St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-04-28
1iaisceilanu.
JOUR- ITALY"
Another Interesting California Letter
from Prof. Bracket.

the place at WHICH we mig nl suppose
we are passing the real backbone of
the continent, ITO the ordinary OBJ
server there is but little difference in
the general aspect of the great table
land over which we pass for about
one thousand miles till we reach the
valley of the Colorado river. Only
the laboring puff of the engines, or
the increasing speed of the down
grades, remind US of the ascent or
descent as we glide swiftly over the
wide gently-rolling plains.
Range after range of high noun
tains, many of them now covered
with snow, lie to the north of US,
others to the south and southeast,
many of which are the remains of
lofty plateaus which have been cut
down during the thousands of years
of modern geologic ages and are
readily distinguished from those
which are the results of the usual
cause of mountain for1nat ton, the
folding and wrinkling of the earth's
crust. Sometimes we are near
enough to see the fantastic carving
as the work of the ancient seas left
them. We left a lava field to the
south of us, too prOvOkingly near
for those of us who would like to
have explored the crater and carried
off some specimens.
Only for the statement in the time
table that Canon Diablo was to be
looked for we might readily have
missed that great rent in the plain
many miles in extent, but which we
cross with bridge two hundred feet
high and four or FIVE hundred long.
We are tantalized by the thought of
passing so near to the Pueblos, the
cliff dwellings and many other things
of interest to the historian and the
anthropologist, but not being able
to see them. The great plateau is
left in the night but the delay of four
hours in the desert brought us by
daylight of Friday morning in the
valley of the Colorado where the
wilder and more jagged outlines of
the mountains of the Mohave range
are seen, among which some of the
most sharply vertical peaks, the
Needles, give the title also to the
station.
Here we find the noble red mani
What a mantle OF magma ton,
romance, and Christian forbearance
must we throw around him to
hide all his disgusting hideous-
ness. Picturesque anachronisms,
the squaws present themselves SELL
ing their pottery and nicknacks but
on the alert to escape being snapped
by the watchful Kodak, and if my
aim was true the pose of the side
ways fleeing victim with raised fist
will be far more interesting than the
usual stolid picture posture An
other group did not divine my intent
till too late.
Another sigh of regret that the
few days of vacation leave US no
time for the Grand Canon of the
Colorado but hundred or two
more miles through the desert and
we plunge into and down the gorges
and ravines of the Sierra Madre
mountains Sierra, sharp peaks"
Sharp wild, rugged glorious, the
perpetual snow of San Bernadino
crowning the view, but all changing
light and shade, contour and beauty
with every whirl of the winding road
and only the glimpses of the spring
loneliness of 'Our Italy lure US on
to be content to leave the grandeur
of the mountains a little way be-
hind US. Not far either for the smil-
ing valley into which we are coming,
sixty miles in length from east
to west, a few miles in width, is
skirted by the Sierra Madre on the
north with the high peaks still white
with snow, San Bernadino on the
east, San Jacinto on the south. 1t is
one of those regions which had been
neglected and unnoticed for hundreds
of years, or only here and there the
Spaniards had lived lazy independ-
ent life, where little water could be
found or the old missions had en-
shaved the Indians to grow wealthy
by their enforced labor. Every day
as now the heat of the sun so high il
the heavens was tempered and molli
fed by the steady flow of the sea
breeze, while the quickly descending