Fifth Avenue to Alaska. ... With maps by L. F. Beckwith, etc

Introduction

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The writer is quite aware that he needs an introduction since he wishes to be read, and is assured by everybody that an unknown author will not be read by anybody : But how to be come a " known " author before one has published anything is the puzzle. I take comfort, however, on remembering a remark of Mr. Gladstone, who said that if the maiden speech of Disraeli in the House of Commons, hissed down and ridiculed as it was, had been made by Lord Beaconsfield, it would have been considered a great oratorical effort. I had seen something of the older civilization of Europe, and wanted to see the newer civilization of the Great West, and the savage life of our newly acquired " Russian Possessions."

Chapter II. Summary Of The Journey

On the last day of May, 1883, in company with my father, I left Fifth Avenue for Alaska. We went by the Union Pacific Railroad to Ogden, and down to the Mormon city of Salt Lake, then back to Ogden, and by the Central Pacific Road to San Francisco. After visiting the Yosemite Valley, and the North and South groves of giant trees in Calaveras County, San Rafael, and Menlo Park, we passed from San Francisco Bay through the Golden Gate, and up the Pacific Ocean by steamer to Astoria ; thence up the Columbia River to the junction of the Willamette River, and up the Willamette to Portland ; thence up the Willamette Valley by the Oregon and California Railroad, two hundred and sixty-two miles, to Glendale, its present terminus ; then back to Portland, and through Puget Sound to Victoria, and on through the British waters to Alaska, reaching a latitude where there was no night, and where the sun rose some four hours after he set.

Hav- SUMMARY OF THE JOURNEY. 3 ing sailed in the fiords, straits, bays, and inlets of Alaska, above two thousand miles, returning by way of Victoria and Puget Sound to Port land, where we took the Northern Pacific Rail way, passing through the magnificent scenery of the great Columbia River, and continuing on that road until we reached Bozeman, where at Fort Ellis we took a government escort, and passed through the country seventy-five miles (camping out two nights) to Yellowstone Park. After making a tour of the park, I went into the "Goblin Land" of the Hoodoo Mountains in Wyoming, to shoot elk and " big-horn of the Rockies ; " after which, by the branch road we went north to Livingston, and took the trunk line of the Northern Pacific to St. Paul, and thence to New York by way of Chicago.

We were absent four months ; and by rail, steamer, stage-wagons, and on horseback to gether, we travelled more than twelve thousand five hundred miles. I kept full notes of each day ; and from them I make up this book, in which I hope to give some information useful to those who may wish to visit the Pacific Coast, or to learn about it. Incidents and impressions I have endeavored to record with fidelity. But, travelling with my father, I was invited to the various dinners and entertainments given to him, where we met many intelligent and some eminent men. I listened attentively to their varied conversa tions and discussions ; and I dare say that the sentiments and opinions herein expressed are not original, but rather the filterings through my memory of what older and wiser men have said. We met while crossing the Rocky Moun tains, at Salt Lake, and everywhere in California and Oregon, numbers of interesting men and attractive women, to whom we are largely in debted for the pleasure of a journey which would otherwise have been often weary and monotonous.

For references to the treaties, laws, and rail road grants, herein mentioned, I am indebted to the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont. In going from New York to San Francisco by the Pennsylvania Central, the Chicago, Bur lington and Quincy, and the Union and Cen tral Pacific roads, the distance is 3,281 miles. The difference in time between the two cities is three hours and fourteen minutes.

Chapter III. From New York To Omaha, And From Omaha To Salt

LAKE. Leaving New York by the Pennsylvania limited express train, we reached Chicago in twenty-five hours and forty minutes. The key of my bedroom at the Palmer House had a piece of lead six inches in length arranged at right angles, and so cleverly fastened that it was impossible to secrete it. Inserting part of it in my pocket, I entered the billiard-room, where it was mistaken for a six-shooter osten tatiously protruding ; and, becoming an object of apparent suspicion, I quickly left it at the office. Chicago is a remarkable place, about which I shall have something to say hereafter. Mr. Wallace, the general agent of the Chi cago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, took us over their very large and solid building, in which all the chief offices of this great road are combined. The building is remarkably well constructed.

