jiihi ..iiiliili'HiUl 1 ll 1 > I 1 1 ' 1 1 1' i ' ■ ■ . , 1 ilHttntHlint lliil Glass Book_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT THE UNDEVELOPED WEST; OR, FIVE YEARS li THE TERRITORIES: B E IlsT G- A COMPLETE HISTOKY OF THAT VAST REGION BE- TWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC, ITS EESOURCES, CLIMATE, INHABITANTS, NATURAL CURIOSITIES, ETC., ETC. LIFE AND ADVENTURE ON PRAIRIES, MOUNTAINS/AND THE PACIFIC COAST, ■WITH TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY rLLITSTRATIONS, FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS OF THE SCENERY, CITIES, LANDS, MINES, PEOPLE, AND CURI- OSITIES OF THE GREAT WEST. J BY J. H. BEADLE, WESTERN CORRESPONDENT OF THE CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL, AND AUTHOR OF "LIFE IN UTAH," ETC., ETC. Issued by siibscriptfon only, and not for sale in thf book stores. Residents of any State desiring a copy should address the Publishers, and an Agent will call upon them. See page 825. NATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ; CHICAGO, III. ; CINCINNATI, OhioT' ST. LOUIS, Mo. Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1873, by J. R. JONES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congres?, at Washington, D. C. PREFACE. Another book on the West ! Yes, and why not ? The West is the future home of millions now living in the East, and there is more that ought to be known of its wonders and capabilities than is likely to be published by the few who have devoted tliemselves to the work. There ought to be a new book on the West, by some careful observer and thorough explorer, at least once a year ; for so many and so various are the changes, so important the new discoveries, that a volume is but thoroughly read before the facts it nar- rates are old. The undeveloped portions of the West make up an immense area, and no one can flatter himself that he has thoroughly explored it. The most that can be ex- pected is, that each traveler shall seize upon the salient features of certain sections and portray them to the popular mind. No man can hope in the short space of five years to see all of the undeveloped West.. Arizona alone deserves years of careful study, and New Mexico is still almost an unknown region to Americans, containing material for a vast deal of investigation. This work is simjDly a personal record of my five years' 15 16 PREFACE. travel and residence in the new States and Territories — where I went, what I did, what I saw and what I thought about it. Two points, however, of prac- tical interest I have kept steadily in view : to give care- fully arranged facts in regard to the lands still open to settlement; and to correct a number of popular errors in regard to soil and climate. The chapters treating specifically on lands in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, California, Oregon and Texas, it is hoped, will aid in the first object; in regard to the second object, I have pointed out most of the pre- vailing errors — to call them by no harsher name — found in numerous land circulars and railroad reports, and refuted them by a general statement of facts. It was my prime object to make this work a startling novelty in one respect : by telling the exact truth about the particular points to which settlers are most urgently invited. If my views and conclusions on the Northern Pacific Railroad lands, and some other sections, differ very greatly from the reports of officials and their guests heretofore published, the reader must judge whether the difference is my misfortune or their fault. Having stated the objects of the work, the difficulties in the way of its execution, and the points where most criticism may be expected, I submit it to the public without further apology. J. H. B. EvANSViLLE, Indiana, Ma?/ 15, 1873. 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. General View of the Yosemite Valley Frontispiece. 2. The Great Canon and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone page 3 3. Rock Pinnacles above Tower Falls, Yellowstone River 5 4. In Camp with the Outlaw Navajoes 17 5. Lake — and Mt. Tamalpais in the Distance 23 6. Mormon Tabernacle — Endowment House in the Distance 27 7. A Basin on the Columbia River — and Mountain Peak in the Distance. 29 8. Down the Canon 31 9. "Go West, Young Man; Go West!" 34 10. Autograph Letter 36 11. Afoot through Iowa 39 12. Outlet of " Wall Lake." 44 13. Doubling Teams in " Hell Slough." 47 14. Crossing the Plains 54 15. Stage Crossing the Desert , 56 16. Needs a Haversack 57 17. "Wanted: Light and Genteel Employment." 64 18. Omaha City 66 19. Scene Near Fontanelle 68 20. Scene Near Papillion, Nebraska 76 21. River-Depot, Union Pacific R. R., Omaha 80 22. " Dog-Town "—Union Pacific R. R 83 23. Indians Attacking U. S. Mail Coach 84 24. Pastimes of the Noble Red Man 86 25. In the Hands of the Vigilantes 89' 26. In the "Big Tent," Benton, Wyoming Territory 91 27. The Author as a " Mulewhacker." > 97 28. Night-School of Theology 101 29. Scene in Echo Canon 105 30. " Rather Open at the Sides." 107 31. Salt Lake City (From the North) 109 32. Orson Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles 110 33. George A.Smith Ill 34. Brigham Young 118 2 17 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOXS. 35. First Settler at Corinne page 120 oG. " Sunday-Night Amusements." 121 37. For the Benefit of Corinne 123 38. "Opening a Farm "— Hatte Talley 129 39. Cheyennes Eeconnoitering tlie First Train 133 40. Chief Justice of Wyoming 135 41. Pyramid Rocks 137 42. Pulpit Rock, Echo Canon 139 43. Off for the Sevier Mines 143 44. On a Family Ticket 145 45. "You Go Hunt 'Em!" 147 46. Lake Tahoe 155 47. Humboldt Palisades 159 4S. On the Truckee— C. P. R. R 161 49. Placer Mining 162 50. Cape Horn— C. P. R. R 163 51. Central Pacific Railroad in the Sierra Nevadas 164 52. Interior of Palace-Car on Central Pacific 166 53. Sacramento 168 54. Shoshonee Falls — Idaho 170 55. Geysers, Pluton River, California 172 56. "No Sahvey." 173 57. In the Josh House 179 58. AhChing's Theology 181 59. Entrance to the Quicksilver Mine of New Almaden, California 182 60. The Author receives Mormon Hospitality 185 61. Orson Hyde, President of the Twelve Apostles 187 62. Domesticated Piute 188 63. Bear River Valley — North of Corinne 189 64. " The Senator is Engaged, Sah." 192 65. Brigham Young's Residences, Salt Lake City 195 Q6. First Hotel in Lawrence 200 67. "Don't Mention it, Deacon." 205 68. On Rock Creek— Allen Co., Kansas 208 69. Mounds on the Verdigris 212 70. Spouting Geyser 215 71. The Emigrant's Dream of Kansas 217 72. Kioways Killing Buffalo 219 73. Buffalo Hunters in Camp 221 74. Ca.stle Garden— the Emigrant's First View of America 232 75. A Bad Case of Trichina 2.34 76. Woman's Rights in Dakota 240 77. Any Port in a Storm 241 78. Approach to Black Hills— Dakota 242 79. Winter Camp of the Friendly Dakotahs 244 80. Surveyor's Camp— Central Dakota '240 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 19 81. Outline of Yoscmite page 252 82. A Monster 25.3 83. Hydraulic Mining 254 84. The Two Guardsmen 255 85. A Cotillon Party Dancing on the Mammoth Tree 256 86. Auger-Holes through the Big Tree (Showing how it was Felled) 258 87. The Fallen Monarch 259 88. The Pioneer's Cabin : " Eoom for Twelve Inside " 260 89. Something of a Stump 261 90. First Log Hut in Mariposa Grove 262 , 91. Bridal Veil Fall •••• 264 92. Cathedral Rocks 268 93. A Native of the Valley 270 94. El Capitan, 3300 Feet High 271 95. Sentinel Rock • 275 96. The Yosemite Falls 276 97. North Dome and Royal Arches 278 98. South or Half Dome 279 99. Mirror Lake; Watkins' and Clouds' Rest 281 100. Vernal Falls ; 350 Feet High •'• 283 101. Nevada Falls ; 700 Feet High 285 102. Down by Venial Falls , 286 103. Liberty Cap (Mt. Broderick) 288 104. Bird's-Eye View of San Francisco 291 105. TheMinerwho "Struck it Rich." 294 106. " '49-Ers in Luck." 296 107. A Sunday Festival of the Foreign Classes., 299 108. Sunday Evening on Dupont Street 301 109. Underground in the Barbaiy Coast 303 110. At the Bella Union 305 111. The First San Francisco Destroyed • 307 112. An Anti-Goat-Island Meeting 308 113. The Days when California had no Families 310 114. Woodward's Gardens — a Fashionable Resort of San Francisco 312 115. Chinese Theatre — on .Jackson Street 315 116. Chinese Merchant on Post Street 317 117. Chan Laisun 320 118. Mrs. Laisun and Daughters 3'-^ 119. Chinese Students— now at Springfield, Mass 324 120. A High Caste Mandarin 325 121. At "Brown and Sloper's." 327 122. Little Pleasantries of a Mining Camp 330 123. Prospecting Party — in Utah 332 124. Over to Big Cottonwood 337 125. In the West .Jordan Mine 34:! 126. On Lion Hill— Ophir District 34 J 20 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 127. Vertical Section of a Quartz Mine page 347 128. One Language — two "Smiles." 350 129. My Cherokee Friends 356 130. " Moss Agates." 365 131. Amusements at Muscogee 370 132. Raising a Native 373 133. At the Creek Agency 375 134. A Creek Charon 379 135. At the Mission 382 136. " Shorthandlo." 385 137. Curing Snake-Bite 389 138. Ok-ta-ha-sars-ha-go 391 139. "On a Permit." 394 140. Pre-emptor's Cabin 395 141. Lively Times on the Canadian 398 142. At Tandy Walker's 400 143. Forest Scene 405 144. At Widow Skrimshee's 407 145. Fight at Going Snake Court House 410 146 Gen. Marion in the Cherokee Country 413 147. The LastCrj- of the Cherokee 416 148. Cherokee Legislature 422 149. An Osage Chief 425 150. "Man for Breakfast." 435 151. In the Buffalo Country 437 152. Denver 439 153. Gray's Peak — Colorado ••• 440 154. Georgetown — Colorado 442 155. Fii"st Lesson in Spanish 445 156. "Caraja! Los Nervios!" 450 157. East Side of Plaza— Santa Fe 452 158. At the Baile 456 159. Pueblo at Prayer 468 160. A Mexican Dray 474 161. "Caramba! Va Maladitto." 476 162. Southwest from Santa Fe 481 163. Pueblo Cacique 483 164. " My Relations, Sir." 485 165. Algodonas 487 166. Albuquerque Cathedral 489 167. " About so High." 492 168. Mexican Farm House 497 169. Pueblo Maiden 501 170. Agua Azul and Red Butte 509 171. Officer's Quarters— Fort Wingate 512 172. Distant View of Zuni 514 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 21 173. Upper Story of Zuni page 516 174. Navajo Loom 518 175. Navajo Boy 525 176. Navajo Matron 531 177. Navajo "Gristmill." 533 178. Navajo Belle 534 179. Arizona Landscape 537 180. Through the Navajo Forest 548 181. Wind Carvings 550 182. Leaning Tower 551 183. "Ah-Yee! Melicano, Ettah Hoganday ! " 554 184. Entering the Desert 562 185. "Yah! Melicano, Malo, Malo ! " 564 186. " The Shadow of a Great Rock in a Weary Land." 567 187. Sheep-Pens at Moqui 569 188. Entering Moqui — " Jokow, Jokow, Melicano, Jokow!" 572 189. Northwest Front of Moqui 575 190. Distant Yiew of Oraybe 577 191. Group of Moquis 580 192. Street in the " Dead Town." 583 193. Tuba and Telashnimki 584 194. One of Six Bronze Plates dug up near Kinderhook, 111., in 1843 598 195. " Break in the Formation." 604 196. A Friendly Apache 607 197. Skull of Mangus Colorado, or " Ked Sleeve." — a "Good Indian." 608 198. Formation on the Streams 610 199. Scene on the Colorado 612 200. Peak of Conglomerate 616 201. Espanol 621 202. "Todos Muertos, Pero mas Apaches." 631 203. Getting Down to the Colorado 632 204. Mountain Meadow Massacre — 132 Emigrant's killed by Mormons, etc.. 647 205. At Jacob's Pool 655 206. " Happy Family "— Utes 657 207. Kanarra — Southern Utah.... 660 208. Salt Lake Theatre 668 209. Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, Wyoming, (350 Feet in Hight.) 670 210. On Guard 673 211. Tower Fall?— -Wyoming 676 212. Bird's-Eye Yiew of the Geyser Basin 679 213. Upper Falls of the Yellowstone 680 214. Yellowstone Lake 681 215. The Giantess— Yellowstone 688 216. The Old Way Across the Plains 692 217. Monument Rock — Echo Canon 693 218. Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, Illinois 696 22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 219. Nauvoo Militia and " General" Joseph Smith page 697 220. Trappers in Northern Dakota 699 221. People of Pembina, and their Ox-Carts 700 222. Old Fort Benton— Montana 702 223. The Author, being in Feeble Health, Goes to Minnesota 707 224. The Author, being Feeble in Pocket, Keturns from Minnesota 708 225. Scene on a Minnesota Lake 712 226. St. Paul 715 227. Falls of St. Anthony 717 228. Missionary among the Minnesota Indians 723 229. N. P. E. R. Bridge over Mississippi, near Brainerd, Minn 728 230. Dalles of the St. Louis 733 231. Duluth 735 232. In the Tunnel— Sierra Nevada 742 233. Donner Lake — Sierra Nevada 743 234. Snow Sheds on the Central Pacific 744 235. Acorn Caches of the California Indians 748 236. "Venus and Adonis" — Digger Indians 752 237. Rough on the Old Man 755 238. Falls of the Willamette 760 239. Portland— Oregon— From East Side of Willamette 764 240. Street in Olympia — Washington Territory 766 241. Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier 768 242. "A Little Qualmish." 774 243. Point Arena Lighthouse — Coast of California 776 244. Bancroft's great Publishing House — San Francisco 777 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. I MARE A START. Why I went West — Poor health — " Infallible cures " — Impecuniosity — Try the newsjiapers — Doubtful prospects — Leave Evansville — Stop in Wis- consin — The Mound Region — Boscobel — Into Iowa — Swedes and Nor- wegians — Westward afoot — A model farmer — Wire-fence — Planting timber — Resources of Iowa — Iowa Falls — " Wall-Lake " — Fanciful theo- ries — Scientific fact — Fort Dodge — Grasshoppers — A pleasant excursion — " Purgatory " and " Hell " Sloughs — " Bad for women and oxen " — Twin Lakes — Ida City — Over the " Divide "— Denison — Down the C. & N. W. R. R.^Council Bluffs and Omaha — On the border at last 33 CHAPTER II. A COMMON MISTAKE. Our land of promise — Pleasing errors — Painful but wholesome truths — " The Great American Desert " not & myth— Causes of sterility — Drought — Elevation and cold — Alkali — Minerals — Bitter Creek — "Journey of Death" — Travel on the Deserts^Bunch grass — Grand divisions of the West — View of the Plains — Routes across the Continent — Fi'eighting under difficulties — Railroad and emigration circulars — Caveat emptor: "Let the buyer look out" 50 CHAPTER III. FIVE WEEKS IN NEBRASKA. Omaha — Glorious anticipitations — Prosaic facts — A bit of history — Florence — An invasion of place hunters — Disappointment — On the road to Fon- tanelle — Elkhorn Valley — Lost on the prairie — "Any port in a storm" — Down to the Platte— Fremont— Down Platte Valley— Intense heat— Want 23 24 CONTENTS. of domestic economy — Romantic hash — Victuals and poetry — Bovine apotheosis — Farming in Nebraska — Room for three hundred thousand farmers — Climate — Society — " Professional starvation " — Through Sarpy County — Youthful connubiality— Artificial groves — Increase of rain-fall — Omaha politics — " Bilks " — " Hunting for work, — hoping to not find it "... 