ON THE ROAD TO THE SUMMIT OE PIKES PEAK 



The automobile in the picture is 13,000 feet above sea-level. On the top of the peak there 

 are long-distance telephones, a parking space for three hundred automobiles, and a lake. 



would know and appreciate the bigness 

 and the diversity of industry and power 

 of our country. 



Our books tell us that 22 of our States 

 and 40 per cent of the total area of our 

 country are comprised within the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley ; that nowhere else on the 

 globe is there as large a region of equal 

 fertility; that it grows the bulk of the 

 nation's food and produces nearly two- 

 thirds of our manufactures, and that, 

 politically and commercially, it is more 

 important than any other valley in the 

 world. 



But how tame the written statement is 

 compared to the actual sight of oceans of 

 green, growing corn ; of waving wheat, 

 oats, rye, and barley extending for hun- 

 dreds of miles ; of the huge plows, reap- 

 ers, and threshing machines drawn by 16 



horses or propelled by engines as big as 

 the locomotive of an express train. 



Or, if you are more interested in see- 

 ing things fashioned by the brain of man, 

 tarry at Gary, Dayton, Cleveland, De- 

 troit, Chicago, Milwaukee, etc., each the 

 birthplace and home of enterprises pe- 

 culiarly American and giving employ- 

 ment to tens of thousands. There you 

 will stand in awe at sights a thousand 

 times more astounding and stimulating 

 than many of the feudal castles and tor- 

 tuous streets of Baedeker's specialties. 



The fortunate individual who can fol- 

 low our majestic Father of Waters from 

 the upper reaches of its principal tribu- 

 tary, the Missouri, down the longest river 

 course in the world to the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico will have an experience that cannot 

 be duplicated. As he successively watches 



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