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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +Transcribed by Judy Gibson, of Descanso, California, USA, +from a book in the collection of the San Diego Natural History Museum, +used by the courtesy of the San Diego Society of Natural History. + + + + + +Steep Trails + +California-Utah-Nevada-Washington-Oregon-The Grand Canyon + + +by + +John Muir + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + + + + +The papers brought together in this volume have, in a general way, +been arranged in chronological sequence. They span a period of +twenty-nine years of Muir's life, during which they appeared as +letters and articles, for the most part in publications of limited and +local circulation. The Utah and Nevada sketches, and the two San +Gabriel papers, were contributed, in the form of letters, to the San +Francisco Evening Bulletin toward the end of the seventies. Written +in the field, they preserve the freshness of the author's first +impressions of those regions. Much of the material in the chapters on +Mount Shasta first took similar shape in 1874. Subsequently it was +rewritten and much expanded for inclusion in Picturesque California, +and the Region West of the Rocky Mountains, which Muir began to edit +in 1888. In the same work appeared the description of Washington and +Oregon. The charming little essay "Wild Wool" was written for the +Overland Monthly in 1875. "A Geologist's Winter Walk" is an extract +from a letter to a friend, who, appreciating its fine literary +quality, took the responsibility of sending it to the Overland Monthly +without the author's knowledge. The concluding chapter on "The Grand +Canyon of the Colorado" was published in the Century Magazine in 1902, +and exhibits Muir's powers of description at their maturity. + +Some of these papers were revised by the author during the later years +of his life, and these revisions are a part of the form in which they +now appear. The chapters on Mount Shasta, Oregon, and Washington will +be found to contain occasional sentences and a few paragraphs that +were included, more or less verbatim, in The Mountains of California +and Our National Parks. Being an important part of their present +context, these paragraphs could not be omitted without impairing the +unity of the author's descriptions. + +The editor feels confident that this volume will meet, in every way, +the high expectations of Muir's readers. The recital of his +experiences during a stormy night on the summit of Mount Shasta will +take rank among the most thrilling of his records of adventure. His +observations on the dead towns of Nevada, and on the Indians gathering +their harvest of pine nuts, recall a phase of Western life that has +left few traces in American literature. Many, too, will read with +pensive interest the author's glowing description of what was one time +called the New Northwest. Almost inconceivably great have been the +changes wrought in that region during the past generation. Henceforth +the landscapes that Muir saw there will live in good part only in his +writings, for fire, axe, plough, and gunpowder have made away with the +supposedly boundless forest wildernesses and their teeming life. + +William Frederic Bade + +Berkeley, California + +May, 1918 + + + + + + +STEEP TRAILS + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. Wild Wool + II. A Geologist's Winter Walk + III. Summer Days at Mount Shasta + IV. A Perilous Night on Shasta's Summit + V. Shasta Rambles and Modoc Memories + VI. The City of the Saints + VII. A Great Storm in Utah + VIII. Bathing in Salt Lake + IX. Mormon Lilies + X. The San Gabriel Valley + XI. The San Gabriel Mountains + XII. Nevada Farms + XIII. Nevada Forests + XIV. Nevada's Timber Belt + XV. Glacial Phenomena in Nevada + XVI. Nevada's Dead Towns + XVII. Puget Sound +XVIII. The Forests of Washington + XIX. People and Towns of Puget Sound + XX. An Ascent of Mount Rainier + XXI. The Physical and Climatic Characteristics of Oregon + XXII. The Forests of Oregon and Their Inhabitants +XXIII. The Rivers of Oregon + XXIV. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado + Footnotes + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Crest of the Wahsatch Range + From a point about four miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah. + From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason + +At Shasta Soda Springs + A view of Mossbrae Falls, where a subterranean stream coming + down from the glaciers of Mt. Shasta breaks through the + vegetation and flows into the Sacramento River. + From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason + +Mount Shasta after a Snowstorm + A view from the west, near Sisson. + From a photograph by Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc. + +Mormon Lilies + The plant is known in Utah as the Sego Lily, and in California + and elsewhere as the Mariposa Tulip (Calochortus Nuttallii). + From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason + +Along the Oregon Sea Bluffs + A view near the town of Ecola, Oregon. + From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason + +O'Neill's Point + A favorite point of observation overlooking the Grand Canyon + Of Arizona. Now called by the Indian name, Yavapai Point. + From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason + + + +I + +WILD WOOL + + +Moral improvers have calls to preach. I have a friend who has a call +to plough, and woe to the daisy sod or azalea thicket that falls under +the savage redemption of his keen steel shares. Not content with the +so-called subjugation of every terrestrial bog, rock, and moorland, he +would fain discover some method of reclamation applicable to the ocean +and the sky, that in due calendar time they might be brought to bud +and blossom as the rose. Our efforts are of no avail when we seek to +turn his attention to wild roses, or to the fact that both ocean and +sky are already about as rosy as possible--the one with stars, the +other with dulse, and foam, and wild light. The practical +developments of his culture are orchards and clover-fields wearing a +smiling, benevolent aspect, truly excellent in their way, though a +near view discloses something barbarous in them all. Wildness charms +not my friend, charm it never so wisely: and whatsoever may be the +character of his heaven, his earth seems only a chaos of agricultural +possibilities calling for grubbing-hoes and manures. + +Sometimes I venture to approach him with a plea for wildness, when he +good-naturedly shakes a big mellow apple in my face, reiterating his +favorite aphorism, "Culture is an orchard apple; Nature is a crab." +Not all culture, however, is equally destructive and inappreciative. +Azure skies and crystal waters find loving recognition, and few there +be who would welcome the axe among mountain pines, or would care to +apply any correction to the tones and costumes of mountain waterfalls. +Nevertheless, the barbarous notion is almost universally entertained +by civilized man, that there is in all the manufactures of Nature +something essentially coarse which can and must be eradicated by human +culture. I was, therefore, delighted in finding that the wild wool +growing upon mountain sheep in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta was +much finer than the average grades of cultivated wool. This FINE +discovery was made some three months ago[1], while hunting among the +Shasta sheep between Shasta and Lower Klamath Lake. Three fleeces +were obtained--one that belonged to a large ram about four years old, +another to a ewe about the same age, and another to a yearling lamb. +After parting their beautiful wool on the side and many places along +the back, shoulders, and hips, and examining it closely with my lens, +I shouted: "Well done for wildness! Wild wool is finer than tame!" + +My companions stooped down and examined the fleeces for themselves, +pulling out tufts and ringlets, spinning them between their fingers, +and measuring the length of the staple, each in turn paying tribute to +wildness. It WAS finer, and no mistake; finer than Spanish Merino. +Wild wool IS finer than tame. + +"Here," said I, "is an argument for fine wildness that needs no +explanation. Not that such arguments are by any means rare, for all +wildness is finer than tameness, but because fine wool is appreciable +by everybody alike--from the most speculative president of national +wool-growers' associations all the way down to the gude-wife spinning +by her ingleside." + +Nature is a good mother, and sees well to the clothing of her many +bairns--birds with smoothly imbricated feathers, beetles with shining +jackets, and bears with shaggy furs. In the tropical south, where the +sun warms like a fire, they are allowed to go thinly clad; but in the +snowy northland she takes care to clothe warmly. The squirrel has +socks and mittens, and a tail broad enough for a blanket; the grouse +is densely feathered down to the ends of his toes; and the wild sheep, +besides his undergarment of fine wool, has a thick overcoat of hair +that sheds off both the snow and the rain. Other provisions and +adaptations in the dresses of animals, relating less to climate than +to the more mechanical circumstances of life, are made with the same +consummate skill that characterizes all the love work of Nature. +Land, water, and air, jagged rocks, muddy ground, sand beds, forests, +underbrush, grassy plains, etc., are considered in all their possible +combinations while the clothing of her beautiful wildlings is +preparing. No matter what the circumstances of their lives may be, +she never allows them to go dirty or ragged. The mole, living always +in the dark and in the dirt, is yet as clean as the otter or the wave-washed seal; and our wild sheep, wading in snow, roaming through +bushes, and leaping among jagged storm-beaten cliffs, wears a dress so +exquisitely adapted to its mountain life that it is always found as +unruffled and stainless as a bird. + +On leaving the Shasta hunting grounds I selected a few specimen tufts, +and brought them away with a view to making more leisurely +examinations; but, owing to the imperfectness of the instruments at my +command, the results thus far obtained must be regarded only as rough +approximations. + +As already stated, the clothing of our wild sheep is composed of fine +wool and coarse hair. The hairs are from about two to four inches +long, mostly of a dull bluish-gray color, though varying somewhat with +the seasons. In general characteristics they are closely related to +the hairs of the deer and antelope, being light, spongy, and elastic, +with a highly polished surface, and though somewhat ridged and +spiraled, like wool, they do not manifest the slightest tendency to +felt or become taggy. A hair two and a half inches long, which is +perhaps near the average length, will stretch about one fourth of an +inch before breaking. The diameter decreases rapidly both at the top +and bottom, but is maintained throughout the greater portion of the +length with a fair degree of regularity. The slender tapering point +in which the hairs terminate is nearly black: but, owing to its +fineness as compared with the main trunk, the quantity of blackness is +not sufficient to affect greatly the general color. The number of +hairs growing upon a square inch is about ten thousand; the number of +wool fibers is about twenty-five thousand, or two and a half times +that of the hairs. The wool fibers are white and glossy, and +beautifully spired into ringlets. The average length of the staple is +about an inch and a half. A fiber of this length, when growing +undisturbed down among the hairs, measures about an inch; hence the +degree of curliness may easily be inferred. I regret exceedingly that +my instruments do not enable me to measure the diameter of the fibers, +in order that their degrees of fineness might be definitely compared +with each other and with the finest of the domestic breeds; but that +the three wild fleeces under consideration are considerably finer than +the average grades of Merino shipped from San Francisco is, I think, +unquestionable. + +When the fleece is parted and looked into with a good lens, the skin +appears of a beautiful pale-yellow color, and the delicate wool fibers +are seen growing up among the strong hairs, like grass among stalks of +corn, every individual fiber being protected about as specially and +effectively as if inclosed in a separate husk. Wild wool is too fine +to stand by itself, the fibers being about as frail and invisible as +the floating threads of spiders, while the hairs against which they +lean stand erect like hazel wands; but, notwithstanding their great +dissimilarity in size and appearance, the wool and hair are forms of +the same thing, modified in just that way and to just that degree that +renders them most perfectly subservient to the well-being of the +sheep. Furthermore, it will be observed that these wild modifications +are entirely distinct from those which are brought chancingly into +existence through the accidents and caprices of culture; the former +being inventions of God for the attainment of definite ends. Like the +modifications of limbs--the fin for swimming, the wing for flying, the +foot for walking--so the fine wool for warmth, the hair for additional +warmth and to protect the wool, and both together for a fabric to wear +well in mountain roughness and wash well in mountain storms. + +The effects of human culture upon wild wool are analogous to those +produced upon wild roses. In the one case there is an abnormal +development of petals at the expense of the stamens, in the other an +abnormal development of wool at the expense of the hair. Garden roses +frequently exhibit stamens in which the transmutation to petals may be +observed in various stages of accomplishment, and analogously the +fleeces of tame sheep occasionally contain a few wild hairs that are +undergoing transmutation to wool. Even wild wool presents here and +there a fiber that appears to be in a state of change. In the course +of my examinations of the wild fleeces mentioned above, three fibers +were found that were wool at one end and hair at the other. This, +however, does not necessarily imply imperfection, or any process of +change similar to that caused by human culture. Water lilies contain +parts variously developed into stamens at one end, petals at the +other, as the constant and normal condition. These half wool, half +hair fibers may therefore subserve some fixed requirement essential +to the perfection of the whole, or they may simply be the fine +boundary-lines where and exact balance between the wool and the hair +is attained. + +I have been offering samples of mountain wool to my friends, demanding +in return that the fineness of wildness be fairly recognized and +confessed, but the returns are deplorably tame. The first question +asked, is, "Now truly, wild sheep, wild sheep, have you any wool?" +while they peer curiously down among the hairs through lenses and +spectacles. "Yes, wild sheep, you HAVE wool; but Mary's lamb had +more. In the name of use, how many wild sheep, think you, would be +required to furnish wool sufficient for a pair of socks?" I endeavor +to point out the irrelevancy of the latter question, arguing that wild +wool was not made for man but for sheep, and that, however deficient +as clothing for other animals, it is just the thing for the brave +mountain-dweller that wears it. Plain, however, as all this appears, +the quantity question rises again and again in all its commonplace +tameness. For in my experience it seems well-nigh impossible to +obtain a hearing on behalf of Nature from any other standpoint than +that of human use. Domestic flocks yield more flannel per sheep than +the wild, therefore it is claimed that culture has improved upon +wildness; and so it has as far as flannel is concerned, but all to the +contrary as far as a sheep's dress is concerned. If every wild sheep +inhabiting the Sierra were to put on tame wool, probably only a few +would survive the dangers of a single season. With their fine limbs +muffled and buried beneath a tangle of hairless wool, they would +become short-winded, and fall an easy prey to the strong mountain +wolves. In descending precipices they would be thrown out of balance +and killed, by their taggy wool catching upon sharp points of rocks. +Disease would also be brought on by the dirt which always finds a +lodgment in tame wool, and by the draggled and water-soaked condition +into which it falls during stormy weather. + +No dogma taught by the present civilization seems to form so +insuperable an obstacle in the way of a right understanding of the +relations which culture sustains to wildness as that which regards the +world as made especially for the uses of man. Every animal, plant, +and crystal controverts it in the plainest terms. Yet it is taught +from century to century as something ever new and precious, and in the +resulting darkness the enormous conceit is allowed to go unchallenged. + +I have never yet happened upon a trace of evidence that seemed to show +that any one animal was ever made for another as much as it was made +for itself. Not that Nature manifests any such thing as selfish +isolation. In the making of every animal the presence of every other +animal has been recognized. Indeed, every atom in creation may be +said to be acquainted with and married to every other, but with +universal union there is a division sufficient in degree for the +purposes of the most intense individuality; no matter, therefore, what +may be the note which any creature forms in the song of existence, it +is made first for itself, then more and more remotely for all the +world and worlds. + +Were it not for the exercise of individualizing cares on the part of +Nature, the universe would be felted together like a fleece of tame +wool. But we are governed more than we know, and most when we are +wildest. Plants, animals, and stars are all kept in place, bridled +along appointed ways, WITH one another, and THROUGH THE MIDST of one +another--killing and being killed, eating and being eaten, in +harmonious proportions and quantities. And it is right that we should +thus reciprocally make use of one another, rob, cook, and consume, to +the utmost of our healthy abilities and desires. Stars attract one +another as they are able, and harmony results. Wild lambs eat as many +wild flowers as they can find or desire, and men and wolves eat the +lambs to just the same extent. + +This consumption of one another in its various modifications is a kind +of culture varying with the degree of directness with which it is +carried out, but we should be careful not to ascribe to such culture +any improving qualities upon those on whom it is brought to bear. The +water-ousel plucks moss from the riverbank to build its nest, but is +does not improve the moss by plucking it. We pluck feathers from +birds, and less directly wool from wild sheep, for the manufacture of +clothing and cradle-nests, without improving the wool for the sheep, +or the feathers for the bird that wore them. When a hawk pounces upon +a linnet and proceeds to pull out its feathers, preparatory to making +a meal, the hawk may be said to be cultivating the linnet, and he +certainly does effect an improvement as far as hawk-food is concerned; +but what of the songster? He ceases to be a linnet as soon as he is +snatched from the woodland choir; and when, hawklike, we snatch the +wild sheep from its native rock, and, instead of eating and wearing it +at once, carry it home, and breed the hair out of its wool and the +bones out of its body, it ceases to be a sheep. + +These breeding and plucking processes are similarly improving as +regards the secondary uses aimed at; and, although the one requires +but a few minutes for its accomplishment, the other many years or +centuries, they are essentially alike. We eat wild oysters alive with +great directness, waiting for no cultivation, and leaving scarce a +second of distance between the shell and the lip; but we take wild +sheep home and subject them to the many extended processes of +husbandry, and finish by boiling them in a pot--a process which +completes all sheep improvements as far as man is concerned. It will +be seen, therefore, that wild wool and tame wool--wild sheep and tame +sheep--are terms not properly comparable, nor are they in any correct +sense to be considered as bearing any antagonism toward each other; +they are different things. Planned and accomplished for wholly +different purposes. + +Illustrative examples bearing upon this interesting subject may be +multiplied indefinitely, for they abound everywhere in the plant and +animal kingdoms wherever culture has reached. Recurring for a moment +to apples. The beauty and completeness of a wild apple tree living +its own life in the woods is heartily acknowledged by all those who +have been so happy as to form its acquaintance. The fine wild +piquancy of its fruit is unrivaled, but in the great question of +quantity as human food wild apples are found wanting. Man, therefore, +takes the tree from the woods, manures and prunes and grafts, plans +and guesses, adds a little of this and that, selects and rejects, +until apples of every conceivable size and softness are produced, like +nut galls in response to the irritating punctures of insects. Orchard +apples are to me the most eloquent words that culture has ever spoken, +but they reflect no imperfection upon Nature's spicy crab. Every +cultivated apple is a crab, not improved, BUT COOKED, variously +softened and swelled out in the process, mellowed, sweetened, spiced, +and rendered pulpy and foodful, but as utterly unfit for the uses of +nature as a meadowlark killed and plucked and roasted. Give to Nature +every cultured apple--codling, pippin, russet--and every sheep so +laboriously compounded--muffled Southdowns, hairy Cotswolds, wrinkled +Merinos--and she would throw the one to her caterpillars, the other to +her wolves. + +It is now some thirty-six hundred years since Jacob kissed his mother +and set out across the plains of Padan-aram to begin his experiments +upon the flocks of his uncle, Laban; and, notwithstanding the high +degree of excellence he attained as a wool-grower, and the innumerable +painstaking efforts subsequently made by individuals and associations +in all kinds of pastures and climates, we still seem to be as far from +definite and satisfactory results as we ever were. In one breed the +wool is apt to wither and crinkle like hay on a sun-beaten hillside. +In another, it is lodged and matted together like the lush tangled +grass of a manured meadow. In one the staple is deficient in length, +in another in fineness; while in all there is a constant tendency +toward disease, rendering various washings and dippings indispensable +to prevent its falling out. The problem of the quality and quantity +of the carcass seems to be as doubtful and as far removed from a +satisfactory solution as that of the wool. Desirable breeds blundered +upon by long series of groping experiments are often found to be +unstable and subject to disease--bots, foot rot, blind staggers, etc. +--causing infinite trouble, both among breeders and manufacturers. +Would it not be well, therefore, for some one to go back as far as +possible and take a fresh start? + +The source or sources whence the various breeds were derived is not +positively known, but there can be hardly any doubt of their being +descendants of the four or five wild species so generally distributed +throughout the mountainous portions of the globe, the marked +differences between the wild