We were indebted tp Mr. Wallace for many courtesies. We took that road at two o'clock p.m., the next day, and arrived at Burlington late in the evening. Crossing the Mississippi, which di vides Illinois from Iowa, we reached Council Bluffs the next morning. We found the place greatly damaged by a flood which had swept away bridges and destroyed several lives. The train was admirable in equipment, with the best of sleeping and dining-room cars ; and the road was in perfect condition. Council Bluffs is on the east bank of the Missouri River, which divides Iowa from Ne braska. The Union Pacific road commences on the east bank, Omaha being on the west. Here are excellent arrangements for the trans fer and checking of baggage. No guns were allowed in the cars, but arrangements were made to carry them safely in the baggage room.

The bridge at Omaha, across the Missouri River, is 2,750 feet long, built on twenty-two hollow iron columns, eight and a half feet in diameter, sunk to the bed-rock of the river. We found on the Union and Central Pacific roads, through the entire length, the most careful and courteous attention from every officer and every employe of the roads ; and a surly answer, or coarse conduct, we never once ex perienced. The meals at the roadside inns were not good ; but any lack of politeness, or willingness to impart information or give assist ance, we never met. At Omaha, a town of more than forty-five thousand inhabitants, we checked our baggage for Salt Lake City, and started by the Union Pacific road at nine o'clock on the 3d of June. On the train I met an Englishman of the Seventh Fusileers, a Mr. S , who lived near Oxford ; and we, in company with several New- Yorkers who joined in the chorus, revived memories of the " Varsity," by singing portions of " John Peel," " Drink, puppy, drink," and other melodious refrains, until the other passen gers thought we were a small detachment of the Salvation Army.

S , with H and I of New York, were all going to leave the train at Cheyenne, to go into that business which has enticed so many plucky fellows from both England and the Eastern States ; namely, to begin a rough life of boisterous good health in the bracing air of the great grazing plains of Wyoming. The hardy life one follows there has its many drawbacks, arising from the lack of cultivated society, and from having to undergo the hardships of cold nights, biting blizzards, furious hurricanes, and occasional de struction of property. As a counterbalance against these, we have health and vigor restored A VENUE TO ALASKA. to many a jaded idler of society ; and he who was once a gay member of the " Knicker bocker," " Union," "White's," or " Boodle's," a frequenter of the " Burlington," a haunter of the "Aquarium," or a dissolute dashing guardsman (Ouida's model Englishman), the darling of society, and the best of riders, — he it is who, through lack of means, or dearth of excitement, chooses the wild life of the cattle-driver, with no music but the roar of the wind or the dash of cataracts, and no partner in the dance but his Indian pony.

The cowboy of whom I have heard and read so much is not always the dare-devil depicted in "The Police News;" for during my whole journey from Omaha, during which time I saw hundreds of cowboys and cow " punchers," I never saw a revolver fired, or any evidence of that recklessness which is so proverbial. In isolated mining camps, revolvers are recklessly carried ; but one might start from New York, and make the whole Western trip by the reg ular roads, and seldom see a single exposed weapon. There were occasions, on our farther journey, when it was prudent to be well armed. Four hundred and fourteen miles from Oma ha, we reached Sidney. From Sidney, stage coaches start daily for Deadwood, 267 miles north, where are the celebrated gold-mines in the Black Hills of Dakota. On the 4th, at half-past three p.m., we reached Sherman, the highest elevation on the road, — 8,235 feet.

So gradual is the ascent from Omaha, that you would hardly suspect that you were going up hill ; and the region over which you pass looks not at all like " crossing the Rocky Mountains." The highest grade be tween Cheyenne and Sherman is eighty-eight feet per mile. The whole distance is bare of trees, has no very steep appearance, and the land is only valuable for grazing. The distance from Omaha to Sherman is 549 miles, and from Sherman to San Francisco 1,318 miles. Sherman is a place of wild and lonely desola tion, in the Territory of Wyoming. It is named after the distinguished general. On a high point south of the station, a monument is rising to honor the memory of Oakes Ames, one of the most enterprising men whom this country has produced. He was cruelly maligned, and hastened to his grave by the calumnies with which he was pursued in connection with the completion of a colossal highway to the Pacific, which has done more to perpetuate the union of our vast empire than the greatest battle which was fought.

