Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-11-04
,FoRTY.NlNr.

'F0RTY.NINE.
The IemRrk able Year or the Present Crn-
tary March Of tho ArHonauts 4'rheir suf-
rerlnn- Crossing the rIBins Pioneer Jus-
tice-It Itndc Hut Tchdcr Mrrcy---thlN airy.
WHuE the real Argouauts df 1913
were wandering among the hills and
gmlches that flank the western slope OF
the Sierra Nevada. armed with pan,
spoon and butcher.knifo, testing the
scope aud capabilities Of the gold
mines. the news OF the discovery was
speeding on its way to the Eastern
States by two routes simultaneously. 1t
reached the frontier of Missouri aud
Iowa by the Mormon scouts and rowing
trappers about tho same time that YES
sells sailing round Cape Horn took Il TO
New York and Boston; which was in
the late autumn OF 1918. The first re.
ports. repeatedly confirmed aud en-
largod upon, threw the whole country
into the widest excitement. In the
City of New York and the extreme
Western States the fever was hottest.
Tho year lSIg WAS In some other re-
spects the most remarkable year OF the
present century. Ii found France n
Republic, with a Honaparte President
by popular election. All Germany WIS
in armed revolt against kingcraft
Hungary was in rebellion against the
Austrian Emperor. There WAS revolt
in Lombardy against the Austrian yoke /;
In Naples and Palermo against the
King OF the two Sicilies Inc people
forced the rulers of Tuscany, Modena
and Parma TO grant Constitutions.
There was rank revolution in ireland
under the lead Of Smith UBrien,
Mitchell aud Meagher The Chartists
were seriously moving In England for
universal suffrage. Fierce war ragged
In Northern Italy between the Italians
and Austria; and the year opened with
storm clouds, social aud political, visi-
BILE all over the Old World. Cholera,
that frightlul contribution OF Asia 10
modern Europe, more terrible than the
ancient plague, was raging on the con-
tinent and advancing toward America,
whore the terrors it inspired in 1928
were soon 20 be redoubled in grand
harvest OF death and dosolation through
out the cities and towns of the Missis-
sippi Valley, and all along the thorough
fares (as yet hardly exploredD, to the
shores OF the Pacific. The extreme
western limit Of the white settlements
in lSi9 was the States Of Missouri, Iowa
aud the Territory of Minnesota. Beyond
that there lay terra incognita known
rs " Missouri Territory" and the In
dian Territory south of IL. Between
the lines of Iowa and Missouri and the
Rocky Mountains there were not all
told, over five hundred whites. What
few there were included missionaries
among the Delawares and Shawnees,
Wyandottes, PottOwattomies, Senecas,
Osages, and Indian agents with their as
sistants and servants at the various
agencies. The Pawnees were still a
formidable tribe. The wigwams Of the
Sioux and the hunting camps Of the
Comanches lined the Platte, Arkansas,
Missouri and their tributary streams for
hundreds Of miles in what Is now the
richest and most neutrality-suspicious.
regions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa,
anu Dakota, with its population OF more
than two millions.
The people of the frontier States
were IN that happiest Of all earthly
conditions without wealth, without
poyerty-a community of small farmers
and traders. There were then no large
80 ANthAo " ~ q FAslN1 ~ fNNNNN+
Chicago was of less Importance than
Sacramento OF Omaha now. and Kan
sas City contained fow log huts and
some 300 population. The National
census, complesed year later, gave
Iowa less than 100000 and Minnesota
but 5000 white inhabitants Twenty
miles out from Council Bluffs and forty
from Independence brought the hunter
10 the buffalo range. Beyond that to-
ward the setting sun stretched limit
less prairie far on and on into what was
then supposed 10 be q desert and
SO marked on tho maps, but what is
now proved to be a very fertile part OF
the continent, sloplng gradually upward
toward the Black Hills aud the Rocky
range, where it is watered by innumer-
able cloar. cold streams from the
heights of everlasting SNOW. Through
this unexplored wilderness lay the
routes Cor there were severaD Of the
grand army OF California pioneers that
assembled along the banks of the Mis-
souri, from early in March 10 late in
May, 1sI9. They represented all
classes, all States and Nations, all
trades, oallings and professions; but
not Al ages, Out OF every hundred II