The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1906-04-06
FROM THE 500 TO THE COAST
A Pleasant Trip, Told In An Entertain
mg Manner.

After leaving the 500 we had not
travelled many miles before we had left
old winter behind. 1t was cloudy and
rather cold when we reached st. Paul
We were late and our train had left, but
they telegraphed to Minneapolis and il
was held for us there. There were only
a few other passengers besides ourselves
in our coach so we had one-haf of the
coach to ourselves, and we made good
use of it with our luggage.
Crossing the state of Minnesota we
only saw small towns and farm lands.
1t is not very interesting state; at least,
in what we could see of it there was
nothing of special interest Sunday
night, Just at sun down, we crossed the
state line into North Dakota. There
was glorious sunset, but little sign OF
life on that great vast plain. All day
Monday we travelled over the prairies of
Dakota. Our view extended a distance
of perhaps 40 miles or more, and the
houses were very far apart. We saw one
little church which is attended by people
coming distance of 30 miles or more;
neighbors are sometimes 20 miles from
each other. There are no fences; roads,
or trails as they are called, are just a
wheel track in width The harvesting
was nearly completed. We only saw one
of the big harvesting machines which
was drawn by eight or 10 teams. We
saw one COW boy rounding up herd OF
cattle, one sod house and a few of the
outdoor cyclone houses. AS night drew
her curtains around us, the porter warne
us to draw our blinds down close lea
the light attract some highwayman a a
he use our window as target to test
his skill in Workmanship. And right
here we want to say that we had the
incest little porter, who did everything
in his power for our comfort, even to
running errsnds for us at the various
stations
tuesday about noon we reached Moose
Jaw, Alberta, where it was showing
hard and was very cold. We stopped
here an hour, so took walk through
the main streets of the city. We bought
some apples which we found we're very
scarce and consequently very high priced
we also saw the largest potatoes at this
place that we ever beheld This is a
city with a population of about 5000
and it was at this point we began to
ascend, the altitude here being |, 725 feet
This is distributing center for all the
ranches as it is rich grain growing
district We had now made two-thirds
of our journey. At dark we had reached
Medicine Hat which has an altitude of
2,l5O feet. This is a small city with a
population of 200. Darkness walled US
in and as we passed through Calgary we
could only see the depot and the street
leading to the city, it being o'clock
Tuesday morning. The first ray of light
brought US to the foothills of the Rock
les. AS the sun came up we we're walled
10 10y these lofty peaks which seemed to
be towering up almost to the sky, man
tied in their snowy robes The colori O.
was beyond description. 1t seemed to
be yelled in the thinnest gauze of blue,
gray and violet and tinged with the rosy
hue of the sunrise. All day Tuesday we
spent winding around these mountain
sides. Much of the distance along the
way close to the track we followed the
Kicking Horse river. We crossed four
ranges of mountains. the Rockies proper,
the Selkirks, the Gold range and Coast
mountains. In the Fraser valley we saw
the most beautiful scenery 1t is all the
pictures represent adding the coloring
painted with Natures brush. We pass
ed The Great Divide which separates
the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific;
the Natural Bridge which is formed by
two great rocks, one on each side of the
river, bending toward each other until
their SUBMITS almost meet; we saw the
buffalo park in which only about sc
butfaloes are let to remain. One whole
day we spent in viewing this wonderful
scenery, and had it not been for the
darkness would have been watching all
night.
Wednesday morning we we're still pass
ing Frazer canyon and did not lie We the
mountains until about noon. The rail
road track winding up and around these
mountains is like mysterious chain,
and it would look as though we had
reached the end of the track when we
would suddenly change our course and
be still going only in an opposite direc-
ton. There is mountain loop which
gives one a view of four tracks at
one time. The grandeur of these lofty
peaks is well portrayed in the following:
Snow crowned, pure and wonderful
they stand, changeless and immovable;
and as the traveller watches the suns
rays steal from one peak to another, tinge-
ing this with golden light and tinting
that with all the colors of the rainbow
he feels that in all their splendor and
sublimity, inviting the wayfarer to linger
1