T' SCENIC ROUTES TO THE PACIFIC COAST By R. H. Whitbeck University of Wisconsin, Madison HERE are three reasons why an unusually large number of teachers will go to the Pacific Coast this summer: 1. The Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, 2. The meeting of the National Education Association at Oakland, Aug. 16-28. 3. The undesirability of European travel. Moreover, the "See America First" slogan has undoubtedly converted many people. There are no less than nine routes by which one may go to the Exposition or return. Many people living near the Atlantic seaboard will be attracted by the Panama Canal route. The Panama Pacific Line, (Broadway, N. Y.) operating the Finland and the Kroonland, is offering 17-day cruises through the canal from New York to San Francisco or return. If the passenger prefers, he may travel one way by rail, on a round trip ticket. Doubtless other steamship lines are offering similar trips. Persons living near the Gulf or within easy reach of New Orleans will have a choice between the canal route and the railroad journey over the Southern Pacific. The latter can hardly be classed as a scenic route, and the hot summer journey may not seem especially attractive. While not the preferred route for reaching the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, one may, with some loss of time, reach this greatest of chasms by leaving the Southern Pacific at Maricopa and traveling northward. The direct route from the East to the Grand Canyon is by way of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. At least two days should be allowed for a stop-over at the Canyon. The petrified forests of Arizona* are also reached by the Santa Fe Route. The southern routes are, of course, warmer and the mountain scenery is less impressive than by the central and northern routes, yet the Grand Canyon of the Colorado is one of the most wonderful places in all of our western Wonderland. Several railway lines lead from Chicago or St. Louis to Denver, and the scenic features, so far as there are any, are much the same by the different routes. Two direct lines connect Colorado with the Coast. The Union Pacific and the newer line made up of the Denver and Rio Grande and the Western Pacific. The direct line of the Union Pacific avoids the Colorado mountains, bending northward through southern Wyoming. It is the quickest of the routes from Chicago to San Francisco, but has none of the famous scenic features along its main line. By leaving the main line at Ogden or at Granger and taking the Oregon Short Line northward, the Yellowstone Park may be reached; from the east, this route is less direct than that by the Northern Pacific. The scenery in the Sierra Nevadas along the Union Pacific *See map and description, Journal of Geography, Vol. XI, p. 329. (June, 1913). route is grand, but the long ride through the miles and miles of smoke-filled snow sheds was the most disagreeable railroad journey the writer ever took. The other central route from Denver takes you to Salt Lake City by the Denver and Rio Grande, thence to San Francisco by the recently completed Western Pacific. The second portion of this route is closely parallel to the Union Pacific and affords substantially the same scenic features. The journey from Denver to Salt Lake City is one of superb mountain scenery. The journey has been described as follows:* "From Denver to Pueblo, 120 miles, the Denver and Rio Grande runs south, with the Front Range of the Rockies on the west and the Great Plains stretching off to the east. Between Denver and Pueblo is Colorado Springs from which a branch line leads to Manitou. The famed Garden of the Gods is a short distance out of Manitou and Pike's Peak is reached by a cog railroad. The Ute Pass and North and South Cheyenne Canyons are also easily reached." "At Canyon City, the road enters one of the most wonderful defiles of the West, the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas. It is ten miles long, a half mile deep, and very narrow (only 30 feet in one place). Special open-top cars are used in summer for the canyon trips." "Fifty miles beyond the Royal Gorge, the railroad forks, the main line crossing the continental divide by way of Tennessee Pass, and the narrow gage line crossing it at Marshall Pass; both passes are over 10,000 feet high, and a mile above the Arkansas River at the Royal Gorge. The main line, after zig-zagging over Tennessee Pass, runs through Red Cliff Canyon, near the Mount of the Holy Cross, into the Eagle River Canyon, with its cliff walls, 2000 feet high, honeycombed with mines. Farther on is the narrow canyon of the Grand River, with almost vertical cliffs 2500 feet high, Glenwood Springs, Grand Valley, and Grand Junction, one of Colorado's widely known irrigated orchard regions. At Utaline, midway of the Ruby Canyon, the railroad passes into Utah." There are four northern routes,-three in the United States and one in Canada. Of these the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul is a recently built line and is least known to tourists. It runs from Chicago, via Milwaukee and St. Paul, across South Dakota, through Central Montana, across Idaho and Washington to Seattle. While it offers much the same types of scenery as do the other northern routes it has no single outstanding feature such as the Yellowstone Park on the Northern Pacific or the Glacier National Park on the Great Northern Railroad. The Northern Pacific route was the one selected by the International Geographical Excursion of 1912‡. This line uses the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy between Chicago and St. Paul. It crosses central Minnesota, and the premier wheat lands of the Red River Valley, North Dakota, Montana, *Journal of Geography, Vol. XI, p. 306. (May, 1913). Journal of Geography, Vol. XI, p. 105. (Nov., 1912). Idaho and Washington to Puget Sound ports. The main line runs close to the Yellowstone National Park, the Park trains branching off at Livingston, Mont. The Yellowstone National Park is by all odds the place of most varied scenery in the Cordilleran region. