An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859

Book Excerpt: ...to the mile than any other railroad I ever traveled. About one-third of the way from Hannibal, it is intersected by the "North Missouri Railroad" from St. Louis, which city is about one hundred miles further from St. Joseph than Hannibal is; the train from St. Louis starting at five a. m. to connect with ours which ought to have left Hannibal at half past nine. Each road is completed, so that St. Louis as well as Hannibal is within a day's ride by rail of St. Joseph, which faces Kansas almost up to the Nebraska line.Though the day was dreary, I noted with deep interest the country through which we passed, which disappointed me in these respects: 1. The land is better than I had supposed; 2. It is of more uniform grade--hardly anything worth calling a hill being seen after rising the bluff from the Mississippi till we come in sight of the bluffs which enclose the Missouri; 3. There is more prairie and less timber than I had expected; and 4. There are infinitely less population and improvement. Of cours..