Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1892 — VIEWS OF A TENDERFOOT. [ARTICLE]

VIEWS OF A TENDERFOOT.

Our Western Letter—The Plains sad Bad Landa. MJ mmoth Hot Springs, Wyo., Sept. 6,1392. Dear Editor: My trip as outlinedlsas follows: Indiauapolis to Chicago, to St. Paul, to Yellowstone Park, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, San Francisco over the Shasta mountains, to Ogden, Salt Leadville, Denver, Pike's Peak, Kansas City, Chicago, Indianapolis. In the outset it must be understood that I pfrojMtsetogi vesuoh observations as impress me, a tenderfoot, and without regard to historical data or legends except as they may incidentally interest me and'the reader. All these points have been written about repeatedly and in an abler manner •nd more in detail than I shall treat them. I design before this series Ghali close to give information as to railroads and other like practical subjects as shall be of value to the reader contemplating a visit to the West. We are now at Hot Springs, Yellowstone Park, undoubtedly a wonder of the highest' magnitude. At every stopping place we have been preceded by telegrams fromrailroad managers, and who were under no obligations to do so, which have us the best accommodationsdt hotels, on sleeping cars and in tjiia wonderful park, and for which we are indebted to D. W. Janowitz, T. P. A. of the Northern Pacific and Wisconsin Central, I. D. Baldwin, D. P, A. of the Monon, and the general passenger agents of the roads first named, Mr. Charles S. Fee and Mr. Pond. Our party consisted of eight. We left Indianapolis Sept. 1, Chicago Sept. 2, St. Paul Sept. 4, While in Chicago we visited Lincoln Park and the World’s Fair buildings. At St. Paul, we also took occasion to visit Minneapdlis and readily concluded that these are two wonderful cities, with the last named in the lead as to the amount of business done, and St. Paul the gem of all other cities in compactness, neatness and cleanliness. 1 noticed that both cities bad comparatively few saloons, due to a high license law, it was claimed. We left St. Paul at 4:15 on the 4th. and after an ali night's ride found ou/selves at Jamestown. N. D., speeding westward. Fora short distance wheat fields were observed, growing fewer in number as we proceeded, until gradually the sight of growing grain' or growing farm products of any kind were not to be iven. We had entered the great plaina. To me these vast areas of waste land, extending for hundreds of miles in any' direction, were of absorbing interest. As one passes mile after mile of these lands he wonders why they should be permitted to lie in idlenesss, and then concludes that they ought to be productive. The oid traveler near you, however, tells you that that can never be, and here and there the vacant

house and often the partly cultivated field, impresses you that he speaks from a knowledge you do not possess. I could not, of course, penetrate any distance in either direction from the railroad, but my mental criticism was that the only salvation of this land was iu ii rigation and the growing of trees, either of which would change the atmosphere. This last necessity has been neglected in every instance where a farm has' been attempted. Houses, small, but respectable i« appearance, stand out in the glowing sun, with no apparent effort aver having beer, made to provide the luxury as shade nor the benefits growing trees and foiests give. Here and there die could - see where' the tree squatter had taken advantage of Government generosity by planting a row of worthless cottonwoods, which have now bepomeof a height varying from two feet up to six. These trees, however, were drilled as closely together a& corn is sometimes sown, and nc care was given them from the start. Probably these

trees cannot be made to grow; certain it is no fair test, if we are to judge frpm observation, has been given them. These plains are a boundless rolling sea, upon which nothing grows but buffalo grass and here and there the sage; and yet upon this grass subsist thousands of cattle. four or five car loads of which passed us bound mailketward on this day out. As one rides along he sees • constantly recurringfceries of small ihills and hollows -rather land waves—and he. recalls that but a few years ago Indian and buffalo were disputing for exclusive possession of these lands. Now, neither are to bo seen. The Indian is gathered to his fathers and reservations and the skeletons of the buffalo lie bleaching on the hills over which he roamed, the victim of English llunkeyism. We did «ee two Indian soldiers at Mandan, who, with a body of U. S. troops, were in that place to conduct the paymaster safely to Fort Yat.cs,Botae

sixty miles away. Soon after leaving Dickinson we entered the Bad Lends, so called. To oue, accustomed to plain clay hills, and very small ones, too, these lands were a feast to the eyes. They, extend for many miles. They consist principally of n succession of large fanciful sloped bills or buttes, and are composed of substances giving them a .undated uud oeuulilui appearance. Some of them were of a reddish hue, others of v-rious hues combined in stratas. In size they probably extended in’o he air 100 feet, others 200, and pru» au v others 400 or 500 feet. Ic»A 1 *-c-i estimate their cirt»jfercacc, pr Jt-.oiy covering usi reß > but so thickly st’, together as to render visica ■mpr<etruble for any dutouce. Tuey were of ail .dupec and sizes. Some of them Ifo eibly impressed us as being a ‘great leligLas saactuury with domes

and steeples, others of some ancient moss-covered castle with parapet and others imaginary and realistic pictures. Others were mere cliffs, fine and reflecting in the sunlight the beautiful hues of the rainbow. They are called “bad lands” and nearly every one who has seen them will call them well named. I desire to be entereiwhaying pronounced them beautiful lands and worth any man's time and money to see. In passing through these lands at one point we discover * a vast area covered with petrified logs, stumps, etc., etc. In one case a petrified stump standing over the railroad has a very lifelike appearance of a monster Newfoundland dog kindly keeping watch ever the valleys before him. When in reach of these fields, too, the young man who has been reserving his best story of the “Petrified bird sitting on the petrified limb of a petrified tree singing a petrified song, ” gets in hjs awful work, and there is a silence in these bad lands such as has not been “ heard " in centuries past. Many beautiful stories of heroism are associated with some of the buttes that compose these fields. For instance, “ Young Man’s Butte,” is so-called after the young soldier on picket duty who was surprised and tomahawked by a redskin. While the redskin was scalping, and almost Trith the expiring breath of the young soldier, he raised up, drew his revolver and snot the Indian dead. Both are buried on the butte, and a monument marks the spot. Sentinel Butte is so called from the fact that four soldiers were surprised and killed there by Indians. These bad lands extend for a long distance, and are absolutely worthless, except that they afford good grazing, and many herds of cattle there are who perambulate these hills. Every mile of the way was Of interest to me. In fact, after one enters these lands until he reaches Livingstone, Mont., the views, which are beautiful on both sides of the road, are a succession of delights. The towns along the great Northern Pacific are not in the gas belt, and probably this accounts for the small population. There are a few towns in capital letters on the railroad maps, and which may be important places, but if -so they are hiding their light under a bushel. The question that is always suggesting itself is, how in the world do these people get a living out here. A large prfrt of them are railroad employes. Others are in these towns to supply rangers with the necessities (whisky) and staff (bread) of life. There are no manufactories, with a very few exceptions, for a very good reason—there is nothing here of which to manufacture anything. Many of the “stations " as shown on the map, consist of two posts with a board extending across the top, with the name of the town upon it; At Pallen, at which place we arrived at dusk On the sth, we had the pleasure ol seeing - a dozen cowboys, and on the war path, too. They were on horseback, drunk, whooping, riding up and down alongside the train, shooting and making us all feel that it were better for us had we lived better lives. I was not only entertained by the sight presented by these untutored cattie rangers, but by the impressions of a German fellow passenger when he said that the sight was too important for them to forget, so he ordered his wife to put it down, which she, as a dutiful wife, did. More anon,

W. H. LEEDY.