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Show I - Asi Impression of Dixie" Utah's Wonderland -! t WHENEVER the band plays "Away Down South In Dixie." my dreams will not be of the days of confederacy as of yore I shall see instead, a little red town, with Its 'red sand-padded streets, streams llowing with red liquid, and the red sand bench with its high sweep looking over the town; I shall see but I cannot tell it all ln a moment, for to me there is no spot In the State more Wonderful than the Dixieland of Utah, Perhaps it was my previous ignorance igno-rance of conditions In southern Utah which filled my summer trip with such interest. Of coure I had heard of the volcanoes and earthquakes, but it is the minor details which surprise In a new country. And Dixie is different from any other part of Utuh. The traln-rhle down to Modena was not unusual excent for slowness and bumps. For landscape was a dreary waste o' desert. But I find where ever I go as if in divine recompense, the skies are always beautiful, thanks be unto the Lord. A straggling house now and then on the sunbaked waste made one sympathetically sympa-thetically heart sick with loneliness. A rakish store, a station, a shanty, three or four soiled youngsters ln the doorway door-way this denominated a town. I can put my finger on the map at Intervals In-tervals along that road, and you will see the names. Oh, Chicago; Oh. Greater Great-er New York) what humiliation must follow knowing that your spots on the map are no larger than those made by the desert "towns!" Arrival at Modeue. We had been riding all night and one day, when wo reached the terminus of the railroad, a half-dozen frame buildinsrs known as Modena. Through -a mistake it was necessary to remain here all night. In one of the hotels to my surprise I found a good piano, in tune, which served to beguile the time. At G o'clock the next morning, in tne chill of early June, with the stage-driver's little boy. I started for St. George. Beginning by wearing a Jacket that day, I experienced more varieties of temperatures than in any other period of the same length from nipping frost to tropical heat in thirteen hours. The first lew miles are rather pleasant but after that one longS to see St. George over the next hill, and then the next, and then the next, and then it begins to dawn on you just exactly what the Bible- means when it says "without beginning be-ginning and without end" It Is the road to Dixie. People go to St. George for their health. All I have to say Is that if any one can survive that trip to Dixie, sixty-fve miles through sand and tropical trop-ical heat, he should receive a life certificate cer-tificate of Invulnerable health. The ride through this country Is a trial to the limit of physical endurance, but the last twelve miles repay all unpleasantness un-pleasantness which goes before. This Is the land of Dante's Inferno and of Milton's Paradise Lost. f . ' Black Volcanic Mounds, . Gigantic. Intensely black volcanic mounds raise their yawning craters, suggesting1 the terrible drama enacted by nature not very long ago. In this region there have ben vast upheavels, tho stratification being -it right angles, crossed, undulating twisted. twist-ed. Not far from the black craters stretches a bed of sand In gleaming 1 whiteness; just beyond, rising from a canyon, formed by the black lnv.a flow, rise cllifs and peaks of a beautiful pink and white, without vegemtlou or apparent ap-parent stratification, looking as though they might have cooled Instantly while bclnjc poured upon the earth by some giant. Beyond Is a valley where grows in nutlvc beauty the graceful tamarack tree, but one forgets this ln an emotion akin to depression at sight of this country, coun-try, paralyzed In a mighty convulsion, its lakes of fire petrified In their flow. Finally after the sun has set, we see the cottages and trees In the hollow shadowed by the red sand bench and the long, black, fiat hill, with Its chip gone from the. central part known as the Devil's saddle. Almost the-first object of -"notice Is tho Mormon temple looming white against the distant purple mountains. The thought comes, here, if anywhere. In this Land of Lull, must flow the Waters of Lethe, whereof a man may drink and forget! St. George. My previous experience had made me picture SL George as a straight street, with straggling, leafless trees and sunbaked houses. I found instead, comfortable houses, lawns and some of the most beautiful trees I ever met, and I remember among my dearest acquaintances, ac-quaintances, old Eastern oaks and Northern pines. Some of these elms, oaks and .tamaracks .tama-racks of St. George have an exceptional beauty In size and shape. They are the fortunate, for they live through centuries cen-turies of sunshine without fear of the elements. For the first lime 1 ate ripe figs from the trees, examined the second crop, which was already coming on the same branches with the ripe fruit, and recalled re-called the fact that the blossom of the fig Is within the fruit and not without, as ln all others familiar to me. It Is summer all the year here, snow being a curiosity and a rare one at that. It is not so surprising, therefore, to learn that strawberries are ripe from spring until Christmas. Would this not be the land of Heart's-deslre, for the small boy who loves strawberry shortcake? short-cake? Christmas day on my father's table were straw berries and roses fresh from tho garden! The sweet