Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-10-19
RICHMOND--ST. LOUIS
NOTES OF A WESTERN TRIP BY A
WEll-kNoWN CITY INVENTOR.
tions--Tsr-Heei Costoms, Too-Farm-
Houses and Water Courses.
Written for the Dispatch. !

iNfNtch iot tuo btrph'chl
The trip from Richmond to St Louis
Is not very great undertaking, as you
ran leave here any day on the Chesa-
peake and Ohio ii o'clock A. NJ. train
and arrive at ST. Louis the next day at 6 |
+. NJ. The Chesapeake and Ohio, how
ever, only puts you down in Cincinnati !
the next morning. and when you pur-
chase your ticket in Richmond the road |
which takes you the balance Of tho way |
must be stipulated on it. Some prefer
tho Big Four route by way OF Indian
spolis, but the most direct is the Ohio |
and Mississippi. which the President |
travelled over few days ago.
STATIONS.
Leaving Cincinnati, the stations along
the route are towns OF considerable |
size. and are often the seats OF some con- |
siderable manufacturing industry. The
first to be mentioned is Mitchell, Ind,
which is noted as being the place where
the annual reunions of the descendants
OF aVirginia family are held in the month
of August. We passed through the grove
in which these gatherings take place. and
il is said that it Is not uncommon for as
many rs three thousand people to
be thus brought together. embracing
every trade and profession Peter j.
Burton has attended these meetings. and
the description he gives OF them is both
graphic and entertaining. The next sta
ton 10 be noticed is Nincennes. also in
Indiana, and OF peculiar interest to the
hungry traveller on account OF Its
being the dining place. Here twenty
Minutes are allowed for dinner, and well
IL was so. for here | struck some roast
pig that went home to my heart and re-
vved all the traditions Of Virginia cook
cry Of the olden time.
How pig seasoned aud cooked in that
superb style should have been found IN
Vincennes must remain puzzle, unless
il was that some of the Virginia families
around Mitchell moved there years ago,
or had impaired the secret to the grand
parents OF the present hotel proprietor
THE SMOKER.
The smoking-car out West is very
different affair from what we have on
our Virginia roads; and this difference
is manly owing TO the absence oil
negroes in it. 1t is OF course more Tree |
and easy than the regular coach, but the /
accommodations are IN every respect as 1
good. Although as a rule gwen mp To |
men. IL happened that In consequence |
of taking on at various points several
parties of excursioniss on the way to
Arkansas to look at railroad lands the
regular coaches became so crowded that
several ladies were forced to oc-
cupy seats in tho smoker. One OF
these, who seemed to DO about thirty
wears old, was good looking and well
dressed, had not been long in this car
before she whipped out a clay pipe with
a long dirty stem, and having filled 1t
from bag she carried in her pocket
she struck "A match, lighted 1t, and be-
gan to puff away for all the world like
man Moreover, after considerable
interval she repeated this performance.
When | ventured to speak of this as
rather extraordinary occurrence i was
told that this lady was not an Illinois
ian at all, but was probably member
of some North Carolina family. large
number of whom had settled in the
southern and poorest part OF the state,
through which We were then passing.
LANDS AND CROPS.
With the exception Of the poor strip
above referred to the lands along this en-
tire road are rich, and the crops OF wheat
corn. and hay superb. 1t must be re-
membered. too, that these lands are now
as they were when redeemed from the
prairie, that is, not pound OF fertilizer
the bane Of Virginia farmers-has ever
been applied to them. At many points
could he. seen from the csr-windows
hinge piles of misunderstanding apples
ready to be packed in barrels, many
bushels OF which will find their way 10
Richmond to be retailed ut 90 cents a
peck.
COAL.
Strange as il may appear, coal Is abun-
dant in the prairie lands of Illinois, and
we passed several shafts immediately on
the railroad. From all accounts the
coal deposits there are similar to ours IN
Chesterfield county and are Indicated
10y the same out-croppings."
The farmers of Southern Indiana and
Illinois certainly do not live in fine
houses. Judging by those 10 be seen from
the railroad. Two reasons are given for
this. One is that the farmer, If able, is
too mean to build fine house; and the
other is, however anxious he may be to
have fine one, it takes every cent he
can raise 10 prevent the mortgage on his
farm from being foreclosed.
Without exception the rivers out here \
At this season have u sluggish, sickly APP /
oearance, and having lost their supre- 4
macy as being. as they once were, the /
great highways OF commerce, they serve /
but little better purpose than that OF /
being the receptacles of the sewerage /
from the cities built along their banks. |
TIE GREAT MISSISSIPPI.
Every train entering st. Louis from |
The east has to cross the great lads
bridge, and every passenger and every
pound OF freight that goes over 1t has to
pay tribute to the Jay Gould interest who
now control it. Its completion was re-
garded as a triumph of engineering skill,
and when il Is known that two trains of
cars can safely cross over it in opposite
directions some idea of its great strength
may be formed. Ii has besides, above |
the railroad tracks, roadway for We
hicles aud pedestrians and tracks
for an electric railway. All the
cars Of this railway are warmed by
electric heaters, which are the inven-
ton of Richmond crank. Passing
over the bridge the cars enter
tunnel running under the heart OF the
city OF ST Louis, and emerge at the
Union depot
Besides this bridge there is another,
completed about year ago, known a.
the Merchants Bridge" THIS is also
superb structure, and the object in
building il was to relieve the public and
the railroads of the grinding monopoly
OF the Gould grsbbers. SO far, how
ever, it is used only for local traffic, as
considerable difficulty existsin obtaining
the proper facilities for entering the
Union depot.
THE UNION DEPOT.