Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-10-26

tothe plough share. From the mouth
of the Big Horn which gave brie
description of in my last letter. to thi:
new and enrerprising town, the scener,
along the; road is highly picturesque
and pleasing. The valleys in particu'
lar, which, with their clumps of cotton
wood trees, remind the traveller of the
New England orchards, while the high
and formidable wall Of the buttes that
stretch out to the very horizon. present
picture unparalleled save that ofthe
renowned Yosemite. In these valleys
the hardy pioneer has found his
bonanza in the profitable realization oi
his labor, for 60 bushels floats, 80 o1
wheat, and 800 of potatoes to the acre
on these smooth, sloping valley lands
are the common yield.
The dwellings of these thrifty yeo.
men in the absence of the saw mill are
necessarily humble. These are term
ed shacks, for want, probably, ofa bet.
ter name, and they are one-story
arrangement whose primary, second.
ary, and tertiary foundation comprises
cottonwood logs with roof composed
Of more logs, sticks, twigs, dirt, and
sometimes very uncongenlal mud,
which insists upon finding Its way to
floor below during an average rain.
storm. Yet some of these shacks are
tidy to a degree that dlsmisses any
idea of a necessity of ground floors,
plastered walls, or bay-window conser-
vatories. Now and then we meet
with a shanty composed of boards,
whose pretentious proprietor had been
originally more favored IN his worldly
possessions than his shackly neighbors
over the way, inasmuch as it must have
required a moderate fortune to have
transported the lumber at the
time ofhis settlement. With the
processes of farming there have
been introduced the industries of
sheep-ralsing and cattle.herding sim.
ultaneosly. both Of which have proved
eminently successful. Billings. with a
population of not less than 5000. is
county seat of Yellowstone county.
There is nothing about the
place that invests it with any particu-
lar prominence, except that indomita-
bic energy and enterprise ofits citizens
which in time will make it one of the
llveliest business marts in the Yellow
stone valley.
Having ample time took the train
the other day to visit the much-famed
petrifed forest, passing by the East
Gardiner river falls, which are sort of
dual Minnehaha, though the fails are
not so nigh. The scenery about these
falls, however, is grand beyond any
power of mine to describe, and the
surroundings are appropriately enough
denominated "The Enchanted Land"
The petrihed forest consists Of a
grove or clump of trees, with trunks,
boughs. branches, and sprigs all of alb.
solute solid rock, standing in their gray
outline as mementoes of the wonderful
operations of nature. This forest and
the adjacent scenery are well worthy of
the attention of the traveller and the
scientist. -Four miles in a westwardly
direction we came to another wonder
full geological formation found IN a
kind ofbasin high up on the side of
Hoodoo mouatain. This is fiat tract
of land surrounded by hills, which seem
by rocky pillars of slender
size interspersed with huge columns
that appear to have been constructed
by human hands. Then there are
shafts like the Washington Monument
as it now appears, spires Of every con-
and inconceivable shape, OBJ
iects animate and inanimate until the
tires Of studying them out.
Tne storms of epochs and OF ages
have worn amid these architectural
wonders deep and tortuous channels,
through which We wander and wonder
as We proceed. tits weird spot and
one in which the tourist VINO is in any.
wise eager for ever-changlng scenes
ian find them to his hearts content.
As I have already exceeded the limits
If a readable letter, will reserve a de-
;cription of the Tower Falls and other
ocalities in the Yellowstone valley for
ny next. DOM PEDRO.