and domestic species being readily +accounted for by the known variability of the animal, and by the long +series of painstaking selection to which all its characteristics have +been subjected. No other animal seems to yield so submissively to the +manipulations of culture. Jacob controlled the color of his flocks +merely by causing them to stare at objects of the desired hue; and +possibly Merinos may have caught their wrinkles from the perplexed +brows of their breeders. The California species (Ovis montana)[2] is a +noble animal, weighing when full-grown some three hundred and fifty +pounds, and is well worthy the attention of wool-growers as a point +from which to make a new departure, for pure wildness is the one great +want, both of men and of sheep. + + + +II + +A Geologist's Winter Walk[3] + +After reaching Turlock, I sped afoot over the stubble fields and +through miles of brown hemizonia and purple erigeron, to Hopeton, +conscious of little more than that the town was behind and beneath me, +and the mountains above and before me; on through the oaks and +chaparral of the foothills to Coulterville; and then ascended the +first great mountain step upon which grows the sugar pine. Here I +slackened pace, for I drank the spicy, resiny wind, and beneath the +arms of this noble tree I felt that I was safely home. Never did pine +trees seem so dear. How sweet was their breath and their song, and +how grandly they winnowed the sky! I tingled my fingers among their +tassels, and rustled my feet among their brown needles and burrs, and +was exhilarated and joyful beyond all I can write. + +When I reached Yosemite, all the rocks seemed talkative, and more +telling and lovable than ever. They are dear friends, and seemed to +have warm blood gushing through their granite flesh; and I love them +with a love intensified by long and close companionship. After I had +bathed in the bright river, sauntered over the meadows, conversed with +the domes, and played with the pines, I still felt blurred and weary, +as if tainted in some way with the sky of your streets. I determined, +therefore, to run out for a while to say my prayers in the higher +mountain temples. "The days are sunful," I said, "and, though now +winter, no great danger need be encountered, and no sudden storm will +block my return, if I am watchful." + +The morning after this decision, I started up the canyon of Tenaya, +caring little about the quantity of bread I carried; for, I thought, a +fast and a storm and a difficult canyon were just the medicine I +needed. When I passed Mirror Lake, I scarcely noticed it, for I was +absorbed in the great Tissiack--her crown a mile away in the hushed +azure; her purple granite drapery flowing in soft and graceful folds +down to my feet, embroidered gloriously around with deep, shadowy +forest. I have gazed on Tissiack a thousand times--in days of solemn +storms, and when her form shone divine with the jewelry of winter, or +was veiled in living clouds; and I have heard her voice of winds, and +snowy, tuneful waters when floods were falling; yet never did her soul +reveal itself more impressively than now. I hung about her skirts, +lingering timidly, until the higher mountains and glaciers compelled +me to push up the canyon. + +This canyon is accessible only to mountaineers, and I was anxious to +carry my barometer and clinometer through it, to obtain sections and +altitudes, so I chose it as the most attractive highway. After I had +passed the tall groves that stretch a mile above Mirror Lake, and +scrambled around the Tenaya Fall, which is just at the head of the +lake groves, I crept through the dense and spiny chaparral that +plushes the roots of the mountains here for miles in warm green, and +was ascending a precipitous rock front, smoothed by glacial action, +when I suddenly fell--for the first time since I touched foot to +Sierra rocks. After several somersaults, I became insensible from the +shock, and when consciousness returned I found myself wedged among +short, stiff bushes, trembling as if cold, not injured in the +slightest. + +Judging by the sun, I could not have been insensible very long; +probably not a minute, possibly an hour; and I could not remember what +made me fall, or where I had fallen from; but I saw that if I had +rolled a little further, my mountain climbing would have been +finished, for just beyond the bushes the canyon wall steepened and I +might have fallen to the bottom. "There," said I, addressing my feet, +to whose separate skill I had learned to trust night and day on any +mountain, "that is what you get by intercourse with stupid town +stairs, and dead pavements." I felt degraded and worthless. I had +not yet reached the most difficult portion of the canyon, but I +determined to guide my humbled body over the most nerve-trying places +I could find; for I was now awake, and felt confident that the last of +the town fog had been shaken from both head and feet. + +I camped at the mouth of a narrow gorge which is cut into the bottom +of the main canyon, determined to take earnest exercise next day. No +plushy boughs did my ill-behaved bones enjoy that night, nor did my +bumped head get a spicy cedar plume pillow mixed with flowers. I +slept on a naked boulder, and when I awoke all my nervous trembling +was gone. + +The gorged portion of the canyon, in which I spent all the next day, +is about a mile and a half in length; and I passed the time in tracing +the action of the forces that determined this peculiar bottom gorge, +which is an abrupt, ragged-walled, narrow-throated canyon, formed in +the bottom of the wide-mouthed, smooth, and beveled main canyon. I +will not stop now to tell you more; some day you may see it, like a +shadowy line, from Cloud's Rest. In high water, the stream occupies +all the bottom of the gorge, surging and chafing in glorious power +from wall to wall. But the sound of the grinding was low as I entered +the gorge, scarcely hoping to be able to pass through its entire +length. By cool efforts, along glassy, ice-worn slopes, I reached the +upper end in a little over a day, but was compelled to pass the second +night in the gorge, and in the moonlight I wrote you this short +pencil-letter in my notebook:-- + + + The moon is looking down into the canyon, and how marvelously the + great rocks kindle to her light! Every dome, and brow, and + swelling boss touched by her white rays, glows as if lighted with + snow. I am now only a mile from last night's camp; and have been + climbing and sketching all day in this difficult but instructive + gorge. It is formed in the bottom of the main canyon, among the + roots of Cloud's Rest. It begins at the filled-up lake basin where + I camped last night, and ends a few hundred yards above, in another + basin of the same kind. The walls everywhere are craggy and + vertical, and in some places they overlean. It is only from twenty + to sixty feet wide, and not, though black and broken enough, the + thin, crooked mouth of some mysterious abyss; but it was eroded, + for in many places I saw its solid, seamless floor. + + I am sitting on a big stone, against which the stream divides, and + goes brawling by in rapids on both sides; half of my rock is white + in the light, half in shadow. As I look from the opening jaws of + this shadowy gorge, South Dome is immediately in front--high in the + stars, her face turned from the moon, with the rest of her body + gloriously muffled in waved folds of granite. On the left, + sculptured from the main Cloud's Rest ridge, are three magnificent + rocks, sisters of the great South Dome. On the right is the + massive, moonlit front of Mount Watkins, and between, low down in + the furthest distance, is Sentinel Dome, girdled and darkened with + forest. In the near foreground Tenaya Creek is singing against + boulders that are white with snow and moonbeams. Now look back + twenty yards, and you will see a waterfall fair as a spirit; the + moonlight just touches it, bringing it into relief against a dark + background of shadow. A little to the left, and a dozen steps this + side of the fall, a flickering light marks my camp--and a precious + camp it is. A huge, glacier-polished slab, falling from the + smooth, glossy flank of Cloud's Rest, happened to settle on edge + against the wall of the gorge. I did not know that this slab was + glacier-polished until I lighted my fire. Judge of my delight. I + think it was sent here by an earthquake. It is about twelve feet + square. I wish I could take it home[4] for a hearthstone. + Beneath this slab is the only place in this torrent-swept gorge + where I could find sand sufficient for a bed. + + I expected to sleep on the boulders, for I spent most of the + afternoon on the slippery wall of the canyon, endeavoring to get + around this difficult part of the gorge, and was compelled to + hasten down here for water before dark. I shall sleep soundly on + this sand; half of it is mica. Here, wonderful to behold, are a + few green stems of prickly rubus, and a tiny grass. They are here + to meet us. Ay, even here in this darksome gorge, "frightened and + tormented" with raging torrents and choking avalanches of snow. + Can it be? As if rubus and the grass leaf were not enough of God's + tender prattle words of love, which we so much need in these mighty + temples of power, yonder in the "benmost bore" are two blessed + adiantums. Listen to them! How wholly infused with God is this + one big word of love that we call the world! Good-night. Do you + see the fire-glow on my ice-smoothed slab, and on my two ferns and + the rubus and grass panicles? And do you hear how sweet a sleep- + song the fall and cascades are singing? + +The water-ground chips and knots that I found fastened between the +rocks kept my fire alive all through the night. Next morning I rose +nerved and ready for another day of sketching and noting, and any form +of climbing. I escaped from the gorge about noon, after accomplishing +some of the most delicate feats of mountaineering I ever attempted; +and here the canyon is all broadly open again--the floor luxuriantly +forested with pine, and spruce, and silver fir, and brown-trunked +libocedrus. The walls rise in Yosemite forms, and Tenaya Creek comes +down seven hundred feet in a white brush of foam. This is a little +Yosemite valley. It is about two thousand feet above the level of the +main Yosemite, and about twenty-four hundred below Lake Tenaya. + +I found the lake frozen, and the ice was so clear and unruffled that +the surrounding mountains and the groves that look down upon it were +reflected almost as perfectly as I ever beheld them in the calm +evening mirrors of summer. At a little distance, it was difficult to +believe the lake frozen at all; and when I walked out on it, +cautiously stamping at short intervals to test the strength of the +ice, I seemed to walk mysteriously, without adequate faith, on the +surface of the water. The ice was so transparent that I could see +through it the beautifully wave-rippled, sandy bottom, and the scales +of mica glinting back the down-pouring light. When I knelt down with +my face close to the ice, through which the sunbeams were pouring, I +was delighted to discover myriads of Tyndall's six-rayed water +flowers, magnificently colored. + +A grand old mountain mansion is this Tenaya region! In the glacier +period it was a mer de glace, far grander than the mer de glace of +Switzerland, which is only about half a mile broad. The Tenaya mer de +glace was not less than two miles broad, late in the glacier epoch, +when all the principal dividing crests were bare; and its depth was +not less than fifteen hundred feet. Ice streams from Mounts Lyell and +Dana, and all the mountains between, and from the nearer Cathedral +Peak, flowed hither, welded into one, and worked together. After +eroding this Tanaya Lake basin, and all the splendidly sculptured +rocks and mountains that surround and adorn it, and the great Tenaya +Canyon, with its wealth of all that makes mountains sublime, they were +welded with the vast South, Lyell, and Illilouette glaciers on one +side, and with those of Hoffman on the other--thus forming a portion +of a yet grander mer de glace in Yosemite Valley. + +I reached the Tenaya Canyon, on my way home, by coming in from the +northeast, rambling down over the shoulders of Mount Watkins, touching +bottom a mile above Mirror Lake. From thence home was but a saunter +in the moonlight. + +After resting one day, and the weather continuing calm, I ran up over +the left shoulder of South Dome and down in front of its grand split +face to make some measurements, completed my work, climbed to the +right shoulder, struck off along the ridge for Cloud's Rest, and +reached the topmost heave of her sunny wave in ample time to see the +sunset. + +Cloud's Rest is a thousand feet higher than Tissiack. It is a +wavelike crest upon a ridge, which begins at Yosemite with Tissiack, +and runs continuously eastward to the thicket of peaks and crests +around Lake Tenaya. This lofty granite wall is bent this way and that +by the restless and weariless action of glaciers just as if it had +been made of dough. But the grand circumference of mountains and +forests are coming from far and near, densing into one close +assemblage; for the sun, their god and father, with love ineffable, is +glowing a sunset farewell. Not one of all the assembled rocks or +trees seemed remote. How impressively their faces shone with +responsive love! + +I ran home in the moonlight with firm strides; for the sun-love made +me strong. Down through the junipers; down through the firs; now in +jet shadows, now in white light; over sandy moraines and bare, +clanking rocks; past the huge ghost of South Dome rising weird through +the firs; past the glorious fall of Nevada, the groves of Illilouette; +through the pines of the valley; beneath the bright crystal sky +blazing with stars. All of this mountain wealth in one day!--one of +the rich ripe days that enlarge one's life; so much of the sun upon +one side of it, so much of the moon and stars on the other. + + + +III + +Summer Days at Mount Shasta + + +Mount Shasta rises in solitary grandeur from the edge of a +comparatively low and lightly sculptured lava plain near the northern +extremity of the Sierra, and maintains a far more impressive and +commanding individuality than any other mountain within the limits of +California. Go where you may, within a radius of from fifty to a +hundred miles or more, there stands before you the colossal cone of +Shasta, clad in ice and snow, the one grand unmistakable landmark--the +pole star of the landscape. Far to the southward Mount Whitney lifts +its granite summit four or five hundred feet higher than Shasta, but +it is nearly snowless during the late summer, and is so feebly +individualized that the traveler may search for it in vain among the +many rival peaks crowded along the axis of the range to north and +south of it, which all alike are crumbling residual masses brought +into relief in the degradation of the general mass of the range. The +highest point on Mount Shasta, as determined by the State Geological +Survey, is 14,440 feet above mean tide. That of Whitney, computed +from fewer observations, is about 14,900 feet. But inasmuch as the +average elevation of the plain out of which Shasta rises is only about +four thousand feet above the sea, while the actual base of the peak of +Mount Whitney lies at an elevation of eleven thousand feet, the +individual height of the former is about two and a half times as great +as that of the latter. + +Approaching Shasta from the south, one obtains glimpses of its snowy +cone here and there through the trees from the tops of hills and +ridges; but it is not until Strawberry Valley is reached, where there +is a grand out-opening of the forests, that Shasta is seen in all its +glory. From base to crown clearly revealed with its wealth of woods +and waters and fountain snow, rejoicing in the bright mountain sky, +and radiating beauty on all the subject landscape like a sun. +Standing in a fringing thicket of purple spiraea in the immediate +foreground is a smooth expanse of green meadow with its meandering +stream, one of the smaller affluents of the Sacramento; then a zone of +dark, close forest, its countless spires of pine and fir rising above +one another on the swelling base of the mountain in glorious array; +and, over all, the great white cone sweeping far into the thin, keen +sky--meadow, forest, and grand icy summit harmoniously blending and +making one sublime picture evenly balanced. + +The main lines of the landscape are immensely bold and simple, and so +regular that it needs all its shaggy wealth of woods and chaparral and +its finely tinted ice and snow and brown jutting crags to keep it from +looking conventional. In general views of the mountain three distinct +zones may be readily defined. The first, which may be called the +Chaparral Zone, extends around the base in a magnificent sweep nearly +a hundred miles in length on its lower edge, and with a breadth of +about seven miles. It is a dense growth of chaparral from three to +six or eight feet high, composed chiefly of manzanita, cherry, +chincapin, and several species of ceanothus, called deerbrush by the +hunters, forming, when in full bloom, one of the most glorious +flowerbeds conceivable. The continuity of this flowery zone is +interrupted here and there, especially on the south side of the +mountain, by wide swaths of coniferous trees, chiefly the sugar and +yellow pines, Douglas spruce, silver fir, and incense cedar, many +specimens of which are two hundred feet high and five to seven feet in +diameter. Goldenrods, asters, gilias, lilies, and lupines, with many +other less conspicuous plants, occur in warm sheltered openings in +these lower woods, making charming gardens of wildness where bees and +butterflies are at home and many a shy bird and squirrel. + +The next higher is the Fir Zone, made up almost exclusively of two +species of silver fir. It is from two to three miles wide, has an +average elevation above the sea of some six thousand feet on its lower +edge and eight thousand on its upper, and is the most regular and best +defined of the three. + +The Alpine Zone has a rugged, straggling growth of storm-beaten dwarf +pines (Pinus albicaulis), which forms the upper edge of the +timberline. This species reaches an elevation of about nine thousand +feet, but at this height the tops of the trees rise only a few feet +into the thin frosty air, and are closely pressed and shorn by wind +and snow; yet they hold on bravely and put forth an abundance of +beautiful purple flowers and produce cones and seeds. Down towards +the edge of the fir belt they stand erect, forming small, well-formed +trunks, and are associated with the taller two-leafed and mountain +pines and the beautiful Williamson spruce. Bryanthus, a beautiful +flowering heathwort, flourishes a few hundred feet above the +timberline, accompanied with kalmia and spiraea. Lichens enliven the +faces of the cliffs with their bright colors, and in some of the +warmer nooks of the rocks, up to a height of eleven thousand feet, +there are a few tufts of dwarf daisies, wallflowers, and penstemons; +but, notwithstanding these bloom freely, they make no appreciable show +at a distance, and the stretches of rough brown lava beyond the +storm-beaten trees seem as bare of vegetation as the great snow +fields and glaciers of the summit. + +Shasta is a fire-mountain, an old volcano gradually accumulated and +built up into the blue deep of the sky by successive eruptions of +ashes and molten lava which, shot high in the air and falling in +darkening showers, and flowing from chasms and craters, grew outward +and upward like the trunk of a knotty, bulging tree. Not in one grand +convulsion was Shasta given birth, nor in any one special period of +volcanic storm and stress, though mountains more than a thousand feet +in height have been cast up like molehills in a night--quick +contributions to the wealth of the landscapes, and most emphatic +statements, on the part of Nature, of the gigantic character of the +power that dwells beneath the dull, dead-looking surface of the earth. +But sections cut by the glaciers, displaying some of the internal +framework of Shasta, show that comparatively long periods of +quiescence intervened between many distinct eruptions, during which +the cooling lavas ceased to flow, and took their places as permanent +additions to the bulk of the growing mountain. Thus with alternate +haste and deliberation eruption succeeded eruption, until Mount Shasta +surpassed even its present sublime height. + +Then followed a strange contrast. The glacial winter came on. The +sky that so often had been darkened with storms of cinders and ashes +and lighted by the glare of volcanic fires was filled with crystal +snow-flowers, which, loading the cooling mountain, gave birth to +glaciers that, uniting edge to edge, at length formed one grand +conical glacier--a down-crawling mantle of ice upon a fountain of +smouldering fire, crushing and grinding its brown, flinty lavas, and +thus degrading and remodeling the entire mountain from summit to base. +How much denudation and degradation has been effected we have no means +of determining, the porous, crumbling rocks being ill adapted for the +reception and preservation of glacial inscriptions. + +The summit is now a mass of ruins, and all the finer striations have +been effaced from the flanks by post-glacial weathering, while the +irregularity of its lavas as regards susceptibility to erosion, and +the disturbance caused by inter- and post-glacial eruptions, have +obscured or obliterated those heavier characters of the glacial record +found so clearly inscribed upon the granite pages of the high Sierra +between latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes and 39 degrees. This much, +however, is plain: that the summit of the mountain was considerably +lowered, and the sides were deeply grooved and fluted while it was a +center of dispersal for the glaciers of the circumjacent region. And +when at length the glacial period began to draw near its close, the +ice mantle was gradually melted off around the base of the mountain, +and in receding and breaking up into its present fragmentary condition +the irregular heaps and rings of moraine matter were stored upon its +flanks on which the forests are growing. The glacial erosion of most +of the Shasta lavas gives rise to detritus composed of rough +subangular boulders of moderate size and porous gravel and sand, which +yields freely to the transporting power of running water. Several +centuries ago immense quantities of this lighter material were washed +down from the higher slopes by a flood of extraordinary magnitude, +caused probably by the sudden melting of the ice and snow during an +eruption, giving rise to the deposition of conspicuous delta-like beds +around the base. And it is upon these flood-beds of moraine soil, +thus suddenly and simultaneously laid down and joined edge to edge, +that the flowery chaparral is growing. + +Thus, by forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive, Nature +accomplishes her beneficent designs--now a flood of fire, now a flood +of ice, now a flood of water; and again in the fullness of time an +outburst of organic life--forest and garden, with all their wealth of +fruit and flowers, the air stirred into one universal hum with +rejoicing insects, a milky way of wings and petals, girdling the +newborn mountain like a cloud, as if the vivifying sunbeams beating +against its sides had broken into a foam of plant-bloom and bees. + +But with such grand displays as