The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-07-15

position once more. ! then TOOK the
Scenic Route, the road of Thousand
Wonders, up to the famous Shasta
Springs and Shasta Mountain, which is
covered with snow the year around. We
passed within sight of Mount Lassen, a
volcanic mountain, which has been in a
state of eruption for several months and
is doing considerable damage to the sur
rounding country. A number of farms
have been ruined and the people had to
flee for their lives.
We went through some grand noun
tain scenery, through pleasant valleys
and by nice farms. We then passed in
to the State of Oregon, which is more
broken and mountainous, with more
lakes and rivers and with some fine look
ing farms nestled in the valleys. But it
looked rather lonely to me, with neigh
bors long way apart and settlements
few and far between. We had a very
long, heavy train and it took three en-
gines to pull us up the mountains. We
passed through some beautiful, wild and
charming scenery. We soon reached
Salem, the capital of the State, an at
tractive looking city, and in few hours
were in Portland, the largest city, which
is beautifully situated and has large
commerce and trade.
Here / changed to the Oregon and
Washington R. +. There are some good
looking farms up through Washington.
Oregon and Washington have great
deal of moisture and more rainfall than
California and are not dependent on irri-
cation for their crops. We soon reached
the fine city of Tacoma. Wash. Then
comes Seattle, the largest city in the
State, containing nearly 300. 900 people.
1t is a. fine, stirring Western city. full of
hustle and activity, with some of the
tallest buildings in the world outside Of
New York-one of AZ stories. After
short stop in Seattle, looking over the
city, took the Canadian Pacific steamer
Princess Victoria across Puget Sound for
Victoria and Vancouver, British Colum-
bia. This is the most beautiful and en-
ioyable 165 mile inland water trip in
America, they say, and l certainly think
it is hard to beat. The scenery is of
ever changing beauty and the sail up the
smooth waters of Puget Sound between
the Olympic and Cascades to the beauti-
full entrance to Victoria Harbor is de-
lightful trip. AS we entered the harbor
the magnificent Empress Hotel doomed
up near the waters edge. 1t is large
and magnificent building. Nearby are
the fine Parliament buildings of British
Columbia, which are among the hand
soonest in America. Victoria is as clean
and attractive looking city as | have
seen in all my travels. Everything is
nice, new and up to date. After few
hours sightseeing in Victoria | boarded
the steamer for Vancouver. We passed
some grand and wonderful scenery. On
the right Mount Baker raised its snow
capped peak IA, 600 feet in the air. 1t is
a wonderful sight on sunny day in
June We reached Vancouver after a
charming trip of ten hours. Vancouver
is fine looking city of nearly 200, 900.
western terminus of the Canadian Paci
IN. w..
for the long ride to Boston. 1t is a gre At
deal farther this way, and takes me
about three days longer, but it is all new
country to me and dom mind the time.
I had heard that it was very slightly and
beautiful this way, and had some grand
scenery, and l certainly was not disap-
pointed in it.
This is my sixth trip across the coun-
try from east to west, and | have been
in forty-four of the forty-eight States
and ali the principal cities of the United
States and thought would 60 this way
for change. For five hundred miles
east Of Vancouver we passed through
some of the widest, grandest scenery
on earth. Imagine travelling half
thousand miles amid such profusion of
titanic grandeur that you know not
which way to look for fear you will miss
something. The steel trail twists and
winds its way through a gigantic fairy
land of unbelievable beauty and grand
eur. The stupenduous masses of rock
piled literally to the sky, covered with
eternal snow, are only small part OF the
panorama unfolding before you.
There is a profusion of ice-capped
glaciers, bottomless canyons and roaring
torrents. Near the summit of the Sell
kirk lies Glacier, in the midst of region
of mighty peaks and glaciers, woods and
waterfalls. On the left towers Mount
Sir Ronald to height of mile and a
half above the railway. They say the
ice is fully 500 feet thick for thirty-eight
square miles. When you get off the
train the chill strikes through you with
an overcoal on in a sunny day in June.
We crossed the Willamette River 10
times, then turned sharply to the right
and turning back made a double loop
like the letter S, and we could see the
track that we had crossed in four differ
ent places. The track runs along the
brink Of several deep canyons. The most
striking is Albert canyon, where the
river is 300 feet below the track. 1t is
a boiling, seething mass of water, scarce
ly TWEEN y feet wide, rushing and roaring
on it's way. There are certainly some
wonderful, awe-inspiring sights through
the mountain region of British Columbia,
as grand and wonderful as the Alps of
Switzerland. think one of the greatest
engi eering feats is two spiral tunnels
driven through solid rock, both making
complete loop of track, reducing the
grade by one half. We crossed the
great Divide-the summit 5000 feet
above sea level. 1t is marked by rustic
arch under which the mountain stream
divides into two branches, one running
east into Hudsops hay and the other
west into the Pacific ocean.
To Mn1ip lot