The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-12-06
Hnerfca vs.. the World.

IOpeS 1se<sV Ao0Wo uto OsstSssttStsQtU OWCCes
II REALIZE my subject is broad
one, in fact, whole volumes could
b be written on it; so [ will confine
myself to short sketch In which
will endeavor to show that America
lis the equal, if not the superior, of any
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 surf ce of
the water, and that a race of people
and various animals roamed over por-
lions of this country while Europe yet
lay beneath the mighty deep.
If 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 barbarc king !?
Or why ransack all Europe for broken
affairs of forgotten gods, or relics of a
'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-
alton? Again, why excavate turnout
the so-called old world in search of
antiquities when beneath our own soil
lie thousands of implements used by a
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 onr ex-
president to learn that on them are
quaint figures and characters, denot-
ing knowledge and use of shorthand
by primitive man.
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 adamantine walll
of rock rising perpendicularly from thu
valley many hundreds of feet, ant
mountains of solid rock rising In pyra
midical grandeur to height of on
thousand feet. Situated up among
these mountains six thousand and fv
hundred feet, eight miles wide by four
teen miles long, bordered by larg
forests, overlooked by snOw-cappe'
mountains, and with water as clea
and rare almost as the mountain air, i
Lake Tahoe, one of the beautiful lake
of the world, ranking with those o
Scotland and Swiss-Italy. Peopl
who have travelled extensively and ar
competent to judge, claim the Sierr
Nevada surpass the Alps in many fee
lures.
The Columbia River, which wind
it's way thru this great Andean Rang
of our northwest, has no equal anon
the great rivers of the world for raj
beauty and majesty of scenery. Hig
walls of basaltic rock rise on eithe
side, scanned as by the hand of NAL
Rounded columns rise one above al
other, bringing to mind the Rhine wit
its ruined castles, tho far more massi1
and majestic. One traveller, speakin
of the Columbia River, says: 81 kno
of no like scenery so grand, SO beaut
full. It has many of the dlstinguishir
elements of the Hudson in its palisade
of the Rhine in its embattled preciI
tous and irregularly shaped sides, al
of the Upper Mississippi in it's owe
hanging cliffs"
No place in the world does there q
pear such q marvellous work OF natn
as in the Yosemite Valley, with its W
tical cliffs of smooth granite thr
thousand feet high. The Great Cath
dral Rock, so called from its similari
to some old cathedral, towering to
height Of three Thousand and five-hu