Nature is making here, how grand are +her reservations, bestowed only upon those who devotedly seek them! +Beneath the smooth and snowy surface the fountain fires are still +aglow, to blaze forth afresh at their appointed times. The glaciers, +looking so still and small at a distance, represented by the artist +with a patch of white paint laid on by a single stroke of his brush, +are still flowing onward, unhalting, with deep crystal currents, +sculpturing the mountain with stern, resistless energy. How many +caves and fountains that no eye has yet seen lie with all their fine +furniture deep down in the darkness, and how many shy wild creatures +are at home beneath the grateful lights and shadows of the woods, +rejoicing in their fullness of perfect life! + +Standing on the edge of the Strawberry Meadows in the sun-days of +summer, not a foot or feather or leaf seems to stir; and the grand, +towering mountain with all its inhabitants appears in rest, calm as a +star. Yet how profound is the energy ever in action, and how great is +the multitude of claws and teeth, wings and eyes, wide awake and at +work and shining! Going into the blessed wilderness, the blood of the +plants throbbing beneath the life-giving sunshine seems to be heard +and felt; plant growth goes on before our eyes, and every tree and +bush and flower is seen as a hive of restless industry. The deeps of +the sky are mottled with singing wings of every color and tone--clouds +of brilliant chrysididae dancing and swirling in joyous rhythm, +golden-barred vespidae, butterflies, grating cicadas and jolly +rattling grasshoppers--fairly enameling the light, and shaking all the +air into music. Happy fellows they are, every one of them, blowing +tiny pipe and trumpet, plodding and prancing, at work or at play. + +Though winter holds the summit, Shasta in summer is mostly a massy, +bossy mound of flowers colored like the alpenglow that flushes the +snow. There are miles of wild roses, pink bells of huckleberry and +sweet manzanita, every bell a honey-cup, plants that tell of the north +and of the south; tall nodding lilies, the crimson sarcodes, +rhododendron, cassiope, and blessed linnaea; phlox, calycanthus, plum, +cherry, crataegus, spiraea, mints, and clovers in endless variety; +ivesia, larkspur, and columbine; golden aplopappus, linosyris[5], +bahia, wyethia, arnica, brodiaea, etc.,--making sheets and beds of +light edgings of bloom in lavish abundance for the myriads of the air +dependent on their bounty. + +The common honeybees, gone wild in this sweet wilderness, gather tons +of honey into the hollows of the trees and rocks, clambering eagerly +through bramble and hucklebloom, shaking the clustered bells of the +generous manzanita, now humming aloft among polleny willows and firs, +now down on the ashy ground among small gilias and buttercups, and +anon plunging into banks of snowy cherry and buckthorn. They consider +the lilies and roll into them, pushing their blunt polleny faces +against them like babies on their mother's bosom; and fondly, too, +with eternal love does Mother Nature clasp her small bee-babies and +suckle them, multitudes at once, on her warm Shasta breast. Besides +the common honeybee there are many others here, fine, burly, mossy +fellows, such as were nourished on the mountains many a flowery +century before the advent of the domestic species--bumblebees, mason-bees, +carpenter-bees, and leaf-cutters. Butterflies, too, and moths of +every size and pattern; some wide-winged like bats, flapping slowly +and sailing in easy curves; others like small flying violets shaking +about loosely in short zigzag flights close to the flowers, feasting +in plenty night and day. + +Deer in great abundance come to Shasta from the warmer foothills every +spring to feed in the rich, cool pastures, and bring forth their young +in the ceanothus tangles of the chaparral zone, retiring again before +the snowstorms of winter, mostly to the southward and westward of the +mountain. In like manner the wild sheep of the adjacent region seek +the lofty inaccessible crags of the summit as the snow melts, and are +driven down to the lower spurs and ridges where there is but little +snow, to the north and east of Shasta. + +Bears, too, roam this foodful wilderness, feeding on grass, clover, +berries, nuts, ant eggs, fish, flesh, or fowl,--whatever comes in +their way,--with but little troublesome discrimination. Sugar and +honey they seem to like best of all, and they seek far to find the +sweets; but when hard pushed by hunger they make out to gnaw a living +from the bark of trees and rotten logs, and might almost live on clean +lava alone. + +Notwithstanding the California bears have had as yet but little +experience with honeybees, they sometimes succeed in reaching the +bountiful stores of these industrious gatherers and enjoy the feast +with majestic relish. But most honeybees in search of a home are wise +enough to make choice of a hollow in a living tree far from the +ground, whenever such can be found. There they are pretty secure, for +though the smaller brown and black bears climb well, they are unable +to gnaw their way into strong hives, while compelled to exert +themselves to keep from falling and at the same time endure the stings +of the bees about the nose and eyes, without having their paws free to +brush them off. But woe to the unfortunates who dwell in some +prostrate trunk, and to the black bumblebees discovered in their +mossy, mouselike nests in the ground. With powerful teeth and claws +these are speedily laid bare, and almost before time is given for a +general buzz the bees, old and young, larvae, honey, stings, nest, and +all, are devoured in one ravishing revel. + +The antelope may still be found in considerable numbers to the +northeastward of Shasta, but the elk, once abundant, have almost +entirely gone from the region. The smaller animals, such as the wolf, +the various foxes, wildcats, coon, squirrels, and the curious wood rat +that builds large brush huts, abound in all the wilder places; and the +beaver, otter, mink, etc., may still be found along the sources of the +rivers. The blue grouse and mountain quail are plentiful in the woods +and the sage-hen on the plains about the northern base of the +mountain, while innumerable smaller birds enliven and sweeten every +thicket and grove. + + +There are at least five classes of human inhabitants about the Shasta +region: the Indians, now scattered, few in numbers and miserably +demoralized, though still offering some rare specimens of savage +manhood; miners and prospectors, found mostly to the north and west of +the mountain, since the region about its base is overflowed with lava; +cattle-raisers, mostly on the open plains to the northeastward and +around the Klamath Lakes; hunters and trappers, where the woods and +waters are wildest; and farmers, in Shasta Valley on the north side of +the mountain, wheat, apples, melons, berries, all the best production +of farm and garden growing and ripening there at the foot of the great +white cone, which seems at times during changing storms ready to fall +upon them--the most sublime farm scenery imaginable. + +The Indians of the McCloud River that have come under my observation +differ considerably in habits and features from the Diggers and other +tribes of the foothills and plains, and also from the Pah Utes and +Modocs. They live chiefly on salmon. They seem to be closely related +to the Tlingits of Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, and may readily +have found their way here by passing from stream to stream in which +salmon abound. They have much better features than the Indians of the +plains, and are rather wide awake, speculative and ambitious in their +way, and garrulous, like the natives of the northern coast. + +Before the Modoc War they lived in dread of the Modocs, a tribe living +about the Klamath Lake and the Lava Beds, who were in the habit of +crossing the low Sierra divide past the base of Shasta on freebooting +excursions, stealing wives, fish, and weapons from the Pitts and +McClouds. Mothers would hush their children by telling them that the +Modocs would catch them. + +During my stay at the Government fish-hatching station on the McCloud +I was accompanied in my walks along the riverbank by a McCloud boy +about ten years of age, a bright, inquisitive fellow, who gave me the +Indian names of the birds and plants that we met. The water-ousel he +knew well and he seemed to like the sweet singer, which he called +"Sussinny." He showed me how strips of the stems of the beautiful +maidenhair fern were used to adorn baskets with handsome brown bands, +and pointed out several plants good to eat, particularly the large +saxifrage growing abundantly along the river margin. Once I rushed +suddenly upon him to see if he would be frightened; but he +unflinchingly held his ground, struck a grand heroic attitude, and +shouted, "Me no fraid; me Modoc!" + +Mount Shasta, so far as I have seen, has never been the home of +Indians, not even their hunting ground to any great extent, above the +lower slopes of the base. They are said to be afraid of fire-mountains +and geyser basins as being the dwelling places of dangerously powerful +and unmanageable gods. However, it is food and their relations to +other tribes that mainly control the movements of Indians; and here +their food was mostly on the lower slopes, with nothing except the +wild sheep to tempt them higher. Even these were brought within +reach without excessive climbing during the storms of winter. + +On the north side of Shasta, near Sheep Rock, there is a long cavern, +sloping to the northward, nearly a mile in length, thirty or forty +feet wide, and fifty feet or more in height, regular in form and +direction like a railroad tunnel, and probably formed by the flowing +away of a current of lava after the hardening of the surface. At the +mouth of this cave, where the light and shelter is good, I found many +of the heads and horns of the wild sheep, and the remains of +campfires, no doubt those of Indian hunters who in stormy weather had +camped there and feasted after the fatigues of the chase. A wild +picture that must have formed on a dark night--the glow of the fire, +the circle of crouching savages around it seen through the smoke, the +dead game, and the weird darkness and half-darkness of the walls of +the cavern, a picture of cave-dwellers at home in the stone age! + +Interest in hunting is almost universal, so deeply is it rooted as an +inherited instinct ever ready to rise and make itself known. Fine +scenery may not stir a fiber of mind or body, but how quick and how +true is the excitement of the pursuit of game! Then up flames the +slumbering volcano of ancient wildness, all that has been done by +church and school through centuries of cultivation is for the moment +destroyed, and the decent gentleman or devout saint becomes a howling, +bloodthirsty, demented savage. It is not long since we all were +cavemen and followed game for food as truly as wildcat or wolf, and +the long repression of civilization seems to make the rebound to +savage love of blood all the more violent. This frenzy, fortunately, +does not last long in its most exaggerated form, and after a season of +wildness refined gentlemen from cities are not more cruel than hunters +and trappers who kill for a living. + +Dwelling apart in the depths of the woods are the various kinds of +mountaineers,--hunters, prospectors, and the like,--rare men, "queer +characters," and well worth knowing. Their cabins are located with +reference to game and the ledges to be examined, and are constructed +almost as simply as those of the wood rats made of sticks laid across +each other without compass or square. But they afford good shelter +from storms, and so are "square" with the need of their builders. +These men as a class are singularly fine in manners, though their +faces may be scarred and rough like the bark of trees. On entering +their cabins you will promptly be placed on your good behavior, and, +your wants being perceived with quick insight, complete hospitality +will be offered for body and mind to the extent of the larder. + +These men know the mountains far and near, and their thousand voices, +like the leaves of a book. They can tell where the deer may be found +at any time of year or day, and what they are doing; and so of all the +other furred and feathered people they meet in their walks; and they +can send a thought to its mark as well as a bullet. The aims of such +people are not always the highest, yet how brave and manly and clean +are their lives compared with too many in crowded towns mildewed and +dwarfed in disease and crime! How fine a chance is here to begin life +anew in the free fountains and skylands of Shasta, where it is so easy +to live and to die! The future of the hunter is likely to be a good +one; no abrupt change about it, only a passing from wilderness to +wilderness, from one high place to another. + +Now that the railroad has been built up the Sacramento, everybody with +money may go to Mount Shasta, the weak as well as the strong, +fine-grained, succulent people, whose legs have never ripened, as well +as sinewy mountaineers seasoned long in the weather. This, surely, is +not the best way of going to the mountains, yet it is better than +staying below. Many still small voices will not be heard in the noisy +rush and din, suggestive of going to the sky in a chariot of fire or a +whirlwind, as one is shot to the Shasta mark in a booming palace-car +cartridge; up the rocky canyon, skimming the foaming river, above the +level reaches, above the dashing spray--fine exhilarating translation, +yet a pity to go so fast in a blur, where so much might be seen and +enjoyed. + +The mountains are fountains not only of rivers and fertile soil, but +of men. Therefore we are all, in some sense, mountaineers, and going +to the mountains is going home. Yet how many are doomed to toil in +town shadows while the white mountains beckon all along the horizon! +Up the canyon to Shasta would be a cure for all care. But many on +arrival seem at a loss to know what to do with themselves, and seek +shelter in the hotel, as if that were the Shasta they had come for. +Others never leave the rail, content with the window views, and cling +to the comforts of the sleeping car like blind mice to their mothers. +Many are sick and have been dragged to the healing wilderness +unwillingly for body-good alone. Were the parts of the human machine +detachable like Yankee inventions, how strange would be the gatherings +on the mountains of pieces of people out of repair! + +How sadly unlike the whole-hearted ongoing of the seeker after gold is +this partial, compulsory mountaineering!--as if the mountain +treasuries contained nothing better than gold! Up the mountains they +go, high-heeled and high-hatted, laden like Christian with +mortifications and mortgages of divers sorts and degrees, some +suffering from the sting of bad bargains, others exulting in good +ones; hunters and fishermen with gun and rod and leggins; blythe and +jolly troubadours to whom all Shasta is romance; poets singing their +prayers; the weak and the strong, unable or unwilling to bear mental +taxation. But, whatever the motive, all will be in some measure +benefited. None may wholly escape the good of Nature, however +imperfectly exposed to her blessings. The minister will not preach a +perfectly flat and sedimentary sermon after climbing a snowy peak; and +the fair play and tremendous impartiality of Nature, so tellingly +displayed, will surely affect the after pleadings of the lawyer. +Fresh air at least will get into everybody, and the cares of mere +business will be quenched like the fires of a sinking ship. + +Possibly a branch railroad may some time be built to the summit of +Mount Shasta like the road on Mount Washington. In the mean time +tourists are dropped at Sisson's, about twelve miles from the summit, +whence as headquarters they radiate in every direction to the so-called +"points of interest"; sauntering about the flowery fringes of the +Strawberry Meadows, bathing in the balm of the woods, scrambling, +fishing, hunting; riding about Castle Lake, the McCloud River, Soda +Springs, Big Spring, deer pastures, and elsewhere. Some demand bears, +and make excited inquiries concerning their haunts, how many there +might be altogether on the mountain, and whether they are grizzly, +brown, or black. Others shout, "Excelsior," and make off at once for +the upper snow fields. Most, however, are content with comparatively +level ground and moderate distances, gathering at the hotel every +evening laden with trophies--great sheaves of flowers, cones of +various trees, cedar and fir branches covered with yellow lichens, and +possibly a fish or two, or quail, or grouse. + +But the heads of deer, antelope, wild sheep, and bears are +conspicuously rare or altogether wanting in tourist collections in the +"paradise of hunters." There is a grand comparing of notes and +adventures. Most are exhilarated and happy, though complaints may +occasionally be heard--"The mountain does not look so very high after +all, nor so very white; the snow is in patches like rags spread out to +dry," reminding one of Sydney Smith's joke against Jeffrey, "D--n the +Solar System; bad light, planets too indistinct." But far the greater +number are in good spirits, showing the influence of holiday enjoyment +and mountain air. Fresh roses come to cheeks that long have been +pale, and sentiment often begins to blossom under the new inspiration. + +The Shasta region may be reserved as a national park, with special +reference to the preservation of its fine forests and game. This +should by all means be done; but, as far as game is concerned, it is +in little danger from tourists, notwithstanding many of them carry +guns, and are in some sense hunters. Going in noisy groups, and with +guns so shining, they are oftentimes confronted by inquisitive Douglas +squirrels, and are thus given opportunities for shooting; but the +larger animals retire at their approach and seldom are seen. Other +gun people, too wise or too lifeless to make much noise, move slowly +along the trails and about the open spots of the woods, like benumbed +beetles in a snowdrift. Such hunters are themselves hunted by the +animals, which in perfect safety follow them out of curiosity. + +During the bright days of midsummer the ascent of Shasta is only a +long, safe saunter, without fright or nerve strain, or even serious +fatigue, to those in sound health. Setting out from Sisson's on +horseback, accompanied by a guide leading a pack animal with +provision, blankets, and other necessaries, you follow a trail that +leads up to the edge of the timberline, where you camp for the night, +eight or ten miles from the hotel, at an elevation of about ten +thousand feet. The next day, rising early, you may push on to the +summit and return to Sisson's. But it is better to spend more time in +the enjoyment of the grand scenery on the summit and about the head of +the Whitney Glacier, pass the second night in camp, and return to +Sisson's on the third day. Passing around the margin of the meadows +and on through the zones of the forest, you will have good +opportunities to get ever-changing views of the mountain and its +wealth of creatures that bloom and breathe. + +The woods differ but little from those that clothe the mountains to +the southward, the trees being slightly closer together and generally +not quite so large, marking the incipient change from the open sunny +forests of the Sierra to the dense damp forests of the northern coast, +where a squirrel may travel in the branches of the thick-set trees +hundreds of miles without touching the ground. Around the upper belt +of the forest you may see gaps where the ground has been cleared by +avalanches of snow, thousands of tons in weight, which, descending +with grand rush and roar, brush the trees from their paths like so +many fragile shrubs or grasses. + +At first the ascent is very gradual. The mountain begins to leave the +plain in slopes scarcely perceptible, measuring from two to three +degrees. These are continued by easy gradations mile after mile all +the way to the truncated, crumbling summit, where they attain a +steepness of twenty to twenty-five degrees. The grand simplicity of +these lines is partially interrupted on the north subordinate cone +that rises from the side of the main cone about three thousand feet +from the summit. This side cone, past which your way to the summit +lies, was active after the breaking-up of the main ice-cap of the +glacial period, as shown by the comparatively unwasted crater in which +it terminates and by streams of fresh-looking, unglaciated lava that +radiate from it as a center. + +The main summit is about a mile and a half in diameter from southwest +to northeast, and is nearly covered with snow and neve, bounded by +crumbling peaks and ridges, among which we look in vain for any sure +plan of an ancient crater. The extreme summit is situated on the +southern end of a narrow ridge that bounds the general summit on the +east. Viewed from the north, it appears as an irregular blunt point +about ten feet high, and is fast disappearing before the stormy +atmospheric action to which it is subjected. + +At the base of the eastern ridge, just below the extreme summit, hot +sulphurous gases and vapor escape with a hissing, bubbling noise from +a fissure in the lava. Some of the many small vents cast up a spray +of clear hot water, which falls back repeatedly until wasted in vapor. +The steam and spray seem to be produced simply by melting snow coming +in the way of the escaping gases, while the gases are evidently +derived from the heated interior of the mountain, and may be regarded +as the last feeble expression of the mighty power that lifted the +entire mass of the mountain from the volcanic depths far below the +surface of the plain. + +The view from the summit in clear weather extends to an immense +distance in every direction. Southeastward, the low volcanic portion +of the Sierra is seen like a map, both flanks as well as the crater- +dotted axis, as far as Lassen's Butte[6], a prominent landmark and an +old volcano like Shasta, between ten and eleven thousand feet high, +and distant about sixty miles. Some of the higher summit peaks near +Independence Lake, one hundred and eighty miles away, are at times +distinctly visible. Far to the north, in Oregon, the snowy volcanic +cones of Mounts Pitt, Jefferson, and the Three Sisters rise in clear +relief, like majestic monuments, above the dim dark sea of the +northern woods. To the northeast lie the Rhett and Klamath Lakes, the +Lava Beds, and a grand display of hill and mountain and gray rocky +plains. The Scott, Siskiyou, and Trinity Mountains rise in long, +compact waves to the west and southwest, and the valley of the +Sacramento and the coast mountains, with their marvelous wealth of +woods and waters, are seen; while close around the base of the +mountain lie the beautiful Shasta Valley, Strawberry Valley, +Huckleberry Valley, and many others, with the headwaters of the +Shasta, Sacramento, and McCloud Rivers. Some observers claim to have +seen the ocean from the summit of Shasta, but I have not yet been so +fortunate. + +The Cinder Cone near Lassen's Butte is remarkable as being the scene +of the most recent volcanic eruption in the range. It is a +symmetrical truncated cone covered with gray cinders and ashes, with a +regular crater in which a few pines an inch or two in diameter are +growing. It stands between two small lakes which previous to the last +eruption, when the