The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-09-18

bound passenger train, to proceed on to the
place of his birth in New York state which
he has not visited since his bOyhoOd. He at
tracted much attention from our party, who
gathered around him and listened with marked
interest to his startling and romantic tales Of
Indian fights and frontier life"
In light of the recent scOurge Of grasshop-
pers in the West, the following paragraph is
of special interest: "Swarms of mammoth
crickets, coming in hordes at times cross the
track of the railroad in such numbers as to
completely stop all passing trains. They meas
about two inches in length, are very fat
and plump and jump upon the rails when
warmed by the sun. AS the locomotives traverse
this district they crush them by the thousands
and spread over the rails glutinous substance
resembling grease; and the wheels revolve
helplessy. We have seen them by the thou
sand
At Salt Lake City President Brigham Young
and other Mormon leaders dined with the party;
they listened to the famous organ in the Taber-
nacle; and exclaimed over the way these people
had transformed the desert into a place of
beauty Brigham Young informed our party
that he had now 16 wives and 40 living chill
dren only, and that he was sixty-nine years old,
and had only attended school eleven days when
boy" reads note on the Salt Lake City
stop.
Fortunately for the chronicler of the 'ele-
CANT cars" he had not used up all his best
adjectives from Omaha to Salt Lake City, for
he needed them (and made full use Of them y
for the journey through the mountains to San
Francisco and for the lavish California hospi-
taty given them there. But if the members of
the party were loud in their praise for the
royal welcome which they received in the Gold
en- West, they also were conscious of certain
other local customs which were different from
any they had previously experienced. The fol
lowing item, published in the issue of the
"Trans- CONTINENTAL newspaper dated Boston,
July (for by that date they had retraced their
way across the continent, seems to reflect
sense of outraged Yankee thrift which is
than little amusing: while at San Francisco
many of our party observed what is certainly
a striking characteristic of early custom still
remaining in California. When a single copy of
a certain morning newspaper was purchased of
newsboys for nominay One-bit' they received
q 25-cent piece and returned a dime and pa
per- thus really taking 10 cts. for a single copy
of paper, whose published subscription price
was 121k cts week. This results from the
fact that dime is the smallest coin in circula-
ton throughout the West Coast"
This last issue also contains "Valedictory"
editorial in which appear these words "All
agree that the excursion has been splendid
success and that it has done much to annihilate
the idea of distance and separation, and to bind
bonds The great valley Of the Mississippi and
the Lake States especially are brought into
immediate neighborhood with us, and we are
withs them. There is no West this side of
the Pacific coast, for Chicago and Omaha and
Cheyenne are, in comparison, close by. Our
friends express surprise at finding all the party
in such fine physical cOndtiOn-so free from
fatigue of body, and so buoyant in spirit after
a journey by land of such extraordinary extent
The Pullman Cars have annihilated the ordi
nary causes of fatigue in railroad travelling and
demonstrated the luxury Of transportation in
gliding palaces. with every want supplied and
every wish anticipated"
One other incident is worthy Of being chron-
iced in two quotations from the train news
paper The first issue contained the following
paragraph. Before leaving Boston where our
train left the actual borders Of Atlantic tide
water in Massachusetts Bay a bottle Of sea
water was filled. in the presence Of the party
to be taken to San Francisco and there emptied
into the Pacific ocean, AS this train will be
the first through train which has ever crossed
from Atlantic to Pacific direct every car going
through with only through passengers the in
cdent is not without interest historically"
And in the last issue was this paragraph: "At
the ceremony of mingng the waters Of the
Atlantic with those of the Pacific performed
on the ocean beach near the Cliff house at San
Francisco, in the presence Of this party our
President Hon. Alex II. Rice in his beautiful
and appropriate remarks called attention to
the occasion by saying: The union of these
two waters seems typical Of the commngling of
a great people, whose future shall be one
difficult to separate or divide as the nov
united particles Of water in this vessel"