The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-07-09
Boys on Trip
To Golden West
Write Letter From Ell Paso. To Make
Return Trip in Automobile.


My companion, George Garner, and
I, are on a trip to the Great West,
a trip made possible because Mr.. A.
M Weaver, the head Of the Coca
Cola plant in Grenada, has an auto
mobile at Red Wood Park, Calf,
which he wants brought home and
because, perhaps, he thought there
were hardly two boys in Grenada who
needed to see something beyond
their own environments than we. We
are indebted to Mr.. Weaver's gener-
Gus nature and his kindly interest in
us for making the trip possible.
We left Memphis Tuesday night,
June 90, at 1O:40 on the Sunshine
Special" and reached here today at
2 O'Clock P. M. The Sunshine" was
there all right but there was nothing
special about the train unless it was
the speciality of making all stops.
About one o'clock Wednesday morn
ing the sleeper we were in developed
a hot box and we had to double up
in another car. Of course, this was
inconvenient but there was nothing
else to do. We crossed the state Of
Arkansas at night (for which we are
thankfully and hit Texas, yesterday
morning at 9 o'clock.
So many different ones told us not
to come this route but we don't re-
gret it a bit as we saw plenty OF
things of interest to us-the oil
fields around Ranger, for instance.
It seemed as if there was derrick
every SO feet. You could see that
the town was an oil town strictly.
Pile after pile Of pipe and drilling
machinery could be seen from the
train and the streets were crowded
with people Of every description. At
the edge of town a colony Of Mexi-
cans could be seen squatting around
their adobe huts which are hardly tall
enough for a man to stand erect IN.
The men and women were all smok-
ing cigarettes and seemed to be en-
joying life.
This morning about 8 o'clock we
passed through a little town-To-
yah-which was exactly like the
western towns shown in the movies.
A. bunch of cowboys in chaps, red
shirts and sombreros were at the sta
ton on their ponies and were whoop-
ing 'em up. All they lacked were
the six shooters.
Some time last night we started
across the barren lands of Texas and
didn't get across until about 80
miles from Ell Paso. Nothing to see
but cactus and mesquite and young
mountains with the same growths. 1t
was practically a desert. About ~
miles from Ell Paso we began to see
some flourishing orchards and good
cotton and corn crops made possible
by irrigation. The water comes from
the Rio Grande and from the hills.
The irrigation bitches seemed to be
about 10 feet deep and were full to
the top.
One thing we noted which beats
Mississippi and that was hard surfaced
roads-either gravel, asphalt or con-
crete-all across Texas from Iexar-
kama to Ell Paso. They were IN hrst
class condition and seemed to 60 TO
all parts of the state. =.
Ell Paso is a big city all right but
doesn't appeal to either of US. We
were unable to get reservations on
today's train to Los Angeles, SO have
to wait until tomorrow. We expect
to visit Old Mexico tomorrow ana
see what's across the river.
Will let you hear from US from
time to time as we go along.
MALCOLM LAWRENCE.
Ell Paso, Texas, July 1, 1920.