The Worthington advance., 1881-02-24


Weethe'-Murchr- Of the.~ Yankee
Ploping ,cith q Stick-Jolly Iromps
Funny Incidents. :. -
ALAH1oso, Colo. Feb. 5, 1881.
EDITOR ADVANCE: While enjoying
a few days of recreation will give the
readers of the ADVANCE Il rambling
description of Il winters journey thro'
Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
On the 9th of December, two of us
left Tucson, Ariz., with 4 span Of hors-
es and light spring wagon, and we
reached Alamoso, Colo., January 26.
We came via. Prescott. Arizona;: st
Newgate, N. NJ, and Santa Fe. The
distance is S75 miles. However, this
country may appear in Biographies and
guide books, it is not SO terribly tropic-
al to travel through in the winter.
This has been severe season. Ever.
where that you fall into conversation
about the cold weather, the 'oldest i'll
habitant' begins to scral ch his head and
search for dusty almanacS. We read
of your terrible storms and snow block
AIDES mp in Minnesota aid the North
west and can symrathiZc with Il feeling
akin to friendship. When we lett Tue
son it was warm enough some afternoons
to ride III your shirt sleeves, while at
las,
ercoats quite comfortable, and Christ
mas we were snow-bou,id iii the Mogal-
Ion Mountains, IS miles east of Pres
colt, and bad to wait for teams to break
the road.
at Albuquerque, 20 miles south Of
Santa Fe, we crossed the main channel
of the Rio Grande on ice, and after hav-
ing wallowed through heavy snow
north OF Santa Fe, 1T Alamoso we
found the roads bare and dusty. A
difference Of Il few thousand feet in al
titude amy where through this region
makes a great change in the general
character Of the country. Tucson is
about 2,CG0 feet above S., level. 1t is
situated III a dry, sandy b: sin where
snow and timber are almost "unknoWn
quantities." Prescott, the capital, has
all altitude of nearly 5000 feet; it is in
the immediate vicinity of good pine
timber with considerable grazing land
III the vallays and plenty Of snow for
winter.
Prescott is rather pretty place. 1t
has Il fine brick court house in the cen
ire of Il public square around which the
principal business houses are built,
similar to the plan at Wortlington.
The buildings are all Of frame or brick.
and it is probably safe to call it the most
'diStinctively American town. in the
Territory. From Prescott our main
course lay to the east until we reached
the Rio Grande River ut Albuquerque.
n. NJ. After leaving the Verde river,
~ miles east of Prescott. the country
is unsettled for 2OD miles, excepting the
Norman settlements on the Little Col
OrtdO River. The stage company, how
ever, have stations for Keeping their
stock about Is or 20 miles apart. The
MogallOn Mountains, - miles east of
Prescott, are covered with il fine grow til
Of pine timber and contain some good
summer range for stock, but in the
winter every thing must go to tie foot
hills. Here we struck snow and cold
weather. There was only about twenty
miles of snow that was deep enough to
make bad wheeling, but from there on
we had no pleasant weather until we
reached the Rio Grande. Much of the
time it did not thaw during the day.
and great many nights it froze hard
enough to burst tin pail left with
water standing in it..
1t is all unpleasant trip to make in
the winter, but, notwithstanding the
hardships and disadvantage we found
that many others had chosen this sea-
son of the year to crafty that spirit of
unrest which seems to pervade the
mind Of the average western man.
Here you may see men travelling in all
kinds Of weather and every mode of
conveyance. Some with teams, some
on horse back, some with pack-animals,
while others Oh foot were packing their
cwn blankets and ''grub." The pros
pector" is a peculiar Individual lie
can only stay in one place "about 50
long" and then, us it in,pelled by some
blind impulse, he must gather his ''gri,
sack' and move on. 1t does not mat.
ter so much where he is going or what
he is going to do; just simply to he on
the move. a coffee pot and frying pan.
with coffee, flour and bacon for the sol.
id dishes, constitute hi; cooking outfit
and he is happy SO long us lie can keep
on going.
Il day or TWO before Christmas we
were overtaken by printer tramp WHO
had been out prospecting and was walk.
ing from PETnix, AriZ, to Brigham
City. on the Little Colorado, Il distance
of 26O miles. 1t was freezing cold and
he was alone, carrying his blankets and
fifty pounds OF provisions. AS we all
hail to walk on account OF deep snow,
we carried his load on the wagon the
remainder of his jo;rl ey and found him
an interesting companion. He was !,
a man who had enjoyed splendid a1van.
tages and had formerly been IL reporter
on the San Francisco Chronicle. On
New Years day we clmptd with an Or.
egonian who had been on the read since
September and had travelled I 700 miles
by wagon. \ few days after this we
met a solitary individual dressed ex.
ceedingly shabby and who looked as
perfect Il specimen Of the p:ofe ssiona]
tramp us have ever seen. lie was il.
bout As years old. lie had neithe
blankets or provisions and botI, knees
were out sufficiently to warrant the con.
cllsion that he was originally white.
We asked him where he was going:
With good natured smile and an effort
at sociahility he replied: "California
how far is it to the next stage
ranch?'
After reaching st. Newgate. lust owe,
the line Of New Mexico, it began to
seem more like civilization, for eyerv S
or 10 miles we would pass Il railroad
camp working on the grade Of the "A t.
lautic Il P1citic,'' running west from
Albuquerque to Prescott and the PA
cific coast. The track is now laid abont
IS miles west OF Albuquerque. In New
Mexico we passed through several old
Mexican towns whose narrow. pincl,cl
up streets and one story buildings show
the stains OF time, and whose inhabit:
ants seem to be surrounded by all tht
antiquity Uf Il century thnt il anna