The Newtown bee., 1900-06-08
TEN PAGES.
TOwN TOPICS.
Bits of Travel From Mrs E. L..
 Johnson's Letters.

stayed out on deck until the gong sound ed for luncheon. did justice to that meal and went out on deck again. The Golden Gate, the Cliff House, the Seal Rocks and other interesting sights about the harbor were passed before luncheon. After passing out of the harbor the wa ter became somewhat rough and very soon one after smother disappeared. Now and then one tried to be brave enough to try to sit it out aud was one of the mum. Der. l was almost determined I would not give up but finally went inside and lay down and did not emerge again un. t.l Tuesday morning. I slept splendidly both nights and had good deal of sleep during the day. or course Il missed good deal. I felt rather limp when got on deck but so glad to be able to stand on my feet. My time in bed was not al- together lost for my state room opened upon the deck and could be very con- fortble if l lay still and was able to see the waves, ,also the people as thay passed back and forth. There was quite an ex- citing time Tuesday afternoon when a school of whales appeared on both sides of the steamer. 1 did not entirely miss it for 1 could see some of them from my state room but not as distinctly as if l had been at the boats edge. Astoria Is at the mouth of the Astoria river so we crossed the bay before stopping there. Soon after we arrived at the wharf Rev William Short came down to the steamer. After greeting me he asked if knew the sorrow that had come to him. He buried his wife last Friday. went to his home with him and saw his children. He has a sweet daughter twelve years old, Ed win ten, Seabury eight, and Fred five years old. How the heart of that meth- CT must have ached to leave those dear little children.
 The boat left the Astoria a little before nine and pdrsued it's way up the Colum- bia. The trip up the river was sn ex- ceedingly interesting one. I had no sea- sickness but the rain falling at intervals prevented my staying up on the hurri- cane deck as I wanted to all the time be- cause from the lower deck I could see only one side at time. The river is full or pretty little islands and the steamer went in and out among them. Some say It Is certainly fine and picturesque but I cannot think 1t quite as beautiful as the Hudson. The steamer reached Portland st 5.15 p. m. when after looking after baggage we took cable car to Portland Heights. wish I could tell you the ele- vation to which the car took us, then we climbed more than one hundred steps to point where we had magnificent vie v of the city of Portland. All the time we were out in drizzling rain with no um- brella but no one cares for rain in Port land for 1t rains almost all the time. Our l sight seeing over we went to the station and secured the berth in the sleeper. that had been reserved and at 9 o'clock we moved out. The day had been one of in- tense interest to me from early morning until evening and the climbing of those more than one hundred steps and down again tired me and was glad to have my berth made up and get into 1t. The moon made the landscape visible al- though it was good deal cloudy and sometimes raining. raised the window shade, piled the pillows as high as could and hugely enjoyed the scenery. It was the toughest, most craggy scenery through which we have passed just as far as watched, I don't know how long. After long time tired nature asserted herself and fell asleep.
 Soon after leaving Portland we were in the Blue mountains of Oregon, nearly 5000 feet altitude, and say the first snow of the winter all around us. It Is lum- Der region, the Oregon pines, and,the on. ly signs of habitation we see are logger'1 cabins, except at the stations, which show few more signs of life. The road is dreadfully crooked. We swing around curves in and out over rsvines in an al most frightful manner. I wish I could photograph some of the scenes through which we are passing. The mountains are covered with snow and the grandeur Of the scenery increases as we go ou. After time we leave the rocks, the crags and ravines behind us and for 8 good many miles passed through sec tion of grain raising country, and slsc sheep raising country, too, sup. pose, though I have seen very few sheep but the elevators and wool warehouses tell the story. After quite distance in which I saw enormously large grain fields on beautifully rolling land we came again into the crags and mountains. When we came down from the noun tains into valley In order to do 1t we completely doubled on our tracks. At 3 30 p. m. we left Huntingdon (uamed af- ter c. F. Huntington and soon crossed the Snake river, which Is the dividing lns between Oregon and Idado. Before reaching Huntington we saw good deal of mining for gold. When we crossed the border into Idaho we came at once into great fruit growing region. can- not tell what fruit Is most raised. We have been travelling with snow covered mountains all about us but they are now far in the distance, indeed no snow is to be seen. There have been heavy rains recently and everything looks flooded. When stopping at Fayette I saw from the car window more white clover than I have seen since left New England. Arcadia is the blissful name of the sta- tion at which we stop only long enough to breathe. There we were going almost directly south and the sun shining and beautifully blue sky.i
 We reached Salt Lake City early V,g, ', ,va5 q " unnrrfuU and nsrr n0u1uofnr