From Our Special Correspondent. 
A TRIP A CROSS THE CONTINENT. 
Council Bluffs, la., Sept. 29, 4.30, p. m. 
We are now loaded on an emigrant train, 
ready to start. They have ears now made 
on purpose for emigrants. It is a sort of 
sleeping car with berths for sleeping. I 
think it is a great improvement over the 
old way. They sort the people over and 
class them according to their class in life. 
We are fortunate enough to get into the 
best car and have very pleasant compan¬ 
ions. Have bought mattresses for bed. and 
with our blankets think we will be very 
comfortable. We now make our real start 
on our journey. 
Grand Island. Neb.. Sept. 30, 7.30. a. m. 
We started out of Omaha last night at six 
o’clock. Had a good view of the Missour' 
river and of Omaha, but it grew dark soon 
after we started and we went to bed. Em¬ 
ma and I had an upper berth and our part¬ 
ners in same section took the lower. It 
was rather warm and close at first, but the 
motion of the car soon got up a circulation 
and we were very comfortable after a little 
while and slept quite well, the best we have 
yet since starting. Our car is really a sleep¬ 
ing car, arranged on purpose for such emi¬ 
grants as we. We have four cars attached 
to a freight train. There are four car-loads 
of Jersey cattle, pure Aldemeys, on the 
train, going to Cheyenne. The man in 
charge of them milks them and gives the 
milk to the emigrants. We are getting 
along splendidly and feel the best this morn¬ 
ing that we have yet. We just finished 
breakfast; we made coffee on the stove. 
There is a stove in each end of each car 
and we can cook all we like. If we keep 
on we will get into a palace car yet, and I 
expect emigrants will l>e carried in Pullman 
coaches yet. We passed Valley Station in 
the night and have not seen much of Ne¬ 
braska yet. We are now 150 miles west of 
Omaha; 1440 miles from home. Have hard¬ 
ly made a hole in our lunch yet. The press¬ 
ed chicken was likely to spoil, so we gave 
what we had left to the poorer emigrants 
who were glad to get it. We are now on 
the great dead-level prairies and crossing 
the plains. We have a good supply of books 
and papers and have pleasant company. 
The view is as far as eye can see each way, 
and only little houses and barns, poplar 
groves, straw and grain stacks and corn¬ 
fields. Farmers are threshing grain with 
twelve-horse powers along the road. 
Cozad Neb., Saturday, Sept. 30, 3, P. m. 
We have just passed the 100th meridian. 
Bv my time, which I haven't changed since 
* • 
leaving home, it is 5 o'clock; two hours 
difference. We are in the stock-growing 
region. It is too dry here for crops to flour¬ 
ish. The Platte Valley widens out here as 
far as the eye can reach. Only prairie, lone 
herds of stock, and men's cabins are in 
view. We shall soon come to buffalo grass, 
and more and better stock. We now meet 
whole trains loaded with cattle going east. 
We are on the shady side of the car: the 
sun comes in very warm on the south side. 
The North Fork of the Platte river is in 
plain view and also the South Fork. We 
shall soon cross the North Fork 
Antelope, Neb., Oct. 1, 8 o’clock, a. m. 
Daylight found us at Sidney, and we are 
now approaching Cheyenne, Wyoming Ter. 
We are 451 miles west of Omaha and about 
2000 miles from home. So we have gone 
one-half of our distance: we feel quite well 
and had a good nights rest in our berth. 
We bought three cushions at Council Bluffs 
for a bed and have one blanket to cover us. 
Although this is a dry climate here, there 
is a drizzly damp air this morning, cloudy 
and foggy. We are in the centre of the 
great stock-growing country and approach¬ 
ing the desert. There is not a tree or a 
house in sight, although the view' is bound¬ 
ed only by the horizon. Wire fences run 
from the rail road back miles and miles, 
out of sight. Fields are fenced in so large 
that we cannot see across them. The land- 
scaj>e is brown, except where fires have 
blackened it. and dotted by herds of cattle. 
It is now two nights and a day and part 
of another day since we entered Nebraska, 
and we are not through it yet. We shall 
soon enter Wyoming and will get to Ogden, 
Utah, at 2, i*. M., on Tuesday. We can eat, 
sleep, read, write, talk, or view the country. 
We shall soon be a mile above the sea level 
and half way up the Rocky Mountains. 
