The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-01-21
And Of The Bad Weather
Which He Encountered
Also The Poor Land In The
South West
Col. Hunt Is Now Back At
The Old Stand
Editor Banner:

You will perceive that this let
ter Is not dated anywhere and has
been delayed somewhat, as gathered
few notes before starting from the
Golden state and on my way back,
fearing they might become stale /
thought l would give them to your
readers as a closing chapter in my
last globe trotting tour.
We left Rialto, Cal, on the 29th of
December, went to Los Angeles for
weeks visit before starting to Ohio
az we have a number of friends in that
city and Pasadena.
We went to Pasadena on the first
day of the new year and witnessed
the great floral parade of the crown
city on New Years day; this Is re-
gular festal day for the Pasadenians
and this was their 21st annual show 1t
would not be possible for me to de-
scribe the grandeur OF this pageant
and the tons of flowers that are plac.
ed upon every description Of vehicle
from an Indian sled drawn by one
horse or pony to the gorgeously dec
GRATED auto and the air ship and ocean
yacht the fire department wagon and
the water wagon put out by the w. G.
T. u. with half a dozen young boys
ri leg u. the ber"tl the same as Our
gir,' III Nit Vernon are now riding ON
horseback, which l think very proper
and correct for the youngsters of our
city, and very much in the line of the
teachings of the w. G. T. u, ne Pasa-
dena has been on the water wagon 10!
these many years. This Is the second
one of these floral parades that the
writer and his wife have witnessed
from the residence of our friend and
former townsman, Moses Skillen, on
Colorado street, that city, and after
the parade each time have taken our
New Years dinner with his estimable
family.
On the morning of the second of
January, 1t showed at Rialto and Rich
ard G. Hunt informed me the snow
WAS an inch deep at his home, some.
thing unheard Of in that section and l
had been away from there for sew
eral days, and when | was In Los
Angeles we had to put up with good
sized frost and little ice.
We left Los Angeles on the evening
of the 9Th day at 8 o'clock via the
Santa Fe. This is my first trip over
this continental line and we ride all
Wednesday night in the state of Cal
fornia, arriving at Needles at $40 on
Thursday morning, at 10:30 a. m. we
cross the Colorado river that divides
California and Arizona, before the noon
hour we run into snow and travel all
day over this arid desert looking at
snow covered sage brush. We arrive
at Ash Fork about dusk and here the
snow Is reported to be one foot deep
and the same at Williams and this
way down in lovely Arizona, we have
state and when we get into New Mex
leo we wake up at 6 o'clock a. m. and
find our car quite cool. got out,
looked up the porter and told him he
better turn on more steam and he adj
vised me that we were at that time
getting all the steam that could be
spared from the engine and that we
had lost five hours during the night
by trying to keep the cars warm ami
the train running and that the ther-
mometer registered Ia below zero and
this was in New Mexico. ! called the
porter's attention to the fact that all
tourist sleepers had Baker heater
in them and II he would start fire In
that we would soon be comfortable.
advised the other occupants of the
car to stay in their berths until the
car got warm, which they did but
some Of them including your uncle
Dudley had caught Mexican cold and
I have remnant of mine yet as a
memento of the occasion.
The scenery over the Santa Fe route
until we strike the Kansas line is
mostly made up of sage brush, sand
cactus and boulders, where some high
peaks have bursted up and fallen over
itself at some time long since gone by.