the prairies, beyond the settlements, the prairie
fires, (usually set on fire by the sparks from
the locomotives) rage unchecked for
miles and miles, but nearer to the little
settlements, where the cabins have
just been set up, the fire is their deadli-
est and most dreaded enemy. No words
can describe, no pencil paint the. look of
terror when the settler beholds advanc-
ing toward him the fire-fiend, for which
In- is unprepared and unprotected.
When the first sign of the advancing
fire is given, all hands turn out ; either
a counter fire is started, which, eating
from the settler's ranch, in the face of
the wind, toward the grander coming
volume, takes away its force, and leaves
it nothing to feed upon, or furrows
are broken with the plow around the
settler's home. The cool earth thrown
up, and all the grass beyond this is
fired, while the little home enclosed
within, is safe. A curious feature of
prairie fires is, that the buffalo grass,
the next season, is darker and richer
than ever before ; and lower down, in
sections where the prairie fires are
carefully kept off, trees, shrubs, bushes, etc.,
of many varieties, grow up spontaneously,
which never were seen before. So long as
prairie fires rage, nothing will grow but the little
tufts of prairie grass. Wherever the prairie fire
ceases or is kept restrained, vegetation of all de-
scription as far west as the Platte, is completely
changed. In the fall of the year these fires are
most frequent ; and creating a strong current or
breeze by their own heat, they advance with the
rapidity often of a locomotive, 20 or more miles
an hour, and their terrible lurid light by night,
and blackened path left behind, as seen next day
by the traveler, are sights never to be forgotten.
In the lower river counties a prairie fire often
originates from the careless dropping of a match,
or the ashes shaken from a pipe. The little
spark touches the dry grass like tinder — the con-
stant breeze fans the little flame, and five minutes
after it has covered yards. The loss to tillers of
the soil is often appalling. One of General
Sherman's veterans, in describing a prairie fire to
a visitor, raising himself to his full six feet
height, and with eye flashing as in battle excite-
ment, said : " Mr. C, if I should catch a man firing
the prairie at this time, as God helps me, I would
shoot him down in his deed." A traveler riding
on the prairie said, " only a few miles from me
an emigrant, traveling in his close-covered wagon
" with the wind, " was overtaken by the flames
coming down on him unseen. Horses, family,
wagon, were all destroyed in a moment, and him-
self barely lived long enough to tell the tale.
Nearly every night in autumn the prairies of the
boundless West, show either the near or distant
glow of a fire, which in extent has the appear-
ance of another burning Chicago.
Pike's Peak or liiisf. — This expression has
become widely known, and received its origin as
REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.
23
follows : — At the time of the opening of the
Pike's Peak excitement in gold diggings, two
pioneers made themselves conspicuous by paint-
ing in large letters on the side of their wagon
cover : — " Pike's Peak or Bust." In their haste to
reach this, the newly discovered Eldorado, they
scorned all safety and protection offered by the
" train " and traveled alone, and on their " own
hook."
For days and weeks they escaped the dangers
attending their folly, and passed unharmed until
they reached the roving ground of the bloody
Sioux. Here they were surrounded and cruelly
and wantonly murdered ; their bodies were driven
through with arrows, and punned to the earth,
and left to the sunshine and storms of the
skies.
Fremont — is 46.5 miles from Omaha, aud
has an elevation of 1,176 feet. It is the county-
seat of Dodge County, and has a population of
full 3,000. In the year 1875, over $100,000 were
expended in buildings in this growing young
city. It has never, so far as population is con-
cerned, experienced what may be called a great
rush — its growth having been slow and steady.
It is located near the south-east corner of the
county. Originally the town comprised a whole
section of land, but was afterwards reduced to
about half a section. The town company was or-
ganized on the 26th day of August, 1856, and in
that and the following year, thirteen log houses
were built. John C. Hormel built the first frame
house in 1857. The Union Pacific reached the
town on the 24th day of January, 1866, nearly
ten years after it was first laid out, and trains
ran to it regularly, though the track was laid
some 11 miles beyond, when work ceased for that
winter. The Sioux City and Pacific road was
completed to Fremont late in the fall of 1868.
