Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-09-15
ON THE WING.
Prof. Herndon Writes Of His Swing
THROUGH the West.

From Salt Lake City, came over the
San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
railroad. This road has only been open
since last May. 1t was built by Sena-
tor Clark and associates, and runs from
here to Salt Lake City, through South
ern California, across Nevada and
Southern Utah. Its western terminus
Is San Pedro, on the Pacific coast The
especial object Of the road Is to carry
Panama canal freight into Nevada and
Utah, and people generally out this
way believe 1t will be a good thing.
After leaving Pueblo, Colo, struck
an acquaintance with three men OF
from 80 to 35 years old, travelling over
about the same route am going. One
Is from Chicago, one from Memphis,
and the other from some town In I'LL
nois. They all seem to be good fellows;
but the Illinois man Is certainly cur
iosity, In that he Is the heartiest eater
I have ever seen. The hotels and res
taurants out this way are among the
best l have ever seen anywhere. They
serve the best food obtainable In al
most every variety and In a first class
manner. The walters are polite and at
tentive and the managers do what they
can to make patrons feel at home. l
am a pretty good eater at home, and
my appetite seems to be improving;
but / am never able to dispose of. half
the food that Is placed before me.
This young Illinois man cleans up
everything on all the dishes spread out
around him and orders more In tone
that indicates that he Is still hungry.
He says his appetite went back on him
some five or six weeks ago and Is only
Just returning. have been thinking
what a famine we would leave along
our trail II this young mans appetite
had failed him as far back as a year
ago.
We stopped some fifteen or twenty
minutes yesterday afternoon In the
town Of Las Vigas. to change engines
and crews and take on coal and Ice
water. Las Vigas, named after Las
Vigas, New Mexico. is only q few
months old: but has 1000 people, living
In houses built of adobe walls and
cloth roofs. It is a wide open place.
A man at the depot which Is just be-
ing erected. told me that carpenters get
SO a day and other laborers are paid In
he same proportions; but nobody pre-
tends to try to save any money.
Most Of it goes in the legalized dives
and gambling houses a whole block be-
ing devoted to these places. Brawls are
frequent. and incidental mention was
made OF the fact that one bad" man
stabbed two others the night before.
We passed little station In the Ute
Indian reservation yesterday. There
were a number Of Indians, men, women
and children, at the station to see
the train go by. The women were
dressed In the regulation red and blue
calico, and wore hand made charms
about their necks. They were rather a
sorry looking lot. and understand that
they live pri~ cipally at the expense OF
the government. This Is about the
only way they could live, judging from
the looks Of the wide stretches Of bar
rem sage brush country through which
he railroad passes here.
At Glenwood Springs the other day.
I began to fear that was going to run
short Of cash. Before leaving home
took the precaution Of getting a let
ter of credit on National bank OF San
Francisco. and brought with me New
York Exchange for SIS. I thought
would see how much trouble there was
going to be about cashing the New
York draft called at the bank, ac-
companied by the three young men al
ready referred to. and handed out the
exchange to the cashier. He looked me
up and down carefully, then at the
draft, and then asked me to sign my
name. Next he made a careful COM
narison Of the endorsement on the
draft with my name on the railroad
ticket. The young men testified as to
my identity, and finally the cashier
turned over the money, $75 In gold.
In this correction. II will be OF In
terest to mention that there Is very lit
tie paper or silver out this way. told
the cashier Of the bank that / would
prefer to have that money In paper. He
looked at me again curiously as II
not quite certain what kind Of man /
was and told me that they did not use
paper money out that way / after
ward secured the town to get my mon
ey changed to paper and 1t was quite
a while before I succeeded. Colorado
used to be a great silver state; but the
silver mines are not being worked very
Leadville and Cripple Creek produce
more gold than the Klondike.
/ would like to write great deal
about Salt Lake City and the Nor
mons. I am sure that the subject would
furnish enough interesting material to
fill whole volumes: but I'll have to con-
fess that In the first place I have not
had time to get the information and In
the second place could hardly put 1t
In satisfactory shape even IL / had IL
available.
Salt Lake City as I believe I wrote
In my last letter, Is made up Of q mix
ed population-about half Mormons
and half Gentiles. People are polite and
considerate enough as to all ordinary
matters; but this Is a country where
the rule Is to attend to your own bus
mess, and somehow I feel little dell
IL, Inc 70 O.
pecially of a certain nature.
While in Salt Lake City I went out
to see the tabernacle and temple, the
two greatest wonders Of this remark
able city. / was disappointed to find
that none but the elect are allowed to
enter the temple. 1t Is holy, holy, holy.
Mormons are allowed to go within the
outer enclosure: but only the very
apostles are allowed to go within.
However, with party Of fifteen or
twenty. was shown through the ia
nous tabernacle, and this in itself Is
worth trip Of many miles.
Both buildings are In what Is known
as Temple block which Is 40 rods
square and which, I am told contains
10 acres. / have forgotten my arith-
or not this will work out. Anyhow,
the buildings are simply immense and
we'll calculated to inspire awe.
The corner stone of the Mormon
Temple at Salt Lake City was laid on
April 6. 1853, and the building was
completed and dedicated on April 6,
1899. The structure Is 1854 feet long
by 80 feet wide and covers a floor
space Of 1852 feet. II cost about
$4,OO0,000. 1t Is built almost entirely
Of granite, which was brought from a
quarry some twenty miles away by
means Of OK teams. The hauling was
completed in 1873, previous to the ad-
vent Of the railroads, and I am told
that II took four yoke Of oxen four
days to transport each Of the larger
stones from the quarry to the temple
grounds.
One of the most striking features Of
the great temple Is the gigantic figure
OF an angel standing on the top Of the
east central tower. This figure Is made
from hammered copper and covered
with gold leaf, Is IL feet 81 inches In
heieht. The angel holds n his hand a
grea' trumpet with which he Is sup
posed to be proclaiming the Everlasting
GOSPEL to the nations.
There are three other temples of the
Latter Dav Saints In Utah. One Is To-
Gated at Logan, Coche county, another
at Maute, Sanpete county. another at
st. George. Washington county. Be-
sides these the Mormons have about
400 other houses Of worship
Our guide through the tabernacle