The Worthington advance., 1881-08-18
! LETTER FIR ROMsNEBRAsKA.
Along the Omaha koad- Crops
The Bridge Builders Lizards and
Rdttlesnakes.
CONVICTION STATION. Neb.

Cov1NaToN STATION, Neb.
S... ~. H. Aug. 8. 1881. !
" ED1roR ADVANCE: Thinking per-
haps you would like q little Of what I
am having plenty Of (namely) camp life
in Nebraska, l thought to give you :
short sketch Of the Bridge mems
camp on the west division Of st. r., 8.
g. and o. road. The division consists
Of one hundred and twenty-six miles,
being the road from Covington to
Omaha. &
Out from Covington for the first flf-
teen miles we are on what is called bot
tom land. OF the soil on the Missouri
Bottoms I need say nothing. Small
grain is all in the stack. All very good
with the exception Of the wheat crop.
OF that Neb. will harvest but little over
half crop. The oat crop is good, but
of the corn crop would speak. Meyer
in the eighteen years Of western life
have I seen such corn as stands to-day
on bottom lands of the old muddy.
walked through a cornfield OF over two
hundred acres that fourteen feet would
be fair average height for the entire
field. So much Of the crops. Now .
few words Of our camp.
Our crew consists Of about twenty
men at present called Bridge men. We
are divided into two crews, each crew
carrying a Sibley tent, ten by twelve
feet, answering for boarding house and
sleeping room, and should your readers
give us u call, they would find anything
from cold snipe to limberger ut all
hours. Our camp is represented by q:
b )ut as many nations rs there are men
in camp, consequently we have q rich
treat at night when all are in.
Our work last week was out on tho
India n reservation, twenty-eight miles
south from Covington, and through
the Logan Valley, for q distance of thir.
ty miles OF the Omaha Il Winnebag0
lands. must say the sun never sh0ne
on more beautiful prairie than lies in
the Logan valley. No White man has
broken i foot of it only on the grade az
yet, while the Red man mas full sway.
We meet them nearly every day, but i
for one, don't love the poor Indian very
| mQchly, not enough to cause desire Q
embrace one. They are farming some
of them and Pm told doing well. I 1call.
ed ut the junction of the Norfolk branch
last week where the Co. are driving
hard to get through u distance of fort )
miles between the little town of EN-.
merson and Norfolk, through a rich
and 4 pretty we'll settled country. Next
from Emmerson south for railroad town
comes Bancroft, then Lyons and Oak.
land, all settled up south of reservation
comfort to-day. The thermometer
shows 106 in the shade. How's that for
coo! Minnesota to reflect on?
Yet with all the bright prospects for
Neb. III take mine in old MINI. yet a.
almost weekly meet some Minnesotian
Sioux Falls run, has passenger train
from here to Omaha; also on the Ponca
run of twenty-six miles out from Gov.
ington. Imet Matt. Doolan, Engineer,
from off branch road with Billy Snetker
stolen We have our old Road Supt. of
buildings and bridges from west end,
also foreman and some of the men that
l worked with last year which makes
it pleasant, and last but not least we
have in camp pets of various kinds, such
us the Swift. Il small chap, something
like a lizard, but with which chain light
ming can have very little business, if he
takes a notion to try trip up your pant
leg. We have also the snake, from the
innocent black water, eight feet long,
down to the massauger. One of the
boys after breakfast Saturday morning
rolled up his blankets and pulled the
rattlas off from an eight year old 'saug-
er and gave them to me. Will enclose
them to you. Please show them to Mrs.
ADVANCE and the children. May be
pleased with them. Its getting too hot
to write. Please excuse this scrawl as
it will make cigar lighters. May hit
you again when we get new p. NJ.
A. w. A.