The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-07
ACROSS TIKI CONTINENT
What can be seen on a journey
to Utah.
A Description Of the Country and its
Inhabitants.
Special Correspondence of the Inter ocean.

ing OulaDa at noon, we fO0c I'LL Deulllne Il
might through cultivated farms and pas
busy towns, and then, after ten hours
Isleep, going twenty miles an hour, we ar
lstill in Nebraska. and it is not until nearl
moon that we have accomplished the Jour
lney across the state-a distance of ~
lmiles Nebraska within itself is an empir,
of resources that have only begun their de
IvelOpment. 1t is larger than all New En-
gland, and twice the size of Ohio, and will
its 45, 00O, 900 acres of land capable of cul
tivation. may some day support a popula
ton of SIS, 900, 900 people, when it is only
/ as thickly populated as is Ohio.
| On this railroad ride of over 1000 mile!
to Ogden, we notice with interest some
| features of
| THE POSTAL CAR SERVICE.
Mr.. Joseph Southland was on this trip
the through clerk, who had charge of the
post Office car from Omaha to Ogden, anC
over the last 600 miles of the trip alone
| There is not branch of the government
service where employees with equal respon
| sibilities and labor are one-half so poorly
paid as are the railway postal clerks and
route agents The Union Pacific railroad
pays the men who shovel dirt along its
roadbed more than these agents, whose
| time is from eighteen to twentyfour in
stead of eight to ten hours per day. The
| through clerk who makes the run over
600 miles of this line alone, has, in adj
dition to regular duties of distributing and
delivering mail, the charge of registered
packages, and frequently the government
sends one trip a million dollars in specie,
for which he is wholly responsible and
which he must alone protect.
At Julesburg, early on the first morn
IL, xIx,x11
| of telegraph poles striking off to the south
west along the south fork of the Platte.
| This is the Union Pacific Denver route by
| the Julesburg cutoff" In midsummer
| the Chicago traveller to Denver will find at
Omaha fast Denver express, run indie
pendent of the overland trains, and he can
save from ten to fifteen hours from the
time required in the trip to Denver now
via either Omaha or Kansas City, The
journey
FROM OMAHA TO OGDEN
is one Of the most thoroughly enjoyable
trips of thousand miles that one may
anywhere find in this country. l know OF
no stretch of 1000 miles east of here
where one may travel the distance with
equal comfort. With no change of cars
your section in the Pullman becomes your
home, and your fellow passengers (gener-
ally) kindly disposed and agreeable neigh
bOrs, and the journey may be made Soc
ial feast of the good things in prospect
new and interesting, and in the
latter hours of the way es-
pecially, the scenery is unequalled on the
continent for grandeur and beauty Wher-
ever the railroad goes, even if it must
climb to the clouds by the narrow guage
track, the traveller demands all the COM
viii oh, t1,oI Of in no
East implies. On the Utah and Northern
narrow guage running $50 miles north of
Ogden, through Idaho and into Montana,
the company has until lately been running
reclining-chair cars, but, Welding to the
demands of travel, which two years ago
must 90 this way by the luxurious mode of
the blackboard a line of Pullmans now
goes the whole way, and nowhere are more
appreciativc patrons found than the tired
vOyager by horseback or stage from remote
mining districts of Idaho or Montana, who
may tumble into these comfortable berths
and sleep. if they wish, for twenty-four
hours, until Ogden is reached,
OGDEN,
at the junction of the Union Pacific with
the Central Pacific and Northern railroads
is a city of nearly 5000 people, and is
beautifully situated at the foot of the Wa
satch Mountains The mountains are now
covered with great fields of snow, that
seem not one mile away, but the weather
down here is warm and sunny, and when
we consider the asparagus, Strawberries
and green yeas now growing in abundance
here, we may say it is perfect
Of this population of 5000 one-fourth per-
haps are 'Gentiles" and the balance Lat
ter-day Saints" as they call themselves or
as the wicked Gentiles would bluntly say
polygamous MOrmons. / shall try and send
you something of interest about the condi-
ton and character Of Mormonism to-day in
Utah while we are in Zion. Yesterday we
attended Mormon church in the big taber-
| nacle here, and while it may not be fair to
speak from first impressions, it is certain
that | never saw, outside of the sand lots
of San Francisco, more unintelligent and
stupid lot of people gathered together.
They
DID NOT LOOK WICKED
or depraved, but simply stupid. The women
looked discouraged, and the men, outside
of the dozen or fifteen bishops and corpu-
lent dignitaries in the pulpit, ignorant and
unambitious; while the only noticeable
thing about the congregation of 500 people
was, to borrow from womans expressive
phraseO1ogv, that it was lawfully com
mon" Mrs r. and two lady friends were
with me, and l thought | was safe
from observation in my disguise as
a way up Mormon with three
wives When we had taken our seats we
discovered that the fatal mistake had been
made of sitting together. The 'other"
Mormon gentlemen would come in followed
BY two, three, or four discouraged looking
females, who would drop suddenly into the
center tier of seats, while the husband
would pass on to the mems seats; so,
when the congregation was seated, your
correspondent found himself a lonesome
object of general attention, surrounded by
about
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MORMON WIVES
There was nothing worthy of very partic-
uIar note in the services. A choir Of
twenty four voices, with a good organ, fur
nished some excellent music. Among other
things, the preacher said, in defending the
theory of Joseph Smiths inspiration, that
there ought not to be any difficulty in be-
lieving that John the Baptist came to the
earth to endow Smith with priesthood, etc,
as Joseph Smith was as good man as
Cornelius and other New Testament char
acters who received visits from heavenly