Daily Republican., 1881-04-13
LETTER FROM KANSAS.
A Wilmington Family's Journey
From Delaware to Kansas.

! The following is an extract from the
letter of a Kansas emigrant to u gentle
man in this city;
Having written two or three letters
10 persons in Wilmington and others
elsewhere, thought while my hand
was in, that I would not forget yon
and that you would appreciate letter
coming from section OF country you
rarely hear from. Well, we arrived
here last Friday night about 10 O'Clock,
feeling somewhat tired after journey
Of over three days duration. We left
the depot of the North Penn r. n.
Philadelphia, Tuesday afternoon, March
30th, at 9. 10 o'clork, and came on that
road TO Bethlehem, then on the Lchigh
Valley & Erie road to Elmira and But-
falo where we took the Michigan South
ern and Lake Shore road to Cleveland,
Ohio, and from there, on the Bee line TO
Crestline, and then by the indianapolis
4 Terre Haute road to st. Lonis, from
there we took the Kansas City branch
OF the Chicago s. Alton road to Kansas
City where WE changed cars for the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road TO
Florence and from thence to this place,
which il the county seat of Butler
County and which is at the terminus Of
a branch of the A. r. 4 =. +. road, ~
miles from Florence. The afternoon
that we started from Philadelphia was
beautiful and light and we were con-
sratulating ourselves on having fine
weather on the journey through, but hs
we neared the lake regions the next
morning "Wednesday the skies were
overcast with clouds and the snow com
mcnCed falling. At Buffalo il was an
inch or two deep and from that on TO
Cleveland it came down thicker and
faster, but it did not Inconvenience us
until after we had left that place,
when we commenced coming into drifts
some four or five feet deep 80 that our
progress became slower and more diff
cult and at last it became necessary TO
attach another engine TO our train in
order to get us through. When we
reached indianapolis the snow began TO
get beautifully less, and before We got
10 st. Louis it was entirely gone but it
put us considerably behind time, for
instead OF gettingto ST. Lfhiis at $50
II. IN. as was expected it was 3 p. III.
However we allowed to stop over there
Il few hours to meet some friends from
Illinois who knew of our coming and
whom we met at thelTnion depot but our
stay with them was necessarily curtail-
cd On our way between Alton June
tion and East st. Louis a distance of
about twenty miles we passed through
what is called in the west u blizzard
"A storm of wind and snow. A dark
cloud came over from the Northwest,
and for about thirty minutes it bowed
and showed at u fearful rate and when
we got into St Louis the sun was shin
ing ont, but | saw by the st. Lonis
papers few days afterwards that il
did considerable damage In different
places.
| cannot tell you very much about the
country or people or in regard to my
future movements, as have not been
here long enough, and space in this let.
ter will not allow oft even if my mind
was made up, but will reserve this
for another time. Sufficient ii is to say
that while through the States OF Indiana
and Illinois the mud appeared 10 be
about hub deep in the roads, here, the
ground is dry and dusty and farmers
are busy getting their ground ready for
spring crops. Yours, &c, J, J. u.