New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-18
IN RED MAN LAND.
TRAVELLING IN WESTERN NEBRASKA

| TRAVELLING IN WESTERN NEbkA0hA'
Refore we reached nashville, Nebraska tIc
nearest railroad station to the present iiiui'i'
trouble. we had been skirtng along only IL"
| miles from the reservation for over l-p h'il'' "
since leaving Valentine. Indeed, we hao hov "'Vi
far from the Indian country IN coming al Wv
way from Niobwra. the Missouri hlVer' .''
miles 10 the east But 1t was only at'cr pdS''"7
! Valentine that the wagon trail Whlch We "eio
following curved TO the north close 10 the rcsei''
,ion At Eli. A place Of four houses and ne"
collar. the road cannot be above three miles from
the Dakota. and consequently the reservation, line
Rctwcen Niobrara and Valentine we followed
the Niobrara River for the most part, and were
much OF the time twenty-five or thirty niiieS
from the railroad Tie Niobrara is one Of these
kind of rivers which is the biggest at the wrong
end. Farolt in Western Ncbras6a it seems larger
than at It's mouth The thirsty, rolling quick
sands which compose It's he'd drink it up and the
hot dry winds blow il away H. the form OF Vapor'
| Still. il is pretty stream with prettier name.
H. rises away out in Wyoming. IL must nc over
400 miles long: still. it Is not navigaolc FOR even
! light-draught ducks, as we were informed oS an
apparently vcracous settler. The country was
/ q newly settled farming region, and irrigation
would have improyei it. The settlers seemed
70 have put their faith IN corn, but corn, unlike
Dolinrcr. had not pulled them through Ihe
oars we're usually small and the whole plant had
q r,crctful. uncertan air, as if il were apologzng
I for cumbering the earth. The watermelon crop
! wa, good though as 10 the merits oil Watermelon
fed pork we were not informed. But the thing
that really hourshcd and seemed to enjoy lie
was the rel tumbe-weed There is in the West,
and know not how much of the rest OF the coun-
try. a weed which grows close to the ground
! ,yith scarcely any STEM and somewhat on the
/ plan Of the cabbage, though instead Of leaves
the head is made up of multitude OF me
! branches When fIll-grown II - almost eAactlS
round and from a foot 10 two or three feet In
diameter In the fall it breaks of at the top
of the ground and goes rolling and bounding
about the country driven by the wind ana scat
tcring its seeds right and left. 1t is one oil inc
most interesting members of the vegetable KING
! dam II is aggressive and impudant, and goes
bounding over fences and rolling into open doofS'
! When the prairie fires it delights to get
| blazing finely and then to jump up and start on Il
mad race. leaping over narrow streams and roll
ing across " ire breaks" which, unaidcd by this
crafty and malcyocnt plant, the fire would not
| ordinarily pass. II loves 10 Turk IN the long
! grass or behind fence corners near the road and
70 leap ont and frighten horses into running
| away. and then 10 chase them, and Sambol around
| them and get tangled up with their legs. But
| il is in Northern Nebraska that the tumble-weed
reaches its highest development. Instead of being
green when growing and gray when travelling the
| Nebraska tumbc-wccd is red in both stages OF lis
! existence. 1t is sometimes four OF five feet IN
| diameter and we saw some which were fiat rather
| than spherical that we're ninc or ten feet wide
and five feet high They grow everywhere and
most of them were started on their travels at the
time We passed a field of some five or SIX acres
surrounded by high barbcd-wire fence, on the
| military reservation at Fort Niobrara, which was
absolutely filed and o'crllowing with imprisoned
| tunLlowecds II WIS impossible 10 see Tho
ground anywhere. and near the edges they were
piled high up above tie fence and in some
places they were hanging over.
Though this region almost n strictly farm
ing country there being but few stock ranches,
frequently caught ginpses of things decidedly
! Western, as for instance, vigilance committee
| which we were meeting all one day, the members
| riding in twos, each with big revolver and all
I looking for a man who, in thoughtless moment
had stolen horse. ! know not If they caught
hin, but they should have done so il there wa,
any virtue in numbers as we must have seen dur
ing the day fully thirty pairs of grim and de
tcrmncd farmers Indeed. they were many
AMI were apparently SO well organized and 50 il
rtsistbe that worked NJ autc degree O
sympathy for the thief, and canvasScd the qucs
ton of oonc,alinS him IN Our wagon if we should
como across him, and thus give the poor fellow
chance for life. encountered. too one night
what seemed 10 be the most cheerful man undc
adverse circumstances that ever saw. | rode VI
to lis house just as il was growing dark on
evening TO see if | could get some milk Til,
rain was coming down in torrents The house con
sisted of eXactly one room. The door stood open
as 1t was warm, and leaving my pony to cnjo!
the shower. stepped in. mar with molasseS
candy-cOlOrcd hair rose up and greeted me etlu
siycly. He was barcfootcd. and the number o
his garments reduced to n minimum. Il
the room were his wife and stvcn children an
four dogs. The woman getting supper on
cO0ll-S0vc, and the Oldest boy was twisting ha
for the fire. \ dozen streams of water ran dow
chcrrfully and confidently from the roof and wcr
{ caught in various dishes allowed to spattcr o.
. the floor There was one bed in the corner, %
which most of the children had taken refuge, as
il were an ark. The beasts of the earth wrr
, represented on the bed by two of the dogs. Tier
was another bed, but it was out dO0rs-the ma
explained that they put it out in tie day tim
they slept out there warm nights lie rcckoncd
was wet some by That time, but he didn't care IL
was from Missouri he said, and liked Nebraska.
There chance here for man of push Z
! new stream of rain water began running dow
. the back OF his neck He moved his chair re,
inches and said the rain would make plonghin
easier. Three OF tie dogs and 'wo of the chi ldrc
I began TO howl without any apparent reason. Tn
storm increased and the wind drove the rain il
tie open door. Ny pony put her head in the doc