Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1914-04-18

of the lay of the land land water) at
San Francisco and We presume that
many OF our readers are the same,
so we are going to try to make it
somewhat palmer. Frisco bay is a
big body of water, some 20 miles long
and three or four miles wide. Oak
land lies on the east shore of this
bay and Frisco lies on the west
shore. Therefore in travelling from
east toward Frisco, one gets to Oak
land first. Then one has to cross the
bay on a ferry to get to Frisco. Oak
land is the Brooklyn of Frisco, and
while its growth is due almost entire
| ly to Frisco, il now has an entity of
its own. 1t has a population of over
100000. Frisco has over 100000.
The two together make one of the
largest cities on the continent outside
of New York, Chicago and Philadel-
phia.
We have freely expressed our opin-
ion of the cities we have passed
through. They have been given as the
result of the impression created by a
first visit Perhaps better acquaint-
ance with these cities would change
our minds. We like both Oakland and
Frisco. They are American cities in
every outward indication, clean, mod
ern and progressive. Sunday is an
old-fashioned Sunday for these two
towns, and il was rather pleasing than
otherwise.
Monday morning as we were re-
turning from Frisco on a ferry boat
one of our party talked freely of that
wonder of American pOlitics-Theo
dore Roosevelt. 1t was September 16
and the campaign was just getting
under way. Our companion ex-
pressed opinions favorably TO Roose
Welt and lady who sat near over
heard the conversation. She was in
terested enough to enter into the con-
Iversation, which was not loud or at
tracing any general attention. Very
quietly, but with good grace and
breeding, she said she could tell that
we were fasteners and that she was
interested in Mr.. Roosevelt. She had
believed in him strongly, but the crit
icism against him had been so bitter
than she had begun to wager. She
left US firmly convinced that most of
the criticism against him was un-
founded and she declared she should
vote for him as he best represented
her idea of a statesman.
Monday we did not get started from
Oakland until after 2 o'clock in the
afternoon, but we had good roads and
logged along through Alvarado, Il
vington, Malpitas to San Jose, the
last good town we were destined TO
strike for several days. We secured
food supplies and noted that it was
another one of those good towns that
impressed US favorably.
About twelve miles out we pitched
camp for the first time in many
moons. We were near Encinal and
of straw for our beds. We also got
good drinking water. This is worth
noting. If all the western country
has one serious drawback Il is lack
of good drinking water. You can find
it in spots, but the spots are scarce
and few and far between.
1t was a cool night, we slept well
and the next morning-TueS0ay Sep
TENDER 17th---found us on our way at
Z o'clock. 1t was bright and warm
and we found the roads good to ex-
cellent, passing on our way south
through Gilroy, San Juan, Salinas,
Soledad, Jolon, San Miguel to Paso
Robes. This is in the famous Santa
Clara valley and it is alternately
fruit and grain country, prosperous
and pretty. Here for the first time
we saw almonds and prunes growing.
At San Juan we passed over the first
mountain range since we had left the
Sierras and this was a little fellow
compared with our former climbs.
The day was a scorcher-90 in the
shade burned little shade, thought
and part of the way We plowed
through deep sand. We made, how
ever, a run of 157 miles for the day be
fore we camped again at point just
a few miles south of Paso Robes. 1t
was dark when we pulled up In front
of a grain farmers home and we
pitched hurried camp. The farmers
wife brought US biscuits and lnilk.
She apologized for the quality of the
biscuits, but say she didn't need to.
We fell TO and of all the meals we
ever had none tasted any better than
this one of bread and milk, fresh from
the dairy where they grew.
Every town we got INTO we expect
ed would be the southern California
town" we were looking for, but we
had been disappointed every day. Cool
night. Good sleep.
Wednesday morning, September l8,
we were startled at 6:45. The roads
from here are not good. By no
stretch of the imagination could these
roads be called even fair. They have
been good with asphalt surface, but
the heavy teaming has ruined the sur
face and they are badly cut up, holey
and dusty; uneven and trying. They
are bad as bad can be-ruIly as bad
as the poor roads in Wyoming, the
banner state for bum roads. 1t is
high time that the glorious state of
California got busy with that $751;
100000 appropriation for good roads. !
She needs them sadly and badly in
some sections.
The day was hot and our tires were
better. Sometimes our tempers got |
pretty warm too, but in spite of all |
the drawbacks the day was an inter
esting one for sights. From dry as a
bone roads and fields, we ran into |
valleys and canyons be- !
tween the mountain ranges, where |