Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1904-08-11

begi' 9 and for over four hu dred miles
we passed through as fine farming Sec
ton as one could wish to see. The
greater part of the way we followed the
lazy Platte river, ard az far as the eye
could reach in all directions stretched
the vast cornfields Immense crops Of
hay and some early barley were being
harvested, but every where corn wa
king In some cases it stood nearly as
high as a horse's back, and the beauti
fu' dark green color of the leaves, witt
the sol in splendid condition, gave
promise of the largest crop that has
been grown for years The numerous
small towns along the railrc ad, the com
Portable, and in many cases, handsome
farmhouses, the beautiful groves of trees
and well KEEP roads indicate very pros
pc oos people, and I feel it would be
difficult to anchor settlers from this sec
tion on our Morrow county hills 0"
the other hand, they have their zero
weather and bllzzards IN winter, their
thunderetorms and hot nights in eum.
mer, with cinch bugs, potato bugs and
mosquitoes, and an occasional cyclone to
break the monotony. The lightning rod
agent has done profitable business
this section, for many of the houses ar
provided with three, and IN some cases
four. Perhaps they are needed.
We reached Omaha at 8 p. M, and
here were transferred to the Milwaukee
road, most of our fe low travellers among
them E Y Judd, of Pendleton, going by
the Northwestern to Chicago. We
crossed the bridge over the Missouri
ahead of the Northwestern train, and as
we pulled into Chicago the following
morning at O'Clock we found the same
Northwestern train held up by gate
keeper where the two tracks crossed.
waiting for us to pass, Our train had
been signaled first and got the right of
way-a close race over 500 miles OF
track.
At the depot we were met by my sis
ter and her husband and accom- panied
them to their home in the suburbs,
seven miles out. On the way we passed
through Polish settlement, one of the
largest in the city, where every name on
the business houses ended with "isky,"
and where hundreds of dirty urchins in
the street reminded one of the slums of
Europe. Had President Roosevelt vis-
tied a few such settlements before
writing his "race suicide" article he
would have discovered that if the Amer.
ican people are neglectlng their duty
along the line of reproduction the for
eigners are supplying the deficiency
Many similar foreign settlements exist
in Chicago, generally Poles and Italians.
where every line of business is repre-
sented and where the nstionalities live
and trade exclusively among them
selves.
The weather was hot and sultry. and
when out riding in the afternoon, dulipg
a thunder storm and downpour of rain,
one car was struck by lightning, burn
ing out al electrical fittings and causing
such a shower of sparks and volume of |
smoke that the passengers stampeded |
Luckily 1t was an open car and all got |
off safely, no one being struck by the
current. 1t was over in a minute and |
the passengers were glad to climb |
aboard to escape the drenchng rain.
Soon another car came along and
pushed us to our destination. Next
the weather was cool and
pleasant, with breeze blowing from
the lake, and thus continued during our
stay OF three days in Chicago. We visi-
ted many places of interest, among them
the Board OF Trade, where the balls and
bears were bowling in the various pits;
the Masonic Temple, where from the