The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-04-22
THE PARIS OF AMERICA.
Charming San Francisco. Buildings. Streets
and Parks. Hills. Bay and People.

and Psrks-Hills. Bay and People.
1t has been said, and uuthfully too, thai
there IS respectable class OF people in the
east who like to stand on Plymouth Rock and
looking seward, call everything behind them
cont west" and worthy of no consideration
These are the people who, ignorant OF tho
wonders of their own land, rush annually be
tore the SHOWS are melted from their roofs to
secure passage across the ocean tor their sum
merings in the old world. To people of that
kind the grandeur Of the far west and the
wonderful manifestations of nature there ex
hibited represent nothing whereas the gran
deur of the Rockies, the wonders of the Sier.
ras and the glOries Of the Pacific coast are not
eaualled by the famous but hackneyed sights
and rites OF Europe. could not help nedl,
tating in this vein of thought one day In San
Francisco, after my trip across the plains and
mountains; and, although having made the
Journey once before, never realized ITS full
effects and grandeur so thoroughly, and was
never so fully convinced that there was no
other country on earth where 80 much varied
scenery, and of SO sublime nature, could be
seen as in ours. Go where you will, travel
where you may, you will see nothing like 1t,
and the very acme OF it all is California, 1.-The
golden land OF the west" the land of wonder,
and Americas Paradise. Here nature has fin.
ished her works In the grandeur of omnipo-
tent might Lofty mountains pierce the re-
giOns of eternal snow, and valleys sink in
eternal summer. Sparkling lakes gem her
Slerras, and romantic scenery crowns her hills.
Deep chasms, frownlng cliffs, waterfalls from
dizzy heights, and vegetation, the most males
tic the world ever saw, constitute series of
its attractions, and above all regions, climate
80 eGuabIe during two seasons that stored
Greece or sunny Italy might envy; and wheth-
er the traveller tourist or invalid ls seeking
pleasure IN the broad light OF day, or encamp-
ed under the star-lt covering of night he or
she will find upon Its coast skies just as blue
and translucent and nights just as clear and
lovely as are found anywhere else beneath the
broad canopy of heaven. But, while tourists
and travellers may be loud in their praise of
the grandeur and wonders of the Pacific coast,
it Is only Californian, and especially FRS
cote, that can picture the Empire of the
West" and anticipate the future of this land
of gold and hesthens. You are scarcely with.
in its border ere faint imagination possesses
you that you are nearing the promised land,
and your first glimpse OF Frisco, if clear
day, strikes you that you've at last reached
Paradise. And as you step from the cars or
the terry one OF those happy Friscoans takes
you under his wing and illustrates, to his own
satisfaction at least, that California Is the
greatest state in the Union, and that within
twenty years the entire country will look to it
for bread and brains! Happy Californian
But perhaps he may be excused for all this
enthusiasm when we consider that but little
over thirty years ago 500 white people could
not be found in as many hundred miles, and
not more than one or two ships year visited
its coast. Now San Francisco, including Oak
land, Brooklyn and few other suburban
towns, boasts of nearly half million white
people and 100000 Chinese. And AZ for her
commerce, 1t is hardly possible to estimate it.
especially when it Is known that there are ten
or twelve ships in the China trade alone, the
same number in the Pacific mail service, q
hundred or more in the Coasting business, be.
sides hundreds of ships and sailing vessels of
every description from far-of cllmes that
come with goods to the metropolis of the Pa.
cific coast Then there are the two lines of
railroads with their immense amount OF traffic.
and two more building which will ere long
be laid across the mountains and traverse the
valleys of wondrous California. After all this,
are not the Calitornians fast people, and this
portion of our country great one9 Truly
the gentle breezes of today would be the
whirlwind OF fifty years ago; and If we con.
tinue tor half century more rs we have for
the past twenty years, what nation we will
then he!
San Francisco has been dubbed the paris
of America" and the pilgrims from the far
east after journeying across the plains and
surviving the high atmosphere of the Rockies
somewhat of that nature. And also, when he
considers that it is the principal city of state
that Is larger than any three states In the
Union, leaving out Texas, and whose men and
women are the most desperate gamblers in
stocks and mines, and that 1t is the home of
one of the greatest monOpoles on earth, cor.
poration that controls every foot of railroad in
the state, and the greater portion OF the COM
merce of the entire coast. 1t has the finest
bay in the world, the largest hotel on earth,
and as magnificent buildings as any city in
40 paved streets, handsome edifices and busy
marts are to be seen to-day. But he whose de.
scriptive picture would convey anything like
an idea OF what San Francisco and its won