Lördag med Gutenberg

 The Road of a Thousand Wonders The Coast Line--Shasta Route of the Southern Pacific Company from Los Angeles Through San Francisco, to Portland, a Journey of One Thousand Three Hundred Miles, utgiven av Passenger Dept. Southern Pacific Co, 1907.

I dag lockar Johannes med mig på en tur längs USAs västkust. Turen börjar i Los Angeles och sträcker sig drygt 200 mil till Portland, Oregon. 

Jag började tidigt i morse och har rest hela dagen — varje ort, och varje person som nämns i boken kan man hitta på nätet. Det är spännande att se vad som hänt på de drygt hundra år, sedan boken skrevs.

Jag lekte med tanken på att jag skulle leta fram mina egna bilder, från en del av platserna som är omnämnda, men jag insåg snart att det förmodligen inte skulle bli något inlägg om jag först skulle rota fram bilder och dagböcker. Nej, jag nöjde mig med att att läsa texten och titta på bilderna — och minnas.

Det kan tyckas att jag har med många bilder, men det är bara en liten del av vad boken bjuder, så har du minnen från den här kustvägen, så titta i boken.

And Los Angeles, with its palms and olives, its crumbling adobes, side by side with thirteen-story fire-proof steel business blocks, electric railway cars whizzing everywhere—what a marvel of the Past, jostled by Progress! 

Inte så långt ifrån Santa Barbara fanns denna vinstock, jag letar på nätet efter något om den, men hittar inget.

Along here is Carpinteria, an old Spanish settlement, which possesses among its features of interest, an ancient trellised grape vine, nearly three feet in diameter at its base. At Summerland there is a veritable forest of oil derricks stretching along the beach, many of them in the surf and even at sea far beyond the low tide mark. 

 THIS IS THE LARGEST GRAPEVINE IN THE WORLD—SIXTY YEARS OLD—TEN TONS OF GRAPES IS ITS RECORD CROP

WHERE OIL AND WATER ALMOST MIX—DERRICKS AT SUMMERLAND WHERE OIL IS PUMPED FROM BENEATH THE OCEAN
Inte särskilt vackert, men när har naturvärdena vunnit över pengarna i detta land. 

 CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL NEAR SAN LUIS OBISPO, WHERE DIPLOMAS IN USEFULNESS ARE AWARDED
Att införa användbarhet i skolorna för våra svenska ungdomar, vore kanske en god idé. Fast jag kan tänka mig att det blir en livlig debatt om vad som ska innefattas i ordet.

MITER MOUNT—ONE OF THE MANY WONDERS OF THE SANTA LUCIA MOUNTAINS WITH THEIR OAK-CLAD HILLSIDES AND INVITING CAÑONS WHERE EVERY CURVE SUGGESTS AN IDEAL HOMESITE FOR YOUR CASTLE IN SPAIN
Beyond this point the valley broadens and the road enters the hot spring region, in the center of which is El Paso de Robles, the “pass of the oaks.” Here at Paso Robles and at Santa Ysabel, close at hand, are mineral springs of all sorts and temperature, clay-mud, sand, iron, sulphur, soda, lithia; all within a small area as if marshaled for the healing of the nations. The elevation is 720 feet above sea level, about that of Carlsbad, Baden-Baden, or Kissingen. A flowing well furnishes 2,000,000 gallons daily of hot sulphur water, excellent for both internal and external uses. The hot lithia spring is 124 degrees; the great sulphur spring 107 degrees. The sanitary value of these wonderful founts of healing was recognized long ago, and every season seekers for health come to be cured, as the sufferers of France make pilgrimage to Lourdes; the dry air, the sunshine, the healing waters from Nature’s laboratory soon make the patient feel as good as new.
The hotel here fulfils a joint mission, entertaining recreation-seekers as well as those looking for the boon of health. It is a modern, elaborately equipped hotel, with every twentieth-century convenience, and an annex that expresses the last word, architecturally and scientifically, in the line of a bath house. It is completely fitted for the use of all modern water cures. It cost over $100,000. Into it has gone the thought and suggestion of the best authorities in hydrotherapy. The baths are fitted with a splendor that suggests the bathing luxuries of ancient Rome—pure white marble from Carrara, glazed white tiles, “novus” glass for the mud baths, porcelain tubs, spotless woodwork. All the patients are scientifically treated by a competent physician, expert in the methods of securing the most effective results from water treatment. The latest apparatus has been secured, and nothing in the scientific application of water, hot-air, hot-mud, vapor, or electricity, is wanting. Paso Robles is the center for many interesting drives, and time runs rapidly driving, riding or automobiling about the hills, to the seacoast, or to Mission San Miguel. Any of these drives among the hills, under the oaks out in the sunshine, will produce results that any doctor would be proud to send a bill for.
Att resa bort, för att bli vackrare och friskare, är sannerligen ingen ny företeelse.
Det som slår mig som lustigt i boken är att man hela tiden jämför orter, med mer kända orter på ostkusten eller i Europa. Ett försök att introducera det då, rätt okända Kalifornien för allmänheten?

