] RANS- CON TINENTAL MONDAY MORNING, JULY 4. 3 Communications and Exchanyes for this paper should be addressed, TRANS- CONTINENTAL, 46 State Street, Chicago. VALEDICTORY. At six o’clock and thirty minutes on Saturday afternoon, July second, the Pullman Palace Train was run into the city of Boston, and there ended proba- bly the grandest pleasure excursion ever undertaken. Just six weeks before, the same train had entered the city upon the same track, and was the object of universal interest and curiosity. In the meanwhile it has twice crossed the continent of North America and mingled the salutations and cemented the friend- ships of the people living upon the At- lantic and Pacificshores. The whole in- terior country, too, has been eagerly in- terested in theexcursion and has shared in the friendly sentiments of the East and West. Everywhere manifestations of friendship have abounded; and the press and the telegraph have scattered thrcugh every part of the country the fact that the extremes of the continent have met and fraternized, in a manner that has dissolved all idea of distance or difference between them, and led them to realize that we are indeed citizens of one great nation. On leaving Chicago on Thursday evyen- ing, a heavy shower cooled the air de- lightfully, and laid the dust, so that we had a most refreshing contrast through the night, to a hot day’s travel. Friday morning opened brightly upon us at Detroit, and we crossed into Canada, to find it gaily decorated in honor of “Dominion Day.” It wasa remarkable coincidence that we should have passed through Canada, on our outward jour- ney, on the Queen’s birth-day, when it yas radiant with similar patriotic de- monstrations. The New York Central R. R. gave us a capital run to Albany, and the whole line of railroad through Massachusetts was alive with interest over our return. At Springfield the ar- rival of the Pullman Train was signal- ized by a national salute from a battery of artillery ; and at Boston a great mul- titude awaited our return only to over- whelm us with joyous and friendly salu- tations. All agree that the excursion has been a splendid success; and that it has done much to annihilate the idea of distance and separation, and to bind together the East and the West in indissoluble bonds. The creat valley of the Missis- | sippi, and the LakeStates especially, are brought into immediate neighborhood with us, and we with them. There is now no West this side of the Pacific coast, for Chicago and Omaha and Cheyenne are, in comparison, close by. Our friends express surprise at finding all the party in such fine physical con- dition—so free from fatigue of body, and so buoyant in spirit, after a journey by land of such extraordinary extent. The Pullman Cars have annihilated the | ordinary causes of fatigue in railroad traveling, and demonstrated the luxury of transportation in gliding palaces, with every want supplied, and every wish an- ticipated, We make our congé to our friends on the Pacific, to thosein the central region of the continent, and to our immediate neighbors at home, with a grateful ap- preciation of their interest in our jour- ney, of their hospitality and friendship; and if any have time and means to Spare, we advise all who have not done so already, to make an early trip across the continent. In closing this article and the existence of the ““TRANS-CONTINENTAL,” we feel assured that we shall not seem unmind- ful of the valuable aid of the excursion party generally, in filling its columns, if we especially acknowledge the constant. assistance of Charles Wolcott Brooks, in its editorial department. To his atten- tion and untiring devotion to every ser- vice which could lend interest to the pa- per, or contribute to the diversion and happiness of the party, and render the excursion completely successful, all its participants are largely indebted, and to him return their hearty and grateful acknowledgments. ae New resources are continually being deyeloped to us throughout the Pacific Coast, and the railway across our conti- nent is fast “unlocking the strong box of our treasures.” Even the apparently barren spots of our treeless interior are rapidly developing lead, iron, copper, antimony, coal, silver anf gold. In view of the liberal gifts of Nature, com- ing to us as a treasure trove, we may yet pay our national debt in gold coin, and with ourcotton and other crops, perma- nently change the old “balances of trade.” Aside from the steady progress of Cal- fornia in raising wines, teas and silk, she is rapidly gaining possession of the trade in silk-worm eggs, exports of which from Yokohama alone,—a single port in Japan,—were last year a little exceeding $5,500,000, All foreign pur- chasers already openly declare their pre- ference for this California product. Old encyclopedias are getting obsolete, and later editions, may hereafter require even telegraphic addenda to keep up with an age of increasing progress. j agg nememeecreenmmenememeeeene emeememeemeneeemeeeee ee eeeereeemeee ene cement EneEE — At the ceremony of mingling the waters of the Atlantic with those of the Pacific, performed on the ocean beach near the Cliff House at San Francisco, in the presence of this party, our Presi- dent, Hon. Alex. H. Rice, in his beauti- ful and appropriate remarks, called at- tention to the occasion by saying: “The union of these two waters seems typical of the commingling of a great people, whose future should be one,—as difficult to separate or divide, as the now united particles of water in this vessel.’’ —_—-——— << op — The first class passenger travel be- tween China, Japan, the Sandwich Islands, Australia and New Zealand, will hereafter be largely diverted to- ward San Francisco, whence across the American Continent, it will reach Eu- rope, by a far cooler, healthier, pleas- anter, and we believe a shorter route, than by the old channels of former communication via the Isthmus of Suez. +e» —After so much luxury, elegance, hos- pitality and general welcome had been extended to our party by those formerly strangers to us, now our friends abroad, it was not astonishing that the recital of adventures should engross very gen- eral attention. Since our return, much time has been expended in familiar greetings, and in answering those ques- tions which our brethren of the “ Hub,” as Yankees, are certainly privileged to ask, and to which it is our privilege as well as pleasure to now answer satis- factorily. ep —O. H. Sampson and sister joined our train at Chicago, having come from Bos- ton to meet, and accompanied our party home, It was truly pleasant to meet some one directly from our city, to post us all,on the thousand and one minor events which have transpired in the old Bay State during our absence. eh —Some of our party left the train at Chicago for a run to Indianapolis, Louis- ville and the Mammoth Cave in Ken- tucky, and, we learn, found the trip quite an interesting one. ———_-~