Subscribe..
CALIFORNIA – Mr. Ward and Party Arrive Safely
[Welland Tribune, 5 February 1897]
Mr. Sidey: DEAR SIR-Not being well when I left for the Pacific coast some might wonder how I stood the journey of 3000 miles. The worst part of the journey was to get from Welland over the rough roads to Welland station. We left Welland 6 o’clock p.m., met our party at St. Thomas all right, arrived in Chicago at 9 o’clock Thursday morning by Michigan Central; left on the Chicago & Alton road at 11 o’clock. Found Illinois a very nice farming state with large and rolling fields of corn but no timber, in fact no timber along this route. Arrived in St. Louis at 7 p.m. and laid over 8 hours; left St. Louis at 3 a.m. Friday; passed though Missouri and found it very low and wet, and Arkansas no better; then we struck Texas and ran through the whole length of the state-860 miles-it took all day and one night, Saturday morning arriving in Dallas, a large city. Arrived at El Paso at 11 o’clock Sunday morning and laid over seven hours. We took a street car and went over the river Rio Grande into Old Mexico. Went to the Old Missions church, a great many hundred years old; no seats in the church; congregation mostly women, and all wore shawls on their heads and all on their knees in time of service. Weather very warm. Arrived in Yuma at 11 o’clock Monday morning and it was very hot, the natives or Indians sitting in the sand bare-footed and bare-headed. Some looked to be a hundred years old and I think never combed their heads-this is in Arizona, where we pass the great Mohave desert, where nothing grows.
Add A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.