Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-08-20
TELL0F DEATH
VALLEYS LURE
Americus Lads Relate
Details Of Travels In
West
Continued From Page one.)

two trains daily in the hey-dey of It:
prosperity. Today there is no mean.
of exit except over the little rail
road which runs a train every Other
Iday and charges s cents mile fol
transportation. Once there was no
train for two weeks, because one of
the two locomotives was wrecked and
it took the other two weeks to clear
the track. Lorraine said that he re-
membered among the gold seekers
many from Georgia who sought 70
make mushroom fortune in the
gold fields of the west.
Travel in Ford
You ask how we made the trip.
We bought Ford at Los Angeles, be-
cause we were tired of the trains,
and wanted to see the country in
our own way Here is where the fun
started. For with that Ford and two
boys bent on exploring, we three had
the time of our lives. The car was
fitted with camping outfit complete
in every detail and the front seat was
arranged like a Pullman berth At
night it would be made into a bed,
coffortable enough, while during the
day it was a seat. In this Ford we
started across the Mohave Desert
with pair of pliers. a broken pump,
one evtra tire, no jack, and a mind on
Dixie. We trusted in the Lord and
Henry Ford. knowing that the combi-
nation would finally land us in safety
on Georgia soil 1t did 1t was
1913 Ford. at that But it was a
running Ford
I'VE got in the middle of the
desert, and tire blew out. We sat
down to fix it, first repairing the
pump so that it would render service.
AS we had no jack. we had to use
log for prop, but finally the repair
was made. and off we hoped again.
Before going very far we encountered
an obstruction in the sand and the
hack tire blew out. That necessitated
the use of the only extra tire we
had, so on it went Our faith in that
Ford grew brighter with each mile
left behind. Having further tire
trouble, were not bothered with
WAYS and means to fix it; we knew it
was rim or nothing. The first stop
we made was at Ludlow, where we
ran across friends and spent the
day with them. 1t was great day,
too.
No Strangers in West
"There are no strangers in the
West, everybody knows everybody
else. When YOU stop to consider that
the entire state of Nevada has only
1900 people, less than two of our
cities of Georgia, you will not wonder
that there are no strangers. We spent
two days in Ludlow trying to gather
courage to go through Needles, the
old home town of the Mohave In
dians, about which so many harrow
ing yarns had been told us. We pass
ed through there on the 14th of July
on the hottest night | ever felt. II
was 10 degrees all night long. We
could hardly breathe.
"From Needles we came to King
man, where big gold strike was on
Everybody was talking gold, gold
gold. The very atmosphere breathec
of the yellow stuff. Then we came
to Williams, which is the. gateway t.
the Grand Canyon. We did not &C
through the Canyon, preferring tc
see the wilder country instead. From
Williams to Flagstaff seemed only
a leap, yet when we got there we
nearly froze to death. We had only
two blankets, and had to put one OF
them on the ground and cover up
with the other. There we saw some
trees, the first that had been visible
in some time The desert region of
the West is absolutely bare of trees
or shrubbery. We got used to the bar
1Ixr Iovn1 ~ tEhn
Flagstaff we saw thousands and tens
Of thousands of sheep, vast ranches
of them.
The Painted Desert
I'VE came to the Painted Desert
and here I pause. | have not words
To express the beauties of that mag.
nificent natural picture. Out against
the horizon stood those rocks and
hills and mountains, which, in the
carly morning glow looked like an
art gallery of the most exquisite pic
lures. All glimmering with gold and
red and pink and green and blue and
gray, brilliant colors blended with
the pensive tones, it was panorama
Of loneliness too sublime for descrip-
ton. Of course, on nearer view the
coorings proved to be more of a
oneness, he early sunlight and the
dry atmosphere producing the won.
derful blending which made them en-
chantingly beautiful. The mineral in
the rocks causes the color to be dom
inant on the surface.
!. "There we also saw the petrified
forest, monuments of the marvels OF
nature. Then, too, there were the
marvellous mirages. How can l tell
about them? They, too, were the
most exquisite in the early morning