Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-10-14
A Letter From the Pacific Coast.

EDITOR PREss:-So many of my
friends have asked me to write and
give them an account of my trip and
also to describe the place, that /
thought best to do 80 through the
PRESS, if you will kindly permit.
When bade goodbye to my friends
at the Broad street station and started
on my long talked of journey, it was
hard to keep back the tears, but it
would not do to cry, so didn't. When
the conductor looked at my ticket he
shook his head and looked glum: "My
sakes," he said, ''that is an awful long
trip to take in such hot weather." But
did not share his feeling of gloom and
just looked forward to having a good
time and good tine I certainly did
have. Arrived Cory at about 2:3o
p. M, and found it was raining, I had
to wait there till 4:30 p. M, aad then
boarded the train on the Erie r. R.,
for Chicago. l enjoyed that part of
my journey, at least as long as day
light lasted, but did not rest much dur
ing the night, as the car was crowded
and l could not get into position to
sleep very much. But morning came
at last and found I was in Indiana
1 enjoyed looking at the scenery
everything was beautiful. l was espec-
tally interested in the many beautiful
groves here and there through the
country. We arrived at Chicago about
300 a. M, and left the train feeling
very much '1ike cat in a strange
garrett" not knowing where to go.
But pleasant looking lady stepped
up to me and asked me if was going
out from that depot, or if was going
to tranfer depots. Then she said,
"You look tired" (God bless her my
looks didn't deceive me) "let me take
some of your baggage" And she
went with me to the bus was to take,
and saw me safely in. 1t is quite a
long ways to the G. & N. w. depot,
and the streets were 80 filled with diff
ferent kinds of vehicles, going in every
direction, that it almost seemed there
would be disaster of some kind, but
we got through all right. We had to
stop once for the bridge to turn around
to let steamer through, and saw
bridge a short distance from tl;srs
raised up in some way for the same
purpose. I had to wait in Chicago till
10:45 p. M, and it certainly was rather
tedious as l did not dare leave the
depot and go very far ior fear would
not get back all right. But the time
came at last, when I could go into the
tourist sleeper, which was to be my
home for about five days and nights
found my berth, lower No. IL, made
up (or made do,On, the porter said) and
was soon in it and it was not long
till was asleep.
We were in Iowa in the morning,
and was much interested in the level
country, and large fields of corn
Some time in the afternoon we reached
CouncilsBlufs, and our train shifted
on the Union Pacific r. R. The next
morning when we awoke we were in
Nebraska and that is more beautiful
than Iowa. Everybody had to set
their watches back an hour here, and
at another place further west, they had
to set them back another hour. One
man said we were going so fast time
could not keep up with us. Well our
train was faster than 'Old Dan," but
was not as fast as the BuffaloFlyer, but
fast enough for me. Sometime Sun
day, we arrived in Wyoming and it
was really cold and cloudy, and rained
little. At Cheyenne, Wy, got out
of the car and went into the depot. 1t
is beautiful place. The further west
went the more beautiful and strange
everything appeared.
Our train passed through tunnel
somewhere along here, and it made
me feel very solemn. They did not
light up the car and never imagined
anything could be so dark. But soon
got used to them, for we passed
through twenty-five or more before we
got here and the longest of all was not
very far from Los Angeles. At Ogden,
Utah, we took the Southern Pacific R.
R. We crossed Great Salt Lake, which
is beautiful indeed. They told me the
bridge is 80 miles long. That seems
like big story, but we were more
than an hour crossing it. At either
end it is made of stone and earth for a
long distance, and the rest of the way
it is made of wood. We crossed it at
the extreme northern end, and about
halfway across there is some land not
covered with water and here is sta
tion called Midlake. After crossing
the lake, we crossed an old lake bed