Daily Republican., 1880-09-28
rRela THE FAN WEST.

A Descriptive Letter From q Wtts
mfugtenian - A "Trip From Will
minEton 60 Gunnls0n I'm ColsrA'
do Territory.
| GUssIsoN, Col. Sept ls, 1880.
Dear c.
The following letter from Elward
McInall who Is on Q trip to the West;
to . friend in this city is handed 10 us
for publication :
Here We are at Last, now about 2lOO
miles away from you right in the midst
OF the Rocky Mountains. Our .mo1n-
tains in the East are only hills as 1t
wore. No wonder to me is 1t that the
Indians selected such wild .desolate
spets in order to bs away from the out
or world--how well they have succeed.
cd.
Elliott and l travelled without an
hours intermission from Saturday, Sep
tember l1th at 10 o'clock until Wed
nasday night, September 18th 10 o'clock
o. m. Just 10S hours on the road. Oar
"Trip west wac very interesting as We
swiftly glided over the fine fertile farms
of Pennsylvania and the romantic Blue
Ridge and Alleghanies. We reached
Pittsburg at 1l.45 p. M, and retired
for the night in our palatial sleeping
car. Soon we were speeding rapidly
at 6.3O q. m. andon Sunday, we arrived
Columbus, Ohio.
A few moments delay there, and on
again till at 2.30 We were in the capi-
tai of the great timber state Of Indiana,
Indianapolis, fine thriving and pros
porous city Of $4,000. The ordinary
delay incident to railroad travel over,
We were soon speedily distancing home
and were on our way over the great
prairie lands Of Illinois, till we reached
Vandalia, Illinois where we stopped
ten minutes TO get wind, finally for q
1000 mile turn. Wsreached St. Louis at
Is. 20 .. m. After rapidly transacting
our business here we barely succeeded
in getting our sections in our hotel car,
at 20 p. m. we were of for the greater
West. Retiring early and enjoying q
good nights rest We reached Kansas
City, No, Just on the dividing line
between Kansas and Missouri. Very
strange to say that this bright city is
not in the state Of Kansas, but is yet
claimed by the state Of Missouri. l
presume political factions keep up the
State.
Kansas City is handsom ely built and
the business streets and blocks are
very much superior to Washington. 1t
lis q live Western city broad, spacious
/ streets similar TO Broad street Phila-
delphia-Population about $4,000 to
SC, 900. l know Of no city Of its size that
have ever seen that pleased me 80
much. At 9.45 q. m. after a hearty
breakfast the bell announced our de-
parture over tie Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe R. R. At 100 p. m. we
arrived at Topeka, the capital of Kan
sss lively business town of about l5,-
O00-here we saw magnificent Court
House, costing s200, 900.
II Our Court House Ia very much infe-
lrior to 1t. II is built of white Kansas
marble and has q very bright, pleasing
effect. At $50 p. m. we arrived at
Florence, Kansas, where we partook OF
one of the finest and best cooked sup
pers, I ever had. 1t was general
, theme Of praise by the passengers.
This was our first meal we had eaten
, outside of our hotel Car since We had
, left home. -,
Only 80 minutes delay here, onward
ws were speeding till we reached Lakln,
Kansas, 7 .. m. where We had as mis-
ersble q breakfast as we had fine sup
: per the night before.
D Kansas is an immense State and We
who had never sean 1t before would
hardly have believed 1t to be so large.
We arrived in 1t at $40 on the morn
ing Of one day and crossed the State
/ line into Colorado at 11.30 the next
day, Just 27 hours crossing as rapidly
as our train could 60. Kansas possess
es some If the finest farming land one
could imagine, equal If not superior to
r the great farms Of Eastern and Cen
. trail Pennsylvania. The out buildings
a and homesteads are real beauties in an
. architectural point of view. Something
: to which we are not used to In the
East. Insver saw such fields OF wheat,
I corn and sweet potatoes as the eye
r could span for miles.
This description holds good until you
. reach Newton and Rmporia, about the
= middle OF the State and then begins the
: most desolate, barren andlonely prairie
: lands anyone would want to see. How
: sny human person would want to leave
even very humble and inferior living
lin the East and buy these lands at ever
4 40 low q price and till them, / cannot
9 imagine. For miles and miles we could
l see not q fence or habitatioM, only
here and there lonely and solitary
, "dorey" mud house belonging to some
cattle raiser. Once in while we woUld
{ see stray claim ranche--such life,
, II is a puzzle. A frequent sight as we
. nsared the line Of Colorado would be
D great numbers of prairie dogs and ante
lopes. We cav about so buffaloes on
? the plains. roaming around wild and
( untamed, very strange sight for us
rustics. Then after we entered Color
ado we struck the great sand desert OF
this State, and / do assure you 1t was
anything but appreciated to have q
, sand storm as we had for hours. At one
, time felt that our train would be
Iswept from the track. At about 2 p. m.
+ we reached Pueblo, Colorado.
A stay in the connecting train from
/, Denver to Leadville compelled us to lay
over here until s O'Clock, p. m. At
r Pueblo, q good sized pretty town Of
5000, we got lunch and prepared our
? lsely.s to enter into the wild desolate
and dangerous mining country of the
Q Gunnison, in Western Colorado. Pur-
chasing our tickets for Gunnison, at an
immense price, we left Pueblo for South