The Western Echo / A Description of the Western State and Territories of the United States. As Gathered in a Tour by Wagon

by George W. Romspert

We ran out of the mouth of the Columbia, and had not gone far when we hove in sight of the stranded Republican, reeling upon the rocks. The wind was high, and the waves were lashing up against her sides; and she was heaving and groaning, while most of her rigging had been torn away by the gale. She proved a total wreck; and several lives were lost. There was great excitement about the matter, and the captain was strongly accused of being bought off by the other line, and purposely driving her awreck; for it was shown that on the night of the accident the wind was very high and the sea was rolling terribly, and the sailors pleaded with the captain to go ashore before dark, or else ran out farther on the ocean out of danger from the breakers. But he was heedless, and the consequence was that in the darkness of the night they were driven upon the bars.

Well, we ran down to the south, most of the time in sight of land, until we again reached Frisco, and from there we again embarked for Santa Barbara, on the southern coast of California, a distance of about two hundred miles.

We now reached the most delightful spot on earth, where winter never comes, but where the bright summer lasts the whole year round. The cool fall winds were now blowing in the central and northern states, and the bitter frosts were clipping the leaves from the forest-trees; but here the soft zephyrs were breathing calmly, and the tender foliage of the trees and plants was green and fresh as in the month of May, while the air was laded with the breath of the lovely flowers and delicious fruits. The rich oranges, lemons, and figs, which are considered such delicacies in the East, were here hanging upon the native bush, and we went forth and plucked them in all their natural beauty. How lovely! What a paragon of beauty! A life here would be but a continuous summer’s day.

The country around Los Angeles, which lies a little to the south, is a perfect Eden, and the city is a perfect gem; and persons seeking a peer for paradise, where December is pleasant as May, should journey to California and anchor in the sweet, sunny South, where the breath of heaven fans the shore.

From here we went down the Southern Pacific Railroad, and branched off to Prescott, the capital of Arizona. Here we met the great General John C. Fremont, the daring explorer who served the Government so nobly between the years 1842-8, by his exploits through the bleak, lonely mountains and wild lands of the savage, and whose talent the nation has felt and acknowledged. He was born in South Carolina in the year 1813, and though his great name was once in every mouth on the Atlantic slope, and even sung in the national campaign of 1856, the orient has almost forgotten her son and servant, whose lips have touched the waters of every river between the shores, and whose hairs have grown gray in her service; and far beyond the Mississippi he is to-day governing the dismal, desert territory of Arizona, his youth gone, glory flown, and naught but his insignificant gubernatorial salary to guard poverty from his door.

The climate here is intensely hot, and the surface is dry and sandy. General Fremont thinks that a portion of the territory could be flooded from the Pacific, and thereby be made productive; and his scheme has been presented to congress.

They were just building the Southern Pacific Railroad through here when we were there, and, from the intense heat and burning sands, it was found impossible to work at it except about three or four months in the year. The road is, however, now finished, and the Union Pacific has a rival in the route across the continent.

On our return back to Frisco we went up a branch of the Central Pacific, and ran out on the stage to the big trees upon the Sierra Nevada slopes. We had stood in the forests in Ohio, and looked up at the great oaks and called them mammoths; but great glory! here was a whole forest in a single tree. The trunks are from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, with summits reared so high that they appear to sweep the sky as they are swayed to and fro by the upper currents; and away up among the spreading boughs nestle and scream the great eagles, looking like sparrows. The stage-route runs clear through the forest, and right by the largest trees, which rear their heads to the enormous height of three and four hundred feet, and right through the hollow trunk of the king of the forest, which fell in a storm some years ago. Some idea can be formed of the immensity of this tree when I tell you that the driver keeps his seat and a four-horse stage-coach runs lengthwise through its body with perfect ease. People are living in some of the trees, and have doors and windows cut out; and some very fair-looking two-story houses are made with these natural walls. Many of the trees have been felled, and it is found that all the largest are but shells. One was cut down, divided into sections, and taken to the Centennial. The most interesting part of our journey was the curling route among these towering Pacific monuments; and all tourists to the West, wishing to see the curiosities of the world, should not fail to ride out among the wonders upon the Sierra Nevada slopes.

We now returned to Frisco and prepared to return to Ohio. We sailed across the bay, and, taking a last long look over the tossing sea, we bid the waves good-by, and then rattled along over the iron trail of the Union Pacific, reaching home safe and sound, when the snow-flakes were flying in the wintry air of 1879. How unnatural all things appeared! Where are the great hills which used to almost barrier the public way? Why, the roads are almost smooth as a floor. Where are the big fields that it used to take days to plow, and the great forests through which we used to hunt? All appear but garden-spots, and fit for the spade instead of the plow; and the woods are too small for a home for even the squirrel or wood-chuck. All efforts to see the old homestead as in years gone by are vain. The towering peaks of the Rockies, and the steep, stony slopes of the Green Horns can not be banished from my mind, and the great world of level prairie is too fresh in my memory.

I have been home now some time; and to this day farms are but gardens and the hills are as clods. Like experience can only prove the effect. I have roamed through twenty states and territories, and have in a measure satisfied that desire which was the source of my boyish dreams. The adventure is but familiar talk, and the wild chase is but common exercise. But how much better am I off than he who is content without travel? I now only realize how wonderful is the world and its workings, and how much there is that I never shall see. Travel is prone to disturb content; and discontent is the greatest enemy to the human mind. Of course, this is directed to persons who travel to satisfy the mind; for they whom circumstances crowd from home show pluck and shrewdness in careful prospecting. I can assure you that I have seen a great deal, and much that I never wish to see again. And if in this brief work I have succeeded in giving my readers even a limited idea of the country through which I passed, I feel sure that they will relieve me of my responsible undertaking; for it is by far too much for these few pages.