SHOSHONE FALLS 7 



rails seem ridiculously small and slender for such task; 

 surely, you feel, they will bend and crumple up or be torn 

 from the ties. The peril seems imminent and it is some 

 time before one gets over the feeling. During this ride of 

 twenty-five miles we struck two birds — shore larks — and 

 barely missed several turtle doves. A big hawk sat on the 

 ground near the track eating some small animal, probably 

 a ground squirrel. He was startled by our sudden ap- 

 proach and in flying across the track came so near being 

 struck by the engine that he was frightened into dropping 

 his quarry. Later in the day others of the party rode upon 

 the front of the engine and each saw birds struck and killed 

 by it. The one ever-present bird across the continent, 

 even in the most desolate places, is the turtle dove. From 

 Indiana to Oregon, at almost any moment turtle doves 

 may be seen flying away from the train. 



SHOSHONE FALLS AND CANYON. 



The fourth day from home we struck the great plains 

 of the Snake River in southern Idaho and stopped at Sho- 

 shone to visit the Shoshone Falls. 



Mr. Harriman had telegraphed ahead to have means of 

 transportation in readiness to take us to the falls, twenty-five 

 miles to the south across the sagebrush plains. Hence 

 when we awoke at Shoshone in the early morning we found 

 a nondescript collection of horses and vehicles awaiting us 

 — buggies, buckboards, market wagons, and one old 

 covered four-horse stage, besides a group of saddle horses 

 for those who were equal to this mode of travel. The day 

 was clear and cool and the spirits of the party ran high. 

 That ride over the vast sagebrush plain in the exhilarating 

 air, under the novel conditions and in the early honeymoon 

 of our journey — who of us can ever forget it ? My seat 

 happened to be beside the driver on top of the old stage- 

 coach, and we went swinging and rocking over the plain 



