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Title
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Sketches and Notes Taken From My Notebook of 1878
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Description
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notebook page
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Transcription
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1
From Omaha to Ogden.
Noon on the 2nd day of August 1878 found me seated in one of the elegant cushioned
seats of a western bound coach of the Union Pacific Railroad. I had to determined
to spend a few months among the rock recesses of the “Backbone” of the continent,
and had succeeded in “getting all aboard” in ample time to allow me to collect my
scattered thoughts before the train pulled out from the depot. It must be remembered
that I was a novice in travelling, and to get my baggage, luncheon and ticket matters
arranged, was no small matter. All these seemed to occupy a great deal of valuable
time, and caused not a little uneasiness on my part lest I be left: and I must confess,
that I began to wish I had remained at home as the thoughts of bygone years with their
horrors came up to my mind while waiting for the start. Suddenly, however, my revere
was broken by the shrill whistle of the locomotive as it sounded “all aboard,” and
we were of for the “Wide West.” As we steamed out of the depot I could not help but
recall Horace Greeley’s advice “young man, go west,” and to think I was now following
it; but perhaps with quite a different object in view than that for which he directed
them to go west.
