Show LETTER FROM COUNCIL BLUFFS upon arriving at council bluffs city ity at nine pm july 6 1889 1 I felt like one in a strange land at the depot I 1 learned that no train left for Mar markville maryville that evening and that I 1 should have to wait until four pm on the following day there was nothing uncommon in the circumstance except that I 1 was wholly dependent upon the answers which strangers might make to my enouris as to the disposal of myself for the night I 1 certainly was upon ground once once quite familiar to me in the years that had flown by upon the ce ceaseless ageless winks wings of time A little from the missouri river on the eastern side was the depot where all the trains east west north and south had their terminus or where passengers changed cars for their various destinations I 1 once knew that ground when but a dim wagon road ran across the bottom land which intervened between the turbid waters of the missouri when not more than a dozen dwellings were seen in all that stretch of four miles from the mouth of the hollow bollow where the village of kanesville Kanes ville nestled in its primitive condition now there is a fine and costly depot houses thickly scattered all along the way and an electric motor which conveys the people to and fro every fifteen minutes jumping u upon po n one of these I 1 soon reached the ogden house which in more early times was erected by ww wm garver garner and another gentleman whose name has gone from my memory the building is a good and add commodious one it was burned down and rebuilt and is now in the hands bands of different owners I 1 took a room there for the night notwithstanding that the fast express had bad hurled buried me along from salt lake city starting at 6 am on the previous day caus causing ng weariness to entice me to repose yet when I 1 turned the key in the door of the room which secluded me for the night and I 1 laid quietly down to sleep a thousand memories were awakened that for hours kept back the refreshing influences of slumber I 1 could not help it the strength of old memories was so great on the very ground whereon I 1 slept I 1 once sold goods for john needham and right there his bister in law miss hannah booth took her departure to the bright world beyond A few doors doom north I 1 had bad worked as a compositor on the frontier guardian published and edited by apostle orson r son hyde within a stones throw of the place T had clerked for J B man and jackson during those flush bush times when large companies were en route for california in quest of gold and who left with us their money as fast as a dozen clerks could fill their orders that was the period of ready sales at big prices I 1 had also stood behind the counters of riddle biddle foreman when the hon A W babbitts babbitt T utah s delegate to congress started the e democrat paper the bugle I 1 was his foreman and also did a large portion of his editing for eighteen months after he had sold the paper to mr joseph E johnson I 1 continued with him as foreman but his ever prolific pen was able to furnish any quantity of manuscript for his bis columns without my feeble aid finally mr johnson sold the office to judge babbitt a gentleman highly and widely esteemed for a time I 1 was a member of the city council but these all belong to the past and are rem remembered only by a few of the present citizens of council bluffs they are merely mentioned here among incidental recollections awakened upon my arrival upon looking around upon the changes that have been wrought by enterprise an ani I 1 the aid of capital I 1 awoke in the morning a Str stranger aDger in a spot once sv so familiar to me lifting my eyes northward I 1 caught sight of the city of the dead upon the hill and resolved to pay a visit there while the dew was yet upon the grass I 1 followed up the slight ravine where the funeral corteges cortexes corte once wended bended their way all is now made smooth and adorned by the band of toll toil and the outlay of wealth one of the streets of the city extends the whole distance to the brow of the gradual ascent with wide cement side sicie walks the street itself is constructed of 4 pieces of round cedar sawn true about eight indies inches in length and t ohp same in diameter these bloc blocks s stand close together end upon end ou on the smooth street bed and ai parent patently ly filled around with cement which furnishes a surface perfectly solid smooth and tasting lasting if rather expensive along this street on either sides sid the earth has been rounded aou variously shaped to suit the tastes of those who have erected theve splendid residences with lawns water fountains and hower flower beds at the head of the street a fence encloses the cemetery within this enclosure are many white marble monuments and tombstones chiseled thereon are the names of a few whom I 1 had bad known find and honored among the departed were the bodies bodie of those laid there in the early times when exile with its attendant ills placed many in untimely graves in in nay my heart I 1 thanked the citizens of council bluffs for having generously r respected ted that portion of the ground and permitted no infringement upon the ashes of those who rested beneath the sod many of them had bad fallen by the way while upon their wey weary march to find rest from that intolerance which should never prevail upon a continent sanctified by tb the blood of the revolution and the puritan fathers who fled to escape oppression I 1 was much disappointed on belat unable to disco resting places of many of my old acquaintances whom I 1 knew to have been bu buria there it may perhaps seem incredible but I 1 I 1 will mention the 1 graves of the few I 1 could identify among those who were interred J during several of the first of the settlement of council blufe feeling that it will be a satisfaction to many in utah to be made acquainted quain ted with the condition of the tb graves of their friends I 1 took a opportunity of transcribing from to the broken wooden headboards head boards ard ant marble slabs all that is now readable most of these boards lie flat ayo the ground making it underwo whether they rest exactly UP 00 the graves to which they were or I 1 i in anally placed there are but W ew 0 in all as follows wm win from liverio Liver poh po england died march 7 1850 0 a age gw 28 years ears T 8 brown born in liverpool england killed on the river biver iwa may 1862 aged 14 years ye son of T C brown of utah our mother julia johndon Joh John neon sondi dw may LO 1858 1859 aged 70 years to the memory of lefimil lef defaced de faced Mil soo iw defaced de faced years 6 mos defaced de faced idl here lonely and sad ead in this wildet land thy parents resigning deplore the sweet sweet be thy rest till the lavioe sava win command inand in beauty and youth shall restore tb the whole of this last is chiseled in marble john P green infant son eon of B vs vve M and susan green died WS 3rd ard 1852 aged 8 months month a and d r days M in memory of john B R websel died aug aged 26 y in ifie memory mory of hannal hannah muo maro wife of john martin died june w 1850 aged 38 years 1 A red flat sandstone w marks ahlm grave of elder aumau heath ebl istian name is worn away but tb murname is legible A tall ash tle wee has his hie grown exactly upon 0 v A jaa large black walnut tree spreads WK shade exactly over tb the e spot wheezes all that remains of miss annah booth mrs fox of biram MI england and an infant walford of rd and amand N childs but the pickets and head headboards boards from bea 8 well as all other graves of abe daal settlers so far as I 1 could 0 have rotted away leaving i adl 8 vestige which to als g by identify 1 was wae the hallowed sabbath Bab bath NO j i and then men women and came up from the city to water host the plante ante and ad flowers which h TO been already planted over ver the glav staves of their loved ones or were re my thoughts wholly ab th ill these theae hallowed grounds BY y wandered along weary and de stass anie 18 vats latha baere where the latter day aaa had 14 daway from homes fad hostile states pursued and hu hunt nt edan account of their peculiar faith the I 1 ne of this weary h graves and burying places aked e route as plainly as the alft r of el a new continent would the forest oaks so that those arbo sought bought might follow the trail of besides des those who rest in the wt eries many hundreds sleep in e upon the prairies in the vares va res BI among the sagebrush and ft lo 10 ja etus where those who doah d ad and mourned thern them laid them theiu in haste themselves to pene BB still further into unexplored mons W where tb the e sanctity sa of altars worship w would not be in eded aed respectfully li 0 littlefield byville mo july |