The times., 1901-06-02

| included a Mexican dinner of eighteen
courses given in Juarez to Mrs. McKin-
| ley by the ladies of El Paso, the Presi-
dent resumed his journey across the
plains of New Mexico. where the sage
bush grows and the cactus blooms in va
! riety OF colors. Brief stops were made at
/ Demfng and Benson, where the cowboys
| and ranchers were again in evidence.
/ Twice in the journey through Arizona
the Presidential train left the main track,
once to visit the Congress gold mine and
/ again to stop at Phoenix. The mine IS
the largest in Arizona and has six shafts.
| one of which is sunk more than 1900 feet
into the earth. The President visited the
mouth of this shaft, but decided not to
make the descent, although the members
! of the Cabinet and others enjoyed the
| experience of being taken down the in
| cline into the bowels of the earth and
witnessing the drilling and the blasting
| of the veins for the precious ore. The
process of extracting the metal from the
ore was explained to Mr.. Mckinley and
| in his honor a gold brick valued at more
than sl5,e00 was poured while he was
| present.
! THE ONLY ACCIDENT.
| special car conveyed the President
and his party from the station consid-
| erable distance up the mountain TO the
! mouth of the mine, on the switchback
railway. While crossing the summit of
| the mountain on the way to the shaft. Mr..
Mckinley met with a painful experience
with a giant cactus. He had just posed
for his photograph beside one of the
| mammoth specimens, and started to walk
4. s-t,x ..,I
putting out his hand to save himself fell
against the sharp thorns of the cactus,
and for several days he bore the marks of
| where they had plowed into his flesh.
On leaving the mine the train met with
| the only accident on the entire trip. A
| tire on one of the wheels of the engines
tender became loose, and delay of half
an hour was caused, while the Postal Tel
egraph wire was tapped and a request
sent for another tender.
In Phoenix the President saw hustling,
thriving little city, with modern buildings
and improvements. which conveyed diff
ferent impression from that ordinarily en-
tertained of the Arizona capital in the
East. Here, too the value Of irrigation
was forcibly brought to the attention of
the President, as on one hand he saw the
great unwatered and barren plain. and on
the other where irrigation had been re-
sorted to, the fields were blooming with
luxuriart vegetation, and producing two,
three, and four crops a year. As yet not
more than third of the Salt River Valley,
in which Phoenix is situated, is under irri-
CATION. but an effort is being made to in
terest the Government in the matter in
the hope that the lands which now lie in
waste may be brought into cultivation. At
Phoenix the President visited the Indian
school, established and maintained by the
Government for the instruction of the
children of the nations wards
Fortunately the greater portion of the
trip across the vast alkali plains of the
territory was made at night, so that the
Inconvenience of travel were not so
great as they would have been had the
journey been made by day beneath the
scorching semi-tropic sun. But 1t was like
entering into fairyIand when California
was reached and the Presidential train
made it's first stop in the State at Red
lands, where Governor Gage and his staff
welcomed the President 70 the Golden
State.
Rcdlands. with it's profusion of flowers.
which paved the way wherever the Presi-
dent rode, and with it's abundance of
fruit, which was the feature of the dec
orations, was all the most vivid imagina-
ton could picture. The foundations of
the town were laid less than fourteen
years ago. and today it is one of the most
picturesque spots in all of picturesque
southern California. The drive along the
beautiful streets and to Smiley Park,
overlooking the canyon ard the valley.
afforded the President an opportunity to
see a most wonderful landscape.
The journey on to Los Angeles was
equally interesting through the San Ber-
nardino Valley with the snow-capped
mountains, with their rugged and barren
slopes rising on either side. The entrance
to the town of the Queen of the Angels
was signalized by a tumultuous demon
stration on the part of the Chinese resi-
dents of the city, and the part which they
took in the floral fiesta on the following
day was unique. Conspicuous in this vast
display of flowers was the float upon
which rode a company of tiny Chinese
children. bearing the inscription in de-
sign of carnations. God Bless Our Pres1-
dent" Probably no member of the Presi-
Dental party had ever before witnessed
such an extravagant display of flowers as
was presented in the beautiful fiesta pro-
cession.
Notwithstanding al the enjoyable en-
tertainment which the city provided for
the President and his party, some of the
individual members carried away unpIeas-
ant recollections of Los Angeles. Secre-
tary Wilson and Colonel Moore were Sc
lected as capitalists by a clever pick
pocket who relieved them of their purses
containing several hundred dollars each.
Colonel Moore, however achieved consid
erable notoriety and qualified himself for
appointment on any well regulated police
force by personally capturing the thief
with the stolen goods in his possession. !
Admiral Melville, too, suffered the loss of |
500. which was taken from his room in |
the hote' where he stopped, and did not /
discover his misfortune until after leav-
ing the city
An incident occurred at Ventura, the |
first stop after leaving Los Angeles, which |
was as amusing as 1t was disastrous. Ev- |
cry resident of the town was at the rail- |
bearing the distinguished party. Just as |
1t arrived flames were seen shooting forth |
from a large frame house some distance |
from the railroad. IT proved to be the !,
residence of the chief of the fire depart !