The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-07-17
TIN TRIP 10 OALIT0RNIA.

THE TRIP 10 OALIT0RNIA.
Inoidsnts ana Obssrva lions "a the Va,
fro,A OAshAts salt Lake city.
From orr Regular Corrs.po ndsns.
SAaAroaA. Cal. June 27th, 1873. I
EDIToR JoURNAL.-We loft Oma
ha. Friday Am. Our train CONSISTED
OF two baggage, three Pullman sleeping
and two regular passenger cara. w,
had = stateroom 10 the "Wyoming," al
to ourselves. There was long soft
on one side, next the window, and o.
the other two short seats facing, which
when drawn out and : mattress put OF
made : very nios bed for our invalid
The mattress was handsomely covered
with brocatelle, 20 ws we're not Is hamed
Of it. A narrow passage way ran alonl
this side Of the stateroom, The porter
was an ornament to the profession e,
He adjusted our little table, called ou'
attention to the sights, and did mum
berless things to make US remember him
We paid nothing extra on our trunks
and it is not usual now, unless On very
heavy, or more than one. Medium
sized Saratogas come through Free
One Of our number, blessed with one
which could hardly come under thu
head Of "medium sized," rather calcu'
lated to cash up, but by the entioine
manner in which she extended be,
ticket to be "punohed'' 80 bewilderei
the genius who preides over those
things that he made the required
inoision without glance At the soalel
which stood conveniently near.
Nearly ali Of Friday We kept il
sight Of the Platte river, which look
like formidable stream, but of which
our guide book says, "Its average
depth i six inches, and it is navig.ble
for nothing but shin gles." ....s, ......
Saturday morning about four O'clock
found, me gazing ardently from the
window, in search Of the thousand mile
tree, I vas told !; but y we had accom-.
.plishad only two hundred miles, that
could not BE-. Many oaetuses !, grow
along the road side. which interested
% me very much, . did also the prairie
dog villages. Cor > description of the
latter see Guyot's Introduction To- &C.
ogrsphy.) 49,. r., !: rim. 49,. o..
All through Nebrssks you SEQ no
fences, but the fields Of grain growing
without any Profession seemingly. from
cattle. They are protected, however,
by the herd law, which obhges people
owning cattle to either keep them in an
enclosure Or else have them constantly
attended by !. boy Or man. Clothing
said Of the fitness of women for the po-
sition } Plenty Of beggarly Indians
came to the train. at nearly every sta
ton and asked for five cents.
:, The highest point. on the Union Pa.
ci6o,or in fact any railroad, is Sherman
town, 8042 feet above sea level named
for Gen. Sherman, the tallest officer in
the United States army i It 1ained
nearly all the afternoon before We
reached Sherman and. We noticed no
change in the atmosphere here. except
thatit grew very cold; indeed 1t showed
while Ne We're theze, One of us:got off
the vtrain,. aud gathered some beau.
tiful mountain snow flowers. We had
been told before commencing our jour-
ney that travellers often suffered at
Sherman from tho. rarity Of the, air,
and had our fears confirmed by the in
qulries We made. People With diseased
lungs and some others who are sansi.
tive often have slight hemorrhages of
the lungs, others bleed from the nose.
We, experienced no peculiar sensation
whatever. . From Sherman to Larimie
the cars run without steam aud with all
the brakes on; the descent is so great.
Perhaps forty-eight hours of the five
days time required from St. Paul was
spent in passing the: Sage Desert. The
dryer and whittier with alkali the, eoun-
try; u.s., the more abundant the sage
brush near q stream it dwindles to an
Insignificant weed, It is said to be a
certain oure for fever and ;ague, the on
" thing it is good for. uosaturday night
closed in while. Ne were on the desert,
and We laid our weary selves upon our
narrow beds with blessingss on tho
head Of the inventor Of; the: sleeping
car. .,ga,......,.. ~
Sunday did not seem much, Ike the
Sabbath. %! everything vent on as usu-
al-psrticularly the carr. (: The aags
nii6ieent scenery of Weber land !; Echo
oanons would alone repay the trouble of
hsaprassding Journey. Il The q railroad
Follows the course oE these canona, exss
cept In two orlsthsSs places, where it
pasaessin etuulelt through the noun.
tains. A stream is 'all athsIjwhile Il bes
sidethe road, and one beautiful, .clear,
little mountain brook 10 70 crooked that
Il ~ crossed thirty.two timesinstwenty5
biz; miles, ooSt sir ,5on yt5raas---&oa
| We saw tho tbou.sand.mile treee'
several miles this ssids'ofI Ogden. 10 o..
den is'a small Mormon railroad town
where change is made to: the Central
Pacific road3or to'the train ruuuingto
Salt Lake City. Nearly every one. on
our car went down there, v = With The
Others. a Mormon runner for 1 Nor.