Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1911-06-23
Our Trip and This State
Vollmer, Idaho,
r.. June 8. 1911

Forge, Va, April It'll, at s a. m.
,ound for the far away state of
idaho. Our party consisted of the,
families of Messers. W. H. Wallace
and c. Fl. Burns and Mr.. John
Joursey, who accompanied us. Our
Journey was quite uneventful, and
Ne made it in record time, arriv-
ng over the Northern Pacific at
Lewiston, Idaho, at 2:3O p. m.
Ap.il II. The scenery along the
New River in w. Va, and the
Bad Lands in Dakota and Montana
md the ride through Lawyers
Canyon, in Idaho was the most
Impressive of any we came through.
For miles the c. Il o. R. R. in W.
Va. is cut out of the steep sides of
a rock precipice, the dashing waters
Of New River on one side and the
almost unclimbable precipice on
the other, but nature has softened
and beauti6ed these frowning gray
walls with the most beautiful
shrubs and flowers. When we pass
ed the beautiful white service berry
trees and the red buds were in full
bloom, and that lovliest flower of
Ill, the trailing arbutus; then the
trees and small shrubs had on their
tender delicate green foliage of early
spring; falling from the top of the
,recipiccs in many places were
snow white waterfalls outlined like
streames of white lace against the
gray reck and sombre green of the
pines and hemlocks; all these COM
bined to make picture of wonder
full beauty. Perched in almost in
accessible places on these cliffs are
the cabins of the coal miners, for
along here are rich mines of coal.
Many of these miners are foreign
ars, and the dress of their women
and children are much brighter as
a rule than our people, and they
600 by this bright colony add beau
~ to the landscape. Here, too,
re find hundreds of coke ovens,
looking like immense frey caldrons.
The cabins of the miners are only
two or three roomed affairs and
seem to lack much in the way of
comfort. imagine here is great
field for our southern churches of
all denominations to do missionary
work, for here the heathens is
brought right to our doors; here
our workers are protected by our
flaws, and can work without being
tnolested by any foreign govern
nent. In Kentucky and Ohio we
rode for miles by the beautiful Ohio
River, and passed so many finely
cultivated farms with old brick or
stone homesteads, which made me
| EEL l was still in the Valley of Va.
these homes were surrounded by
inc old trees and most of them had
many shrubs and flowers on the
lawns. The numerous towns along
the river added life to the scene,
and along the quiet, we'll kept
country roads we saw many fine
horses, cattle, sheep and hogs.
| We lett cincinnati at 9 p. m. and
awoke the next morning in Chica-
go. Ny only impression of Chica-
Igo is a big depot, lots of people
eating their breakfast, and most of
them sleepy and ill.natured at hav-
ling to be up so soon, a wild ride in
an automobile to the depot of the
Great Western to make the train
caused by two men of our party
being detained in a barber shop,
of our barely reaching the train on
time, and a glance of blue Lake
| Michigan. Oh yes, for the benefit
| of the numerous customers of Sears,
! Roebuck and Co. I will say we
saw their building, a tall red build
ing almost black from smoke and
SCOT, of a great city like Chicago.
| After leaving Chicago we were in a
perfectly level prairie country for
miles; the farms are large and corn
seems to be one of the great crops,
as the fields were covered with the
stalks. The land is so level that
in many places there seemed to be
little or no drainage, acres being
covered with water. 1t was snow
ing hard when we got outside of
Chicago, and toward the western
part of the state in places one
could have had a good sleigh ride,
while in other places along the road
| there was no snow. Wisconsin is a
beautiful state with clear swift
streams, wooded hills and rich
fields in which Craze thousands of
fine cattle. horses, sheep and hogs.
Most of the cattle I saw were Her.
fords. 1t made me feel that I was
back home almost. MINNESOTA we
passed through in the night. When
RI awoke the second morning we
were we'll in the Dakatos. Still the
level prairie, a little more rolling,
and such immense ranches, mile
after mile they stretched away,
covered with brown grass or wheat
stubble. We saw the steam plows