The Penn's Grove record., 1899-07-21
A Trip TO California.
Los Angeles. July 2. lSt

Loo AABeieS, july z, loJJ.
On the morning Of May 10th a. m.
1 got out OF my berth at5a, NJ, washed
myself and began to take observation
oil the country. l looked all around
ana could not see a house nor a tree. 1t
seemed as 1t the sky and ground met.
Anou $50 a. m. | began to see the
lellectlon OF the sun. 1t locked as if
the whole east was on fire. A little
later the sun began to rise. 1t looked
as II 1t was rising out Of the earth. This
is one of the many beautiful sights you
see on the weSernf plains Of Colorado.
lhls lSsffow Fe4ld country and where
thex Mc--- S was one of the main
-rT1s OF better known as roads for the
gold seekers of 40 to travel over on
their way to the country. They have very
heaVy wind storms and they sweep every
thlng before them. About $50 a. m.
l began to see a house now and then,
but some of these houses would look
very funny to a person from the East.
Ihey are about seven feet high, the
frame being made of logs and covered
with clay. One might call them mud
houses. Mostly cattle raisers live in
these houses.
About a. m. we began to see large
herds of cattle, some of which consisted
of 1900 to 1000 head of steers. [ saw one
herd of sheep that ifthey were marched
two by two they would reach all around
Penn's Grove.
A little later in the day / saw what
is called the mirage. While looking out
of the car window l thought | saw a
lake and it seemed to be a very large
and beautiful one | asked one of the
porters what lake it was and he told me
that it was no lake. | laughed at HIM
and he said | see you are a ''tender foot''
but one would declare it was what they
saw. Apparently | could see the
waves rolling along, it looked so plain,
and l was told at times the mirage
looked so much like water that cattle
and wild beasts would run themselves
to death to get 10 the water.
This is one ofthe many curious things
OF our country.
AT I.15 WE arrived at Denver, Col,
This city has about 50, 900 inhabitants
and is about 5000 feet above the sea
level. Being so high makes it very
healthy, The air is so light and pure
that II a read newspaper by moon
light without any trouble.
The principle business in Denver is
gold silver, and copper smelling.
Most all the ore of Colorado is brought
TO Denver. | had to wait in Denver
about two hours so l thought l would
see the town and view some of the old
buildings that were built by the pioneers
who worked their way across this
country and settled at this place in 1857.
A few years after the place became a
village and most Western travellers
stopped at this place for rest and to get
new supplies TO start across the great
Rockies. As tie west got more settled
it grew TO be quite a city and since
about 40, it has been the centre of most
of the western travel. To-day it is the
largest city of the rocky district.
From the city hall tower, Denver, l
see the high peaks of the rockeys, some
of them from II, 000 to $1,000 feet high,
all covered with snow. To one who sees
them for the first time from afar, per-
haps so miles, where they sudden rising
against the sunset seems impossible, for
him to believe his eyes. To him afar
these seems not mountains but clouds.
| will tell you more of the mountain
world in my next letter.
Continued next week.
!. G. STRAUGHEN.