has been the first overdone. One half of the world knows not how the other half lives; and, likewise, thousands who live in the civilized and improved East are perfectly ignorant of the great country lying west of them. True, the land has been crossed and the history written; but the accounts have been so varied that many who have a _desire_ to find _new homes_ and breathe _purer air_, feel quite a delicacy in putting everything they have to so uncertain an adventure. Many examples of families seeking their fortunes in a land of which they have not even the most limited knowledge,--or into which they have been betrayed by the misrepresentations of those who value money in their own pocket higher than comfort in the poor man’s family,--and returning in perfectly destitute circumstances, have proved this fear to be well founded. Nearly all the histories that have been written of the land now in view were got up by _land-sharks_, or by persons who took a single tour through the country, often on the train, and not seeing one eighth of the country of which they write, nor stopping long enough in a place to learn the ways and customs of the inhabitants, nor testing the soil, climate, and general prospects of the country upon which the emigrant must rely. Far from this method has been the means of this author’s information, which he wishes to place before the people in the present volume. With a deep conviction of common duty, every line is marked; and the many facts gathered by so much peril and exposure will _certainly_ be a _valuable fountain_ to all those to whom this work is dedicated. G. W. R. THE WESTERN ECHO. PART I. CHAPTER I. Start from Dayton--Coal-Mine--Indianapolis--Illinois Roads--Springfield--Crops--Poor Water--Missouri River--Enter Iowa--Enter Missouri--Kansas City--Des Moines Valley and City--Western Iowa--Fourth of July at Lewis--Council Bluffs.