The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-12-06

Paper Read Before the Cha,ttasQ,sa Circle. +
II REALIZE my subject is broad
one, in fact, whole volumes could
be written on it; so I will confne
myself to a short sketch IN which l
will endeavOr to show that America
lis the equal, If not the superior, of any
country in the world, in variety of
scenery, men of military genius, states
menship and many other things. [
Travel, it is true, enriches the mind;
but believe in seeing and knowing
something of the beauties and wonders
of our own beloved land before visit
ing the old world; or, in reality, the
new world; for scientists now say that
America is the old world and claim to
have authentic proof, in the way of |
fossils, to show that the low range OF |
hills on the boundary line between the |
United States and Canada was the first |
land to appear above the surface of
the water, and that race of people |
and various animals rOamed over pOr-
'tions of this country while Europe yet
lay beneath the mighty deep.
1t this be true, why traverse sun
baked Egypt to stand in those pyra-
mids reared by human slaves, under
inhuman monsters, to gaze down upon
the mummy of some barbaric king?
Or why ransack all Europe for broken
altars of forgotten gods, or relics of
bygOne race, when by shouldering
spade and pick we can stroll up to
those little hills on our northern
boundary, and beneath the shadows of
the pines dig up fossils representing
the dawn of animal and vegetable cre-1
alton? Again, why excavate thruout
the so-called old world in search of
antiquities when beneath our own soil
lie thousands of implements used by
race of people inhabiting this land
while the eastern hemisphere was still
a dreary waste of waters? Many of
these implements have been unearthed,
and it may be of interest to our ex-
president to learn that ON them are
quaint figures and characters, denot
ing a knowledge and use of shorthand
by primitive man.
I believe that America has more
beauty of landscape, more variety of
climate, and more natural wonders
than any nation on the globe. The
Sierra Nevada, the Andes of North
America, is rich in natural curiosities.
Here are to be seen adamaDtine walls
of rock rising perpendicularly from the
valley many hundreds of feet, and
mountains of solid rock rising In pyra-
midical grandeur to height of one
thousand feet. Situated up among
these mountains six thousand and five
hundred feet, eight miles wide by four
teen miles long, bordered by large
forests, overlooked by snow-capped
mountains, and with water as clear
and rare almost as the mountain air, is
Lake Tahoe, one of the beautiful lakes
of the world, ranking with those OF
Scotland and Swiss-Italy. People
who have travelled extensively and are
competent to judge, claim the Sierra
Nevada surpass the Alps in many fea
lures.
The Columbia River, which winds
it's way thru this great Andean Range
of our northwest, has no equal among
the great rivers of the world for rart
beauty and majesty of scenery. High
walls of basaltic rock rise on either
side, scanned as by the hand Ofman
Rounded columns rise one above an
other, bringing to mind the Rhine will
its ruined castles, tho far more massiv,
and majestic. One traveller, speaking
of the Columbia River, says: 81 know
of no like scenery SO grand, SO beauti
ful. It has many of the Distinguishing
elements of the Hudson in its palisades
of the Rhine in its embattled precipi
tous and irregularly shaped sides, an
of the Upper Mississippi in it's over
hanging cliffs"
No place in the world does there al
pear such marvellous work OF natur
as in the Yosemite Valley, with its vel
tical cliffs of smooth granite thre
thousand feet high. The Great Cath'
dral Rock, SO called from its similarit
to some old cathedral, towering to
height Of three Thousand and five-hul