The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-10-19
NOTES BY THE WAY.
A Few chatty Experiences on the Trip
Across Country.

$ reaches the editor of the Astorian iron
4 a well-known lady of this city, who /
: enjoying holiday at the Worlds Fair
' I'VE send few notes by the way
z to fill any space that may be begging
for copy, If the shears are weary o
the news scarce in Astoria. Is Their
|. anything more delightful than a tril
t through new scenes with congenia
company, good weather, and lovely
views on all sides? We left Portland
, Sunday night in a drizzling rain a
$50 and and awakened at s a. m. mex
morning just entering La Grand Rond,
/ valley. The sun was shining and tn,
hills were just frosted with snow, love
ly meadows as far as the eye coulC
reach, dotted with sleek, weIl-fed cat
tie. A peaceful, pastoral scene, truly
!. We did not wonder that Lo, the poo
Indian, rebelled when this perfection
Of a grazing valley was taken from
him. La Grande is a thrifty, pros
porous little town; so is Union, 1t:
near neighbor. Like other near neigh
horS we have heard of, there is {
close rivalry between them, so 1t will
not do to draw comparisons Why Is
it the Columbia river lumber mills dc
not copy their neghbors in the tidy
way they pile their lumber? There is
something really artistic in the neatly
and evenly constructed lumber piles
that we see on all sides. | can not
say as much for the West Shore and
C'atsop Mills in this direction. At
Huntington we invested in the most
delicious apples and peaches, bought
from picturesque old, one-legged
darkey, n relic of the civil war. Here
we made q sudden jump ahead in
time which was a puzzle to the young
est of our party. We arrived at 1910,
stayed twenty minutes, and, when we
left, it was 220. p. III. At Nampa we
transferred our Boise City passengers
to their train and in return received
numerous big canvas bags of gold and
silver bullion. This, of course, brought
up the subject of train robbers. Our
colored porter remarked, we thought
in rather an aggrieved tone, that
though 1--WE took twelve thousand dol
lars in bullion few days ago, dey
didn't think we WORT robbin' Dey
goes for de Northern Pacific every
time"
That night while the train was wait
ing at a station, our drawing room be-
ing next the smoking room, we over
heard the most amusing tumble of
talk. Every man seemed to be talking
at the same time. Above other voices,
we heard one, which has often held
Astoria audiences by its eloquence
saying, you didn't mean me to be-
lieve any such absurd proposition in
regard to this silver question" This
was drowned out by a squeaky voice,
which said, 81 tell you, if a man points
a pistol at you in the middle of the
night and says, "Your money or your
life you'll give up your money every
time" The girls and 1 agreed with
him heartily Tuesday morning we
were out just in time to take a brisk
walk in the bracing air of Ogden, with
it's beautiful broad tree bordered
streets and some imposing buildings. |
There was not time enough to see
much of the city. Utah is a much |
more fertile country than Idaho. 1t |
has the strangest, widest rock forma- |
tions all along the line of the railroad |
Devils Slide is a narrow, smooth in
cline, between two high, peaked walls |
1t seemed impossible to imagine anyone |
iaring to even think of sliding down |
It, unless it were his Satanic Majes-
cliffs about us, were like enormous
;ponges, literally honey-combed with
openings, large and small, odd
shaped cliffs jutting out from every
side, having strange and fantastic
'orms huge animals, birds, and al
most every object you could think of,
you could trace out in these rocks.
Weber canyon was perfectly lovely.
All the shrubs and trees were gor-
;eous in their autumn colors, even on
he tops of the mountains there were
'ivid patches of red, yellow and green.
The mountain roads are fine. We
Onged for team and carriage or
.ood saddle horses that we might have
ride over them. No dust or mud.
hey were almost as smooth as ma
adamized road-or Cass street. The
ir is full of flying flakes of snow, our
rst taste of winter, but they are not
hicll enough to obscure our view, and
eem to be in perfect harmony with
he gorgeous colors of the foliage on
lther side of the track. At Green
iver wa had jolly SNOWFALL game.
nough, as the snow was only an inch
eep, 1t was rather a difficult thing to
ct a clean SNOWFALL. The cars were
nptied, and all the passengers en-
,yed the novelty.
Soon after leaving this station the 1
ain passed directly over many en- (
'ances to coal diggings. The miners
ere coming out Of the little holes
the ground, black as the coal theyI {
g, with little lighted lamps on their
Fps. Who would be a coal miner?
wonder as we sit by our glowing
ates, do we ever think of these
hard listed sons Of toll,
whose labors we are kept warm.
Ist before we reach North Platte we
e to the right the home Of the world