The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-09-18
Tells of First Real
Cowboy He Encounters
(Continded from page one)


cattle and LOT Of Mexicans and
their adobe (mud) huts. More
than half the town appeared to be
MeXicanS at La Junta, Colo,
where we camped Thursday, July
27. Had a small thunder shower
that night. We all four slept in
side the car so as to get an early
start the next morning.
At Trinidad, Colo, altitude 5000
feet, we saw Kit Carson's monu-
ment in park bearing his name.
Just outside of Trinidad we ate
our dinnei in another thunder
storm; they have two or three ev-
cry day in Colorado, | guess. To
the left of us was Fishers Peak,
altitude 102S0 feet and a few miles
ahead of US was Ration Pass. We
did not find any very bad grades
in the pass, nothing but what we
could take in second" easily. At
the summit we We're up $3.50 feet.
Soon after we reached the sum
nit we took a few double horse
shoe turns and twists down into
the town of Ration, N. Mex.
The next thing of interest to us
was the open country with
mountains on every side, the lower
end of the Rodsies being off to
the right of US and Ration Pass
over the Continental Divide back
OF us.
There were very few good
camping places in New Mexico.
The best you can do is to camp
wherever there is water and uSu-
ally it is near the railroad. The
alkali water makes your lips sore
and parched.
Our first night in New Mexico
we tried to drive late in an at
tempt to reach Las Vegas and a
good camping place. We followed
the signs as best we could and
the first thing we knew we were
going out across the prairies IN
ruts so deep the front axle drag
eed in places. We also went
through a herd of cattle and all
worried about was for fear one
of the bulls would charge the
headlights and we would be in the
dark. We finally got enough of it
and went back to the last sign
and waited until daylight. We had
previously called it a small ranch
house and inquired about chances
for water and were told that we
could have water if we wanted it
but that it was strongly alkali and
that camping conditions were not
good on account of the prairie
rattlers, that we had better not
sleep too near the ground. SO we
slept in the auto and took no
chances.
The next morning we began to
see the mesas. These are plateaus
OF level plains raised up about 500
to 1900 feet above the rest of the
country. All through New Mexico
we went from one mesa up onto
and then back down
again The colorings are wonder
fu from this part of New Mexico
clear through to the Pacific coast
(by way of the Santa Fe traiD. 1t
is due to the different colored
rocks and dirt. There are reds,
browns, yellows and the trees fur
nish the greens. At sunset the
combination makes some of the
most beautiful colors | have ever
seen.
At San Jose, N. Mex, we
struck some of the worst roads
of the whole trip They were
tworse than the Missouri roads
but did not last as long. But
VIC had about as rough riding for
20 miles as | wanted. We crossed
one bridge that caved in in the
The afternoon of the next day,
July Both, we visited an
old Spanish Mission and Indian
Pueblo that were being evacuated
and restored by Philips Andover
Academy. We saw some pieces
Of old Indian pottery that dated
back to about 1910, that being the
date when the pueblo was first
described in history.
The same day we went over
GloIietta Pass, elevation 1900 feet.
The grades were not so steep as
Ration Pass but the road was
narrow and there were some dam
gerous turns. One car that we
net on a sharp curve had to back
up so that we could get by.
That night we camped at Santa
Fe, n. Mex, the oldest city in the
United States, and | guess one of
he least American. There are not
more than a dozen American style
houses in the city, the rest being
IF Spanish mission architecture.
One can easily forget that they
IRE in the United States, Spanish
,eople everywhere, Spanish hous-
IS and Spanish costumes. There is
| smell of incense in the air all
he time which was due to the at
nosphere we were told and the
ed cedar wood they burn. Sun
lay night we listened to the
hines of the old Spanish mission
md to the band playing on the
plaza. 1t all seemed like a pleas /
mt dream.
In the morning a Navajo Indian /.
anne to the camp selling pottery
md trinkets.
Between Santa Fe and Albu /
luerque we came down off from a |
mesa to the desert stretches be-
CIV on the La Bajada, (pronounc-