Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1911-08-17
MRS. ELLIOTT WRITES
. FROM WASHINGTON
Describing Their Journey West And
Their Surroundings In That
Great Northwest Country.
Burton, Washington.

thgh 10h Oohh0smkS III
Great Northwest Country.
Burton, Washington.
August 3, 1911.
Mr.. and Mrs. A. G. Ross,
Audubon, Iowa.
My Dear Friends. II promised to WRITE
to you and other friends of our trip
Thus far we have only taken time Il
write postal cards, as we have beer
going from place to place sight seeing
and visiting. But now the Elliotts
have ceased to roam for q spell and
have pitched their tent by the sea where
fish and berries are plenty and the eli.
mate ideal. / hope these conditions
will be conducive to letter writing and
that / shall get at least a few written.
We have tramped about much and il
seems quite luxury to be settled for q
month in cottage on an island where
all is quiet and serene with the Puget
Sound, steamboat and woods of cedar,
fir and hemlock ever in sight. We are
located ON one of the beaches of Vashon
Island, ten miles from Tacoma Two
of my sisters are with us. We have
kept well and had delightful trip all
the way. Our chief troubles Just now
seem to consist of trying to satisfy our
extraordinary appetites and getting the
great amount of sleep we require living
in this cool salt breeze all day long
We left Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tues
day evening, June 9th, and found it
quite warm the next day during the
middle of the day going through Wyo-
ming and western Nebraska; but it
cooled off very much toward evening
so was very comfortable when we arriv-
ed at Sheridan between four and five.
We all got off there and walked up and
down the platform for exercise. 1t
is town of eight or ten thousand.
Wyoming looked very bare and desolate
to us. Nothing but sand, sage brush
and shack here and there for miles
and miles; and the sun shines SO brightly
on the light sand, with never a tree in
sight anywhere that it seemed almost
binding to us. My sympathy was
with the poor women and children who
live in those shanties or shacks isolated
from civilization and not spear of
grass or tree. The men / imagined
are much on their bronchoes and per-
haps enjoy the free life of the ranch,
but the women certainly live a lonely
life in some parts of the state at least.
The people there make the excuse that
one sees the worst part of the country
along the railroad which may be true,
hope so.
The second morning we found our
selves in the Rocky Mountains, the air
fresh and invigorating. 1t was cloudy
and became so chilly that we felt as
though fire would be very comfortable.
We were nearly all day going through
mountains and foot hills. Passing
through number of good sized towns
in the state of Montana we arrived at
Spokane, Washington, at 7:30 in the
evening Found it to be beautiful,
prosperous city OF over hundred
thousand Wespent the next day there
seeing the city and calling upon college
acquaintance of Mr.. Elliotts, all OF
whom, only had good things to say OF
their country and town. We intended
to take the interurban out into the fruit
country but as it rained during the
afternoon were disappointed in that.
Saturday we went on to North Yakima
arriving there late in the afternoon
where we remained until Monday.
North Yakima is thriving, prosperous
city of sixteen thousand, situated in the
Yakima Valley which is famous for
its fruit orchards of pears, apples,
peaches and cherries. / met q college
acquaintance of mine who took us out
in his car to see his fruit ranches some
distance from town. Thus we had the
pleasure of seeing number of orchards.
Land has advanced very rapidly there
and is very high in price some of II
being held or priced at q thousand or
twelve hundred per acre. 1t was a
great treat to us to eat the cherries
grown there for they are delicious, two
or three times as large as Iowa cherries
and very sweet and meaty. They had
three or four varieties ripe when we
were there. North Yakima Is q grow.
ing town and they have a Y. M. C. A
building, an Elk's Home and a Masonic
Temple that would do credit to city
of hundred thousand. They are all
boosters and they say Our War Cry, y
is Fifty Thousand, and no doubt they
will have 1t soon. The Yakima Valley
is irrigated land very fertile when they
get plenty of water on it. but il is very
sandy and the foot hills that surround
the valley are bare or covered with
sage brush.
After leaving North Yakima we went
direct to Seattle, passing through some
more valleys, seeing nothing but fruit
orchards and alfalfa hay until 1t begins
to look like mountains again and we
soon are. in the Cascades. We enjoy
these just about as much as the Rockies.
Spokane and North Yakima being east
of the Cascades have an altogether
different climate from the cities on the
coast in Washington. They have hot
summers and quite cold winters and
very little rain while as everyone knows
Seattle and Tacoma have more of an
even temperature the year round and a
rainy season during the winter.
We arrived at Seattle in the evening
leaving that night for Vancouver, Brit
ish Columbia, arriving there the next
morning, the 4th Of July. 1t was q
beautiful city of rose gardens, vines and
trees, typical English city with very
high fences around the yards covered
with hedge and vines, with shrubbery
trees and roses filling the garden so one
could not see the beautiful home with.
out going inside the fence. Roses that
would attract our attention in green
house grew by the dozens in their gar.
dens. We spent the day seeing the city,
going through a large steamer the En-.
press China, which had just landed, and
seeing their beautiful natural park,
parts Of which are dense forest OF
hemlock, pine, madrone and fir with
ferns as high as ones head and vines
matted between. There were many
beautiful flowers and also fine beach
near by. There is fine driveway
around the park which is z miles il
length and we took an auto around thi,
in order tosee the verylarge trees along
the way.
1t did not seem much like the 4th Il
us in a Canadian city, but the Ameri
cans all tried to keep in mind the day
by wearing the red, white and blue il
their buttonholes and smiling at eacf