Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1931-04-23

Desire To Visit The Open Spaces
After several years office work
following a lifetime. spent in land
surveying, | felt a desire for the
more open spaces of the world, to
be detached from the busy routine
Of modern life, and to visit parts Of
the world in which | had long been
interested, in particular the Pan
ANA Canal and parts Of Central and
South America. Accordingly on
Jan. 5, 1881, accompanied by my
wife, | left New Philadelphia, O.,
! my home, on a journey that was
planned to take us across the North
American continent, over the wa
ters of both the Pacific and At
@4antic oceans, and into, a number of
countries comprising Latin. America.
In certain respects our trip was
noteworthy for events of world i'm
portance that we barely missed on
the way, as well as for the. things
We were privileged to see. We were
just few days in advance of gold
rush in northwestern Mexico A
week or two before our arrival in
3 Panama there was. a lively revolt
ton. Since our return home Man
aqua, the capital of Nicaragua, has
been destroyed by an, earthquake,
We had good health all the way,
obtained fund=of information per-,
tanning to the : geography and his,
tory of the places We-yisited, and
made a. few friends where none
were known before. Everywhere
we were treated with courtesy and
respect and we found that the
world, in the broad sense, is not
such bad place after all. Eu .rso
Take Southern Route To West n
AS we were starting our. sea trip
from the Pacific side and intended
TO visit our daughter and son-in-law
in Phoenix, Arizona, we chose the
southern route to the west by way
Of New Orleans: In SO doing We
Mad warm weather within a honrs
after leaving home.
On the morning Of the second
day. aboard the Arsonanf of the
Southern PacifievIines. we We're ali
.ready in southeastern & Texas.ss q Il
was raining hard, But In few
hours -ran-~into clear weather.
which staid with us during most Of
the remainder of our "trip Texas,
q mighty empire in ITSELF, seemed a.
vast oil field as we passed through
'veritable forests Of derricks ~
which black gold was being pump
ed from the earth h's,-inteEior. Next
10 oil was chickens farm after
farm devoted to poultry raising
There were many cattle. Near
Houston, farmers were plowinS
with horses or muips. The ground
may have been too soft for tractors.
We now enjoyed warm sunshine
that had succeeded the rain encoun-
tered in eastern Texas. In places 1
the wheat or mullet was knee high.
There were wonderful stretches OF
fine level country, followed by roll
ing lands. Some so miles east OF
San Antonio, we got our - first
glimpse of cactus Here were vast
fiocks of sheep, and again oil fields
like those we had passed farther
east.
San Antonio, the City of the Al {,
amo," has been the theme Of poets
and writer's Of prose for nearly a
hundred. years. Il We did Y not risit
the town, but had to- eontent our
selves with a. View Of q sqliatty and
dilapidated buildings that the trav, /
eleE~-by~r y~rail~-usually~- aets.--ef ~stfeh.-
places. The surrounding country is I
devoted to cattle raising An hour
after leaving the city we came in !
sight hs~--of-"~fow mountains n" the
northwest. b Nett morning I'VE. fwags
in the mountains. and it was cold
but there was no Show - Here We
saw our first sage, brush,it quite !
wild and wooly," as they used to /
saY.---PresentlX~ X~Me--antsrsd~ ~ths-~ra4--i
leyroN Nthei e9Graodsf" Thes rfrers
appeared, quite ipeonsequentiala bu.
thes COUNTRY Along it's 1qahks iWas 7
verdant with 9felds Iof cetfpn o sugari
cane and corn. We could see for
miles into ela sMexie&D1 IT was fhep
eighth Of January. three days sinoes
we left home Shortly before noon
we ran into Ell Pas6 "a 1Vfarge ntyd'
WITH no apparent natural resources. r
The weather, was clear but, cool. On
the Mexican sside We codld See High
mountains-dry and bare. At four
feet the Rio Grande, only $50 feet
vide, seemed quite shaJlow. IL q
Me- now9 enEered # New Mexico, j
passing through Deming and, Lords
burg, after which weoxtfoss4 the
Arizona state line. Next day we
arrived lin, Phbehklf
We found our folks all well, and
made gsaaS%fags ~thSae e~vsskV Vssiks~~