, 1890-05-22
AT SANTA BARBARA.
One of the Raymond Exour-
sions Arrives.
SPOKANE NOT ON THE LIST
Ornamental Leather Work-Costly
Saddle--Chat With Dud-
10y Warner.

Saddle-Chat With Dud-
10y Warner.
ARLINGTON HOTEL, Santa Bar
bara, Cal, May l6,-A large party
Of "Raymond excursionists" ar
rived here yesterday, and had n
chance to inquire into the modus
operandi of the undertaking. When
the Southern California boom was
about to sci In, or rather when the
idea of drawing the attention of
Eastern people TO this part OF the
country In order to induce immi-
grafton first dawned upon the spec
ulators, Mr.. Raymond, who lives
at Los Angeles, entered into ar
rangements with all the railroad
companies, slceping-car companies,
transfer companies and hotel pro-
prictors at points of Interest for
slightly rcduccd prices, and started
n measure which has grown to I'M
mense proportions. Thousands Of
people in the East now buy Il Ray
mond excursion ticket-book, which
includes all the expenses on the
entire trip Except fees to s.:v"nisl,
including drives and rides at all
points where the parties stop,
aud being good for the
entire season. Noone has to bother
about baggage, securing rooms
ut hotels, hiring carriages, securing
borths, or in fact any OF the thousand
aud one triilcs that arise continually
to annoy the traveller. All thut IL
necessary In to buy your book and
get on the train and travel for
months. A gentleman from Boston
kindly showed me his book, which
he said cost him $3.50, and II good
until January |. looked IL over,
and saw that there was n detacha-
BILE ticket for everything, every
transfer, every meal, every carriage
drive, etc. Nothing had been for
gotten. But what | noticed with
pain was that stop-over privileges
were al llowed ut every town of im-
portance In the whole western co,in-
try except Spokane Falls-Nictoria,
Seattle, Tacoma, Portland-but no
Spokane Fails. | made up my mind
something had to be done at once,
50. Instead OF writing or ,elegraphing
TO the board OF trade, and having
them call II meeting, and having
the meeting appoint committee,
instead Of making the boys at home
do all this work, called u meeting
of Spokane people here (myselD, APP
polluted committee of one, and
sent him to Interview Mr.. Whit
comb, who Is with this party, and
Is N partner of Mr.. Raymond. |
told him all about Spokane Falls,
its beautiful drives, lovely scenery,
wonderful resources, etc., eXpatiated
on Lake CUur d'Alenc, and what n
lovely trip 1t Is up there, visiting for
n day or so--told him ofour new Ho-
tel Spokane, and asked him II he
could not make arrangements so that
these excursion parties might be al
lowed u stop-over privilege there,
also. Mr.. Whitcomb was very pleas
ant and told me that all he wanted
was to Ind u place where there Ia u
good hotel, fine scenery, nice drives
and resources of the city that are
tangible aud can be seen at n glance.
u tOld u .Ht ilt't bhi no
other city than Spokane Falls
In his minds eye, he could not have
described II more accurately. He
said he was really very glad
that I had mentioned the matter to
him; that he was on the eve of max
Ing trip iuto the Northwest aud
would certainly go to that city and
try to make arrangements for
next year.
| really think this will be of great
advantage 10 us, and be better than
n thousand yards of advertising.
When tho board of trade meets
again II may award us u vote of
thanks.
This town II noted among other
thing for Its artistic and beautiful
leather work. never saw leather
used so artlst!cally anywhere. The
workmen nre Mcxicans or Span
iards, and everything Is done by
hand. a great part Of 1t Is emboss-
Ing, and is done by pounding, much
as brass Is manufactured, except the
latter Is pounded from the reverse
or back side. This reminds me OF IA |
magnificent saddle that was shown
me the other evening. The
readers Of Harper's onthly
all remember In the April num-
her In the drawer" was a lit
tie article about Mr.. Thompson's
club--the liars club. Well, this
same Mr.. Thompson owns this sad
die. The leather work IL of the en-
bossed kind l have just mentioned
flowers, leaves and trees---and the
metal work IN of pure silver. The
ponmcl Is very heavy, as are the
stirrups, all Of silver. lilagrecd and |
embossed. The bridle reins, head
stall, whip, martingale and throat
latch are Of solid silver, the reius |
being made of silver wire, made |
into delicate chains and then again
wrought into round cord, most |
delicate work and most beautiful.
All the silver is made from Mexican
dollars, and the total expense is be-
tween $1,000 and 5000. or course
Mr.. Thompson uses II only on state
occasions--ior pnrades, etc.
l had the pleasure the other day
of meeting Chnrles Dudley Warner,
the celebrated writer. He Is out