Through the Golden Gate - San Francisco 1769 - 1937 by Catherine Coffin Phillips

Author:Catherine Coffin Phillips [Phillips, Catherine Coffin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2017-11-22T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter X. Iron Horse and Smoke Dragon

EUREKA! Only seven days from Chicago to California." This l" railway advertisement caused almost as great excitement in the East as had the cry of "Gold in California" in 1849. Instead of a long, dangerous voyage of weeks of stage-coach travel, here was a seven-day journey in handsome coaches gliding along a smooth iron track.

Union Pacific timetables written in pen and ink outlined the route and gave helpful instructions to the passengers. All were advised to carry extra shawls and a soft pillow or two. The ladies were requested to limit the number of bandboxes and bundles in order not to clutter up the aisles. They were also advised concerning the best foods to take in the lunch baskets. Tongue sandwiches were among the prohibited items since they had been found to "keep poorly."

As the passengers boarded the train in Chicago, their names and addresses were taken, to be published in the press under such captions as "Iron Horse Pioneers" and "Elegant Adventurers." To the tearful relatives left on the station platform at parting, these titles seemed most appropriate.

The passengers, once their luggage was stowed away and they had examined the comforts of the car, forgot their own grief at parting and settled themselves to enjoy the scenery. They looked first upon the far dusky reaches of the prairie stretching away toward the broad muddy channel of the Mississippi River. Through the long miles of grassy plains herds of buffalo lumbered away at sound of the whistle.

Here and there raced deer and antelope, while jackrabbits were everywhere. Prairie dogs popped up their heads, then ducked again into their holes as the cars rumbled past.

Rolling prairie gave place to high bluffs and deep gorges as the train rolled on farther toward the west. The first sight of Indians on their ponies watching the train go by was frightening, but as the engines drew nearer, the braves grinned a friendly greeting and waved farewell.

Through Wyoming the passengers sighted occasional bands of sheep and lonely herders' tents. Those who said: "Surely this barren, lonely land will never be valuable," little dreamed that within a few years Wyoming would be leading the whole country in the production of mutton and wool.

At Ogden they changed to the Central Pacific cars for the long pull over the mountain grades. Laboriously the two engines dragged the train up the slope of the Sierras. Through openings in the snow sheds still weighted with heavy drifts even in April, they caught glimpses of rugged pine-clad slopes and the icy sheet of Donner Lake far below.

From the summit, the train crept cautiously down the grade along Blue Canyon with the rich green of pine forests, the silver glint tumbling cascades, and foaming rivers in deep ravines. The lower foothills carpeted with wild flowers gave place to cultivated fields and the homes of settlers as the train drew into the station at Sacramento.

Here enterprising newsboys delighted the passengers with bouquets of roses and carnations. Farther on at Oakland all embarked on a ferryboat for San Francisco.

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