In the expectations of the residents, it was then
to become a railroad center, and lots were sold at
large prices. This last-named road runs from
Blair on the Missouri River, where it crosses
said stream and forms a junction with the Chi-
cago and North-western. It then runs north on
the east side of said river, to Sioux City. The
Elkhorn Valley Railroad completed the first ten
miles of its track in 1869, and the balance, some
50 miles, was finished to Wisner in the following
year. This road is one of the natural routes to
the Black Hills, and it is now stated that it will
soon be extended in that direction. It will con-
tinue up the Elkhorn Valley to near its source,
and then crossing the divide, will strike into the
Niobrara Valley, thence westward until the Black
Hills are reached. This road is a feeder to Fre-
mont, and very valuable to its trade. The Atch-
ison and Nebraska Railroad, is to be extended
from Lincoln to this place, during the present
year (1876). The city will then have a direct
line to St. Louis and the South, with two direct
liHes to Chicago and the East. Other railroad
projects are contemplated, which will make this
place in reality a railroad center.
Fremont has a large, new hotel, the Occi-
dental, and several smaller ones ; has the
finest opera house in the West, and the largest
and finest dry-goods house in the State. It
has five or six church edifices, and an ele-
gant public school building, two banks,
three or four elevators, a steam flouring
mill, extensive broom factories, and two or
establishments where
It also has a foundry
is now a regular eat-
railroad, all passenger
stopping here for din-
three manufacturing
headers are made,
and machine-shop. It
ing station on the
trains east or west
ner, which is really most abundant and ex-
cellent.
Fremont is virtually located at the junction of
the Elkhorn and Platte Valleys, and from its
position naturally controls a large scope of coun-
try. Its people are industrious, wide-awake and
energetic. It is in the midst of a thickly-settled
region, and its future prospects are very flatter-
ing.
Fremont has two newspapers — the Fremont
Herald (daily and weekly), and the Fremont
'Jribune (weekly). The latter was first estab-
lished, and probably has the largest circulation.
The enterprise of newspapers in these western
towns, contribute very largely to their growth
and prosperity. The town is the fourth in size
and population in the State.
The Elkhorn Valley is between two and three
hunched miles in length, is well timbered and
remarkably fertile, and the railroad which is to
do the carrying business of this valley, has its
terminus at Fremont.
The Great Platte Valley. — You have
now passed over a few miles of the great
Platte Valley. At Fremont it spreads out won-
derfully, and for the first two hundred miles
varies in width from five to fifteen miles.
Through nearly all its eastern course, this river
hugs the bluffs on its southern side. These bluffs
as well as those more distant on the northern side
of the valley, are plainly visible from the cars.
Before the road was built, this valley was the
great highway of overland travel to Colorado,
Utah, California, and Oregon. Immense trains
of wagons, heavily freighted, have passed over it,
in their slow and tedious journeyings towards
the setting sun. Leaving the Missouri at differ-
ent points, the routes nearly all converged in the
Platte Valley, and thence westward to their des-
tination. The luxuriant grasses, and the prox-
imity to water, made this the favorite route. It
has also been the scene of deadly conflicts with
the savages, and the bones of many a wanderer
lie bleaching in the air, or are buried beneath
some rough and hastily-made mound near the
beaten road. But a wonderful change took place
with the advent of the road. The " bull-whacker,"
21
TBiE &dGIFW TO&&IST.
with his white-covered wagon and raw-boned
oxen — his slang phrases, and profane expressions,
his rough life, and in many instances violent
death the crack of his long lash that would ring
out in the clear morning air like that of a rifle, and
his wicked goad or prod— an instrument of tor-
ture to his beasts — with all that these things
imply, have nearly passed away. Their glory
has departed, and in their place is the snorting
engine and the thundering train.
The remarkable agricultural advantages of
this valley are everywhere visible, and it is
rapidly tilling up with an industrious and thrifty
class of farmers. The land grant of the Union
Pacific Company exl 'lids for twenty miles On
either side of the road, and includes every alter-
iiat section of laud that was not taken at the
time it was withdrawn from the market, for the
benefit of the company. If you pass a long dis-
t •<■in the first two hundred miles of this
valley without observing many improvements, il
is pretty good evidence that the laud is held by
non-resident speculators, and this fact has a
great influence in retarding the growth of the
country. Around many of the residences are
large groves of cotton-wood trees that have beer
planted by industrious hands and which give
evidence of unusual thrift. In fact, the cotton-
wood in most every part of this legion is indig-
enous to the soil, and will thriftily grow where
ot her kinds of timber fail. Trees sixty feet high
and from eight to ten inches in diameter, are no
uncommon result of six to eight years' growth.
