TRIP TO AMERICA.

Northland Age, Volume 24, Issue 49, 2 April 1925, Page 7

TRIP TO AMERICA.

* INTERESTING IMPRESSION! CONCLUSION OF THE NARRATIVE.

Next Came Chicago, the Birmingham of the U.S. and a hive of industry. Here again all was rusty and hustle, but without the fascination of New York. Chicago is on the shore of Lake Michigan, and the drive along the Lake shore is beautiful. From Chicago we left on the Santa Fe Route for the Grand Canyon of Arizona, a three nights' and two days’ trip. En route you pass through Kansas City on the Missouri River. Through the State » of Kansas you pass through some nice farming and grazing lands, also nice open rolling plains. The next place of any interest you stop at is Atbuquerqtie.in New Mexico. Here you get your real first glimpse of the Indians and the Indian life. They are of fine physique, and have very intelligent looking faces, while the gaudy colours of their dress make them most attractive and picturesque. From the car windows may be seen clusters of curious abode hcJlises— thelndians homes These abode houses are built of mud and straw, and vary in height according to the race of the Indian. These Indians are not savages, but peaceable, goodnatured and agricultural inclined. Some of them offer pottery ware, rugs, blankets, and curiouslyworked silverware, for sale. Right at the railroad depot the well-known Fred Harvey has an * Indian curios shop, and needless to say we purchased a few. From here for miles on you follow the Rio Grande River. Atone time * the country ronud here was considered nothing but a sandy desolate waste, but now it is rich and fertile and worth up to £8 per acre. This has been brought about by systematic irrigation from the Rio Grande River. Nearly all this land is under Alfalfa fields, and is worked by the Indians and Mexicans. The Pullman sleeper takes you right to the Canyon Hotel—El Tovar—arriving at I - 7.30 a.m. just in time for a mosl * enjoyabik. breakfast. It waits there all day, picking the passengers up again in the evening at about 7.30 p.m. The hotel is run under the Fred Harvey manage-' * ment. It stands right on the rim of the Canyon, and is a very attractive house, offering to its guests the usual fine service and comforts of all American hotels. Like it would be foolish to attempt an adequate description of this wonderful and beautiful ~ ‘ Grand Canyon of Arizona, but ip order to give you some small idea I will tell you what it reminds one of. It is like a huge hole a mile deep and 13 miles wide, filled with gigantic mountain peaks painted all the colours of the rainbow, and fashioned in such charming symmetry as to make them seem like great masterpieces of architecture. Most of the big things of the world could jfc- comfortably stored in itsdepths without anyone being the wiser. One stands half shrinking from a depth that drop thousands upon thousands of feet down It is an fyerwhelming spectacle. The iew is 60 immense, the colorings so exquisite, and the silence so deep that one has a sense of unreality— lik« looking into another world. It is possible to take trips right into the very heart of the Canyon—to where the Colorado River lays— but these mean eit- | her one, two, or three days per 1 mule and camping out. We were content to look at it all from above, and we drove by car to the various viewpoints. Situated a jfew yards from the hotel is an exact reproduction of the curious abode dwellings of the Hopi jHdins. The house is inhabited by a small band of Hopis, and is filled with gaily colored rugs and Indian works of art and curious. Here we saw the Indian women Weaving their rugs and blankets ; also a wonderful Indian dance. Near by there are several Navaho hogans cone-shaped dwellings of mud, in which live Indians of the Navhao tribe. After dinner we left again for Los Angeles, and after a few more days there moved on to The Yosemite Valley. I The (rain takes you as far as El Porte! "the Gateway —and from there one motors into the 15 miles into the heart of the Valley, where there is a comfortable hotel. The ■Kelley itself is 7 miles long. Its :Bib-averages one mile in width ■ libs walls rise from 3000 to Hleet. After you have recov|Pr vour first sho.l of

wonder to know that it was water which cut in the solid granite most of this deep valley. Origi- ! nally the Merced flowed practically at the level of the Canyon i top. Geologists have determined ! by unerring deduction, that the : river did by far the most of the [ work, and that the great glacier which followed the water ages | afterwards, did little more than square its corners and steepen its ! cliffs. Since then nature has marvellously used her wonder chisel. It just seemed that we were to end otir 8000mi!es of sight j seeing with the most dazzling and wondersul sight of all. Nothing that anyone could write would describe the marvellous beauty of i Yosemite. The immensity, the j loveliness of it all, just leaves one i speechless. Gigantic bare rocks of solid granite rising sheer 3000 j to 6000 feet high (ElCaptain 3600 feet, Half Dome 4800 feet, Clouds Rest 5900 feet, etc.) These rocks i are snowcapped, and with here and there waterfalls pouring over their sides. Immense trees, 200 to 300 feet high, and 40 to 90 feet in circumference, grow in the Valley, seeming like toys against the background of these wonderful walls. Lake and streams are to be seen everywhere formed of melted snow and clear as crystal. Mirror Lake —as clear and as still as glass reflecting every minute detail of tree and mountain was especially a line sight. Yosemite Falls -the longest in the world — has a drop of 2000 feet —the first a clean diop of 1600 feet and then on down 400 feet. There is something fascinating, something inspiring about this rugged beauty of immense solid rock that fairly grips one. It is all sotremendous that one cannot take it all in. ' The road winds in and out thro- j ugh giant trees of all varieties — mostly pine—and at each turn ! there is a sight of something even j more beautiful than the last. If j you never saw anything else in ! America you should certainly never miss Yosemite Valley. It j is very wonderful. We stayed j the night amidst all the charming, attractions of this magnificent place, and were reluctant to leave next day for San Francisco j After spending another week in San Francisco we joined our boat for our Return to Home Sweet Home. We came back via Honolulu and Pango Pango. ihis latter, place is an American naval stat- ! ion, and is a very picturesque spot. Here we got a glanceof the j Samoans, who are indeed a fine race. Before America took over this island there was great bloodshed among the inhabitants, but 1 now, under good administration, ; they have become peaceful), inte- | Uectuall, and industrious.

Thus ends a most delightful, interesting, and instructive trip to the States, through them and back again. In conclusion I i would like to say that America is i a wonderful country and the Americans are a wonderful people. Undoubtly they may boast a lot, but lean tell you they have som- j cthing to boast about. We never ! were shown such kindness and I hospitality, never received such j courtesy and attention as we did during our whole sojourn in the : States. The better class of American is a charming person and I a wonderful host.

Although America is such a wonderful country, and we had such a wonderful time, let me tell you that after all there is no place like New Zealand. The possibilities of this country are absolutely enormous. Small wonder it is that the envious eyes of alt the world are upon it. We do not realise what a God’s Paradise we are living in. If only all these methods of Bolshevism, 0.8. U., 1.W.W., and Go Slow policies could be cast to the four winds of heaven and employer and employee work in harmony, and the employee give a fair days work for a fair day’s pay, what a happy and prosperous people and country we and it would be.