Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1915-09-16
REV. Mr.. HAIR WRITES
OF his LONG. TRIP WEST

Prof. J. P. Coats and | left at
10 p. M. August 10th. We
made fine progress and saw little
of special interest until a. m,
Saturday. August IA. when we
arrived at, the Grand Canyon of
Arizona Here the Colorado
river has cut for itself bed one
mile deep, thirteen miles wide at
the top. The figures given rep
resent the maximum width and
depth. The entire Canyon is
over eighty miles long. There
are three trails leading down the
bank to the waters of the river.
The shortest trail is eight miles
long. Tourists usually go down
and up the trail on burros. There
are hundreds of these little ami
mails kept busy going up and
down the trails daily. But,
since the burro ride costs five
dollars, some people make the
trip on foot, only to regret it
afterwards, on account of a
weary body, aching limbs and
blistered feet.
The trip from the Canyon to
Los Angeles was through the
Moiave desert. A portion of the
desert is entirely destitute of
vegetation, the rest has variety
Of vegetation, which is always
scant. The weather is intensely
hot, the temperature often
stands for weeks above one hun
dred and twenty. In the midst
of this desert the Valley of
Death" was pointed out to us.
1t is so named because many
men lost their lives there when
gold was first discovered in
California. Our trip through
this desert country prepared us
for a visit to the ostrich farm of
five hundred and the alligator
farm of sixteen hundred when
we reached Los Angeles, for we
had already decided that any
form dependent upon the soil
for nourishment would not be
profitable. However, we found
that good RESULT could be OBJ
tanned by means of irrigation,
which is expensive. We found
everybody here seemed to be in
great hurry. Our hotel bus
had a collision with a street car
injuring three OF our party, the
worst sufferer was a little boy,
who lost two front teeth. We
expected to have to appear in
court as all our names and ad-
dresses were Immediately Sc
cured, but heard nothing more
from it.
We next visited San Diego,
where we found an ideal climate
the entire year. 1t is beyond
doubt the most delightful city
we have ever visited. We next
visited Tia Juan, Mexico. We
found all forms of gambling and
many other vices unrestricted.
General Villa has fort here
containing about two hundred
soldiers. We visited the ring
where the bull fights are held
every Sunday. We saw a lion
and a bull that were advertised
to fight tn, following Sunday.
Our ride from here to San Fran
cisco along the shore of the
Pacific ocean vas delightful.
We looked for hours that night
out on the Pacific under the light
of a full moon.
When we arrived at San
Francisco there was a cold damp
wind blowing, which continued
the entire four days of our visit.
Mr.. Coats said that it was rain
ing all the time, but the people
who live there said that it was
only fog. We did not see the
sun while there or until we were
more than a hundred miles from
the city. The exposition was
very much like the other four
great eXpositions we have at
tended, except it was constructed
on far more elaborate and ex-
pensive scale. The exposition
cost more than fifty million dol
lars, but the managers are
already out or debt. The at
tendance has exceeded all ex-
pectations. We could give but
two days to the exposition and