The banks of the Platte and the many islands in
its channel, were formerly very heavily timbered
with cotton-wood, but that on its banks has
almost entirely disappeared, together with much
that was upon the islands. The favorable state
ami national legislation in regard to tre ! planting
will cause an increase in the timber laud of
Nebraska in a very short time, and must of
necessity, have an influence upon its climate.
Many scientists who are familiar with the cir-
cumstances attending the rapid development of
the trans-Missouri plains and tl levated plateau
joining the base of the Rocky Mountains, assert
that this vast region of country is gradually
lergoing important el i ma tic changes — and that
one of the results of these changes is the an-
nually increasing rainfall. The rolling lands
adjoining this vallej are nil very fertile, and with
propei- tillage producelarge crops of small grain.
The bottom lands are better adapted for corn,
because it matures later in the season, and these
I iot l hinds are better able to stand drouth than
t he uplands. The roots of the corn penetrate to a
great depth, till they reach the moisture from
the under-drainage. One of the finest sights
that meets the eye of the traveler, is the Platte
Valley in the Bpring or early summer; to our
eastern farmer, it is fairly captivating, and all
who are familiar with farms and farming in the
Eastern States, will he surprised; no slumps or
stones or other obstacles appear to interfere with
the progress of the plow, and the black surface-soil
is, without doubt, the accumulation of vegetable
matter for ages. The Platte Valley must lie seen
to be appreciated. Only a few years ago it was
scarcely tenanted by man, and while the develop-
ment has been marked, it will not compare with
that which is sure to take place in the near
future. There is ample room for the millions
yet to come, and the lands of the Union Pacific
Company are exceedingly cheap, varying in
price from $3 to $10 per acre. The alternate
sections of government land for the first two
hundred miles of this valley are nearly all
taken by homesteaders, or under the preeinp-
tion laws of congress. Much of it, however,
can be purchased at a low price from the occu-
pantS, who. as a general thing, desire to sell out
and go West still. They belong to the uneasy,
restless class of frontiers-men, who have decided
objections to neighbors and settlements, and who
want plenty of room, with no one to molest, in
order to grow up with the country. A sod house
near a living spring of water is to them a small
paradise. They might possibly suffer from thirst,
if they had to dig for water, and the labor re-
quired to build even a sod house, is obnoxious,
lint this will not hold good of all of them.
There are many occupants of these sod houses in
the Slate of Nebraska, and other parts of the
West, who, with scanty means are striving for a
home for their wives and children, and they cling
to the soil upon which they have obtained a claim
with great tenacity, and with sure prospects of
success. They are woi thy ot all praise in their
self-sacrificing efforts. A tew years only will
pass by before they will b.- surrounded with all
the comforts and l.ainy of the luxuries of life.
These an- the experiences of many who "bless
their stars " to-day that they have sod houses —
homes — in ami adjoining the great Platte Valley.
Shoot hit/ Prairie Ileus. — This is a favor-
ite seem-, often witnessed September mornings in
the far West. The prairie is covered with its
grass, and wild flowers, which last all the season
through. Here and there is a stubble field of oats,
wheat, or acres on acres of the golden corn,
swaying gracefully in the breeze, and perhaps
there is a little music from the meadow larks or
bird songsters of the tieids. The dogs with keen-
est of scent, hunt, out and stir up the game, and
us they risi wing, the ready gun with its aim,
and deadly shot, brings them back lifeless. This
is probably the most attractive way to look at a
prairie hen, for we must confess that altera slice
or two of the meat, as usually served at the eat-
ing stations of the railroads, from which we
escape with danger to our front teeth, and unsat-
isfied stomachs, we can only exclaim "distance
lends enchantment." However tough the meat,
if served on the table when first killed, yet if
TME g>g€IFI€ TQWMISW.
