Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1908-05-07
Special Correspondence

and the final grand man r,
oeuvers are anticipated, the excite
ment grows intense, and the thrill q
of national pride beats strong with n
in the spirits of loyal citizens, for
I" - brcathest here man n
with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is mine own, my native
land? p -
Abpril 10 witnessed the arrival
of the fleet at San Pedro harbof, the !.
triumphal entrance being heralded /,
by a pandemonium of whistles,
cheers and jubilation undecsrib- ,
able, broken brief whites by those
awed silences which only intense
interest can create. The ships
stretched from the San Pedro break
water three miles eastward across
the blue waters of the Pacific and
fortunate were tie people of South
crn California who were permitted
to witness this one of the greatest
of naval parades III the history of
the world.
The feet broke from San Diego
harbor early in the morning, skirt
ing along the coast for its hundred
miles of sublime beauty, the Con-
necticut leading the way. The
bluffs along the course we're lined
with tens of thousands of interested
watchers, who can, if they possess
language half fit, describe t. flu
ture generations, naval spectacle
such as may never again be wit
messed in those waters-a spectacle
of peace and not of war, and still,
one no less thrilling than if It's
subjects were bound on an errand
of destruction.
. San Pedro Harbo was the OBJ
! jective point after leaving San
} Diego Bay and the run was made
} in rapid time. Hours before the
anticipated arrival, the beach and
: the bluffs in the vicinity of the
harbor were thronged with count
less excited, enthusiastic specta-
tors.
At two in the afternoon the
s watchers at Point Fermin, strain
ing their eyes eastward along the
broad sweep Of the bay, saw a
black smudge upon the horizon.
Then yellow speck hung between
the blue sky and the blue bay,
wavered an instant and then turned
al he chora linz
The yellow speck grew into three
tunnels and below them appeared
the white hull of the Connecticut
tiny in the distance and din
q through the low handging smoke
q haze. Another yellow speck fol
4 lowed the first and then anothe
q and another and so the picture
9 grew until the whole fleet appeare'
& to view, grand array of slxteel
mighty battleships in one u broker
8 line. Over the waters faint ant
= far away, the whistles of Lon
s Beach gave a screaming WELDON
= and San Pedro was not far benin
D in joining the clamoi. There wa
1O SOuDQ llOlAl tlN oiNoN ~ Al
. Simultaneously the impressiv
onward sweep of the mighty engine:
At post two miles from til
shore, a string of flags fluttere
from the Connecticut flagstaff, ar
the flagship scudded across tn
broad waters. At twenty minute
past three another signal was ser
vzsa up from the Connecticut and tho
who had glasses saw the splash
her great anchor plunged downwa
and the long line came to a ste
extending as straignt as an AFRO
across the half mon pay.
This is but an inadequate de
criptiou of the spectacle which on
hte eyes and the soul can fully /
terpret and If this were to be Il
end of the fleets cruise it wou
still be recollection to be trea
ured in memory but the demonstr
ton in American waters is not }
begun and the fleet is steamii
northward to the Mecca of its hoI
San Francisco bay, and the
will take place the great nance
vers that must far outclass any p;
passive anchorage in the bays
lower California. And it will r
be the fleet that impressed
throngs of San Diego and San
dro. That, to be sure, will
present, but SO vastly augment
that the final review will incll
AZ vessels of all classes-tru'y
impressive aggregation.
The festivities in and around
Francisco will extend through
period of ten days from May 6
18th, the grand review TAXI
place on May 9Th.
What was experienced in