The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-03-18
embodied all the characteristics of tina, class

lem bodied all the characteristics OF that class
of people so common IN every town along the
border and far IN advance Of the Star OF En-
pire; "a class who have nothing in view but
to exc out living, have left nothing behind
bu, unpaid bills and bad name: who have
always lived as they are living here, waiting
for something to turn up" or until they ARE
turned down and harbored safely in the last
resting place, where neither mortal cares nor
scriptural scares" would ever trouble them
, more. But of all Gods creatures, Poor Lo''
f has been the most abused and cruelty dealt
with. The Noble Red Man." or Child of
the Forest" as Cooper styles him, is passing
away. Since the very day that Columbus set
T sail from the port Of Palos, and the lazy,
thevlng, plundering Spanlards landed on our
shore, the red mans doom was sealed. They
came, bringing with them the cross of Christ
and the principles of Christian civilization,
but forgot Its precepts, and instead plundered
and made slaves of those they came to benefit
and, like the Puritans later on, who came 10
these shores for the purpose of exercising u
the most cruel oppressors.
Seeing the Indian upon his native heath and
round his huts and campfres, in groups,
crouched together and half.naked, feeling of
sadness steals over you; and as you approach
they will sit stone still and stare at you with
awe.stricken expression, as If they knew that
their hour for final determination was at hand.
Their fires, perhaps, may be fading into dying
embers, upon which you look and muse. For
how typical in its fading Is it Of the very race
to which it has gwen warmth and life. You
count the dying embers, and the group, and
find they number the same. And you know
that it is only matter of time with both, for
as quickly as those embcrs shoulder so too
ization. And then you begin to contemplate
and ask yourself what good has religion done
for these people where are the missionaries,
and what are the fruits of their labors? And
then you wonder If IN our civilized state we
were truly Christian. would this be the case.
"Old Sol" was peeping from behind the
eastern plain as our train pulled out from
amid the sand hills Of Yuma, and for time
went gliding along the west bank of the
Colorado river which here traverses through
q dreary, desolate, sandy waste. Far away to-
wards the regions of the north the lofty peaks
domes, pyramids and plnnacles of this mystic
rious Colorado rear their truncated cones and
towers heavenward the brilliant rays of the
rising sun llumning their SUBMITS, exhibit
ing to our gaze picture of exquisite grandeur
THE sand hills to our left, which the winds
and storms of the desert have blown into all
conceivable shapes and forms, attract our at
tention. Now we see them assuming a cone.
like appearance then again fantastic in shape
and now smooth and even as though the hand
of man had shaped them; while again great
sweeps rs level and smooth as sheet OF glass,
and then rounding pyramids and cone-llke
formations dot the hills.
From Yuma on for about nifty miles our
course was downward, until we reach station
called
i DAs PALMAs,
which point is nearly 600 feet below the level
of the sea. This is the nearest point that any
railroad has ever approached the fiery re-
gions." Looking out upon the broad expanse
of alkali fields, which stretch away for many
miles in all directions, one contemplates the
situation and says to himself, "If this Is not
the internal regions, then it must be Paradise
Lost"
| Near this station is what IS called FLOWING
Wells" series of springs that throw up great
volumes OF salt water which rolls away in
one great stream tor distance and then disap-
pears in the sand. Where il goes or how these
springs came here is more than any one
can tell.
| 1t was while traversing this region that
witnessed the most beautiful
| MIRAGE
l ever beheld. All day our train had been
gliding along at twenty mile rate through a
great sandy PLAN, for the most part covered
with alkali, which resembled great fields OF
snow. Looking back over the stretch OF coun
try just passed we saw what appeared like
great rivers, and as distance grew between they
would change into what seemed the most beau
tiful lakes of crystal water, whose shores were
fringed with charming groves, meadows, and
lawns leading up to rounded towers, castles
and palaces. On the lakes floated great ships
decked out IN gorgeous colors and manned by
mutitudes of men. Phantom crafts would
rise from shaded hooks and glide fairy.like
upon some new bodies of water formed in md
air Animals with great soaring wings would
hit themselves up and go skimming over the
water like birds. Castles would loom up in
picturesque grandeur for a moment, and then
change into Indian huts and adobes; and
lakes rivers and mountains would appear as
| If by magic and then give WAY to something