Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-03-16
To the Pacific Coast.
SAN FRANCISCO, Gal, Ma

| SAN FRANCISCO, Cal, Mar. 8.
Editor Republicans
| AS promised to write a, letter to several
different friends / thought it would be as
well to write one tol!rHE REPUBLICAN, so all
who cared to, hear from me; might read it.
This is sort ,ofdiary> that / kept on the
cars from day. to day. as L was passing
through the different states. We left Water
town January25a, Iuwasa lovely bright day,
with but little snow on the ground all the
] way to Chicago where we stopped the first
night. All the following. day we travelled
through Illinois and arrived atFort Madison,
| Iowa, at i've o'clock p. m. Spent the night
| there, and locked over the citya little, before
! taking the train at 10 O'clock. We travelled
next day through Iowa and. reached Kansas
| City at sevenso'cioek: where we stayed that
night. do nothke. this,unevenly laid out
| city or its Surroundings. The country / s
rough. with very poor soil.
We left Kansas City at eight O'Clock a. m.
passing through a variety of country in the
state of Kansas. the soil OF which Is rich, the
land is rolling, and everything has the ap-
pearance Of aspendid farming country. Most
of the farmers, have large houses and barns,
and the country is. well stocked with fine
horses and CATTLE. L was, surprised to see 80
many coal mines along the road. In my
opinion it iH.a very, rich state and is also
good fruit country, We passed large peach
orchards and it is pretty well wooded. The
we ather is yet lovely and no snow or ice to
be seen. january % we arrived at Hutchin-
son about seven in the evening, took supper
and spent the night there. The morning
train took us on onr journey. and as we
rna ohod Kcn nd COS
do the railroad runs f0r miles along the Ar
kansas river The country now presents an
entirely different aspect being rough and
barren with only tufts of dry grass, still one
sees large herds of sheep and cattle feeding
and seem tosthrlve even on such scanty veg
citation. We reached La Junta, Colorado, at
six o'clock and stopped for the night. In the
morning We started again and about ten
O'Clock changed. cars at Trinidad, Colorado.
We are nowamong the Rocky mountains and
two engines are put on to draw the train up
Gloryette Peak, which is 5000 feet above the
level of the sea. 1t WAS with great difficulty
that they climbed the steepEgrade. At one
place the iron. horses came to a stand still
and refused to move. held my breath with
fear, and wanted to get out and walk up.
The rest OF the day we rode through grand
mountain scenery which was very different
from the rolling plains of Kansas. At La
seauas, New Mexico, we took supper. We
| had intended to spend the night here, but
but decided to 60 on to a place of more
| interest, Albuquerque, which we reached
| Saturday night. We wanted to rest over
| Sunday and see the city, and visit friends.
| Il Is q city OF ten thousand inhabitants, an
| old Mexican place which has been settled by
Americans,onl about ten years There are
| large blocks of brick buildings and some
| very fine residences. The elegant new build
| ing of the Albuquerque Commercial Club is
| conceded by all who have seen it to be the
| finest building in New Mexico, with the ex-
| ception Of the capitol. 1t Is three stories.
| high, and is built of handsome red brown
| sand stone from: the Flagstaff Quarries in
Arizona The cost of the building is S75, 900
| and the club has expended about S12O 900 for
furniture. The hotel at which we stopped
| cost S8O, 900 and is kept in frst-class style.
| Albuquerque has street cars, electric light
| and water works. All kinds Of produce are
| very high as they can raise nothing only as
| they irrigate. 1t rained the night we arrived
| for the first time in many months. On the
| following day we took a through sleeper for
| ~ ~@SS
Angeles, Cal. Here the whole country is
barren with only short growth OF sage
brush. Oh. how dreary the landscape looks
| The soil is very poor mostly adobe clay, dead
cattle were laying all along the track, some
| killed by the cars but more starved to death.
| The rocky mountains crop up all along the
line. We occasionally pass little towns of
adobe houses where theMexicans and Indians
1, 4
| covered with snow six inches deep, and still
| showing. The hills are covered with large
pine trees, and what a contrast to the cOun-
| try we had been passing through. One could
see mountains fourteen thousand feet high
covered with snow, and the clouds were below
the peaks. 1t was a lovely sight. Wear 5000
feet above the level of the sea at this point.
Just one year ago to-day l was sailing down
| the Indian river in Florida. Oh, what a
| changed I wish all my friends in Waterfowl
| could see all the things I have seen. have
| now passed through eight different states
| since eft..home and before return will
| have passed through as many more. To-day
January 3Ist, we have just finished our sup
per, and had fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and
young onions for the first time. want to
say here that we get splendid meals at every
eating station along the Sante Fe road. have
| slept in a different state every night since.
Feb. LIST. We are now in California and 60
ing through a dreary waste of ncountry,
nothing to be seen for miles around but vel
low sand and two Or three kinds Of sage
brush; no living thing: could subsist here
not even a bug. We are. now nearing the
Sierra Nevada mountains with their
peaks capped with; snow, we have just
| passed the Calico Mines the first l
have seen, which was discovered by man
from Waterloo, Wis. We are now passing a
very strange. country where the yucca tree
a specie Of palm, grows. 1t is the first have
| seen of the kind. If we. had one in our gar
den at home it would be greatly admired. /
also see different varieties of the cactus. AT
| IL O clock we stopped at San BernardinO for
lunch. Here found for the first time the trees
and shrubs in full foliage and after passing
through SO much forsaken looking country it
! appeared; good to my eyes can tell you. We
next came into the San Bernardinc valley
where we were surrounded on both sides by
| mountains the clouds floating below their
| snow capped peaks. The valley is from two