63 CHAPTER IV. OX THE UNION PACIFIC. Up the Platte Valley — Bcautj^ by moonlight ; barrenness by day — Getting on to the desert — North Platte — "The gentle gazelle" — "Dog-town" — Not dogs, but rodents — " Indians ahead " — The dangerous district — Cross- ing the Plains in 1866 — " The noble Red Man " — Cheyenne— Vigorous reduction of the population — Black Hill — Sherman — Down to Laramie — The Alkali Desert — Benton — A beautiful summer resort ! — Manners and morals (?) — Bravery of the impecunious — Murder and mob — Vigilantes — Murderer rescued by the military and escapes — Amusements — " Big Tent " — " Now, then, gentlemen, tlie ace is your winning card" — "Cappers" and Victims — No fairness in gambling 79 CHAPTER V. ON A MULE. A new profession — Off for Salt Lake City — A Mormon outfit — Nature of the overland freight — Its extent — Great expenses and enormous profits — Luxury of miners and mountaineers — Changed to the railroad — " Kiting towns" — Jonah's gourd — Benton a year afterwards — Platte City — Our company — Mulewhacker's Theologj' — Pleasant gossip on polygamy — Journal of the route — Horrors of Bitter Creek — Heat, cold, thirst, dust, fatigue— Green River— Bridger Plains — Echo Canon — Weber Canon — Parley's Park — Down Parley's Caiion — Salt Lake Valley and City 96 CHAPTER VI. A YEAR IN UTAH. Discharging freight — " Beautiful Zion " — First impressions—" Our Bishop " — Arguments (?) for polygamy — Rough on Rome — Mormon Worthies — Jews, Gentiles, and Apostates — Queer condition of American citizens — " Millennial Star" and " Book of ^lormon" — The original carpet-baggers — " Jaredites " — Mormon sermons — Into the country — A polemic race — Mormon conference — " No trade with Gentiles " — A hard winter — I be- come a Gentile editor — Founding of Corinne — Glowing anticipations — " The Chicago of the Rocky Mountains " — Ups and downs of real estate — The Author comes to grief. 108 CONTENTS. 25 CHAPTER VII. THE UNION PACIFIC COMPLETED. The last rail arid spike — A visit home — An unofficial tour — Whitney, Ben- ton, Burton, Fremont, Stansbury, Saxton, and Gunnison — Difficulties of constructure — Where is the real starting point ? — Missouri River Bridge — Out the Platte — Fremont — Columbus — On the plains again — Jules- burg — Smoothness of the route — Delightful traveling — Cheyenne — A Western JetTreys! — Laramie again — A tragedy — A miracle, perhaps! — " Big Ed's" guardian angel — Pyramid rocks — Beauties of Laramie Plains — Desert west of them — Wasatch — Echo and Weber — Promontory — Moral gamblers — Reflections 126 CHAPTER VIII. THE GREAT BASIN. Hunting new fields — Gentile needs — Mines or nothing — Southward — Sevier Mines — Gilmer and Saulsbury — Rockwell's Ranche— The Utah Basin — Will it be sacred ground?— A family ticket — Social robbery — Chicken Creek — " Them mules is in the sagebrush ; you go hunt 'em ! " — Gunnison — Sevier Valley — Abandoned towns — Marysvale — Up the Gulch — Drawbacks to the district — Mr. Jacob Hess^My later experience — The habitable lands of Utah and Nevada — Productions— Fruits — True policy with the State and Territory — " Mormon enterprise " — A silver State — Sunken deserts — Death Valley — Mournful reminiscence 142 CHAPTER IX. THROUGH NEVADA. Out of a place — A wanderer again — Tired of Utah — Westward — Promontory — Salty district — Queer calculations — Down the Humboldt — Elko — White Pine — "John Chinamen" — Humboldt Canon — Desert — Reese River — " Sinks " — Morning at Truckee — Beauty of the Sierras — Eureka !— Don- ner and Bigler Lakes — Western Slope — " Forty miles of snow sheds " — Mining towns-^Cape Horn — Sublime scenery — Scientific engineering — Swiftly downward— Scenery of the Pacific slojie — Out upon the jilain — The California autumn — Suburbs of Sacramento 153 CHAPTER X. AFOOT IN CALIFORNIA. New Spain — Poetry and fact — Saxon and Spaniard — Cavalier and Pioneer — Our Heroic Age — The American Iliad — Sacramento — Yolo county — " Tales " — Chinese — California Central R. R. — Ague — Hijj;h and Low 26 CONTENTS. Water-marks — Chinese and Chinese labor — Acclimating sickness — Davis- ville — Sericulture — Warner's Vineyartl — The land of grapes — Pears, ajiples, and figs — Up Putah Creek — Drouth and dust— The rainy season at hand — Fruit farms near the coast range — Baiw/ies only, not homes — Popular reasons therefor — Agricultural items — Shall we settle in rural California — Chinese " Devil-drive " — Mongolian Theology — " Josh " — Blowing up the Devil — Ah Ching's ojiinion — " China like Melica man ! " —Off for " Frisco " 1G7 CHAPTER XI. UTAH AGAIN. Elected defendant— Utah law — Polygamous judges— Trial at Brigham City — Assault on the author — Skilful surgery — Rapid recovery — " Write a history of the Mormons ! " — Visit the East — Return to Utah — Political — Bear River canal scheme — Author goes to AVashington — Miseries of a lobbyist — Election of 1870— Gen. Geo. R. Maxw-ell — Debate on polygamy — C'lci bono? — Mormon morals and Gentile associations 183 CHAPTER XII. I START AGAIN. Another misfortune and change of scene — Kansas City — Lawrence — Early tragedies — Later horrors — Last great success— Southward — Ottawa — " Don't mention it, Deacon " — Franklin County — Anderson — Ozark Ridge — Allen County — lola — Western enterprise — Montgomery County — Beautiful Mounds — Cherry vale — Northward — A modern Methuselah — Troy — Ready to report 197 CHAPTER XIII. STATISTICAL KANSAS. Emigrants, attention ! — Topography of Kansas — Climate — Three divisions — Amount of good land — Productiveness — Figures — Fruit — Beautiful Homes — Southern border— Snakes — Local flavoring — Bad case of Trichina— The Kansas farmer 216 CHAPTER XIV. A FLYING TRIP. Down to St. .Joseph — Up the Missouri Valley — Omaha again — Dull times on the Missouri — Reasons given — Off for Sioux City— Up-country people —Yankton— Caught in a storm— Dakota— Black Hills— Gold ! perhaps— Sioux— Iape Oahye — Called westward — Union Pacific — Mormondom again — Over to " Frisco" 235 CONTENTS. 27 CHAPTER XV. WONDERS OF THE SIERRAS. Off for Calaveras— The route — Copperopolis — Up the Sierras— First view of tlie Grove — Particular trees — Emotions excited — Route thence to Yosemite — Table Mountain — Bret Harte — Terrible descent — Into the Valley — A ■world of wonders — Fatigue and reflection — Descrijjtion imijossible 251 CHAPTER XVI. SKETCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO. Return from Yosemite — Summary of trip— Does it pay? — Climate of San Francisco — Of the State — ^^^ariety in " Frisco " — The Barbary Coast — Chinese Theatre — The Cliff House and Seal Rocks— Literature of the Pacific— Joaquin Miller — Frances Rose Mackinley — Morals and manners — Excitement and wearing out — An inventive Race — The Chinese again... 290 CHAPTER XVII. " JOHN." Popular nonsense about the Chinese — The bugbear Chinaman — The roman- tic Chinaman — The real article — His history, art, music and drama — Objections to them considered — Do they cheapen labor ? — Will they over- run the country ? — Do they degrade labor ? — Their condition — Missionary work — Sacramento system — Rev. O. Gibson — Better siiecimens— Yellow Chinese — Mrs. Laisun and daughters — Chinese students — Hope for the race 313 CHAPTER XVIII. MINES AND MINING. A prospect — Outline of mining region — The Cottonwoods — How I came there — Mormon anti-mining sermons — The dry summer — Unhealthfulness of Salt Lake Citj^ — I goto the mountains — "Prospectors" — We hunt a mine — Mode of silver mining — Different in gold mining — One chance in twenty-five thousand for an " Emma " or " Comstock " — " Struck a horse " — Over to Big Cottonwood — Fire in the mountains — Promise of war in Utah— False alarm— Off for Bingham— Chicago fire— Thence to East Carion — I invest — And come out minus 326 28 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIX. A CHANGE OF BASE. A hard winter — The last rain — Eastward — A merry party — The great Block- ade — On the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad — Southwestern Missouri — Among the Cherokees — Spring roads — Up into Kansas — Meet C. G. Du Bruler, Esq., and return — Down to Muscogee 3.48 CHAPTER XX. MUSCOKEE. Desperadoes — Laxity of Government — Out to the Agency — Stirring up a rattler — "A free nigger settlement " — Creek History — Tallahassee ilission • — Delightful exiieriences — Creek education — System of government — Back to Muscogee — Eeckless shooting — State of the region 369 CHAPTER XXI. OKLAHOMA. Railroads — The Thirty-fifth parallel route — Down to the Canadian — In the Choctaw Nation — Tandy Walker, Esq. — Secretary Delano visits the Terri- tory — Tramp to Fort Gibson — " White Cherokees " again — An Indian feud — At Widow Skrimshee's — " Pikes," on the animal migration — Tahle- quah — Cherokee documents — Curious records — History of the Nation — Summary of the Indian Territory 396 CHAPTER XXII. AROUND AND ABOUT TO SANTA FE. No thoroughfare from Indian Territory — Northward through Kansas — On the Plains at Last — The Ride over the Kansas Pacific — Ellsworth, and its Former Felicities — In the Buifalo Countiy — The " Big Pasture" of Amer- ica — Arrival at Denver — "Them's my Sentiments" — The Country from Denver to Santa Fe — A case of Delirium Tremens 431 CHAPTER XXIII. SANTA FE DE SAN FRANCISCO. First impressions — Location of the city — U. S. oflScials — Learning Spanish — The Baile — Valse da Spachio — Mexican Law— Religion — Children— CONTENTS. 29 ■park vs. -white races — Mexican transportation — Historical — Remarkable journey of De Vaca and his companions — Expedition of Coronado — " The seven cities of Cibola!" — "The American occupation" — Query 451 CHAPTER XXIV. " GREASERDOM." Off from Santa Fe— La Bajada— Rio Grande Valley— The Pueblo de San Domingo — Mexican farms — Albuquerque — Crossing the Rio Grande— On the Desert — Rio Puerco — El Rito — "Town of the Lake" — Cubero — McCarty's Ranche — Murder by the Navajoes — Agua Azul — The extinct volcano — Summit of the Sierra Madre — At Wingate — My soldier comes to grief. ' 479 CHAPTER XXV. AMONG THE NAVAJOES. At Fort Wingate — Natural beauty — Wealth of nature — A region of curiosi- ties — The Zunis — Their wonderful civilization — Caiion de Chaco — San Juan ruins — On to Defiance — Navajo history — Their semi-civilization — Their wars with the Spaniards — American relations — Major Brooks' negro — Navajo War — Subjugation and decline — Their return and progress — End of stay at Defiance — Sounds of wrath from Santa Fe — Apology — An original "pome" 511 CHAPTER XXVI. A RIDE THROUGH WONDERLAND. Diamonds! perhaps— Curious stones in the Navajo country — Ready — Kind- ness of Agent Keams — Navajo Forest— Entering De Chelley— Tlie " CliiF Cities" — An evening of beauty — Out upon the Desert — Water! Water! — Sickness and exhaustion — Navajo doctoring — Climbing for water — Down again, and night-ride— Camp at last— " Hah-koh Melicano ! "—Reach Moqui — Curious people— Chino and ilisiamtenah — " Moquis steal nothing" 541 CHAPTER XXVII. THE LAST OF THE AZTECS. Theory and fact — What I know about the Moquis— Location— Numbers —Dwellings— Dress— A dinner of State— Dog-meat and a Catholic Ktomach— Strange dialogue on religion — Tuba and Telashnimki — Oravbe 30 CONTENTS. Radicals — Further enquiries — Division of the subjects — Mounds in Ohio — In Mississippi Valley — Mexico — Central America — Peru — Theories — Jews, Chinese, Malays, Phoenicians, Romans, or Atlanteans — Modest con- clusion 574 CHAPTER XXVIll. ARIZONA. A big country — A strange parallelogram— A region of mountain, canon and plateau — Antiquities — Wild Indians — MaricojDas and other village Indi- ans — We leave Jloqui — Nature of the country — Camp of the " Outlaw Navajoes " — Romantic narrations— Navajo beauty — Their theology — Fish, turkeys, and human beings— AVho are they ?— Their treatment of women 603 CHAPTER XXIX. DOWN TO THE COLORADO. Diversion from intended route — Summary of the Thirty-fifth parallel route — Leave the outlaw Navajoes — Addition to our party — Our interpreter — Lost on the desert — An aboriginal joke — A wonderful grazing ground — Battle-field of Apaches and Navajoes — Comparison of skulls — Reach the Colorado Caiion — Sublime sight — A fearful descent — Nine hours going down hill — No passage — Find one of Major Powell's boats — Dexterity of the Indians — I risk the passage — "Major Doyle" — Indian romance — Castilian and Navajo tongues — Good-bye to my dark friends — Safely over at last G24 CHAPTER XXX. FIVE HUNDRED MILES OF MORMONS. An astonishing revelation—" Major Doyle" becomes John D. Lee, of Moun- tain Meadow notoriety — He relates his version of that affair — Comments — Why verdict " Guilty " — Off for the .settlements— Jacob's Pool — Long, dry ride— The Pi-Utes— Into Kanab— Jacob Hamlin -Major Powell's party— Pipe Springs— Gould's Ranche— Virgen City— Toquerville— Kanawa — Into the Greai Basin — Beaver — The "Jerky"— An old com- rade — Fillmore — " Cutting off" — Staging — An unconscious joke — Arrival at Salt Lake City — Surprise of my friends 645 CHAPTER XXXI. MY SUMMER VACATION. Diamonds by the bushel ! — My conclusion — The sad fact — Off for Soda Springs — Cache Valley — Gen. Connor and the Battle of Bear River — CONTENTS. 