Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-08-30
A Letter from the Far West.

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, Aug. 10, 1917.
Dear Uncle Elias you have long
been contemplating a visit to Califor-
MIA | thought few lines about this
beautiful country would be of inter-
est to you.
To begin with, should like to tell
you of some OF the wonderful scenic
country through which we passed on
our trip here. 1t is quite impossible,
however, to describe the grandeur of
the Rockies; one must simply see for
oneself. Leaving Denver, on looking
to the West, one eau see miles and
miles of the main range of the
Rockies, from Longs Peak ON the
north to Pixies Peak on the south,
their SUBMITS crowned with perpetual
snow. Denver, think, can truly be
called "The Gateway to the Rockies"
for it is here the scenery becomes
most interesting to the observing
traveller.
A few miles from Denver we saw,
at close range, beautiful Castle Rock,
one of Colorado's famous landmarks,
it being used in the days OF the old
wagon trains which then conveyed
the traveller across the prairie. 1t has
been wasting away for centuries and
is now in the form of castle. A few
miles on and you see Elephant
Rock,"a a most remarkable freak OF
nature, SO true to life as to be almost
startling in its realism. Following
this, we came in sight of Pixies Peak
and for couple Of hours this great
mountain remained in view. Here,
at an altitude of IA, l0s feet, is the old
observatory of the United States Sig.
nal Service, one Of the highest in the
world, but it is now used as terminal
depot by the railroad company.
Colorado Springs, Manitou and
Canon City are all little paradise in
themselves. Having heard SO much
of the far-famed Royal Gorge, we
purchased tickets which admitted us
to the open observation car, which
was attached to the train shortly af-
tor leaving Canon City. No SOONER
had we seated ourselves and made
ready for the magnificent sight ahead
when great drops Of rain began fall
ling and continued to fsll in spite oi
all our objectlng and protests; then
hail, then snow, until it drove u back
in our Pullman, and we had to con
tent ourselves with looking out Of the
window; but 1t wasn't "half bad" q,
that. We hope to be moro fortunate
on our return trip. What we saw Of
1t was very beautiful, very wonderful
For ten miles wonder after wonder II
presented to the tourist.
At Salida we were informed Of q
wreck ahead and were told that oui
train would lay over there for two
or three hours. We reached there q,
4P. NJ, and at $50 our train gave thu
signal that II was ready TO proceed
| While at Salids we took a wall
through some Of the main streets ant
learned that IT was q little city o.
5000 inhabitants and that II is an i'm
portant divisional headquarters OF thu
Denver and Rio Grande, which hs'
four lines running from this point
The following morning we were tolt
that we were running four hours late
We had been travelling the entire
night through Nevada and II wal
nearly noon before We crossed the
| line into California. Az I said before
We did hot get the full benetlt pf Colo
RADIOS Roysl Gorge, but nothing
could be more beautiful than th'
Feather River Canon through whicl
We passsd: the rookie Of such gigantic
size, the stream q beautiful snt
clear. The train scored 70 climb snt
rlss over tho most dapgsrous looking