St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-23
A Tourist Descants on Things
Not Usually Mentioned
by Correspondents.
The Flea, the Swamp, the Bar
rem Hills and Coal at $18
a Ton!
Fiannels, Furs and Fans Often
Made Use Of on the Same
Day.
A Laughable Reference to
"Ranch Butter" and Axle
Grease.

| Special Correspondence of the Globe.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. Island of
giant trees and mighty mountains,
mammoth strawberries and festive
earthquakes, Thy glories, like those of
the many-wived Solomon, have not half
been told. Scrbblers have devoted
| column upon column to the snow-cov-
cred peaks of the Sierras, but failed to
mention the gigantic potato; long
| magazine articles have been devoted to
the beauties of the vine-clad hills of
| California and to the luSciousness of her
grapes which grow in such bacchanal
prOfusion amid her mountain-encircled
valleys, but not word do we see in
regard to her ubiquitous and ever-pres-
ent flea. Whole pamphlets have been
written about the prolific qualities of
the soil, but not sentence about the
vast tracts of utterly irrecaimable and
worthless swamps and barren hills.
Everyone extols the California orange
and peach, the fig and the pear-and
truly they are gnificent-but no one
has word to say about soft coal at SIS
toni
But to begin at the beginning. / left
st. Paul at p. m. Saturday, arriving at
Council Bluffs at 8 o'clock Sunday
morning; laid over at that ancient burg
until S:35 in the evening-eleven hours
and thirty-five minutes, in order, | sup
pose. to have plenty of time to make
CLOSE CONNECTIONS,
about which the roads advertise so lib
orally. From Omaha through the whole
length of the state of Nebraska,
through Wyoming on to Ogden, Utah,
the country is very dry. treeless and
barren. In the vicinity of Ogden the
road runs through tolerably fertile
valley until it strikes the Great Salt
lake, when begins the great
AMERICAN DESERT,
which extends on through the whole of
Utah and somewhat into Idaho. For
hundreds of miles the surface of the
earth is covered with white alkali, with
not even bunch of the hardy sage
brush to relieve the mOnOtony. The
road winds its way through valleys
sometimes only barely wide enough for
the track, and again stretching out to
eight or ten miles, theofead bed inyari-
ably keeping close to the hills on one
side or the other and never running
through the center of valley.
The Rocky mountains. as viewed from
the car window, are neither as grand
nor stupendous as one would suppose;
still there are several lofty peaks to be
seen in the distance, all totally void of
vegetation from bottom to top. How
the emigrantS of early days ever sue
ceeded in passing over this vast tract of
dry, barren, treeless, ShrubleSS, grass
less, rainless region is mystery to me.
Why wouldn't it be good idea to bring
over all the old world paupers and
corral them in this vast tract of other
wise useless country? Once there they
would never get away.
In Idaho there are several fertile
patches from the size of a leather apron
up TO small sized blanket where, with
proper irrigation Out where the water
is to come from l don't know, vege-
tables may be grown. Through Idaho
and we strike the
SIERRA NEVADA RANGE.
Here is where you get the grand seem
cry. The Sierras are nearly all covered
with timber, that is, all that is visible
from the car window, and, judging
by my experience, | think they can
most all be seen; at least was per-
fectly satisfied with what [ saw. The
only trouble was that the train turned
such short curves sometimes that it not
infrequently tied knot in itself. and
so caused some delay in untying itself.
In ascending the peaks it would go
round and round them, gaining only a
few feet in elevation at each complete
circle, until the summit was reached,
from which it seems the road ran in a
straight line from the apex to the base,
at an angle OF 45 degrees. Arrived at
the top, the whistle blew, the brakes
were taken off, the steam turned on and
down we went, holding on to the back |
of the seats and window stills like
drowning people to StrawS. 1t appeared |
to take about six hours to get to the top
and about six seconds to go to the bot
tom. TOboggan riding is child'S play to |
the way we went tearing down those |
The railroad company |
richly merits all the land grants and |
subsidies it ever got for thus affOrding |
the traveller not only the finest views of |
the grandest scenery on the continent, |
but succession of gigantic toboggan |
slides the equal of which the world has |
yet to produce. Having once struck the |
VALLEY OF THE SACRAMENTO,
the road was much improved, though |
the scenery wasn't. That this valley is |
famous the world over there can be no
doubt, but for what, Pm sure don't |
know. There are vast hills on either
side of it, and the valley itself has sew
eral small cultivatable patches between
where the railroad enters it and Sacra-
mentO City, but none at which a st.
Paul vegetable gardener would not turn
up his nose in disgust. Sacramento is
quite little town, very pleasant to
look at, in spots, though it lies very
low, being only thirty feet above sea
level, and is in constant danger of being
washed out by the roots by the Sacra-
mento river. The state house is quite
as also are the hotel and
restaurant keepers. My advice to the
hungry is to give Sacramento as wide
birth as possible. After leaving the
capital the road still follows the valley
Of the river to where it empties into
the bay, at which place the entire
train is ferried across and resumes
the track for Oakland. The valley
from Sacramento to the crossing. some
forty-fve or fifty miles. is one vast tract
Of low, marshy country, apparently
irreclaimable, with here and there dry
knoll, which has been taken possession
Of, and with an occasional farm house
and few trees, relieve the monotony
of this otherwise dreary
waste.
OAKLAND
Is really beautiful little city. Good
buildings, shade trees and many small
but fine parks make it about all that one
could wish in the way of beauty and
Business also seems to |
be in healthy condition. Large and
ferries ply constantly be-
tween here and San Francisco, carrying