Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-10-31
The Modern Hotel on Wheels, How 1t
is Built, Equipped and Pro-
yisioned.
The Magnificent Distances Of Uncle
Sans Dominion Make the Sleeper
Necessity.
While Speeding Through the Country
Like the Wind, SumptuOus Meals
Are Enjoyed.

What is one Of England's swiftest
trains, the Scotch express, fits like scln-
tillant shuttle between London and Edln
burg at a mean speed exceeding fifty miles
an hour. though it sacrifices thirty i've
minutes in order tEst the Fassrl. sgels may
have several opportunities torefresh them
selves and stretch their limbs. The entire
distance covered, 400 miles, is less than
that between New York City and
Buffalo.
In the United States and contiguous ter
ritory we harness hotel on wheels to
every flying express which sets out for any
prolonged journey. Here you may travel
FROM the Hudson TO the Golden Gate with
out pause lunless for an occasional change
Of locomotives) without quitting your
train and without leaving behind you the
luxury or comfort of spring beds, baths,
barber shop or rich viands eXcelently
cooked and served.
The magnificent distances Of Uncle
Sans domain made the sleeping car
a necessity, and the dining sar soon
became the inevitable adjunct of the
sleeper,
We'll enough after its fashion was, and
yet is, the wayside lunch counter for the
com paratively slow way train and the 0c-
cupants thereof whose trip docs not exceed
a few hundred miles But il was in the
very nature Of things that different and
better system must be provided for the
surging. huuying legions whose chief aim
in travelling was to get over the ground
as rapidly as possible and whose digestive
economy really deserved some more hui
name treatment than could be accorded TO
it amid the frantic rush and crush at the
typical railroad restaurant
Hence came in due order the railroad
car buffet, the hotel car and the dining
ear.
GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM
A continuous trip across the continent,
or even for much shorter distance, would
be impossible unless travellers could be
in transit with meat and drink as pass
engers are during q transatlantic voyage
The time having arrived for "a solution Of
the problem, American inventive talent
was quiCkt0 solve it,
Resul.s-on any Of the great trunk
lines O.day the traveller, while speeding
onward at the rate of fifty miles am hour
or more, can enjoy as luxurious repast
as If seated ia a hIst class hotel and at
quito as low % cost, Every region through
Is hich ne passes sets before him the
tribute of its richest edible products, TO
he ,aisorely absorbed ant he quatfs his
champagne frappe as the glorious piano.
rama of mountain and river, lake and
prairie, unfods itself to his satisfied and
enraptured vision.
There genuine poetry Of motion for
You Brillat SarMlu should have lived to
beholdj it. When royalty goes abroad in
the Old World even its wealth and pres
tige can commend no such magical
abundance of creature comforts as await
the American sovereign citizen in whose
pockets jingle or repose o few potential
dollars,
From the beuefcent water cooIol. to the
buffet was an easy and natural gadatlou.
If a railroad could furnish Adams ate to
all its patrons why not also provide other
beverages and alight cold lunch for such
as were willing to pay for these conven.
fences? Accordingly, in certain cars little
snuggeries were fitted up and gradually
improved, which carried cold joints, sar-
dimes, boiled eggs, baked beans, fruit and
various dehcacies, besides wines, beers,
mineral waters and cigars. Nowadays
there is q compact stove In nearly every
buffet to keep soups, meats, and coffee
warm, but all the cooking is done before
the car starts out, except, of course, the
making Of tea and coffee.
Next came the hotel ear, a combination
of sleeper and dining car, but the pop
ularlty of the service soon displaced 1t for
general travelling purposes. making way
for the dining car, which Is a hTst'Cldss
restaurant on wheels and is devoted TO no