31 Soda Mounds— Health-restoring waters— "Anti-polygamy " Spring- Wonders of the Yellowstone— Report of Hon. U. P. Langford— Return to Salt Like City— Politics and Religion— Popular absurdities about Utah— A blast at Brigham and his allies 669 CHAPTER XXXII. SHORT NOTES ON A LONG EXCURSION. Another ride on the Union Pacific — Down to St. Louis — Up to Nauvoo — Historic interest — A strange old place — German vintners — Beauty of the site — Through Iowa— Southern Dakota— Yankton politicians— Terri- torial Oflacials— " The Government cannot afford good men "—Down the Missouri — An uncertain channel— On the Sioux City and St. Paul Road 691 CHAPTER XXXIII. MINNESOTA. My stepmother— An impecunious youth— Trials of poverty — I drive for excursion parties — Not a .success— My Canadian friends — Return home — Mankato — Crystal Lake — Garden City— The cabin of my friends — My old employer — Down to St. Paul — Tlie State Fair— Northwar.d by rail —Lumbermen — Big Lake — St. Cloud — Sauk Rapids — Great water-power — Northward stage — The Lady Superior — Belle Prairie— Converting Indi- ans — We reach Brainerd 706 CHAPTER XXXIV. ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC. Brainerd— The Pine forests of Minnesota— Sioux and Chippewas— Pahya Goonsey— Detroit Lakes— Down to Red River— iloorehead— Out to Jimtown— Red River Valley— " The equinoctial storm"— Eastward again —Russian Quakers— Scandinavian settlers— Scenery on the St. Louis — Duluth— Emigration Comiianies— " Post Off"— Humbug of land cir- culars—Climate on the Northern Pacific— "Be not deceived "—The testimony experience of A. Toponce, Esq. — Comments 724 CHAPTER XXXV. THE WAY TO OREGON. Westward again— Iowa— Union Pacific— Utah— Central Pacific— Sacra- mento— California and Oregon Railroad— Chico— General Bidwell's 32 co^■TE^•TS. Handle— Semi-Tropical Fruits and Flowers— Reading— Shasta— Joaquin Miller— Shasta Indians—" Venus and Adonis " — Staging on the Sierras — Mount Shasta— Yreka— Frontier justice— Immense I'orests— Oregon- Rogue River — Umpqua — Willamette — Portland 74j CHAPTER XXXVI. IN CONCLUSION. Season too late — Washington Territory — " Good-bye, Jonah " — Down the Willamette — In the Columbia — A fog — Salmon fisheries — Strange instincts of the salmon — On the heaving ocean — " The first to fall " — Down below — " Just a little qualmish " — Philosophy on the subject — Smoother water — " On an even keel " — Arrival at Frisco — Bancroft & Co. — Homeward bound rG7 A MONTH IN TEXAS. THE WAY TO TEXAS 7r3 NORTHERN TEXAS 7S7 CENTRAL TEXAS 702 SOUTHERN TEXAS 796 TRIP TO AUSTIN '. 801 GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY 806 MINERALS OF TEXAS 813 WESTERN TEXAS 814 HISTORICAL 816 GENERAL VIEWS 822 DOWN THE CAInON. THE UNDEVELOPED WEST; on, FIVE YEARS m THE TERRITORIES. CHAPTER I. I MAKE A START. Why I went West — Poor health — " Infallible cures " — Impecuniosity — Try the newspapers — Doubtful prosjiects — Leave Evansville — Stop in Wisconsin — • The Mound Region — Boscobel — Into Iowa — Swedes and Norwegians — West- ward afoot — A model farmer — Wire-fence — Planting timbci- — Resources of Iowa — Iowa Falls — " Wall-Lake " — Fanciful theories — Scientific fact — Fort Dodge — Grasshoppers — A pleasant excursion — " Purgatory " and " Hell " Sloughs — " Bad for women and oxen" — Twin Lakes— Ida City — Over the " Di- vide " — Denison — Down the C. & N. W. R. R. — Council Bluffs and Omaha — On the border at last. J II ANUARY, 1868, found me an invalid in the goodly city I of Evansville. A bronchical difficulty, produced ten _ J years before by severe application to study, had in a year of army life developed to a confirmed asthma; and now, in the moist and enervating climate of Southern Indiana, I was shaken by an ominous graveyard cough, the heaviness of a mother and the despair of friends and creditors. I tried fifty remedies : cubebs, troches, caramels, hoarhound con- fections were my hourly refreshment ; a score of nasty syrups in villainous green bottles adorned my mantel; pastilles smoked upon my stove, and my chamber was redolent with the fumes of burning nitre. My friends sympathized and suggested : one had heard his grandmother say she never knew a tea made of chestnut leaves to fail in such cases, if taken in time; another quoted an equally venerable source in favor of bloodroot and whiskey, with snuff of powdered galingale ; a third had all confidence in the regular 3 33 34 POPULAR ADVICE. ilillB "go west, young max; go west !" school, while a military friend just from Texas contented him- self with the cheerful suggestion, " My boy, the angels have taken a fancy for you; try a southern climate." If there is anything worse than dying of consumption, it must be the reception of the advice prevalent on the subject. The general voice ran in favor of travel. One thought a soa- voyage a dead sure thing; another was enthusiastic for Florida, and a third was positive the Lake Region would straighten me out. In a multitude of counsellors, non-professional, there was anything but safety. My physician, watch in one hand, the other on my pulse, looked solemnly wise and thus pro- nounced : " Go west, young man ; go west." I went west. THE WAYS AND MEANS. 35 There was one little difficulty in the way of all these fine schemes advanced for my rejuvenation : I was impecunious. Young lawyers are not generally troubled with filthy lucre, and I had been in practice but one year, and out of health most of the time. After selling booUs and paying debts I had remain- ing a hundred and fifteen dollars on which to reach the Pacific Coast — for there my physician thought was the Hesperian foun- tain which was to make me a new man. Manifestly if I ever reached it, economy was to be, not exactly a virtue, but some- thing not nearly so heroic — a necessity. Newspaper correspon- dence suggested itself to my mind as a last resort. What wandering scholar, poor teacher, or feeble professional has not thought of it as the Avay to health-restoring travel, or the glories of a foreign tour? I wrote a carefully worded proposition to six leading journals. Two replied. The Head Quill of the IncHanapolis Journal briefly declined, adding, somewhat superfluously, that there were at least a dozen applicants to each vacancy, and Western corre- spondence was just now of no particular value. Murat Hal- stead, Esq., of the Cincinnati Commercial, (May his shadow never grow less!) answered thus, literatim et pnnctiiatim: {Fac simile on next page.) I trust the reader may decipher these hieroglyphics whh more ease and less of doubt and trepidation than I did. Through their jagged lines gleamed a ray of hope; and on this hint I wrote. I also made arrangements with the Evansville Journal, to practise a few Aveeks through their columns until I became more proficient with the pen, thinking that it was best ray first eifusions should be read only by friends and acquaintances — a common error with beginners. For criti- cism, to be of any value, must come from strangers. One's friends will always praise his writings, though never so flat; and one's enemies say something spiteful though he "speak with the tongue of men and angels. My plan was to Avork through to California during the good weather, remain there one winter, and work back home the next summer, after an absence of about eighteen months; and by no means to settle in the Far West. I came about as near to ^;l!lili^:ll< OFFICE OF THE *f) FOURTH AND RACE STREETS. \i^L^^>^ ^«-^*v^p»tBX^^ J^^yu^j^eifJT -^^.^yk.£4£^ 36 LEAVING HOME. 37 filling this schedule as young men generally do to working out their plans. It is necessary to have plans, but it is morally certain no man will ever realize them exactly. The precise thing one intends is about the only thing which never occurs, and of the great expectations of glowing youth we may philo- sophize as did the Hibernian over his dressed pig: " It didn't weigh half as much as I expected, an', be japers, I always knowed it wouldn't." All sad farewells over, I was oiF from Evansville on the 8th of May. It is seldom pleasant to start, no matter what enjoy- ment one looks forward to ; and the oldest travelers generally leave "winter quarters" with a feeling of despondency. Do Quincy says : "We never do a, thing consciously for the last time without a feeling of sadness; we never take Jinal leave of a place — even Avhere we have not been happy — without a sigh." And the experience of all Bohemians confirms this truth. Per- haps the inner sense sees by a divine instinct that all these occasional partings are but faint types of the last great parting, and sighs its regret by anticipation. Perhaps the soul feels in these minor departures that a great departure is not far distant, and intuitively warns man of his destiny. I had uncommon cause for despondency. Hitherto my journeys, though long, had been no farther ft-oni civilization than western Kansas and Minnesota; post offices, stage roads, and even railroads were not far distant, and though I "dragged at each remove a lengthening chain," it was still a chain connecting me by suc- cessive links with home. But now, Avith feeble health and feebler pocket, I was to pass beyond the border, and across the central wild to where civilization " Shifting, turns the other way." It is not surprising then that a suspicious moisture gathered in my eye, as from the rear of the train I waved my adieus to the receding city. After a week in Northern Indiana, and three days at the Na- tional Republican Convention in Chicago, I left that city for Wisconsin by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. I had gained on the season ; the coolness of early spring still prevailed 38 wiscoNSix. in this higher latitude, and I took a delightful rest of a week at Boscobel, in the valley of the lower Wiseonsin. This is the centre of the "Mound Region" of Wisconsin — so called from the many Indian mounds scattered about the valley. Some are circular, some oval, and one in the edge of the town is in the exact form of a Greek cross, the longer piece a hundred feet in length. None of these are more than four or five feet high, and the earth of wliicli they are composed is different from the adjacent soil. Most of the original mounds have been removed in the process of settlement : some contained human remains, some implements of war and husbandry ; but the most consisted entirely of earth and decayed grass or straw. Of some the earth was so fertile that the people of Boscobel used it for enriching their gardens. North of the river are larger and more extensive quadrangu- lar mounds, evidently intended as a fortification, and command- ing a bend in the stream. Twenty-five miles south are the *' Great Mounds of the Platte," two moles of earth and rock, about half a mile in length, rising abruptly to a height of sixty feet from a level plain. But these are evidently of geologic origin. Boscobel is far enough north to be a pleasant summer resort; the climate is healthful, and just north of tlie Wiscon- sin game of many kinds is abundant. The prairie, spangled with the myriad flowers of advancing spring, allured me to numerous excursions; the bracing air from the Minnesota hills brought healing to my lungs, and I soon felt the exquisite joys of convalescence. Tourists who cannot afford to go to the " Far West" may find here, and in the neighboring parts of Iowa and Minnesota, a pleasant and healthful summer residence. On the first of June I crossed the Mississippi from Prairie Du Chien* to McGregor, and started afoot across Northern Iowa, judging that the walk of three hundred miles would tou<'-hen me a little before encountering the real hardships of the plains. Of the next four days my recollections are of slow *" Prairie of The Dog.' — An Indian chief who dominated this region two centuries ago. THROUGH IOWA. 39 sauntering over a beautiful rolling country, prairie and timber intermingled, and rather thickly settled with a thrifty and intel- ligent population. Iowa and Minnesota were doubtless settled by the most generally educated class of emigrants of any part of the West; and I seem to be going into civilization rather than from it. Occasional colonies of Swedes and Norwegians are found in both States, and exhibit a rapid im- provement. Nine years before, during a summer residence in Minnesota, I had witnessed the colo- nies coming in, direct from Scandinavia, and often smiled at their uncouth and poverty- stricken appearance. Now they are there, as in Iowa, among the wealthiest people in the country; their national industry has raised them from poverty to opu- lence. Afterwards I saw people of the same races in Utah, by the most exhaustive labor a little better off than they had been at home, and heard them boasting what great things "the Lord and Brother Brig- ham had done for them." These in Iowa had no Prophet, and consequently made a good selection for their homes, and prospered without being tithed. At the _ end of a week I was but eighty miles from the river, but the general appearance of the country began to AFOOT THROUGH IOWA. 40 ON THE PRAIRIE. change rapidly. There were immense tracts of unsettled prairie ; timber was found only along the streams, and I soon learned to dread it on account of the heat. On the "bottoms" of Big Wapsie Creek, in Bremer County, was dense timber for ten miles — the last complete forest I was to see for a year ; and I almost melted in passing through it. On the prairie there is nearly always a gentle and refreshing wind ; in the timber a sultry and oppressive calm. To leave the first for the second was like going from balmy May into sultry July. In my prairie travels I never saw a farmer's wife who had tried both, who did not prefer the prairie to the timber, despite the intense cold of winter. Sometimes, they admitted, when the ther- mometer was below zero, and the wind humming from the northwest at twenty miles per hour, they sighed for the leeward side of tall timber; but for ten months in the year, give them the prairie. "We can house up, you know, and keep warm on the prairie in winter ; but we can't house up and keep cool in the timber in summer." Westward I began to toughen to my work, and on the 8th and 9th of June easily made my twenty miles a day. Over- taken on the open prairie by a storm, late in the afternoon of the 9th, I traveled nine miles in the rain to the first house, finding the settler like myself a retired professional, "out West for his health." Three years before he had paid seven dollars an acre for a quarter section of land, put a wire fence around forty acres of it, broke the sod and sowed it in wheat, which yielded twenty-two bushels per acre, and sold at a dollar and a quarter per bushel. He produced his "farm-books," which showed that, estimating his wire-fence and breaking sod at the highest rate, his first crop had paid for land, fence, and break- ing, and a slight percentage of profit. Vacant lands in that and the adjoining counties were selling everywhere from three to fifteen dollars per acre, according to locality. Wire fences were the only kind in use in this vicinity. Many farmers used but three strands, but a " lawful fence" required five, which, the local courts consider, will make it " horse-high, bull-strong, and pig-tight." Many i)lant trees UNOCCUPIED LANDS. 