The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-06-19
An Interesting Letter from Col.
Wharton No .

the second highest in the world, 32l
lect; 2,2SO feet long; three million, six
hundred and forty pounds OF iron in
the structure, and banks of the river
solid granite, and perpendicular.
We now enter the plains, extending
South to Mexico, no water, great
ranches watered with wind mills, one
Mexican In charge of thousand
horses, corrolling them and ticing the
leader with his lasso.
The section hands are Mexicans ex-
cept Section Master. They live in
tents made by standing poles six to
eight feet high on their ends and cross
ing them with poles, covering same
with rock and dirt, only to shelter from
sun as 1T rarely ever rains, and it is two
hot to shut out the air. You can see
tent in the middle OF the Prairie,
wagon, horse and cow tied. What
does that mean? a squatter who moves
at his will, simply living.
We now reach San Antonio: civiliza-
tlon and culture; no oats, as green
bugs and drouth kill them. The
ground is rs dry as stubblc. The land
Cotton is half a leg high and looking
fine, but grassy, and they are still
planting wheat and oat folds
We are now at FL Paso, crossing in
to New Mexico, the great desert coun-
try. May the good Lord deliver us
from such country. No rain in two
years; grass and seed all dead: noun
tains and dry plains. The Dry Sea, as
1T is called, is stretched out before us
and not living thing in sight, barren,
with great riffs of sand, as if made by
many rushing waters, but ouly the
cruel wind even passes over it. Upon a
mountain close by you see the profile
OF face turned heavenward, as per-
feet as from the artists hands, in the
solid granite, called the face Of old
Cachief, the great Indian chief of that
country in his day, ~ depot there is
named in his honor. Ten miles of the
Copper mines | saw Mexican driving
| ten horses to two wagons attached to
each other, loaded with copper. Men
are scarce: horses are cheap.
We now come to natures wonder
the morash or mirage. 1t looks like q
great sea. On East Bay, in Charles
ton, you look into the great sea, and
this looks Just the same, but not a drop
of water. 1t is the contraction Of two
heats-from the sun and the sand.
There are fine watermelons being
shipped from the Iaqua River, Mexico.
1T was my pleasure to help devOur one.
We now cross the Colorado River in
to California. We reach the Satire
desert, 266 feet below the level OF the
sea, bounded by the Sierra Madras
mountains on one side and the Sierra
Nevada on the other We travel
through vast, barren plain, with
nothing growing, and finally reach the
wild flowers in the plains and valleys,
and the mountains are covered with
snow, six thousand feet above sea level
Beyond the mountains we reach the
fertile valleys, the pride of California
Here we find orchards and vineyards,
barley fields of Thousand acres,
orange groves OF thousand acres, the
| trees laden with ripe fruit, olive plan.
tations, prunc, fig and grape vineyards
equal to those the spies went oyer into
Canaan TO spy out, with grapes equal
to the ones that Joshua and Caleb
brought back,
The Californians call this Gods
country, but it has its reverses. Ia q
mountain cove saw a beautiful, but
small valley, almost in the mountain
tastness, a once happy home, nice or.
chard, little cottage surrounded by
over one hundred beehives, all aban-
doned. A single grave in the orchard
marked by neat picket fence, told the
tale. \ man had laid to rest his wife,
I, L,
broken hearted, signing for compan.
ship, in the hour of his loneliness he
surrenders all. Disappointment, the
rock that skaters shc lives of so many
The passerby can only say What
might have been.
We omitted to say. in speaking of
Arizona, through which we passed
that there is little of interest there.
We can only give a pencil picture OF
our trip, lest our paper finds it's way
into the waste basket.
we met {. a. Seay, whose father was
from Spartanburg, which place he left
when boy. He is the editor OF the
Tehachipi Tomahawk. He claimed
that he could tell that | was South
erner, and continued to talk until oul
train pulled out.
We arc now at San Francisco, the
Paris OF the United States (of which
will say more), in the hands OF that
princeiy Southern gentleman the Hon
Pat Noble, of old Abbeville, q noble
son Of noble sire, cousin of the Gun
nghams at Waterloo. He is Genera
Manager of the Pacific Rooling Mills
of California. He has laid aside hi:
Office work and has us in tow, and il
there is man in all the realm who
knows how to entertain stranger in 9
strange land, it is this true CarOlinian
The City OF San Francisco. The
story Of the climate is told in the callas
heliotrope and other tender lowering
plants that bloom outdoors in luxuriani
freedom, without heed to the calendar
The winter aspect shows flowers in
stead of snow whitening the ground
and wealth of roses in the garder
and tender vegetables on the dinner
table.
The terms winter and summer do not
apply here in the ordinary sense. The
summers are rainless, while in winte,
there are rainy days. Spring-time
songs are sung always. The same
clothing is worn the year round, the
straw hat being the only indication O.
the change Of season.
! Guided by our South Carolina friend
with party consisting Of one sky.
pilot, two doctors and q number of la
dies and gentlemen, we are looking at
the sights of the great city. We first
visit the Golden Gate Park, with an
enclosure of eleven hundred acres.
Within its confines Is growing every
known Hover, tree, vine, ETC., and ev.
| cry grass known to man. With its
fountains, drives and walks and its
shady streets, 1t makes an ideal resting
place, fl for the gods. We next visit
the building of the great air ship,
equal in size to one of our great battle
chips, that crank lin my opinion) is
building at cost of several fortunes,
and in which he thinks one day to ride
the winds across the continent. We
next visit the Sutro baths, erected at
hn Nf n.