Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-06-24
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A Trip 10 Denver.
Denver. COLORADO. june IA. lss1.

Mr. HERALD :-If anybody from
Lancaster wants to go vest let him
go TO Dubuque and buy ticket to
Denver, and get his baggage checked
through. 1t will cost him $3s. go.
The west, Mr.. Editor, is cramped for
room even in Infinite space, for at
the farthest west farther west still
opens to receive you. From Du.
buque you reach Clinton, and in
about three hours you will hear a
passenger train from the farthest
east rumbling it's way across the
Mississippi; you board train of the
Chicago Il Northwestern, and by
moonlight of the evening You are
dumped upon the shores OF the Mis-.
sonri river, whose sources are fed
from the Rocky Mountains. Here
you are at Council Bluffs in the State
of Iowa. The Missouri bottoms are
six or seven miles in width, bounded
by steep, many headed and nicely
rounded bluffs; the bottom land and
the bordering hills resembling what
is called the American Bottom east
of st. Louis. These vast bottoms of
the Missouri equal in fertility any
region of the earth, but they are sub
ject to overflow, and the river will
not be restrained by a levee till a
dense population find no further out.
let westward. The railroad PASSING
the state of Iowa reaches the head
waters of the Bouyer; here the water
shed slopes toward the Missouri, and
the road sweeps through one of the
most fertile, wide valleys found in
the west. The fall wheat has suf-
fered the corn looks we'll. Some
four years ago, native told me, this
valley was left bare of vegetation by
millions of grasshoppers, that like
the Persians' darts darkened the
very air. The whirling, muddy, un.
washed Missouri is bridged here, and
we fall in with the Union Pacific at
Council Bluffs. Our grand trunk
railroads dwindle into insiguifeauce
in the presence of this gigantic trans
continental highway. Some seven
trunk lines, the Chicago & North
western among the rest, act as feed.
ers to the Union Pacific Here is
the mammoth depot of that corpora
ton; you hear the clatter of thous
ands of feet upon its marble pave
ments; crowds rushing westward
for the mountains and California:
emigrants from all parts of the world,
women, children, capitalists, stock
ralsers, spectators, farmers. Then
other thousands are surging their
way eastward. 1t is a seething hu.
man cataract. You get on board the
Union Pacific train about 10 O'Clock,
with its long retinue of passenger,
Pullman's palace, sleeping and draw
ing room cars, nearly measuring the
length of the bridge. You reach
Omaha, on the other side, and the
first Institution that attracts your no.
tice in Nebraska is an immense dis
tillery, advertising Bourbon whiskey
IN glazing capitals. and deodorlzed
alcohol although the stencil and
tunes OF this fountain of rotgut is a
nuisance and an otfense against the
peace aud dignity of two states Blu.
you soon forget Omaha and her
whlskey scented atmosphere, aud the
rolling, rich prairies of Nebraska are
spread out before you. Can the i'm
aglnation conceive a region more fer
tile, rich in soil, exquisite in surface,
in its fluted slopes and gentle uudula-
tons, than is found in Iowa and Ne
oraska? You soon reach the far
famed valley of the Platte, and some
'49er on the next seat points out to
you the wagon road of the primitive
emlgrants. "There we pitched our
tents-we got water from that brook,
built our fires from buffalo droppings
and bones of the same useful ANIMAL"
No other country in the world can
show a natural wagon road passing
over plains and plateaux and through
mountain gaps, two thousand miles
in length, traversable before the sur
veyor had driven a stake to mark its
course, or the overseer and his posse
done days work upon it. The
Great Architect had laid out high
way from the Mississippi to the Pa
ciic in the formation Of the continent.
Some links were left out of the dou-
bic mountain chain that otherwise
would have forever barred our prog
ress westward. AS you are wkirled
over the valley of the Platte it is
painfully evident that the country has
suffered from a fearful drouth. Even
the rank grass on this famous valley.
that fed aud fattened all the teams.
horses and cattle that were driven to
California in earlier times. This
grass appeared sickly and short
This great yale is historic. In 1904
Lewis and Clarke explored it as one
OF the principal tributaries of the
Missouri. Scarcely a tree was TO be
seen; an exceptional willow or cot
tonwood might be found on the i'm.
mediate borders of the river. The
valley is ten, fifteen or twenty miles
in width. The river has no bank,
and the water might as we'll run one
place as another. Large extent OF
ibis valley is covered with water at
certain seasons of the year, but wher-
ever the elevation permits it, there
the homesteader has built his shanty.
and is monarch CT all he surveys. OF
at distance, and generally the high.
er ground is next to the stream, YOU
will occasionally discover a white
looking country house. and large
fields, it may be of 1000 or more
acres. People do business here on a
large scale. Towns are still frequent
along the railroad. The corn and
wheat have suffered. The settlers
say there has been no rain there
since last fall; but rain is promised.
The heavens are in commotion. Il
is the 10th of June. What vivid
lightning! We could see it strike the
earth twenty miles away. The at
mosphere here is never quiet a gale
is careering up or down this valley
at all times. Far to the west the
dark clouds appeared to be vertical,
and moved towards us, as If the
whole mountain range was rushing
this way. The rain fell IN torrents;