The Portland daily press., 1897-11-15
THE PACIFIC COAST.
h1-Mayor Baxter Talks Entertaining
iy Of His Trip.


Talks OF Yellowstone Park-Narrates Par
hcniars oforegon Irdustries-y Western.
ers Looking for Eastern Money
non' GAINES l.. Baxter has returned to
Portland after trip of two months in
the lar west. Mr.. Baxter vvas saa,, Nv =
representative Of the PRESS MT bia how
on Deer1ng street Saturday afternoon
He was In excellent health ana sa,s A.. :.
the trip had been most ENJOYABLE ho+t g.,
himself ana Tor Mrs. Baxter and Mis-,
Baxter, who accompanied him. In the
whole eight weeks of travel thew had mot
with scarcely a single unpleasant dav
AS it has been in Maine, the neriod ,,,ao
one long dream of sunshine. The ro,,+o
taken going west was the Northern D..
cific, for the purpose of visiting the ora. :
national park of the Yellowstone Nv
Baxter was greatly delighted with this
visit to what must be in years to come
the grandest park on the face of the earth
A journey among its wonders is neither
tedious nor expensive. Tickets are sold
for i've day and bali trip in coaches.
stopping each day at some one of the
delightful hotels along the way. For a
single person these tickets cost about s45,
and cover every expense.
The scenery in the park is so wonderful
that Mr.. Baxter, although an old travel
Ter, grew enthusiastic in describing 1t.
The grand canon of the Yellowstone SIM
ply surpasses description. For miles and
mill al n +b,
eye with their myriad flashes of color,
ranging in all shades from pale green
through to dark brown. Many paintings
have been made of the great canon. but
no colors of the palette can do the scene
even approximate justice. The geysers
are curious and beautiful, some Of them
performing with regularity that would
do credit to the finest piece of mechanism
of human manufacture. One called "Old
Faithful spouts every IS minutes exact
ly. Another rests exactly three hours
and half between spouts. The time of
the performance Is scheduled on bulle-
tin board at the hotels in order that tour
lists may be on hand.
Besides being a place of natural won
ders, the park is a bigger game preserve
than the forests of Maine, and best of all
no one may shoot the game there.
Solaiers are stationed all through the
park as game wardens, and they are SO
effective that game that is wild else
where is perfectly tame there. AS the
coaches would roll along they would pass
oontented fiocks of wild ducks or geese
that i'll any other place could not have
been approached at all. They would not
mind the tourists at all. A little farther
along huge stays would rise leisursly,
stretch the limbs and eye the travellers
with lazy curiosity. The bears were SO
thick and tame as to be source of unend-
ing amusement to the guests at the no.
tells. The refuse from the kitchens and
tables is carried out back of the buildings
and left at regular intervals during the
day. Very soon huge cinnamon and black
bears are seen coming down the mountain
sides through the trees. Perhaps the first
conner will be a solitary old fellow who
will proceed to his banquet with comical
seriousness. Or perhaps mother bear
with her two cubs will approach. The
prudent mother first takes her cubs in her
paws and places them in the branches of
tree out of harms way, and then she
proceeds to the banquet. Sometimes the
bears will appear before the team that
carr les out the barrels of refuse has un.
loaded. Then the men will get out of the
wagon and hold the horses, while huge
bear, with deliberate motion, reaches up
into the cart as man might, and pulls
tine barrel out and empties it. There are
grizzlies in the park also, but these dan
gerous animals keep to the mountains,
evidently realizing that they are not well
come guests around the hotels.
Mr. Baxter says that the government is
rather niggsrdly In it's appropriations for
the park; but that in time, when ii is
properly cared for, it will be Il common
property that the American people will be
very proud Of.
At Seattle the pilgrims to and from
the Klondike were met. All night the
streets of Seattle are crowded with NOV
ing people, uneasy strangers who have
just arrived on their way to the gold
fields. Awakening at midnight or at any
hour Of the early morning one would sup
pose from the moving of people on the
street that 1t was day, The testimony of
all returning miners is to the effect that
there are great quantities of gold in Alas
ka but that it is hard to come at because
of the frozen ground, which never en-
tirely thaws.
At Esquimault MIR. Baxter saw the
great naval station which the British are
building Tt Is just such a statio as