The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-08-10
CHI WATERING PLACE
" g, "A Place That Was Already Famous Many
Centuries Agone. When Gaul Was Yet
& q Roman Province.
A Healing Resort to Which the Brltisher Goes
to Get Rid Of Gout, and the Ameri-
cantor Pleasure.
War and Worship OF Buried Ages-A Garden
"a Break asst Party That Recalls the
Repasts OF IMcullus.

ton I am assiduJusly trying to answer.
had learned enough of American resorts to
know that Long Branch is q good place for
those swoltered citizens to go who haven't time
to go any farther; that Newport is pleasant for
those who own a cottage, anil are acquainted
with other cottages; that Saratoga is
just lovely for those who wish to exhibit their
dresses and diamonds to the best advantage,
and are fond Of spring water and weather like
Tophet; that Richfiold ls delightful for those
who have cutaneous or digestion diseases, and
for ladies who want 10 go where the sex is
alone by large majority; that Nantucket is
good for nobody, and that the White noun
tains, Mount Desert and the Thousand Islands
are good for everybody. But Of French facli-
+ ties was comparatively ignorant one short
week ago. In these few days have learned
something of Rozat Five years ago
Rozat was scarcely known outside Of
France as Watering place. A
few English, attracted by its repute for healing
govt and rheumatism, came first, and they
have been followed by Americans, till tho
village of $50 has grown to some thousands
during this season, excelllng In popularity such
places as Mont Dore and AK les Bains, and
successfully rivalng Vichy and even Ems,
which, in the quality of mineral springs. it
much resembles. 1t is in the Au.
rgne district, in the volcanic regions
of Central France, the truncated
cones of extinct volcanoes sitting in
mighty clusters around the horizon. The village
is located in a mountain det1le l,4OO feet
above the sea, through which runs babbling
brook, the Tiretaine, from tho side of the Puy
de Dome, towering far above. The railroad
now runs through the town, thu cars climbing
up from St German by sinuous path.
Mountains rise OH every hanl, as they do
around the Profile house, New Hampshire, tho
fuy do Dome being no less in height than
Noun, Lafayette, aud Mont Dore about equal
ing Mount Washington. This was an old
Roman town. The valley abounds in Roman
ruins, most of. them recently unearthed
and identified. Two or TIRES years
I ago :onr large baths were uncovered in the
square, !iucd with marble and bull. IN the solid
fashion CT the Romans; and near by them is
large artificial cavern in which is tremendous
boiling mineral spring, yielding 300 gallons
minute, which undoubtedly supplied the baths.
It's bread roof is not arched but horiz ,ntal, and
by what knack the Romans fastened its mass
OF cobble-stones up, go that such a
weight could be suspended through
terry. A couple of hundred feet above the
window where write rises hill still called
Gergovia, its ancient Gallo name. 1t is fun to
= run up there in the morning after coffee and
rolls. On it's summit and sides was the last
great city Of the Gauls to resist the Roman
arms Vercingetorix defended it when julius
Cesar sat down for months before it. At last
1t yielded Its garrison was put to the sword.
.. The town was burned, and, like Carthage,
swept from the face of the earth. The side OF
the bill ia now covered with vineyards and
wheat fields shining in the sum- A farmer set
dog on me there Monday evening for picking
four Strawberries. Hardly yestge of tho cd
walls remains among the Llstered volcanic
rock that crown its summit. Cbsar built
town called Nimetum OFF IN the valley
hero predecessor of Rozat aud Clermont
An old Roman road, now and long eince dis
used, runs from Rozat up the valley towards
the Pny de Dome 1t is the only country road
in al France, perhaps. that is paved; and it's
pavement "as made, not of the basaltc rock or
old scoria of which the surrounding cliffs
principally consist, but Of powders and irreg-
ular stones of granite, gneiss and mica scl;ist.
: tina: must have bscn brought from dis
lance. I followed this queer old paved
path up through the fields and woods
Wednesday,, toward the great summit,
and wondered if the Romans compelled their
galley slaves to build this road, that they
might drag over it. to the peak of the Puy dc
Dome, those colossal statues and mighty
monuments which Christian centuries have
done their utmost to destroy. Some peasan:
women, walking down the roal, were asked il
the Romans really built it. The leader of the
party sad: II do not know; never heard of
such thing" ''What was 1t made for" she
was asked, running down through here with
fences built across it,? What is it good fory"
go do not know" she repeated, adding, II
never thought about it."
HISTORIC GROUND.
# On Friday drove up to the base Of the Puy
de Dome and climbed it to visit one of the
principal 'shrlncs of old Rome-old Rome be-
fore the time of Christ There is nothing
Naner Of its kind in Europe than the drive
four miles along the laughing Tiretaine to the
spot where it breaks, geyser- like, out of the
side of the dead volcano. 1t is vale of un-
common fertility. Wheat, barley and
oats are coming to maturity now, and
all vegetation is turning from bloom to
fruiage. The varying shades of green
are broken only by the redness of the cherry
trees that cluster around every ho use, bending
with cherries in perfection, and the wild pop
pies that form a luxuriant fringe to every ara
bic field, and certain yellow lupin that is
particularly ostentatious, and forms great
gorgeous splashes Of gold on the landscape
Over all are the blossoms of innumerable
chestnut trees. and the dense shade Of the al
mond, whose nut is now 'in the milk" Free
quently along the road the hay is being cut AMI
cured-a tremendous yield, of four tons to the
acre on an average, I think The
moving is apparently done by men
who stand in the shade of trees resting
their weary bush-scythes, wiping their ditto
brows and glancing at our carriage as if they
would like ride. Tho snath of this imple-
ment is large and straight, and the handles
look like oxen's horns. The swath is turned by
bare-hoaded women with crotched stick
They are all about the same age-all French
women are-abous sixty-five. Near at hand Is
clumsy cart with q pair of COWS hitched to
it, the yoke being straight stick tied across
the base Of their horns A little girl with one
cows " it'll o leafy branch to keep
the flies off. Thoy seldom milk
COWS here, and scarcely anybody in this part
of France except visitors ever eats butter)
The sto piping place at the base of the mountain
is on ths came sito where the Romans them
selves, twenty centuries ago, took Breath for
the climb Of three miles more; FOR excavations
with in the last year have revealed the ancient
walls Of their building. We left our vehicle
here and took q jaunting car. with seats back
to back, drawn by two horses tandem; but the
way was 80 difficult and steep that we climbed
most of the way-litcrally climbed, hand over
hand, as up a ladder, grasping 'the noun
,uin's frowsy hair 10 help us on tho way.
An hour of this was enough for a
person inclined to corpu!ence, and the slender
est member Of our patty, an untirins cbamois
+. 10 nliffs md o. t,x nf Will