The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-07-03
THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
An Interesting Letter From q
Lady Correspondent.
Fr. AssrSABorsE, NJ. T.,
June 18th, 1879.

June 18th, 1879.
My Dear Mr.. Wads:
/ have had q hint that you would
like a little sketch of our voyage out
and our surroundings here. l am de-
lighted to have this opportunity of
writing you notwithstanding is
one of my weaknesses. My letters
are apt to be too long, though do
try to remember the beauties and vir'
tues of brevity, therefore | write the
letter to you and you may publish as
much of it as yeu think your readers
can bear.
We left Atlanta on the twelfth OF
April, and proceeded by rail to Bis
marck, Dakota, the terminus OF the
Northern Pacific railroad, and there
embarked upon the muddy waters of
the Missouri River. The steamers
were there awaiting us-three of them
the Key.West, the Josephine and
the Gen. sherman. Gen. Ruger, his
staff and three companies, one OF
which was my husbands, were on
board the Key-West.
We arrived in Bismarck early on
the morning of the 18th. The long
train of cars were unloaded and the
boats loaded by four o'clock that eve
ming, when we steamed up the river.
1t is the muddiest of rivers; the Faith
er of Waters, in his course from Men,
phis to New Orleans, cannot equal it
in this respect. The hills along its
banks are bleak and bare the scenery
very monotonous. For several huns
dred miles We saw nothing but these
bleak. bare, greyish-brown hills and
the muddy river. The hills rise abb
ruptly from the river banks, with an
occasional little plain between them
aud the river.
We lande I first on the Goth at Fl.
Stephenson, which is seventy~ive
miles from Bismarck. You must
know that we "tied up" at night; they
cannot navigate when it is dark. AS
soon as it was night the boats were
tied to tree, or failing to 6nd a tree,
used what they call the dead man,
= huge piece Of log, which the deck
hands carried ashore and buried. Ii
looks wonderfully like a dead man
Us the men carry it from the boat,
deposit it on the ground, and dig an
immense hole and lower this log into
it. 1t is an unpleasantly suggestive
scene-positively weird. The torches
and lanterns threw a red, fitful glare
over the bearded men in their red
shirts as they worked rapidly, and it
seemed fiendish in the darkness around.
After Stephenson, our next landing
was at Berthold Agency. Then and
there we had cur first sight of the
mobile red man." As our boat ap>
preached the shore they came rum
ming down to the beach. men, squaws
and children, each one wrapped in a
blanket. Some of the costumes were
queer. The children were principal
ly arrayed in rags, with blanket
wrapped around them. They imam.
aged' their blankets quite as well as
| the old ones did, but some of the
children were gorgeously attired in
embroidered leggins and gay mecca.
sins, and all-"brave," squaw and
pappoose-were wonderfully dirty.
After passing the Berthold Agency
We settled down" to our sewing,
| reading, playing cards and walking on
deck. Fl. Buford, the next human
habitation. was four hundred miles up
the river, and nothing but the bare
hills and muddy water to see; not an
Indian nor even a buffalo. We often
wondered what was behind those hills,
until one day when the boat landed
for wood, we went up to the top OF
one of them, and found ourselves on
the "boundless prairie"
We expected to "tie up" for the
| night at Buford; but we were delayed,
spending several more hours than
usual Oh sand-bar, and were obliged
to site up" before we reached Buford.
Gen. Ruger had telegraphed from
Stephenson that we would be there all
night, and the officers and ladies had
prepared to give US a chop" The
other boats arrived in good time and
were feted in a most superb style.
But the officers and ladies called on
US next day and took US driving, and
we were almost consOled for missing
the shop" Buford is situated on a
beautiful plain.
At old Fl. Peck, Po olar Creek
Agency, We made the acquaintance
of more Indians. There is large
village of them at this place. They
came running down to see US as our
boat approached. They were squat.
ted along the bank, and as we stood
against the guards looking at them, a
lady remarked that she presumed they
were not half fed by the agents, and
that they were always hungry. I
went in and got some little cakes and
a bag of cut-lOaf sugar from our lunch
basket and thought l would see if the
little 'nigs," as called the little red