Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-07-21
FROM SAN FRANCISCO.
Journey to the Golden Gate Scenes
by the Way.
rom Correspondent of the Appeal

GALN vi lAlC III eNAAA
health this morning at IL O'Clock, ano
Z would have arrived on yesterday eve
ming but for stopping over to take g
rapid look at Sacramento City. Not
a single train or boat upon which we
have travelled failed to make regular
: connections, and net one jar occurred
to mar the harmony of our entire trip
of about tWenty-eight hundred miles
of railroad. For such an unmerited
blessing, we would return thanks to
the Great Source of Safety.
/ We left Omaha on last Monday
! morning about O'Clock. As is Gus
tomary on Monday mornings, the
through passengers were not so nu-
meroUs, numbering only about seven
ty-tiye, which happy hit gave us
double seats and vacancies in abun-
dance. On this account such elegant
cOuches could be constructed by COM
pounding the velvet seats of the first
class coaches that the interest of the
splendid and hiGA-priced Gullman
palace sleeping cars suffered consideF-
ably. Among our fellQW1travelers,
alhIOst every profession and occupa-
tiOn was represented, and the usual
variety of "characters "-some who
had repeatedly made the tour of Eu-
rope, and some who were on their
first trip. But few ladies were along
with us-enough, however, to keep ND
avshOw of civilization, Our AIinfstef
to China and an ii. G. Of Oregon were
( the ranking y" members of our party,
! The railroads constituting the over
land route to the Pacific are the Union
| Pacific. extending from Omaha to
TO PromontOry Point, on the border
of the great Salt Lake, where the
great parade was made over the lay
ing of the "last tie," a distance of
1884 miles. At PrOmontory Point
the Central Pacific begins, and extends
500 miles to Sacramento, ESOm Sac
ramento 70 E-elejq Is a short railroad,
| thence magnificent steamer takes
you to San Francisco. We accom-
| plished the whole distance, about 1906
miles, in five days; and what IS lit
tie remarkable, we consumed rs much
time on the Central Pacific as we did
on the Union Pacific, in spite of the
great difference in the length Of them.
/ We attributed the elegant leisufe OF
the Central racine TO the California
way-Of doing things, as the road was
good and most Of il over perfectly
level ground.
Our heavy trunks that had passed
unquestioned over so much extent of
railroad, were placed on the scales and
twenty cents per pound charged for al
excess over one hundred, AIy gun,
too, which h&d passed. over three diff
fey.Tit railroads free, was taxed ST p.
Our entire transportation cost Us $40.
There are eating houses at convenient
distances belonging to the railroad, at
which very good meals are furnished
at 81 y. A heCtA IN the sleeping car
costs about Three dollars q night. The
trip through can be made with $500. |
An individual fond OF travelling and
seeing new things, who has surplus
funds on hand, could not appropriate
it more agreeably. @
1t was a delightful morning when
we left Omaha, 1t having Taiped suf-
ticiently hard to Jay tBe dust perma-
men jiY, and temper a June day, with |
the assistance of the Nebraska lati- |
tude, to one of our genuine May days. |
] really felt for the first time that i |
was leaving home in earnest when, as |
they call them, the L. p" cars COM |
menced wheeling westward from the
Missouri river, down and along the
banks of which 1t extends FOR a Short |
distance, ana the splendid engine of
the most costly and powerful make,
under a full head of steam, with two |
wild screams, gave the signal for |
breaks off," and dashed into the Ne |
braska prairie land which spread away !
to the right and left as level GEd appa-
rently as bOundleSs as the sea, with no
tree nor habitati0n at paratively
short distance out except at the depotS, |
which were many miles apart. Such |
q vast eXpahse of waving, luXuriant |
grass, varied by flowers of every hue,
presents a scene that will monOpOlise |
the eve and silence the tongue for
hours and hours. Wild birds Of an |
entirely new appearance commenced |
eying nom eurfapid approach, among |
them the pl0veF and prairie chicken,
and soon the passengers We're all on |
the side from which the alarm came, !
looking at the long-eared rabbit, about |
as large rs fDA, b1gnding away at an |
astonishing speed, throwing its head
with a peculiar Operatic atfectation
first on one side and then on the other,
" "Anteiopes" was the lezt alarm;
then came tae village of prairie dogs,
about which Washington Irving has
talked so graphically. His sketch is
up to life. They seemed but little
alarmed by the passing of the train,
and were seampering about in every
direction, and their associate owls sit
ting around perfectly at home. The
buffalo had ali gone north. We saw
no Indians until we had gotten into
the nelghborhoOd of the Rocky Noun
tains. They are perfectly quiet; gar
risons and forts are scattered along the
road for the purpose of keeping them
so.
We started at an elevation of about
800 feet above the level Of the sea; we
were soon at Sherman, 5000 feet higher
than any mountain peak east of the
Mississippi, and the highest inhabited
point in the United States. 1t is a lit
tie remarkable that the highest habi-
tations of the Eastern Continent are
religious institutions, and that of the
| Western, railroad depot and tele-
graph office, From this, the highest
| point on the road, we commenced de-
scending on a grade of 104 feet to the
mile, and dispensed with steam alto
gether. We soon struck the head
/ waters of the Weber river, whose
waters were the first we had seen des-
tined for the Pacific. The mountain
scenery along this river, in such strik-
ing contrast with the bOundless plains,
| was the first that even Outtopped the
sublime itself. The deep gorges
through which we passed are called
canOns (canyons), the Weber, Echo,
etc. To our right and left lowered
rugged, beetling, frOwning cliffs that
pierce the clouds; the river was rush
ing along upon a headlOng race that
would have turned all the wheels in
YankeedOm; the splendid train of
cars, (the work of mans hands,, with
| its jealous engine, was dashing through
the changing grandeur at thirty miles
an hour. Now and then it would
plunge into dark tunnel, but the
curtain would only rise to disclose
something grander still. The I" "bab-
bling gOssips of the ali" would catch
up the shrill scream of the engine,
and would toss it from peak to gorge
in the widest melody. IstOod on the
platform that might see and hear it
all. The Indians, with their red blan-
kets, bows and arrows, gazed upon US
in mute wonder, and made no saluta-
ton to the waving handkerchief Of
the white man.
On leaving the canons, the eternal
snow made its appearance for the first
time. in long, white chains, north and