41 for posts, using " slip cleats," that the wires may be moved every year or two on the growing tree. An artificial grove is found on nearly every farm, mostly of the soft maple and Cot- tonwood ; but a few have planted harder varieties of timber. The State exempts from taxation all land so planted ; the trees grow rapidly, and in twenty years Northern Iowa will be a timbered country. Iowa has less waste land than any other State in the Union. The sloughs, though rated as non-cultivable land, are sus- ceptible of drainage; and with the exception of a little rocky and sandy land along the streams, every foot of the State is available for the support of man. Despite the national spirit of self-glorification, and the bril- liant apostrophes of " Western members," how few Americans realize the comparative greatness of that tier of States just west of the Mississippi. Minnesota has thirty thousand square miles of wheat-producing land ; Iowa has more arable land than Eng- land proper, and not quite one acre in a hundred non-productive ; Missouri has more iron, coal, timber and water-power than the Kingdom of Prussia, and Arkansas will nearly equal the King- dom of Italy. Taking St. Louis as a centre, with a radius of three hundred miles, and describing a semicircle on the west, from the Missis- sippi above to the same stream below, and the area thus bounded, if cultivated like rural England, would supply food for fifty million people. Really America is not yet "settled," except, perhaps, a narrow strip along the Atlantic. St. Louis, with her western rail connections, is the natural entrepot of a section that will comfortably support a population equal to that of the Rus- sian Empire. We are lost in a maze of conjecture when we attempt to figure to ourselves the future American, as he will be when all that region is thickly settled, dotted with towns and villages, with perhai)s a score of great cities. I journeyed on west-southwest to Iowa Falls, a city of romantic location, with a foundation partly of rock, at a point where the Iowa River leaves the "summit-divide" prairies, and plunges down by a series of cascades to the level of the lower valley. There 42 AN IOWA WONDER. is unlimited water-power in the vicinity, and an important citj is springing up rapidly. It was then the terminus of the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad, and indulged in bright dreams of future greatness. The inhabitants I found to be of the genus Western Yankee, willing to take a stranger in and do him. Accordingly I did not tarry long, and on the morn- ing of June 18th, took passage in a settler's wagon, to visit the celebrated " Wall Lake," which was reported afar off as the great Avonder of Iowa. For many years fanciful writers had given us glowing accounts of a wonderful lake, surrounded by a comj)act wall of boulders and earth, with a beautiful drive on top, along which the Jehus of a "departed race" exercised their elk and buffalo teams in driving tandem. I reached the lake at dusk, having walked ten miles from the main stage road. The only inhabitant of the township lived on the border of the lake, monarch of all he surveyed, and evidently willing to have nobody live any nearer. The land was his, and the water and the cattle on a thousand sloughs; but he cared nothing for the natural beauty at his door, had no boat on tiie lake, and only granted me lody-insi; because it was evident there was no other chance. North, west, and soutii of the lake the country is marsiiy for several miles, but on the east rises a beautiful wooded ridge, in the edge of which the settler lives. Only the western and southern borders of the lake have a regular wall; the bank on the east is bold and abrupt, and on the north the lake yields gradually to an extended marsh. At the extreme southern point, a clearly defined rocky wall breaks down by almost regular steps to a " wasteway," through which runs a considerable stream continuing eastward to the Iowa River. From this outlet for half a mile northwest is the only part of the wall which has any appearance of human handi- work : it is six feet high, three feet wide on top, and very com- pactly built of rock and earth. The outer side is quite steep, but within it slopes away gradually to the water's edge, for several rods, beautifully adorned with grass and flowers. But even there a careful examination shows no regular masonry ; all is in elemental, not mechanical order. ICE-BUILT WALLS. 43 Science has clearly demonstrated that these walls are not the work of the Red Man, nor yet of his possible predecessor, the Mound Builder; they are due merely to the expansive force of ice. Geologists are agreed that the lakes of this region date back to the close of the "Glacial Epoch," remaining as then mere depressions in the "drift" which formed the soil. The "Lake Region" — whether in New York, Minnesota or Iowa — is always found on the "summit-level." Farther down there were lakes once, but the drainage from higher ground running down the slope has cut channels far below their old beds and drained them. In Southern Iowa the careful eye can still see traces of ancient lake shores; but away up the bluffs, often fifty feet above the present surface of the river. On the " summit level," there was no such accumulation of water on higher ground to force a way through the lakes and drain them, and they remain as at first. In this climate ice often forms on them many feet in thickness. In 1863 this lake froze almost solid, killing most of the fish. Freezing to everything with which it comes in contact, boulders, earth, and rushes, the ice continually cleans the bottom of the lake and piles the materials at the edge. The expansive force of miles of miles of ice is exerted upon the rocks in a direction from the centre towards the shore ; and so powerfully that on the eastern side, where the bank is abrupt, the flat stones are in many places driven in upon the boulders with such an im[)etus as to splinter the former like glass. Eacli year this process is repeated, the lake rising to the height of the wall formed the previous year, and adding new materials thereto ; and this process continues till the loose material is exhausted, or the lake waters force an out- let, as this has done at the south end. That this theory is correct, is clearly proved by the existence of fifteen other lakes in this and afljoining counties with a similar formation, of which Lake Gertrude, Lake Cornelia, Twin Lake, and I>ittle Wall Lake have even more perfect walls than this. In some, the water has gradually cut down the outlet, and drained the lake until a new wall has begun to form inside the old ones. Swans and wild geese abound on all 44 EAGLE CEEEK. " -\*"'^t OUTLET OF "wall LAKE." the lakes. The entire region is well worthy of a visit by tour- ists or artists, and surely uo reflecting mind will feel less inter- est in the " Wall Lake" from knowing that it is not the work of a "departed race," but a natural result of forces which have been in oi)eration since the hour when "The morning stars sang together." After a day at "Wall Lake" I turned westward, traversing an unbroken prairie for fourteen miles to Eagle Creek. There I found six families scattered along the stream for two miles; for in all this part of Iowa the only settlers M'ere found near the streams or lakes where there was timber. Everybody was GRASSHOPPERS. 45 on the qui vive about the grasshoppers, which were reported to be coming from the west. Next day, in the twenty-five miles to Fort Dodge, I passed through three swarms of them, each about half a mile wide. Where I stopped for dinner the farmer sat the picture of dejection, while his wife and daughter were weep- ing and wringing their hands. Their farm lay directly in the path of the destroyers, and going with them to the field of wheat, now turning yellow for the harvest, I saw the insects pouring into it from the north by millions, with an ominous roar. Before them were green prairies and yellow fields of grain; behind them blackness, desolation and death. At Fort Dodge, and for a day's travel west of there, I saw them in new swarms, now grown larger and flying high in the air, glistening in the sun like bits of white and yellow paper. Thence I saw them no more, and afterwards learned that their " visitation" was but partial, destroying about half the crop in three counties. Whence come they ? Where do they breed ? Whither do they go? Nobody knows certainly. In Iowa and Minnesota they are generally supposed to originate in the wastes of North- ern Dakota, but the only reason I know of for this opinion is that they come generally from the northwest. In the last named State they came in August and September in 1856, and destroyed about half the crop; the next year, as soon as the weather grew w'arm, they seemed to spring suddenly from the ground in myriads, and chew away on the first thing they reached. Not a spear of grass or wheat, or a blade of corn escaped; and when I was there, in 1859, Minnesota had her celebrated " hard times." Every Western State and Territory has had them at first. But settlement certainly has some effect on them, as their visits grow gradually less frequent, and are less destructive when they do occur. West of Fort Dodge I fell in with a party of five, journey- ing with wagon and tent to Sioux City, and on invitation cast in my lot with them. We traveled but fifteen miles or so a day, hunted and fished and lived on the proceeds, slept in the wagon and tent, and had all outdoors to cook, eat and breathe in. For a hundred miles on our way, we passed perhaps ten 46 STUCK IN " PURGATORY." liouses ; tlie general characteristics everywhere the same. Down a long slope for seven or eight miles, the road would bring us to a creek or slough, along which would be a scattering growth of timber; and about "one farm deep" on each side fenced in. From this valley we would rise by gentle inclines to the next "divide," five or ten miles of gently rolling prairie; then down another slope to the next slough, or creek, and consequent settlement, fifteen or twenty miles from the last. At one place we traversed twenty-five miles without sight of a house. Far .as the eye could pierce the green and Avaving grass, now full grown, made the country appear a very paradise of herders ; and daily my ideas of vastncss enlarged till I wondered where the people were to come from to cultivate these fertile fields. Then there Avas but one railroad across Iowa; now there are four, all stimulated by the completion of the Union Pacific. It had just been made public that the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad Avas to be completed soon, and the Avave of immigration AA-as rolling in. Two years after, the road Avas completed, and already the line I traveled pi^esents a. succession of cultivated fields and tasty homes, a region diversified Avith orchards, Avhitc and red Avith clover tops, or yellow Avith heavy-headed grain. Tiien Iowa had one acre in seventeen under cultiA'ation ; now she has one in twelve, and a population of nearly a million and three quarters. The State Avill easily support fifteen million peoi)le by agriculture alone. The sloughs grew steadily worse as avc proceeded Avestward, and Avere bridged but slightly or not at all. We passed " Pur- gatory" safely, but mired and stuck in "Hell" — two very bad sloughs near Sac City. We stripped in the Avagon, got out into mud and Avater waist-deep, and by an hour's hard work got over safely. Not so fortunate Avere a party of Norwegians just be- hind us, bound for Dakota, Avho stuck in the Avorst place. We "doubled teams" and Avorked with them two hours, but having horses while they had oxen, could do them little good. Our jftoutest man went in and carried their Avomen and children to dry land, and we loft them in statu quo — women and children cry- ing, men shouting, SAvearing, and beating their oxen, all in choice 47 48 A THIRTY-FIVE-MILE WALK. Norwegian. Doubtless they had to carry out their entire load, bundle at a time, and take the wagon to pieces. Well saith the border proverb, " Western travel is rough on women and oxen." At Ida City, still fifty miles east of Sioux City, I parted company with the excursionists, determined to travel southward to Omaha. Ida City consisted of one house, blacksmith's shop, and accompanying stables and outhouses. Thence it was thirty- five miles over the "divide" to Denison, on the Chicago & Northwestern Road ; and, as there were no houses on the way, I must make the distance in one day. After a day's rest, with "cold bite" in valise, and canteen of water, I bore southward over the hills; for the ridges gradually rise higher as one goes towards the Missouri. It was the 27th of June, and the heat was intense. Water I found but once on the road, and suffered considerably from thirst. It is cold enough in winter. The preceding one five persons had frozen to death on this route, having lost their way in sud- den snow storms. Twenty-eight miles on my way I found two new dwellings erected in a beautiful valley, where two brothers had just moved their families and opened a stock farm. This was a delightful surprise, and at this arcadia I rested till sundown and took supper, then finished my journey in the cool of the evening. By half past nine I had finished ray walk of thirty-five miles with- out serious fatigue, nor did I feel any ill consequences next day. Not bad for an invalid. I felt that I was ready for the plains, and taking the midnight train entered Omaha early on Sunday morning the 28th. The place had been represented to me as a paradise for the enterprising, but first impressions did not confirm the idea. A furious rivalry raged between the city and Council Bluffs on the eastern side of the Missouri ; pretty much in the "You're another!" style of argument. Omaha people spoke of the Bluffs as " East Omaha," " Milkville " and " Iowa-town ; " the Bluffites retorted with sarcastic remarks about "Bilkvillc," "Traintown," and the "Union Pacific Depot over the river." The Omahas assured me that the Bluffs were overrun by people OMAHA VS. THE BLUFFS. 