The Mormon Capital (extract), Published 26 April 1937 The
friendly lights of Grand Junction fell far behind, as the Scenic
Limited picked up speed under the stimulus of No. 1700 of the Denver
and Rio Grande Western en route to Salt Lake City. I went to bed in a
world on which no snow had fallen, and awoke once to look out at
snow-clad mountain slopes, and to listen to the pounding of two engines
up ahead. I knew we were going over spectacular Soldier's Summit, 7,440
feet above sea level. I went over its twisting heights in 1925, and as
the setting sun incarnadined the landscape and squirming limited alike,
it was a beautiful sight to see the man-made machine besting the law of
gravity and winning every foot of the way, pantingly, begrudgingly,
till the easy motion recorded the fact that the train was over the top
and on the down grade once more. I also went slumbering through Green River during the night, and thereby hangs a yarn I shall untangle when I get to Syracuse, Kansas, on the return trip, for the denouement takes place there. I thought the snow would disappear at Salt Lake City, more than 3,220 feet lower than Soldier Summit, when we had dropped more than a half-a-mile altitudinally to get down to the comparatively low 4,220 foot mark. But as it turned out. I was not to shake off the snow again, till I got within a hundred miles of the Pacific itself, in California. Although after seven o'clock, it was as dark as midnight, when we rolled into Salt Lake City station. Here I made my last contact with the D. & R.G.W., when W. H. Greer, division passenger agent, was down to meet me. Mr. Shields' telegrams kept right on working 100 per cent till the end. Mr. Greer had already made arrangements to take me to the Mormon Tabernacle, and we soon piled into a car, and were plowing through snow-filled streets till we got to the Temple Gates. Mr. Greer had been thorough in his arrangements, for a Mormon guide, Paul E. Reimann, attorney-at-law in S.L. was there to meet me. Like all Latter Day Saints, who do volunteer guiding, he was both affable and intelligent. The point I most want to stress was that the whole Mormon grounds were opened specially for me. Non railway items omitted |