Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1878 — A Prarie-Dog Village. [ARTICLE]

A Prarie-Dog Village.

Four hundred and thirty-five miles west of Omaha is situated the great Prairie-Dog City, one of the largest settlements on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. Several hundred acres, each side of the track, have been taken up by the sagacious little prairie-dogs, and there they have made their homes, and that without buying one lot from the company, or as much as saying “by your leave.” The dwellings consist of little mounds, from a foot to eighteen inches in height, raised by the dirt excavated by their burrows. On tne approach of a train, the little inhabitants can be seen scampering for their hoibes. Arrived there, they squat upon their hams or stand upon their hind feet at the entrance -a hole in the top—barking at the train as it passes. Should anyone venture too near, down they go, and their city is as silent as the “city of the dead.” It is said that the opening in the top leads to a subterraneous chamber connecting with the next dwelling, and so on tnrough the settlement, but this is a mistake. The prairie-dog is of a sandy-brown color, and about the size of a large gray squirrel. In their nest, living with them, are found the owl and the

rattlesnake, though whether welcome or not is uncertain. He . lives upon grasses and roots, and is generally fat, and is bysome, Mexicans especially, considered good eating, and his flesh is sweet and tender though rather greasy. Wolves pre/ on the little fellows, and may be seen sneaking near the town, hoping by chance to pick up some straggler. But the dogs are not easily caught. Some one is always on the lookout for danger, and gives tne alarm on the first intimation of trouble. Then away they all scamper to their holes. — Omaha Herald. —Dr. LaMoyne does not believe that the bill introduced lately in the Pennsylvania Legislature making cremation a penal offense with SSOO fine will, if it passes, stop cremation, and says that he will test the law in the courts. Some of the ashes of the late Mrs. Pitman are ’ still kept at the doctor’s office. The bilious person whom no one, can flease, gets his work in by pleasing noodjr . ■.