 THE FIRST THEATER IN CALIFORNIA—A TYPE OF THE ADOBE BUILDINGS OF OLD MONTEREY—JENNY LIND—THEY SAY—SANG HERE IN THE ‘FIFTIES’

 AMONG THE BIG TREES OF THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS—ALL OF THE TREES IN THIS GROVE BEAR DISTINGUISHED NAMES

 THE PLACE TO SEE OTHER WORLDS IF YOU ARE TIRED OF THIS ONE—THE LICK OBSERVATORY ON MOUNT HAMILTON

VAN NESS AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO’S NEW SHOPPING THOROUGHFARE—THE STORES, WHILE OF HASTY DESIGN, HOLD WARES RIVALLING THOSE OF ANY METROPOLIS AND THE AVENUE ITSELF IS A FASHIONABLE RESORT FOR BOULEVARDIERS

 EVERYONE HAS HEARD OF SAN FRANCISCO’S CLIFF HOUSE AND THE SEAL ROCKS—HERE, EVERY HOLIDAY, GAY CROWDS PICNIC ON THE SANDS, BATHE IN THE BREAKERS AND WATCH THE SPORTIVE SEA LIONS
Säkert har många av er trevliga minnen från den här restaurangen.

UNION SQUARE—SAN FRANCISCO, THE CENTER OF THE BUSINESS SECTION, WHERE RAPID RECONSTRUCTION HAS ALREADY PROVIDED THE NUCLEUS OF THE NEW CITY

In San Francisco—righting itself rapidly since the great disaster of April 18-20, 1906—one may readily pass two weeks or more in diversified pleasure, entertainment and instruction. Here is a city of 500,000, eighth among the cities of the United States at the last census and in line for sixth place. Everywhere the demands of trade and of modern civilization are crowding the city. In its harbor the ships of war of all the nations of the world could float, with room and to spare. The climate welcomes the health-seeker and the man who would live out of doors all the year. The fast-growing city, with buildings going up everywhere to replace those lost in the big fire, is the heart of the state.

Here is sunshine almost every day; here one can utilize every moment for business or pleasure. The Weather Bureau records show that the city averages 294 sunshiny days a year.

 IN THE CAÑON OF THE UPPER SACRAMENTO—WHERE EVERY CURVE DISCLOSES SCENES OF ENTRANCING BEAUTY

 SNOW-CAPPED MOUNT SHASTA 14,444 FEET. ONE OF THE WORLD’S WONDERS

 SIXTH STREET PORTLAND IS TYPICAL OF THIS PROGRESSIVE CITY. THE HOTEL PORTLAND AND “THE OREGONIAN” BUILDING ON THE LEFT

DAWN ON MOUNT HOOD