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone does not equal in grandeur the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, but the canyon is only one of many features of the park. Writing of the geysers, Prof. N. M. Fenneman says:** "The one thing which, above all others, makes Yellowstone Park a wonderland is its geysers. . . They vary in quantity of water erupted from a few gallons to thousands of barrels; in height of eruption from several feet to several hundred feet; in period from a half minute to a few weeks or even longer. Some play at regular intervals for many years, others at irregular intervals. Some throw a straight vertical shaft of water (except for the effect of wind), others discharge obliquely or throw out an irregular mass or sheet of water. Some receive back their waters into their own basins to be erupted again, others not. Some have wide open basins with the orifice at the center and lowest part, others spout from the apex of a cone built of siliceous deposits made by the water, others still have irregular mounds." Besides the geysers and the Canyon, the Park includes a score of other notable features; among them the Mammoth Hot Springs and their beautiful terraces, the exquisitely tinted pools, the petrified forests, the obsidian cliff, Yellowstone Lake, the falls, the fumeroles, and man's masterpiece of rustic construction, Old Faithful Inn. The tour of the Park requires five days, and the cost varies from $5.00 to $10.00 a day. Reliable information regarding the Yellowstone Park, and methods and cost of seeing it, is contained in a government bulletin listed at the end of this article. The Great Northern Railway is roughly parallel to the other northern routes. It uses the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy from Chicago to St. Paul and terminates at Seattle. Its mountain scenery is substantially like that of the Northern Pacific and of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, but inferior to that of the Canadian Pacific. The Glacier National Park is reached by this route. Writing of this Park, Prof. Lawrence Martin says:* "Here one may see glaciers, as the name suggests, and although they are not as large as those on Mount Rainier, which contains the largest ice streams in the United States, they are in no way inferior to the glaciers along the Canadian Pacific Railway a little farther north. They are smaller than the ice tongues of the Alps and are mere pigmies compared with the glaciers of Alaska, but the Blackfoot Glacier and its neighbors in Glacier National Park are perfectly typical and to Americans they are very accessible." The Canadian Pacific route is considered to have the most striking mountain scenery. Where this line crosses the Front Range of the Rockies near Banff and where it crosses the Selkirks farther west, the mountains are magni **Journal of Geography. Vol. XI, p. 314 (June, 1913). *Journal of Geography, Vol. XI, p. 324. (June, 1913). ficent in their grandeur. The Crow's Nest branch of the Canadian Pacific affords the finest of the scenery. The line terminates at Vancouver. All of the lines issue beautifully illustrated booklets which are either mailed free or at a nominal cost. Offices are maintained in all leading cities. Main offices of the various roads are located as follows: The Southern Pacific at New Orleans. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the Union Pacific, and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul at Chicago. The Denver and Rio Grande and Western Pacific at Denver. The Northern Pacific and Great Northern at St. Paul; and The Canadian Pacific at Montreal or Winnipeg. Booklets and other information may be obtained by addressing the respective General Passenger Agents at these places. Members of the U. S. Geological Survey are preparing geographical and geological guide books for use along the three Land-grant roads, namely, the Santa Fe, the Union Pacific, and the Northern Pacific. These guide books will be more than mere booklets for tourists. They will be carefully prepared descriptions of the geological and geographical features of the country traversed by these railways; they are written by prominent members of the Geological Survey, are illustrated with maps, cross-sections and half tone views and are written for the general reader, not simply for the geologist. These guide books will be sold for 50c and may be obtained by sending the amount in coin or money order, to the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.* Two special numbers of the Journal of Geography may be of interest to persons who plan to visit the Coast this summer. These are The California Number (June, 1911) and the Summer Travel Number (June, 1913). CONTENTS OF THE JUNE, 1911, NUMBER Geographic Influences in the Development of California.... *None of these booklets will be ready for distribution before June 20. Glacier National Park.... .Lawrence Martin The Yosemite National Park, Extracts from U. S. Geological Survey by F. E. Matthes. The Petrified Forests of Arizona.... A Thousand Miles Through Colorado. .F. E. Williams .R. H. Whitbeck .R. H. Whitbeck Either of the above issues of the magazine will be sent postpaid for 10 cents. See also the list of National Park publications following this article. RAILROAD RATES TO THE COAST In general the round-trip rates are as follows: Omaha, Nebr., Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Leavenworth, Kans... 50.00 Tickets sold at these rates are good for a round trip by direct routes including San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland on the western coast. Where it is desired either to go or to return via the northwest route, taking in the cities of Portland, Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver, an extra $17.50 is added to the rates quoted for direct routes. All tickets sold are good for a three months' trip with stopover privileges in either direction within the limits of ticket at all points west of Chicago. To all teachers who attend the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco Ginn and Company are extending a cordial invitation to visit their exhibit in the Palace of Education. In this exhibit there are displays showing how textbooks are made, striking facts about the textbook business, motion pictures, and an interesting collection of early American school books. There is also a rest room with chairs, tables, desks, etc. An attendant who is familiar with all the details of the Exposition will render any possible services. Teachers who are not yet sure of their San Francisco address may find it convenient to have mail sent.-Care of Ginn and Company, Panama-Pacific Exposition, Palace of Education, San Francisco. |