25
kept till it grows gradually more tender, there is
a wild, spicy flavor, which make them very agree-
able eating. Buffalo meat and prairie hens are
not altogether reliable as viands of the railroad
dining stations, still every one must try for him-
self, with here and there a chance of finding
sweet and tender morsels.
good an illustration as any, of the rapid growth
of some of the western towns and counties. The
county was organized in the spring of 1809, two
years after the railroad had passed through it. —
with Schuyler as the county-seat. In the' spring
of the present year, 1S79, it has an assessed valu-
ation of nearly $1,600,000. and a population of
HUNTIKG PRAIRIE MENS.
Ames — At present simply a side track, 53.5
miles from Omaha, and 1,270 feet above the sea.
This was formerly called Ketchum ; but bears its
present name from Oliver Ames, Esq., one of the
builders of this railroad. Observe the size of
the trees in the cotton-wood groves and hedges
near this place — all planted within the memory
of the oldest inhabitant.
North Hen d — til. 5 miles from the eastern
terminus of the road, and 1,259 feet in elevation,
a little less than the preceding station. This is
a thriving little town, with several stores, hotel,
lumber-yard, grain elevator, etc. It has a pon-
toon bridge across the Platte River, which
will materially increase its trade with Saunders
County on the south. The opening of many farms
in its vicinity have made it quite a grain* market.
The town is so named from a northward bend in
the river, and it is the northernmost point on the
Union Pacific in the State of Nebraska. The
population is about 300.
ltogers — is a side-track, will eventually be-
come a station ; is in the midst of a rich farm-
ing countrv ; is 68.5 miles from Omaha, and has
an elevation of 1,359 feet.
,SV7* uyler. — Thecounty-seatof Colfax County,
It is 75.9 miles from Omaha, with an elevation of
1,335 feet. This town and county, perhaps, is as
1,000 or more. Evidences of substantial growth
are everywhere visible. The town has about
twenty stores, of all kinds, two hotels, a substan-
tial brick court-house, five churches, a beautiful
school-house, grain elevators, etc. New buildings
to accommodate its increasing trade, or its new
residents, are constantly going up. There are
three flouring-mills in the county, on Shell Creek,
a beautiful stream fed by living springs, which
runs nearly through the county from west to east,
and from one to five miles north of the railroad
track. The land in this county is most excellent,
especially the rolling up-land north of Shell Creek.
Some of the finest crops of spring wheat raised
in the West are grown in this vicinity. The peo-
ple are turning their attention to stock-raising-
more than formerly, and several flocks of sheep
and herds of cattle are now kept in the county, by
some of its enterprising stock-men. All of this
accomplished in about six years. Schuyler is the
third town west of Omaha that has a bridge across
the Platte, Fremont being thefirst. These bridges
are very advantageous to the trade of the towns
in this valley.
Richland. — A small station 83.7 miles from
Omaha, with an elevation of 1,440 feet. Up to
a late period the land surrounding this station
has been mostly held by speculators, but a change
26
TME &£€IFI€ fWMfW.
having been effected, the town lias brighter pros-
pects. Lots an- free])' given away to parties who
will build on them. The location is a very fine
one for a town, and it is surrounded by an ex-
cellent country. It is the last town west in
Colfax County.
Columbus — is 91.7 miles from Omaha. It is
1,4:{'J feet above the sea. A beautiful growing
town, with a rich agricultural country to back
it. It has seven churches, school buildings,
brick court-house, grain elevator doing a large
business. Good hotels and other building enter-
prises contemplated. It is located at the junc-
tion of the Loup Fork, with the Platte Rivers,
and near where the old overland emigrant road
crossed the first-named stream. It now has a
population of about 2,000 people, and supports
two newspapers which have large patronage and
circulation ; the Journal, which was first estab-
lished, and the Era. Columbus has had two
lives thus far. The first town-site was jumped
by a party of Germans from Columbus, O.,
from which it takes its name. Afterwards the
two interests were consolidated. It was the
principal town west of Omaha until the rail-
road came. The old town, near the ferry cross-
ing, was then moved to its present site near
the station. The old town had two or three
small stores, a blacksmith's shop, and saloons
a'l libitum. It was mostly kept alive by the
westward emigration. At that time the Platte
Valley was well supplied with ranches and
ranchmen, only other names for whisky-shops
and bar-tenders. During the week those con-
cerns would pick up what they could from wagon-
trains, and Sundays the ranchmen would crowd
into Columbus to spend it — the sharpers improv-
ing the opportunity to fleece the victims of their
seductive wiles. At this time no attention what-
ever was paid to agricultural pursuits. On the
advent of the railroad in 1866, the wood-chop-
pers, the freighters, the ranchmen and others,
lured by the charms of a frontier life, jumped
the town and country. They could not endure
the proximity to, and restraints of civilization.
