Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-09-29
What l Saw on My Trip
During Vacation - By
Margaret Burnsides

My aunty and left Ottumwa at
lao o'clock the Afternoon of August
and went to Galesburg, ILL.,, where
we changed cars for ST. Paul, MINI.
We arrived in st. Paul about Z o'clock
the next morning and as we had four
hours to wait for our train we took
a street car ride around the city. We
went across the Mississippi river and
while we were on the bridge we could
see several other bridges that crossed
the river. We went to see the large
cathedral that is in st. Paul. i also
saw the capitol building. We left st.
Paul at IL o'clock in the morning. For
the first two days of our trip from st.
Paul we saw nothing but large wheat
fields. Along in the afternoon Of the
second day we saw that there was go
ing to be storm as the sky was very
dark and 1t wasn't long until we were
into it and 1t was hail storm They
were the largest hail stones | ever
saw. being about the size of a small
egg, and everybody on the train be-
came very much excited when the
windows were broken in and we all
got into the middle Of the car so we
wouldn't get cut by the glass. 1t had
third day we were in the mountains
and it got much cooler. Many of the
mountains were covered with snow
and the snow melting made beautiful
water falls down the sides of the
beautiful as the, water is so clear and
looks blue and runs very swiftly. At
one place the train stopped and we all
nAe kN 1<o IT,
1t must have been about 200 feet down.
with steep rock on both sides and you
couldn't see just where the water
came from, it looked as il it came
right out of the side of the rock but
it had worked through the rocks and
came down just rushing. We went
through many miles of snow sheds and
came to Glacier where the train stop
ped for few minutes and we got OF
to see the mountains of Ice. All
around Glacier the mountains were
covered with snow all the way down
to the base. Before we got to Glacier
we saw Swiss village where Swiss
guides live who take people mountain
climbing like they do in Switzerland.
We crossed railroad bridge. the
highest railroad bridge in the world.
The river was SO far down that it look
ed like small creek. We Travelled
along the Frazier river for number
Of miles, on one side was the river and
on the other the high mountains. We
arrived. at Vancouver about 8 o'clock
Saturday morning and took the boat
for Seattle. The name of the boat
was Princess Adelaide and there were
about $50 people on the boat that day.
| enjoyed the ride very much as 1t was
the first time had ever been. on such
a large boat and the big ocean. like
to watch the sea gulls fly after the
boat and dive down in the water to
get things to eat The boat stopped
at Victoria, which is the capital, OF I
British Columbia, for two and one-haf
hours and we went up town. Victoria
is beautiful city We saw the cap
ital building and many other fine large
buildings. I saw how holly grows az
people have hedges Of 1t on their
lawns. The roses and sweet peas
were very beautiful. ] also saw a
Chinese woman who had very small
feet and my aunty told me how they 1
bind the feet of babies SO when they
grow big they will have small feet.
We arrived in Seattle about 8 o'clock
that evening and stayed all night at
a hotel. The next morning we went
to church and then took a street car
ride to a beautiful park. Seattle looks
very beautiful at night as there are
many electric lights and as the boat
comes in the tarbor they make very
pretty sight. We left Seattle about
noon and came down to Portland, Ore
gon. All along the way we saw many
large pine trees and logging camps,
whre they float the logs down the riv-
or TO the saw mills to be made into
lumber. We arrived In Portland in
the afternoon and stayed until the
next day about noon when we left to-
Baker. Oregon. We rode along the
Columbia river for many miles. We
saw some beautiful water falls on the
side of the mountains. The train
stopped for Ave minutes so we could
get OF and go over to them. The wat I
er fall was about LOCO feet hiKh. W.
got into Baker at 1890 o'clock az
night after being about one week on
the train. At Baker we went through
large saw mill and saw how they
cut the large pine logs into lumber.
We went to the mountains and took
long hikes around through the can
yons. We took a hike one day and
came to the top of mountain where
there was gold mine. The man who
had charge of the mine took us
through and showed us how they get
gold out Of the ore. Little dump cars
bring the ore out of the mountain and
down a chute and dump 1t into hop
per where it is ground up and II
comes out and is then pounded until
il looks like clay mud. 1t is then
washed and as the gold is heavier than
the sand it sinks to the bottom and
after 1t is washed they put quick sill
yer in the pan and the gold gathers
around the quick silver. They then
melt the quick silver and 1t makes
gold nugget. There is a large cathe.
dral. Sisters academy and Sisters
hospital in Baker would like to live
there as there is a nice park with
big playground for the children and
a lady has charge Of it. The noun
tain air makes me very lazy and
sleepy. Coming home from Baker w
IN