Seventy miles south-west of Sherman is Long's Peak, and 165 miles to the south is Pike's Peak, both visible. Laramie City is 573 miles from Omaha, the county-seat of Albany County, Wyoming. It contains about four thousand inhabitants ; has a rolling-mill, but stock-raising is the great industry. The " Laramie Plains " comprise a belt, twenty-five by sixty miles, of the finest grazing-lands. Countless buffalo once roamed these plains, and had as good title to the lands as had the Indians who roamed in like manner. It is said that over three thousand horses and mules, ninety thousand head of cattle, and as many sheep, can now be found within forty miles of Laramie. The plains are well watered. Carbon is 657 miles from Omaha, and here was the first happy discovery of coal on the road. Since then, far better mines have been found farther west, — at Rock Springs, and at Evanston.

Rawlins is 709 miles from Omaha. Before reaching Rawlins we come to the sage-brush and alkaline beds : they extend west for more than a hundred and twenty miles. The sage brush is a bush about four feet high ; its leaf and form are like the garden sage (but the bush is much larger), and it tastes like wormwood : it grows on the alkaline beds, where nothing else will grow. The alkaline dust through this region is excessive, filling every car, irritating to the eyes, throat, and lips ; and the water of the region is very unhealthy for man or beast. At Point of Rocks, 805 miles from Omaha, is an artesian well, 1,015 deep, from which issues a stream of pure water ; and here are extensive coal-mines. On a high bluff, above the coal, is a vein of oyster-shells six inches thick. Professor Hayden, in his Geological Report, says, " Preserved in the rocks, the greatest abundance of deciduous leaves of the poplar, oak, elm, and maple, are found. . . .

Among the plants is a specimen of fan-palm, which, at the time it grew here, displayed a leaf of enormous dimensions, sometimes hav ing a spread of ten or twelve feet." When President Arthur came to the Yellow stone Park, he had with him sea-shells which he took from the Rocky Mountain heights. At Rock Springs, eight hundred and thirty miles from Omaha, is another artesian well, 1,145 feet deep : the water flows in great quan tities, twenty-six feet above the surface. Rich coal-mines are near. From this point to Green River, a distance of fifteen miles, the road runs through a deep mountain gorge where the scenery is quite impressive. Green River is 845 miles from Omaha. The bluffs near this station are of peculiar formation : they are perpendicular, rising several hundred feet, composed of layers of sediment ary rocks, sandstone, white sand, pebbles, clay, and lime, with layers of bowlders also, each layer of a different shade of color.

The hills around are capped with a yellowish sandstone in peculiar castellated forms. This scenery has a just celebrity. At Granger, 876 miles from Omaha, the Oregon Short Line, a branch of the Union Pacific, begins, and runs north-west through Oregon to Baker City, and, in connection with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, to the Columbia River. At Hilliard, 942 miles from Omaha, is a flume crossing the track twenty feet above it, in which large quantities of lumber are floated from the Uintah Mountains, between twenty and thirty miles to the south. Here are located the Cameron bee-hive kilns, for burn ing charcoal. Castle Rocks are about 975 miles west of Omaha, and form a long line of sandstone bluffs, on the right bank of Echo Canon, and vary in height from five hundred to fifteen hun dred feet.