Then the second or new life of the town be-
gan. Farmers began to come in, and it was
found by actual experiment that the soil was
immensely prolific ; that it had only to be tickled
with the plow in order to laugh with the golden
harvests. In the lapse of the few brief years
of its second or permanent growth, it has be-
come a great, grain market, and probably ships
mora car-loads each year ( 1,785 car-loads last year)
than any other town on the line of the road.
Men draw grain from seventy to eighty miles to
this place for a market. It has access to the
country south of the Loup and Platte Rivers, by
means of good, substantial bridges ; while the
country north of it is as fine rolling prairie as
can be found in any part of the West— well
watered and adapted to either grazing or the
growing of crops. The men who first came to
Columbus were nearly all poor, and it has been
built up and improved by the capital they have
acquired through their own industrious toil.
The town has a good bank, without a dollar of
foreign capital. It will soon have other rail-
roads; one from Sioux City, and another to
Crete and St. Joe, is projected ; while in its
immediate vicinity are large quantities of good
lands which are held at low prices. These are
only a few of the many advantages which Colum-
bus offers to those in search of future homes.
HOW tinffulo ltobes arc Mtnli: — George
Clother is one of the proprietors of the Clother
House at Columbus. Neb. It is one of the best
home-like hostelries in the West. Mr. Clother
is an old resident, having been in Columbus six-
teen years. When he first came, the country was
more or less overrun with wandering tribes of
Indians, among whom were the Pawnees, the
Omahas, the Sioux, and occasionally a stray band
from some other tribe. In those days he was
accustomed to traffic in furs and rol es, and the
business has grown with his increasing acquaint-
ance, until it is now both large and profitable,
though with the disappearance of both Indians
and buffaloes, it is liable to decrease in the future.
General Sheridan, we think it was, said that the
vexed Indian question would be settled with the
fate of the buffaloes — that both would disappear
together. During the past few years, the slaugh-
ter of these proud monarchs of the plains, has
been immense, and will continue, unless Congress
interposes a friendly and saving hand. It is safe
to say, that millions of them have been killed
for their hides alone, or " just for fun," which in
this case amounts to the same thing, as their
hides have been repeatedly sold for less than a
dollar, and regularly not more than $1.50. This
slaughtering has taken place principally in the
Platte, Republican, Solomon, and Arkansas Val-
leys, and where a few years since, travelers could
see countless thousands of them from the car
windows and platforms, on either the Union
Pacific, Kansas Pacific or Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railroads, they now, probably will see
but few, if any. Their hides have been shipped
East, where they make a poor quality of leather.
Those only which are taken late in the fall and
during the winter months of January and Febru-
ary, are fit for robes. The hair at this season of
the year, is thick and firmly set.
About the time this killing process began in
1870, Mr. Clother entered upon the work of tan-
ning robes, employing for this purpose the squaws
of the Pawnee and Omaha tribes. The Pawnee
reservation was only a short distance from Co-
lumbus, and the "Bucks" were glad of the
opportunity of employment for their squaws.
Labor is beneath their dignity, and they despise it.
Besides this, tanning robes is hard and slow work,
and in their opinion, just fit for squaws. For a
27
few years the squaws of both of the tribes named,
have been engaged by Mr. Clother, but the de-
parture of the Pawnees to their reservation in
the Indian Territory, precluded the possibility of
their employment, and he'nce in the winter of
1876, the Omahas seem to have a monopoly of the
work, though there is not as much to do as for-
merly. We visited their camp to inspect the pre 11 -
ess of making robes. It was located in a body
of heavy timber, with a thick growth of under-
brash, on the narrow point of land where the
Loup Fork and Platte Rivers form their junction.
The low bushes made a perfect wind-break, and