Putnam patriot., 1918-08-09
FRANK GLEASON, R.
 TELLS OF TRIP
Describes Journey From Buff
 falo to Far West
|. Now Located a, San Diego, Cal.

Mr and Hrs. Frank Gleason, Center street. ln which he describes trip from Buffalo 10 San Diego Petty Of fcer Gleason is now at San Diego. sta toned at one of tae ar stations there
 Well. at last have found time 70 write my first letter from San Diego. am feeling fine. and certainly did have q great trip. We started from Buffalo Sunday at go ? m., and travelled steady. night and day, altn only three hours lay of al Los An yeles. Talk about country We have seea al kinds of t from a desert 70
 ae Pacific ocean.
 Ne Aest #egt to Canada. taen Iu the morning Rhea ~e vefe up &e were ia Illinois. At Chicago we had =a change trans and went onto the santa Fe railroad t z- great t8sa saa ~e had fae service al sf the 3ay And taIk about go Whe~ Some of sbe time we had t@o engines and 1hen We were gong over mountain pass ue had three, t@9 n front, one 10 bark
 After leaving Chicago the scenery id aot change muen until we reached Missouri and crossed the Mississippi 4ver We then began to strike the old southern scenes, and also lot of MexIcaus. which were the first that eyer saw They have the appearance l of "daQo,a bat much darker
 Soon after crossing the Mississippi l ~e began to run into the wheat fields
 Talk about wheat. say, l can see no reason why wheat flour can be so high We saw piles upon piles of threashed wheat, piles so large that
 you could hide q load Of hay and two
 horses behind them And not only
 that. but there were fields upon fields
 sf wheat waiting for fhe threshing
 machines guess f old Kaiser BHi
 r5uld take a ride through tbe western
 -srH and wheat del1s he would soon 8s the ~hHe flag and else up the 5hip All the waq from Chicago to the
 RoeEes the iahd became more fat and
 more barren.
 After Chicago the next biz stop we
 made ~as al Kansas ely We stoppe
 here at 7 % and had about 25 nm
 1tes ID to that time We had had T
 lining car. and they certainly gave as
 ,pleudid things b sat on tho train and
 IA the stations along the road After
 this we stopped at stations for meals.
 We turned n after leaving Kansas
 City, and next morning woke up on either side of the train and see no hills. We then crossed the state of | Kansas and entered the state of Col orado We then began to see real scenery The land for the most part was given over to cattle grazing, with here and there a wheat field We next struck southward and into New Mexi- co and Arizona Here there was noth- ing to be seen but scrub growth and sand. Here and there we met small canyons made by small river The further west we went the more righ land we saw. At first the plateaus in New Mexico. and the land of the Cliff DWeiers ,,a southern New Mexico most of the land was too barren for cattle, so was given over te sheep 2raznR We pas.e many nocks tend ed by MeNieans aai Indian boys There We're }e Ier COW punchers. just like you e lhe#novjes also Inc Indians, tho somet j.e. sae muc5 as they dld wears bal tbc men showed more leatlea of wearas white meu's clo.nue Me soon began to strike the Eoede-. and if was | wonderful sight t2 er those great snow capped mazse- uI fack. Many !. times the entire tap af lie mountains {, could net be seen ua account of the clouds We were 5f ! at an altitude of 1000 feel Beiole coming to the mountains we had ta pass a desert All along through the prairies were jack rabbits and prairie dogs. Through most of the barren lands skeletons of animals that had died of thirst lay besides the railroad tracks
 We arrived in California Thursday morning Here we saw the highest mountains and the fertile fields. or. ange and lemon groves, and vineyards of grapes \ htae further south were the palms and the cactus Vel did not see the Pacific uutll reaching Los Angeles
 l cannot began to describe all that l saw, It seemed like a moving picture show The little western towns were just like those you see ut movies the saloon with the railing in front to hitch the horses to, the COW puucherS. with Che leather trousers and wide brimmed hat and lasso hanging from the saddle horn.
 One thing that noticed was the sign of the gentleman tramp that was in HnfpaD, sp l,r,.r .utrs, Nr, ...,. N