The Washington herald., 1915-09-19
LOOPING NORTH AMERICA
VIu---THE CONTINENTAL BACKBONE.

barred. There are too many crevices to
lose toys In.
Speaking about losing things, met .
| man at Glacier who had been lured into
climbing one Of the mountains. just as
they do in Switzerland. They import a
! lot Of Swiss guides every summer just to
| induce tourists to do fool stunts with
Alpine stocks and ropes. These guides
| live in a little settlement Of Swiss chalets
that is very picturesque. That's one good
thing about those guides anyway. Their
| houses are pretty. I did not hear any
other praise. Well. this man fell for the
| Swiss guides ballahoo and went to the
top Of ar, Alp that means mountain. you
| know. and got bacl Ialive. That Is, he
was alive when saw him.
"Thank heaven" said he, IT had my
| wits about me. I was very careful NOS
| to leave anything up there. so I'll never
have to go back and look for it,
1t was easy to see how enthusiastic one
| gets over mountain climbing-before you
have done any.
The day clerk in the hotel at Field has
a crouch. 1t is caused by tourists. The
hotel Is there for the comfort of tourists
ostensibly, but really for tourists to spend
money in
And what do you think they do?"
asked the clerk with a crouch. why,
they'll stop OF here over trains for an
hour or two. fifty or sixty in a bunch.
and swarm all over the-hotel. monopoliza
every desk and table. use up about ten
dollars worth of the hotel stationery. eat
the sandwiches they brought with them
in the parlors and reception rooms, and
the only money they spend in the place
Is for postage stamps"
Now to answer the question which
everybody asks:
Are the Canadian Rockies as fine q
sight as the Alps?
No, they are not.
There are fifty times as much of them.
and they are very grand and rugged. but
they are not as beautifully grand as the
Alps. The Swiss mountains look al
though they were cut out of solid ice and
snow; the Rockies look as though they
were made of brown rock. with snow
sprinkled on them The color scheme OF
one Is green and white, of the other
brown and white.
The Alps. with their fertile valleys,
lakes. farms. and villages. make q care
fully designed, effective. cheerful. and
finished picture; the Rockies. uninhabited.
crude. cold. gloomy. and depressing, arc
simply rough nature unadorned.
Those school-teachers spent all their
time while We were going over the noun
tains, Is near as I could see, in writing
in their diaries. The whole five Of them
were scribbling all the while. and only
glanced from their notes to read the
guide book. asked one Of them IL she
noticed the rock like an eagle and the
mountain like a cathedral. and she said:
NO: 1 was too busy at the time WRIT
ing a description of them. You see, It's
necessary to record your impressions
while they are fresh. II you wish them to
be accurate"
Heaven help her scholars when she sets
back!
The fact that we were in q country in.
volved in the great war was vividlH
brought to mind every little while as We
sped along. Naturally. in going over the
mountains. there are a great many
bridges. Whenever we approached a
bridge q khal<i-clad soldier seemed I'd
spring out of the ground at each end and
stand at attention with his gun shoul-
dered until we passed. Careful search
would show q glimpse Of q shelter hut
stuck away In some nearby clearing.
where the rest Of the picketmen awaited
for sentry duty at the bridge ends EVERY
bridge in Canada is guarded IN this way
One Of the bridge guards. who travelled
to Kamaloops, the local headquarters,
with us. told me that this bridge guard
work Is q three months detail, and ix
really a rather trying life. They must
be constantly on the watch.
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