St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-06-11
Where Rolls the Oregon.

, states, California, Oregon and v ASKING
ton. That ought to help you to under
stand the vastness of the Pacific coast
for the three states have coast line, If it
could be measured in straight line, OF
about 1900 miles. l feel as if ought to
keep everlastingly at it" on the great
ness of the western states for so few who
have crossed the continent realize the
size of our states and territories beyond
the Mississippi river When Judge lde
sailed from San Francisco to the Philip
pines some one from st. Johnsbury wrote
my brother asking him if he ran up to
see Judge Ide off. He wrote back to his
eastern friend that he could not run so
far as when he was boy and then re-
minded him of the fact that Pasadena
was nearly 500 miles south Of the Golden
Gate.
When you start from San Francisco to
Portland, Oregon, you have journey of
ISL miles, all on the Shasta division Of
the Southern Pacific system. The S. P,
as everyone calls it on the coast, is the
only line running to the north country
where four transcontinenta lines have
made their terminus-the Oregon River
and Navigation Co. from Portland to
Salt Lake City the Northern Pacific. the
Great Northern and the Canadian Pa
cihc. l supposed it would be years be-
fore there would be another system and
yet they tell me Canadian capitalists
are bull ng another line from ocean to
ocean north of the Canadian Pacific to
traverse the Hudson Bay country and
the painless wids of the Northwest Ter
ritory.
AS there is only one outlet north for
tourists the trains on the Shasta route
are crowded almost every day in the
year and two trains are run daily each
way between San Francisco and Port
land, and each train often has over ten
cars. 1t is wonderfully pretty ride to
the Shasta country and the first surprise
is to wake up in the morning and find
the long train is winding its way
through the valley of the Sacramento and
that the river is no longer mud-coored,
but clear as crystal and dashing over the
rocks hundreds of feet below the track
| like an Adirondack stream. Oneach side
of the bank are the tall yellow and sugar
pines and it is hard to believe that you
are still in the state OF the orange and
eucalyptus tree. la the meantime the
grade increases and the two engines have
to have helper ard a third engine is
attached to the train pushing the train
from behind. A short stop is made at
the Shasta Springs where naturally car
bonized water flows down messy banks
to the station and is collected in a foun-
tain from which all freely drink. The
third engine soon leaves us and the pas
sengers are busy watching for a glimpse
of Mt. Shasta. Soon this extinct vol
cano looms up and rises IA 442 feet
towards the sky line. Its summit is
white with snow the year around and
the last of April there was lots of snow
on the mountain. The track winds
around this grand mountain for many
miles and one gets glimpse of all sides
of it. Finally the state line is crossed
and we are in the state where rolls the
Oregon"
Down on the Sunset route and the lines
on the S. P. from Los Angeles to San
Francisco the engines all burn crude oil,
but wood is used almost entirely on the
: Shasta route because it is tie cheapest
fuel, The yellow pine costs about So SO
, a cord and it looked funny enough to see
! the big engines with haring smokestacks
such as one used to see in the east 2E
years ago. The yellow pine burns very
quickly, but is about the only wood that
is used for fuel in that country except thu
; Oregon fir, the great product ofthe state
of Washington. The worlds creates
timber belt is found in Oregon and las
: years output was nearly one billion fee
= and valued at nearly nine million dollars
1t is not all uncommon for one tree tt
7 cut 20, 900 feet OF lumber and some OF tn
t timber land cuts 10000 feet to the acre
n Almost any day one can see timbe.s twt
feet square, rs feet long and over aud tn
forests where the timber grows are a
dense as the tropical forests of Brazil o
Cuba.
. One is also surprised to find that Ore
# gon is great fruit country. The fines
!, cherries in the world are raised in thi
r state, though this cropis exceeded in valu
II by the apples, Strawberries and prunes
# In California all these small fruits hav
d to be ripened by irrigation, while in Ore
3 gon there iSrain every month in the year
= and good deal of it, too The fruit get
ID its fine flavor from the rain, hence Ore
re CONS superiority over it's southern neigh
~ Dor in small fruits. There are roses her
!! in abundance, too, and one farmer whor
H. met on a Willamette river steame
of told me he had So varieties of roses o
ly his fruit farm and didn't care much fo
ce roses ether.
n he rf 30