Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-02-27
TELLS OF FRISCO
T. v. sHEARER WRITES AN INTER
EsTlNG LETTER ABOUT WEST
ERN cary TO COURIER
Relates His Experiences in Travelling
From ottunwa to caIifornia's Me
tropolis and of the Beauties OF the
Golden Gate City.

SoPoHS dHu OF stne Beauties OF the
Golden Gate City.
Experiences met with while travel.
ing from Ottumwa to San Francisco,
Cal, and the beauties of that great
western city are the principal contents
OF an interesting letter received from
L. v. Shearer of Agency. Mr.. Shearer
is visiting his niece, Mrs. G. j. Green
walt.
His letter is complete as follows:
AS | have goodly number of
friends who, think. would like to hear
something of my western trip, I
thought would write to them through
the medium of the Courier, as a great
many OF them take the paper.
greatly enjoy reading it here, as it fol
lows ME en- my journey, as then can
keep in touch with the events of my
home.
my first stop was at Denver, where
| visited few days with my friend,
George Dunbar, who exerted himself
to show me the city. enjoyed myself
very much there and thought 1t fine
city. What impressed me most was
the good quality of the drinking water,
which comes from the mountains and
is as clear as crystal
From there l continued my journey
to Salt Lake City, the home of the
Mormons, by way of the Denver &
Rio Grande, the great scenic route,
passing through some of the grandest
and most sublime scenery in the world.
Winding through the Royal Gorge, one
is impressed with the smallness Of
man as one looks up the perpendicular
walls towering thousands of feet
above.
"On the way to Salt Lake City we
came to a bridge that had been washed
out, and but for Chfnaman might
not be writing this account to you. He
tagged our train, and when it came to
standstill we discovered that we
would have to wolk to the other side,
where stood the east-bound train, and
board that, which took us on our way,
while the west,bound train we had just
left was filled with people going east.
The trains then went back over the
some way they had traversed. I ex-
periencsd considerable difficulty In
breathing as we passed over some of
the highest points on this road, and
at one time lost my hearing complete
ly, and if it hadn't been that I banked
on my good nerve, I might have been
somewhat frightened, but as 1t has
in the past carried me through some
exciting times, it did not fail me this
time. The altitude in some places
was between $500 and 10000 feet.That
is as high as expect to get in this
life.
Arrive at Salt Lake.
1--WE arrived in Salt Lake City
fifteen hours late. I remained there
a few days as wished to attend
church, SO on Sunday afternoon I at.
tended the services at the great taber.
nacle of which I had heard SO much.
This tabernacle is 800 feet long, seat.
ing 1900 people and having choir Of
500 voices The pipe organ is said to
be the second largest in the world. The
acoustics of this immense building
! are SO plain that pin can be heard to
drop from one end of the room to the
other. The speaker, who was Joseph
Smiths son, spoke in an ordinary
voice and we could plainly hear every
word. Salt Lake City is beautifully
planned, the streets being over 100 feet
wide. 1t was laid out entirely by old
Brigham Young, the streets crossing al
right angles and running exactly north
and south and east and west. On the
way out of the city the road passes
over Great Salt Lake, distance Of
thirty-flve or forty miles. 1t seems
strange not to see a sign of ANNA
life on the water, as it Is SO salty thai
nothing can live in it, being ten times
saltier than the ocean.
zone rather disagreeable experience
is passing through the snow sheds II
California, which are about forty
miles in length. This was about thu
same as running through a tunnel o
that length. When we reached Oak
land we left the train and crossed thu
bay to San Francisco in ferry boat
! These boats are said to be the fines
and largest in the world. am visitin,
!; my niece, Mrs. G. ]. Greenwalt, VIII,
will be remembered by many in Agenc.
as Dora Shearer. / hnd her grea
i help in plotting me about the city.
City of San Francisco.
!, "'This city, believe, has the fines
y street car system in the United States
, One can ride all over the city for fiv
cents by the transfer system. an
having the time of my life, riding abou
!, the city in sight seeing cars. and wit
a talented lecturer telling us all abou
the history of the city as we pas
points of interest. We passed an oil
adobe mission which was built by tn
Franciscan fathers in ITS.
1--WE visited the Preside, Uncl
: Sans military reservation, containin
> 1,40O acres of ground. beautifully 81
uated near the Golden Gate, PRACTICAL
covered with forest of oaks and eve
greens. AS heard the bugle call fe
guard mount l was forcibly reminde
J of the days when l fought under tn
, stars and stripes during the dark day
= of ,e1 TO '65 We visited the oil