49 out of employment; that there were ten lawyers to every case, doctors till no one could count them, and so impecunious that when a man once fell on Main Street and broke his leg they rushed up in such numbers, and made such contest over the patient, that the mayor was compelled to read the Riot Act. I soon found, as a faithful chronicler, that, like Herod Otus, fami- liarly known as "History's Dad," I must carefully distinguish between what I saw and what I heai'd. The Western mind is expansive and generous; full measure is what they always give in local history. I think it must be in theair; that men breath- ing this light, dry and health inspiring atmosphere, like the Delphian priestess, go mad in poloquent fury, and talk in strains of poetic exaggeration. Therefore, before I go far enough West to catch the same disease, I will indulge in one chapter of hard, prosaic fact. As I have now reached the border of the Far West i>i'oper, a general description of the whole country beyond the Missouri will better enable the reader to understand the next four years wandering. The facts are collated from observations in fifty thousand miles of travel, from the reports of personal friends in whom I repose confidence, from official surveys, and other ac- credited sources. Many facts in a limited space being my chief object, the reader who is bent only upon amusement may skip the following chapter. 4 CHAPTER II. A COMMON MISTAKE. Our land of promise — Pleasing errors — Painful but wholesome truths — " The Great American Desert" not a myth — Causes of sterility — Drought — Eleva- tion and cold— Alkali — Minerals— Bitter Creek — " Journey of Death" — Travel on the Deserts — Bunch grass — Grand divisions of the West — View of the Plains — Routes across the continent — Freighting under difficulties — Railroad and emigration circulars — Caveat emptor : " Let the buyer look out." HE "Far West" is the land of promise to ten million young Americans; but of all those who go West, nine out of ten go just far enough to form an erroneous idea of all beyond. They visit eastern Kansas and Nebraska, and traverse the fertile strip which extends from one to two hundred miles west of the Missouri — the only part of the entire West which answers to the rosy views of the expectant pilgrim. There they find the rich bottom lands, the green rolling prairies and fertile vales of political romance; and it is that region, perhaps two hundred by twelve hundred miles in extent, intermediate between the Missouri line and the high plains, which is taken as the basis of comparison by the hopeful visitor, who imagines that with the exception of a few mountain chains it is much the same all the way to the Pacific. It is difficult to convince sucli^that in the West are regions of utter desert so vast that a New England State might be hidden in them, and only pass for a respectable oasis. Any route across the continent must traverse a complete desert from five hundred to a thousand miles wide. The Union Pacific enters upon it about Laramie, and with the exception of Salt Lake Valley, and perhaps two or three others, con- tinues in it all the way to the Sierras. The Northern Pacific strikes it at the Mauvaises Terres of Dakota, and thence bar- 50 THE AMERICAN DESERT. 61 renness is the rule and fertility the exception to the entering in of Washington Territory. The Southern and thirty-fifth par- allel roads strike it in western Texas or at the Rio Grande, and traverse it to Southern California. Draw a line on longitude 100° from British America to Texas; then go 800 miles westward, and draw another from British America to Mexico, and all the area between these two lines — 800 by 1200 miles in extent; or in round numbers a million square miles — is the "American Desert:" a region of varying mountain, desert and rock; of^ prevailing drought or complete sterility, broken rarely by fertile valleys; of dead volcanoes and sandy wastes; of excessive chemicals, dust, gravel and other inorganic matter. Only the lower valleys, bordering perennial streams, or more rarely some plateau on M'hich water can be brought from the mountains for irrigation, or still more rarely a green plat in some corner of the mountains Avhere there is an unusual amount of rain, or percolation of moist- ure from above, constitute the cultivable lands; all the rest is rugged mountain, rocky flat, gravel bed, barren ridge scantily clothed with sage brush, greasewood or bunch grass, or complete desert — the last coverino; at least one-third of the entire rco-ion. The causes of these deserts may be summed up under four heads : I. Drought. II. Elevation and consequent cold. III. Excess of inorganic matter, as rock, gravel, etc. IV. Excess of chemicals, such as soda, alkali and plants destroying salts. Generally more than one, and often all, of these causes com- bine; but for the convenient reference of the reader I will con- sider them in their order : I. Drought is the prevailing characteristic of all the country far west of the Missouri — increasing westward from that river till one has crossed to the Pacific slope. The causes of this west- ward increasing aridity are found in the greater elevation, the 52 A LITTLE SCIENCE. trend of the mountains and tlie direction of tlie prevailing winds. Look ujjon the map of the eastern hemisphere, and observe the alternations of desert and fertility between the parallels of 20° and 30° north, and note that the desert steadily increases as we go westward. The causes briefly stated are these : Tlie clouds, surcharged with moisture from the Pacific, are carried by the prevailing winds over China and Anam, with abundant showers; they are wrung dry, so to speak, in passing the high Himalayas, and float over southern Persia and Afghanistan without discharge. They gather again a little moisture from the Persian Gulf, and hence tiiere is rain a little way inland in Arabia; a little more water is obtained from the Bed Sea, and light showers sometimes fall in Egypt, whence they sweep over the whole length of the Sahara with- out a fertilizing shower. Thence across the Atlantic, loaded with moisture, the clouds yield immense rains uj)on tlie next intervening continent, producing the dense jungles and luxu- riant vegetation of tropical America. In like manner the sum- mer winds from the Pacific send in upon California heavy mists, which are caught and condensed by the Coast Range, Mhence the valleys opening toward the west are green through- out the year. Between the Coast Range and the Sierra Neva- das the great interior valley of California has rain in winter only when the moisture is wafted from the south, and east of that range the Great Basin is nearly all a complete desert, the rim of the inclosing mountains admitting only the clouds of highest range and least moisture from the south. Between that and Kansas still interposes the loftiest range of the Rocky Mountains, more completely shutting off the summer clouds and leaving all that elevated region, for three hundred miles east of the mountains, to depend upon the uncertain chance of winter snows, upon southeast winds and the percolation of moisture from higher basins and mountain hollows. Progress- ing thence eastward, we come more and more within the range of winds from the Gulf, and more into a region of moisture. Hence all Western Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota must suffer from frequent droughts, and the region as far east as West- ern Iowa and Minnesota occasionally' from the same cause. HIGH AND DRY. 53 II. The general elevation of the Great "West would alone render much of it unfit for agriculture. Let us for illustration take the Phitte Valley and general line of the Union Pacific. Omaha is nine hundred and sixty -six, and Cheyenne nearly six thousand feet above sea-level ; and throuo;h this long: ride of five hundred and sixteen miles there is a gentle and almost continuous up grade, averaging ten feet to the mile. In no place does it exceed thirty feet, while in two places it sinks to a level, and on two short distances there is a downgrade: the first on entering the Platte Valley from the hills just west of Omaha, and the second from Archer, a few miles east of Cheyenne, down into Crow Creek Valley. From a car window one may note a curious though very gradual and almost imperceptible change in soil and climate, and consequently in landscape and natural j)roductions. Four hundred miles west of Omaha we find a high, dry country, for the -most part fit only for pasturage, where frost may be looked for any month in the year. Wyoming contains 97,000 square miles, and not a foot of land less than 4000 feet hin-h. Colorado has about the average elevation of Wyoming, Denver being nearly on the level of Cheyenne. IManifestly the high plains of these two Territories can never be of value except for grazing. Utah, as reduced, contains over 60,000 square miles; but, except possibly a few of the sunken deserts of the south, the lowest valley is higher than the average summit of the Allegheny Mountains, the sur- face of the Salt Lake being 4250 feet above the sea. Of the 121,210 square miles in New Mexico, all are upwards of 3000 feet above the sea, except some small portions of the plains east of the Rocky Range, and the lower part of the Rio Grande valley. All of the Territory west of that river rises in a series of lofty plateaus, and Santa Fe, the capital, is so high that its summer temperature is about that of Quebec. Nevada has the same general level as Utah, but its principal towns are much higher than those of the latter, having been built by miners 54 COLD SUMMERS. CROSSING THE PLAINS. instead of agriculturists; and the smallest number of its citizens can find fertile land enough for a garden. With 98,000 square miles the State has about as much good land as three average counties in Ohio. Even in tlie most elevated regions considerable tracts are found with every element of fertility, but yielding only grass, every attempt to raise grain having failed. In Parley's Park, in the Wasatch Mountains, Heber Kimball cultivated wheat for several years ; it was in the flower by the first of September, and was cut off by the first frost. At Soda Springs, Idaho, the " Morrisite " Mormons tried for many years to raise crops, and only succeeded, and that but poorly, with potatoes ; they then turned their attention to cattle raising, in which they prospered. At the Navajo farms — in Arizona — I have seen icicles six inches long on the rocks, only 300 feet above the fields, on the 18th of June; and in 1871, when the Indians had with great labor brought forward a crop of corn, and j>lanted young orchards, on the night of May 31st a storm of sleet froze every plant ALKALI. 55 and tree solid to the ground. A similar experience has followed the attempt to cultivate the soil in most of these high localities; and if there were no other causes, elevation alone would render half the Far West unfit for the farmer. Nor is this a difficulty that can be overcome by any art of man. Those who talk so glibly of the reclamation of waste lands in the West must wait until nature flattens out the country, and brings it down into the region of warmer air, and more abundant moisture. Provi- dence seemingly did not intend that farming should be the leading interest of the Rocky Mountain region ; its true wealth is to be found in mining and grazing. III. Of barrenness caused simply by lack of soil little need be said. I have traveled for days together over ridges of gravel, or tra- versed hundreds of miles with a basis of little more tlian solid rock, or with barely soil enough for scrubby growths of pine; and generally throughout tliC Rocky Mountains, instead of being green as are the slopes of the Alleghenies, all the steeps are gray and bare. From the summit of the Sierra Madre in New Mexico, 400 miles westward, I saw no other rock than sandstone, which, disintegrating and blowing down upon the valleys, was slowly covering the fields of the "lost race" and obliterating what little fertility remained. IV. ALKALI is the popular name applied everywhere in the West to that bi-carbonate which whitens thousands of square miles of the interior plains between the Black Hills and the Sierras. East of the former it is often seen in quantity suffi- cient to appear like hoar frost upon the grass, or render barren a small plat of ground; but farther west it lies in vast beds, or mingled with the soil in such quantities as to poison the water, and destroy all vegetation. Gazing from a car window on tiie Union Pacific, somewhere not far west of the Platte crossing, the traveler is surprised to see flour or very white ashes, as he supposes, sowed in streaks and patches along the ground j and 56 WHITE DESERTS. STAGE CROSSING THE DESERT. liere and there in the fertile soil of the valleys a pale purple streak on the ground, completely bare of grass, shows the pre- sence of alkali. But west of Medicine Bow one finds it in the mass: for miles the country is of a dirty white complexion, and in dry weather tiie irritating dust powders the traveler till all races are of one hue. Where the trace is very slight, it can be "worked out " by cultivation ; but in general it destroys all plants except the hardy greasewood and sagebrush. For sixty miles on Bitter Creek, Wyoming, the soil is a mass of clay, or sand, and alkali — a horrible and irreclaimable desert which has made the place a byword. Nearly a hundred miles THE GREAT BASIN. 