The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-21
TOUR OF PRESIDENT SNOW.
Vivid Picture of Ride From Modena
st. George.
(Staff Correspondence.)

(Staff Correspondence
I st. George, May 1S.-At last, at least,
the tourists have reached st. George,
in the heart of Dixie, the land of grapes
and wine, alkali dust and fiat-topped
mountains. 1t is wonderful country
and a nice country to live in, but TO
get here is quite another matter. From
the time the railroad track ceases to
exist, the journey is continual de-
scent of hair-raising declivities. Much
time could be saved, and ON the whole
the traveller would feel safer were a
step-ladder used from Meadow to st.
George, but as a rule the road is trav-
eled
An impression prevails that st.
George is hot, because of its position
relative to the equator. Such is not
the reason. Be it understood that the
town is located at the very bottom of
an elevator shaftic depression i'll the
earth, where the fumes of sulphur are
not uncommon. Moreover, just before
Dixie is entered-in Diamond valley
there is what is called sound hole"
BY placing an ear on the ground in this
hole, the visitor can hear the sound of
rushing water or roaring hre-lt mas
never been determined which-but the
latter meets with general approval, as
location.
Very Dry Winter.
Then. too, the geography of the
country is sufficient to convince the
most skeptical that it is not of earth,
and the situation becomes more alarm
ing every season. An old resident stat
ed that this has been the dryest winter
in thirty-five years, and the winter be-
fore the dryest in thirty-four. If this
thing continues. the only medium of
irrigation will be Dixie wine, and the
present canals may be taxed beyond
their capacity. There is some talk of
constructing a few hundred reservoirs
at the head of the canyon.
The drive from Modcna to st. George,
as already intimated, is dusty. We were
all thoroughly alkalified upon arriving.
Leaving the railroad at 9 a. m. Tues
day, the party traversed that part of
the Escalantes desert not yet penetrat-
ed by the Utah & Pacific. One farm
was passed en- route. where the ener-
getic countryman had coped success
fully with five sixty-foot rows of an
tagonistic sagebrush, when he evident
ly had given it up and fled for fields |
anew.
At Meadow the panorama changed. |
All through the little canyon and along |
t 9 creek banks, the green shrubbery |
was held in very welcome contrast. |
Mrs. Garfield. very charming widow |
at Meadow. received the best |
wishes of the party i'll return for one |
Of the incest dinners ever served on |
the border. To the northwest of the |
last named settlement. a new town, En-
terprise, is building, which is but one |
of the progress being made by /
the people.
About in the afternoon the train of
carriages rolled by Kane spring, and the
usually snow-capped peaks of the Pine
Valley mountains lowered in the dis
lance. Their comparative barrenness
Of Dixie's chief essential to prosperity
1T this time of the year was comment
I'd upon as being very discouraging to
the farmers of the locality. The lucern
and corn are drying up now, and re-
,ent frost having played havoc with
he seasons grapes, the prospects are
indeed not of the best.
Scene of Beauty.
The most picturesque scene of the
Journey is that encountered upon en-
ering Dixie valley proper To the right
enormous cliffs of a peculiar sandstone
that have crumbled in places
md shaped themselves into the most
yrotesque figures imaginable, extend
'or distance of half a mile, and for
plateaus adds wierdness to
he scene.
Directly in front, the traveller looks
nto what has the appearance of a long
.anyon, enclosed on either side with
luge masses of pinnacled stalagmites,
for all the world, great
To the left of the pic
ure are the twin fiat-top mountains at
he foot of which lies st. George. But
he most wonderful fact concerning this
of nature is that no two of
he ingredients as it We're, are of the
anne formation or even color, and near
y every color is to be found. There
5 no sign of water in any part of the
andscape. and an artist would ridicule
. true picture of the scene were he not
n eyewitness to the remarkable re-
lity. The effect of moonlight upon the
alley beggars description. Every tint
; clearly pictured and with the deep
hadows of overhanging peaks, the ]
Gene is not unlike the ruins of a vast
colosseum. /,
Diamond valley is place of many
but the most interesting study i