San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-07-24
HIS FIRST TRIP WEST.
SAN ANTONIO DIVINE SEES THE
PACIFIC. t#3E
Pen Pictures of Passing Panora-
mas En- Route - Notes on
People, Pursuits and Pros
perity of California.
Written for the LIGHT by Rev. n. Schultz,

Written for the LIGHT by Rev. n. Schultz
SAN DIEGO, Cal, July 10, D.
What can be less interestin CHAN
a journey across the great Ameri'
can desert? From San Antonio, the
last city OF any size on the eastern
border, to Los Angeles, the first
large town on the western shore OF
that sea OF sunshine and dust, Is
a distance of nearly j, 800 miles.
And yet, my maiden journey across
that great waste was not without
interest, and at heart l often wished
that something might occasionally
retard the train in order to give me
an opportunity to explore some Of
the country which the iron horse
carries me at the rate Of twenty
miles an hour. Like a panorama
of my childhood, the weird scenes
of the desert pass by the windows
Of the car, only in q magnified
form. In our age Of travel we be-
come acquainted with our own
kind in foreign lands, but now as
ever we see nature merely through
the telescope train windows, and
her wonders, like SO many ghosts
from distant shores, pass by our
visions on the wings of the mo-
ment. There is 80 much to be seen
that the average man sees nothing
at all. 1t takes q trained as we'll
as q keen eye to absorb the new
scenes which even the desert can
present. l often think about that
wonderful gift which has fallen to
the lot OF man; that he can enjoy
the works Of the Creator, can look
at the mountains, and wonder;
look over the sad and solemn sea
and be overcome with awe; gaze
at the stars and marvel at their
number and magnificence; that
the flowers and the birds and the
insect world can appeal to his finer
senses, and that the very desert
can charm him with its silent
grandeur! In the whole animal
creation with its most wonderful
variety Of living beings, there are
none outside of man who can thus
enjoy, and where in animals, there
Is a faint trace of wonder notable,
it is only secondary to all other
desires and inclinations. Variety
in the desert? Indeed! / had
little dreamed that should behold
only tenth part of what there
was to be seen. 1t Is true, the OBJ
jects to.draw ones attention belong
mainly to the vegetable world, but
they are Of so curious forms as to
show how nature understands to
adjust herself to conditions as they
present themselves upon the
earth's surface. The rocky hill
sides OF Texas are literally covered
with Spanish dagger and a variety
OF aloes, while gigantic cacti,
many Of them as large as telegraph
poles, are standing scattered over
the desert OF Arizona. Strange In
deed is the underground in the
desert country. While some shrubs
have apparently no leaves at all,
other have very insignificant ones,
evidently for the purpose OF reduc-
ing the amount Of evaporation.
1t is a mistake to suppose that the
desert offers no means at all for ex.
istence OF man, but many Of the
products are as yet unfamiliar to
the human race. Aside from the
great variety OF cacti and aloes,
the fruit or the pith Of which
is frequently palatable as
we'll as eatable, there seem
to be quite a variety Of
legumenous plants, a family which
holds many useful members. On
the whole journey of over fifteen
hundred miles, l saw no cattle, ex-
cept here and there a cow about a
station, and besides, an occasional
crow, or a CHOPPER; one solitary deer
which lay in the shade Of a rail-
road post, was frightened up by the
approaching train.
That the desert is not entirely
without rain, we found out while
passing through New Mexico
where we witnessed two cloud
bursts upon distant mountains,
which came with so much force
that each time the railroad track
was flooded to the extent of several
feet, the track OF the water being
about half a mile wide. I was
informed by parties on the train
that such showers occur now and
then in midsummer.
How desolate the mountains ap
pear Like mighty pyramids theil
cones reach into the azure sky, bar
rem, bleak and cold. Not q vestig,
OF vegetation upon the rock. "But'
an old miner told me, "what thos,
mountains lack on the outside
they hold as treasures within" 81
there they stand waiting, in tn,