Show ON HIS TRAVELS H D J Looking Over Old Landmarks Land-marks OREGON Mo January 7I8S7t To the Editor of THE HERALD I had thought of writing yon a few lines ere this but being somewhat fatigued after tho long ride between your city and this place having slept but little on niv arrival here I felt little like writing and besides I had quie a desire to cultivate the acquaintance acquaint-ance of some children and grandchildren grand-children of mine residing here and as you may suppos it took considerable time to do this owing to my long absence from this country There is not a great deal to be seen nor much ta ba learned in a rapidly performed trip by rail at best and night travel especially is rather barren of interesting items notwithstanding notwithstand-ing I saw a good deal to interest me on the way Coming as I did from Ogden to Council Bluffs in a new neat and clear passenger car one of a tram managed by gentlemanly conductors and brakemen and efficient engineers thinK the reasonable traveler had but little if any cause for complaint On this route the hotels are well kept the meals served being well cooked and of good quality I There has not been much change in the appearance of the country between Ogden and Cheyenne since the completion com-pletion of the U P Railway excepting I the progress of a few of the towns on the route amongst which I noticed Evanston Rawlins and Laramie as the most conspicuous It was a source of some surprise to me to notice the progress pro-gress made since I last traveled over the Union Pacific Railroad in Laramie and Cheyenne especially both of which have grown to be quite large towns I confess I am unable to account for the growth of the latter place not being able to see such advantages in its location loca-tion as to justify so large a city as it seems to be It mav and probably will continue to grow after the completion of the railroad in course of construction to the northwest which is already completed com-pleted a distance of about 50 miles After passing Cheyenne I was particularly par-ticularly struck with the appearance of the country especially east of Sidney Neb I did not lock for the settlement of the Lodge Pole Valley at least so early as the present time and was therefore surprised to see ranches farms fields and towns of considerable magnitude on the line of the railroad and what is most wonderful is the fact stated and vouched for by men of apparent ap-parent respectability that crops of different kinds of gram are produced in that heretofore arid region without irrigation and in the absence of timely showers of rain And right here I beg to suggest to thoughtful people who may feel an interest in tne future ot our country the propriety of advancing slowly in the direction of selling or leasing our desert lands to wealthy syndicates There are no large bodies of good productive pro-ductive landnow owned by the government govern-ment upon which crops can be grown without artificial irrigation our population popu-lation is rapidly increasing and so rapidly that only a few years will elapse when Uncle Sam not having them to give cannot give us all a farm unless indeed such climatic changes shall occur as to make our desert lands suitable for habitation and for cultivation when should such changes occur which would be the best for the United States or far rich corporations corpor-ations to own the vast areas of lands which now some people are so anxious to alienate But I willl at present pursue the subject sub-ject no further and must close Probably Prob-ably you will hear from me soon from Lincoln Neb as I will go to that place in a day or two In the meantime Yours truly HDJ |