The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-03-09
"Reminiscences OF
Western Travels.
Salt Lake City.
BY HELEN M. TODD.

We bade farewell to Los Angeles next
morning and paid my last visit to the
corner f1owerstand near our hotel, where
during our stay had revelled in carna-
tions at five cents dozen, or thirty cents
hundred. A taxi took us to the Salt
Lake depot, where my aunt and one of
my cousins were waiting to say good
bye, and we boarded the Pacific Limited
for Salt Lake City. AS the train made
brief stop at Riverside, we were en-
abled for the first and last time in Cali
fornia to buy oranges at bargain. A
small boy ran alongside the observation
platform, holding up basket of the
golden fruit, and crying, "Four for five
cents" We invested dime, nothwith-
standing our suspicious that they were
either windfalls or stolen fruit. Anyway,
they were sweet.
We sighed regretfully as we left the
garden lands of Riverside and San Bern
adino behind and plunged out upon the
desert once more. Sage-brush and cacti
had ceased to be of interest and even
the occasional spikes of yucca made little
impression. Some slight furry of ex-
citement was aroused when we passed
the station of Todd" which was me-
tropolis consisting of one lone boxcar in
the midst of sand wastes, and Will has
tened to take picture of his namesake.
Probably it was mere coincidence that a
similar station few miles back had
been entitled "Helen." The name "Bo-
rax" brought US mental picture of the
Twenty Mule Team, familiar on borax
packages since childhood, and indeed the
station mus named is the shipping point
of the famous boraX deposits up the val
ley. The monotonous sight of desert and
sand, and still more sand and desert,
drove US to the library of the observa-
ton car, where we sought the distrac-
tons offered by the latest magazines,
and took little heed of the scenery.
Morning brought little or no change in
the aspect of the country, although con-
trary to all previously formed concep-
tons Of the desert, it was raining. The
rain continued in desultory way all the
morning, but when we reached Salt Lake
City about noon, off the edge of the
same old desert, the sky was still over
cast. but the rain had ceased
After finding very comfortable quar-
ters at the Hotel Utah, we started out
to see the city of the Mormons. A train
left at frequent intervals for Saltair,
the amusement resort on the shores of
Great Salt Lake, twelve miles distant,
and we decided to make this our first OBJ
lecslve point. AS the train drew near
the lake over the salt-encrusted marshes,
we recalled Mark TWain's remarks about
the Dead Sea, and thought them equally
applicable to this dead Sea of Ameri-
ca He said I believe "that it was
dead, very dead and had evidently been
dead for some time We were glad
that Saltair pavilion was located on
pier far enough out over the lake to
avoid the disagreeable oders that chung
about the shores.
Either Saltalr is decided 'has-
been, or else the season there does not
open until very late, for it presented
very deserted appearance on the fourth
of June, and the lake itself was certain
ly the only attraction open. The waters
of the lake were too cold to present anv
attraction to bathers, but an inside
swimming pool where the water from the
lake had been slightly warmed, was we'll
patronized, and after watching the bath
ers for awhile we decided to ioin them.
Bathing suits were quickly procured,
and it was not long before wewere splash
ing about with the rest. 1t is claimed
that the lake water contains TWENTY-FIVE
per cent salt. | inadvert ently took a
mouthful, and will not for a moment
question the statement. 1t is undoubt-
eddy salter than the ocean, but it's BUOY
ancy is not SO much greater as | had
been led to believe. 1t is easy to float
with both head and heels we'll above water
If one knows how-but it is not by anv
means difficult to swim, statements to
the contrary, Notwithstanding. Indeed.
one of the guards told me that drowning
accidents were by no means unheard of
occurrences there.
The official photographer had his eve
on the bathers as a matter of course,
and we were shortly lined-or foated, |
suppose would be the more appropriate
word-up before the camera, and our
pictures taken. Our bath was of neces
slty short one, as we wished to take
the five o'clock train back to the CITY
The joke was on me, for in my haste to
dress l overlooked the shower-batb in
the corner of my dressing room, and in
consequence all the way back in the train
| was kept busy wiping off thickly en-
crusted salt deposits from the exposed
portions Of my anatomy.
When we reached the city again we
hunted up the Union Pacific agent, 70
whom we had been given letter of in
PRODUCTION, and left him to make our
reservations on the Oregon Shore Line