The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-08-15

| In longing and signing for what we have not,
Ungrateful for what we enjoy.
| Especial Cor of the VIRGINIAN1
OUT WEST.
FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF THE PATHWAY
TO THE GOLDEN GATE-LARAAfIE CITY
| MINERALS OF THE WEST-MENAGERIE
AT GREEN RIvER-FLUMEs-ROC
| EVILS sLIpE-DEvn's GATEWAY.
| All the way from Omaha to Sherman oul
train has been gradually climbing. but on
leaving that place, the two powerful loco
motives which have pulled us up are required
to do duty in holding the heavy trains in
check as we descend the mountains. Quite
detour is made to escape precipitous de-
scent, and from Dale Creek we wind first
north, and then nearly east, until we get
around some of the bluffs, when the road
| again turns to the west. The average grade
from Cheyenne to Sherman is sixty-seven
feet to the mile and the maximum grade Of
any one mile is ninety feet. In making the
descent about the same average is main
| tanned.
| Fifteen miles to the south of the track is
| a little place known as Virginia Dale, which
used to be stage station before the railr Dad
was built. Horrible tales are told Of the
murders committed there by gang OF des-
paradoes, and fancy the tourists who stop
| over to visit this valley, peer curiOusly into
| the deep gorges and up to the rocks which
| tower six hundred feet above their heads,
half expecting to see the uneasy ghost OF
some murdered man wandering about
Rugged and wild enough it is for the habi-
tation of a whole army OF restless souls /;
but I doubt if visit from Satan himself
| would have surprised the cold blooded as
sassins who once held high carnival there.
fused to hear in my childhood of an at
tempt made by some of the roughs to
frighten the Green Mountain hero, Gen.
| Ethan Allen. They donned ghost.y attire
and advanced to meet him in a forest on a
dark night. He drew rein and called out:
ssWho are you?'' In sepulchral tones the
reply came back: s'I'm the devil. l have
come, with my retinue, for your soul.''
Nothing daunted the old soldier replied
"All right; get up behind and come home
with me- 1 married yonl sister," Iimag-
inc the felow-feeling which makes us s'won-
drous kind,'' would have been keenly alive
had his Satanic Majesty called on his chill
dren in Virginia Dale. But the advent OF
the railway, and the swift following OF civ
ilzation, drove away the gang, and now
| stretches down the Cache LaPoudre river
for forty-five miles.
| A few miles west from Sherman we enter
the great Laramie Plains, which are the
wonder Of all who see them. They are one
hundred miles in length, averaging forty in
| breadth, and contain something like two
and one-half millions Of acres. Like the
plains on the eastern slope of the Rocky
Mountains, they are better adapted for graz
| ing purposes than agricultural. Eastern
men are already on the ground and have
pre-empted and purchased land for sheep
| ranches, while the cattle go roaming about
as on the plains about Cheyenne. Henry
r. Williams says that the ''sheep are usually
divided into flocks of twenty-five hundred
| that one man, a pony and two dogs can cas-
| lily care for such flock that the wool of
graded sheep will pay all, if not more, than
the expenses Of the flock, leaving the in
crease which averages about sixty per cent,
| for profit" 4
Laramie City is the first town of any con-
siderable size which we reach after leaving
Cheyenne. 1t is known rs the Seem City
| of the Mountains, and is in the midst of
| the Laramie Plains, forty seven miles west
of Cheyenne. 1t claims thirty-tiv hundred
| inhabitants, and although Its growth has
| been. far less rapid than that OF Cheyenne,
| u
| time take the lead of that place. II has the
same stimulus from stockmen; the railroad
has done it's share by erecting its rolling
mills here, which furnish employment for
| two hundred and fifty men the surround
| ing country, if it will not grow corn and
wheat and s'garden- sass, !" has produced an
abundance OF minerals, among which are
| autimony, gypsum. soda, coal, lead, copper,
| iron, porcelain and fire clay, gold and sill
ver. In time capitalists will develop these
various mines, and when that is done, Lar
amie-s future will be assured. Even now it
| is pretty little town, with broad, clean
streets, comfortable houses, several churches,
good school buildings, fine hotels, and the
Territorial Penitentiary.
| Back in '67 the penitentiary had not
reached Laramie, and it became necessary
for some of the citizens who still retained
fancy for law and order, to become their
own law makers and issue their own orders.
| OF those tempestuous days 1 have the fol-
low ing account from Mr.. Allen, resident
| of San Francisco, but at that time So
.iourner in the new town of Laramie:
lone evening, in 1867, the army of rail
| road builders in and around Laramie, rose
| e,, D,osse to rid themselves of the lawless
| desperadoes who necessarily followed them
| to rob and plumber. They first visited a
dance house and shot down five of them );
they captured ten others and hanged them
to telegraph poles. They gave the tenth
man eight hours to leave town, but he de-
clined to heed their warning, and so he was
taken out of town, and when the moose was
ready tine desperate coolly remarked: swell
| boys, I've sworn / would never die with my
boots on let me loose minute while pull
them off," His request was granted then
he mounted the ladder, put the moose around
4 his own neck, and called out, ''heaye away,
all right" and he was soon dangling in
mid-air. -Four more were captured on a
train, two of whom jumped into the river
and were drowned, and the other two were
hanged, making nineteen in all that were
thus disposed OF.
If there were ever time when lynch law
would excuse itself think it was during
the pioneer days of the far West. But
question still if any man has right to con.
stitute himself judge and jury over the
deeds of his fellow man, for the old Bible
still reads: vengeance is mine; will re-
nav - and the mark of Cain is visible to
His eyes, though our own, blinded by preju.
dice and dimmed by public opinion, tail
TO discern the imperisfiable stain.
On leaving Laramie we have in view Sheep
Mountain, which rises to a height OF ten
thousand feet, aud little beyond, Mount
Agassiz, both OF the Medicine Bow Range
But night closes in while we are watching
the dark shadows chase each other dowr
the mountain side. SO we find amusement
among our fellow-passengers and in due
season turn in for good nights rest, know
ing that while we slumber we shall be car
ried beyond the grassy plains of Laramie
into the region of sage brush, grease woot
and alkali.
But this very region, so monotonous t.
look upon, SO tiresome and cherries. is ricl
with undeveloped mines of various kinds
as we'll as possessed of numerous iron ant
hot sulphur spri-gs. The soda lakes, too
are wonders in their way. and some day vii
become source OF wealth.
Once upon time, as story writers say
two guide housewives OF Kentucky ''Wen
to town. to do their spring shopping. OF