By the Golden Gate; Or, San Francisco, the Queen City of the Pacific Coast: With Scenes and Incidents Characteristic of its LifeCarey, Joseph
History
By the Golden Gate; Or, San Francisco, the Queen City of the Pacific Coast: With Scenes and Incidents Characteristic of its Life
Carey, Joseph
San Francisco (Calif.)
At Akron, Ohio, the energetic and successful Rector of St. Paul's
Church, the Rev. James H.W. Blake, accompanied by his wife and Miss
Graham, his parishioner, boarded the train; and I found them most
agreeable travelling companions to San Francisco. In Chicago, in the
Rock Island Station, I was met by tourist agent Donaldson, in the
employ of the Rock Island Railway Company, and during all the journey
he was most courteous and helpful. Here also I found my old classmate
in the General Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr. Alfred Brittin Baker,
Rector of Trinity Church, Princeton, N.J., Rev. Dr. Henry L. Jones,
of Wilkesbarre, Pa., Rev. Dr. A.S. Woodle, of Altoona, Pa., the Rev.
Henry S. Foster, of Green Bay, Wis., and the Rev. Wm. B. Thorne, of
Marinette, Wis., all journeying to San Francisco. It was a pleasure to
see these friends, and to have their delightful companionship.
Many interesting chapters might be written about this journey; and to
give all the incidents by the way and descriptions of places visited
and pen pictures of persons met would detain you, dear reader, too
long, as you are hastening on to the City by the Golden Gate. Some
things, however, we may not omit as we travel over great prairies and
cross rivers and plains and mountains and valleys. At Rock Island our
train crossed the Mississippi, reaching Davenport by one of the finest
railway bridges in the country; and as the "Father of Waters" sped on
in its course to the Gulf of Mexico, it made one think of the Nile and
the long stretches of country through which that ancient river wends
its way; but the teeming populations on the banks of the Mississippi
have a more noble destiny than the subjects of the Pharaohs who sleep
in the necropolis of Sakkarah and among the hills of Thebes and in
innumerable tombs elsewhere. They have the splendid civilisation of
the Gospel, and they are a mighty force in the growth and stability of
this nation, whose mission is worldwide. At Transfer we passed over
the Missouri by a long bridge, and entered Omaha, a city picturesquely
situated, the home of that doughty churchman, Rev. John Williams, and
of Chancellor James M. Woolworth, a noble representative of the laity
of the Church. Well may this place be called the "Gate City" of the
Antelope State. Towards evening we reached Lincoln, the home of
William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for the presidency in
1896, and also four years later. The house where he lives was pointed
out to us. It is a modest structure on the outskirts of the city,
comporting with the simplicity of the man himself. In the morning we
found ourselves riding over the plains of Colorado. Here are miles and
miles of prairie, with great herds of cattle here and there. Here also
the eye of the traveller rests on hundreds of miles of snow fences. At
last we have our first view of the Rocky Mountains, that great rampart
rising up from the plains like huge banks of clouds. It was indeed an
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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