Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-05-14

We were informed that the desolate look
ing country would bear wheat fifty bushels |
to the acre, year after year, with no help
in the way Of a fertilizer, we were obliged |
to retract our hssty judgment. Bragdon |
said he didn't believe it. voted with him, |
but tall stranger whose accent betrayed |
his yankee origin" smiled and said he |
didn't when he came from Maine, eying
us closely the while.
Five minutes later we were talking with
three of the most courteous gentlemen |
ever met. One of them, the tall stranger
from Maine, is now speaker of the House
in Kansas, a practical farmer, who raises
thousands of bushels of corn and wheat
from just such barrens; ones banker,
the other land agent of the Santa Fee
railroad All are from Kansas and are re-
turning from Chicago where they have
been to locate the ground for the exhibit
of their state in '93. They are answerablc
| for some things in this paper. Till we
cross the Missouri the land is hills and
valleys, swsmps and mountains. the build
Jugs shhpts abh ppoi- anu tet VIC mic toiN
that many of these farmers own vast herds
of cattle or horses and in the main are well
to do. 1t is no doubt true, for the hills are
| covered with them and there are vast fields
| of winter wheat two or three inches high
| In most Of the valleys. Everybody in our
party, though, voted for Maine.
At noon we cross the Missouri and run
| up the valley till T. VI. The storm has
cleared the houses are better, the door
yards cleaner and when we have reached
Kansas City at that hour, we have acknow-
| lodged that, at least in farming. Missouri
cheats u.s., but If this is farming what
shall we say later in the day? We have
passed Kansas City on the borders of the
state of that name. billy city but having
many beautiful houses and streets, with q
population of 100000, past Lawrence,
whose name recalls blush to every honest
citizen of the states
| 1t was here that the mob from Missouri
massacred the people of the town in the
days of excitement connected with the
admission of Kansas. sparng neither
women nor children, razing the place from
of the face of the Garth out-doing Herod,
in their thirst for blood; past Topeka. out
into the billowy sea of a Western prairie.
| had always longed To see a level plain and
confess that the rise and fall thus far had
made me impatient. just enough roll in
the land to ob-truct sn extended view. so
went to bed disappointed. But the
morning made ample amends Away 10
the south and east not thing but level
waste and all about. near and far. some
times scattered, sometimes in herds Of
hundreds were the cattle of the plains. not
sign of the hahitation Of man. To the
north and west the same level for mile.
but away in the north and seeming to start
out Of the plain was Pixies Peak Of mining
fame. A little further south, but com
paratvcly close at hand, were the twin
sisters, two peaks Of The Rockies, their
SUBMITS white with snow thai never dis
appears All around them living in tumuifu.
Gus confusion were the lesser heights Of
the great range The difference III the
form of these western mountains from
what | had been familiar with at home
struck me Bra-ion SAID was constantly
being struck peculiar. They start up
straight into the air, their sides not
smooihed off or rounded, a. in New Eng
land. | shall not forget view Sc had later.
We were then 5000 feet above the sea level
and passing round the base of 3 hin, near
Starvation Peak. on to the west We could
look do"n upon vast number Of these
heights | shall attempt no detailed Dies
cription bu. if You can imagine great
sea broken and tossed into wave and foam
by gale extending away ont into space.
you have some conception of those
mountain tops, as the sun looked out upon
them from just above the western horizon.
moment later we had entered a sweet
: valley. the wild scene had vanished; il
) was night on the Rockies