cone was built, formed one lake. From near the +base of the cone a flood of extremely rough black vesicular lava +extends across what was once a portion of the bottom of the lake into +the forest of yellow pine. + +This lava flow seems to have been poured out during the same eruption +that gave birth to the cone, cutting the lake in two, flowing a little +way into the woods and overwhelming the trees in its way, the ends of +some of the charred trunks still being visible, projecting from +beneath the advanced snout of the flow where it came to rest; while +the floor of the forest for miles around is so thickly strewn with +loose cinders that walking is very fatiguing. The Pitt River Indians +tell of a fearful time of darkness, probably due to this eruption, +when the sky was filled with falling cinders which, as they thought, +threatened every living creature with destruction, and say that when +at length the sun appeared through the gloom it was red like blood. + +Less recent craters in great numbers dot the adjacent region, some +with lakes in their throats, some overgrown with trees, others nearly +bare--telling monuments of Nature's mountain fires so often lighted +throughout the northern Sierra. And, standing on the top of icy +Shasta, the mightiest fire-monument of them all, we can hardly fail to +look forward to the blare and glare of its next eruption and wonder +whether it is nigh. Elsewhere men have planted gardens and vineyards +in the craters of volcanoes quiescent for ages, and almost without +warning have been hurled into the sky. More than a thousand years of +profound calm have been known to intervene between two violent +eruptions. Seventeen centuries intervened between two consecutive +eruptions on the island of Ischia. Few volcanoes continue permanently +in eruption. Like gigantic geysers, spouting hot stone instead of hot +water, they work and sleep, and we have no sure means of knowing +whether they are only sleeping or dead. + + + +IV + +A Perilous Night on Shasta's Summit + + +Toward the end of summer, after a light, open winter, one may reach +the summit of Mount Shasta without passing over much snow, by keeping +on the crest of a long narrow ridge, mostly bare, that extends from +near the camp-ground at the timberline. But on my first excursion to +the summit the whole mountain, down to its low swelling base, was +smoothly laden with loose fresh snow, presenting a most glorious mass +of winter mountain scenery, in the midst of which I scrambled and +reveled or lay snugly snowbound, enjoying the fertile clouds and the +snow-bloom in all their growing, drifting grandeur. + +I had walked from Redding, sauntering leisurely from station to +station along the old Oregon stage road, the better to see the rocks +and plants, birds and people, by the way, tracing the rushing +Sacramento to its fountains around icy Shasta. The first rains had +fallen on the lowlands, and the first snows on the mountains, and +everything was fresh and bracing, while an abundance of balmy sunshine +filled all the noonday hours. It was the calm afterglow that usually +succeeds the first storm of the winter. I met many of the birds that +had reared their young and spent their summer in the Shasta woods and +chaparral. They were then on their way south to their winter homes, +leading their young full-fledged and about as large and strong as the +parents. Squirrels, dry and elastic after the storms, were busy about +their stores of pine nuts, and the latest goldenrods were still in +bloom, though it was now past the middle of October. The grand color +glow--the autumnal jubilee of ripe leaves--was past prime, but, +freshened by the rain, was still making a fine show along the banks of +the river and in the ravines and the dells of the smaller streams. + +At the salmon-hatching establishment on the McCloud River I halted a +week to examine the limestone belt, grandly developed there, to learn +what I could of the inhabitants of the river and its banks, and to +give time for the fresh snow that I knew had fallen on the mountain to +settle somewhat, with a view to making the ascent. A pedestrian on +these mountain roads, especially so late in the year, is sure to +excite curiosity, and many were the interrogations concerning my +ramble. When I said that I was simply taking a walk, and that icy +Shasta was my mark, I was invariably admonished that I had come on a +dangerous quest. The time was far too late, the snow was too loose +and deep to climb, and I should be lost in drifts and slides. When I +hinted that new snow was beautiful and storms not so bad as they were +called, my advisers shook their heads in token of superior knowledge +and declared the ascent of "Shasta Butte" through loose snow +impossible. Nevertheless, before noon of the second of November I was +in the frosty azure of the utmost summit. + +When I arrived at Sisson's everything was quiet. The last of the +summer visitors had flitted long before, and the deer and bears also +were beginning to seek their winter homes. My barometer and the +sighing winds and filmy half-transparent clouds that dimmed the +sunshine gave notice of the approach of another storm, and I was in +haste to be off and get myself established somewhere in the midst of +it, whether the summit was to be attained or not. Sisson, who is a +mountaineer, speedily fitted me out for storm or calm as only a +mountaineer could, with warm blankets and a week's provisions so +generous in quantity and kind that they easily might have been made to +last a month in case of my being closely snowbound. Well I knew the +weariness of snow-climbing, and the frosts, and the dangers of +mountaineering so late in the year; therefore I could not ask a guide +to go with me, even had one been willing. All I wanted was to have +blankets and provisions deposited as far up in the timber as the snow +would permit a pack animal to go. There I could build a storm nest +and lie warm, and make raids up and around the mountain in accordance +with the weather. + +Setting out on the afternoon of November first, with Jerome Fay, +mountaineer and guide, in charge of the animals, I was soon plodding +wearily upward through the muffled winter woods, the snow of course +growing steadily deeper and looser, so that we had to break a trail. +The animals began to get discouraged, and after night and darkness +came on they became entangled in a bed of rough lava, where, breaking +through four or five feet of mealy snow, their feet were caught +between angular boulders. Here they were in danger of being lost, but +after we had removed packs and saddles and assisted their efforts with +ropes, they all escaped to the side of a ridge about a thousand feet +below the timberline. + +To go farther was out of the question, so we were compelled to camp as +best we could. A pitch pine fire speedily changed the temperature and +shed a blaze of light on the wild lava-slope and the straggling storm- +bent pines around us. Melted snow answered for coffee, and we had +plenty of venison to roast. Toward midnight I rolled myself in my +blankets, slept an hour and a half, arose and ate more venison, tied +two days' provisions to my belt, and set out for the summit, hoping to +reach it ere the coming storm should fall. Jerome accompanied me a +little distance above camp and indicated the way as well as he could +in the darkness. He seemed loath to leave me, but, being reassured +that I was at home and required no care, he bade me good-bye and +returned to camp, ready to lead his animals down the mountain at +daybreak. + +After I was above the dwarf pines, it was fine practice pushing up the +broad unbroken slopes of snow, alone in the solemn silence of the +night. Half the sky was clouded; in the other half the stars sparkled +icily in the keen, frosty air; while everywhere the glorious wealth of +snow fell away from the summit of the cone in flowing folds, more +extensive and continuous than any I had ever seen before. When day +dawned the clouds were crawling slowly and becoming more massive, but +gave no intimation of immediate danger, and I pushed on faithfully, +though holding myself well in hand, ready to return to the timber; for +it was easy to see that the storm was not far off. The mountain rises +ten thousand feet above the general level of the country, in blank +exposure to the deep upper currents of the sky, and no labyrinth of +peaks and canyons I had ever been in seemed to me so dangerous as +these immense slopes, bare against the sky. + +The frost was intense, and drifting snow dust made breathing at times +rather difficult. The snow was as dry as meal, and the finer +particles drifted freely, rising high in the air, while the larger +portions of the crystals rolled like sand. I frequently sank to my +armpits between buried blocks of loose lava, but generally only to my +knees. When tired with walking I still wallowed slowly upward on all +fours. The steepness of the slope--thirty-five degrees in some +places--made any kind of progress fatiguing, while small avalanches +were being constantly set in motion in the steepest places. But the +bracing air and the sublime beauty of the snowy expanse thrilled every +nerve and made absolute exhaustion impossible. I seemed to be walking +and wallowing in a cloud; but, holding steadily onward, by half-past +ten o'clock I had gained the highest summit. + +I held my commanding foothold in the sky for two hours, gazing on the +glorious landscapes spread maplike around the immense horizon, and +tracing the outlines of the ancient lava-streams extending far into +the surrounding plains, and the pathways of vanished glaciers of which +Shasta had been the center. But, as I had left my coat in camp for +the sake of having my limbs free in climbing, I soon was cold. The +wind increased in violence, raising the snow in magnificent drifts +that were drawn out in the form of wavering banners blowing in the +sun. Toward the end of my stay a succession of small clouds struck +against the summit rocks like drifting icebergs, darkening the air as +they passed, and producing a chill as definite and sudden as if +ice-water had been dashed in my face. This is the kind of cloud in +which snow-flowers grow, and I turned and fled. + +Finding that I was not closely pursued, I ventured to take time on the +way down for a visit to the head of the Whitney Glacier and the +"Crater Butte." After I had reached the end of the main summit ridge +the descent was but little more than one continuous soft, mealy, +muffled slide, most luxurious and rapid, though the hissing, swishing +speed attained was obscured in great part by flying snow dust--a +marked contrast to the boring seal-wallowing upward struggle. I +reached camp about an hour before dusk, hollowed a strip of loose +ground in the lee of a large block of red lava, where firewood was +abundant, rolled myself in my blankets, and went to sleep. + +Next morning, having slept little the night before the ascent and +being weary with climbing after the excitement was over, I slept late. +Then, awaking suddenly, my eyes opened on one of the most beautiful +and sublime scenes I ever enjoyed. A boundless wilderness of storm +clouds of different degrees of ripeness were congregated over all the +lower landscape for thousands of square miles, colored gray, and +purple, and pearl, and deep-glowing white, amid which I seemed to be +floating; while the great white cone of the mountain above was all +aglow in the free, blazing sunshine. It seemed not so much an ocean +as a land of clouds--undulating hill and dale, smooth purple plains, +and silvery mountains of cumuli, range over range, diversified with +peak and dome and hollow fully brought out in light and shade. + +I gazed enchanted, but cold gray masses, drifting like dust on a wind- +swept plain, began to shut out the light, forerunners of the coming +storm I had been so anxiously watching. I made haste to gather as +much wood as possible, snugging it as a shelter around my bed. The +storm side of my blankets was fastened down with stakes to reduce as +much as possible the sifting-in of drift and the danger of being blown +away. The precious bread sack was placed safely as a pillow, and when +at length the first flakes fell I was exultingly ready to welcome +them. Most of my firewood was more than half rosin and would blaze in +the face of the fiercest drifting; the winds could not demolish my +bed, and my bread could be made to last indefinitely; while in case of +need I had the means of making snowshoes and could retreat or hold my +ground as I pleased. + +Presently the storm broke forth into full snowy bloom, and the +thronging crystals darkened the air. The wind swept past in hissing +floods, grinding the snow into meal and sweeping down into the hollows +in enormous drifts all the heavier particles, while the finer dust was +sifted through the sky, increasing the icy gloom. But my fire glowed +bravely as if in glad defiance of the drift to quench it, and, +notwithstanding but little trace of my nest could be seen after the +snow had leveled and buried it, I was snug and warm, and the +passionate uproar produced a glad excitement. + +Day after day the storm continued, piling snow on snow in weariless +abundance. There were short periods of quiet, when the sun would seem +to look eagerly down through rents in the clouds, as if to know how +the work was advancing. During these calm intervals I replenished my +fire--sometimes without leaving the nest, for fire and woodpile were +so near this could easily be done--or busied myself with my notebook, +watching the gestures of the trees in taking the snow, examining +separate crystals under a lens, and learning the methods of their +deposition as an enduring fountain for the streams. Several times, +when the storm ceased for a few minutes, a Douglas squirrel came +frisking from the foot of a clump of dwarf pines, moving in sudden +interrupted spurts over the bossy snow; then, without any apparent +guidance, he would dig rapidly into the drift where were buried some +grains of barley that the horses had left. The Douglas squirrel does +not strictly belong to these upper woods, and I was surprised to see +him out in such weather. The mountain sheep also, quite a large flock +of them, came to my camp and took shelter beside a clump of matted +dwarf pines a little above my nest. + +The storm lasted about a week, but before it was ended Sisson became +alarmed and sent up the guide with animals to see what had become of +me and recover the camp outfit. The news spread that "there was a man +on the mountain," and he must surely have perished, and Sisson was +blamed for allowing any one to attempt climbing in such weather; while +I was as safe as anybody in the lowlands, lying like a squirrel in a +warm, fluffy nest, busied about my own affairs and wishing only to be +let alone. Later, however, a trail could not have been broken for a +horse, and some of the camp furniture would have had to be abandoned. +On the fifth day I returned to Sisson's, and from that comfortable +base made excursions, as the weather permitted, to the Black Butte, to +the foot of the Whitney Glacier, around the base of the mountain, to +Rhett and Klamath Lakes, to the Modoc region and elsewhere, developing +many interesting scenes and experiences. + +But the next spring, on the other side of this eventful winter, I saw +and felt still more of the Shasta snow. For then it was my fortune to +get into the very heart of a storm, and to be held in it for a long +time. + +On the 28th of April [1875] I led a party up the mountain for the +purpose of making a survey of the summit with reference to the +location of the Geodetic monument. On the 30th, accompanied by Jerome +Fay, I made another ascent to make some barometrical observations, the +day intervening between the two ascents being devoted to establishing +a camp on the extreme edge of the timberline. Here, on our red +trachyte bed, we obtained two hours of shallow sleep broken for +occasional glimpses of the keen, starry night. At two o'clock we +rose, breakfasted on a warmed tin-cupful of coffee and a piece of +frozen venison broiled on the coals, and started for the summit. Up +to this time there was nothing in sight that betokened the approach of +a storm; but on gaining the summit, we saw toward Lassen's Butte +hundreds of square miles of white cumuli boiling dreamily in the +sunshine far beneath us, and causing no alarm. + +The slight weariness of the ascent was soon rested away, and our +glorious morning in the sky promised nothing but enjoyment. At 9 a.m. +the dry thermometer stood at 34 degrees in the shade and rose steadily +until at 1 p.m. it stood at 50 degrees, probably influenced somewhat +by radiation from the sun-warmed cliffs. A common bumblebee, not at +all benumbed, zigzagged vigorously about our heads for a few moments, +as if unconscious of the fact that the nearest honey flower was a mile +beneath him. + +In the mean time clouds were growing down in Shasta Valley--massive +swelling cumuli, displaying delicious tones of purple and gray in the +hollows of their sun-beaten bosses. Extending gradually southward +around on both sides of Shasta, these at length united with the older +field towards Lassen's Butte, thus encircling Mount Shasta in one +continuous cloud zone. Rhett and Klamath Lakes were eclipsed beneath +clouds scarcely less brilliant than their own silvery disks. The +Modoc Lava Beds, many a snow-laden peak far north in Oregon, the Scott +and Trinity and Siskiyou Mountains, the peaks of the Sierra, the blue +Coast Range, Shasta Valley, the dark forests filling the valley of the +Sacramento, all in turn were obscured or buried, leaving the lofty +cone on which we stood solitary in the sunshine between two skies--a +sky of spotless blue above, a sky of glittering cloud beneath. The +creative sun shone glorious on the vast expanse of cloudland; hill and +dale, mountain and valley springing into existence responsive to his +rays and steadily developing in beauty and individuality. One huge +mountain-cone of cloud, corresponding to Mount Shasta in these newborn +cloud ranges, rose close alongside with a visible motion, its firm, +polished bosses seeming so near and substantial that we almost fancied +that we might leap down upon them from where we stood and make our way +to the lowlands. No hint was given, by anything in their appearance, +of the fleeting character of these most sublime and beautiful cloud +mountains. On the contrary they impressed one as being lasting +additions to the landscape. + +The weather of the springtime and summer, throughout the Sierra in +general, is usually varied by slight local rains and dustings of snow, +most of which are obviously far too joyous and life-giving to be +regarded as storms--single clouds growing in the sunny sky, ripening +in an hour, showering the heated landscape, and passing away like a +thought, leaving no visible bodily remains to stain the sky. +Snowstorms of the same gentle kind abound among the high peaks, but in +spring they not unfrequently attain larger proportions, assuming a +violence and energy of expression scarcely surpassed by those bred in +the depths of winter. Such was the storm now gathering about us. + +It began to declare itself shortly after noon, suggesting to us the +idea of at once seeking our safe camp in the timber and abandoning the +purpose of making an observation of the barometer at 3 p.m.,--two +having already been made, at 9 a.m., and 12 m., while simultaneous +observations were made at Strawberry Valley. Jerome peered at short +intervals over the ridge, contemplating the rising clouds with anxious +gestures in the rough wind, and at length declared that if we did not +make a speedy escape we should be compelled to pass the rest of the +day and night on the summit. But anxiety to complete my observations +stifled my own instinctive promptings to retreat, and held me to my +work. No inexperienced person was depending on me, and I told Jerome +that we two mountaineers should be able to make our way down through +any storm likely to fall. + +Presently thin, fibrous films of cloud began to blow directly over the +summit from north to south, drawn out in long fairy webs like carded +wool, forming and dissolving as if by magic. The wind twisted them +into ringlets and whirled them in a succession of graceful +convolutions like the outside sprays of Yosemite Falls in flood time; +then, sailing out into the thin azure over the precipitous brink of +the ridge they were drifted together like wreaths of foam on a river. +These higher and finer cloud fabrics were evidently produced by the +chilling of the air from its own expansion caused by the upward +deflection of the wind against the slopes of the mountain. They +steadily increased on the north rim of the cone, forming at length a +thick, opaque, ill-defined embankment from the icy meshes of which +snow-flowers began to fall, alternating with hail. The sky speedily +darkened, and just as I had completed my last observation and boxed my +instruments ready for the descent, the storm began in serious earnest. +At first the cliffs were beaten with hail, every stone of which, as +far as I could see, was regular in form, six-sided pyramids with +rounded base, rich and sumptuous-looking, and fashioned with loving +care, yet seemingly thrown away on those desolate crags down which +they went rolling, falling, sliding in a network of curious streams. + +After we had forced our way down the ridge and past the group of +hissing fumaroles, the storm became inconceivably violent. The +thermometer fell 22 degrees in a few minutes, and soon dropped below +zero. The hail gave place to snow, and darkness came on like night. +The wind, rising to the highest pitch of violence, boomed and surged +amid the desolate crags; lightning flashes in quick succession cut the +gloomy darkness; and the thunders, the most tremendously loud and +appalling I ever heard, made an almost continuous roar, stroke +following stroke in quick, passionate succession, as though the +mountain were being rent to its foundations and the fires of the old +volcano were breaking forth again. + +Could we at once have begun to descend the snow slopes leading to the +timber, we might have made good our escape, however dark and wild the +storm. As it was, we had first to make our way along a dangerous +ridge nearly a mile and a half long, flanked in many places by steep +ice-slopes at the head of the Whitney Glacier on one side and by +shattered precipices on the other. Apprehensive of this coming +darkness, I had taken the precaution, when the storm began, to make +the most dangerous points clear to my mind, and to mark their +relations with reference to the direction of the wind. When, +therefore, the darkness came on, and the bewildering drift, I felt +confident that we could force our way through it with no other +guidance. After passing the "Hot Springs" I halted in the lee of a +lava-block to let Jerome, who had fallen a little behind, come up. +Here he opened a council in which, under circumstances sufficiently +exciting but without evincing any bewilderment, he maintained, in +opposition to my views, that it was impossible to proceed. He firmly +refused to make the venture to find the camp, while I, aware of the +dangers that would necessarily attend our efforts, and conscious of +being the cause of his present peril, decided not to leave him. + + Our discussions ended, Jerome made a dash from the shelter of the +lava-block and began forcing his way back against the wind to the "Hot +Springs," wavering and struggling to resist being carried away, as if +he were fording a rapid stream. After waiting and