The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1869-11-05
s1sisfellanp.
A TRIP ACROSS TIE CONTINENT.
MAcox. GA, Oct. 14, 1860.

Editors Telegfg2ld:
/ herewith honor you with brief ex-
tracts from a family letter written by
lady who has recently removed from
South Carolina to San Francisco. They
NAV interest your readers. Publish
them if you think proper:
"We have at last reached our jour
news end. We had delightful trip
across the continent. The air of the
prairie was exhiIiarating and bracing, be-
yond anything | can conceive OF: and
the only disagreeablc experience we had
was passing through the dry alkaline
region of Salt Lake, the great American
desert. Here, no moisture or drop OF
rain is seen or felt for months, and the
drearincss of the scencis gloomy beyond
com parison but the grand bare rocky
mountains are all the time in view
Not one green tree or twig, relieving
their fearful desolation, till they were
sufficiently distant to be enchanting,
when seen through this wonderfully
clear atmosphere.
Taken altogether, this trip over the
Pacific railroad is one of the most de-
lightful in the world: because it pre-
scnts such varied and increasing inter-
est in the scenery and the country
through which it passes. For three
hundred miles it traverses the fertile
and beautiful prairies of Nebraska and
Iowa-then the treeless plains, rising
gradually to the table lands-and then
the mountain plateaus, until We reach
the altitude of 5000 feet above the sea
shore. The wonder is, you are rising at
the rate of twelve feet mile, and arc
not aware of it, except in the feeling OF
a fresherl life and delicious conscious
ness that you never breathed SO easily
before, never before realized the intox-
icating Joy of mere animal existence
1t is a new and sweet experience.
! am unable to paint to you the grand
and awful scenery of the Sierra Nevada,
where for twenty tours we were creep
ing along the sides of mountains into
whose yawning chasms we looked down
1000 feet, and felt our utter powcrless-
ness and our entire trust in and depend
ence on Almighty protection.
Such monument of enterprise and
energy as this Pacific railroad presents
is far beyond anything of the present
century.
Here we were dashing at railroad
speed through this vast continent, as to
our surroundings, as luxuriously accom-
modated as if we had been sitting in the
New York hotel. We took Pullman's
palace car all through-during the day
stretched out upon sofa seats, as indc'
pendent as lords and ladies-no intru
sion; for after our sleeping rooms were
taken at Omaha, and our complement o
passengers completed, no others were
admitted. At night We took off on
clothes and went 10 bed behind our sill
damask curtains, as safely and private
Iy ensconced as if st home. We hat
excellent eating apartments, and moth
ing to interfere with our comfort excep
the little obtrusive Thought, "Well, We
are paying dear for all tbs"
The first thing that strikes you III
California is the immense size that
everything attains-men, women, chill.
dren, fruit, vegetables, howers-and
such an abundance 1t just seems to
be place that God has so blessed, that
of His bounty He has poured out every
thing for man. An Eden that just re-
uuires man to inhabit. Everything
seems to me to grow without the sweat Of
mans brow. We can at any time e
out and select from twelve to fifteen va
rcties of fruit-everything we wish
and compared with which our Southern
fruits are dwarfed specimens. One
pear can be divided with five persons
and each have enough, and oh the lus'
ciousness is nectar and ambrosia, They
all tell me this is the worst of seasons
everything dry parched. We are told
that it has rained here but once since
March, and yet such a yield from the
soil! 1t is mystery l cannot explain.
Oh how wish could take you all up
bodily, aud bring you out here. 1t is
all that need to make me completely
happy"