Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1903-08-21
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
Barstow, Cal. Aug. IA, 1908.

If were to write according to my
! feelings I hardly think 1t would be
readable; but as a bad beginning
makes a good ending your readers
| and myself will feel paid for the effort
to see and describe my trip to Cali
/ fornia.
4 From the fact of our starting be-
hind time so much our program has
been changed so that it is almost like
a wheel with the tire punctured-de-
cidedly out of fix.
4 We went to sleep about midnight
with clouds in the sky, and at day
light woke up with the sight of Mort
Fits herd of white faces Cor some
other man's) grazing consentedly on
the prairie near Kendall, Kansas,
looking sleek and fat. l was rather
surprised to see the grass looking SO
good. The first sign of going back
ward was Coolidge, which is decided
ly ION the bum," and from there on
civilization and thrift declined, going
from bad to worse to this point. OF
course there was lots to see that inter
ested US. from signs of farming to the
cowboys and ponies, to the mining
regions at Trinidad, Col. The trip
up Ration Mountains, with three en-
gines pulling and pushing IL coaches
and baggage car, to the top, which
is said to be nearly 5000 feet above
the sea level. We were all delighted
with the pure, bracing mountain air
and enjoyed the scenery very much.
Our first side trip was at Los Vegas,
n. NJ. which, on account of the r. r.
Co. not notifying the Trolley Co. of
the time of our arrival, was not made
unil just about dark. We made it
however, and felt paid for our trouble
by seeing Hot Springs and the Mon
tezuma Hotel, said to be S1,000,000
structure, by electric light. This is
3 the place where John ]. ingalls, spent
: the last months of his life, and seems
to be an ideal place to stay if one had
plenty of money and nothing to do.
Las Vegas is a city of ten or twelve
thousand, whites and Mexicans, who
live entirely separated by a small
stream and under a separate govern
: ment, and in that way get along ap
parently very nicely. The next
r morning we walked at Albuquerque,
2 Schaeffer who showed US around for
q a couple of hours. We walked up the
: Indians who were sleeping around on
9 platforms and on the ground, and
z had come down from the old town to
ipeddle their wares of blankets, beads,
2 pottery and other curios, to the ex-
E cursionists; and some of the boys had
: considerable fun at their expense.
{ Joe seems to be strictly in it, and if
2 Mrs. S. and Barbara were there to en-
Iljoy the delightful climate, l would
: think they could make a stake as well
2 as enjoy life as well as any place on
earth.
81 Albuquerque is thriving R: r.
z city, making rapid growth, and sub
stantial too. From here to the top of
2 the Continental Divide we did not
2 see much but stony hills on each side
: of The valley and stream of lava
: down the center which has lain there
2 for perhaps fifty or hundred years.
In several places this lava seems to
? have been broken up and picked over
2 as if someone expected to find some
valuable mineral, and perhaps did.
: At Laguna we stopped an hour and
2 visited the Moque Indian village, and
? witnessed their dance, and pottery
: ovens, where they make all sorts of
things useful or ornamental, but
, which are indeed very crude looked
, at from a civilized standpoint They
: are very low type of human beings,
, fully one-half of the children being
= blind or cross-eyed and the squaws
, very prolific. l saw one caring for
a four, from about three years to three
weeks old, and all of them crosseyed.
do not wonder at their looks, nor
can l see why they stay unless they
do not know that there is any better
place for them, and 1 don't think
there is any better place this side of
there, for the whole country from
there to here seems to have been just
dumped "any old way" and left for
the sun to dry out and the wind to
blow the dirt away and leave the
rocks to cover the mountains and
valleys. We saw no vegetation ex-
cept a few edars and lots of cactus
of every kind. l helped capture a
scorpion, which some lady put in a
glass jar to carry home. 1 picked up
some pieces of lava and petrihed.
wood to bring home.
Jno. Tilton, Coulter, Churchill and