KLOOCHMEN WEAVING BASKETS 



In regard to the beginning of the 

 trip, I prefer to be brief ; for most of us 

 were crossing the continent for the first 

 time, and these first impressions of the 

 portions of one's country over which 

 so many thousands have traveled be- 

 fore, are not what the daily newspaper 

 editor commonly speaks of as "hot 

 stuff." So I'll pass across the country 

 quickly to Seattle, although the trip 

 was very pleasant all the way. The 

 sleeping car porters accomplished the 

 remarkable feat of appearing some- 

 where within cannon range when want- 

 ed, and fellow travelers were sociable. 

 On Christinas Day we were dashing 

 across the snow-clad prairies of North 

 Dakota and Montana, the thermometer 

 below zero, but the air so dry and the 

 sun so bright that we spent most of our 

 day on the rear platform watching for 

 coyotes, or other stray prairie animals. 



On Tuesday, December 27, at 8 130 

 in the morning, we arrived at Seattle. 

 It was raining hard. It is usually rain- 

 ing in Seattle in December, or there- 

 abouts ; and at first I made up my mind 

 that if all queens were like this "Queen 

 of the West," as Seattle is called, I 

 should not think seriously of trying to 

 marry into the family. But Seattle 

 should not be judged hastily. It grows 

 upon one, — this city of terraces with 

 the great snow-capped Mount Rainier 

 on the east towering above it, more 

 than fourteen thousand feet ; the beau- 

 tiful Olympic range, blue and white- 

 capped to the north ; Puget Sound upon 

 one side, Lake Washington on the 

 other. Certainly no city in the world 

 has a lovelier location, and none with a 

 destiny more surely great. 



We met Congressman James Hamil- 

 ton Lewis in Seattle, at dinner in the 



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