57 square of southern Idaho consists of a vast alkali plain, crossed only by stage routes; and in Xevada and Utah a single desert of "sand and soda" covers 30,000 square miles. Similar tracts are found in all the territories, notably the Jornada del Muerto, or "Journey of Death," in New Mexico, the "white desert" of Arizona, the "forty mile desert," of almost pure alkali, in Wyoming, the Salt Lake desert — 5000 square miles of sand, salt and alkali — and the central desert or basin of Nevada, in which are " lost " the Humboldt, Carson, Truckee, and Reese rivers, and a hundred smaller streams. On the stage routes across such tracts the animals labor through a cloud of dust and the coach drags heavily, the wheels often causing a dis- agreeable "cry" in the sand and soda, while the passengers endure as best they can the irritation to eye and nostril, and the slime formed upon the person by dust and sweat. This pene- trating alkaline dust sifts in at the smallest crevice, and even the clothing in a close valise is often covered with it. Salt is another ele- ment destructive to vegetation, but found in such excess only in the Great Basin. Just west of the Great Salt Lake is a tract of some five or six thousand square miles, which presents the general appearance of a dried salt marsh ; the subsoil is of sand and hard clay, mingled with flint and gravel, while the surface in the dry season dazzles and torments the eye with the glisten of salt and alkali. The Pacific Railway runs just north of this tract, and the old stage road crossed the narrowest part of it. For seventy milqs water is found in but one place, by digging; and in popular local phrase, "A jack-rabbit can't cross it without a haversack, while an immigrant crow sheds tears at the sight." So nuich for the bad features of the Great West : let us now NEEDS A HAVERSACK. 68 BUNCH-GRASS. consider what there may be of value in such a country. First to be noted among the redeeming features is the growth of bunch-grass, which is found in patches over a country at least a thousand miles square. Bunch-grass chiefly differs from the verdure of the East in that it never forms a continuous sod or green sward ; it grows in scattered clumps, six or eight to the square rod, or thicker where the locality is favorable. One can span a bunch at the roots, but above it spreads ; sometimes several bunches grow so as to form a clump a foot wide. It is never of a deep green, and for three-quarters of the year is a regular gray-brown ; hence an Eastern man might ride all day through rich pastures of it, and think himself in a complete desert. It gets its entire growth in about six weeks, some- time between January and July according to the locality. It then cures upon the ground, and stands through the year look- ing very much like bunches of broorasedge. It is as nutritious as ripe oats, the species with a white top, containing a small black seed, being particularly fattening. With it animals make journeys of a thousand miles without an ounce of grain ; with- out it, nine-tenths of America between meridians 100° and 120,° would be totally worthless. Probably the most disappointing feature in Rocky Mountain scenery, to all new comers, is the absence of a green landscape ; for with rare exceptions the traveler's eye does not rest in sum- mer upon an unvarying carpet of green as in the East. The bunch-grass is a pale green, or quite gray or yellow ; the small sage-brush is white, and the large variety blue, the grease wood is a dirty white, and the earth and rocks white, yellow or red ; hence the result is a neutral gray, which seems to shroud all creation in sober tints. One may ride all day through good bunch-grass pasture and his horse be walking in sand all the time; or through a tolerably rich country and never see an acre of that lively emerald which is the charm of an Oliio landscape. A plat of green sward is a rare sight in the Rocky Mountains ; but eastward, on the high plains, other grasses appear, changing by slow degrees to the heavy verdure of the Missouri Valley. But the true wealth of all that country is in its minerals. It DIVISIONS OF THE WEST. 59 is my belief that there is not a range in the Rocky Mountains in vvhicli paying minerals cannot be found somewhere. Every year valuable mines are discovered in places which had been given up as hopeless by men of science. Four years ago there was scarcely one in a hundred who believed in the mineral wealth of Utah ; now her developed mines are worth $25,000,000. With more experience, more thorough prospect- ing, and improved modes of working, every part of that vast region will be found rich in some kind of minerals. The agricultural wealth of the country has been vastly over- rated; its mineral wealth equally underrated. Two or three more railroads across the continent are needed, to transport machinery and supplies, and then we can say that our mineral development has begun; what has been done will appear as nothing. Of timber all the West east of the Sierra Nevada has barely enough to supi)ly local necessity ; of the immense forests on that range I will treat in the proper place. The Great West falls naturally into five grand divisions: 1. The Plains. 2. The Rocky Mountains. 3. The Colorado Basin. 4. The Great Basin — also known as Fremont's and the In- terior Basin. 5. The Pacific Slope. The term *' plains" is often, improperly, applied to the whole country between the Missouri and the Pacific; it belongs only to that vast inclined plane stretching from the river, from four to six hundred miles, to the foot of the mountains, and extend- ing from Texas far into British America. Ascending this gentle grade anywhere between parallels 35° and 45°, nearly the same general features are observable. Let the traveler start at the eastern border and go westward, on any section line, he will for fifty miles traverse a region rich in all the elements of plant growth ; the bottoms of inexhaustible fer- tility, the slopes equal to the Miami Valley, and the ridges generally good for wheat, and always most excellent pasture. 60 * THE HIGH PLAINS. Along the streams is found a heavy growth of elm, walnut, hack berry and cot ton wood ; on the slopes and in the valleys, dense grass, almost the height of man, and over all the ridges, rich prairie grasses mingled with a few other plants, and beauti- fully varied by thousands of bright-hued flowers, mingling the colors of the temperate and semi-tropical regions. Westward up the streams we first notice a disappearance of the forest growth ; the timber shrinks to a mere fringe along the water's edge, or to stunted and gnarled bushes, contending feebly for life against increasing drought and annually recurring prairie fires. Walnut and ash disappear, and of large timber we find only the Cottonwood, box-elder and willow. A hundred miles out, west of the Neosho or near the Verdigris, a marked change is observable; only tlie valleys are first class land; the slopes are but medium, and the ridges full of rock and yielding scant grass. Fifty miles farther, on the slopes and ridges verdure in its strict meaning disappears; buffalo grass and gama grass take its place, and these show a tendency to bunch together, leaving large portions of the surface bare. The land rises into long ridges stretching away swell on swell as far as the eye can reach — as if a heaving ocean had suddenly become firm, fixed earth — and immense pampas spread away, alternating flint and gravel with strips of wiry, curly grass, or, at long intervals, a protected growth of stunted shrubs. The bright flowers of the lower valley disappear; those that remain appear to have lost color and odor; the blue larkspur alone retains its brightness; the wild sunflower and yellow saffron become dust- hued and dwarfish, while milkweed and resinweed sustain a sort of dying life, and cling with a sickly hold to the harsh and forbidding soil. Still the immediate valleys are rich; still occasional depressions or oval vales along the streams contain a few thousand acres of fertility, and half or more of the upland furnishes scant pasturage. The traveler, after toiling for hours over half-barren ridges, stunted grass-])lats, or acres of bare gray rock or dead clay, firids his road leading down to some stream, and from a rocky point beholds spreading for miles an oasis, beautiful by nature and delightful by comparison, watered DIFFICULTIES OF TRAVEL. 61 by a clear stream, bordered by rich meadows, and marking the course of a long and narrow tongue of rich land. Here are the buffalo and antelope; all settlements are far behind, and the plains in all their vastness are ai'ound us. Three hundred miles out and we are on the Great American Desert; it exists, all doubts to the contrary notwithstanding, thouirh more than half of its surface east of the mountains is of some value for grazing. Now appear depressed basins, and valleys with vast patches of white saline matter dried upon the soil; short stunted grass, half-white with salt, saline plants resembling many upon the seashore, and vast flats and marshes, drying in the summer to beds of stifling dust. Travel over the high country with teams is there an impossibility. AVo must follow some stream for grass and water, and hence from time immemorial, aborigine, trapper, and emigrant have had three great routes across the plains — the Platte Valley, the Smoky Hill, and the Arkansas routes. The aborigine adopted these routes from the buffalo ; the hunter followed the Indian ; the emigrant was piloted by the hunter, and on the last two lines following came the railroads, obedient to the same neces- sities for water and a smooth route. Leaving these narrow routes as we approach the mountains, we find foothills and ridges extending far eastward on the ])lains, cut by narrow gullies hundreds of feet in depth, with jjcrpendlcular sides — a series of covered ways, equal to the best devised by military skill, admirable hiding places and lines of approach for marauding Kiow^as or murderous Arrapahoes. Between the streams which create and mark out the lines of travel, extend broken ridges, crossed by the traveler only on low "divides," where the demands of commerce have made a crossing an imperative necessity. There the discouraged team- ster contends equally with heat-, thirst, and fatigue; grows old before his time in an unequal struggle with nature; toils over stony ridges destitute of grass and water, or labors through beds of noxious alkali, rising in ever wind-obeying clouds to excoriate his nostrils, weaken his eyes, or embitter the scant streams which are his only resource. 62 SOME GOOD LAND. Toiling through this last and worst stage of the plains the traveler enters among the foothills and first valleys of the Kooky Mountains, and finds renewed signs of fertility, but of a totally different kind from that along the Missouri. But we leave a full descrijition of the other divisions of the West until we reach them in the course of travel. Let not the reader hastily conclude that there is no good land in all the region I have outlined. There is considerable in scattered patches, though I have been more particular in describing the bad. The object of this chapter is to tell what you will not otherwise learn. The good land you will cer- tainly hear of from the magnificent circulars of railroad and emigration companies. MT. BAKER AND THE CASCADE RANGE, FKOM WHITBY^S ISLAND, AV. T. CHAPTEE III. FIVE WEEKS IN NEBRASKA. Omaha — Glorious anticipitations — Prosaic facts — A bit of history — Florence — An invasion of place hunters — Disappointment — On the road to Fontanelle — Elkhorn Valley — Lost on the prairie — " Any port in a storm " — Down to the Platte — Fremont — Down Platte Valley — Intense heat — Want of domestic economy — Pomantic hash — Victuals and poetry — Bovine apotheosis — Farm- ing in Nebraska — Room for three hundred thousand farmers — Climate — Society — " Professional starvation " — Through Sarpy County — Youthful con- nubiality — Artificial groves — Increase of rain-fall — Omaha politics — " Bilks " — " Hunting for work, — hoping to not find it." fi.REAT is Omaha, George Francis Train and the Credit Mobilier! Such was the shibboleth of the Oraahas when _ J/ I first made their acquaintance in June, 1868. He who '-p^ was not prepared to swear by this local trinity >vas jocu- larly advised to emigrate or make his will. At the pre- sent writing the second is for the tenth time a " martyr to prin- ciple,"— nobody knows to what principle, — viewing the world through crossbars, and the third has become a national scandal, from which an odor of corruption pervades the whole land ; but the first still survives, and with a more solid basis of prosperity. It took me two hours to discover that there was no situation waitins: for me in Omaha. For some weeks before reaching the city I had continually heard, "It's the great city of the near future," "The heart of the Continent beats there," etc. ; and in walking twice along Farnham Street I encountered some fifty persons looking for "light, easy and genteel employment." But after a few days' stay I was convinced that no place in America had been "so well lied about," as no place had been exposed to a wider range of praise and blame. Tliat the city had a future and a bright one was certain; but that five men were dazzled in the hope of that future, and destined to lose 63 64 PEIMITIYE TIMES. time and money waiting for it, to every one that made a success, seemed equally certain. Let us on this jjoint indulge in a little history. Omaha was laid out in 1854, soon after the organization of Nebraska Territory, and for several years gave little promise of future greatness; in fact, it was quite outrun by the little settle- ment of Florence, six miles north, of which the Omahas now speak patronizingly as a " very pretty suburb," destined in their sau- o;uIne view to be the Spring Grove or Brook- lyn to their future Go- tham. Florence was the original "Winter- Quarters " of the Mor- mons, where they ar- rived late in 184G, after their expulsion from Nauvoo and journey through Iowa. Hun- dreds of them died there of actual want ; some were poisoned by eating wild roots, and the Flo- rence graveyard con- tains the remains of seven hundred of these victims. J. K. Mitchell, founder of Florence, induced the Legislature to finish one ses- sion there — after that body had broken up in a row at Omaha. Soon after Mitchell died, and his town ceased to be a rival. Omaha contained, in 18G0, two thousand people; in 18G4, four thousand; then the Union Pacific got fairly under way, and in three years the population doubled. A census taken by the city authorities a few days before my arrival, returned the popu- lation at 17,600, and the next year they made it 25,000. One 'WANTED : LIGHT AND GENTEEL EMPLOYMENT." SITUATIONS AVANTED. 