The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-01-29

"Trip 10 SO 6O OdI44OAAIo1
but the inducement was very great
and people were ready to undergo
great hardships to set their feet on
the land of gold. Many rich men,
raised in luxury and ease, as we'll Is
those who were raised to work and
trough it" were now On the way to
California to better their fortunes,
not thinking that ne-third of all
who started would fall by the way
and never return loaded with golden
gems. Many who went and were
unused to work had to hire them
selves at what ever they could till
they could write home for money
to pay return expenses and that
would take six to twelve months.
Consequently, many succumbed to
want, Notwithstanding they ere in
the land of gold.
There we're two ways of going
the overland route by the way of
Utah, in what was called ''prairie
schooners," across the Rocky Noun
tains, a dangerous route as we'll as a
long one. It was necessary to go in
large crowds of fifty to n hundred
wagon for self protection. They
had to guard against both Mormons
and Indians, which required constant
watching. The Meadow Massacre
in 1857 when one hundred and fifty
immigrants, non Ormons, we're
passing on to California, not one
escaping to tell the tale, shows the
necessity of vigilance.
The only other route was to sail
around Cape Horn, some 10, 900 miles.
Truly gold, has attractions for most
of young people. This journey sell
dom consumed less time than six
months, and frequently more
The conveniences Of travel to-day
are so nearly perfect, that # pre-
scented to the public in pamphlet
form one hundred years ago, the
publisher would have been styled a
romancer not Il whit behind Nun
chausen in his marvellous tales for
the amusement Of the Respondent.
But one century ago there was not
a railroad in America. All west of
the Ohio was one vast wilderness,
undisturbed by the civilization of
the white man. Presto what a
change has come over the whole face
of the country. Here is magic in
deed-a wilderness converted into d
garden. Then solemn silence reigned
supreme, save only when broken by
the savage war-whOOp of the Indian,
the wild scream of the panther in
his Jungle or the noise Of the millions
of buffalOes that ranged at pleasure
over the bOundless prairies and the
herds of wild horses in countless
numbers. These occupied the
plains where now is heard the scream
of the locomotive as long trains wind
their way to the Pacific Ocean and
Rocky Mountains, passing by cult
waited farms and magnificent cities.
And all this has been done in one
hundred years. Has any other ma
ton ever made such rapid progress
in civilization?
The first line of railroad built was
the Baltimore and Ohio, in 1880. 1t
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years later, when the South Carolina
Railroad of one hundred and thirty
six miles was built, it was the longest
railroad in the world. To-day in the
United States alone there are 1876. 900
miles of railroad, or more than one
third of the mileage of the entire
world. In 1888 there we're but six
teen passenger locomotives in the
United States to-day there are ten
thousand. The first ssen
coaches that were used were pigmies
beside Elizabeth Avenue 'busses
for hauling the young ladies to
church. Neither were the engines
more than toys when we compare
them TO the mammoth ones Of today
that draw trains a quarter of a mile
long, and make the earth tremble as
they rush by.
America owes much of her great
ness and her rapid progress to the
discovery and application of the
power of steam to machinery. No
steamboat existed in the world a
hundred years ago. In fact, steam
was not successfully applied to ma
chinery till Fulton received the plau-
dts of the world in 1902 as the first
steam boat rode majestically up the
waters of the Hudson. But the
was not crossed with steam,
Notwithstanding the rivers and coast
we're navigated with success, till
one-third of the century had passed.
SAILING vnCCn1C 0OD+iDTnd Gill 70