The Cheyenne House, in spite of its rather imposing name,
was, taking it all in all, the worst apology for a hotel I had ever met with in the course of my rather extensive travels. It was a frame building, of the rudest construction, while the lodging rooms about eight by ten feet in size were merely separated from each other by canvas partitions, which rendered any real privacy an absolute impossibility. The beds, or rather the bunks, in these rooms were large enough for two persons, and it was expected that two persons would occupy each of them, the luxury of a single bed being something unheard of in that locality. The mattresses and pillows were made of flour bags,—the miller's brands still on them,—stuffed with straw, and the coverlets were a pair of gray army blankets, with "U. S. A." plainly marked—undoubtedly the plunder of some rascally quartermaster who was bent on making his residence on the frontier pay him handsomely, even if he had to cheat the government.
On entering the hotel; we were ushered into a good-sized room, the floor being made of the roughest pine boards, from which the tar exuded in thick and sticky lumps. A large railroad stove, heated red hot, was in the centre of the room, and was surrounded by a motley crowd of men, who were sitting in every describable posture, smoking, chewing, spitting, and blaspheming in a style that indicated a total ignorance on their part of the fact that they had souls to be saved, It was impossible to get near the stove, although it was quite cold, for none of these men offered to move, and seemed to consider a poor little woman, like myself, as something entirely beneath their notice.
To my great satisfaction I did not have to remain long in this choice company, for supper was announced as ready within a few moments of our arrival. I requested to be shown the wash-room, and, on reaching it, found there a few old tin wash-basins, all of which were vilely dirty, a sardine box with a lump of home-made soap in it, and a vile-looking tow towel on a roller, which, in addition to being utterly filthy, did not have a dry place on it as big as half a dollar. Fortunately I had my own soap and towels in my satchel, and managed to perform my ablutions in a moderately satisfactory fashion. As for the basins and towels belonging to the place, I should not have hesitated to have used them, rough as they were, had they been moderately clean, for, on the frontier, we have no right to expect the accommodations of the Grand
