Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1917 — LETTERS FROM OUR READERS [ARTICLE]

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS

Sundance, Wyoming, August 19. F. E- Babcock. Rensselaer. Indiana: Have been somewhat dilatory in writing my “next ’’ but will give at this time a brief account of the xSohtinuatiph" of our journey as to 'scenery, agriculture and general appearance of the country and cities through which we passed. We left Elwood. Nebraska,' on the Ihth and returned to Holdrege, where we took the train bn the main line of the Burlington for Denver, where we arrived at 7:2') a. m. the morning of the 14th. all feeling , fine and’ ready for a day’s, sight-seeing. Denver is a nice, clean city, situated at the foot of the mountains, and. at this time is filled with tourists from all parts of the country, many of them traveling via auto and .'being equipped with tents and -camping .outfits, and. appear to be having enjoyable' times. We first went to the Daniels & Fisher's tower, where we got a bird’s-eye view of the city, and it was an imposin’ sight as we could see oyer rhe entire city: see its streets and avenues running at almost every angle: its parks, of which there r- a . its‘fine business blocks; the state capitol; its tine residences with their well-kept lawns, and last but not least, the :nion depot,, which is one. of the / finest we have; ever seen: The .tower from which we got this view is a nineteen-story structure erected on the corner of a business block and is of itself one of the prime attractions of the city. The proprietors of the block, who conduct a department store.,business.'issue passes which entitles the holder to go- to the top via elevator. which is taxed to the limit much of the time,. - -

As we neared the city we .passed the stockyards. ' where . we. had a ‘ fairly good view Of them, and while , this was early in the morning there J were quite a number of cattle, horses and sheep in the pens, indicating that this is a live stock market of considerable importance, but’-a rather miniature affair in comparison with the yards at Chicago. In the afternoon our party divided. Reuben and his wife making an auto trip oyer the Lookout mountains, on the summit of which they saw the grave of Buffalo Bill, which is marked so that' all pass-; | ersby may be sure and have their, j attention called to it. They ret ported a very enjoyable trip ex- | eept .that Mrs. Reuben said that the, altitude they reached inter- ; sered somewhat with her respiraf tory organs, many persons being simnlarly affected when first reaching very high altitudes. Myself and wife went out to the •city park and museum of natural : history, where we enjoyed several hours viewing the park and its many attractions. In the center ot the park is a beautiful lake, comi Prising perhaps fifteen to twenty acres, the water of which is as clear as crystal, and at the western end is a large bathing house. One thing' the., park seems to be lacking is flowers, of which there are very few. But the lake is surrounded by well-kept lawns, dotted ■ here and therewith clumps ofi many kinds of small shrubbery hs well as many large trees, making very inviting shade.

But what interested us the most was the museum. It is in a large, substantial stone building at the eastern end of the park and situated upon quite an elevation,- and the admittance is free. But no one is allowed to take a camera or kodak inside the building.' l We do not know why they object to having pictures taken of the exhibits. The management must have some good reason. The exhibits are composed of almost all kinds of nature’s handiwork. Many specimens of animated nature, which have passed through the taxidermist’s hands, are on display. They consist of numerous kinds of animals as well as of the feathered tribes. But perhaps what interested us the most was the mineral display. There is mineral of every kind. I presume, known to the world. Not only of the Western country, as we might suppose of a state institution. but specimens from all European as well as other foreign countries. There were exhibits from the eastern - states' and we saw many specimens from our own HOosier state, most of them from near Crawfordsville. There were a number of skeletons of extinct animals and part of one Which I- cannot pass without special mention. I cannot recall the name as I had never heard of such an animal ever being in existence. ■The skeleton is not’ complete, but among the parts found is the thigh bone, which will measure fully five feet in length and at the ends fully twelve inches in diameter. These parts were found in Colorado. It would be impossible for me to describe the various exhibits of rock formations, stalectites, minerals in natural and refined condition and the thousand and one other things to be seen here, but will say in passing to any on visiting Denver, by no means, fail to visit this museum as you will see there in one day what it would take la world wide journey to see if each specimen was viewed in its native country. So much for Denver. As” our trip to Denver was made mostly in the night we saw nothing of the country through which we passed until ; we reached ’ Fort Morgan, about sixty miles east of the city. This is in an irrigated

district and is devoted principally to the production of alfalfa and sugar beets, both of -which appeared to do extremely well. Much of the land lying too high for Irrigation is planted to navy beans’ and they appear to indicate a very good yield. The part of Country Pot susceptible of irrigation is used principally for ranching, and we saw many herds of cattle in fine condition as a rule, mostly Herefords, but consisting principally ot cows, calves and coming 2-year-olds. This seems to be the condition of the cattle business all over thet-section through which we passed. In fact we have only seen two small bunches of aged-steers, possibly thirty head up to the present time. We left Denver at 7:20 in the evening of the 14 th enroute for Sundance, Wyoming. We left the tyain at Lipton and completed our trip to Sundance by auto, a distance of thirty-two miles. Since leaving Holdredge we have traveled through portions of four states, namely, Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming, and as to soil conditions they are very similar. Nebraska and the portions of Colorado we saw are somewhat similar as to surface conditions with the exception that the. northern portion of Nebraska was much rougher than the part of the state we first saw, and also the part of Colorado through which we passed We passed through the border of the Bad Lands of South Dakota, and they surely are rightly named, as they consist principally of immense hills, almost mountains, and practically void of vegetation. Much of Wyoming through toward Newcastle and Lipton is similar in character, but smooths down somewhat as these towns are reached. Now as to crop conditions. After we crossed the Mississippi at Burlington, lowa, the drought has been continuous throughout the territory of our entire trip. So far as we have seen there is no prospect " for a corn crop and from what we could learn these conditions are general throughout the entire West, with some exceptions of portions of Nebraska and lowa. We are* now at our cousin's, C. R. Yeoman, and family, where we are enjoying ourselves sightseeing, having already made a number of trips to the country adjacent to the town. Will describe this portion of the country in our next. Well, we do not miss our meals, but, O, we miss our home papers. Respectfully, R. J. YEOMAN. On Board the Chicago, August 3, 1917. Dear Uncle. Ed, Aunt Lena and Irene: Today is my last day on board the ship, as we land in Bordeaux tomorrow at 6 a. m. if nothing happens to us. Day before yesterday off the northern coast of Africa we ran into a terrible storm, and we also had a submarine scare, the details of which, in brief are: The signal whistle blew and everyone rushed to the main deck with life belts, rations and water, where the life boats are always' ready and half lowered. But I was peacefully asleep in

my cabin and didnt’ wake up until Vern Davisson and a Red Cross nurse missed me and came rushing in to see if I was there; and say, you know the rest. After I got my eyes open and realized what was wrong, say, I beat the whole bunch back to the upper deck, and I didn’t lose any time, either, if I was only half awake. This* letter is written in the heart of the dangert zone, as we are off the coast of Spain, and tonight will be our last on the water if we make a successful run across the bay to Bordeaux, France, where we hope to land at about 6 in the morning if we have no delays and manage to get by the submarine patrol. I am feeling fine, and haven’t been seasick yet, which I don’t think I will now. The steamer “Chicago” is a French liner and is run by a French crew and gunners; there are about 200 on board in the same outfit we are with, all nice fellows, and like one big family. Well; I will write you again after our arrival in Paris, where I want you to write me sometime. With kindest regards to you all I am, Very resp. yours, SAMUEL. P. S.—Tell Frank Critser the fishing is good out here; we see sharks, -porpoises and whales every day. Tell Frank after I get settled I will write to him sometime.