The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-11-23
My Queer Overland Rail
Journey.
1 HAD A VERY GOOD Title.
Though Ratified Around i'm r1y Spe-
cial" Still Managed to Enjoy
Myself Very Much.

tress in the center of the car and disposed a
sleepy hollow" chair In front OF the wide
door, from which to view the scenery.
The car furnished for the trip was the
Union Pacific Furniture and Wooden
ware No SO, 49,
l chose this method of travelling because
1t was more economical, as l was passed TO
take care Of my horse, and likewise because
L anticipated novel experience.
got it.
When one isn't pressed for time, doesn't
mind any amount OF dust ana dirt, bankers
after more shaking than lie can get in pas
seDger-coach, and isn't particular whether
he sleeps much, this method of travelling
has great deal to recommend it.
Taking farewell view OF the magnificent
mountain range that bounds the western
horizon at Pueblo as the sunlight faded the
car moved and MY journey was begun. II
seemed more like essaying an ocean voyage
II Europe or Australia than an ordinary
railroad journey.
Slapl bang! and the furniture begins to
rattle down about my head in the darkness
All. this is little worse than / thought. A
week of such experience Chat last tbump
raised me from my chain and what will be
left Of bOrseman or fixtures?
We had not really started, in fact were
doing only little switching. but when that
sort of catapultlng. with my car alternately
the thGmper and thumpee, had been kept
up for three mortal hours l already re-
pentcd me of my rashness.
What in the name OF George Stephenson
and Grand Master Sweeny the fellow at
the throttle OF that switch engine thought
he was doing all that time / can't conceive.
The only result accomplished was to place
No. SO, 465 at the front of an extended train
of stockcars just up from Texas and loaded
with long-horned steers. This might have
been done in FIVE minutes, and with only
two CT three gentle shocks. All that
shuntirg and slamming and butting and
humping was worse than useless. Ii was
ruinous to rolling stock.
Had the engineer ahead been mortal
enemy bent on sending me out of town n
victim OF nervous prostraton his antics
that evening might be accouD ted for: not
otherwise.
l experienced my first earthquake sensa-
tion the other night. 1t seemed as il my
head had been gently lifted by soft spirit
hands and was being rolled and rocked from
head to foot and ND and down in the neither
air, with no solid support beneath il. The
first stage of MY overland journey, a hun
dred and twenty miles from Pueblo to Den
yer, my sensations were similar, only good
deal more so.
Every breath and tbrob of the fiery fur
mace just ahead was felt in my couch, which
alternately rocked ME headward and foot
ward. The distance / was ierked seemed
about three inches. the time of movement
one second. Thirty-six hundred separate
and distinct shakes each hour: $4,000 during
the night. No wonder my hair grew gray
during such journey nor that an earth
quake seemed a dream OF bliss in COMPARE
son.
At daylight. on arising to view the wreck
OF matter and the crash of worldly goods
rashly committed to this hugs rattle box, 7
found that there had really been no damage
done; and an hours work, with plenty OF
cordage TO lash things down as If were at
sea In sober earnest. put everything to
rights again ready for the next lombard
ment.
Then came breakfast. as No. s9,465 was
buffet as we'll as boudoir car, for this trip,
at least. i had provided variety of canned
fruits aud meats so as TO be independent of
the eating stations that never show up at
meal times. The bill of fare this time was
grapes. muskmelons, cove oysters and bread
and milk. Not exactly epicurean, but on
these uplands the frosty air gave me keen
relish for what l had. And | must In
justice add that 1t not only proved easy to
adapt myself to such diet. and that
though l only ate two meals outside the car
during the entire trip, was really I'm
proved in health and strength and gamer
in flesh at the end of Ii.
Special car Nc. 1865 was billed for the
first and fastest freights. and | was taking
an active interest in the proceedings at
each division point to see that the facts cor
responded with the theory. yet 1t was high
noon when we rolled out OF Denver, though
We had reached there sh ortIy after sunrise
L had one satisfaction, however. The
scenery was well worth waiting for. No
matter how long man waits TO view the
bare. brown, buffalO-grass desolation of
Northeastern Colorado he will wish he had
waited longer. Families and large parties
can afford TO walt until the next century.
Though the sun shone with ardent beams
from a sapphire sky riyaling that Of Italy,
and the airs were gentle and balmy as those
Of May, the landscape. Illuminated by the
autumn sun. was as bleak and bare as II il
were December. How different this seant
regulation. this burnt. faded-out brown
monochrome, from the luxuriance and
verdure that met my vision In Southern
Kansas week ago; it might have been
Yesterday so far as time and distance 90.
There the rich green background of land
scape as yerdant as that OF early spring was
frightened by The golden glory of millions of
sunf1owers, while beneath them In the fore
ground blazed tie gorgeous spikes of the
purple liatris. Yet through all this wealth
OF vegetation, through all tins Astounding
beauty and bloom, there grinned the sar-
donic features of the Demon of Malaria.
from whom L was fleeing, and whose
clutches loosened as sagebrush and grease
wood replaced the green fields and golden
hillsides.
But, as / wrote In my journal, Though
the everlasting mountains in their unfad-
ing blue lie behind me aud the out
look 10 only TO the eastward, there comes q
change in the face of nature, an oasis n the
desert. Irrigation has transformed the
Sahara, and the eye is rested by the wide
fields OF alfalfa and the ribbons OF willow.
and cotton Gods that mark the location OF
the bitches"
Ought There 1t goes again. More SWITCH
ing and no patent coupler-buffers to break
the force of tho blows That spoiled a nice
paragraph. We seemed to be travelling over
country at passenger-train speed and really
had accomplished forty-seven miles In a
hundred minutes.
And here we are at Greeley-doubtless a
nice town. though not much excepta cotton
wood grove is visible from the train. This
town is notable as the first place In Colo
RADIO. oil indeed In the entire Rocky Noun
tain region, where irrigation was attempted
on large scale by Americans. The Spanish
works In that line down on the Rio Grande
date back FOR over three hundred years,
however, and those Of the Pueblo Indians
to time immemorial. Greeley, 1t will be re-
membered, was founded by the lamented
Meeker, whose Western letters in the New