In the distance they look like vast castles. Nine miles west of Echo City we come to the thousand-mile tree, a thousand miles from Omaha : it is a branching pine, and on its trunk is the notice. We have passed through the Wasatch Mountains, and now come to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. At Ogden, 1,032 miles from Omaha, and 835 from San Francisco, we reach the end of the Union-Pacific Road, and begin the Central Pacific. The elevation here is 4,294 feet. Ogden is said to contain six thousand five hun dred inhabitants, mostly Mormons. Valuable mines are reported as near the town, and the waters of the Ogden River irrigate the place. The Wasatch Mountains, towering high above with their granite walls, made the surrounding scenery imposing, and the air salubrious. We came through from Omaha to Ogden the first week in June, and were surprised to find the roads for a thousand miles so dusty, the treeless hills so barren, no green of any kind, — a general aspect of barrenness, and but few crags or mountain peaks to break the dreary monotony.

Miles of snow-fences and vast snow-sheds were frequent ; but we learned that live stock thrive and fatten upon the dried grasses, which remain nutritious, as in Califor nia, till the autumn rains destroy the nutriment, when new grasses spring up, and make the hills green again before November. It is certain that the yearly number of sheep, mules, cattle, and horses, which are reared along this road, is immense. Duringthe summer months there is no rain in the Rocky Mountains, California, or the Yellowstone Park. It matters little what the Government ad vanced to build the Central and Pacific roads. This great highway is of priceless value to the nation : had it cost the Federal treasury ten times more than it did, it were money well in vested. The Government did not advance cash, but loaned its credit in the form of six-per-cent bonds, at thirty years, with interest half yearly.

On the ist of July, 1862, in the heat of the war, President Lincoln signed a bill which was the charter of the road. The Act was entitled : " An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Govern ment the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes." The grant of land was every alternate section for twenty miles on each side of the road ; that is, twenty sections for each mile, or twelve thousand eight hundred acres a mile, a section being six hundred and forty acres. In addition to the land grant, the Government, in aid of the work, issued its bonds to the Union Pacific, in all $27,226,512 ; to the Central Pacific, in all $25,885,120. Such is the pecuniary benefit of the road, that, if no part of the government subsidy is ever repaid, the Government will have saved many millions by its loan of bonds.

The building of the Pacific Road commenced Nov. 5, 1865, on the Missouri River near Omaha. By the Act of 1862, the time of com pletion was limited to July 1, 1876. It was fin ished in three years six months and ten days. On the 10th of May, 1869, the Pacific met the Central at Promontory Point, Utah Territory. At Ogden we are near the Great Salt Lake, which is about a hundred miles long by forty five miles wide. Its general direction is from north-west to south-east ; and, as you will see by the map, Ogden is about midway of the lake, a short distance to the east. The lake has no outlet, though many rivers empty into it, — the rivers Jordan, Weber, and others. Of late the waters have risen slowly, and they are now twelve feet higher than they were twenty years ago. The water is so buoyant that it is diffi cult to swim in it, and very difficult for a steamer to navigate it.

The water is exceedingly salt, and very acrid ; and the white salt along the shores will take the skin from the tongue which tastes it too freely. While bathing with others in the lake, I carelessly swallowed a little of the water, and my throat closed, and I was nearly suffocated : a man who saw the trouble hastened to my relief with a flask of brandy, without which I never could have reached the shore. Several bathers have been made seriously ill by inad vertently allowing a drop from a wave to enter the throat ; and some have died from a swallow of it. No living thing is found anywhere in the lake's vast waters. No ice ever forms upon it. I better understand the passage in the Bible where the swine " ran violently down a steep place, and were choked." We were told that a German Jew went to bathe in this lake, and was never seen again.

His clothes were found in the bathing-house, but all search for his body proved fruitless. It has since attracted notice, that his life was in sured for thirty thousand dollars, and that his cheerful wife, after arranging his affairs, soon left the city with the insurance-money. The impression prevails, that he had other clothing, and played the game for the purpose of secur ing the money ; since the buoyancy of the waters would surely have disclosed the dead body if drowned in the lake. THE MORMON CLTY AND THE MORMONS. 1 7

Chapter IV. The Mormon City And The Mormons

Salt Lake City is near the south end of the lake, in latitude 400 47' north, and is thirty eight miles south of Ogden. It lies at the foot-hills of the Wasatch Mountains, at the northerly end of a level plain which is about forty miles long and fifteen wide, and is called the Valley of the Jordan. The Jordan River runs northerly from Utah Lake, nearly forty miles south of the city, to the west of the town, and empties into Salt Lake twelve miles distant. These snow-topped mountains, from twelve to thirteen thousand feet high, form nearly a semicircle on the east of the plain, and nightly cool the city after the cloudless sun has heated the valley. There are no summer rains ; but copi ous mountain streams run through the streets on each side, and the lands around are green and productive from easy irrigation.