watching in vain +for some flaw in the storm that might be urged as a new argument in +favor of attempting the descent, I was compelled to follow. "Here," +said Jerome, as we shivered in the midst of the hissing, sputtering +fumaroles, "we shall be safe from frost." "Yes," said I, "we can lie +in this mud and steam and sludge, warm at least on one side; but how +can we protect our lungs from the acid gases, and how, after our +clothing is saturated, shall we be able to reach camp without +freezing, even after the storm is over? We shall have to wait for +sunshine, and when will it come?" + +The tempered area to which we had committed ourselves extended over +about one fourth of an acre; but it was only about an eighth of an +inch in thickness, for the scalding gas jets were shorn off close to +the ground by the oversweeping flood of frosty wind. And how lavishly +the snow fell only mountaineers may know. The crisp crystal flowers +seemed to touch one another and fairly to thicken the tremendous blast +that carried them. This was the bloom-time, the summer of the cloud, +and never before have I seen even a mountain cloud flowering so +profusely. + +When the bloom of the Shasta chaparral is falling, the ground is +sometimes covered for hundreds of square miles to a depth of half an +inch. But the bloom of this fertile snow cloud grew and matured and +fell to a depth of two feet in a few hours. Some crystals landed with +their rays almost perfect, but most of them were worn and broken by +striking against one another, or by rolling on the ground. The touch +of these snow-flowers in calm weather is infinitely gentle--glinting, +swaying, settling silently in the dry mountain air, or massed in +flakes soft and downy. To lie out alone in the mountains of a still +night and be touched by the first of these small silent messengers +from the sky is a memorable experience, and the fineness of that touch +none will forget. But the storm-blast laden with crisp, sharp snow +seems to crush and bruise and stupefy with its multitude of stings, +and compels the bravest to turn and flee. + +The snow fell without abatement until an hour or two after what seemed +to be the natural darkness of the night. Up to the time the storm +first broke on the summit its development was remarkably gentle. +There was a deliberate growth of clouds, a weaving of translucent +tissue above, then the roar of the wind and the thunder, and the +darkening flight of snow. Its subsidence was not less sudden. The +clouds broke and vanished, not a crystal was left in the sky, and the +stars shone out with pure and tranquil radiance. + +During the storm we lay on our backs so as to present as little +surface as possible to the wind, and to let the drift pass over us. +The mealy snow sifted into the folds of our clothing and in many +places reached the skin. We were glad at first to see the snow +packing about us, hoping it would deaden the force of the wind, but it +soon froze into a stiff, crusty heap as the temperature fell, rather +augmenting our novel misery. + +When the heat became unendurable, on some spot where steam was +escaping through the sludge, we tried to stop it with snow and mud, or +shifted a little at a time by shoving with our heels; for to stand in +blank exposure to the fearful wind in our frozen-and-broiled condition +seemed certain death. The acrid incrustations sublimed from the +escaping gases frequently gave way, opening new vents to scald us; +and, fearing that if at any time the wind should fall, carbonic acid, +which often formed a considerable portion of the gaseous exhalations +of volcanoes, might collect in sufficient quantities to cause sleep +and death, I warned Jerome against forgetting himself for a single +moment, even should his sufferings admit of such a thing. + +Accordingly, when during the long, dreary watches of the night we +roused from a state of half-consciousness, we called each other by +name in a frightened, startled way, each fearing the other might be +benumbed or dead. The ordinary sensations of cold give but a faint +conception of that which comes on after hard climbing with want of +food and sleep in such exposure as this. Life is then seen to be a +fire, that now smoulders, now brightens, and may be easily quenched. +The weary hours wore away like dim half-forgotten years, so long and +eventful they seemed, though we did nothing but suffer. Still the +pain was not always of that bitter, intense kind that precludes +thought and takes away all capacity for enjoyment. A sort of dreamy +stupor came on at times in which we fancied we saw dry, resinous logs +suitable for campfires, just as after going days without food men +fancy they see bread. + +Frozen, blistered, famished, benumbed, our bodies seemed lost to us at +times--all dead but the eyes. For the duller and fainter we became +the clearer was our vision, though only in momentary glimpses. Then, +after the sky cleared, we gazed at the stars, blessed immortals of +light, shining with marvelous brightness with long lance rays, near- +looking and new-looking, as if never seen before. Again they would +look familiar and remind us of stargazing at home. Oftentimes +imagination coming into play would present charming pictures of the +warm zone below, mingled with others near and far. Then the bitter +wind and the drift would break the blissful vision and dreary pains +cover us like clouds. "Are you suffering much?" Jerome would inquire +with pitiful faintness. "Yes," I would say, striving to keep my voice +brave, "frozen and burned; but never mind, Jerome, the night will wear +away at last, and tomorrow we go a-Maying, and what campfires we will +make, and what sunbaths we will take!" + +The frost grew more and more intense, and we became icy and covered +over with a crust of frozen snow, as if we had lain cast away in the +drift all winter. In about thirteen hours--every hour like a year--day +began to dawn, but it was long ere the summit's rocks were touched +by the sun. No clouds were visible from where we lay, yet the morning +was dull and blue, and bitterly frosty; and hour after hour passed by +while we eagerly watched the pale light stealing down the ridge to the +hollow where we lay. But there was not a trace of that warm, flushing +sunrise splendor we so long had hoped for. + +As the time drew near to make an effort to reach camp, we became +concerned to know what strength was left us, and whether or no we +could walk; for we had lain flat all this time without once rising to +our feet. Mountaineers, however, always find in themselves a reserve +of power after great exhaustion. It is a kind of second life, +available only in emergencies like this; and, having proved its +existence, I had no great fear that either of us would fail, though +one of my arms was already benumbed and hung powerless. + +At length, after the temperature was somewhat mitigated on this +memorable first of May, we arose and began to struggle homeward. Our +frozen trousers could scarcely be made to bend at the knee, and we +waded the snow with difficulty. The summit ridge was fortunately +wind-swept and nearly bare, so we were not compelled to lift our feet +high, and on reaching the long home slopes laden with loose snow we +made rapid progress, sliding and shuffling and pitching headlong, our +feebleness accelerating rather than diminishing our speed. When we +had descended some three thousand feet the sunshine warmed our backs +and we began to revive. At 10 a.m. we reached the timber and were +safe. + +Half an hour later we heard Sisson shouting down among the firs, +coming with horses to take us to the hotel. After breaking a trail +through the snow as far as possible he had tied his animals and walked +up. We had been so long without food that we cared but little about +eating, but we eagerly drank the coffee he prepared for us. Our feet +were frozen, and thawing them was painful, and had to be done very +slowly by keeping them buried in soft snow for several hours, which +avoided permanent damage. Five thousand feet below the summit we +found only three inches of new snow, and at the base of the mountain +only a slight shower of rain had fallen, showing how local our storm +had been, notwithstanding its terrific fury. Our feet were wrapped in +sacking, and we were soon mounted and on our way down into the thick +sunshine--"God's Country," as Sisson calls the Chaparral Zone. In two +hours' ride the last snowbank was left behind. Violets appeared along +the edges of the trail, and the chaparral was coming into bloom, with +young lilies and larkspurs about the open places in rich profusion. +How beautiful seemed the golden sunbeams streaming through the woods +between the warm brown boles of the cedars and pines! All my friends +among the birds and plants seemed like OLD friends, and we felt like +speaking to every one of them as we passed, as if we had been a long +time away in some far, strange country. + +In the afternoon we reached Strawberry Valley and fell asleep. Next +morning we seemed to have risen from the dead. My bedroom was flooded +with sunshine, and from the window I saw the great white Shasta cone +clad in forests and clouds and bearing them loftily in the sky. +Everything seemed full and radiant with the freshness and beauty and +enthusiasm of youth. Sisson's children came in with flowers and +covered my bed, and the storm on the mountaintop banished like a +dream. + + + +V + +Shasta Rambles and Modoc Memories + + +Arctic beauty and desolation, with their blessings and dangers, all +may be found here, to test the endurance and skill of adventurous +climbers; but far better than climbing the mountain is going around +its warm, fertile base, enjoying its bounties like a bee circling +around a bank of flowers. The distance is about a hundred miles, and +will take some of the time we hear so much about--a week or two--but +the benefits will compensate for any number of weeks. Perhaps the +profession of doing good may be full, but every body should be kind at +least to himself. Take a course of good water and air, and in the +eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no +harm will befall you. Some have strange, morbid fears as soon as they +find themselves with Nature, even in the kindest and wildest of her +solitudes, like very sick children afraid of their mother--as if God +were dead and the devil were king. + +One may make the trip on horseback, or in a carriage, even; for a good +level road may be found all the way round, by Shasta Valley, Sheep +Rock, Elk Flat, Huckleberry Valley, Squaw Valley, following for a +considerable portion of the way the old Emigrant Road, which lies +along the east disk of the mountain, and is deeply worn by the wagons +of the early gold-seekers, many of whom chose this northern route as +perhaps being safer and easier, the pass here being only about six +thousand feet above sea level. But it is far better to go afoot. +Then you are free to make wide waverings and zigzags away from the +roads to visit the great fountain streams of the rivers, the glaciers +also, and the wildest retreats in the primeval forests, where the best +plants and animals dwell, and where many a flower-bell will ring +against your knees, and friendly trees will reach out their fronded +branches and touch you as you pass. One blanket will be enough to +carry, or you may forego the pleasure and burden altogether, as wood +for fires is everywhere abundant. Only a little food will be +required. Berries and plums abound in season, and quail and grouse +and deer--the magnificent shaggy mule deer as well as the common +species. + +As you sweep around so grand a center, the mountain itself seems to +turn, displaying its riches like the revolving pyramids in jewelers' +windows. One glacier after another comes into view, and the outlines +of the mountain are ever changing, though all the way around, from +whatever point of view, the form is maintained of a grand, simple cone +with a gently sloping base and rugged, crumbling ridges separating the +glaciers and the snowfields more or less completely. The play of +colors, from the first touches of the morning sun on the summit, down +the snowfields and the ice and lava until the forests are aglow, is a +never-ending delight, the rosy lava and the fine flushings of the snow +being ineffably lovely. Thus one saunters on and on in the glorious +radiance in utter peace and forgetfulness of time. + +Yet, strange to say, there are days even here somewhat dull-looking, +when the mountain seems uncommunicative, sending out no appreciable +invitation, as if not at home. At such time its height seems much +less, as if, crouching and weary, it were taking rest. But Shasta is +always at home to those who love her, and is ever in a thrill of +enthusiastic activity--burning fires within, grinding glaciers +without, and fountains ever flowing. Every crystal dances responsive +to the touches of the sun, and currents of sap in the growing cells of +all the vegetation are ever in a vital whirl and rush, and though many +feet and wings are folded, how many are astir! And the wandering +winds, how busy they are, and what a breadth of sound and motion they +make, glinting and bubbling about the crags of the summit, sifting +through the woods, feeling their way from grove to grove, ruffling the +loose hair on the shoulders of the bears, fanning and rocking young +birds in their cradles, making a trumpet of every corolla, and +carrying their fragrance around the world. + +In unsettled weather, when storms are growing, the mountain looms +immensely higher, and its miles of height become apparent to all, +especially in the gloom of the gathering clouds, or when the storm is +done and they are rolling away, torn on the edges and melting while in +the sunshine. Slight rainstorms are likely to be encountered in a +trip round the mountain, but one may easily find shelter beneath well- +thatched trees that shed the rain like a roof. Then the shining of +the wet leaves is delightful, and the steamy fragrance, and the burst +of bird song from a multitude of thrushes and finches and warblers +that have nests in the chaparral. + +The nights, too, are delightful, watching with Shasta beneath the +great starry dome. A thousand thousand voices are heard, but so +finely blended they seem a part of the night itself, and make a deeper +silence. And how grandly do the great logs and branches of your +campfire give forth the heat and light that during their long century- +lives they have so slowly gathered from the sun, storing it away in +beautiful dotted cells and beads of amber gum! The neighboring trees +look into the charmed circle as if the noon of another day had come, +familiar flowers and grasses that chance to be near seem far more +beautiful and impressive than by day, and as the dead trees give forth +their light all the other riches of their lives seem to be set free +and with the rejoicing flames rise again to the sky. In setting out +from Strawberry Valley, by bearing off to the northwestward a few +miles you may see + + "...beneath dim aisles, in odorous beds, + The slight Linnaea hang its twin-born heads, + And [bless] the monument of the man of flowers, + Which breathes his sweet fame through the northern bowers." + +This is one of the few places in California where the charming linnaea +is found, though it is common to the northward through Oregon and +Washington. Here, too, you may find the curious but unlovable +darlingtonia, a carnivorous plant that devours bumblebees, +grasshoppers, ants, moths, and other insects, with insatiable +appetite. In approaching it, its suspicious-looking yellow-spotted +hood and watchful attitude will be likely to make you go cautiously +through the bog where it stands, as if you were approaching a +dangerous snake. It also occurs in a bog near Sothern's Station on +the stage road, where I first saw it, and in other similar bogs +throughout the mountains hereabouts. + +The "Big Spring" of the Sacramento is about a mile and a half above +Sisson's, issuing from the base of a drift-covered hill. It is lined +with emerald algae and mosses, and shaded with alder, willow, and +thorn bushes, which give it a fine setting. Its waters, apparently +unaffected by flood or drouth, heat or cold, fall at once into white +rapids with a rush and dash, as if glad to escape from the darkness to +begin their wild course down the canyon to the plain. + +Muir's Peak, a few miles to the north of the spring, rises about three +thousand feet above the plain on which it stands, and is easily +climbed. The view is very fine and well repays the slight walk to its +summit, from which much of your way about the mountain may be studied +and chosen. The view obtained of the Whitney Glacier should tempt you +to visit it, since it is the largest of the Shasta glaciers and its +lower portion abounds in beautiful and interesting cascades and +crevasses. It is three or four miles long and terminates at an +elevation of about nine thousand five hundred feet above sea level, in +moraine-sprinkled ice cliffs sixty feet high. The long gray slopes +leading up to the glacier seem remarkably smooth and unbroken. They +are much interrupted, nevertheless, with abrupt, jagged precipitous +gorges, which though offering instructive sections of the lavas for +examination, would better be shunned by most people. This may be done +by keeping well down on the base until fronting the glacier before +beginning the ascent. + +The gorge through which the glacier is drained is raw-looking, deep +and narrow, and indescribably jagged. The walls in many places +overhang; in others they are beveled, loose, and shifting where the +channel has been eroded by cinders, ashes, strata of firm lavas, and +glacial drift, telling of many a change from frost to fire and their +attendant floods of mud and water. Most of the drainage of the +glacier vanishes at once in the porous rocks to reappear in springs in +the distant valley, and it is only in time of flood that the channel +carries much water; then there are several fine falls in the gorge, +six hundred feet or more in height. Snow lies in it the year round at +an elevation of eight thousand five hundred feet, and in sheltered +spots a thousand feet lower. Tracing this wild changing channel-gorge, +gully, or canyon, the sections will show Mount Shasta as a huge +palimpsest, containing the records, layer upon layer, of strangely +contrasted events in its fiery-icy history. But look well to your +footing, for the way will test the skill of the most cautious +mountaineers. + +Regaining the low ground at the base of the mountain and holding on in +your grand orbit, you pass through a belt of juniper woods, called +"The Cedars," to Sheep Rock at the foot of the Shasta Pass. Here you +strike the old emigrant road, which leads over the low divide to the +eastern slopes of the mountain. In a north-northwesterly direction +from the foot of the pass you may chance to find Pluto's Cave, already +mentioned; but it is not easily found, since its several mouths are on +a level with the general surface of the ground, and have been made +simply by the falling-in of portions of the roof. Far the most +beautiful and richly furnished of the mountain caves of California +occur in a thick belt of metamorphic limestone that is pretty +generally developed along the western flank of the Sierra from the +McCloud River to the Kaweah, a distance of nearly four hundred miles. +These volcanic caves are not wanting in interest, and it is well to +light a pitch pine torch and take a walk in these dark ways of the +underworld whenever opportunity offers, if for no other reason to see +with new appreciation on returning to the sunshine the beauties that +lie so thick about us. + +Sheep Rock is about twenty miles from Sisson's, and is one of the +principal winter pasture grounds of the wild sheep, from which it +takes its name. It is a mass of lava presenting to the gray sage +plain of Shasta Valley a bold craggy front two thousand feet high. +Its summit lies at an elevation of five thousand five hundred feet +above the sea, and has several square miles of comparatively level +surface, where bunchgrass grows and the snow does not lie deep, thus +allowing the hardy sheep to pick up a living through the winter months +when deep snows have driven them down from the lofty ridges of Shasta. + +From here it might be well to leave the immediate base of the mountain +for a few days and visit the Lava Beds made famous by the Modoc War. +They lie about forty miles to the northeastward, on the south shore of +Rhett or Tule[7] Lake, at an elevation above sea level of about forty- +five hundred feet. They are a portion of a flow of dense black +vesicular lava, dipping northeastward at a low angle, but little +changed as yet by the weather, and about as destitute of soil as a +glacial pavement. The surface, though smooth in a general way as seen +from a distance, is dotted with hillocks and rough crater-like pits, +and traversed by a network of yawning fissures, forming a combination +of topographical conditions of very striking character. The way lies +by Mount Bremer, over stretches of gray sage plains, interrupted by +rough lava slopes timbered with juniper and yellow pine, and with here +and there a green meadow and a stream. + +This is a famous game region, and you will be likely to meet small +bands of antelope, mule deer, and wild sheep. Mount Bremer is the +most noted stronghold of the sheep in the whole Shasta region. Large +flocks dwell here from year to year, winter and summer, descending +occasionally into the adjacent sage plains and lava beds to feed, but +ever ready to take refuge in the jagged crags of their mountain at +every alarm. While traveling with a company of hunters I saw about +fifty in one flock. + +The Van Bremer brothers, after whom the mountain is named, told me +that they once climbed the mountain with their rifles and hounds on a +grand hunt; but, after keeping up the pursuit for a week, their boots +and clothing gave way, and the hounds were lamed and worn out without +having run down a single sheep, notwithstanding they ran night and +day. On smooth spots, level or ascending, the hounds gained on the +sheep, but on descending ground, and over rough masses of angular +rocks they fell hopelessly behind. Only half a dozen sheep were shot +as they passed the hunters stationed near their paths circling round +the rugged summit. The full-grown bucks weigh nearly three hundred +and fifty pounds. + +The mule deer are nearly as heavy. Their long, massive ears give them +a very striking appearance. One large buck that I measured stood +three feet and seven inches high at the shoulders, and when the ears +were extended horizontally the distance across from tip to tip was two +feet and one inch. + +From the Van Bremer ranch the way to the Lava Beds leads down the +Bremer Meadows past many a smooth grassy knoll and jutting cliff, +along the shore of Lower Klamath Lake, and thence across a few miles +of sage plain to the brow of the wall-like bluff of lava four hundred +and fifty feet above Tule Lake. Here you are looking southeastward, +and the Modoc landscape, which at once takes possession of you, lies +revealed in front. It is composed of three principal parts; on your +left lies the bright expanse of Tule Lake, on your right an evergreen +forest, and between the two are the black Lava Beds. + +When I first stood there, one bright day before sundown, the lake was +fairly blooming in purple light, and was so responsive to the sky in +both calmness and color it seemed itself a sky. No mountain shore +hides its loveliness. It lies wide open for many a mile, veiled in no +mystery but the mystery