The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-09
THE NORTHWEST'S MARVEL.
The North Pacific Railroad mad the Sug-
gestionS 1t Brings to the Traveller.
Differences in the March of Civilization-The
Railroad the Real PiOneer-West
Views of Social Questions.

Special Correspondence OF the indianapolis Journal
PORTLAND, Ore, March SOTO make trip
once from ST. Paul to Portland, over the North
ern Pacific Railroad, is an establishment; to make
1t a second time is an education. On the first
trip your mind is amazed by the wonderful
scenes on the second it is enlarged by novel and
expansive ideas. The first time one goes as
sightseer; the second time as a student This
is no fault of the traveller. Here is railroad.
which, at the outset overwhelms him. 1t is not
merely an improvement on the stage-coach and
the pack-mule, as are so many of these Western
roads. The superb sleeping coaches, running
without change from the stormy lakes to tho
peaceful ocean; the splendid dining cars whose
accommodations overshadow the best depot
eating houses in the world; the great locomo-
tives, the smooth steel track over which the train
flies at the highest speed without Earring the
ice water in your glass, all constitute the very
dream of railroad travellers To the experienced
it is a revelation; to the inexperienced it is
miracle. But this railroad is the first wonder.
not the last. Here are the fabulous wheat fields
of Dakota, and the limitless cattle ranges of
Montana, over which vast herds of restless
horses rove and thousands of quiet cattle Craze.
Here you see the storied cow boy squirting over
the plain; there the red blanket of an Indian
flashes in the sun amid the picturesque teepes In
which his saddened people make their homes.
Now the eye is dazzled by the snowy and sum
lit ranges of the Rockies, now soothed by
shadowy gloom of majestic canyon. By day the
fantastic shapes and variegated colors of the
rock delight and entertain, by night the camp
fires of the gold miners CLEAN weirdly out Of the
depth and darkness of the mountain gulch.
Here, too, is the raw frontier ''town"--a little
group of ugly shanties of implanted pine boards,
the streers filled with stumps of trees. and the
whole surrounded by the great green walls of
the primeval forests Dozens OF these places
spring up in night, often the result of a mining
excitement Real estate doubles in price each
day. reaching city prices. Then fire occurs, or
new mines are opened elsewhere; the restless
population abandons the place, and the town
is forever dead.
These are few Of the scenes which crowd the
mind with confused mass Of strange images
during the first trip across tie confident on the
Northern Pacific. But when one takes the trip
again different class Of ideas enrches the imag
nation Underlying the development OF the
new West is fundamental difference from the
development of Indiana and the Middle States.
With us railroads were built by local capital to
meet LEGAL needs. They were short and had no
through connections, and none were thought Of
Thus one road was built from Madison to In
dianapols, another from Cincinnati another
from Lafayette, and others from Peru and Belle
fontaine 1t took many years for these sep
arate local roads to combine into larger COM
panies and the present extensive systems.
First had people and afterwards railroads
Here the progress has been reversed. First the
railroads are built and afterwards the country Is
populated. Capital, aided by the govern
ment, projects and builds not one road, but
whole system of railroads On this iron founda-
ton rests the whole structure of the develop
ment and civilization of the West. The real
pioneers of this country are the railroad build
ers not the hunters and trappers The nine
teenth century explores and populates a wilder
ness plants factories by waterfalls, and builds
cities in the plains 10 thousandth part of the
time required hundred years ago.
This development of the West in a single day, as
it were instead of by the slow processes of settle
ment and growth in the Ohio valley, gives rise
to striking differences in the people themselves.
Shut up for several days in your sleeping-car,
you come into close social contact with the typi-
cal men and women of this wonderful West. Ii
you lay aside your snobbery and have genuine
interest in things the noble and warm hearted
man in the adjoining section of the sleeper will
teach you more than can be learned in books.
Here, in the sleeping-coach. you meet the
typical wheat grower Of Dakota. He is smart
and under middle age. His wife travels with
East to visit friends. The processes Of his mind
like those of the country, are rapid. His knowl-
edge is extensive and scientifically accurate
Eyes," he tells you, Dakota is the greatest
wheatgrowpg country on earth. Oh. there
reasons for it. Our soil is so rich in the akales
which form such an important element in the
grain. There is soda, ammonia and lime in
large proportions. Mix little hair with the
soil and it really makes a rude mortar Phos-
phorus, too, is in excess. But our soil must lie
fallow every third year. WhyY Because it re-
quires the absorption of oxygen or oxidized ele-
ments from the atmosphere. Yes we know all
about India wheat. 1t grows there almost spon-
taneously. The native Hindoo lives in village,
going out before day to the fields to work, re-
turning only after night. He works for not to
exceed cents day. His only implement is
forked stick, but he gets over an incredible
amount of ground in day. The recent opening
great wheat growing regions, have affected our
market. The great decline in price is one result.
Another Is that in the past six months, our ex-
ports have fallen off fifteen million bushels.
The result will be the middle States will aban-
don wheat-growing and raise moro corn and
sugar cane. Our Dakota wheat will always have
a market The best flour can only be made
from our hard grain, which cannot be raised In
warmer countries"
No less typical a character to be met in your
sleeper is the Montana cattle-man This time
he happened to be Englishman. asked him
If the cattle business not overdone, and
stirred up muss at once. What an idea!' he
said. sit is an impossibility. Man cannot rule
nature. ne cannon say TO COW tnet she must
have two cows instead of one and have the
obey him. There are only so many cows in the
world, and there only be many calves.
Herds may change owners and speculative prices,
fancy cattle may be imported. but the population
of the world increases at much greater rate
than do cattle. No, it makes no difference how
many or how few men go into the cattle business.
The total increase of cattle remains just the
same"
1t is, however, the wives Of these typical
Woc| ,f.fxtx1o fhor Aox- of
tier life One had thrilling story of last years
prairie fires Another pointed out her ranch
house from the train, and showed just where two
large gray wolves stood by the gate last October,
the house
But you get even stronger tastes of frontier
life and manners from your companion Last
winter one of the towns on the road was half de-
stroyed by fire. The people fixed their suspi
cions on a drunken house painter. There was
M rroof of hia ouilt No avidanca Ha xras