California

We have lots of journeying yet ladies, keep staying tuned in.

We run in the snow sheds, we are in them, when dark comes we were still in the snow shed it was almost like being in a tunnel. Once in a while we could see out. We passed a lake called Donner Lake it was 5 miles across and it didn't look like it was a quarter of a mile we were so much higher than it was. Grandma and Della sit up to see Sacremento but the rest of us went to bed, in the morning we were in Oakland. We got up and went down to the depot and on the other side a big ferry boat was there. We got on it and rode across the bay 7 miles on water, it was on Sunday morning, it just takes us 20 minutes to cross and didn't seem like we were going fast. I like to watch the little sea gulls ride the waves. Going across we saw several other ships, some with sails and some with masts. When we got off we went through a large depot and a bus met us there and taken us to the Grand Hotel. The Hotel was 5 stories high, were were in the top one. After they showed us our rooms we went and got breakfast. We layed down and rested for we were tired of riding so much, we had been on the train for 11 days and nights.

Just before noon one of Aunt Clara's friends Mrs. Baugus, came to the hotel after we had our dinner we went down to the engine house where one of their friends works. He took us up stairs, we went up the winding stairs and showed us their bedroom then up another story to their gymnasium. We came back down the bedroom they have a brass pole about 4 inches thick just as slick as can be. He says now you watch me go down the pole, "now this is the way", before he had hardly said it he was down to the foor. We went down to the bottom again he showed us the fire engine and harness that hangs up you just put the horses under the by the tongue and the harness drops on them and they are ready to go. We now go back to the Hotel for we have to hurry we are going on a sight seeing trip in a runnerneck car or a 7 seated automobile.