One Hundred and Sixty-second Day.
Neola House,
Neola, Iowa,
October Twentieth.
A drizzling rain on leaving Avoca made the prospect of my ride to this point somewhat gloomy. Over the interminable prairie again my journey lay, as it had done ever since I entered the State of Iowa, but a more magnificent sight I never saw than presented itself before me this afternoon on reaching the summit of an extensive table-land between Avoca and Minden.
Halted a few minutes for lunch at Minden, and met a gentleman there who had attended my lecture at Detroit, upon which he was pleased to compliment me. Neola is a small prairie settlement of about three hundred inhabitants and is surrounded by several good farms. Of the Neola House I can only say that I shall not easily forget it and its proprietor—especially the nocturnal serenade of all the cats of Neola—which deprived me of sleep throughout the night; and the extremely scant accommodations provided for the guests.
The soil here is inferior in quality to that of no other section of the State. The land is well watered and was gradually filling up with an industrious class of citizens.
OMAHA, NEBRASKA, IN 1876.
One Hundred and Sixty-third Day.
Atlantic Hotel,
Omaha, Nebraska,
October Twenty-first.