14 
AMERICA]^ .\G-RIOTJLTURIST, 
[Januauy 
Editorial Notes on the Road. 
Among the l.umt)eriiieii.— The picturesque 
life and more picturesque scenery in the lumber regions 
of Michigan and Wisconsin richly repa}' one for the time 
spent in reaching them. Machinery and rai'.roads are 
working great changes in these regions. Formerly logs 
were floated down rivers to Clinton, la., Fond-du-Lac, 
Wis., and other points, and there converted into timber. 
Flow these logs are largely sawed up in the forests by 
portable mills, and the lumber is distributed tbrougb the 
country by a net-work of railroads. “Oshkosh and 
I’ond-du-Lac are running down,“ said a fellow passenger 
to me, living at the latter place; “small holders have 
been bought out by large syndicates, who run portable 
saw-mills in the lumber regions.” One capitalist alone,re- 
siding in Fond-du-Lac, now owns eighty thousand acres 
of pine lands in Southern Michigan, near the Wisconsin 
border. These lumbermen are great char.acters in their 
way. Very many of them, in addition to their dark-blue 
sliirts, sport woolen trousers of a firy red color. They 
frequently work during the winter months in the pine 
forests, and act as sailors upon the Lakes during the 
summer season. The illustration at the top of the page 
affords a glimpse of logging scenes on the wild Meno¬ 
monee, which river for some distance constitutes the 
border line between Wisconsin and Michigan. Several 
lawyers and other professional gentlemen of Chicago, arc 
accustomed to spend their vacations in this wild region 
of country. Mr. John Lyle King afl'ords some pleasant 
sketches of this out-door life in his volume of “ Summer 
Wayfaring in the Northern Wilderness.” 
Treaclierous Quiclt-.saiid.s, and River- 
■bottoms.— The quick-sands of the Missouri, Platte, 
and other Western rivers, are nothing, if not exceedingly 
treacherous and dangerous. Every year many cattle, 
and some horses 
and swine “go 
through,” as the 
expression is, and 
disappear. Imme- 
dia:ely following 
the fall of the sec¬ 
tion of the great 
bridge spanning 
the Missouri at 
Omaha, the neces¬ 
sary grappling 
irons were brought 
into play for its 
recovery. But no 
traces of the miss¬ 
ing section could 
ho found. The vast 
structure had, in a 
few hours time, 
sunk in the sa: ds 
of the rivcr-hol- 
tom, beyond all 
reach or hope of 
raising. One night, 
a water-spout car¬ 
ried away the Kan¬ 
sas and Pacific rail¬ 
road bridge, over 
the Kiowa Crei.'k, 
fifty miles this side 
of Denver. The 
next train, com- 
I)rising an engine 
and freight cars, 
was jirccipitated into the quick-sands beneath, killing 
the engineer. From Lawrence, Kansas, hundreds 
of miles away, a largo gang of laborers were forth¬ 
with despatched to the scone of tlie disaster. When, 
four months later, I visited the spot, they had fished out 
the cars, but were still sounding for the engine with 
poles, wliicli, though of immense length, were not long 
enough to discover the object of their search. One July 
morning. Mr. Howard Kennedy and the writer, thought 
to ford the turgid Platte at Ogallala, Neb., to one of the 
large cattle drives, stretching for miles over the prairie 
south of Ogallala. A daring fellow named Leech led 
us across the treacherous river, now considerably 
swollen by recent rains. We rode three Indian ponies, 
the writer bringing up tlie rear. The horses plunged 
boldly in, and were soon struggling with the down cur¬ 
rent. Onc-third of the way across, and the water covered 
our saddle-girths. Kennedy and the writer looked wist¬ 
fully hack, but were cheered on by Leecli’s assurances 
that there was no danger if wefoilowed close after him. 
Soon I could feel my animal sinking. Ilq made three or 
four steps forward, and then refused, in spite of tongue 
and whip-lashing, to advance further. Apparently the 
brute had resigned himself to going down and carrying 
his rider with him. To my calls for assistance. 
Leech quickly turned back and with a good deal of dex¬ 
terous pulling and vigorous English, extracted the ani¬ 
mal after all but ears and rump had disappeared under 
the water. It was a ludicrous and frying scene, but per¬ 
haps the most provoking p.art of all was the unconcern 
manifested by the animal as to whether he wont over or 
W'ent under. It is unnecessary to add that in recrossing 
the Platte we closely adhered to the instructions of Leech. 
