The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-09-13

One takes the Union Pacific railway al Ogden for San Francisco, which is S3G miles away. For two or three hundred miles the road skirts the edge of what was once part of the great Salt Lake. For many miles the lake itself is seen. and then the bed with the white crys- tals shining in the sun. For five hun dred miles there is not a blade of grass, not even sage brush which seems to grow where nothing else will. The great Union Pacific is now building a trestle across the lake which is twenty miles long and cost millions of dollars, but 1t will eliminate about 100 miles of desert railroad.
 The grades along this part of the coun- try are immense. The road rises all the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The engines burn oil and the water tanks are filled from trains that carry the wa ter in tank cars. Absolute and utter death in nature exists. Not bird or leaf or anything is seen but long reaches of binding desert The people that do live here live at some small station in a hole dug in the ground and covered over with old cross ties. The section hands are either Mexicans, Chinese or Indians. The climate would bake lizard. The fine alkali dust sifts through anything and the trip grows very irksonme. Later, signs of civilization are in evidence again and the country becomes mountainous and woody. The mountains are covered with medium-sized scraggy pines with foliage like cedar. There are many saw f,,It 1f tt canals and every little settlement has it's ice factory. The trains go along the side of the mountains which are always cov- cred with snow and the views through the rarified atmosphere are immense. One can look down upon areas almost as large as Alabama. We passed one town, Struckee, New, which must be typical mining town for, though it was Sunday, every bar rooom was open and every thing was wild and woody.
 Crossing the Sierra mountains, we passed through forty-two miles of snow sheds, which are really wooden tunnels built over the track. The vast masses of snow fall on these on coming down the mountain glide over and the track Is left free for traffic.
 Through the slated sides of the snow sheds are lovely visions of alpine scenery Little villages. lumber yards, ice fac- tories. Every little town has an ice fdc- tory. This is a great railroad. One may travel many miles and never see any, thing like 1t. It Is on the same scale as the mountains. The mighty engines are the largest in use in the country. The rails and equipment are the heaviest and finest made. It is wonderful. You feel the thrill of the altitude in your blood and the stra1geness of the great country through which you are passing.
 We climb steadily onward and upward with two large engines until we reach the summit of the Sierras at Colfax Cal, Just before reaching there the track clr- cles a mountain on shelf of granite which is one of the most appalling sights in the west Above you the mountain towers straight up, while m- mediately below you, so straight down you can not see the ties under you there is clear drop of a half a mile It is called rounding Cape Horn. The same clearness of vision Is noticeable here as in Colorado. You can see for miles and miles.
 Now we are in the land of gold and fruit. We see where the mountains were torn in the days of '49, and we begin to see the vast wheat fields and fruit or chards. At Auburn we ran into a freight train and while getting ready to go the train was surrounded by small boys who sold the delightful cherries that reach such perfection in California.
 Leaving Sacramento. the lovely capi-