of light. The forest also was flooded with +sun-purple, not a spire moving, and Mount Shasta was seen towering +above it rejoicing in the ineffable beauty of the alpenglow. But +neither the glorified woods on the one hand, nor the lake on the +other, could at first hold the eye. That dark mysterious lava plain +between them compelled attention. Here you trace yawning fissures, +there clusters of somber pits; now you mark where the lava is bent and +corrugated in swelling ridges and domes, again where it breaks into a +rough mass of loose blocks. Tufts of grass grow far apart here and +there and small bushes of hardy sage, but they have a singed +appearance and can do little to hide the blackness. Deserts are +charming to those who know how to see them--all kinds of bogs, +barrens, and heathy moors; but the Modoc Lava Beds have for me an +uncanny look. As I gazed the purple deepened over all the landscape. +Then fell the gloaming, making everything still more forbidding and +mysterious. Then, darkness like death. + +Next morning the crisp, sunshiny air made even the Modoc landscape +less hopeless, and we ventured down the bluff to the edge of the Lava +Beds. Just at the foot of the bluff we came to a square enclosed by a +stone wall. This is a graveyard where lie buried thirty soldiers, +most of whom met their fate out in the Lava Beds, as we learn by the +boards marking the graves--a gloomy place to die in, and deadly-looking +even without Modocs. The poor fellows that lie here deserve far +more pity than they have ever received. Picking our way over the +strange ridges and hollows of the beds, we soon came to a circular +flat about twenty yards in diameter, on the shore of the lake, where +the comparative smoothness of the lava and a few handfuls of soil have +caused the grass tufts to grow taller. This is where General Canby +was slain while seeking to make peace with the treacherous Modocs. + +Two or three miles farther on is the main stronghold of the Modocs, +held by them so long and defiantly against all the soldiers that could +be brought to the attack. Indians usually choose to hide in tall +grass and bush and behind trees, where they can crouch and glide like +panthers, without casting up defenses that would betray their +positions; but the Modoc castle is in the rock. When the Yosemite +Indians made raids on the settlers of the lower Merced, they withdrew +with their spoils into Yosemite Valley; and the Modocs boasted that in +case of war they had a stone house into which no white man could come +as long as they cared to defend it. Yosemite was not held for a +single day against the pursuing troops; but the Modocs held their fort +for months, until, weary of being hemmed in, they chose to withdraw. + +It consists of numerous redoubts formed by the unequal subsidence of +portions of the lava flow, and a complicated network of redans +abundantly supplied with salient and re-entering angles, being united +each to the other and to the redoubts by a labyrinth of open and +covered corridors, some of which expand at intervals into spacious +caverns, forming as a whole the most complete natural Gibraltar I ever +saw. Other castles scarcely less strong are connected with this by +subterranean passages known only to the Indians, while the unnatural +blackness of the rock out of which Nature has constructed these +defenses, and the weird, inhuman physiognomy of the whole region are +well calculated to inspire terror. + +Deadly was the task of storming such a place. The breech-loading +rifles of the Indians thrust through chinks between the rocks were +ready to pick off every soldier who showed himself for a moment, while +the Indians lay utterly invisible. They were familiar with byways +both over and under ground, and could at any time sink suddenly out of +sight like squirrels among the loose boulders. Our bewildered +soldiers heard them shooting, now before, now behind them, as they +glided from place to place through fissures and subterranean passes, +all the while as invisible as Gyges wearing his magic ring. To judge +from the few I have seen, Modocs are not very amiable-looking people +at best. When, therefore, they were crawling stealthily in the gloomy +caverns, unkempt and begrimed and with the glare of war in their eyes, +they must have seemed very demons of the volcanic pit. + +Captain Jack's cave is one of the many somber cells of the castle. It +measures twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter at the entrance, and +extends but a short distance in a horizontal direction. The floor is +littered with the bones of the animals slaughtered for food during the +war. Some eager archaeologist may hereafter discover this cabin and +startle his world by announcing another of the Stone Age caves. The +sun shines freely into its mouth, and graceful bunches of grass and +eriogonums and sage grow about it, doing what they can toward its +redemption from degrading associations and making it beautiful. + +Where the lava meets the lake there are some fine curving bays, +beautifully embroidered with rushes and polygonums, a favorite resort +of waterfowl. On our return, keeping close along shore, we caused a +noisy plashing and beating of wings among cranes and geese. The +ducks, less wary, kept their places, merely swimming in and out +through openings in the rushes, rippling the glassy water, and raising +spangles in their wake. The countenance of the lava beds became less +and less forbidding. Tufts of pale grasses, relieved on the jet +rocks, looked like ornaments on a mantel, thick-furred mats of emerald +mosses appeared in damp spots next the shore, and I noticed one tuft +of small ferns. From year to year in the kindly weather the beds are +thus gathering beauty--beauty for ashes. + +Returning to Sheep Rock and following the old emigrant road, one is +soon back again beneath the snows and shadows of Shasta, and the Ash +Creek and McCloud Glaciers come into view on the east side of the +mountain. They are broad, rugged, crevassed cloudlike masses of down- +grinding ice, pouring forth streams of muddy water as measures of the +work they are doing in sculpturing the rocks beneath them; very unlike +the long, majestic glaciers of Alaska that riverlike go winding down +the valleys through the forests to the sea. These, with a few others +as yet nameless, are lingering remnants of once great glaciers that +occupied the canyons now taken by the rivers, and in a few centuries +will, under present conditions, vanish altogether. + +The rivers of the granite south half of the Sierra are outspread on +the peaks in a shining network of small branches, that divide again +and again into small dribbling, purling, oozing threads drawing their +sources from the snow and ice of the surface. They seldom sink out of +sight, save here and there in the moraines or glaciers, or, early in +the season, beneath the banks and bridges of snow, soon to issue +again. But in the north half, laden with rent and porous lava, small +tributary streams are rare, and the rivers, flowing for a time beneath +the sky of rock, at length burst forth into the light in generous +volume from seams and caverns, filtered, cool, and sparkling, as if +their bondage in darkness, safe from the vicissitudes of the weather +in their youth, were only a blessing. + +Only a very small portion of the water derived from the melting ice +and snow of Shasta flows down its flanks on the surface. Probably +ninety-nine per cent of it is at once absorbed and drained away +beneath the porous lava-folds of the mountain to gush forth, filtered +and pure, in the form of immense springs, so large, some of them, that +they give birth to rivers that start on their journey beneath the sun, +full-grown and perfect without any childhood. Thus the Shasta River +issues from a large lake-like spring in Shasta Valley, and about two +thirds of the volume of the McCloud gushes forth in a grand spring on +the east side of the mountain, a few miles back from its immediate +base. + +To find the big spring of the McCloud, or "Mud Glacier," which you +will know by its size (it being the largest on the east side), you +make your way through sunny, parklike woods of yellow pine, and a +shaggy growth of chaparral, and come in a few hours to the river +flowing in a gorge of moderate depth, cut abruptly down into the lava +plain. Should the volume of the stream where you strike it seem +small, then you will know that you are above the spring; if large, +nearly equal to its volume at its confluence with the Pitt River, then +you are below it; and in either case have only to follow the river up +or down until you come to it. + +Under certain conditions you may hear the roar of the water rushing +from the rock at a distance of half a mile, or even more; or you may +not hear it until within a few rods. It comes in a grand, eager gush +from a horizontal seam in the face of the wall of the river gorge in +the form of a partially interrupted sheet nearly seventy-five yards in +width, and at a height above the riverbed of about forty feet, as +nearly as I could make out without the means of exact measurement. +For about fifty yards this flat current is in one unbroken sheet, and +flows in a lacework of plashing, upleaping spray over boulders that +are clad in green silky algae and water mosses to meet the smaller +part of the river, which takes its rise farther up. Joining the river +at right angles to its course, it at once swells its volume to three +times its size above the spring. + +The vivid green of the boulders beneath the water is very striking, +and colors the entire stream with the exception of the portions broken +into foam. The color is chiefly due to a species of algae which seems +common in springs of this sort. That any kind of plant can hold on +and grow beneath the wear of so boisterous a current seems truly +wonderful, even after taking into consideration the freedom of the +water from cutting drift, and the constance of its volume and +temperature throughout the year. The temperature is about 45 degrees, +and the height of the river above the sea is here about three thousand +feet. Asplenium, epilobium, heuchera, hazel, dogwood, and alder make +a luxurious fringe and setting; and the forests of Douglas spruce +along the banks are the finest I have ever seen in the Sierra. + +From the spring you may go with the river--a fine traveling companion-- +down to the sportsman's fishing station, where, if you are getting +hungry, you may replenish your stores; or, bearing off around the +mountain by Huckleberry Valley, complete your circuit without +interruption, emerging at length from beneath the outspread arms of +the sugar pine at Strawberry Valley, with all the new wealth and +health gathered in your walk; not tired in the least, and only eager +to repeat the round. + +Tracing rivers to their fountains makes the most charming of travels. +As the life-blood of the landscapes, the best of the wilderness comes +to their banks, and not one dull passage is found in all their +eventful histories. Tracing the McCloud to its highest springs, and +over the divide to the fountains of Fall River, near Fort Crook, +thence down that river to its confluence with the Pitt, on from there +to the volcanic region about Lassen's Butte, through the Big Meadows +among the sources of the Feather River, and down through forests of +sugar pine to the fertile plains of Chico--this is a glorious saunter +and imposes no hardship. Food may be had at moderate intervals, and +the whole circuit forms one ever-deepening, broadening stream of +enjoyment. + +Fall River is a very remarkable stream. It is only about ten miles +long, and is composed of springs, rapids, and falls--springs +beautifully shaded at one end of it, a showy fall one hundred and +eighty feet high at the other, and a rush of crystal rapids between. +The banks are fringed with rubus, rose, plum cherry, spiraea, azalea, +honeysuckle, hawthorn, ash, alder, elder, aster, goldenrod, beautiful +grasses, sedges, rushes, mosses, and ferns with fronds as large as the +leaves of palms--all in the midst of a richly forested landscape. +Nowhere within the limits of California are the forests of yellow pine +so extensive and exclusive as on the headwaters of the Pitt. They +cover the mountains and all the lower slopes that border the wide, +open valleys which abound there, pressing forward in imposing ranks, +seemingly the hardiest and most firmly established of all the northern +coniferae. + +The volcanic region about Lassen's Butte I have already in part +described. Miles of its flanks are dotted with hot springs, many of +them so sulphurous and boisterous and noisy in their boiling that they +seem inclined to become geysers like those of the Yellowstone. + +The ascent of Lassen's Butte is an easy walk, and the views from the +summit are extremely telling. Innumerable lakes and craters surround +the base; forests of the charming Williamson spruce fringe lake and +crater alike; the sunbeaten plains to east and west make a striking +show, and the wilderness of peaks and ridges stretch indefinitely away +on either hand. The lofty, icy Shasta, towering high above all, seems +but an hour's walk from you, though the distance in an air-line is +about sixty miles. + +The "Big Meadows" lie near the foot of Lassen's Butte, a beautiful +spacious basin set in the heart of the richly forested mountains, +scarcely surpassed in the grandeur of its surroundings by Tahoe. +During the Glacial Period it was a mer de glace, then a lake, and now +a level meadow shining with bountiful springs and streams. In the +number and size of its big spring fountains it excels even Shasta. +One of the largest that I measured forms a lakelet nearly a hundred +yards in diameter, and, in the generous flood it sends forth offers +one of the most telling symbols of Nature's affluence to be found in +the mountains. + +The great wilds of our country, once held to be boundless and +inexhaustible, are being rapidly invaded and overrun in every +direction, and everything destructible in them is being destroyed. +How far destruction may go it is not easy to guess. Every landscape, +low and high, seems doomed to be trampled and harried. Even the sky +is not safe from scath--blurred and blackened whole summers together +with the smoke of fires that devour the woods. + +The Shasta region is still a fresh unspoiled wilderness, accessible +and available for travelers of every kind and degree. Would it not +then be a fine thing to set it apart like the Yellowstone and Yosemite +as a National Park for the welfare and benefit of all mankind, +preserving its fountains and forests and all its glad life in primeval +beauty? Very little of the region can ever be more valuable for any +other use--certainly not for gold nor for grain. No private right or +interest need suffer, and thousands yet unborn would come from far and +near and bless the country for its wise and benevolent forethought. + + + + +VI + +The City of the Saints[8] + + +The mountains rise grandly round about this curious city, the Zion of +the new Saints, so grandly that the city itself is hardly visible. +The Wahsatch Range, snow-laden and adorned with glacier-sculpted +peaks, stretches continuously along the eastern horizon, forming the +boundary of the Great Salt Lake Basin; while across the valley of the +Jordan southwestward from here, you behold the Oquirrh Range, about as +snowy and lofty as the Wahsatch. To the northwest your eye skims the +blue levels of the great lake, out of the midst of which rise island +mountains, and beyond, at a distance of fifty miles, is seen the +picturesque wall of the lakeside mountains blending with the lake and +the sky. + +The glacial developments of these superb ranges are sharply sculptured +peaks and crests, with ample wombs between them where the ancient +snows of the glacial period were collected and transformed into ice, +and ranks of profound shadowy canyons, while moraines commensurate +with the lofty fountains extend into the valleys, forming far the +grandest series of glacial monuments I have yet seen this side of the +Sierra. + +In beginning this letter I meant to describe the city, but in the +company of these noble old mountains, it is not easy to bend one's +attention upon anything else. Salt Lake cannot be called a very +beautiful town, neither is there anything ugly or repulsive about it. +From the slopes of the Wahsatch foothills, or old lake benches, toward +Fort Douglas it is seen to occupy the sloping gravelly delta of City +Creek, a fine, hearty stream that comes pouring from the snows of the +mountains through a majestic glacial canyon; and it is just where this +stream comes forth into the light on the edge of the valley of the +Jordan that the Mormons have built their new Jerusalem. + +At first sight there is nothing very marked in the external appearance +of the town excepting its leafiness. Most of the houses are veiled +with trees, as if set down in the midst of one grand orchard; and seen +at a little distance they appear like a field of glacier boulders +overgrown with aspens, such as one often meets in the upper valleys of +the California Sierra, for only the angular roofs are clearly visible. + +Perhaps nineteen twentieths of the houses are built of bluish-gray +adobe bricks, and are only one or two stories high, forming fine +cottage homes which promise simple comfort within. They are set well +back from the street, leaving room for a flower garden, while almost +every one has a thrifty orchard at the sides and around the back. The +gardens are laid out with great simplicity, indicating love for +flowers by people comparatively poor, rather than deliberate efforts +of the rich for showy artistic effects. They are like the pet gardens +of children, about as artless and humble, and harmonize with the low +dwellings to which they belong. In almost every one you find daisies, +and mint, and lilac bushes, and rows of plain English tulips. Lilacs +and tulips are the most characteristic flowers, and nowhere have I +seen them in greater perfection. As Oakland is pre-eminently a city +of roses, so is this Mormon Saints' Rest a city of lilacs and tulips. +The flowers, at least, are saintly, and they are surely loved. Scarce +a home, however obscure, is without them, and the simple, +unostentatious manner in which they are planted and gathered in pots +and boxes about the windows shows how truly they are prized. + +The surrounding commons, the marshy levels of the Jordan, and dry, +gravelly lake benches on the slopes of the Wahsatch foothills are now +gay with wild flowers, chief among which are a species of phlox, with +an abundance of rich pink corollas, growing among sagebrush in showy +tufts, and a beautiful papilionaceous plant, with silky leaves and +large clusters of purple flowers, banner, wings, and keel exquisitely +shaded, a mertensia, hydrophyllum, white boragewort, orthocarpus, +several species of violets, and a tall scarlet gilia. It is +delightful to see how eagerly all these are sought after by the +children, both boys and girls. Every day that I have gone botanizing +I have met groups of little Latter-Days with their precious bouquets, +and at such times it was hard to believe the dark, bloody passages of +Mormon history. + +But to return to the city. As soon as City Creek approaches its upper +limit its waters are drawn off right and left, and distributed in +brisk rills, one on each side of every street, the regular slopes of +the delta upon which the city is built being admirably adapted to this +system of street irrigation. These streams are all pure and sparkling +in the upper streets, but, as they are used to some extent as sewers, +they soon manifest the consequence of contact with civilization, +though the speed of their flow prevents their becoming offensive, and +little Saints not over particular may be seen drinking from them +everywhere. + +The streets are remarkably wide and the buildings low, making them +appear yet wider than they really are. Trees are planted along the +sidewalks--elms, poplars, maples, and a few catalpas and hawthorns; +yet they are mostly small and irregular, and nowhere form avenues half +so leafy and imposing as one would be led to expect. Even in the +business streets there is but little regularity in the buildings--now +a row of plain adobe structures, half store, half dwelling, then a +high mercantile block of red brick or sandstone, and again a row of +adobe cottages nestled back among apple trees. There is one immense +store with its sign upon the roof, in letters big enough to be read +miles away, "Z.C.M.I." (Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution), +while many a small, codfishy corner grocery bears the legend "Holiness +to the Lord, Z.C.M.I." But little evidence will you find in this +Zion, with its fifteen thousand souls, of great wealth, though many a +Saint is seeking it as keenly as any Yankee Gentile. But on the other +hand, searching throughout all the city, you will not find any trace of +squalor or extreme poverty. + +Most of the women I have chanced to meet, especially those from the +country, have a weary, repressed look, as if for the sake of their +religion they were patiently carrying burdens heavier than they were +well able to bear. But, strange as it must seem to Gentiles, the many +wives of one man, instead of being repelled from one another by +jealousy, appear to be drawn all the closer together, as if the real +marriage existed between the wives only. Groups of half a dozen or so +may frequently be seen on the streets in close conversation, looking +as innocent and unspeculative as a lot of heifers, while the masculine +Saints pass them by as if they belonged to a distinct species. In the +Tabernacle last Sunday, one of the elders of the church, in +discoursing upon the good things of life, the possessions of Latter-Day +Saints, enumerated fruitful fields, horses, cows, wives, and +implements, the wives being placed as above, between the cows and +implements, without receiving any superior emphasis. + +Polygamy, as far as I have observed, exerts a more degrading influence +upon husbands that upon wives. The love of the latter finds +expression in flowers and children, while the former seem to be +rendered incapable of pure love of anything. The spirit of Mormonism +is intensely exclusive and un-American. A more withdrawn, compact, +sealed-up body of people could hardly be found on the face of the +earth than is gathered here, notwithstanding railroads, telegraphs, +and the penetrating lights that go sifting through society everywhere +in this revolutionary, question-asking century. Most of the Mormons I +have met seem to be in a state of perpetual apology, which can hardly +be fully accounted for by Gentile attacks. At any rate it is +unspeakably offensive to any free man. + +"We Saints," they are continually saying, "are not as bad as we are +called. We don't murder those who differ with us, but rather treat +them with all charity. You may go through our town night or day and +no harm shall befall you. Go into our houses and you will be well +used. We are as glad as you are that Lee was punished," etc. While +taking a saunter the other evening we were overtaken by a +characteristic Mormon, "an umble man," who made us a very deferential +salute and then walked on with us about half a mile. We discussed +whatsoever of Mormon doctrines came to mind with American freedom, +which he defended as best he could, speaking in an excited but +deprecating tone. When hard pressed he would say: "I don't understand +these deep things, but the elders do. I'm only an umble tradesman." +In taking leave he thanked us for the pleasure of our