Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-08-26
WESTERN TRAVEL NOTES.
THE LIND FAMILIES ARRIVE AT TnE
GOLDEN GATE.
They Surmount Old Pike's Peak and Look Through
Garden Of Gods-Bathe In Salt Lake and Witness
the Jetfries corbett Prize Fight at San Francisco
". D. Lind Writes interestingly.

i CNLORADO SPRINGS, COL, Aug. l0.
| FRIEND MUNSoN:-After taking in
Lincoln Park and the shoots. which
are about the only fractions of great
interest here, we felt well paid for our
time spent. The shoots are about six
miles from the business part of the city
and the drawing card at this time of
year. 1t is an inclosure of four blocks
square. Inside this inclosure is the giant
swing that stands 100 feet high, carry
| ing two cars with four persons each, aud
the swinging stroke is 100 feet. Next in
order is the big Ferris wheel then the
| shoots" which is an incline of 100 feet
high, with an elevator to reach the top.
Then you get into boat, 6 or 8 at a
| time, which is started down the incline
with water pouring down all the time to
keep the track slippery and to keep it
from getting hot. At the bottom is a
little pond which the boat giides ont
into. A double track is used and boats
are going up and down all the time.
Next is the loop the loop, another in.
cline 100 feet high and has a car on a
track that carries four persons. The
car is pulled mp by cable and when it
gets to the top the cable is detached and
the weight gives it speed to loop. One
can loop the loop for 10 cents. The
figure eight is too complicated for me
to give description of, but the whole
lot of the above structures are hand
sonely electric lighted and make a
wonderful artistic display for miles
around, Another feature is the baby
train, the engine being so small that
tw6 good fnen can lift it, yet ii hauls
train OF six coaches, each coach accom-
modating four perscus. There are num-
erous other attractions within the in
closure, which makes it the center of at
traction here.
We enjoyed the GEip from Chicago to
Omaha very much, passing through the
valley of branch of the Missouri river
In the western part OF Iowa, where
cloud burst on August 4th Crops were
totally destroyed and some dead stock
was still in sight. We arrived in Omaha
with nine coaches, where three more
were added. From Omaha to Denver
we rode over the Grand Island division.
which is he straightest and easiest road
We passed over
Crops in eastern Nebraska are good,
but for 100 miles in the western part it
is as desolate as a desert, with here
and there sod house or dead animal
In Colorado there are some of the incest
fields Of wheat ever saw and also the
best wagon roads. We arrived at Fort
Morgan, Colorado, at 6 O'clock, eastern
timeJ and it was there that / first saw
the Rocky Mountains. / awoke other
members of the party Co see them, which
at that place are 145 miles distant.
Colorado Springs is beautiful place
and the natural scenery in it's vicinity
cannot be described in language that
will even touch upon the the magnificent
formation of the mountains. 7yill men
tion few of the places we have already
visited: Manitou and it's soda, iron and
Sulphur springs; Pixies Peak and its cog
road and burro passec Garden of the
Gods and its many freaks of nature;
Shame canyon and It's seven falls;
North canyon and the Devils cave
Riding oyer the roads and high trussels
and mountains makes one sea sick, and
the soda water make some people drunk,
and altogether we have the most sociable
and friendly congregation of sight-see
ing tourists that ever assembled By
chance we had the pleasure of seeing
what they call here a mountain shower
1t appeared in white fiee1y cloud creep
ing around the mountain tops, sudden
iy gathering and changing into dark
cloud with thunder and lightning. At
this stage the clouds rolled about half
way down the mountain, and a white
sheet of rain deluged the foot hills We
saw it rain for full half hour and then
the cloud vanished We were at Colora-
do Springs at the time of the shower
and it didn't look more than q mile dis
tant. We secured a carriage and drove
six miles ont and the water was coming
down gulches. The shower was IS miles
away and more deceiving thing never
saw in the way Of storm.