The post is not large, but
the office of quartermaster is no sinecure. An immense amount of
transportation has to be kept in readiness for the field, for which
the quartermaster alone is held responsible, and this is the base of
supplies for outfits for all parties--large and small--that go to the
Yellowstone Park, and these are many, now that Livingstone can be
reached from the north or the south by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Immense pack trains have to be fitted out for generals, congressmen,
even the President himself, during the coming season. These people
bring nothing whatever with them for camp, but depend entirely upon
the quartermaster here to fit them out as luxuriously as possible with
tents and commissaries--even to experienced camp cooks!
The railroad has been laid straight through the post, and it looks
very strange to see the cars running directly back of the company
quarters. The long tunnel--it is to be called the Bozeman tunnel--that
has been cut through a large mountain is not quite finished, and the
cars are still run up over the mountain upon a track that was laid
only for temporary use. It requires two engines to pull even the
passenger trains up, and when the divide is reached the "pilot" is
uncoupled and run down ahead, sometimes at terrific speed. One day,
since we came, the engineer lost control, and the big black thing
seemed almost to drop down the grade, and the shrieking of the
continuous whistle was awful to listen to; it seemed as if it was the
wailing of the souls of the two men being rushed on--perhaps to their
death.
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