65 year thereafter came a fearful cpiclemic and swept away 12,000 of these — at least, that strikes inc as the easiest explanation, for the National Census of 1870 only credited Oinaiia with some 13,000 people. Council Bluffs, which had never claimed more than 12,000, suffered but little reduction from the census epi' -,^ ...:^, /"^ SCENE NEAR FONTANELLE. July 9th. — Bear away westward toward Fontanelle,and through a most delightful country, wandering at random among the far- mers, and boring them with questions on climate, soil, etc. The immigration here this year is great, and composed largely of the best cUiss of foreigners. Vacant lands have advanced in price from three to five dollars an acre; and farmers are buying land near their homesteads as fast as they can command the means, in the assured belief that it will double in value in a year or two. This is accounted the " garden spot of Nebraska." If the country only had plenty of timber it would be perfect. And the settlers are fast remedying that lack; for every farm has an artificial grove, and most of them are now old enough to add great beauty to the landscape. In places, large plats which have been planted ten or twelve years present the appearance LOST ON THE PRAIRIE. 69 of natural forest. The country is gently rolling and the views very fine. At every turn in ,the road I exclaim, "Surely this cannot be excelled," and yet the next view as I move towards Fontanelle seems still more beautiful. July 10th. — A day about Fontanelle, which is a neat, country village, elegantly situated on a commanding ridge above the Elk horn river. Turning southwest late in the afternoon, I lost my way on the unbroken prairie north of the Platte, and soon after sundown reached a farndiouse which looked very uninviting by starlight, but was my only chance within ten miles. To my earnest in- quiry for fresh water, the settler answered that he had dug two wells, one seventy feet deep and got no water, but struck sand which "caved so he could not curb." This is the only such case I have found in the State. Sometimes they must dig deep, but they get as fine water as I ever tasted. The family were using water from the creek, of which one tinful satisfied and dis- gusted me. To my request for lodging he answered that I would find hard accommodations, but he never turned anybody away at night. No mention was made of supper, and I was conducted at once by a ladder to the upper story, where I turned in for the night on a shuck bed, and soon forgot in sleep all ray troubles but thirst. But oh, the visionary springs that tantalized me, the crystal streams that flowed in inviting, tormenting beauty through my dreams. How often did I see the " cot of my father, the dairy house nigh it, and the old oaken bucket that hung in the well," and wake, just as the treacherous water fled from my lips. July llth. — Daylight revealed a situation. My host's wife was insane — as he expressed it, "clean daft" — and his six chil- dren, ranging from one year old to ten, were growing up like wild bulrushes. A sort of breakfast was prepared, and I forced a scant ration of bread and coifee, but it was a signal triumph of a catholic stomach over a protesting nose. My host was going to Fremont, " to git his sod plow sot and sharped," and I took a seat in his wagon, and in an hour reached 70 FREMONT. the summit of the slope leading down to the Phitte Valley. As I viewed the panorama of beauty my heart swelled at the glory and magnificence of the scene. Far as the eye could pierce to the east and west spread the plain, its surface covered with tall grass, now waving and sparkling" in the morning sunshine; along the opposite bluff ran the broad Platte fringed with tim- ber, and on the near bank, some five miles distant, the town of Fremont sho\ved like a toy village half buried in the green car- pet. Up the valley from the east rumbled tiie morning train on the Union Pacific, while far to the westward a band of Pawnees were just passing out of sight, seeming on the level plain, to fade into the blue horizon. The whole scene was em- blematic of progress, breathing the spirit of borderland poetry. I wanted to shout or sing. Eagerly I wished for a companion to talk in harmony with the scene and my feelings. But the man at my side was utterly unconcerned. He had seen it a thousand times, and Gallio-like, cared for none of these things. From the bluff the road across the ])laiu looked like a deep ditch with green banks, but this appearance was due to the rank grass reaching on each side nearly as high as the horses' backs. Entering between these green banks, the hitherto apathetic far- mer suddenly seized his whip and applied it vigorously to his team, shouting at every blow till they were in a gallop, while the Avas:on made fearful lurches, and our seatboard rattled over it in every direction. I bounced about the wagon-box, exerting all my ingenuity to save my limbs, and as soon as I could get breath shouted that there was no occasion for such hurry, to take it easy. His only reply in the intervals of plying the whip, was to point to the tall grass, from which I then observed pour- ing by hundreds, a peculiar sort of clipper-built fly, with green Iieads, black bodies, and yellow shoulder-straps, which were trying to settle on the horses, and only prevented by the latter's speed, I held on in desperation, and our speed did not slacken for two miles, until we reached the rising ground and got among the cultivated fields near Fremont. There, while I gathered myself up and took stock of abrasions and cuticular losses, the DOWN THE PLATTE. 71 farmer killed the few flies which had stuck, each one leaving a bright red droj) of blood on the frantic animals. July 12th. — Spent Sunday at Fremont, a flourishing western Yankee town of 1200 people. No church or Sabbath school that I can hear of, but plenty of loafers on the hotel porch all day, sociable and communicative, discussing the hot weather, the grasshoj)pers, and the "craps." All agree that the " hoppers" are coming, and that it will be " mighty tough on the new set- tlers as ha'int got their claims paid for yet.'' Late p. m. walked five miles down the valley. July 13th. — The " hoppers" have come, but fortunately only a light invasion, and doing very little injury. A few fields of wheat in this valley are " nipped," and passengers say that for two or three miles on Papillion, nearly half the crop is destroyed. Travel slowly towards Omaha through the most fertile country I ever saw. Farmers estimate their wheat will average thirty bushels per acre. Corn still looks thrifty in spite of long con- tinued heat and drought. Thermometer stood at 100° for four hours to-day. Consequently I stood not at all, but lay by on the porch of a farmer's house till 4 p. M. Stopped for sujiper in Big Papillion Valley, at an inviting frame dwelling sur- rounded by fine fields of corn and wheat, from which I argued good cheer. My disappointment was terrible. Tea that drew my mouth awry, without milk ; butter, that defied me in self- conscious strength ; pork, the rankest that ever smelt to heaven ; and bread that defied my geology to classify. After due trial I ventured to assign it to the palaeozoic period. It lacerated my mouth ; it would have killed rats. For this entertainment (?) • my host required " six bits." Left in an ill-humor, and proceeded to criticize the western farmer's style of living. Why do so many of our people poison themselves — even those who are able to do better — when good food is just as cheap? How many families in Indiana and Illinois are cursing the climate for evils which three months' attention to the chemistry of common life would relieve ? Know ye not, that what a man eateth that he is ? Science has demonstrated that we are totally remade, bone and blood, brain i 2 GASTEONOMICAL. and muscle, every seven years. Thus our present selves are ever scooping up our future selves with knife, fork and spoon. And have not I, A. B., a vital interest in what the A. B. of seven years hence shall be ? Fried pork, watery potatoes, sloppy coffee, and sad bread ! How can the Hoosier or Sucker retain his self-respect when he remembers his component elements? The classic Greeks did well to locate the scjul in the stomach. I am not so sure but the enlightened moderns will return to that philosophy. The greatest piiilosophers to a man were lovers of good eating. Man, dominating the whole animal kingdom, selects only its noblest representatives as worthy to sink their individuality in his, by giving their meat and muscle to become part of his corporation. The highest compliment man can pay the ox is to eat him. By so doing he demonstrates that the bovine is worthy to be absorbed in tiie human ; and if we may believe that animal has a soul, how cheerful to reflect that it meets its proper apotheosis by adoption into the human spirituality. Viewed in that light these animals are indeed im- mortal ; they survive in us, their federal head and final repre- sentative. When a man says of the idol of his soul, " I love her well enough to eat her," what does he mean but this : that he has so intense an appreciation of her excellence that he would literally absorb it, swallow up as it were her rare combination of soul and body — beautiful simile! — translate her, so to speak, and make her a part of himself in fact as well as in figure. In this philosophical liglit, the lover's tender suggestion of amatory can- nibalism is really the most delicate of respectful compliments. Favor is deceitful, and beauty's only skin deep, but there is no disccunt on boned turkey and scalloped oysters. I have no sympathy with that class of transcendentalists, fortunately small, who deprecate any deep interest in the mere pleasure of eating. " We may live without sentiment, music and art, We may live witlioiit poetry, pictures or books, But civilized man cannot live without cooks." Having thus grumbled myself into good nature, I sauntered BEAUTIES OF NEBRASKA. 73 on towards the city, stopping late in the evening with a prosper- ous farmer in Little Papillion Valley. July 14th. — A beautiful artificial grove of twenty acres on this farm, shows that, whatever be the true theory as to the origin of these prairies, the soil and climate have the capacity to pro- duce timber in abundance. My host says the trees are made to grow twice as fast for the first three years by cultivating corn among them. Most are cottonwood and soft maple. The locusts alonsc the road have attained a foot in thickness in eleven years. Nebraska has the land, the air, and the water; but lacks somewhat the timber and rock, though the last abounds iu a few localities. Reached Omaha to-day, and now sum up a few notes on rural Nebraska : For the width of the State and a hundred and fifty miles back from the Missouri, almost every foot of land is adapted for the comfort and sustenance of man. Thirty thousand square miles of the most fertile land in the world has even now (1873) but a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. There is abund- ant room for at least three hundred thousand farmers and stock- growers. Vacant lands can be purchased at from three to fifteen dollars per acre, according to location, the vicinity of railroads, etc. I had offers of as fine land as I ever saw, in the Papillion Valleys, within ten or twenty miles of the Union Pacific, for eight dollars per acre ; but it has no doubt doubled in price since. On the Elkhorn, above Fontanelle, is still much vacant land to be had very cheap. In the southern part of the State, between Lincoln and the eastern border, are large sections of railroad land to be had at moderate prices, on annual payments for seven years. Any live Yankee farmer can make the pay- ments on the land after the second year. Farther back lands are still cheaper, with fine facilities for grazing. On the slopes and in the valleys, the soil is continuous of the same quality for six feet below the surface. Immediately under this, lies a bed of soft, rather moist sand, which probably causes the soil to remain moist so long. In spite of the long droughts of 1868, the crops were very fine. ^yhile the valleys and 74 HEALTH AND CLIMATE. slopes are best for corn, the uplands produce better wheat. After the hard freeze of winter, with no thaws, the soil pulver- izes finely in summer. It is never water soaked ; consequently never " bakes " or clods. The best farmers do not plow the laud in spring for wheat, after it has been cultivated two or three years; but merely harrow in the seed. Later experience in Nebraska convinced me that the State averaged as many clear days in winter as any part of America. I grumbled considerably about the wind at first ; it caused a giddy feeling in my head. But after I got over the neuralgia, bronchitis, catarrh, and six or eight other complaints I brought from Indiana, I rather liked it; and now I quite prefer a region with a ' ontinuous gentle breeze of six or eight miles an hour. My obs3;vation in the West has led me to conclude that regions with si ?ady winds are the most healthful. Soci.'ty in Nebraska will average. There is no section Mdiere they V ill murder a man outright because he is a Christian ; and none where they will disfranchise him if he is not. The standard of popular intelligence is high. The people are the most enterprising classes from those Eastern States, which have good public schools. The school system is equal to that of any State in the Union. So, on the whole, if you are native to any climate north of latitude thirty-five degrees, and have any "get up" about you, and can and will work, there's a show for you in rural Nebraska. As for professionals — well, most of the tow^ns have doctors and lawyers to all eternity, and insurance agents till you can't rest. Omaha had, in 1868, fifty-three attorneys: business, I should say, for about six. However, for an enterprising young man, without any capital to speak of, and just beginning a pro- fession, it offers as fine a field for successful starvation as any place I know. Finding at Omaha a dozen or more letters from old friends inquiring about Nebraska lands, I again started afoot, this time toward the southern part of tlie State. For a few miles below Omaha the country may be called hilly ; then it sinks by gentle slopes to the Platte Valley, and thence rolling prairie extends A VENTURESOME YOUTH. 