corn, asparagus, radishes, etc., are all ready for the table long before be-fore they are in the Salt Lake market. Watermelons - and cantaloupes come earlier and some things which appear only periodically In the grocery stores of Salt Lake City and at fabulous prices in the restaurants, in Dixie are found almost the year around, and he who has a small price or a small garden may eat. Opportunities for Enterprise. This condition suggests opportunities for some enterprising man. the outcome out-come of which would be as good as a gold mine, and more sure. With agents in the South and North, and properly equipped conveyances, the S$nlt Lake market might receive these products all through the winter. The only marvel Is that it has never been attempted. Beyond cultivating what they actually actual-ly need, Utile has been done. With scientific farming and experimenting, wjhat might not be accomplished? Cotton Cot-ton will grow here, and no one who has tasted them will dispute the superiority of the Dixie grapes. There Is a fortune alone In the delicious seedless 111 sins which seldom travel farther north than Modena. The scarcity of water Is one drawback, but irrigation Is used with success here as In other parts of the State. In a little adobe house one evening I was Introduced to thousands of silk worms. This silk Industry Is one of the features of St. George, the products having attracted considerable attention at the St. Louis exposition In the Utah exhibit, where they were viewed with especial interest by the Japanese visitors, visit-ors, who asked many questions con-Vernlng con-Vernlng its production and pronounced It wqndcrful. Nearly everyone Is familiar with the nppearance -of these white worms, and the peculiar painted face on their heads features which mean nothing, and eyes which see not. In the room where several sev-eral hundred of these were feeding on the mulberry leaves, the sound was like the singing of constant rain on poplar leaves, or the escape of steam. There were long table-shelves for the large, the small the dark, and the yellow-worms, yellow-worms, and other tables for dormant amber-colored .worms, which are ready to weave the cocoons, in one corner was a stack of dried grasses, or something some-thing similar, to which they attached the cocoon. Indians at St. George. St. George without the Indians would not be St. George. It would lose ln plcturesqueness. They nro known by namo to the citizens for whom they chop , wood, scrub fioors and do other manual labor for payv Indian trinkets and souvenirs are harder to obtain than formerly A pleasant morning's ride from St. George is the Swiss village Santa Clara. Here have come the thrifty citizens from the old world, bringing their customs cus-toms and keeping them. The speech of the children reminds one of the Pennsylvania-Dutch stories of the Mennon-Ites, Mennon-Ites, a favorite request 'during school hours being: "Teacher, will you give me the dast to go out?" The town and Its people are exceptional excep-tional literary material. Authors of hackneyed subjects please take notice. All around Santa Clara nature seemed thoughful the stacked wheat-fields, wheat-fields, the white trumpet-llowers, the cattle grazing These same innocuous-looking, innocuous-looking, beautiful flowers have veins which run with deadly polron. Cattle never touch them, but man, grown away from his earth-instincts, Is not as fortunate. Several little children died through having tasted this plant. The road from Santa Clara follows the terminus of the black lava flow, and It was with this for a background the lava plies that my companion used his kodak. The land of Dixie with Its lava Hows, volcanoes and red cliffs is a rich field for the descriptive writer; on the other hand, the artist must Introduce the human element to produce anything but a geographical lithograph. For Artist and Writer. The artist's materials should be picturesque pic-turesque or beautiful even terrible. This country is none of these it Is wonderful. The wrlte-r needs onlv the thought of God in the use of this" materialthe ma-terialthe artist needs the old pioneer with his white-topped wagon, his wife In sun-bonnet, and their babe. This landscape Is background for the artist, but It Is big with life of its own for the writer. The Apex mine was the object of another visit. It was so far from St. George that midway on the trip the young men were obliged to take the horses down a canyon to a spring hitrh In the rocks, from which, bucket bv bucket the thirsty animals were watered. I remember this distinctly, from the fact- that after a refreshing drink deep ln this cave-spring I brought some water lo the .vurfaco ior Dixie lass, whereupon it way discovered thnt I had not only been drinking, but had actu-' ally swallowed a nice little tribe of fish several degrees smaller than the trout! My experience was limited lo "golnc down' mines and not "walking Into" them as I did in the Apex. The nmn-mlne nmn-mlne y sulllecl us through the The really wonderful thing to me was the cave. This we reached bv climbing climb-ing up through an aperture just large enough to admit the body. In fact some of the fleshier members of the party were pulled through bv main force after we had given up the Idea of me ting them and running them through. The cave seemed to me as large in-ride in-ride asan ordinary house. Glittering white walls, hanging with crystal pendants, pen-dants, made it a seiene out of fairy land. We broke several small specimens