Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-04-05
IRONTON MO-, THURSDAY APRIL 1883.

Aoooo
warm at best, and with all the ventil
lators closed it was terrible hot. Ths
railroad company has men kept busy
all the time clearing the sand off thu
track; aud in time of high winds it Of
ten drifts until it stops the trains.
1 had often read of mirrages on the
desert, but had never before seen one
The sun shining on the plains looked
like a beautiful lake, with here and
there an island in it. It looked so nat.
ural that I was ready to swear that il
was water, and wanted to stop and see
But it lasted for miles, and I finally
concluded that it was only imaginary
At about 10 O'Clock I went to bed, and
flying and the old ladies complaining
of it's being too awfully hot. 1 hsdn't
seen anything but what I must call
1.-THE Desert of Sahara No. 9" for sew
eral days; but the next morning when
I arose and stepped out of the cars in
the suburbs of Los Angeles, saw at q
single glance the trees all in full leai
and loaded with oranges, lemons, ETC.,
and the flowers all in bloom-from my
favorite, the big red hollyhock, down
to the little Johnny Jumpup. I stood
for few minutes with my grip-sack in
hand, and looked, and wondered If this
was not the place from which our first
parents. Adam and Eve, got the bounce
for eating the forbidden fruit. (This
was on the eleventh day of March-the
time of my arrival, not of the bouncing
of our f. p.) I walked up in the city,
and there met our old friend DIR. w. w.
Grissom, who is located here, and has
fair practice. The Doctor has bought
several town lots lately and has let out
the contract for the building of nice
residence on one of them. He is well
pleased with the country, and says he
intends to make his home here.
Now I must tell the boys something
about the time we had coming out.
There were two coaches full of ladies
and gentlemen, who were from all
parts of the United States and Canada,
and nearly all bound for points on the
Pacific Coast. There were twelve or
fifteen young men in the party, some
of whom played we'll on the violin and
flute, and were lively boys. And then,
to make 1t still more pleasant, we had
In the crowd several young ladies ALI
good company and full Of fun. The
rest of the crew were older, and didn't
take so much part in the sports; but
were by no means distant or unsocia.
BILE. When we left Kansas City, I
thought l had never struck q more
jolly crowd in my life; and with one or
two exceptions all were in good spirits
the whole trip through. One poor fel-
low, who was full of jokes the first
night, got homesick, and then sick
sure enough-wished he was back
home-and all week looked as though
he had swallowed q hearse. We had
plenty to eat and drink (beer and wa
teri; and could sleep very comfortably,
as we were not crowded at all. Dur
Jag the day we played such games as
checkers, eucher and good old-fashion-
ed seven-up. Lots of fun, "you bet''
In the evening we had music on sew
eral kinds of instruments, and sang
songs. One or two nights we went
in the way-car and had q dance. You
may imagine it was immense-danc-
ing while the train was running! At
one place, where there was an elegant
depot and platform, we stepped out
with our band and had a regular FASH
ionable ball that lasted an hour and a
half. We didn't care much what we
did, as we never expect to see those
folks any more; if We go back we will
take another route.
To sum up the whole trip: we had a
tremendous huge time. All of the rail-
road boys said it was the best crowd
that had passed over the line for seven
years. / must state here that l think
the A., It. & S. F. r. r. is one of the
best roads in the country; and the en-
ployes are all, without an exception,
polite, nice gentlemen, and spared no
pains to make us comfortable. 1would
like to take the same trip over. When
/ bade those who went to Oregan and
Washington Territory good-by, it SEEM
ed like parting with old-time friends,
and I felt as though wanted to go on.
But / must stop writing or / will
have my story too long. VIII tell
later. W. j. r.
From Jefferson City.