Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-08-28
TOP OF THE ROCKIES.
Sketches from Note Book of a West
ern Trip.
To the Standard f.:

AACAaA IL NAclO toAhSN 'NAN AAOAAN
which maybe of some interestto some
of my friends.
l left Nashville for Denver, Col,
July 9Th, over the Northeastern Rail-
road. 1t was very warm and fearful
ly dusty. arrived in st. Louis that
evening about dark and laid over
until 10 o'clock next morning, and
then took the train over the eva
bash" for Kansas City; the dust was
worse than the day before, blacker,
(being of better soiD, and it stuck to
me "closer than a brother" We
passed over a great deal of fine farm
ing land during the day, and arrived
in Kansas City at p, M; crossing
the Missouri River on an old crooked
wooden bridge that seemed to give
about two or three inches every time
the engine moved.
I laid over again all night and till
II o'clock next morning in Kansas
City. 1t reminds me somewhat of
Nashville on account of it's up and.
down billy appearance, it is, how
ever, worse than Nashville in this
respect. l stopped at the Lindell
hotel, and was up early the next
morning, as it was so hot all night l
could not sleep. The thermometer
registered ll20 there the day before.
AS had 3 or 4 hours before my train
left concluded I would look up Sam
Colville, Jr., Notwithstanding was
feeling very badly. 1 consulted di-
rectory, and then sailed forth inquest
of my man. l devoted about two
and a half hours to following direc-
tons kindly furnished me by people
who didn't know anything about the
place / was looking for. l finally
found tie hotel that the registsr said
he was boarding at, but upon inquiry
they knew nothing of him. So l
abandoned my search as my time
was nearly up, and concluded that
the best way to find man in Kansas
City was to advertise for him and sit
downand wait for him to answer your
advertisement in person.
/ took the Union Pacific train from
Kansas City for Denver, and just be-
fore the train left the depot at Kansas
City, a couple of confidence men en-
tered the coach / was in, one taking
his seat beside a young fellow evil
IDENTIFY from the rural districts, and
the other one sat down just behind
him. The one who sat down behind
the country fellow, entered into a
lively conversation with him, and
while this was going on, the one that
was sitting beside the country man,
went through his pockets, they then
quietly left the coach. In about five
minutes the country man began to
feel for his pocketbook, andto his
surprise it and its contents, $500,
were gone. 1t then occurred to him
that he had been robbed, he ran out
of the coach looking for these conf
dence men, but they had sloped and
flown to "where wooddine twineth, y
and the last | saw of the country man
he was talking to a sleepy looking
policeman.
The U. p. crosses the State of Kan.
sas, and 1 saw the finest farming
lands along this road that ever saw
in my life. If 1 wantedto follow far.
ming, / think / would get me farm
in Southern Kansas. After travelling
all day, l took a sleeper at night and
rolled round till about 2o'clock, wher
it began to get cool as we approached
nearer the snow covered peaks of the
Rocky Mountains and l pulled the
cover up around me, and for the frs
time during the night, my "weary
eyelids" yielded to tired natures
sweet restorer- "balmy Sleep"
awoke next morning about 6, an(
after fumbling around for about q
minutes and humping my head hal
dozen times in trying to dress in my
birth without attracting the attention
ola couple of females setting opposite
my birth crawled out, and could SCI
in the distance Pixies Peak and Othe
peaks of the Rocky Mountains al
covered with snow.
/ arrived in Denver at s o'clock Oh
July 9th, dust ridden, careworn
speeches. denizen of the East. hat
completely lost my voice on my wa!
out by inhaling the dust and drink
ing ice water. / staid in Denver on
week in order to become acclimatet
before going out into the Mountains
Denver is 5000 feet above the Sc
7