Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-04-08
THE WEST
DR.. A. E. Craig Tells Interestingly
of His Recent Journey.
BEAUTIES OF THE WILD COUNTRY
Interesting Facts About the Trip
From OttumWa to the Coast and
Back Again, as Taken by the OF
tumWa Minister.
From Mondays Daily.

From Mondays Daily.
The first of series of three travel
lectures concerning his recent trip
"Over the Range" was delivered at
the first Methodist Episcopal church,
to a large and most attentive congre-
cation last evening by DIR. A. e. Craig.
The subject of this lecture was THE
Great West, Its Scenery, Problems
ana Prospects" Comm ancing his talk
with his Denver visit, the speaker said
in part:
Denver
Denver is a great city, well laid
out, with wide streets, well kept a
city of great wealth and containing
many great commercial industries The
atmosphere, naturally and in bust
ness way, is different from that of our
middle-state country. 1t is all spec
ulation there. Proposition is the
great western term and upon every
hand in the marts, on the trains and
in the street cars the traveller over
hears propositions earnestly discuss
ed Just now the great interest is
centered in the oil industry. While
many men have grown fabulously
wealthy in speculations in that rich
country it is best to go there and per
sonally look into the possibilities of
investments yielding large dividends
before buying an interest.
The early Spanish visitors to this
country were after the output of the
gold and silver mines, and accomplish
ed little in the way of establishing
colonies, though their efforts produc-
ed great additions of treasure to the
Golfers of Ferdinand and Isabella;
while the British and French explor-
ers planted colonies. There is consd-
cradle fascination in these stories of
prosperous schemes in mining and
many are led to invest their all in the
hope of suddenly becoming rich, but
the percent of the successfulness is
comparatively very small.
Irrigation.
''The great problem, which is being
successfully wrestled with in Color
ado and Utah is irrigation. They have
a little verse out there which is To-
cal setting to an old rhyme, and runs
as follows: Little drops of water on
little grains of sand make mighty
difference in the price of land
Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs, the great health
resort, was visited after leaving Den
4 yer. Here thirtytwo millionaires re-
side, and there are many grand SAM
tariums. From there the Garden of
the Gods was entered 1t seemed in
this wonderful place that the gods had
been playing with great stones and
mountains, and had piled them in the
Nct ov,tn .fi
City the Royal Gorge met the eager
eyes of the visitor, and is, indeed a
royal sight. The gorge is seven miles
long, $500 feet high and about thirty
feet wide. The Arkansas river flows
through it and the railroad clings to
, the rocks upon one side of this, one
of the most wonderful works of the
Creator, who doubtless employed the
agency of volcanic action in it's con-
struction.
cat Salida the speaker climbed a
high mountain in the heart of the
Rockies, and from it enjoyed an ex.
cellent view of the surrounding peaks
This mountain was assembled afoot
and on descending it the intelligence
was gained that the mountain was
called 'Tenderfoot Mountain and af
4 ter a newcomer had attained its
height in this manner he was no long
er considered a 'tenderfoot'
Scenes Enroute.
Marshall Pass was assembled upcl
, railroad train which halted som.
time at it's top. The wheels and al
, important parts of the train are yer,
i carefully examined before startin,
: down the mountain, for, dangerous al
is the ascent, the descent, though
; more easy, is more dangerous. Thi
J, reminds one of the parable of life, il
!. which it is difficult to rise above tn
4 malaria of sin, but vastly easier an,
. more dangerous to go down. The Pre-
o vost valley of Utah was next reached
] and it is veritable garden of TIL,
S Lord. Whatever may be said agains
e the Mormons, they are entitled t.
i much credit for Drawing the terrors o
Y their arduous and dangerous journe
/, across the arid, savage-infested plain
t to establish home in this Lowell
country.
n Passing over the Nevada mountain
e the fertile Willamette valley was er
r tered. At o'clock in the mornin
e the train was passing through tn
Y snow-capped mountains, while at
n O'Clock it was merging into the beaut
= full valley in which the sun shon
= brightly, the birds sang and the tree
S were as white with bloom as were TIL
mountains with snow short Will
before on the trip. This was a nevel
to-be-forgotten introduction to Califol
MIA"
r The Return.
y Here the speaker passed over an
d consideration of California as it wi
e be taken up in the next lecture, an
!. told of the return trip:
t "The Mt. Shasta route was take1
d and the journey to northern Californi
begun. Far down the mountain side
were covered with snow and the trai
Travelled all day in sight of Mt. Shast;
but this is not SO remarkable as tn
progress was slow. At one point fiv
miles were traversed to advance one
half mile. The scenery all the wa
was beautiful, reminding the visito
Of the scenery on the Tyrolese sid
of the Alps from Verona, Italy, to MI
Mich, Germany. The state of Orego