On tlie Upiier Mississippi.— Following the 
Upper Mississippi northward, from the Falls of St. An¬ 
thony, there are very many picturesque and beautiful 
views. In coming from Brainard, on the Northern Pa¬ 
cific road, to St. Paul, one constantly catches sight of 
these views. Abandoned fortifications, dismantled forts, 
abrupt bluffs, miniature water-falls, afford a constant va¬ 
riety, while prairie and forest add to the over shifting 
scene. While the train waited for some little time at a 
point seventy-five miles north of St. Paul, the artist 
acenmpanying the writer hastily sketched the scene 
presented in the illustration below. 
What Makes a Boom ?—It is somewhat amus¬ 
ing to observe in new States the solicitude expressed by 
settlors for good crops, not only for the crops themselves. 
hut for the effect upon the East. For example, all over 
Nebraska this last autumn one could hear such expres¬ 
sions as, “ If the frost will only hold ofi’a few days longer 
wo shall have a big boom in emigration,” “If the corn 
crop holds out as well ns it now promises, lots of new 
people will come in,” etc., etc. To-day grasshoppers 
make a whole region of country unsalable, and send 
many emigrants h.ack to the East, abandoning their 
“ breakings” or selling them for whatever they may 
fetch. To-morrow good crops bring a rush of new-com¬ 
ers. Lands appreciate in value, and everybody is happy. 
Sliootiiig from the Railroad Train.— As 
wo drew near Glcndive, on the Yellowstone, one after¬ 
noon, the carcasses of several buffalos were strewn along 
the railroad track. The.train in advance of us had sud¬ 
denly come upon a drove, and for a few moments there 
was a sharp fusilade from the car windows. While this 
kind of amusement has not been uncommon in the Terri¬ 
tories in the past, it is now' of rare occurrence. Less than 
ten years ago, travellers were accustomed to fire from 
moving trains at buffalo, in Kansas and Nebraska; now,, 
however, they have entirely disappeared, with the excep¬ 
tion of a very few in Western Colorado, and a small herd 
ill the Indian Territory; there are none south of Wyo¬ 
ming and Montana Territories. Unless Congress im¬ 
mediately takes some steps to prevent the wholesale 
butchery of those remaining in the north, they will very 
soon be driven into the British Possessions. Every one 
who does not wish to see buffalo immediately extermi¬ 
nated, should write his representative at Washington on 
the subject. 
Stacks by tlie Million. —In travelling through 
the wheat region of Minnesota, we amused ourselves in 
endeavoring to count the wheat stacks, appearing in 
rapid succession. As we whirled by one farm after an¬ 
other in our open car, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and even as 
many as forty stacks would be seen in a single inclosure, 
presenting indeed a novel sight loan Eastern farmer, 
accustomed to his single stack or more. 
lliinds IIi> and. Getting tlie ®rop.— It was 
the same daring Leech—referred to elsewhere—who 
for days tracked and followed the band of train robbers 
over the prairie far down to the Kansas border, after they 
had secured several hundred thousand dollars of Govern¬ 
ment specie. The masked robbers brought the Eastern 
bound train to a dead halt at Ogallala, made all the pas¬ 
sengers throw up their hands wdiilo they rifled their bag- 
g.age, secured all the gold being convoyed in the express 
car from the Colo¬ 
rado and Utah 
mines, and then 
leisurely rode off. 
There were no sol¬ 
diers, no organized 
force to pursue. 
Leech.whose father 
was then keeping a 
tavern at Ogallala,. 
started off after the 
robbers on his own 
hook. Day and 
night, like a sleuth 
hound, he followed 
the desperadoes, 
keeping close on 
their trail, and one 
night looked down 
in their camp while 
they divided their 
booty. Soon after 
they w’ere sur¬ 
rounded and killed, 
and all the stolen 
property restored. 
It was a most ex¬ 
citing story of ad¬ 
venture, as Leech 
narrated it. A re¬ 
porter of an Omaha 
paper, who over¬ 
heard the recital iu 
the car as Leech was 
returning eastward 
with characteristic rapidity and shrewdness, reproduced 
from memory in book form iu a few days’ time the 
m.ajority of the facts, much to Leech's chagrin. “ Hands 
Up,” the title of the volume, sold to the number of fifty 
thousand iu a short time, but with no pecuniary benefit 
to the hero of the luint. A year later we suddenly came 
upon Leech in the large reception room of the depot at 
Laramie, Wyoming Territory. Ho was closely watching 
the movements of a desperate-looking fellow who, to use 
his own expression, was endeavoring to “ Got the drop ” 
on him. The desperado was connected with the Train 
ox THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 
