—

<> ee Y,
I2 ABILENE.

city, on the branch line, is Wakefield, the headquarters
of the “English Colony.”

At Abilene we see the town whose name was once a
synonym for Texas cattle, and as widely known as a
great cattle market as any other one in the United
States; in fact, no place of its size has ever, perhaps,
been so thoroughly advertised or acquired such wide-
spread fame as a shipping point for the long-horned
Texans. .

In 1867 thirty-five thousand head arrived there from
Texas; in 1868, seventy-five thousand; in 1869, fully
one hundred and fifty thousand; but the surrounding
country became gradually settled and farmed, and too.
valuable for grazing, and the cattle are now shipped
from Ellsworth, sixty miles farther West, and which is
now the great receiving point for the “ Texans.”

The next stop is Solomon, situated at the confluence
of the Solomon and Smoky Hill rivers, and was
laid out in 1865, the Kansas Pacific Railway being
completed to this point in 186%.

Salt springs exist here in abundance, and large salt
works have been erected and are seen from the train as
we pass. Solomon also boasts a fine flouring mill
situated just below the falls of the river, of which I
have a sketch on page 13. It is the depot for the vast
and grandly fertile valley of the Solomon, which is well
settled for 100 miles north, and an immense amount
of shipping is done via Solomon, and also via Clay
Center, on the Junction City Branch Road.

The polite conductor now informs me that we are