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Title
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Sidney, Banner County, Scotts Bluff, July 30-Aug. 9, 1911
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Date
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July 30-Aug. 9, 1911
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Sandhills Narratives
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Identifier
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27163
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Transcription
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39 The stage picked us up – what was left of us – at a point about ten miles northeast of Harrisburg , at three o’clock in the afternoon (August 7th). The road through the ridge defining the north boundary of the valley lay through rough country with buttes and pines. From the ridge the country north was visible for a great distance, and the green aspect of the valley of the North Platte River, due to the beneficent effect of extensive irrigation projects, was a restful sight after our sojourn in a dusty gray valley. The road down the north side of the ridge was steep and rough, but after reaching comparatively level country it led through a region with good crops – corn and alfalfa and various grains. The excellence of an irrigated country is always accentuated to an absurd degree by its sharp contrast with the surrounding wastes. Scotts Bluf f is a house divided. The radicals write it Scottsbluff; the conservative adhere to Scotts Bluff. The name appears on signs everywhere, generally in the radical style; for the Government has much influence locally, and in its wisdom it prescribes the telescoped form of the name. Being an outsider, and choosing my own point of view, I lined up with the conservatives, waiting until Newyork and Grandrapids and Sanfrancisco and Saltlakecity shall have writ their titles so and established a precedent worth while. But even “Scotts Bluff” is bad form. Scott lived an moved and has his being in this region many years ago, but in the fullness of time and under stress of circumstances he laid him down and died on top of the bluff, which was later named in honor of his bones. He has every right to the dignity of an apostrophe in the name of his graveyard; but I have never seen it so written on any map or in any list. Scotts Bluff is noted chiefly on account of its irrigation projects, of course; it is not so noted, but equally notable, on account of its mosquitoes, which follow irrigation ditches as the night the day. Citizens who write it Scotts Bluff Admit guardedly that there are some mosquitoes; citizens who write it Scottsbluff deny that there is a mosquito in the county; and both classes have their porches and windows screened to the limit. I have never visited any town, except along the Gulf Coast, where such unanimity prevailed in the use of mosquito-bar wire netting. We found the botanists well fed and happy, but loaded down with social obligations and haircuts and such encumbrances. It was sad to note how civilization had once more got them hooked and subjugated. The Doctor and I had only a day and a half in this place, and did not investigate the region very enthusiastically. I took a walk in a southwesterly direction, out to the edge of things, and photographed Mr. Scott’s bluff – which is across the river and several miles away from the town.
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Rights
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Is Version Of
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