On the south-west the Oquirr range of mountains seem to bound the plain, and far beyond is a moun- FROM FIFTH AVENUE TO ALASKA. tain where abundant rock-salt is found in a remarkably pure state. On June 8 Modjeska arrived at the Walker House, and created some little excitement. In the evening we went to hear her play in "As You Like It," in company with Gov. and Mrs. Murray. The Mormons are fond of giving Bible names to their children ; one child of the President being called Ezra, another Moses. The Mormons gave us a history of their trials and persecutions, of their wranderings from Mis souri and Illinois ; and how, when they were in the latter State, they volunteered five hundred strong to the Mexican War. Mr. Cannon drove us to the warm Sulphur Springs, ninety-six degrees, especially good for cutaneous diseases.

Bathing in this spring is excessively weakening. We observed one man with a bald head taking his tub, and as he had an egg in his hand we watched him with some curiosity. After breaking the egg, and dividing the contents in each half-shell like a sherry cobbler slinger, he first rubbed his hairless top with the white, and then with the yolk, expect ing the hair to rise like Jack's beanstalk, — some barber having probably sold him the receipt. While we remained, no apparent transformation took place on his bald head ; and since the flies began to be attracted by the yolk I felt like giving him the well-known rec ommendation, — that of painting a cobweb on his cranium while the fly months lasted. After going to the spot where this sickly warm mix ture rises, we drove on to the hot springs, where the water is nearly boiling, an egg being easily cooked in a few minutes.

Fort Douglass, a military post, is situated on the east side of the Jordan, four miles from the river and three miles east of the city. It is on a high base of the mountains sloping west. The officers' houses are of uniform appearance, well built in a semicircle, with a green lawn in front, cheerful with running water cold and abundant, and the whole combination is truly charming. The post is now commanded by the gallant Gen. McCook. Not far away is the Emma Mine, and many other mines which are worked. We were told by Gen. McCook that he had seen clams at Puget Sound weighing fifteen pounds, tender, of delicate flavor, and excellent for food. We shall speak of these mammoth clams farther on. We were assured that Utah Territory is very rich in gold, silver, coal, iron, copper, zinc, cin nabar, and every other metal found in the West; and it is the opinion, that, had not Brigham Young warned his Mormon followers against " seeking for corrupting gold," and told them to confine themselves to "multiplying, and replen ishing the earth," Utah would have developed mineral wealth equal to that of California.

The Mormons are not miners ; but there are many smelting-furnaces in and around Salt Lake City, and a large number of manufactur ingestablishments. The population of Salt Lake City is now twenty-seven thousand. It seems to be a well-ordered and prosperous town, and is illu minated with electric lights. The streets are wide, bordered with trees, and laid out at right angles. The cold streams from the snow moun tains, which wash the streets on either side in rapid flow, add largely to the health, comfort, and cheerfulness of the place. The Mormon Tabernacle is a strange-looking building of immense proportions. It is an ellipse ; the inner axes are one hundred and fifty feet by two hundred and fifty ; the roof is a single arch supported by forty-six large columns of cut stone. It will hold fourteen thousand people.

Its acoustic properties are wonderful : the dropping of a pin into a hat can easily be heard from one end to the other. We were informed that the preachers were called upon just as the Divine influence prompted, being in this respect somewhat like the Plym outh Brotherhood in England. The Temple is a Gothic structure, built of granite, not yet complete. Its base is one hun dred and sixteen by one hundred and ninety feet. It will be very high, with five pointed towers. The base walls are sixteen feet thick, built with inverted arches of granite blocks. It seems built for eternity — rather inconsistent for Latter-Day Saints who believe in an early " second coming." From the top of the main wall we obtained a grand view of the magnificent valley, which far exceeds in size anything I have seen in Italy, Switzerland, France, or Germany.

