Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-03-04

marked that his home had beer
in Ottumwa and l agreed with
him that Nth such an atmos'
phere was not surprised that
his moral development had
been greatly impaired. If the
city authorities continue the
enforcement of the law as to
saloons and gambling make
the prediction that in q few
j years Phoenix will become one
of the most noted ard desirable
home cities of this great coun-
try. There is a live CONNER
cial Club in Phoenix and If any
of my friends want to know
what is going on there, a card
requesting information will
bring plenty of their advertis.
ing literature, and [ am sure
that it will prove to be interest.
ling as we'll as instructive. /
did not consult any of the real
estate men, so cannot be &C.
cused of being interested in any
promotion schemes, but really
feel an attraction toward Phoe-
nix that | have not felt toward
any other city which we visited
on our trip.
Our next stop was Yuma,
Ariz, and here again the town
of my imagination was not ap
parent. AS we walked along
the streets we saw more than
ten times as many dark skinned
people as we did whites and
they we're of all degrees of
shades The majority seemed
to be of Mexican origin, but
there were plenty Of people
with different degrees of Indi-
an blood varying from the
thoroughbred to the lowest
mongrel. Yuma ls just now in
the first real struggle for q
boom, a regular western boom
and much of the country is be-
ling laid out in lots and tracts
to be sold at such prices as will
attract the suckers and fill the
pockets of the boomers. | reg
istered at the hotel, and before
we were shown to our rooms q
boomer stopped me and intro.
duced himself as an Iowa man
who was just dying to see any
body from the dear old home
state. / sympathized with him
somewhat and was expecting
him to ask me for a loan of q
few dollars but when he pulled
out his card on it l discovered
that he was a genuine boomer
and was ready to show us the
town and his special tract" of
''irrigated possibility" but he
said nothing about the possihili-
tv feature of the propositie n
There was nothing attractive
to me in either the town or the
country around it but there
will be a vast amount of money
Invested there in the next few
years and there will be plenty
of disappointed people there as
is always the case after the
"boom has busted"
From Yuma to Los Angeles
was the last section Of our trip
and was one of the most inter.
esting owing to the fact that
the route is across or along the
Imperial Valley. On all of our
previous day trips we had been
going up ard down with varia.
tions of altitude from sea level
to six thousand feet above and
we had greatly enjoyed noting
the changes as indicated by
little barometers. But on this
last days run we had an entire
ly different experience. For
more than one hundred miles
we travelled below the sea level,
the deepest point being 273 tt.
Eighty miles were Travelled in
sight of the "Salton Sea" part
of the time right on the shore
| The thought of travelling along
the bottom of an inland sea
more than 200 feet below the
level of the Pacific Ocean on
one side of us and nearly 400
#. below the bed of the Colora.
do river on the opposite side,
suggest queersome thoughts o1
what might happen some day
There are some mountains o1
modest pretentions on the ocear
side, but an earth quake might
get loose and rip up that range
in a few minutes and let tht
water in on that side, while OF
the other side the waters of thu
Colorado might again breal
, through the barrier Of shifting
sand generating the water O1