The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-02-08
from Chicago TO
SaHLa axe BY Stage
A PerilOus Journey Of Thirty-Fiye
Years Ago.
Col. Alex. Mcclure in Inter Ocean.

alton makes romance pale befor,
it. Today the tourist can enter a pal
ace car in Philadelphia or New York
enjoy every comfort of home. day and
night, and land at the Golden Gate
on the Pacific in five days. Every
possible comfort is given to the trav-
eler. Luxurious seats and sofas, ana
meals and beds, can be had with near
~ as much comfort as in a first-class
hotel. The railways are in perfect con-
dition, with superb equipment, the Sc
we're curves and heavy grades on the
mountains are mastered by the i'm
mense iron horse. and a rate of speed
is maintained night and day that a
genera tioT ago was not thought of on
the best equipped lines of that day.
Not only are several great trunk lines
traversing the entire continent, but the
rude Shrek of the locomotive is heard
in almost every valley and on nearly
every hilltop in the great mountain
regions of the far west
Only a generation ago the same jour
ney required nearly a month when
most successfully performed in the
somewhat pretentious coaches of that
period, which were compelled to run
the gantlet of savage tribes as they
traversed the trackless plains and
climbed the confusing cliffs of the great
mountains with an even chance to
meet the deadly road agent if the coach
! was laden with precious metals from
the mines, and half a century ago the
journey TO the Pacic could be made
only by bushwhacking the OK teams
across the plains and mountains, re-
,T,.s,,
fall for the most fortunate to reach
their destination. The only other route
to the Pacific at that day was around
Cape Horn, a most perilous journey
| in the Indifferent vessels then en-
| ployed, and requiring months to &C
/ complish it.
The greatest civilizer of this CONT
nent has been the locomotive. The In
dian was the master of his famed hunt
| ing grounds in the mountains and on
| the plains of the west until he heard
the weird song of the iron horse. The
son of the forest we'll understood its
| meaning. 1t told him of a strange
civilization that was master wherever
its tread was heard, and babe him re-
cede in terms that were inexorable.
was within a few miles of the location
| Of the present city of Cheyenne in the
| spring of 1867, when there was not a
habitation in sight at that place. and
| the Indians raided the Pacific railway
engineers at or near that point, muir
dering a number of them, and only
eight months later / arrived by the
mountain coach at the new city of
Cheyenne, that then had a population
of over 5000 people, and was the fast
est of all the western towns l met in
making coach journey of 1000 miles
on the plains and mountains.
| saw Brigham Young when the Pa
cific railway had reached only to a
point some 800 miles west of Omaha,
and the one thing that disturbed him
was the advent of the locomotive. I
spent a month in his beautiful city
nesting in the valley hard by the
shadows of the snOW-Capped noun
tains, with its silver rivulets traversing
each side of it's broad streets. and fruits
and vines and flowers identifying
every Mormon home, He was as abso-
lutte a ruler in Utah as the car in Rus
STA. He had successfully defied the au-
thority of our government in war and
peace; but the day that the iron horse
first sang his song in the valley of
Utah dated the decline and fall of the
Utah ruler. Missionaries have preached
to the pioneers, ministered to them in
sickness, and buried them when lifes
fitful fever ended but, important as
is their work, the great factors in
western civilization We're the rugged
miners and husbandmen with their I'M
erring rifles and the railway that fol-
lowed them.
On the 3rd of May, 1867, left Chicago
at SIS in the morning for Omaha over
the Chicago & Northwestern railway,
now one of the most completely
equipped lines on the continent The
rapid construction of the Union Pacific
from Omaha, westward compelled the
hasty extension of the Chicago &
Northwestern to Omaha in 1885, by
throwing up a few feet of embankment
on the usually level plains of western
Iowa and laying the superstructure
without ballast. During the winter the
road was passable, but when the spring
thawS and floods came the superstruc-
ture was played with by the elements
in the most fantastic fashion. The
speed never exceeded ten miles an
hour, and was often as low as six. The
thirty-odd passengers received their
last meal at Dennison, twenty-four
hours from Chicago, and did not have
an opportunity to obtain a meal dur
ing the remainder of the journey. last
ing thirty-siX hours. When within
fifty miles of Council Bluffs we were
halted by a wreck, eight miles from
the nearest station, and fifty miles |
from the nearest point where ma
chineTy could be had to clear the track. !
We were thus detained for ten hours !
in cold cars and without provisions. At !
last the train was started and pro-
ceeded to the village of Honeybrook, |
thirty miles distant, when another |
wreck called a halt for several hours. |
Fortunately there We're a few shanties, |
peopled by Irish laborers, and the pas
sengers were enabled to obtain some |
boiled eggs and bacon, which their |
ravenouS appetites warmly welcomed. |
Finally the train arrived within a few |
miles of Council Bluffs at 10 o'clock at |
night, and the train was left on the
track because of the flooded and brok-
EN- condition of the road. 1t was not |
until IL o'clock the next morning that |
the passengers, without breakfast, |
we're driven four miles to the boat that
carried them across the Missouri to
Omaha after a journey of two days and
4 half. Now the same route is ira
yersed with all the comforts of home
at the rate of fifty miles an hour, and
all the conveniences to the passengers
IF a first class hotel.
Omaha was a revelation to me. It
was the first genuine western city I
lad struck. 1t presented an unsightly
appearance, with its rambling lines of
houses, and here and there a three or
'our story permanent building, with
every conceivable size and style of
;hanty sandwiched between them It
vas my first Introduction to the pro-
yressive western character. 1t hid i
more carriages, sold more goods and at
.igher prices: dealt out town lots by
he foot at greater valuations; hal
more hotels, better patronizeG. dirtier,
ind dearer; built more houses in a
lay. and rented them for moe money:
played poker and keno at higher
INIT. and raced horses oftener and for