Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-07-20
WHAT | SAW OUT WEST.

with MIR. j. III. Wilkins. of the firm OF
Thayer & wilkins of Boston, to visit
the zinc fields of Joplin, Mo. We left
Boston at 1000 a. m. on the fast ex-
press. The weather was perfect
from start to finish, which added
much to the pleasure of the trip.
The grass and crops seemed to be
about the same as in Vermont until
we reached western New York. They
must have had plenty of rain as
everything was looking very fine.
AS we passed through lion l saw the
great sign of the Remingtons, which
told me whore thousands of our best
guns are manufactured. We passed
some fine cities and beautiful scenery
in western New York, but l missed
the best of it as it was dark when
we reached the great lakes and
I saw nothing more until heard
some one say Cleveland Thursday
morning. 1 fell into my clothes as
soon as possible and found we were
in a great, dirty, smoky city. The
hundreds of great smoke stacks told
us it is great manufacturing town.
We were soon whirling at the rate of
nearly seventy miles an hour out
on to the prairies of the great west.
I found the corn crop on the whole
route just large enough to hoe and
many hundred horse hoes at work in
the great fields of corn. Twas very
much surprised to see the way people
lived in southern Indiana and
Illinois. The clover in the pastures
was knee high. The cattle looked
very fat and happy, also the
great droves of hogs, but most of the
houses for two hundred miles were
about 12x16 feet, with four windows,
and small shed that might hold a
pair of small mules, no barns at all.
How people can live in this way I
really can't see. Hundreds of hay
and straw stacks are scattered about
and the cattle winter by helping
themselves. They soon eat in 80 the
stack will give them some shelter.
1 could not help thinking, what would
these great farms produce If worked
as we do 1t in Verm ont? saw lot of
apple orchards covering many acres.
The trees look large and thrifty. AS
we nesred St. Louis, we saw thou
sands of acres of wheat all ready to
cut and the reapers were at work in
many places. About six O'Clock we
came out on the great Mississippi
river and in a few minu es we're run
into East st. Louis and began to
realize that something had happened.
We were the second train over this
road into the city. Two trains were
ahead of US and we just crept along
until the train ahead got off the
track and into the water SO it put out
the fires. AS far as we could see
were hundreds of houses, freight
cars and all kinds of wreckage.
Many of the cars were loaded with all
kinds of produce and several were
tur ned partly over. We had the
pleasure of staying there in the water
nearly half the night; at last we got
out of the water and in sight of the
great bridge that takes all the trains
from this way into st. Louis, when
two trains ran together on the bridge,
killing and injuring several people,
also carload of very valuable trot-
ting horses. We went to bed and in
the morning found ourselves in. St.
Louis.
We took the first train for Joplin,
$50 miles beyond st. Louis. and went
up the Missouri river about two hun
dred miles. The river was then from
three to fifteen miles wide. Hun
dreds of houses were half buried in
the water. Many thousand acres of
wheat all ready to harvest were en-
tirely destroyed. No one can get any
idea of the damage done without
seeing some of it as we did. We made
three hours stop at Pleasant Hill, a
very pretty western village. We
afterwards learned that it was where
the James gang made their head
quarters and were a terror to the
whole section. We reached Joplin at
300 a. m. and found the best hotel
accommodations l have ever seen
anywhere. Everything was just right
as far as possible. Joplin has the
name of being hard place but l
never met a pleasanter class of
people anywhere. Twas there five
days and saw no disturbance and no
one the worse for liquor, although it
was sold all about and much freer
than water. Joplin is a nice clean
city of forty thousand inhabitants,
and has grown up inside of twelve