querulous +conversation, removed his hat, and bowed lowly in a sort of Uriah Heep +manner, and then went to his humble home. How many humble wives it +contained, we did not learn. + +Fine specimens of manhood are by no means wanting, but the number of +people one meets here who have some physical defect or who attract +one's attention by some mental peculiarity that manifests itself +through the eyes, is astonishingly great in so small a city. It would +evidently be unfair to attribute these defects to Mormonism, though +Mormonism has undoubtedly been the magnet that elected and drew these +strange people together from all parts of the world. + +But however "the peculiar doctrines" and "peculiar practices" of +Mormonism have affected the bodies and the minds of the old Saints, +the little Latter-Day boys and girls are as happy and natural as +possible, running wild, with plenty of good hearty parental +indulgence, playing, fighting, gathering flowers in delightful +innocence; and when we consider that most of the parents have been +drawn from the thickly settled portion of the Old World, where they +have long suffered the repression of hunger and hard toil, the Mormon +children, "Utah's best crop," seem remarkably bright and promising. + +From children one passes naturally into the blooming wilderness, to +the pure religion of sunshine and snow, where all the good and the +evil of this strange people lifts and vanishes from the mind like mist +from the mountains. + + + +VII + +A Great Storm in Utah[9] + + +Utah has just been blessed with one of the grandest storms I have ever +beheld this side of the Sierra. The mountains are laden with fresh +snow; wild streams are swelling and booming adown the canyons, and out +in the valley of the Jordan a thousand rain-pools are gleaming in the +sun. + +With reference to the development of fertile storms bearing snow and +rain, the greater portion of the calendar springtime of Utah has been +winter. In all the upper canyons of the mountains the snow is now +from five to ten feet deep or more, and most of it has fallen since +March. Almost every other day during the last three weeks small local +storms have been falling on the Wahsatch and Oquirrh Mountains, while +the Jordan Valley remained dry and sun-filled. But on the afternoon +of Thursday, the 17th ultimo, wind, rain, and snow filled the whole +basin, driving wildly over valley and plain from range to range, +bestowing their benefactions in most cordial and harmonious storm- +measures. The oldest Saints say they have never witnessed a more +violent storm of this kind since the first settlement of Zion, and +while the gale from the northwest, with which the storm began, was +rocking their adobe walls, uprooting trees and darkening the streets +with billows of dust and sand, some of them seemed inclined to guess +that the terrible phenomenon was one of the signs of the times of +which their preachers are so constantly reminding them, the beginning +of the outpouring of the treasured wrath of the Lord upon the Gentiles +for the killing of Joseph Smith. To me it seemed a cordial outpouring +of Nature's love; but it is easy to differ with salt Latter-Days in +everything--storms, wives, politics, and religion. + +About an hour before the storm reached the city I was so fortunate as +to be out with a friend on the banks of the Jordan enjoying the +scenery. Clouds, with peculiarly restless and self-conscious +gestures, were marshaling themselves along the mountain-tops, and +sending out long, overlapping wings across the valley; and even where +no cloud was visible, an obscuring film absorbed the sunlight, giving +rise to a cold, bluish darkness. Nevertheless, distant objects along +the boundaries of the landscape were revealed with wonderful +distinctness in this weird, subdued, cloud-sifted light. The +mountains, in particular, with the forests on their flanks, their mazy +lacelike canyons, the wombs of the ancient glaciers, and their +marvelous profusion of ornate sculpture, were most impressively +manifest. One would fancy that a man might be clearly seen walking on +the snow at a distance of twenty or thirty miles. + +While we were reveling in this rare, ungarish grandeur, turning from +range to range, studying the darkening sky and listening to the still +small voices of the flowers at our feet, some of the denser clouds +came down, crowning and wreathing the highest peaks and dropping long +gray fringes whose smooth linear structure showed that snow was +beginning to fall. Of these partial storms there were soon ten or +twelve, arranged in two rows, while the main Jordan Valley between +them lay as yet in profound calm. At 4:30 p.m. a dark brownish cloud +appeared close down on the plain towards the lake, extending from the +northern extremity of the Oquirrh Range in a northeasterly direction +as far as the eye could reach. Its peculiar color and structure +excited our attention without enabling us to decide certainly as to +its character, but we were not left long in doubt, for in a few +minutes it came sweeping over the valley in a wild uproar, a torrent +of wind thick with sand and dust, advancing with a most majestic +front, rolling and overcombing like a gigantic sea-wave. Scarcely was +it in plain sight ere it was upon us, racing across the Jordan, over +the city, and up the slopes of the Wahsatch, eclipsing all the +landscapes in its course--the bending trees, the dust streamers, and +the wild onrush of everything movable giving it an appreciable +visibility that rendered it grand and inspiring. + +This gale portion of the storm lasted over an hour, then down came the +blessed rain and the snow all through the night and the next day, the +snow and rain alternating and blending in the valley. It is long +since I have seen snow coming into a city. The crystal flakes falling +in the foul streets was a pitiful sight. + +Notwithstanding the vaunted refining influences of towns, purity of +all kinds--pure hearts, pure streams, pure snow--must here be exposed +to terrible trials. City Creek, coming from its high glacial +fountains, enters the streets of this Mormon Zion pure as an angel, +but how does it leave it? Even roses and lilies in gardens most loved +are tainted with a thousand impurities as soon as they unfold. I +heard Brigham Young in the Tabernacle the other day warning his people +that if they did not mend their manners angels would not come into +their houses, though perchance they might be sauntering by with little +else to do than chat with them. Possibly there may be Salt Lake +families sufficiently pure for angel society, but I was not pleased +with the reception they gave the small snow angels that God sent among +them the other night. Only the children hailed them with delight. +The old Latter-Days seemed to shun them. I should like to see how Mr. +Young, the Lake Prophet, would meet such messengers. + +But to return to the storm. Toward the evening of the 18th it began +to wither. The snowy skirts of the Wahsatch Mountains appeared +beneath the lifting fringes of the clouds, and the sun shone out +through colored windows, producing one of the most glorious after-storm +effects I ever witnessed. Looking across the Jordan, the gray +sagey slopes from the base of the Oquirrh Mountains were covered with +a thick, plushy cloth of gold, soft and ethereal as a cloud, not +merely tinted and gilded like a rock with autumn sunshine, but deeply +muffled beyond recognition. Surely nothing in heaven, nor any mansion +of the Lord in all his worlds, could be more gloriously carpeted. +Other portions of the plain were flushed with red and purple, and all +the mountains and the clouds above them were painted in corresponding +loveliness. Earth and sky, round and round the entire landscape, was +one ravishing revelation of color, infinitely varied and interblended. + +I have seen many a glorious sunset beneath lifting storm clouds on the +mountains, but nothing comparable with this. I felt as if new-arrived +in some other far-off world. The mountains, the plains, the sky, all +seemed new. Other experiences seemed but to have prepared me for +this, as souls are prepared for heaven. To describe the colors on a +single mountain would, if it were possible at all, require many a +volume--purples, and yellows, and delicious pearly grays divinely +toned and interblended, and so richly put on one seemed to be looking +down through the ground as through a sky. The disbanding clouds +lingered lovingly about the mountains, filling the canyons like tinted +wool, rising and drooping around the topmost peaks, fondling their +rugged bases, or, sailing alongside, trailed their lustrous fringes +through the pines as if taking a last view of their accomplished work. +Then came darkness, and the glorious day was done. + +This afternoon the Utah mountains and valleys seem to belong to our +own very world again. They are covered with common sunshine. Down +here on the banks of the Jordan, larks and redwings are swinging on +the rushes; the balmy air is instinct with immortal life; the wild +flowers, the grass, and the farmers' grain are fresh as if, like the +snow, they had come out of heaven, and the last of the angel clouds +are fleeing from the mountains. + + + +VIII + +Bathing in Salt Lake[10] + + +When the north wind blows, bathing in Salt Lake is a glorious baptism, +for then it is all wildly awake with waves, blooming like a prairie in +snowy crystal foam. Plunging confidently into the midst of the grand +uproar you are hugged and welcomed, and swim without effort, rocking +and heaving up and down, in delightful rhythm, while the winds sing in +chorus and the cool, fragrant brine searches every fiber of your body; +and at length you are tossed ashore with a glad Godspeed, braced and +salted and clean as a saint. + +The nearest point on the shoreline is distant about ten miles from +Salt Lake City, and is almost inaccessible on account of the boggy +character of the ground, but, by taking the Western Utah Railroad, at +a distance of twenty miles you reach what is called Lake Point, where +the shore is gravelly and wholesome and abounds in fine retreating +bays that seem to have been made on purpose for bathing. Here the +northern peaks of the Oquirrh Range plant their feet in the clear blue +brine, with fine curbing insteps, leaving no space for muddy levels. +The crystal brightness of the water, the wild flowers, and the lovely +mountain scenery make this a favorite summer resort for pleasure and +health seekers. Numerous excursion trains are run from the city, and +parties, some of them numbering upwards of a thousand, come to bathe, +and dance, and roam the flowery hillsides together. + +But at the time of my first visit in May, I fortunately found myself +alone. The hotel and bathhouse, which form the chief improvements of +the place, were sleeping in winter silence, notwithstanding the year +was in full bloom. It was one of those genial sun-days when flowers +and flies come thronging to the light, and birds sing their best. The +mountain ranges, stretching majestically north and south, were piled +with pearly cumuli, the sky overhead was pure azure, and the wind-swept +lake was all aroll and aroar with whitecaps. + +I sauntered along the shore until I came to a sequestered cove, where +buttercups and wild peas were blooming close down to the limit reached +by the waves. Here, I thought, is just the place for a bath; but the +breakers seemed terribly boisterous and forbidding as they came +rolling up the beach, or dashed white against the rocks that bounded +the cove on the east. The outer ranks, ever broken, ever builded, +formed a magnificent rampart, sculptured and corniced like the hanging +wall of a bergschrund, and appeared hopelessly insurmountable, however +easily one might ride the swelling waves beyond. I feasted awhile on +their beauty, watching their coming in from afar like faithful +messengers, to tell their stories one by one; then I turned +reluctantly away, to botanize and wait a calm. But the calm did not +come that day, nor did I wait long. In an hour or two I was back +again to the same little cove. The waves still sang the old storm +song, and rose in high crystal walls, seemingly hard enough to be cut +in sections, like ice. + +Without any definite determination I found myself undressed, as if +some one else had taken me in hand; and while one of the largest waves +was ringing out its message and spending itself on the beach, I ran +out with open arms to the next, ducked beneath its breaking top, and +got myself into right lusty relationship with the brave old lake. +Away I sped in free, glad motion, as if, like a fish, I had been +afloat all my life, now low out of sight in the smooth, glassy +valleys, now bounding aloft on firm combing crests, while the crystal +foam beat against my breast with keen, crisp clashing, as if composed +of pure salt. I bowed to every wave, and each lifted me right royally +to its shoulders, almost setting me erect on my feet, while they all +went speeding by like living creatures, blooming and rejoicing in the +brightness of the day, and chanting the history of their grand +mountain home. + +A good deal of nonsense has been written concerning the difficulty of +swimming in this heavy water. "One's head would go down, and heels +come up, and the acrid brine would burn like fire." I was conscious +only of a joyous exhilaration, my limbs seemingly heeding their own +business, without any discomfort or confusion; so much so, that +without previous knowledge my experience on this occasion would not +have led me to detect anything peculiar. In calm weather, however, +the sustaining power of the water might probably be more marked. This +was by far the most exciting and effective wave excursion I ever made +this side of the Rocky Mountains; and when at its close I was heaved +ashore among the sunny grasses and flowers, I found myself a new +creature indeed, and went bounding along the beach with blood all +aglow, reinforced by the best salts of the mountains, and ready for +any race. + +Since the completion of the transcontinental and Utah railways, this +magnificent lake in the heart of the continent has become as +accessible as any watering-place on either coast; and I am sure that +thousands of travelers, sick and well, would throng its shores every +summer were its merits but half known. Lake Point is only an hour or +two from the city, and has hotel accommodations and a steamboat for +excursions; and then, besides the bracing waters, the climate is +delightful. The mountains rise into the cool sky furrowed with +canyons almost yosemitic in grandeur, and filled with a glorious +profusion of flowers and trees. Lovers of science, lovers of +wildness, lovers of pure rest will find here more than they may hope +for. + +As for the Mormons one meets, however their doctrines be regarded, +they will be found as rich in human kindness as any people in all our +broad land, while the dark memories that cloud their earlier history +will vanish from the mind as completely as when we bathe in the +fountain azure of the Sierra. + + + +IX + +Mormon Lilies[11] + + +Lilies are rare in Utah; so also are their companions the ferns and +orchids, chiefly on account of the fiery saltness of the soil and +climate. You may walk the deserts of the Great Basin in the bloom +time of the year, all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the +snowy Wahsatch, and your eyes will be filled with many a gay malva, +and poppy, and abronia, and cactus, but you may not see a single true +lily, and only a very few liliaceous plants of any kind. Not even in +the cool, fresh glens of the mountains will you find these favorite +flowers, though some of these desert ranges almost rival the Sierra in +height. Nevertheless, in the building and planting of this grand +Territory the lilies were not forgotten. Far back in the dim geologic +ages, when the sediments of the old seas were being gathered and +outspread in smooth sheets like leaves of a book, and when these +sediments became dry land, and were baked and crumbled into the sky as +mountain ranges; when the lava-floods of the Fire Period were being +lavishly poured forth from innumerable rifts and craters; when the ice +of the Glacial Period was laid like a mantle over every mountain and +valley--throughout all these immensely protracted periods, in the +throng of these majestic operations, Nature kept her flower children +in mind. She considered the lilies, and, while planting the plains +with sage and the hills with cedar, she has covered at least one +mountain with golden erythroniums and fritillarias as its crowning +glory, as if willing to show what she could do in the lily line even +here. + +Looking southward from the south end of Salt Lake, the two northmost +peaks of the Oquirrh Range are seen swelling calmly into the cool sky +without any marked character, excepting only their snow crowns, and a +few weedy-looking patches of spruce and fir, the simplicity of their +slopes preventing their real loftiness from being appreciated. Gray, +sagey plains circle around their bases, and up to a height of a +thousand feet or more their sides are tinged with purple, which I +afterwards found is produced by a close growth of dwarf oak just +coming into leaf. Higher you may detect faint tintings of green on a +gray ground, from young grasses and sedges; then come the dark pine +woods filling glacial hollows, and over all the smooth crown of snow. + +While standing at their feet, the other day, shortly after my +memorable excursion among the salt waves of the lake, I said: "Now I +shall have another baptism. I will bathe in the high sky, among cool +wind-waves from the snow." From the more southerly of the two peaks a +long ridge comes down, bent like a bow, one end in the hot plains, the +other in the snow of the summit. After carefully scanning the jagged +towers and battlements with which it is roughened, I determined to +make it my way, though it presented but a feeble advertisement of its +floral wealth. This apparent barrenness, however, made no great +objection just then, for I was scarce hoping for flowers, old or new, +or even for fine scenery. I wanted in particular to learn what the +Oquirrh rocks were made of, what trees composed the curious patches of +forest; and, perhaps more than all, I was animated by a mountaineer's +eagerness to get my feet into the snow once more, and my head into the +clear sky, after lying dormant all winter at the level of the sea. + +But in every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks. I +had not gone more than a mile from Lake Point ere I found the way +profusely decked with flowers, mostly compositae and purple +leguminosae, a hundred corollas or more to the square yard, with a +corresponding abundance of winged blossoms above them, moths and +butterflies, the leguminosae of the insect kingdom. This floweriness +is maintained with delightful variety all the way up through rocks and +bushes to the snow--violets, lilies, gilias, oenotheras, wallflowers, +ivesias, saxifrages, smilax, and miles of blooming bushes, chiefly +azalea, honeysuckle, brier rose, buckthorn, and eriogonum, all meeting +and blending in divine accord. + +Two liliaceous plants in particular, Erythronium grandiflorum and +Fritillaria pudica, are marvelously beautiful and abundant. Never +before, in all my walks, have I met so glorious a throng of these fine +showy liliaceous plants. The whole mountainside was aglow with them, +from a height of fifty-five hundred feet to the very edge of the snow. +Although remarkably fragile, both in form and in substance, they are +endowed with plenty of deep-seated vitality, enabling them to grow in +all kinds of places--down in leafy glens, in the lee of wind-beaten +ledges, and beneath the brushy tangles of azalea, and oak, and prickly +roses--everywhere forming the crowning glory of the flowers. If the +neighboring mountains are as rich in lilies, then this may well be +called the Lily Range. + +After climbing about a thousand feet above the plain I came to a +picturesque mass of rock, cropping up through the underbrush on one of +the steepest slopes of the mountain. After examining some tufts of +grass and saxifrage that were growing in its fissured surface, I was +going to pass it by on the upper side, where the bushes were more +open, but a company composed of the two lilies I have mentioned were +blooming on the lower side, and though they were as yet out of sight, +I suddenly changed my mind and went down to meet them, as if attracted +by the ringing of their bells. They were growing in a small, nestlike +opening between the rock and the bushes, and both the erythronium and +the fritillaria were in full flower. These were the first of the +species I had seen, and I need not try to tell the joy they made. +They are both lowly plants,--lowly as violets,--the tallest seldom +exceeding six inches in height, so that the most searching winds that +sweep the mountains scarce reach low enough to shake their bells. + +The fritillaria has five or six linear, obtuse leaves, put on +irregularly near the bottom of the stem, which is usually terminated +by one large bell-shaped flower; but its more beautiful companion, the +erythronium, has two radical leaves only, which are large and oval, +and shine like glass. They extend horizontally in opposite +directions, and form a beautiful glossy ground, over which the one +large down-looking flower is swung from a simple stem, the petals +being strongly recurved, like those of Lilium superbum. Occasionally a +specimen is met which has from two to five flowers hung in a loose +panicle. People oftentimes travel far to see curious plants like the +carnivorous darlingtonia, the fly-catcher, the walking fern, etc. I +hardly know how the little bells I have been describing would be +regarded by seekers of this class, but every true flower-lover who +comes to consider these Utah lilies will surely be well rewarded, +however long the way. + +Pushing on up the rugged slopes, I found many delightful seclusions-- +moist nooks at the foot of cliffs, and lilies in every one of them, +not growing close together like daisies, but well apart, with plenty +of room for their bells to swing free and ring. I found hundreds of +them in full bloom within two feet of the snow. In winter only the +bulbs are alive, sleeping deep beneath the ground, like field mice in +their nests; then the snow-flowers fall above them, lilies over +lilies, until the spring winds blow, and these winter lilies wither in +turn; then the hiding erythroniums and fritillarias rise again, +responsive to the first touches of the sun. + +I noticed the tracks of deer in many places among the lily gardens, +and at the height of about seven thousand feet I came upon the fresh +trail of a flock of wild sheep, showing that these fine mountaineers +still flourish here above the range of Mormon rifles. In the planting +of her wild gardens, Nature takes the feet and teeth of her flocks +into account, and makes use of them to trim and cultivate, and keep +them in order, as the bark and buds of the tree are tended by +woodpeckers and linnets. + +The evergreen woods consist, as far as I observed, of two species, a +spruce and a fir, standing close together, erect and arrowy in a +thrifty, compact growth; but they are quite small, say from six to +twelve or fourteen inches in diameter, and bout forty feet in height. +Among their giant relatives of the Sierra the very largest would seem +mere saplings. A considerable portion of the south side of the +mountain is planted with a species of aspen, called "quaking asp" by +the wood-choppers. It seems to be quite abundant on