Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-08-29
LETTER FROM THE WEST,

MISS Jessie M. BraQHSn, VINO TISSUES
near Edgar, is travelling in the West
with a party of friends, writes de-
scriptiye letter to Miss Mary Meuret, of
this city, who allows the PILOT to pub
lish the same. Miss Bradfish is a stu
dent of the Wausau Business college
and the letter will be interesting to her
many friends in the city and county.
Leaving out matters that are personal.
the letter is as follows:
OREGON, Aug. 10, 1905. Z.
You notice by the heading of this
letter that do not know just where l
should date it. We are on the steamer
going down the Columbia river to the
beach, where we expect to spend some
time. To give you all of the details of
my trip would consume altogether too
much time, so | shall attempt only the
most interesting topics. Until we
reached Salt lake, we travelled by
day, stopping over during the
night On those stop overs many funny
little incidents happened. At one
place we purchased a lunch for the
train, leaving it at the hotel while we
visited store near by. While absent
negro porter stole the lunch and he
gave as an excuse for taking it, that
there were so many rats about that he
thought it was not right to let them
eat it.
This country and scenery through
which we are passing is grand and
some is beautiful beyond description.
In fact it has 70 be seen to be appre-
ciatcd. When we started we stopped
in st. Paul and Minneapolis and while
there took the opportunity to visit the
famous Minnehaha falls and its park.
1t is beautiful spot and the falls is
worth making a trip from Wausau to
see. The water falls over large rocks
fully fifty feet in height No one going
to Minneapolis should miss seeing them
Leaving St. Paul in the morning we
reached Omaha at night and remained
there until the next morning. Between
st. Paul and Omaha there are vast fields
of grain and corn. The country is very
level and there are but few trees to be
seen, the most being about farm homes
where owners have planted them in
groves for beauty and for shade.
From Omaha we went to Denver,
where we spent several days. 1t is a
fine up-to-date city. While there,
among other things, we went through
the Colorado state capitol building,
which is a beautiful structure. The
walls of this building are badly defaced,
having been marked up by people from
all over the union in spite of the rules
and regulations prohibiting such doings
and the watchful eyes of the police.
We also went to the U. S. mint but
were not admitted to the place where
money was coined, so were disappOint-
ed. The building is magnificent one
and its interior is finished in marble,
which was quarried and shipped from
the state of Vermont.
From Denver we went to Colorado
Springs, and from there to ManitOu,
an ideal village at the foot of Pixies
Peak Here we went through the
Garden of the Gods" / could not be-
gin to tell you of all of the natural
wonders of this place. A few of them
are: The balanced rock, the toad
stools and toad, an eagle, and the
cathedral spires The latter is rock
no more than fifteen feet square at its
base and rises $50 feet, tapering tow
ards the top One would imagine that
the wind might blow it over, but there
it stands and has been standing for
ages. We hired burros and climbed
Pixies Peak. This was quite as tiresome
as it was pleasant, for, can you imagine
yourself sitting on donkey for four
hours and not be tired Toward the
last began to wonder which were the
donkeys-the riders or those ridden
Nevertheless our iabOrS were rewarded
for we saw so much more than if we
had ts.t.en the train. You know there
is a railroad which runs clear to the
top and is called the cOg-road. Going
up either way is accompanied with
danger. Should the burro slip, one
might fall down thousands of feet
Manu nlanac Won looLy dn,Up that die
lance right below you. The path is
but foot wide and the only thing for
you to do is to cling to the poor little
burro. The animal is very sure
footed, though once in a while they do
fall, but this happens more frequently
rs you near the top and cross snow and
ice. The burro that | rode fell and got
his foot between the rocks. Two men
had to pull it out and we all thought
its leg was broken but it was not and
in few moments was able to proceed.
There were twelve in our party who
went up in this way. We left Manitou
at P. NJ; reached half way at P NJ,
and remained there until twelve
o'clock, sitting around camp fire, eat
ing our supper, wearing blankets in
regular Indian fashion. Then we
started out, it seemed strange to be on
such trip in the middle of the night
We arrived at the top just in time to
see the sun rise, it was a glorious sight,
after drinking in all its beauties
we invested in hot cup of
coffee and sandwich. 1t was the
first time | ever paid fifteen cents for
cup of coffee, but gladly did it because
I was shivering with the cold. The
sandwich also cost fifteen cents and
that / was able to take at one bite.
Well, we started down Pixies Peak at
Z A. NJ. and reached Manitou, our start
ing point at P. NJ. where we had a
good dinner. From there we went to
Pueblo, where we spent day and
from there to Glenwood Springs. They
are hot springs and it looks strange to
see a large basin out in the open, boil
ing and steaming away. At Grand
Junction we heard of people register
ing there for homesteads and four of us
registered. Of course, we may not
draw lucky number as it goes some
thing like a lottery. From there we
went to Salt Lake, the Mormon city
Went through the Mormon Tabernacle
and Assembly Hall, but could not go
through the Temple, for it is so sacred
to them that even all the MOrmons are
not allowed to enter it. The Taber-
nacle is $50 feet long and is dome
shaped. On this account you can hear
pin drop the entire length of the
building. Standing at one end of the
building, you can hear whisper at the
other end Salt Lake is fine city. We
went out to Salt lake, ride of thirty
minutes. There we saw people in bath
ing and should have joined them had
our time not been so limited.
Leaving Salt Lake we came right
through to Portland, crossing barren
waste of sand and the only plant, the sage
bush. We were all disgusted with the
country, but as soon as we had crossed
the Cascade ranges we again saw trees
and plants. l like Oregon very much
and you would be surprised at the lovely
fruit they raise here. We get only the
poor fruit out there in Wisconsin.
Portland is quite city. We took 100
mile trolley car ride through the coun-
try yesterday. The woods are beauti-
full and so many ferns grow here. Most
of them reach to mans shoulder,
while some are higher than his head. |
spoke to one man who said he came