"MY DEAR NED: I have the honour to state to you that I am safely
arrived and well-established at this place, Ellisville, and am fully
disposed to remain. At present the Railway is built no further than
this point, and the Labourers under charge of the Company Engineers
make the most of the population. There is yet but one considerable
building completed, a most surprising thing to be seen in this wild
Region. It is of stone and built as if to last forever. It is large
as a Courthouse of one of your usual Towns, and might seem absurd in
this country did it not suggest a former civilization instead of one
yet to come. It is full large enough for any Town of several thousand
people. This is the property of the Co. that is building the Ry. It
is said that the Co. will equip it fully, so that the country round
about may depend upon it for Rations.

"There is another building, intended also for an Hotel, but of a
different sort. This is called the Cottage, and is much frequented by
fellows of the lower sort, the Labourers and others now stopping in
this vicinity. It is the especial rendezvous of many men concerned
with the handling of Cattle. I must tell you that this is to be a
great market for these Western Beeves. Great numbers of these cattle
are now coming in to this country from the far South, and since the Ry.
is yet unable to transport these Animals as they arrive there is good
Numbers of them in the country hereabout, as well as many strange
persons curiously known as Cowboys or Cow-Punchers, which the same I
may call a purely Heathan sort. These for the most part resort at the
Cottage Hotel, and there is no peace in the Town at this present
writing.

"For myself I have taken entry upon one hundred and sixty Acres Govt.
Land, and live a little way out from the Town. Here I have my quarters