Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1915-12-03
OBSERVATIONS OF A vEMONTER
IN THE FAR WEST.
To the Editor of the Register:

- NhtO A1R11A
emily Iowa has only one cornfield.) The
season has been very wet and although
frost bitten the corn had not been
picked, as they hoped it would dry out
and not spoil when cribbed. Crossing
the Missouri river at Omaha we rode on
through the corn and alfalfa fields of
Nebraska and went to sleep in the corn
to awake in a very deserted portion of
side trip to Fort Collins and Loveland.
The land here is irrigated, with water
from the mountains held back by large
artificial lakes. Beets for the sugar
factory, alfalfa and potatoes are the
principal crops.
Denver, located one mile above sea
level and twenty-three miles from the
mountains, is a very beautiful city with
many fine parks. In the largest there
is a reservation for automobile parties
to camp.
Our next stop was at Colorado Springs,
a great beauty spot. The Springs, how
ever, are six miles west at Manitou,
near the foot of Pixies Peak, with the
Garden of the Gods just north, and the
newly discovered Cave near by.
Leaving Colorado Springs we had our
first railroad accident at Buttes, Colo.
Our engine plowed nearly through the
saloon of a freight train throwing us out
of our seats but with little injury other
wise. After a half hour delay we shook
off the caboose and went around on the
side track.
At Concrete. Colo, is the largest
cement mill in the world with a capacity
of IL million pounds a year. The Colo
RADIO Oil Wells are at Florence just
above. At Canon City we took the
observation car. The railroad follows
the Arkansas river up through the
Canon. The rocks are nearly perpen-
dicular and from 1000 to 5000 feet high.
The swinging bridge over a sharp curve
in the river is suspended from steel
props set in the sides of the Canon
above the tram. We continued up the
river past Leadville to Tennissee Pass
over 10, 900 feet above sea level. 1t is
a little hard to breathe at this altitude.
We awoke in the desert the next
morning, nothing in sight to indicate
that any man had been there in a thou
sand years. l could easily imagine the
Children of Israel wandering here. At
Green River is an irrigated oasis and
finally at Helper are the Utah coal
mines and soon we pass Castle Gate
and enter the Canon and cross the
mountain to the irrigated and prolific
valley of Salt Lake.
Salt Lake was laid out by a YER
monter, and he was very proud of his
native State. While we do not agree
with his theology, W. must admit that
Brigham Young was a sagacious and
far-seeing nan and had a wonderful
power over men to make them do his
will and think as he did. The tabernacle
is built without nails, the roof is self
supporting, and we heard a pin drop
across the room, 200 feet away. The
temple is sacred ground. No gentle
can enter there.
The streets of Salt Lake City are 1872
feet wide, laid with the compass and
numbered in all directions from Temple
square. The city is fifteen miles from
Salt Lake. The water in Salt Lake is
% 1-2 per cent salt. 1t is pumped into
large shallow areas: the salt settles and
the water is drawn off and the salt plowed
up and placed in large piles and when
refined is 100 per cent pure. Ogden is a
great live stock center. Here we
travel Is miles across Salt Lake and
again enter the desert. The stations
are thirty miles apart. At the foot of
the mountains the train is divided and
the large new type oil burning locomo-
tives with sixteen drive wheels and four
compound cylinders were attached. We
climb the sides of the mountain rapidly
and look far down the valleys travelling
through many miles of snow sheds. At
Colfax is the first large irrigated fruit
section. There is very little fruit that
can be grown anywhere in California
without irrigation.
San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley
are rapidly growing cities. At Berkeley
is located the University of California
with the Greek theatre built of cement
in the side of a hill.
All of the business portion of San
Francisco, except a part of the Hall of
Records and the United States Mint,
has been either built up or the front
covered with bill boards since the earth
quake. You can find the large cracks
and many other marks if you look for
them, but if you have any respect for
the feeling of your San Francisco
friends you will never saw %eartbouake.