Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-08-15
FROM SAN DIEGO TO SAN
FRANCISCO.

II OlOOAAo
Diego instead. This would sound
rather odd to C~aiifornians, where the
MONITOR is weIcomedin many homes.
1t is hard for US who live in states of
small area to realize that, although
San Diego is sixty miles north of the
Mexican line. and San Francisco near
the middle west, yet the two cities
are as widely separated as Barton and
Washington, and the obstacles to be
surmounted in making the transit,
something appalling. will now give
you a few of the many interesting
features of our trip northward to San
Francisco. A portion of the first days
Journey the roadway lay through the
Moiave desert with it's Yucca palms
and giant cacti. These seem to -four
ism, in the otherwise barren sands, in
countless profusiOn. Then there were
the desert buttes, half way between
hills and mountains, from two to five
hundred feet in height, grooved and
channelled by the elements, most of
them entirely bare of vegetation.
Then comes the Tehachapi pass. The
Tehachapi mountains are a kind of
connecting link between the coast
range and the Sierra Nevadas, and at
the point where the railroad makes
the passage they are jumbled up in
great confusion. It is alleged hat
three civil engineers of great reputa-
ton attempted to survey a passage
through these peaks and crags, and
after repeated efforts gave it up, de-
| clarfng the route to be impossible. A
boy of 20 took up the work where his
| elders had failed, and this wonderful
railway path over and through the
mountains is the result. He found
that the track, by doubling back upon
| the crossing itself and making a loop
the necessary altitude of IS feet could
be gained, by which they could go on
with tunneling climbing, squirming
and curving to the summit Of 1000
feet. We reached much higher alti-
tudes in crossing the Sierras and the
Rockies, but none seemed equal to
this as an engineering wonder. We
ODp " = HO ~
order to see this interesting section
by daylight. This seemed to be a
smart town of about $500 inhabitants,
and here, as elsewhere in California,
we found excellent accommodations
for a very reasonable price. The fol-
lowing day, as we journeyed onward,
we had views Of lovely green wheat
fields, pastures dotted with brilliant
peoples and some enterprising and
thrifty looking towns. But the crown
ing glory of all which left an indelli-
BILE impression on my mind was the
snow capped Sierras in the distance,
rising peak on peak, some of them to
the height of Ia, 900 feet.
Fresno, the county seat of Fresno
county, is a place worthy of mention
on account OF its being a great fruit
shipping center. 1t has a population
of about II, OOO, with street railroads
and all the modern conveniences. I
was prepared to be Interested in Fres-
40 county from its wonderful fruit ex-
hibit at the Worlds Fair. Water for
irrigation is brought from the
mountain sides by means of canals
their aggregate length being 100
miles, with capacity for irrigating
700, O0O acres, making this one of the
richest fruit and agricultural sections
in the world. Many million pounds
of raisins are shipped from here an
nually. In this vicinity we saw i'm
mense orchards Of peaches and april
cots in bloom. Long before we were
near enough to view the Sacramento
blowing along, looking as if they had
conquered the elements and were
sailing in majestic triumph through
the land. But I must hasten along
and not stop for all that is interesting
by the wayside. We saw Berkeley with
the State University buildings in the
distance, passed through the beauti-
full city of Oakland and entered th Q
Golden Gate just as the setting sun
cast its golden beams athwart the
Bay. Through this magnificent har-
Dol a sail Of about twenty minutes ON
a huge and well equipped ferry boat,
landed US at San Francisco, 1.-THE City
of a Hundred Hills" OF the hills [
had frequently heard and read, but as
no one with tongue or pen had ever
expatiated on their height or steep
ness, I had pictured them about like
the State House site in Boston or Cap
itol Hill in Washington, SO was not
at all prepared to be shot, like a rock
ct, up the cable incline, to heights
varying from 10 to 900 feet. These