Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-08-29
OUT WEST.
Across the Plains to CoIorado's
Capital City. 10.
Fellow Passengers on the Union Pacific Road
Healthy Eaters-The Sturdy Cow
Boy-The Buttes-Prairie Dogs .
Lighting the Rockies. b.. =. - .
SOME WESTERN CITY
.Special corre,po,ndence % de Reqister.

~. There is sure to be convenient dining
station just ahead when your stomach be-
gins to inquire for sustenance; the sights
are not so rare or singular but that you
have time for novels; the motion OF the
train is so easy that you can leave your
seat, roam through the cars and on the plat
forms, and scquaintanoes are very easily
struck among overland travellers. As Ia rule
the occupants OF the Pullman cars appear
to be wealthy, like myself, and to
be enjoying their trip to the best Of their
ability. Some Of them, from motives OF
economy, do not patronize the dining sta
tions, but subsist on cold chicken, sand
wiches, ,claret and tea or coffee prepared over
flames of a spirit lamp, all which articles
are contained in a big basket, are eaten
from temporary table inserted by the
porter, and exhale very aggravating odor
il produced before the rest OF the passen-
gers have dined. We have
Avery Pleasant Patty,
for the baby with the unresting voice and
lung capacity of Congressman is on the
next car, and our neighbors are New Or
leans fruit merchant taking the first vaca-
ton he has had in a year, full OF frolic and
enthusiasm; a grave, mild New Englander
in q white tie, the embodiment Of polite
ness and consideration; railroad official,
somewhat crusty at first, but not devoid OF
wholesome geniality and interest in his
fellows when drawn out, and two or three
sharp, clear-eyed firm voiced self-conti.
dent western stock men and mine owners
There was party of Frenchmen and Eng
lishmen doing the continent by riding
across it, and bound on tour of the world.
They occupied the state room at one 9nd OF
the car, and sat there much of the time,
fenced in from the other passengers by two
tons OF baggage and eighty tons OF
Dignity and Reserve,
reading guide books, but not looking at the
scenery much, smoking cigarettes, twisting
their moustaches, devouring novels and
eating. Great Scott! Where did the hold
all they consumed? They combed their
hair and powdered their foreheads and
waxed their imperials and studied theii
neckties for full twenty minutes in the
morning. Then they psrtook Of sandwiches
and shot themselves frequently with pocket
pistols. In an hour or two they were ready
for breakfast, and ate as much as any OF us.
AT ten o'clock or thereabouts lunch was de-
molished, with occasional disappearance
Of fruit from then until dinner, Dinner
was their stronghold, but at P. N, they
were at it again, and consumed moro sand,
'wlches, sherry and ale-which being OF
American origin the cursed as ''beastly
stuf"-until supper. After supper there
was another lunch, and smoking was kept
up until bed time, when
Another Bite and Long Drink.
closed the days proceedings. AS rule the
Englishmen one meets are pleasant fellows,
unbendlngly Britannia in dress, manner,
speech and opinion, but curious and con.
fding respecting what you have TO tell
them of our country and its people, Now
and then a cowboy passes through the train
in his best clothes, with gold lace about the
rim of his sombrero and dragoon revolver
protruding from his hip-pocket Please
disabuse your minds of the notion that the
cowboy is ruffian. He is nothing of the
kind. Not infrequently he is college
graduate who has gone West for his health
or who herds cattle as a preliminary to
owning them. He receives $50 a month
and his board, his clothes cost him mere
tritle, he lives in a dug-Out, he has any
where from four to ten horses at his COM
mand, and he is one OF the freest, most in
dependent whole.souled fellows alive. En-
cept during
The Annual "ROund.up''
when the cattle are counted and the calves
are branded, or on occasions when stock IS
to be collected for selling, his life is not
hard, he breathes life-giving air. he enjoys
the best of health, and he is fine looking
fellow. To see him Looping over the plains,
Che never walks or trots) yelling at his
herds, swinging his lassO about the heads
of refractory steers, is all inspiring sight.
After crossing the Colorado boundary the
swells Of the hills run higher and rocks oc'
casonally crop out. Then the curious
buttes begin to show bewts
they pronounce the word out here. These
buttes are the remains of strata of clay and
sandstone shale, eroded into strange forms
by the action of food, frost and wind,
sometimes spreading out into fiat, tent-like
structures, at others rising in sharp comical
projections. Sometimes they are sur
mounted by a considerable expanse OF
smooth hill and show their curious edges
in the sides thereof. Prairie dogs begin TO
be very abundant likewise, and they are
always interesting little fellows. They re-
semble youDg woodChucks in appearance,
are of light fawn color and consregate to-
gether by thousands, dotting many acres,
and / am not certain, but many square
miles.
with n Single Colony.
Their holes are marked by heaps of earth
from six inches to foot high, and it said
that most of their burrows have two or
three exits. Cunning little fellows, they
are, as they sit upon their launches 10 pull
down a blade OF grass so that they may
nibble its seeds an operation performed
by such weak actions of their short fore
arms that they remind one of a human
baby. They get used to the locomotive
after awhile, and being full OF curiosity
cone out occasionally TO see it pass, sitting
motionless on the edges Of their domicles.
have several times found prairie dog holes
between the ties of railroad tracks, and
hundreds Of them may be seen not dozeh
feet from the rails. They run through the
sage bush with an easy, trotting motion,
and although they appear TO be low ami
NAL, they can dodge into their soles with
surprising celerIty il attacked or frightened.
We roll along pleasantly, watching these
odd little fellows and sighting an occasional
antelope, when suddenly, on the far hori-
zon, up spring
The Rocky Mountains.
At first a pale, blue. wayy line, silver
tDtH
bluer and more silyery, wilder and more
craggy in coniguration, and at last spesd.
ing TO north and south for a full hundred
miles and lifting their cleaning submits
over 1000 feet above the sea. We have
been going up hill, however, all the way
from Omaha and are already between tiye
and six thousand feet above tide water, but
even from this elevated outlook the noun
tains rise high above the plains. Longs
Peak is one of the most prominent OF the
heights, sharp, rugged and draped in beau
tifnl wreaths OF snow. When first seen the
mountains are about one hundred miles
distant, but so clear is the air that they do
not look it, At last our course alters and
we turn to the southwark, partly skirting
and at the same time approaching the
range. Farms begin to appear and an occa-
sional residence with some pretensions to
paint, trees and garden. The herbs roam
about us, the COW boys salute still, but the
old loneliness Of The plains is for the ttpe
forgotten in the new loneliness OF the
II anything the spaces about
US look bigger and there is certainly room
in them
For whole Kingdoms
10 distribute themselves We need not be
alarmed at the increase Of Immigration for
many centuries. Here is soil that you have
40 6obt IN make IL Weld Won a living but