The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-04-11
And q Rambling Account OF
Them.
Ogden to Omaha, and the COun.
try on the Line.
Special correspondence of the MINER.

| A~
Our party boarded q Pullman pal
ace sleeper at Ogden at 1O:4'
q. H.. and on the second day
thereafter, at 1925 p. m. arrived a
Omaha, making the whole distance
1902 miles-in 50 hours and 40 min
utes- without accident or delay. AnC
this leads to the remark that un]es.
impeded by deep or drifting snow
the Union Pacific alDays makes
every point on its long line Oh time
This is due to its smooth, substantial
road bed, easy gradients, strongly
built cars, perfectly constructed en-
gines, careful and experienced con
ductors and well-disciplined AND
faithful employees. While unavoid'
able accidents will occasionally occur
upon the best managed line, we be-
lieve the Union Pacific company can
claim, without fear of successful con-
tradiction, that fewer. accidents have
beeu encountered III its read than
be claimed for any other railway
line of the same length in the world.
WHAT THE T.. p. HAS DONE.
When your correspondent first
passed over the ground between the
point where Ogden now stands and
Kanesyille, or as it is now called,
Council Bluffs-Omaha had no ex-
istence then, not even in the fertile
brain of the most imaginative; there
was not a dwelling upon it, unless
old Fort Laramie and Fort Rridger
could be called dwellings. The coun-
try was one unbroken wilderness, in
habited only by rowing bands of
Pawnee, Sioux and Ute Indians and
immense herds of equally tractable
buffalo. The trail, for it could hardly
be called a road, was but dimly de-
fined in places, and seemed to have
been originally made by persons
totally unacquainted with the topo-
graphy OF the country. 1t led over
precipitous mountains, up and down
rugged, rocky canyons, through tor
tuous defiles and over unfordable
streams. The great highway was
guiltless of the presence of pick or
shovel and the streams strangers to
bridges or ferries. In passing over
the one strict guard az kept during
the day and watchful sentries
tramped their lonely beats at night
amid a silence uDearthly in its still
ness. In crossing the other the Ar
gonaut uttered his short and express
sive but unorthodox prayer, and
trusted to his i%mprovised boatmade
of his well-corked wagon box, or,
where fallen timber could be had,
pinned his faith to his frail raft. In
this way the "oid timers" con,passed
the long miles of his weary travel,
suffering untold hardships and en-
countering dangers to which the
traveller of to-day is a stranger, but
ever nourishing in his heart a hope
which grew brighter and brighter,
though days heightened into weeks
and weeks into months ere that hope
ended in fruition on the banks of the
gold-laden streams vi the then far
far off Pacific slope.
But all is now changed. Pluck
and perseverance, aided by the in
ventive genius of man, have pierced
the mountains, bridged the streams
and snloothed the discouraging trail
of years ago, and a journey which
cost the A1gonauts months of weary
travel is now made in as many days.
towns and cities fieck the
once desolate plains, and life and
wealth are seen upon every hand.
The tourist of to-day, who Tolls in his
Luxurious car, as it g]ides swiftly over
we'll equipped highway, finds it
hard to realize that but a few years
ago the country which he now spans
80 quickly was known only as the
Great American Desert, whose secrets
were confined within the breasts of a
lew hardy mountaineers scarcely less
Wild than the savage tribes that in
labited it. But the iron horse is the
Sesame which has opened up to
he world the boundiess resources |
md inexhaustible wealth of a kingly
domain which has furnished homes
or \ prosperous and happy peo-
Die. Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming,
Utah and Montana owe their
existence to it-but here we are
It Omaha, the gateway to the vast
to the westward, and for the !
lonce we leave the reader to figure out
he population the States and terri
cries named would have to-day if it
we're not for the timely building of
he Union Pacific railway.
Out Of a total population of about
fifty millions, there were in 1880 a
title over a quarter of a million of
'eople insane, idiotic, blind, and
[eaf and dumb in the United States.
n eve:y million of population there
we're 1884 victims of insanity, 1883
dots, 976 blind, and 675 deaf and
.umb. Out of a total of 81 -997 insane