Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-12-07

J two thousand miles of Stage-coaching, anC
} We're whisked away to Sacramento, the cap
lta1 OF the Golden State; and thence by riv
: er to the queen city of the Pacific coast
San Francisco, the metropolis of California
Fifteen years ago of few mean houses
: and now rivalling Chicago, Cincinnati or St
Louis in population, welcoming the stran
ger to magnificent hotels and palatial man.
sions, to crowded stores and warehouses
to churches and libraries, and all the luxu.
ries of civilization and life This is a great
remarkable and noble State In all nv
journeyings have never met such "a com.
monwealth-a smiling garden throughout
the year. Manufactures are her greatest
need, but mills are fast going up, and a
woolen mill there is using one million lbs
of wool year.
Every where we rueet the Chinese labor
ers working i'll every menial department
The ladies say they make the best baby.
tenders i'll the world. Laughter They
make good laborers, working on the Pa
clhc Railroad or extracting a living from
refuse-dlggings, where white men would
starve, and saving money enough to take
them to their homes, or convey their corps
es thther, for the Chinaman must be buried
in his native land.
The first locomotive built in that State
commenced running last August
Hers is an enterprising people. The long
caravans that wended their way there, to
develop her gold mines and other mineral
wealth, have left their indelible stamp upon
the character of the State. She needs but
increased capital, manufactures and popu-
lation to bring her more greatness, pros
perity and power than was thought of in
her palmiest days. Applause.
Thence to the upper regions of the Pa
cifc coast, through the cities of Yreka and
jacksonville, over the vast agricultural
plains of Oregon, six hundred miles long
and one hundred and fifty wide, to Port
land, city of six thousand inhabitants and
four thousand five hundred miles from its
namesake i'll Maine, and to Fort Vancouver,
once the station of Ulysses 5. Grant Ap-
plause.
An excursion trip on the Columbia river,
| through frownlng mountains and overhang-
ing cliffs. with the water deep enough at
| tn cir base for frigatc to float. At the
ca scades, where the river falls thirty-two
! feet in a mile, the steamboat company built
a railroad five miles i'll length, to a point
! above the falls, where steamboat navigation
/ is resumed. In full view of this railroad
| is the blOckhouse where Phil Sheridan, then
a lieutenant six years ago, defended him,
| self and party against "a horde of bowling
! Indians LCheers
Still later, we reached the northwestern
town of the United States, Olympia, with
| Puget's Sound in the distance. Timber is
plentiful there, and vessels are loading
there for all ports Of the North and South
Pacific, for Australia and for France. Van
couver's Island, TOO, is close at hand, in
joint occupancy Of the forces of both Gov
ernments, the soldiers only to be disting
uished III their frank intermingling by the
royal red and the loyal blue. Applause
The valleys of California are as fruitful
as they are beautiful Chief among them
| all is SonOma, famous for its wines. There
| too, we meet the wonder Of the continent,
the Yo Semitic valley, never trodden by the
white mans foot until 1851, and shut in by
| high walls of rock on every side. Its ro-
mantle beauty and wild sublimity surpass
the fondest dreams any of our party had
conceived Of it. We might have thought
of the home Of the genius of Solitude
From the cliffs we looked down into the
valley eight miles long, and averaging half
gracefully through its length. On either
side rise mountains from three thousand
to six thousand feet above the valley it.
self, and is four thousand feet above the
sea level. Here are the yellowish granite
walls of FL CAPTAIN, surmounted with "a
beautiful dome, grander than the dome of
capitol or cathedral : other rocks rise from
the perpendicular. Such an aggregation
| of remarkable mountains fills the soul of
| the beholder, and awes him with the sub
lime magnificence of the scene 1t seems
af if in the creation the rock had been
ploughed through, and the fragments thrown
away. 1t seemed like the happy valley of
| Rasselas, where, shut out from the rest of
the world, peace and contentment could be
found. Applause. Here is the Bridal
| Veil, a creek ninety feet wide, falling from
a rock ninety feet high at a single leap,
| dssipated first into lace-like strands and
then into mist, and decked with the beauti-
full colors of the rainbow Here, too, are
the Yo Semitic Falls, $500 feet high-six-
teen times higher than Niagara where for
the first time | saw a circular rainbow
| Applause No horse can scale these
steep ascents, and the journey on foot is
tiring but fatigue and danger are forgot
ten in the sublime display. Not less i'm
posing were the gigantic trees, 80 feet in
circumference and 800 feet high, estimated
at three thousand two hundred years old.
They have braved the storm since Moses
wrote and David sang, outliving dynasties
whose histories have almost perished from
the history of man there they have grown
ON and on to maturity and vigor.
But we are back to San Francisco. The
last good-byes are said, we embark on the
steamship Golden City, and move along
the Pacific coast, past the shores of Cali
fornia, along the shores of the Republic of
Mexico. [Applause.] l call it republic,
[cheers II call it a republic, because | re-
cognize no rightful empire there Great
applause. Then into the land-locked port
of Acapulco, where, three hundred and thir-
ty years ago, Alvarez built the ships with
which he sailed to Peru and finally, when
we had sailed $500 miles, and steamers
wheels had made 2l4,440 revoutions-l
like to be exact-we cast anchor in the har-
Dor of Panama, and crossed the forty-seven
miles of railroad on the isthmus, which is
doing an immense business, paying thirty
three per cent, on its large capital, and yet
scarcely receiving more than tenth of Its