done by the
commission lately in the field under Col.
Grant. The doubt and uncertainty about
the location of the Initial point en- the Mis-.
souri, has wrought serious detriment to
the route and been a great stumbling block
in the way of the stage company and
others who desired to improve the road by
the construction of bridges and grading
, where necessary and building ranches at
convenient distances. So long as any
doubt exists as to the starting point, no
S one feels justified in the outlay of labor OF
e money TO improve a road which they feel
they may be ordered to abandon at any
time. This state of thirgs has been Of
great injury to the Fort Pierre stage com
pany, and as a consequence | find since ar
irving in the Hills that longer routes, with
less natural advantages, are strongly advo-
Gated as the most expeditions. But not
withstandiug SOM opposition, the
:, FORT PIERRE Is THE "Boss" Lane,
in making the quickest time, and is carry
ing more passengers than either of Tia,
others. And as soon as the question of The
initial point is settled and the road i'm
proved, which will then be done withou'
delay, the Pierre route will overwhelm al
), opposition, and be universally acknowl
edged as the best, quickest and cheapes
route to and from the Hills, AS a freigh
: route it is unrivalled, which is admitted OF
all sides, and [ believe that | speak within
bounds when | say that more freight j
transported over the Pierre route than al
: clusion from what | know and have hear,
in regard to the Cheyenne and Bismarcl
: roates and what | have seen on the Sidne,
. route. During the three days have spen
= VIZ WASiS OuC 4 llC uIQ SlllGy IOubc'
come together, | have made it a point 4
observe closely, and at least twenty team
: passed over the Pierre route to one owe
: the Sidney; and this, too, in face of tn
fact that quite a number of freighters OF
the Pierre road travel q cutoff whicl
: DIVORCES from the road at Washtay spring
and does not pass through Rapid at al
In the SO hours ride from Pierre to Rapi,
: City | counted over five hundred team
going and coming over the road, sayiny
V nothing about the number which passed u
Z on the cutoff.
= But without saying anything turtle
about the road, l will devote the balance o
this letter to a description of the trip owe
the plains. Thirteen miles from Pierre i
Willow creek, the first station on the roaG
where horses were changed, and we passe,
on to Frozen Mans creek, 10 miles, wher
rs we changed horses and drivers, and tn
reins were taken by
A VETERAN STAGE DRIVER,
whose experience as a driver west of th
Missouri dates back to 1852, and during th
20 years he has been uninterruptedly at tn
business he has driven In California, NeYa
da, Montana, Colorado, Mexico, and on tn
Cheyenne, Sidney and Pierre routes i
Dakota. (And l will here remark that h
declares the latter route the best of tn
three.) For seven years he drove fror
Sacramento to Monklaw Hill, a distance G
so miles, daily, without missing a trip, an
when he left us at Washtay springs he ha
a in eight consecutive days driven nearl
seven hundred miles. His name is jim
Sweeney. is a Kentuckian by birth, is a
spare in flesh and why in build as a Cor
n~ect!cut clock peddler, and takes pride il
calling himself iron clad, and insensible t
the want of rest or sleep. He possesses al
the peculiar characteristics of the plains
man, and when in conversation close
nearly every sentence with "do you hea
I \ M 0) HN,4 ~-1, .l:.~ 1t