OMAHA TO CHEYENNE. 469 



About July first, the Uniou Pacific Raiiroad sold 

 lots for one hundred and fifty dollars per lot. A 

 month later, they were worth one thousand dollars 

 apiece, increasing in price at the rate of one thousand 

 dollars per lot each month for some time after. 



On July 1, 1867, Cheyenne was simply a little cor- 

 ner of the wilderness. 



On January 1, 1868, it was a city of six thousand 

 inhabitants. 



Was it not indeed a " Magic City," which could 

 furnish a six months' record like the above? 



However, this was but the Quatre Bras before the 

 Waterloo. 



Cheyenne's real struggle for life, for advancement, 

 for culture and permanent prosperity, was to begin 

 with this new year of 1868. We know how grandly 

 the young city conquered, not by "magic" this time, 

 but better still, by patience, pluck, and indomitable 

 will. But to her honest and law-abiding citizens, at 

 the outset of 1868, things looked dark indeed. 



Cheyenne -was the terminus of the Union Pacific 

 Railroad that winter, and the scum of the floating 

 Western population drifted thither. 



Houses were insufficient, and many wintered in 

 tents and dugouts. 



To make things worse, great numb'ers of squatters 

 came, and began seizing town lots. 



"Shootings were frequent, and every manner of vice 

 abounded. A canvas saloon would answer as well as 

 another for gambling, drinking, and the purposes of 

 the dives. Various men and women made the place 

 intolerable. It was never disputed that this town ex- 

 ceeded in vice and unwholesome excitement any of the 



