Morning journal and courier., 1884-10-29

| and some that surpass in size and thriftlness | many of our New England towns.
 l The stations have many excellent features, I the distances names of towns and infor- nation particularly needed by the travel 1 ing public being conspicuously posted in l prominent places. The fare at most of the railroad eating stations is also good, and l plenty of time is allowed by the company for ! obtaining the same. A half hour is the us | ual time. We. notice in many places the
 osage orange fourishing luxuriantly and forming fine hedge for a dividing line. Many of the mock oranges peep out from the green foliage. When fairly out upon the slowly. An interview with the engineer veals the fact that we are running up grade, although to our eyes perfect level. We have a stretch now of about thirty miles right up hill," says our knight of the throttle, 'tbut the worst thing that we have to encounter is the prairie winds and the terrible fires which sometimes sweep across here" We notice for long distances along the route gangs of men burning the grass for rod on either side of the road in order to break the progress of fire should one start.
 The noted town of Dodge City, a great headquarters for herds1nen and cowboys, brings us to the platform. We learn that one man only was killed last night, but times are better than they used to be, law and order prevailing more We do not leave this undesirable place of location without tasting some of the melons offered for sale by seedy looking individual in charge of 8 four-in-hand mule team. The watermelons were found to be white to the core, and, though ripe, they were a poor substitute for those we raise East. The nutmeg melons were delicious, and in one of our New England fairs would com pare well in flavor with our North Haven favorites
 After leaving Dodge City we soon cross the. line into the State of Colorado. A long and unvaried trip over oceans of prairie and table lands brings us to the foot of the Raton Mountains. Our train commences the ascent under the influence of powerful engine weighing sixty-fve tons and boosting of eight drivers. Horseshoe and snake-li1e curves lead us through can yons, ravines, alongside of precipices and up a grade which in some places runs 195 feet to the mile At an altitude of nearly eight thousand feet the mountain is tunnelled if it were useless to try and climb any fur ther. Formerly a switchback road led back and forth until the summit was reached. Through the center of the tunnel runs the line which divides Colorado from New Mexi- CO Springer is the first station in New Mexico which is particularly interesting. It is one of the main cattle shipping points on the road and thousands of head can be seen here on accumulated trains or in the stock yards.
 After having been through a portion of Connecticut, New York, Canada, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Cobra do we are not at all grieved to see the ancient looking town of Las Vegas in New Mexico present itself to our view and are willing to take rest before going on our drive to the ranches about one hundred and twenty-five miles distant from the town. Our friend Scranton announced as we stepped upon the rl1at at 1ya ba6 1aHa tcjn of three hundred miles and were practically on time, being only fourteen seconds late. In another letter we shall endeavor to give you a further account of ourselves. J. B. c.