speci-mens from the walls; these resembled sugared gum-drops with brown centersnot cen-tersnot a pretty figure, but one immediately im-mediately suggested by their appearances. appear-ances. Other pieces were lined with the beautiful green velvet-cOpper, soft to the touch, and as delicate as a moth's wing There were tho various kinds of copper rock whoso formation and colors col-ors were as much admired bv me as any cut jewel I ever saw.' The Apex With Its Tents. Approaching or leaving, jn the dl". tance one sees tho Apex with its f-nts clinging to the top of the mountain" like the homes, of cliff-dwellers, or like the white toad-stool 1 often saw in Michigan clinging to tho trunks of the oak trees after a summer shower. A remarkable rock Is near this road We drove near enough to examine- It carefully, Much larger than the carriage car-riage In which we rode, the surface.- was completely covered with Indian hieroglyphics, hiero-glyphics, recorded I know not how long ago. What It portrays Is a mattc-r of conjecture. It will be. many years before be-fore the- carved surface is worn aw ay. Unless some mueeum field should carry away its surface, It will not disappear for tome time. I am surprised that this has not already beendone. My days In Dixie were uncomfortable only through the extreme heat, which was sometimes 102 degrees In the shade. Usually we had Ice for keeping cool water and foods, and managed to endure en-dure the mid-day heat by swinging hammocks ln the cool, well-lighted cellar. cel-lar. Fruit, books and a friend were tho pleasant accompaniments of this retreat. My housekeeping experiences were sometimes harrowing, but I found that a sense of humor, kept well polished pol-ished by use, was the most vuluable kitchen utensil I had these hot days. Despite this heat, the climate the year round Is a spot recommended for the cure of consumption, asthma and similar troubles. The cures effected here are many. The trouble comes from the fact that as soon as the climate begins be-gins to benefit the person must leave to care for business or family, and the consequence is death. As a health resort the fame of St George Is not In the far future. Moonlight at St. George. , One must drop Into the phraseology of sweet sixteen to describe the moonlight moon-light nights ln St. George. One girl remarked re-marked that the heavens seemed nearer St. George than any other place. And It Is certain that the moon seems to ride ln the Devil's Saddle with evident enjoyment. en-joyment. One x-aslly reads by moon-llEJht, moon-llEJht, and the illumination, although whiter, Beems almost as perfect aB in the daytime. The moon has the appearance ap-pearance of sailing much nearer the earth than ln tho North. Among the most sociable and hospitable hospit-able are thesa people. If you have dull moments, it is yopr own fault. There nro numerous pretty affairs given on the lawns, lighted by lanterns. Dlxy-Ites Dlxy-Ites are all lovers of music and they have a generous share of natural musicians, musi-cians, both with voices and with instruments. in-struments. Every night the air Is filled with music, the stillness of the place making It easily heard at long distances. dis-tances. The people themselves seem lo enjoy each other more than I have noticed In Northern settlements. Perhaps their isolation Is responsible for this then, loo, nearly all SL George is "related." The cynic might observe that one doesn't always love one's relatives. There is appearance of abundant good feeling In St. George. A Born Philosopher. There Is one character which to leave unmentioned would be to offer an Incomplete In-complete picture of the town. He Is nn unfortunate man, happy In not knowing his misfortune, which is a lack of the usual amount of mental ability. One remark of his has redeemed re-deemed him for all time- "If a married woman gets drunk." said he. "and acts wrong, It's her own fault, but If a married mar-ried man gets drunk, and acts wrong. It's both of their faults!" Which shows an appreciation of the world's ethics beyond the ordinary. To rise at 4 o'clock In the morning, a sandwich ln each hand, seated with the stage-driver and a "Bug" professor from an Eastern universityTan interesting interest-ing companion and farewell, Dixie! Farewell, kind hearts. Farewell, strawberries straw-berries and fresh figs! The spot of particular Interest to me going back was the scene of the "Mountain Meadow Massacre." Tho picture that Imagination conjures of the little maids In white who came from their mother's arms to meet Innocent's deaths, of the train, unarmed, massacred, massa-cred, Is too dreadful to contemplate. Yet the faeclnation of that valley kept my eyes upon It until the driver announced: an-nounced: "Here Is the hollow where Lee slept his last sleep before he was shot." I cared no longer to look. The whole story Is too heart-rending. "There are ghosts there at night," snld the driver. I shook my head and smiled, but I thought If there were ghosts anywhere they could find appropriate ap-propriate surroundings In this desolate spot. The ride ended, and once more on the paved streets, one does not forget the little red town In the hollow by the Devil's Saddle. Sometimes there floats through the mind the refrain whose words easily match this inward reverie: "I wish I was in Dixie. Away, away; For Dixie-land I'll take my stand, I'll live and die for Dixie. Away, away; Away down South In Dixie. Away, away; Away down South In Dixie." ANNIE PIKE.t |
