Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-11-07
darkness.
Passengers Snowfall.

| Next morning our train stopped at
q gateway. We did not learn who
owns the gateway, but we asked why
the train stopped and were told they
stopped to open the gate. 1t
took nearly an hour to get through
the gateway. The passengers all
got out and offered to help. This
gateway is made of the same
material that the Wisconsin Dells are
made of and looks very much like the
Dells, but they are not in it for high
up. After getting through the gateway
we came to the first real desert. 1t is
about fifty miles long and is fenced in
with stone wall about six or eight
| hundred feet high. After passing the
mountains and began another climb.
These mountains are of limestone and
were covered with SNOW. They gave
us two more engines when we began
the ascent. They seemed to have
plenty of engines on this road, but they
were the sl0west engines that we ever
trailed behind. When we arrived at
the summit the passengers got out
and snowballed each other. After
leaving the mountains we came to the
Salt Lake valley and arrived at Salt
Lake about O'CLOCK in the evening.
Novel Train Power.
We left Salt Lake at O'Clock the
next morning and TT aveled until night
across the desert, real barren gumbo
desert, white with alkali, without
any vegetation except some small sage.
There was a range of mountains from
20 TO 40 miles away on either side.
Our train moved very slowly and on
inquiring the cause were informed
that they pull all tourist trains across
this desert with two yoke of oxen in
order that the tourist may have an
opportunity to enjoy the scenery.
When we got to the end of the desert
we came to whole flock of tunnels,
but it was in the night time and we
could not tell where they were manu-
featured. The next morning found
us on another desert, more barren than
any Of the others. This desert is com.
posed of sand and gravel. The noun
tains surrounding it are also gravel.
There are long stretches of this desert
without plant of any kind; think
plant all of it. There are places where
they dug bitches back a little from the
track and as we could see no use for
these bitches as there is no water, we
concluded they dug them because it
is easy digging.
fountains Have rIany SUBMITS
Another range of mountains and
another summit (there is summit on
all the mountains and two or three on
some of them) and we came to cactus
desert There were several kinds of
cacti but the more CONSPICUOUS is the
tree variety. Some of them are more
than twenty feet high, with great
branches. The leaves resemble pine
needles. They looked to be foot
long. There was also the palm cactus
and others that grow ten to twelve feet
high. They did not look very easy
for the boys to climb, so we concluded
not to take any of them back to Bara-
boo with us for spring planting. Now
came the last range Of mountains and
the last summit after which we dis
charged all the engines but one and
slid down on the Pacific slope 10
San Bernadino the only place on our
whole trip that looked as if there is
anything doing. From there to this
place it is orchards and towns, or
chards of all kinds and groves OF all
kinds, villages and cities; in fact Is, as
it were, one continuous city from San
Bernadino to the Pacific, distance OF
about 80 miles.
How SO Many People rIanage to
Live is rlystery.
How so many people manage to live
here is mystery to US but we Will
try to solve that problem during our
stay here. We have already learned.
that all commodities are high. Real
estate, labor, and in fact everything is
way up. All kinds of export products
are as high here as they are there,
a thousand miles east of here. They
tell us that the people here live on
tourists, they call them tender teet
in the mountain districts farther
East. AS to the real condition and
the future of the country we reserve
the right, after a careful investigation,
to form our own opinion.