Evening star., 1949-03-27
Girl Crosses i. S.
During Blizzards
In the Rockies
Prize Contribution
By Anne OdeII Torrey, IS
Mvreh School

We left Washington January Is
on the Southern Railroad stream
liner, the Crescent. for New Or
leans. During the night our train
went through Virginia, Nsrth
Carolina and South Carolina. and
when we awoke We were in At
lanta, Ga. Then, during the day,
we went through Georgia. Ala
bama and Mississippi, and arrived
in New Orleans, La, in the eve
ming. During this ride we went
through lots Of swamps where
the trees had long moss hanging
from them.
New Orleans is an interesting
old city. It was settled by the
French and Spanish. and it was
in the Cabildo, an old stone build
ing there, that the Louisiana pur-
chase was made. A bronze death
mask of Napoleon is in the Ca
bildo. New Orleans is one OF the
largest ports of the United States.
We crossed the Mississippi River
on the famous Huey Long Bridge.
After we left Louisiana We crossed
the big State of Texas, New Mex
leo and Arizona, where there were
miles and miles of desert land.
Nothing was growing but cactus
plants, and the hills were bare
sand. There are Indians all along
this route.
Visit to Los Angeles.
After we had travelled over
1000 miles we came to Los An
geles, Calf. It is beautiful and
known as the home Of moving
pictures, which are made in
Hollywood. a suburb OF Los An
geles.
After we left Los Angeles our
train went north, right beside the
Pacific Ocean, up to San Fran
cisco. We passed lovely beaches
and old Spanish missions. 1t took
whole day to go from Los An
geles to San Francisco.
San Francisco was exciting. 1t
is built on a lot Of steep hills.
and to get up and down the hills
you take a cable car. The city
has two wonderful bridges-the
Golden Gate Bridge and the Oak
land Bay Bridge. San Francisco
is a very large port, too, and the
biggest ships, even battleships.
can go under the bridges. In the
middle of San Francisco Bay is
big rock island. which is Alcat
traz prison. San Francisco has
the largest Chinese settlement in
the United States. It is called
Chinatown. and over 10000 Chi
nese live there.
Boat Trip to Canada.
From San Francisco. we went
north again to Seattle. Wash.
Seattle got its name from the
Indian chief who helped the early
American settlers and protected
them against hostile Indians
tribes. Seattle began to grow fast
when gold was discovered in Alas
ka because it was the closest city
in the States. Both Oregon and
Washington are numbering States
From Seattle we took boat
which went up Puget Sound to
Victoria. British Columbia, which
is part of Canada. We had to show
our birth certificates to the immi-
grafton officers before we coulc
enter Victoria, and when we took
the boat to come back to the
United States, we had to show
them again and have our baggage
inspected by the customs officials
We had to cross the Rocky
Mountains, all covered with deer
snow. A snowplow had to clear
the tracks for our train. We went
over the Continental Divide soon
after leaving Spokane, Wash.
where the train runs along
mountain pass $3.50 feet above sea
level, and you still shave to look
way up to see the tops of the
mountains. Whit we were in the
mountains we saw antelope. deer
porcupines, pheasants and wild
ducks. At Avery, we set our
watches up an hour from Pacific
time to mountain time, and at
Mobridge, s. Dak., we set them up
|another hour, from mountain
time to central tinie. At Butte,
i Mont. the temperature was 80