Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-01-11
Oakland, California.
Editors Democrat.

|
I Since writing you at Salt Lake
we have travelled much and seen
more Yes more of plains, noun.
ta'ns, and scenery of nearly every
nature. The first and one of The
most interesting was the Great Salt
Lake, and after leaving Ogden the
railroad company has in the past
few years built cut off through
/ this island sea and we. travel for
about twenty-five'..,, less.-acrosss-the
lake. The track is mostly built on
piles and part of the way there is a
floor under the ties and the spaces
between ties filed with gravel SO
one cannot see the water only.+at the
side of the track. To the south one
can look as far as the eye Fcan reach
on this inland sea and to the north
would think, over TWENTY-FIVE
miles to land. After crossing the
lake we strike what I would think
was the Utah plains, nothing Of in.
terest to the traveller only an occa
sional herd of sheep and cattle
and some coyotes until dark. When
we awoke in the morning we were
nearing the Sierra Nevada range of
mountains and the nearer we got
the more snow we encountered.
When we got to Trukee the sleigh
ing was fine, the mountains covered
with evergreen trees and beauti-
full clear stream of water running
through the valley. We thought It
was fine stream for trout but did
not stop to try our luck After leav-
ing Trukee we commenced to as
cend the mountains rapidly and
soon we entered the snow sheds.
One of the passengers asked the
brakeman how long the snow sheds
were and he said, about forty miles,
ENTHUSIASTICALLY we got peep out
and viewed the crooked sheds by
the mountain sides where we had
passed along or looked ahead and
saw where we were going. Quite
little of the way in the snow sheds is
double track, and / would also say
there was double track the most Of
the way across Salt Lake. When
we left the snow sheds we were APP
parently on the south side Of an
east and west range of mountains
and !, the snow gradually grew less
until finally none was to be seen,
but instead of snow there was green
grass, and it looked good and made
one leel that they had entered
another climate
The next point of interest was
Blue Canon with high and rugged
mountains on the one side and
deep blue valley on the other and
the people at the depot looked like
they were good patrons of the many
saloons one could see from car win
dows. We are now going down on
the Pacific slope and,our train glides
along nicely and making good time.
Finally the brakeman announced
that we would soon pass around
Cape Horn, and Of course all were
anxious for glimpse. But
glimpse was not enough, itattracted
a steady gaze when one looks down
for hundreds Of feet below in val
ley covered with green grass and
flowers, and on the cliffs above was
SNOW The cont ,aSt yync p,oet ,;o
turesque and to keappreciated must
be seen. We are now passing into
"a much warmer climate rapidly,
more flowers are appearing in gar
dens and lawns, fruit trees and vines
more plentiful, and by noon we see
the real orange tree with its ripe
and yellow fruit. The change from
sle:shing at breakfast 20 orange
groves for dinner was more than we
had locked for but highly enjoyed.
We are now in the great Sacramento
valley and a beautiful place it is.
We arrived in Sacramento City at
two o'clock a. m. From the car
window we had quite a favorable i'm
preston of the city. The train only
stopped there a few minutes when
we were again on our way for San
Francisco, arriving at Oakland at
5:20, where our friand, Elmer Nc
Neil, met us and escarted us to his
nice home. A. S. COOK,