Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-10-08
TOWARD SETTING Sun

Frs9mentary Notes of q
Journey to the West
Coast
The greater number of people lured
to the Pacific coast this year by the
Alaska ukon Pacific exposition al
Seattle, OF by the conventions and
gatherings incident thereto, along
with the desire to see the marvellous
northwestern land Of Empire, havo
travelled westward or eastward over the
500 Pacific line. Going or coming.
they wished to see the scenic wonder
OF the Canadian Rockies and the
Selkirks. And with good reason, for
few are the regions on the planet
wh1cn can equal in a1agnifcence and
grandeur the tremendous mountains.
cloud -encircled crags, swift rivers,
lofty waterfalls, majestic glaciers,
and beautiful lakes which make up 8
panorama defying description and
beyond anything the imagination had
conceived. It is not my purpose To
attempt to describe the wonderful
scenery. The magnifcence of nature
appeals variously to those who Raze
upon 1t 1t has been well said that
the 1mmensity, the 'lllimitable bulk
OF great mountain, appeals to the
sense Of lmmensity WITHIN the
viewer To one the c0nvulsions of
nature which upheaved the earth, and
left the crag and torrent, canyon
and glacier. seem q waste of mighty
forces Such 9. one looks at the,
mountains as he would look &C the
cur1os1tles in dime museum. But
to those who can with awe gaze ON
the glgantlc works OF Omnlpotenca.
reflect upon the throes of Mother
Earth which resulted in these skv-
reaching upllfts and deep. descending
chasms, there is an appeal to the soul
which makes lasting impress. 81. u E
How puny indeed does mans
physical presence seem compared with
these monalchs of the range, crowned
with enduring snow: And yet man
has penetrated these lonely passes.
for ages untold the haunts Of the wild
animals, and scaled tho ssummita
known only to the eagle kings Of air.
Greater than the most thrilling
scenery of the Rockies and the
Selkirks IS the mind of man, which
has bowed down these hills to be the
servants Of commerce and civilization.
It would seem that to live among the
lofty peaks, with their never ending
call to the highest, would make men
large souled and free. You hear the
school teachers often make this
remark. IF magnificent scenery alone
made people great and free, we would
find it SO in the shadow of the
Himalayas, which, with the possible
exception Of parts of the Andes, are
the only mountains that can be come
pared with the Selklrks and Canadian
Rockies. But it isn't So. Some re-
adjustments, as Brother Llndbergh
says, OF our social and Industrial
system, are necessary to make the best,
| In men, as we'll as fine scenery.
There is great contrast betwaeu
the smiling landscape of central ana
| western Minnesota, and the great
Dakota plain. stretching far and across
the boundary and continuing, we are
told, fol hundreds of miles north of TIN.
boundary. In the Minnesota forest
region we see so many trees that we
scarcely appreciate them, and their
absence on the plains is like the
absence of friend. There is an i'm
mensity, indeed, about the vast
kprairie. with its boundless reaches and
far-oft horizons. The migrations of
the world have been from plain to
plain, not from mountain to mountain.
The dwellers on the plain become
fascinated by 1T. They cannot look up
ward to heights except those Of
clouds, but they see far vistas ever
0roninu and ever horknuinrr m, the