Charlevoix county herald., 1914-03-28


but we were not quick and sure
enough to land effectively. One shot
took effect in the leg oft he first coy
ote we sighted. We could tell that by
the way he jerked it up and snarlingly
sped away.
From our Sunday camp at Oxford,
Neb., we passed through Edison, Ara
pahoe, Cambridge, Indianola, McCook
(where we set our watches back for
the first time), Culbertson (where we
saw the first irrigated land), Wau-
meta, Imperial and Lamar. Four
miles west Lamar we crossed the d.
yiding line between Nebraska and Col
orado, Holyoke being the first town In
Colorado.
Near Wauneta are some particularly
fine views of hills on one side OF the
traveller and broad prairies on the
other. Magnificent distances are abun-
dant all through this section. One Ne
braska farmer told US he had 3,5OO-
acre ranch and that it was worth SOU
per acre. The houses on these ranches
(no one calls them farms) are smsll
two-for-a-quarter size, little bigger
than box cars and the barns are mere
sheds. Everything and everybody
lives i'm the open all the year round
if possible, though there are dug-outs
to crawl into i'm case of bliZZards and
cyclones.
Out ON the open prairie road we
met a farmer with his wife and six
children enjoying an automobile ride.
He was in trouble and seemed unable
to find the difficulty, acknowledging
that he knew next 10 nothing about
the car-and there he was thousand
miles from nowhere. Our experts
sOOn(fxed him up and away he went
as if nothing had happened. We
dreaded to think of what might have
hap ened TO him.
The day was one of interest as we
ran along hour after hour, without
seeing anything but prairie land--nO
towns, no trees, few ranches, no riv-
ers, no wells, no mountains, no rail
roads, no nothing, but prairie. Ten
miles without a turn, perhaps; twenty
miles without a house or barn, or ami
NAL; thirty miles without tree. And
yet it was interesting. Now and then
AN excuse for fence, or a well-de-
fined roadway Yet the roads (trails)
were smooth and level as barn floor
and we did make good time.
Occasionally we would ride miles
without word from any of US, then
some one would wonder audibly if
there were no end To all this. Just
often enough to keep us from getting
discouraged, we would see away in the
distance what appeared to be a town
- few trees, grown by irrigation, a
house and a coral or shed Just be
fore dark we spied one ofthese sights
and after long twenty-mile run,
after we had seen it, we came to the
village of HaXtum, Colo, and here we
put up at little hotel called the Cen
trial. We bad made run of over 1876
miles without hitch.
We had a good wholesome supper
and slept two in bed, two beds in
room, at So for the party.
We left HaXtum at o'clock in the
morning TUESDAY, August 27th), and
ran to Sterling for breakfast-over 40
miles. This days run was a repeti-
ton of the day before. Long prairie
drives with nothing to distract our at
tentiOn. One jump between Fort Nor
gan and Bennett on the way TO Den
yer, is over Ga miles without a settle
ment; no gas supply stations or any
thing else-not even a moving picture
show, except the one we furnished for
ourselves.
Here we had our first view of the
almost-wireless telephone line. Sticks
are nailed onto fence posts and stand
up in the air about four feet The tel
ephone wire is strung from these
sticks TO the barbed wires of which
the fences are made, and the electric
current is conducted along the barbed
wire fence. This is the farmers tele-
phone line in the Colorado prairie
farm lands! Primitive but effective
and inexpensive. There are no trees
for poles, but where there's a will
there's a telephone line.
About So to 100 miles east of Den
yer we caught our first glimpse of the
Rocky Mountains. We thought we were
looking at clouds at first. Just at the
horizon appeared irregular shapes ex-
actly like clouds, but just a little,
darker than the ones directly above
them. Patches Of snow this was Au-
gust 27th), looked like lighter colored
fieecy clouds. Later as we drew near
or we could easily distinguish the real
clouds from the mountain tops and
pIdhS IONNitu VIII SDOW.
We pulled into Denver late in the
afternoon days run, 1875 miles), and
found the right kind of service agency,
though the manager did distrust the
value Of our personal checks. He was
excusable though for four more dis
reputable looking hOboes never step
ped inside of first-class office--un-
less they were there for evil purposes
We were swollen, parched burned,
cracked of lip, pealed of nose and
cheek, ragged and covered with the
stains of travel and oil-not TO men
ton outward appearances of poverty.
Our car looked the part, too. II was
not broken and patched, but il looked
as if it had been used some on long
tripi 1t had.
The banner on the back had created
some astonishment We recall that at
one little rural village bystander had
casually sauntered up to us as we
waited for gasoline and was looking
us over He came from the rear and
as he drew nearer, with his hands in
his pocket, he squinted his eyes TO
raah Ha r.aod aloud 1;L,