The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-31
A TRIP ACROSS THE
GREAT CONTINENT
A Correspondent at Los Angeles,
Who Has Crossed Many Times,
TeIlSof Best Route FromEast

leIlS0t Best Route FromEaSt
Los Angeles, Dec. 20.--I have crossed
the continent several times by different
routes, My first trip was made in
1859. Since that time there have been
so many changes and improvements in
railroads and their equipments, that
travelling has been robbed of every dis
comfort and fatigue. From Boston
on the Canadian Pacific, going up
through New England to Montreal,
there are many beautiful places to be
seen. But after leaving Montreal, it
is mostly level and uninteresting UNI
til one gets beyond Winnipeg among
the Rockies There everything is
changed, and the scenery grows mag
nificent and grand until Vancouver
British Columbia, is reached Then
one can make a change and go to San
francisco by boat, or partly by boat
and partly by rail, going down the
sound Victoria, Seattle or Portland
via The Shasta route
There are several ways of getting
from Boston to Chicago. After going
over the different routes, 1 prefer the
t1tchburg via Rotterdam to Buffalo,
then or by the Wabash to Chicago, and
from Chicago to Los Angeles, which
seems to be the great America Mecca
The first time an eastern person goes
| through ans1s, he gazes out of the
car window in wonder and amazement
/ at the great fields of corn, wheat and
grazing lands. For hundreds of miles
1t seems as level as house floor. You
look to the right. then to the left, the
earth and sky meet at the horizon 1t
is great idnd ocean. 1t was once
an inland sea that deposited immense
| quantities of salt and gypsum. In it's
rock strata are found remarkable
fossils of mammoth animal life, ele-
plants, mastodons, sharks and reptiles
OF immense size, whose skeletons are
preserved in the Nationalemuseum
Just beyond the line, into southwest
I Colorado, at La Junta, the road takes
| a more southerly course, while the
other goes northwest to Omaha, or
OvT--> THE MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS
to Ogden, Salt Lake City, and thence
on to the Pacific coast. From La
Junta, one can see Pixies Peak, more
than hundred miles away.
We first came into Colorado, on a
plateau, more than 1000 feet above the
sea level, then the scenery begins to
| change. On the right the Spanish peaks
are plainly in sight, covered with snow.
Soon the Ration range comes into view
and at it's foot is Trinidad Here an
other powerful mountain engine is at
tached, and together they slowly haul
the train up the fearful grades, around
short curves until the top is reached
/ by going through a half-mile tunnel
/ 1000 feet above the sea.
| A short distance down the mountain
| we pass the old dismantled toll house
of Dick Wotten. The old wagon trail
is plainly visible, where in ante-railroad
times all of the old time emigrant
trains, with their great prairie schoon-
ers, used to pass, interesting now only
as comparing the past with the pres
ent. Now we are in New Mexico If
the mountains were leVeled over the
valleys and the plains, more than 49,
600 square miles of territory would be
higher than the summit of the Adiron-
dacks, and in New England about as
high as Mt. Washington. or at an ele-
walton of 5000 feet. The sky is a deep
er blue, the air pure, dry, cool and
stimulating. New Mexico is a land of
sunshine, of large ranges, where thou
sands of cattle and innumerable num-
bers of sheep Craze on the succulent
heritage, with large fields Of grain and
orchards loaded with precious fruits.
Here you may find that much talked
of but seldom seen independent farmer.
There are many places in this territory
of peculiar interest.
The little Rio Gallinas issues from a
spur of the Rockies, five or six miles
northwest from the city. Upon it's
/ bank just above where it enters into
the vegas or meadow. a number of
both hot and cold springs rise to the
surface. The medicinal virtues of
I these springs, added to the attractive
ness of the location, with the pureness
Of the air, lead to the erection of the
beautiful
LARGE HOTEL MONTEZUMA
and the establishment of a health re-
sort 1t is one of the few places in the
middle west where a man can be con-
tented for any length of time in idle
ness. Every known form Of bath is
administered here under the care of
resident physician. Many come here to
I be cured of physical ills that are in
durable in the harsh climate of the
| east.
| Santa Fe comes next, but in point of
| Interest is ahead of any other 1t was
founded in 1905 under the name of LA
Cudas Veal de la Santa -Fe de San
Francisco" (The true city of the holy
faith of st. Francis). In time it has
lapsed to it's present name Although
It is the capitol of the territory, yet it
ZONES the nearest to being d Mexican
city of any place. 1t has 5000 Mexican
and 900 other inhabitants.
The old San Migual church, the oldest
church in America, is yet standing
almost as it was nearly 300 years
ago. Its walls are of adobe, with
out windows and about as dismal
d place to worship God in as ones
imagin1ion can we'll picture. The
Governors palace is a place of great
Observation-Disclosures 1t is a long one-story
albe house of eight or ten rooms with
their doors opening directly on the side
walk. Some of the rooms are kept for
historical purposes, in which are many
pictures taken from the old church. and
other relics of old Mexican and Indian
life. More than three-fourths Of the
I HOUSES ARE MADE OF ADOBE.
7 The natives are a lazy, shiftless lot. On
an eminence about mile from the pal
ace stands the old chapel Rosario; near
/ ii Is the Romano school for Apache
I children. Why the capital of the terri
/ tory should be located here is hard to
understand. A new capitol is being built
almost entirely of convict labor. The
\ city is IS miles from the main line, the
f trains running down to Sama to meet
Il The trains as they come in from the
east and vest There is narrow gauge
road running from the city to Omaha.
Reluctantly we leave this quaint old
town and are soon in the busting town
AZ Albee Gurque. A road branching off
mere goes down to Ell Paso, the border
ltnwn. where one can cross over the Rio
RGrande into old Mexico. Farther on in
ARIZONA you leave the road In Adamana
a md go little way, and you come to
nv petrified forest, one Of the greatest
Iwonders of nature. where the fallen
irees have in the ages that are passed