75 to the Kansas border. Traveled for the first day through a fine wheat region in Sarpy County, the fiirmers everywhere at work, but complaining much of the intense heat. Where I stopped for dinner there had been, the previous day, two cases of sunstroke, but neither seemed likely to prove fatal. Instead of the breeze generally prev'ailing on the prairie there was a dead calm, sultry and oppressive. At sundown I turned aside to an humble cabin flanked by a pretentious stable. Found no one at home but a girl and boy as I supposed, of whom seeking hospitality I enquired for the man of the house. An audible smile greeted me, and the lad replied that he was "the only man o' the house there was about." Further conversation developed the fact, that this youthful pair had been married ten months, and still lacked six weeks of nine- teen and sixteen years respectively. The girl-matron, " reck- oned she could get me something to eat, an' I could sleep in the barn-loft with brother Perry." Under the influence of a cup of tea she became more than social, stating that " Ike's folks was much agin the match, but Ike was a com in' out to pre-empt, and swore he'd have a woman to help him." I gazed at the young husband with that admiration the timid always feel for the brave. They " was married in Iowa, and both worked for one farmer three months to get money to pay for their things, then came right out an' pre-empted." Then she turned questioner, and put me in the witness-box : Where was I born and raised ? Didn't I like this country better than Injiana? And finally, after a pause, and with a sudden jerk of the head as if she had forgot- ten something important, " What do you do with your wife while you're trampin' round lookin' at the country?" I told her I had no wife, at which she was somewhat taken aback, but recovering handsomely, in a minute or two returned to the charge by asking why I had never married. I answered that I had hardly thought I was old enough, and no more questions were asked. I hud her there. Darkness came, and with it dense swarms of musquitoes from the neighboring bayous of the Missouri and Platte. 76 SMUDGE. SCENE 2S^EAK PAPILLION, KEBBASKA. The married boy ventured a remark that " Some 'uii had told him a muskeeter only lived one day, but he reckoned not; for they come up that holler by the fillion, and he wa9 keen to swear that some big ones come back every day for a week." " Smudges" were lighted about the yard, and the house was enveloped in a cloud of smoke which soon silenced the cozening tormentors. "Brother Perry" then led tiie way, carrying an old kettle containing a "smudge," to the stable; we ascended to the loft by an outside ladder, and retired. The bed had a maximum of cord to a minimum of feathers, and I soon found that we had "jumped a claim" which the original squatters were determined not to vacate. Though small, they were nu- merous and unanimous, and enforced squatter law with blood- thirsty zeal ; so, after tossing and battling till midnight, every RAIX AND TIMBER. 77 incli of my cuticle in a fever, I rose with a full appreciation of Byron's beautiful line • " No sleep till morn," and sat by a "smudge" till daylight. Thence south westward for a few days, I found the country about as that west of Omaha, but with more and cheaper vacant land. Every settler had an artificial grove of from ten to twenty acres. It is a frequent subject of remark in Indiana, that cutting the timber and clearing up the country is slowly tending to dry up the streams; that springs "go dry every summer which never did before." But here exactly the reverse jihenomena are presented. It is supposed that breaking up the land allows it to absorb more moisture than it could in the ])rairie state ; and the settlers tell me that breaking up a hun- dred acres of sod will renew an old spring, and branches are starting in gullies which have been dry for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Tiie oldest i)ioneers add, that the fall of rain in Western Nebraska and Kansas has doubled within the memory of man. I returned to Omaha to find it hot, physically and politically. The campaign of 1868 inaugurated; the days were too sultry for politics, but the nights were made hideous by party meet- ings. General Grant and party, including Generals Sherman and Sheridan, arrived from the West, and fifteen thousand people turned out to welcome them. Omaha then had a "float- ing population" worth studying. It was the half-way place between the East and the AVest. Thousands started for the mountains, got to Omaha, got out of money, and stopped dis- heartened. Thousands were started home from the mountains and got to the city in the same impecunious condition. Daily the tide of emigration rolled in from the East, and passed on to the Far West, leaving here a deposit of its worthless materials; and daily the refluent tide rolled back from the mountains, leaving a larger deposit of more worthless materials. The streets were crowded, but the crowds did not indicate a corre- sponding amount of money. Nineteen hotels and restaurants 78 ^ FLOATEES." were in operation, and at every one of them "bilks" abounded. The floating class were in just that condition when men will steal or beg their provisions, but carefully save their money to buy whiskey. A thousand idlers were sitting about Omaha complaining of "hard times," and cursing the country, while in the rural districts the farmers were hunting in all directions for help, and oifering three dollars a day for harvesting and hay- ing. Verily something was wrong : " The chain and the bucket were not hitched together." CHAPTEE IV. ON THE UNION PACIFIC. Up the Platte Valley — Beauty by moonlight ; barrenness by day — Getting on to the desert— North Platte—" The gentle gazelle " — " Dog-town " — Not dogs, but rodents — " Indians ahead " — The dangerous district — Crossing the plains in 1866 — " The noble Red Man " — Cheyenne — Vigorous reduction of the popu- lation — Black Hill — Sherman — Down to Laramie — The Alkali Desert — Benton — A beautiful summer resort ! — Manners and morals (?) — Bravery of tJie impecunious — Murder and mob — Vigilantes — Murderer rescued by the military and escapes — Amusements — "^Big Tent " — ■" Now then, gentlemen, the ace is your winning card " — " Cappers " and Victims — No fairness in gambling. " The Yankee's place of heaven and rest Is found a little farther West." )|-ether too much, and by morning usually had him jammed tight against the hind wdieel. At noon of September 4th, we entered the head of Echo Caiion, by way of the round valley below Cache Cave, a beau- tiful and romantic place. Two days we consumed in the joiu-ney down P^cho, sometimes down almost in' the bed of the stream, and sometimes hundreds of feet up the rocky sides, where the road wound in and out on the face of the projecting ridges. Gangs of Mormon laborers were scattered along the canon, con- structing the grade for the railroad, on Brigham Young's con- tract. At noon of the 6th, we emerged into Weber Canon, and turned southward on the old stage road. There we found nu- merous Mormon settlements, and the first stone-built houses and irrowiu"- crops I had seen for five hundred miles. The dwel- lini^s would have a[)peared poor and mean indeed in the States, but to us, just from the hot and barren plains, the valley seemed like a section of paradise. Next night we formed corral near Bill Kimball's hotel, in Parley Park, a round green valley al- most on top of the Wasatch Mountains; and on the 8th com- plctetl half the ])assage down the wild and ragged gorge known as Parley's Canon. BEARING "ZIOX. 107 Late afternoon on tlic 9th Ave emerged from Parley's C'nruTii upon the "Eastern Bench," and saw the great valley of the Jor- dan and Salt Lake spreading seventy miles to the northwest. Twenty miles west the Oqnirph Range glowed in the clear aii-, a shining mass of bine and wliite; Great Salt Lake extended far as the eye could reach to the northward, its surface level as in a dead calm, and glistening in the light of the declining sun, while to our right tiie "City of the Saints" as yet appeared but a white spot on the view. A few miles to our left the Canon of the Jordan seemed to close, giving the impression that that stream poured down from the hills; and down the centre of the valley the river and bordering marshes extended like bands of silver. We were nearing " Zion " at last, and Mormon and Gentile were equally delighted that the long drive of four huno next twenty years, unless the number of members is increased every decade ; for the country at large is increasing in population as fast, if not faster, than either Nevada or Utah. The proposed State would be a mining commonwealth, whose laws M'ould apply equally. Mormonism out of the way, its people would be homogeneous, with interests substantially the same in every section, and with the railroads already done and in a fair way for completion communication would be easy, as the population is located only around the edges, leaving the cen- ter uninhabited. The Mormons are much praised for what they have done in Utah ; but it seems to me a people who were so absurd as to settle in such a country, \vhen empires of good land were beg- ging for inhabitants, have too little judgment to be relied on for anything. We can scarcely respect the general intellect of a man who sfpiats in a mud-hole, though we may wonder at his energy in getting out. As we go towards the southwest all cultivable land disappears. The "Great Desert" of Nevada and Utah covers some 30,000 square miles, and is succeeded by the sunken deserts which ex- tend down to the Colorado. Most notable among these is Death Valley, so called from the loss of an emigrant train, of which the following account is given : " It is said to be lower than the level of the sea, and wholly destitute of water. The valley is some fifty miles long by thirty in breadth, and save at two points it is wholly encircled by mountains, up whose steep sides it is impossible for any but ex- pert climbers to ascend. It is devoid of vegetation, and shadow of bird or beast never darkens its white, glaring sand. In the early days trains of emigrants bound for California passed, under the direction of guides, to the south of Death Vallev, by what is known as the old '■ Mormon road.' In the year 1850, a 152 APPEARANCE OF THE DEAD. ]:u'ge train with some three hundred and fifty emigrants, mostly from Illinois and Missouri, came south from Salt Lake, guided by a Mormon. When near Death Valley a dissension broke out in a part of the train, and twenty-one families appointed one of their number a leader and broke off from the main party. The leader detern)ined to turn due west ; so with tiie jieople and wagons and flocks, he traveled for three days, and then de- scended into the broad valley whose treacherous miraf/e prom- ised water. They reached the center, but only the white, glar- ing sand, boiuided by the scorched peaks, met their gaze on every hand. Around the valley they wandered, and one by one the men died, and the panting flocks stretched themselves in death under the hot sun. Then the children crying for water, died at their mothers' breasts, and with swollen tongues and burnina: vitals, the mothers followed. Waffon after wagon was abandoned, and strong men tottered, and raved and died. After a week's wandering, a dozen survivors found some water in the hollow of a rock in the mountains. It lasted but a short time, when all jierished but two, who, through some miraculous means, got out of the valley, and followed the trail of their for- mer companions. Eighty seven persons, with htmdreds of ani- mals, perished in this fearful place, and since then, the name of Death Valley has been a}iplied to it. Mr. Spears says when he visited it after the lapse of eighteen years, he found the wagons still complete, iron works and tires bright, and the shriveled skeletons lying in many places side by side." CHAPTER IX. THEOUGH NEVADA. Out of a place — A wanderer again — Tired of Utah — Westward — Promontory— » Salty district — Queer calculations — Down the Humboldt — Elko — White Pine — "John Chinamen" — Humboldt Canon — Desert — Reese River — -"Sinks" — Morning at Truckee — Beauty of the Sierras — Eureka! — Donner and Bigler Lakes — AVestern Slope — " Forty miles of snow sheds" — Mining towns — Cape Horn — Sublime scenery — Scientific engineering— Swiftly downward — Scenery of the Pacific slope — Out upon the plain — Tae California autumn — Suburbs of Sacramento. RETURNED from Sevier to Corinne to find the affairs of the Reporter in a condition of beautiful uncertainty. Both my partners had previously sold out to a new man, who had, in my brief absence, quietly installed another editor, without the little formality of consulting me. The " Josephite" Mormons were just then gaining a little groun^l in Utah, and it was proposed to make the paper a sort of " Josei)hite organ," which did not at all suit me. After ten days of fruitless effort to compromise our views, I gave up the contest, put my share of tiie concern " on sale," and was out of employment. There remained nothing for me but the uncertain chances of travel, so I renewed my determination of the pre- vious year and started westward. Utah is a favorite place for the curious, but one grows tired even of Utah, with all its curiosities of nature and religion ; its hot springs and hotter passions ; its pure air and water and impure ethics; its lofty mountains and low conceptions of human nature ; its social perversions, blood-mixtures, ignorance and priestcraft. All these charms could not always interest, and on the afternoon of September 23d, 1869, I took the train westward, determined to see how the tide of human life moved on — 153 154 SALINE BAYOUS. " 'Mid sage-brush in Nevada State, Where silver-miners congregate." Reaching Promontory, still the junction of Union and Cen- tral, by dark, I was sui'prised, not very agreeably, to find that my fame had preceded me. All the "sports" seemed to know me at sight, which I could not account for till a friend handed me an old copy of the Cincinnati Commercial, and therein I saw my former letter, containing a description by no means flattering of this same " Robbers' Roost," and a j)artial expose of the little games practised here. But one copy had reached the place, and that had been handed around and read as long as it would hold together, causing a dangerous mixture of wrath and mirthfulness. An ol