We were in a basin which from the shell-deposits must have once been a huge lake twenty miles by forty. All around us, even now the sixth day of June, vast mountains rose to a height of thirteen thousand feet in snowy grandeur ; and at a distance of twenty miles we could see the Great Salt Lake, rich fertility greeting us on all sides. With such natural advantages, no wonder that Brigham Young, even if this had not been seen by him through divine revelation in a dream, could hardly have refrained from say ing, " Here we will pitch our camp, and build our temple." In this Temple we were shown the places of the Endowment House, the baptismal font (their baptism is by immersion), and the " Holy of holies ; " where we were told that angels were expected to be met, and where probably Christ the Saviour would be seen (this was said with the utmost seriousness and apparent belief).

While my father was Attorney-General in the Cabinet of Gen. Grant, he became acquainted with Mr. George Q. Cannon, then the delegate to Congress from Utah. Mr. Cannon was now very polite to us, and introduced us to the president and council of the church. The next day we dined at the Amelia Palace (as it is called), the spacious residence of the president of the hierarchy, where we met Mr. Kane the present delegate to Congress, Mr. Cannon, and others of the church, besides some of the daughters of Mr. John Taylor the presi dent. Mr. Taylor is a tall, venerable old gentleman, with white hair, courteous manners, and of quiet and cultivated demeanor : he was dressed in black, with a white cravat, and seemed altogether like a Presbyterian clergy man of the old school, with a rich congregation, a large salary, and sincere faith.

The dinner was excellent, served in good style, and the currant-wine was delicious. The conversation was upon general subjects, such as would have 2$ been discussed at a dinner of intelligent gentle men in New York. Those who fancy that the Mormon leaders lack shrewdness, or fixedness of purpose, are mistaken. In Utah, the women all vote the same as men. Their temples and religious houses are built by tithes, which the faithful contribute for the church. Saturday is the day for payment ; and throughout the morning wagon after wagon comes slowly through the dusty street, bearing its little offering. One poor Scandinavian wo man is now passing before me with a dozen eggs, the tenth of her week's increase ; another now fills her place, tightly holding three obstreper ous hens ; still another Mormon lengthens the line, chiding good-humoredly his two oxen bearing along some hay and turnips, his tenth ; still one more passes, holding with one hand the rope which leads a cow, while her other grasps the reins of her horse.

Under the Edmunds Bill of last winter, a commission was appointed to take the registry of voters in Utah, and to exclude all polygamists. Gov. Ramsay of Minnesota was chair man of the commission, — an eminent and experienced public man, whom my father knew well. He told us at Salt Lake, in early June, that the commission had finished its work, ex ercising all the power which the law gave them ; that he suspected, notwithstanding, that the Mormons would succeed at the election in Au gust. The election took place on the 6th of August, and every member of the legislature is a Mormon. Under this faithfully executed com mission, all, both men and women, were disfran chised, who had ever married a second wife while the first was living, or who had ever taken a husband who had another wife. In this way, all polygamists were excluded from the polls, to the number of twelve thousand.

The Mormons of Utah are a hundred and thirty thousand. No doubt there is some difficulty in dealing with the Mormon question. Mormon obedience to Church authority is absolute : the Church is the tribunal to which all their disputes are sub mitted. Their readiness to make any sacrifice, or suffer any privations, in support of their creed, has been attested. Their prosperity under trials has largely increased ; and the idea that if let alone they will disband, and become dispersed, belongs only to those who are ignorant of the facts, of past history, and of human nature. Their priesthood has concentrated power, and through their tithing-system commands great wealth. Outside of any fanaticism, this grati fies their able leaders, and most of their believ- THE MORMON CLTY AND THE MORMONS. 2$ ing followers are far better off than ever be fore : they are sure of comfortable support and a decent burial.