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Show ICALIFQRNIAN SEES fflMRN UTAH Is Spellbound by Ucautiful Scenery Scen-ery Along State Highway and Arrowhead Trail. PAINTS VIVID PEN PICTURE OF SCENES II. M. Warner of Coronn, Californtn, Writes Interesting Article for His Home Paper. From "Tho Coronn (Calif.) Courier.) Among the scenic wonders of America, one of tho very greatest has been hidden away in tho moun- K tain fastness of Southern Utah. If ' Zion Canyon, although not so I' ' stupendous in area as the Grand j Canyon of the Colorado, is said to be K, as much or even more inspiring in its I?,: magnificent granduer, and since this W" , progressive Commonwealth has re- R. contly built a State Highway into the W, country. Zion Canyon and its environs I have come into, tho lime-light for -- f sight-seeing auto tourists. i Lund, Utah i8 a small but very i. important shipping point on tho Salt i Lako Railroad. It is located in the ' center of the Escalante valley, for ;. many years the winter pasture land ,. for thousands of sheep but now opened ' to Homestead settlement and its entire area is dotted with the cabins of set- f tiers who arc endeavoring to carvo out Ik a farm and home in a wilderness of Bago brush. Tho land is rich and already al-ready making a cretiablo showing at Jf raising corn, wheat and rye. 4, Thirty-fivo miles south, nestling in Sl Cedar Canyon at the extreme north 2p end of the Hurricane'mountalns is the W modern city of Cedar, with a popula- I' tlon of two thousand souls. Sixty !JVt miles to the Bouth-east of Cedar, -wind- w, ing through the rugged and percipitous jr&ff mountains and located on the edgeof flko the Virgin valley is tho oldMormpn i ir town of St. George with a population 2 fully as largo as Cedar City. I St. Georgo lies on the right bank ft of the Virgin river which is one of ifr. the larger tributaries to the Colorado. i This section of country is in Washing- J-, ton county and is called Dixie land, & because of the low altitude (2900 feet ft above sea level) and its wonderfully M - mild climate. m Zion Canyon is tributary to the V Virgin river a distance of sixty-five miles south from Cedar City, the only W gateway by which it can bo ap- ' proached. The State Highway to St. 1 George, (now included in tho Arrow- head Trail to Los Angeles), has been W put in very good condition during the m- past year, and a branch from this r road to Virgin City, a village close to R- the rim of Zion Canyon opened up f sufficient to admit of automobile pass- iiA ace. 2J ' St. George was settled by the Mor- fJPv mons more than fifty years ago, and Wt in many respects is typical of similar to , sized towns off the railroads in eastern I states. Cedar City is another old settlement, but since the Salt Lake Railroad has been built through to '" ' Los Angeles the city has enjoyed clos- t- or communication with tho outside !' world and is rapidly coming to the I front as a modern city; while St. George on tho other hand, fain would let go from customs and traditions of the past but seems not to know how to go about it. In St. George is located the second largest Mormon temple in tho state, an imposing structure built of brick and stucco, set in a wide expanse of " lawn and native shrubbery and occu lt pying an eminence overlooking the f beautiful Virgin river valley. I' Be ono a Mormon or of some other I- religious faith a sunset view from this I point, of the wide expanse of river I and valley with hundreds of acres of Bs vivid green alfalfa fields in tho fore- I ffrnimd. with tho shimmer of the sct- I ting sun illuminating the vari-colored 1 mountains and bluffs many miles be- yond, is a wonderful inspiration to f one's soul, nnd bound to rejuvinate one's faith in the marvelous power I beyond this mundane sphere. b A few weeks ago tho writer in com- g pany with Messrs. L. A. Fink and J. i P. Koy had tho pleasure of taking this auto trip from Cedar City to St. ' Georgo; out owing to lack of time we i- were obliged to forgo the joy of tho & Bide trip to Zion canyon. Leaving - Cedar City by auto at about 3 p. m., wo were soon negotiating the passes E which lead down through thp moun- R; tains, a dizzy drop of nearly three W t'v 'isand feot from tho land of winter ft si s to the delights of a Southern m Cfirffiornia climate only Bixty miles fL- imy; where zero weather is almost K unknown and the fig nnd pomegranite , thrivo side by side with Indian corn. , alfalfa, nil kinds of delicious fruits and m . creen vegetables all the year through. I, At this time of tho year the moun- tains arc resplendent with vivid colors, ft tho result of Jack Frost's paint brush upon the deciduous trees, shrubbery ftj and other growth, the vivid reds, yel- M lows nnd greens being much more in- A"' tense than I have over seen in the i Iowa woods; all of which are inter- ffi framed with tho sombro growth of ffc conifer from base to summit Bk Seven miles from Cedar is Hamll- KV ton's Fort, a hnmlot surrounded by K ferUU ferns nnd fat cattlo; in an i & BBki,. .... . jML...