The Press., 1883-12-20
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
Los Angeles Co.,, Cal, Dec

l l THE PRESS Monday morning, Nov. 18th, found the excursion party several hundred miles further south At Dem. ing, New Mexico, we changed from the A.. T. & s. F. road to the Southern Pa cific. Now long stretch of desert plains was before us, and the constancy of the glaring sun by d y and the silver moon by night was ours to enjs,y, as best we might.
 The second station west of D+.ming is Gage, where very recently another terrible tragedy was c mmitted, that of killing Engineer Webster and robbing the train generally. The pos al agent, Will Swan, son of MT. and Mrs. Swan mentioned in my first letter, was fired at by the assas. sins several tunes, but fortunately the cal swayed and he escaped their aim. The sum of three thousand dollars head is of fer q for the capture of the rufians.
 Let me say right here to friends of Tol- land county who contemplate coming to 0 lifornia by the southern route that a good Smith & Wesson revolver is not a bad compartment
 The unvaried scenes that Arizona afford ed did not apparently exhaust the travel ltrs, for all were as ready for merry making as on the day we started. This country is valu tble principally for its mines. Now and then it was our pleasure to gatl'er by the way some choice geological and few botanical specimens. ''There is many a rose that is born to blush and waste its sweetness on the desert ar. Our attention was called to the mirage in the distance, and had we not accustom- ed our eyes to wond IFS, we could not have accepted the statement that 1t was an op- tical atmospheric illusion, inst ad of large b. dy of water
 Night came too soon, brin ging us iuto Tues n (To.son). After which we were running parallel with the Gila river. A the eleventh hour some We're wise and some wer- foolish. The foolish ones were sleeping, but tine wise were star ding on the Car platform gazing into the depth of Patchee canon. We crossed this four times in going quarter of mile. This is piece of Natures own haadiwork, save the iron-braced bridges on which we went slowly rolling
 Crossing Big Horn mountains, Eagle Tail mountains and Castle D. me rang, feet to the mile, safely arriving in Yuma, the last station in Arizona, the hottest, 8 d, 1t Is said the mo healthful place in the United States. Slipping her- for a few hours we mingl with the tribe of Yuma Ind,ans, and are astonished to see them in their grotesque manner of dress, 8. d to learn their crude custom outside If the history The squa~s were sitting in the saad i,oldil lg the pappoos with their tiattened heads. Their only dress seem to be few yards of u cut baudanna haud- kerchisf cloth.
 Fit rig the hotel. we speak to the gen. tleman il white apron, who greets us cor dia ly, for the reason that he is Connec- ticut .1an, ard is glad to see his owu peo- pie. We register, then walk through the gardens of the olive 8 d fig, look into pe"s of wild geese and quai' s, aud return to our Indian friends. Of them we obt ,ined atermelons and pomrg granates, which wtrr luxuries as we journeyed on. Gro s. jug the Colorado river we ha led with de- light t.e golden state. 160 miles more and we would reach the oasis, the land of fruit and flowers, the paradise on earth.
 One more feature Of interest is due to the desert, that of the boiling sulphur springs. The train stopptd d esp cially to allow pas
 engers to get off and walk to the spring of boiling mud. The heat threw the mud from one to three feet high in several places, and the odor of sulphur was not ex- tremely pleasant This satisfied us there
 eas fire still under the earth's surface, for we took it as the ''evideuce of things not seen." Wed aesday, at two o'clock in th+ morning, we dr. W into Pomona valley. I was sure had taken and learned in that s+ven days journey the most agreeable geography lesson that had ever been given me in all my school days, and I dare say it was the most profitable one.
 We regr. tt to leave our fellow-travel- lers, but w. had already reached Pomona station, and Rev. F. D. Mather and wife, formerly of western New York, were wait ing to take our little company of seven to | their home for rest. .-. Som. thing ab'ut California in the fu- ture. Respectfully submitted,
 EMMA A. LEE. -
 Oup DAITy RREAD-Heavv and sour bread