The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1882-11-23
! oossIPY LETTER OF RAMBLING NOTES
FROM THE EDITOR OF TIE EAGLE.


SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, November 10Th.
In depot. built on pier three miles out
into the bay, last night at ten O'Clock, came
to a stop, two very tired travelers--wife and
I. From the deck of the steamer which rap.
idly bore US two across the intervening eight
miles of water the revelation of lighted
city set on hill was one of yividness and
brilliant beauty. Every pre-conceived idea
of the queen city OF the Golden Gate, in a
moment had flown upon the night wings OF
the salt-ladened winds that rippled the shell.
tered waters beneath us, and instead of q
city on low, sandy beach, we beheld a me-
tropolis built on sleeps and sharp decliyi.
| ties.
California is pre-emincntly the land of bar.
rem mountains and desert wastes, sprinkled
with a few-very few-earthly paradises,
which is more trne than funny.
Volumes having been written descriptive
of this State. IL would be presumption in me
to attempt to tell the readers Of the EAGLE
all about it in a letter or two, but il they can
keep up sufficient interest TO wade through
q de>ultory column made up OF rambling re-
|
off in haste, they might get a new idea or
| two.
| II / could only forget the everlasting des-
erts would proceed with the city first:
One whole day In San Francisco. The god
of day is falling through the Golden Gate.
There is no longer any west into which he
can sink To the east of me rises the mighty
1 = eho Of ha
the drop-eurtain of the western hemisphere,
and whose crest is the dividing line between
the Occident and the Orient. All west OF
that mighty wall is the East-aIl east OF it is
the West.
In every phase and characteristic Califor-
MIA is OF the East, the talk and faces of her
people alone being American.
San Francisco is not sham, although the
high hills upon which it is built are OF sand,
and its magnificent temples, business blocks
and residences are not solid stone but wood,
cut, carved, painted and plastered up to imi-
tate stone. 1t is cosmopolitan. Its three
hundred thousand people are from every
quarter of the globe. The Acknowledged pig
tailers seem the most numerous, but the
Cets, Teutons and Spanish-miXed are only
surpassed by the Hebrews and Yankees. The
colored brother don't flourish as extensively
as the greaser, still he looms up numerously.
Street cars run everywhere and uphill and
down with equal velocity, pulled by hidden
cable hitched on to stationary engine some
where. greatly TO the delight OF emancipated
mules and horses.
1t is summer and winter here at the same
time, and the women don't appear to know
which or when, for saw hundreds of these
darlings on the streets to-day, some in seal.
skin sacques carrying parasols, others in lace
capes, and still Others in lawns aud dimities,
and all carrying bouquets of flowers, and the
most of them red noses and rather full checks
The red noses and checks we are assured,
come OF too much fermented grape juice aud
too little prohibition.
And still st. John was. defeated-at least
heard he had been.
San Francisco is like heaven in another re.
spect: there is no night here. The electric
light rivals the mid day sun, giving the moon
no show whatever. Still the drinking watel
bread. All fresh water is forced into ano
through the city by machinery from point
twenty miles away.
The building in which write stands where
formerly ebbed and flowed the waters of the
Pacific. Ground don't seem to be so scarce
but whole blocks and streets have been,madt
by filing up the bay. While the city is cos
mopolitan, each kind of people keep to them
selves. For instance, the hotel at which we
are stopping is owned by an Irish company
run by mickey, and all the servants and al
the guests are Irish. The very bell-boyi
wear green, and come on call with billy o
shamrock and a whoop. But the house is Dc
shanty, l assure you, but ''way up" A
guest informs me that one OF the chamber
maids made a cool hundred thousand dollar,
ast year in stocks, which she took back Il
the land OF Parnell and free rows. and hei
sister Biddy, who is now bed-boss of the es
Establishment. is the '1darliut'' who forces Ia,
TO cut short this sentence while she put,
things to rights.
Washington plumes herself on her beauti
full parks and tasty private grounds, but fol
tasteful ornamentation the grounds of the
better private residences and the public parks
of Frisco surpass those of Washington cit!
more than the latter beats the enclosure sur
rounding the Wichita Jail. Such wealtl
of glorious palms, gorgeous eXOties and del
icate ferns, flowers and plants, we never saw
outside of dreams and pictures, certainly
never before out doors. But they have ty'
phoid fever here-deadly typhus as chronic
epidemic, if you will allow the expression
and the undertakes ride with the bonanz;
kings along the streets of Frisco.
|, Ii kind of strikes me now that 1 began a
the wrong end OF my story. Ever since
Clicks success, or rather since the day wher
st. John failed TO get there, things seem tt
lcome to me wrong end to. But no matter, il
is not too late TO make the head end of my
tale the tail end Of letter. Then, Thursday
morning, November 9th, before daylight, We
kissed the babies all round aud in less thar
two hours were rolling westward from New
ton. Twenty-one years ago last June We
rolled westward up the same great Arkansa:
Valley. 1t was in the Pixies Peak days. Nj,
brother Bent and / had caught the gold feyel
and rigging out an OK team with load o.
-four, nails and beans we struck out for Cali
fornia Gulch-now Leadyille-he playing the
bull-whacker, and the cuisine artist, or ba
con and fiap-jack cooker. hadn't gone ovel
the ground since and great has been the
change-exit buffalo and Indian, enter rail
road and cities. Speaking Of buffalo few
people realize the numbers which then GOV.
cred the plains. Where now is the city OF
Great Bend we encountered so many of them
that we were in danger Of having our cattle
stampeded every hour. Here, one morning,
we saw a massed herd Of bumped backs al
least six or eight miles square. A string
three or four miles long Of from two to twen-
ty abreast all on the jump, from the south
side of the river, flowed into the greater
herd Tor four or five hours continuously, and
yet we could not see that the main herd had
increased any in size. In that time not less
than fifty or one hundred thousand had join
ed the big herd.
There We're buffalo in those days as Mead
ans were thick, too, and our little party OF
ten or twelve were compelled to stand guard
over our cattle and five wagons every night.
| Il took nearly five weeks to make the trip
then-now but day. We Travelled much at
night to avoid trouble. One night just as
dark came on Il drenching rain set in. We
had driven all day without any thing 10 eat.
The cattle were unyoked and the gloomy
outfit erawled into the wagons and sought
to forget their hunger and WEAKNESS IN sleep.
1t was my night to guard the cattle and
knew | couldn't stand il without some brac-
ing up, SO feeling around in the dark on the
banks of the RaekeDsack, | gathered lot of
grass and weeds and crawling under the
wagon out of the wet twisted these up into