- early day this was an outpost of the hardy pioneers who reclaimed tho rich valley lands of southwest Utah. Not far from here are fields of Indian corn that would do credit to the old corn states; one field in particular wo tarried tar-ried to investigate; for corn from this field took tho first prizo at the County i Fair at Cedar City. It comprises twenty or more acres and is grown without irrigation and should easily; mnko thirty-fivo bushels to the acre. Winding through a dozen miles of precipitous, rocky turnpike road along I the side of tho Hurricane range with rocky abysses below, and what is called Black Ridge to our left wo emerged em-erged into another valley where is located lo-cated Anderson's Ranch. Anderson's Ranch comprises some six hundred acres of rich brick-red valley land and although only partly improved it is one of the show places between Cedar and St. George. Here ono sees a beautiful mountain homo with an abundance of pure mountain water piped into the house and grounds. Besides corn and small grain, large quantities of fruits nnd vegetables are grown, among which arc cantaloupes, watermelons, tomatoes, toma-toes, muscat grapes, peaches and plums, which nre distributed by the truck load ,to less lavorcu poinis w tho north and along the Salt Lake Railroad. Wo talked with tho elder Mr. Anderson, a man at least eighty years old, who recounted to us some of tho hardships he suffered during his early struggles twenty-five years ago, in which he was a leading spirit in tho development of these mountain valleys from rock strewn wilderness to their present productiveness. From hero the road leads off to tho east for thirty miles to the rim of Zion Canyon. It requires two days to make this trip which I hope some day to be able to enjoy. Tho next place of importance is Leeds, an old settlement in a narrow valley which is the beginning of Dixieland. From Leeds we followed between high rocky ridges and the mountains parallel with the Virgin river to tho town of Washington. It was whilo passing between these points we looked upon the most inspiring scenery it has ever been my fortune to behold. At three different points, wide rifts in the rocky ridges opened upon the Virgin valley, disclosing marvelous vistas of color more vivid than a Remington picture. ... .v. It was our fortune to glimpse these inspiring nature pictures at a propitious pro-pitious time of Jhe-day.vhQn, the mountain shadows enveloped us, together to-gether with hundreds of acres of vivid green alfalfa fields in the near foreground fore-ground followed by a rocky grey and green ridge; beyond, and parallel with this, a mighty rampant of brick-red crags lifted their pinaclcs to the full glare of the sun with the far side of the Virgin Valley enveloped in purple mist, followed by a grand climax in remarkably clear detail of the Red Ridges, a lofty formation skirting the far side of the valley and presenting fantastic shnpes resembling castles and tables surmounting sheer walls hundreds of feet high. The color scheme of these ridges arc in horizontal horizon-tal layers reminding one of a gigantic rainbow stretched out flat; the reds, yellows, purples, and grays were magnificently mag-nificently illuminated by the afternoon sun, tlfe picture presenting in its en-tirity en-tirity one gorgeous masterpiece of high lights, shadows and vivid color. Washington is a town or. some inrcu or four hundred inhabitants and is the pibneer settlement of tho valley. Ono of tho first things to catch thp eye is running water everywhere, this being our first glimpse of the big irrigation system that carries water to St. George and encompasses tho valley with n network of canals, transforming transform-ing what once was a desert wilderness into n land of semi-tropical luxury and happy homes. Some day St. George will get railroad communication communica-tion with tho outside world; then her wonderful natural resources, scenic beauty and salubrious climate will make of the Dixio country a mccca for sight-seers and attract thousands of home-seekers to its ferUIo lands. R. M. WARNER. |