Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-01-07
LETTER FRM CALIFORNIA.
Mr.. Editor:

1 IIF. EdItOf:
I To return to or trip across the &C
1 tinent, we role, out of the Chico
depot the 8th da of December at p
ciRly 10o'clock.. m. and were att o.
on 4Our long jourpy to the Pacific slc'
first over the lch fields of Hin,
ISWa, Missouri, and we are nov1
Kansas; the hitoric state of e
Soil and pro sla,ery and John Brn
exploits that let up to and no d)U
hastened on the Civil War. The q
ern part of this state is very pro-
tive, while the extreme westernrt
is almost a desert for lack of wr.
On we go to Dodge City, of coy
fame, and from here on througFW
Mexico the cowboy is still lg.
While gliding through this waess
country the traveller awakes to mic
features one would be willing to vel
Ear to see. The surface bed noubt
was once the bottom of an inlasea.
Enormous deposits of salt, gum,
andI marble rock, strata IN VIII are
found remarkable fossils of cssal
animal life such as elephants, sto-
dons, lcamels, rhinoceroses, .rks,
croeodiles, gigantic horses and
aquatic monsters of frightful ear
ance, skeletons of which are pre-
served'in the national museu The
French fur traders were thcSt to
establish footing on these graplains
where the Indian, the buffalod the
antelope had roamed supre. It
has since been the scene many
bloody encounters betweene red
man and the white. All of udden
we are notified as we round curve
that We are about to come light of
Pixies Peak, and every eye iGained
to catch the first glimpsof this
historic mountain covered its top
with perpetual snow. Button the
Peaks fade away from vieqnd on
we go to Trinidad, which is he foot
Of Ration Pass over the nntains
The grade through these mttains is
terrific. 1t took three Gnes to
! draw and push our train er this
mountain summit. We Is huge,
bare cliffs with perpendior sides
and an endless variety ofountain
scenery. Z part of the we are
completely shut in from outside
world and are at an altit9 Of 1900
feet above the level of thea. It is
said that if these mountain7ere lev
eled to an upland plaif 10000
square miles the whole "a would
stand higher than the HEST peaks
of the Catskin or Adirondz noun
tains. Now down we go the arid
plains OF Arizona, and atght must
take farewell glimpse ofese poetic
Spanish peaks. On we Eover this
Ereat American desert, reting now
ID then a stray Indian, aairie wolf
coyote that manage neway to
eE-ist ingthis waterless ron. Two
h-ndred miles distant wan see the
Navajo mountains. Near Colorado
state line to the west we the broad
plateau of another watess prairie
the foothills of which arinted with
rainbow hues of red sandone. These
0luffs are of every inagable shape
ahd size resembling thosof the Yel
-owstone Park. am to by those
Who claim to know that >where can
Tou find sunlight more dsling or sky
fdeeper blue; the landscae is eastern
2 aspect flushed with cor. Pictur-
Hque canons of fierce roc walls seem
Q yield grudgingly to yur passage;
nassive slopes, dead v'csnoes, and
reat lava beds are see lere; also
Eidences of the flow omolten rock
Dat show volcanic actr of many
nturies ago. On everyiie you can
se bones of cattle and btflo bleach
z in the sun, these annals having
Fd from thirst on thI waterless
hin. This Valley of Hath as it is
lied sleeps only for jirst. Slake
Ht, and it would beJa gtden of par
Use. This is proven in hundreds of
ralities where irrigatio is practical
e. Long before the rlroad, great
ravans crossed these pins carrying
Auable merchandise potected by a
rong military escort. his was call
! the Sante Fe trail r overland