The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-28
Waste Of Sandy Soil Dotted
With Stunted Trees and
Dwarfed CabinA
: and There An Oasis-A Familiar
Picture Which All will Recog-
niZo,

its stone vladuct attracted attention.
viaduct, however. is thing of the past,
the road no longer takes in the Relay
|se. It runs to Washington through
u has been termed "a ,God-forsaken
htry." It was represented in the house
representatives by Barnes Compton, an
time Maryland gentleman. It is repre-
led today by one whose name is Mudd.
gressman McAdoo used to tease Comp
by saying: "Barnes, why don't you
(e off your district lor farm and make
ething."
stranger leaving New York on the mid
ht train is awakened soon after passing
pugh Baltimore. He hears heavy rum
lg that tells the train is in tunnel.
Ire is series of tunnels. The bright
light flashes upon the windows of the
and in twinkling the dozer is again in
hmerian darkness. As the cars emerge
m the last rocky tube, the porter usually
ms the curtains and says: "You have q
le less than an hour, sir"
he traveller dresses himself and staggers
ard the lavatory. AS he looks out of
window he sees penitentiary on the
of the train. It stands upon hill, and
urrounded by high walls with little
rd house at each corner. His ablutions
formed. he drops into seat on the
ht OF the train and gazes at the passing
dscape. There are few signs of life in
environs Of the city. The soil is light
tinged with red. Scrubby thick
nted, line the way. The
trees were cut away during the war.
enty-eight years ago the road was pick
from Baltimore to Washington. There
camp fire and a little shelter tent
ry FIVE hundred yards. Earthworks
te thrown up at available elevations.
b embankments in some places are still
tble.
|'he first station is Odenton. An inter
ting railroad crosses the track here.
10 depot is small building, not half as
Bite. This store has a balcony embow-
ed in foliage. A huge board fence sep
ates it from the track. Beneath the trees,
|wever, you see three well-fed men, with
Fly white shirts, trousers cf butternut
e, and SLOUGH hats, sitting upon the
bop in chairs tipped against the house.
cir legs hang limp in the hot air, and
By look as though they had not energy
Pugh to move. A CANDY circus bill, q
lis that would interest horse breeders
|prn the clapboards. The surrounding
uses are small and scattered. All are
painted.
i moment later the train skirts great
Id planted with tomatoes. The vines are
ii grown and look pale and sickly. Not
kg afterwards you reach a field freshly
Pwed. The white clay is streaked with
b, and baked with heat. The field
|etches to the top of low ridge. Six
fn and four women are dropping seeds
ka f,rrp Tho
|olsey trousers held by suspenders fully
| inches wide, and look anything but cool
ID comfortable. The women wear calico
bsses and sun bonnets and tramp over the
bwed clay without either stays or bustles.
|ssengers are in doubt as to what is being
knted. Some fancy that it is potatoes
a others are sure that it is either turnips
buckwheat. Before the discussion ends,
(nile of stunted pines and frs slips by, and
Eer that fields of corn and strip of oats
|,t would not turn out bushel to the
Re.
Speaker Reed, gavel in hand, could sit
the fence and count each head of oats
easily as he can count quorum in the
|use under the new rules.
The little village of Patuxet lies to the
|rth. The country is still almost a dead
|el. Occasionally it is dotted with white
shed negro cabins. The train dashes
Tough deep cuts in clay ridges fringed
th evergreens. Anon, it rushes through
|wamp bordered with undergrowth fairly
Ppical. There is no evidence of agricul-
al thrift. No barns or granaries are in
kht. No pig-pens are seen. No COWS nor
rises browse in the fields. Nearly every
ing is primitive. Chickens shoot under
b cabins as though ashamed to be seen.
It twenty miles away are some of the I'm
| farms in the world. They lie in the
mberland valley and are adorned with
OK farm-nouses and barns, cribs and
Ter buildings overfowing with crops in
|, fall. You catch a glimpse of this fer
ity through break in the clay ridge. 1t
however, like landscape seen in flash
vivid. and then it is gone for forever.
A second later and you are rolling past
other great field of sickly corn. The
|llks are not two feet high, and the leaves
b dropping and yellow. Then comes an
Ter cut through the red clay. For half
lie old ties and sleepers rest against the
bank. Then wire fence strung along
" red poles attract attention. You see
Ter on the sign Keep off the grass.'' The
hss in which it stands has evidently not
|Sered a ed with dust and filled with timothSy, tihS,
Inc to seed. The man who wandered into
b patch would need negro and whisk
bonn Immediately afterward. A preten-
(us little house stands back of the wire
hoe, 1t is big thing on the line of the
fillmore road. but it would be very in
Fnificent thing on the line of the Coney
and road.
Then you rush through acres of small
les. They are tall and straight and as
lick as stalks in wheat field. Yet many
these pines, not larger than mans
list, are cut and piled into cOrdwood.
|,ng piles of this wood run over the little
|sy hills. In other clearings, where ma
be, hickory, ash, beech and poplar abound,
|arcoal burners are at work. They pile
b sticks up like palisades in q fertilization
It'll they resemble great inverted pans.
hese are covered with earth. Ventilation
secured, and they are set on fire from
low. The smothered fire consumes the
|droRen and turns the wood into charcoal.
A garden patch with q whitewashed board
|nce flies by. You catch glimpse of .
tile white cottage cleaning In the shrub
Try beyond. Everything seems small
p houses. pine trees, streams, corn, picka-
|nnies, and even the telegraph poles.
FTumble-doWn cabins are passed with
snches grouped at the doors. Then Q big,
|uare yellow building with q pointed roof
airing the sign, "Postofice," sweeps by,
3 the train 10 moving at the rate Of forty
iles an hour. Il il followed by a small
hiding with . conservatory about four
lot square in one corner. After the CON
Tvat0ry como two buildings painted white