Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-11-30
Letter From Mary M. Young.
Cotton, Nov. %, 1904.
Editors Democrat,
Monobostar To-,

nave thought Tor a long time
that l would write you letter, but
as we were not settled permanently,
thought would wait until we were.
| expect now that we will remain
here if it agrees with us, perhaps
the rest of our lives, tho of course
we cannot tell.
We came from Cheyenne, Wyom-
ing, little over month ago; in
fact soon after the flood in southern
California and northern New Mexi-
co 1t happened as we were on the
train, Of thirteen orfourteen coaches.
the last excursion for Califor-
MIA, tho we were not aware of it
until after we started. The flood
through that part of the country
was beyond description; bridges
gone or partly gone, boards, trees,
logs, ETC., lodged along the banks,
one town, where they had such a
tne (new believe it was) depot, all
one corner was undermined and
washed away, l should think ten or
fifteen feet below; but | believe no !
lives were lost. The flooded dis
tricts reached far this side of AL
buquerque, tho only dangerous in
places. Then to me, at least, it
seemed like the cars would surely
go over; in many places the train
just crawled along and rocked from
one side to the other, and had it not
been for the extreme caution of those
in charge Of the train, | really do
not believe it would have reached it's
destination in salty. AS it was, we
: were twelve or thirteen hours late.
Many places through New Mexico
! there were no towns at all, and other
= places there were Indian inhabitants.
. At one quite large Indian village
we had to wait a long time for
d another train. How the Indians
= aocked around the train to sell their
:. wares and mementoes. Several of
. the travellers were out with their
y cameras. One young man under
- our car window wanted to take the
'e picture Of half grown girl with a
u u fat papoose hanging to her back in
~ shawl. She drew sharp bargain
with him too. There was one very
is pretty Miss, dressed richly in her
70 Indian garb, with several bracelets,
rich costume, finished off with a
very fine silk shawl in the brightest
colors worn carelessly over her head
er then wished I might have been an
er artist and could paint her picture
Most Of the inhabitants through
ut New Mexico are Indians, except in
the largest towns.
m Albuquerque is a very pretty
ST place and seemed something like ar
: oasis in desert. The most Of the
IS country this side Of Colorado OF
ID the Santa Fe route, until getting
g. near San Bernardino, is barrer
n desert, yet, were there sufficient
water, it could blossom as the rose.
ut We moved out here from
~ Cheyenne with our daughter, Mrs
- Byron Stone. Byron had inAamma
nd tory rheumatism there in Cheyenne
tn so much. that it had become nearl,
all sickness, suffering and DOCTOR
.rv bills, so last May he obtained stu
alton in the Santa Fe railroad ma
7 chine shops in San Bernardino ant
has worked his way up to the high
m est point, as machinest and ha
entirely recovered. At first he wa
oe not able to work all the time, bu
a., a. has not lost any time for som
In. months through illness.
This is what is called San Bel
IN; nardino Valley, Cotton, (three mile
by electric line from San Bernardo
emf no) Highlands, Redlands, Riversid
rs Largest towns Of ally are all in thi
valley, and | believe other towns
but l do not remember now. Their
are hundreds and hundreds of acre
Of orange, lemons, apricots and
at fruit called grape fruit, tho l can
ath see why it is called that, they loo
more like young pumpkins; Of a pal
to yellow, from the size of croque
ball to quite little larger. Som
in eat them like an orange. The bes
way is to cut them into halves, pr
ma sugar on and stand over night, the
take the juice. 1t then tastes fin,
lille They are something between a
orange and lemon, as near as ca
md describe it. Oranges are just ripper
of ing and some are just setting fro1
ton the blossom, on the same tree. Th
pepper, orange, lemon and cypres
rip trees are green the year round.
m will enclose to you some of the lir
peppers that have about all fallen,
> is leaf Of the tree and some new pei
pers just forming. The tree is lare
rah as the soft maple, and the branche
es- like the weeping willow will swee
the ground if not trimmed bacl
j. They line the streets, each side, i
many places and make the town
ard beautiful. Then there are SO man
ri palms Of different kinds, and flower
blossom the year round, many kind
ON Ne one ever thinks of taking u
18th their geraniums; they always sta
ill. out, or any other plants, and 1 neve
ed saw roses until | came here.
Ids thought had but had not. l d
not believe | exaggerate when | sa
ks there are thousands Of kinds, climE
ing and all kinds. A lady 9TH
est bankers wife) in next block ha
ast near half block Of them in row.
and | do not think any two are alik,
ter We are building here, SO l prt
eek sumo we shall stay. believe W
at have had one or two light frosts her
SO far. Nights are quite cold, ais
ew mornings and evenings, but middl
of day hot in sun and cool in shade
emit Rainy season has not commence