many of the +eastern mountains of the basin, and forms a marked feature of their +upper forests. + +Wading up the curves of the summit was rather toilsome, for the snow, +which was softened by the blazing sun, was from ten to twenty feet +deep, but the view was one of the most impressively sublime I ever +beheld. Snowy, ice-sculptured ranges bounded the horizon all around, +while the great lake, eighty miles long and fifty miles wide, lay +fully revealed beneath a lily sky. The shorelines, marked by a ribbon +of white sand, were seen sweeping around many a bay and promontory in +elegant curves, and picturesque islands rising to mountain heights, +and some of them capped with pearly cumuli. And the wide prairie of +water glowing in the gold and purple of evening presented all the +colors that tint the lips of shells and the petals of lilies--the most +beautiful lake this side of the Rocky Mountains. Utah Lake, lying +thirty-five miles to the south, was in full sight also, and the river +Jordan, which links the two together, may be traced in silvery gleams +throughout its whole course. + +Descending the mountain, I followed the windings of the main central +glen on the north, gathering specimens of the cones and sprays of the +evergreens, and most of the other new plants I had met; but the lilies +formed the crowning glory of my bouquet--the grandest I had carried in +many a day. I reached the hotel on the lake about dusk with all my +fresh riches, and my first mountain ramble in Utah was accomplished. +On my way back to the city, the next day, I met a grave old Mormon +with whom I had previously held some Latter-Day discussions. I shook +my big handful of lilies in his face and shouted, "Here are the true +saints, ancient and Latter-Day, enduring forever!" After he had +recovered from his astonishment he said, "They are nice." + +The other liliaceous plants I have met in Utah are two species of +zigadenas, Fritillaria atropurpurea, Calochortus Nuttallii, and three +or four handsome alliums. One of these lilies, the calochortus, +several species of which are well known in California as the "Mariposa +tulips," has received great consideration at the hands of the Mormons, +for to it hundreds of them owe their lives. During the famine years +between 1853 and 1858, great destitution prevailed, especially in the +southern settlements, on account of drouth and grasshoppers, and +throughout one hungry winter in particular, thousands of the people +subsisted chiefly on the bulbs of the tulips, called "sego" by the +Indians, who taught them its use. + +Liliaceous women and girls are rare among the Mormons. They have seen +too much hard, repressive toil to admit of the development of lily +beauty either in form or color. In general they are thickset, with +large feet and hands, and with sun-browned faces, often curiously +freckled like the petals of Fritillaria atropurpurea. They are fruit +rather than flower--good brown bread. But down in the San Pitch +Valley at Gunnison, I discovered a genuine lily, happily named Lily +Young. She is a granddaughter of Brigham Young, slender and graceful, +with lily-white cheeks tinted with clear rose, She was brought up in +the old Salt Lake Zion House, but by some strange chance has been +transplanted to this wilderness, where she blooms alone, the "Lily of +San Pitch." Pitch is an old Indian, who, I suppose, pitched into the +settlers and thus acquired fame enough to give name to the valley. +Here I feel uneasy about the name of this lily, for the compositors +have a perverse trick of making me say all kinds of absurd things +wholly unwarranted by plain copy, and I fear that the "Lily of San +Pitch" will appear in print as the widow of Sam Patch. But, however +this may be, among my memories of this strange land, that Oquirrh +mountain, with its golden lilies, will ever rise in clear relief, and +associated with them will always be the Mormon lily of San Pitch. + + + +X + +The San Gabriel Valley[12] + + +The sun valley of San Gabriel is one of the brightest spots to be +found in all our bright land, and most of its brightness is wildness-- +wild south sunshine in a basin rimmed about with mountains and hills. +Cultivation is not wholly wanting, for here are the choices of all the +Los Angeles orange groves, but its glorious abundance of ripe sun and +soil is only beginning to be coined into fruit. The drowsy bits of +cultivation accomplished by the old missionaries and the more recent +efforts of restless Americans are scarce as yet visible, and when +comprehended in general views form nothing more than mere freckles on +the smooth brown bosom of the Valley. + +I entered the sunny south half a month ago, coming down along the cool +sea, and landing at Santa Monica. An hour's ride over stretches of +bare, brown plain, and through cornfields and orange groves, brought +me to the handsome, conceited little town of Los Angeles, where one +finds Spanish adobes and Yankee shingles meeting and overlapping in +very curious antagonism. I believe there are some fifteen thousand +people here, and some of their buildings are rather fine, but the +gardens and the sky interested me more. A palm is seen here and there +poising its royal crown in the rich light, and the banana, with its +magnificent ribbon leaves, producing a marked tropical effect--not +semi-tropical, as they are so fond of saying here, while speaking of +their fruits. Nothing I have noticed strikes me as semi, save the +brusque little bits of civilization with which the wilderness is +checkered. These are semi-barbarous or less; everything else in the +region has a most exuberant pronounced wholeness. The city held me +but a short time, for the San Gabriel Mountains were in sight, +advertising themselves grandly along the northern sky, and I was eager +to make my way into their midst. + +At Pasadena I had the rare good fortune to meet my old friend Doctor +Congar, with whom I had studied chemistry and mathematics fifteen +years ago. He exalted San Gabriel above all other inhabitable +valleys, old and new, on the face of the globe. "I have rambled," +said he, "ever since we left college, tasting innumerable climates, +and trying the advantages offered by nearly every new State and +Territory. Here I have made my home, and here I shall stay while I +live. The geographical position is exactly right, soil and climate +perfect, and everything that heart can wish comes to our efforts-- +flowers, fruits, milk and honey, and plenty of money. And there," he +continued, pointing just beyond his own precious possessions, "is a +block of land that is for sale; buy it and be my neighbor; plant five +acres with orange trees, and by the time your last mountain is climbed +their fruit will be your fortune." He then led my down the valley, +through the few famous old groves in full bearing, and on the estate +of Mr. Wilson showed me a ten-acre grove eighteen years old, the last +year's crop from which was sold for twenty thousand dollars. "There," +said he, with triumphant enthusiasm, "what do you think of that? Two +thousand dollars per acre per annum for land worth only one hundred +dollars." + +The number of orange trees planted to the acre is usually from forty- +nine to sixty-nine; they then stand from twenty-five to thirty feet +apart each way, and, thus planted, thrive and continue fruitful to a +comparatively great age. J. DeBarth Shorb, an enthusiastic believer +in Los Angeles and oranges, says, "We have trees on our property fully +forty years old, and eighteen inches in diameter, that are still +vigorous and yielding immense crops of fruit, although they are only +twenty feet apart." Seedlings are said to begin to bear remunerative +crops in their tenth year, but by superior cultivation this long +unproductive period my be somewhat lessened, while trees from three to +five years old may be purchased from the nurserymen, so that the +newcomer who sets out an orchard may begin to gather fruit by the +fifth or sixth year. When first set out, and for some years +afterward, the trees are irrigated by making rings of earth around +them, which are connected with small ditches, through which the water +is distributed to each tree. Or, where the ground is nearly level, +the whole surface is flooded from time to time as required. From 309 +trees, twelve years old from the seed, DeBarth Shorb says that in the +season of 1874 he obtained an average of $20.50 per tree, or $1435 per +acre, over and above the cost of transportation to San Francisco, +commission on sales, etc. He considers $1000 per acre a fair average +at present prices, after the trees have reached the age of twelve +years. The average price throughout the county for the last five +years has been about $20 or $25 per thousand; and, inasmuch as the +area adapted to orange culture is limited, it is hoped that this price +may not greatly fall for many years. + +The lemon and lime are also cultivated here to some extent, and +considerable attention is now being given to the Florida banana, and +the olive, almond, and English walnut. But the orange interest +heavily overshadows every other, while vines have of late years been +so unremunerative they are seldom mentioned. + +This is pre-eminently a fruit land, but the fame of its productions +has in some way far outrun the results that have as yet been attained. +Experiments have been tried, and good beginnings made, but the number +of really valuable, well-established groves is scarce as one to fifty, +compared with the newly planted. Many causes, however, have combined +of late to give the business a wonderful impetus, and new orchards are +being made every day, while the few old groves, aglow with golden +fruit, are the burning and shining lights that direct and energize the +sanguine newcomers. + +After witnessing the bad effect of homelessness, developed to so +destructive an extent in California, it would reassure every lover of +his race to see the hearty home-building going on here and the blessed +contentment that naturally follows it. Travel-worn pioneers, who have +been tossed about like boulders in flood time, are thronging hither as +to a kind of a terrestrial heaven, resolved to rest. They build, and +plant, and settle, and so come under natural influences. When a man +plants a tree he plants himself. Every root is an anchor, over which +he rests with grateful interest, and becomes sufficiently calm to feel +the joy of living. He necessarily makes the acquaintance of the sun +and the sky. Favorite trees fill his mind, and, while tending them +like children, and accepting the benefits they bring, he becomes +himself a benefactor. He sees down through the brown common ground +teeming with colored fruits, as if it were transparent, and learns to +bring them to the surface. What he wills he can raise by true +enchantment. With slips and rootlets, his magic wands, they appear at +his bidding. These, and the seeds he plants, are his prayers, and by +them brought into right relations with God, he works grander miracles +every day than ever were written. + +The Pasadena Colony, located on the southwest corner of the well-known +San Pasqual Rancho, is scarce three years old, but it is growing +rapidly, like a pet tree, and already forms one of the best +contributions to culture yet accomplished in the county. It now +numbers about sixty families, mostly drawn from the better class of +vagabond pioneers, who, during their rolling-stone days have managed +to gather sufficient gold moss to purchase from ten to forty acres of +land. They are perfectly hilarious in their newly found life, work +like ants in a sunny noonday, and, looking far into the future, +hopefully count their orange chicks ten years or more before they are +hatched; supporting themselves in the meantime on the produce of a few +acres of alfalfa, together with garden vegetables and the +quick-growing fruits, such as figs, grapes, apples, etc., the whole +reinforced by the remaining dollars of their land purchase money. +There is nothing more remarkable in the character of the colony than +the literary and scientific taste displayed. The conversation of most +I have met here is seasoned with a smack of mental ozone, Attic salt, +which struck me as being rare among the tillers of California soil. +People of taste and money in search of a home would do well to +prospect the resources of this aristocratic little colony. + +If we look now at these southern valleys in general, it will appear at +once that with all their advantages they lie beyond the reach of poor +settlers, not only on account of the high price of irrigable land--one +hundred dollars per acre and upwards--but because of the scarcity of +labor. A settler with three or four thousand dollars would be +penniless after paying for twenty acres of orange land and building +ever so plain a house, while many years would go by ere his trees +yielded an income adequate to the maintenance of his family. + +Nor is there anything sufficiently reviving in the fine climate to +form a reliable inducement for very sick people. Most of this class, +from all I can learn, come here only to die, and surely it is better +to die comfortably at home, avoiding the thousand discomforts of +travel, at a time when they are so heard to bear. It is indeed +pitiful to see so many invalids, already on the verge of the grave, +making a painful way to quack climates, hoping to change age to youth, +and the darkening twilight of their day to morning. No such health- +fountain has been found, and this climate, fine as it is, seems, like +most others, to be adapted for well people only. From all I could +find out regarding its influence upon patients suffering from +pulmonary difficulties, it is seldom beneficial to any great extent in +advanced cases. The cold sea winds are less fatal to this class of +sufferers than the corresponding winds further north, but, +notwithstanding they are tempered on their passage inland over warm, +dry ground, they are still more or less injurious. + +The summer climate of the fir and pine woods of the Sierra Nevada +would, I think, be found infinitely more reviving; but because these +woods have not been advertised like patent medicines, few seem to +think of the spicy, vivifying influences that pervade their fountain +freshness and beauty. + + + +XI + +The San Gabriel Mountains[13] + + +After saying so much for human culture in my last, perhaps I may now +be allowed a word for wildness--the wildness of this southland, pure +and untamable as the sea. + +In the mountains of San Gabriel, overlooking the lowland vines and +fruit groves, Mother Nature is most ruggedly, thornily savage. Not +even in the Sierra have I ever made the acquaintance of mountains more +rigidly inaccessible. The slopes are exceptionally steep and insecure +to the foot of the explorer, however great his strength or skill may +be, but thorny chaparral constitutes their chief defense. With the +exception of little park and garden spots not visible in comprehensive +views, the entire surface is covered with it, from the highest peaks +to the plain. It swoops into every hollow and swells over every +ridge, gracefully complying with the varied topography, in shaggy, +ungovernable exuberance, fairly dwarfing the utmost efforts of human +culture out of sight and mind. + +But in the very heart of this thorny wilderness, down in the dells, +you may find gardens filled with the fairest flowers, that any child +would love, and unapproachable linns lined with lilies and ferns, +where the ousel builds its mossy hut and sings in chorus with the +white falling water. Bears, also, and panthers, wolves, wildcats; +wood rats, squirrels, foxes, snakes, and innumerable birds, all find +grateful homes here, adding wildness to wildness in glorious profusion +and variety. + +Where the coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada come together we find a +very complicated system of short ranges, the geology and topography of +which is yet hidden, and many years of laborious study must be given +for anything like a complete interpretation of them. The San Gabriel +is one or more of these ranges, forty or fifty miles long, and half as +broad, extending from the Cajon Pass on the east, to the Santa Monica +and Santa Susanna ranges on the west. San Antonio, the dominating +peak, rises towards the eastern extremity of the range to a height of +about six thousand feet, forming a sure landmark throughout the valley +and all the way down to the coast, without, however, possessing much +striking individuality. The whole range, seen from the plain, with +the hot sun beating upon its southern slopes, wears a terribly +forbidding aspect. There is nothing of the grandeur of snow, or +glaciers, or deep forests, to excite curiosity or adventure; no trace +of gardens or waterfalls. From base to summit all seems gray, barren, +silent--dead, bleached bones of mountains, overgrown with scrubby +bushes, like gray moss. But all mountains are full of hidden beauty, +and the next day after my arrival at Pasadena I supplied myself with +bread and eagerly set out to give myself to their keeping. + +On the first day of my excursion I went only as far as the mouth of +Eaton Canyon, because the heat was oppressive, and a pair of new shoes +were chafing my feet to such an extent that walking began to be +painful. While looking for a camping ground among the boulder beds of +the canyon, I came upon a strange, dark man of doubtful parentage. He +kindly invited me to camp with him, and led me to his little hut. All +my conjectures as to his nationality failed, and no wonder, since his +father was Irish and mother Spanish, a mixture not often met even in +California. He happened to be out of candles, so we sat in the dark +while he gave me a sketch of his life, which was exceedingly +picturesque. Then he showed me his plans for the future. He was +going to settle among these canyon boulders, and make money, and marry +a Spanish woman. People mine for irrigating water along the foothills +as for gold. He is now driving a prospecting tunnel into a spur of +the mountains back of his cabin. "My prospect is good," he said, "and +if I strike a strong flow, I shall soon be worth five or ten thousand +dollars. That flat out there," he continued, referring to a small, +irregular patch of gravelly detritus that had been sorted out and +deposited by Eaton Creek during some flood season, "is large enough +for a nice orange grove, and, after watering my own trees, I can sell +water down the valley; and then the hillside back of the cabin will do +for vines, and I can keep bees, for the white sage and black sage up +the mountains is full of honey. You see, I've got a good thing." All +this prospective affluence in the sunken, boulder-choked flood-bed of +Eaton Creek! Most home-seekers would as soon think of settling on the +summit of San Antonio. + +Half an hour's easy rambling up the canyon brought me to the foot of +"The Fall," famous throughout the valley settlements as the finest yet +discovered in the range. It is a charming little thing, with a voice +sweet as a songbird's, leaping some thirty-five or forty feet into a +round, mirror pool. The cliff back of it and on both sides is +completely covered with thick, furry mosses, and the white fall shines +against the green like a silver instrument in a velvet case. Here +come the Gabriel lads and lassies from the commonplace orange groves, +to make love and gather ferns and dabble away their hot holidays in +the cool pool. They are fortunate in finding so fresh a retreat so +near their homes. It is the Yosemite of San Gabriel. The walls, +though not of the true Yosemite type either in form or sculpture, rise +to a height of nearly two thousand feet. Ferns are abundant on all +the rocks within reach of the spray, and picturesque maples and +sycamores spread a grateful shade over a rich profusion of wild +flowers that grow among the boulders, from the edge of the pool a mile +or more down the dell-like bottom of the valley, the whole forming a +charming little poem of wildness--the vestibule of these shaggy +mountain temples. + +The foot of the fall is about a thousand feet above the level of the +sea, and here climbing begins. I made my way out of the valley on the +west side, followed the ridge that forms the western rim of the Eaton +Basin to the summit of one of the principal peaks, thence crossed the +middle of the basin, forcing a way over its many subordinate ridges, +and out over the eastern rim, and from first to last during three days +spent in this excursion, I had to contend with the richest, most self- +possessed and uncompromising chaparral I have ever enjoyed since +first my mountaineering began. + +For a hundred feet or so the ascent was practicable only by means of +bosses of the club moss that clings to the rock. Above this the ridge +is weathered away to a slender knife-edge for a distance of two or +three hundred yards, and thence to the summit it is a bristly mane of +chaparral. Here and there small openings occur, commanding grand +views of the valley and beyond to the ocean. These are favorite +outlooks and resting places for bears, wolves, and wildcats. In the +densest places I came upon woodrat villages whose huts were from four +to eight feet high, built in the same style of architecture as those +of the muskrats. + +The day was nearly done. I reached the summit and I had time to make +only a hasty survey of the topography of the wild basin now outspread +maplike beneath, and to drink in the rare loveliness of the sunlight +before hastening down in search of water. Pushing through another +mile of chaparral, I emerged into one of the most beautiful parklike +groves of live oak I ever saw. The ground beneath was planted only +with aspidiums and brier roses. At the foot of the grove I came to +the dry channel of one of the tributary streams, but, following it +down a short distance, I descried a few specimens of the scarlet +mimulus; and I was assured that water was near. I found about a +bucketful in a granite bowl, but it was full of leaves and beetles, +making a sort of brown coffee that could be rendered available only by +filtering it through sand and charcoal. This I resolved to do in case +the night came on before I found better. Following the channel a mile +farther down to its confluence with another, larger tributary, I found +a lot of boulder pools, clear as crystal, and brimming full, linked +together by little glistening currents just strong enough to sing. +Flowers in full bloom adorned the banks, lilies ten feet high, and +luxuriant ferns arching over one another in lavish abundance, while a +noble old live oak spread its rugged boughs over all, forming one of +the most perfect and most secluded of Nature's gardens. Here I +camped, making my bed on smooth cobblestones. + +Next morning, pushing up the channel of a tributary that takes its +rise on Mount San Antonio, I passed many lovely gardens watered by +oozing currentlets, every one of which had lilies in them in the full +pomp of bloom, and a rich growth of ferns, chiefly woodwardias and +aspidiums and maidenhairs; but toward the base of the mountain the +channel was dry, and the chaparral closed over from bank to bank, so +that I was compelled to creep more than a mile on hands and knees. + +In one spot I found an opening in the thorny sky where I could stand +erect, and on the further side of the opening discovered a small pool. +"Now, HERE," I said, "I must be careful in creeping, for the birds of +the neighborhood come here to drink, and the rattlesnakes come here to +catch them." I then began to cast my eye along the channel, perhaps +instinctively feeling a snaky atmosphere, and finally discovered one +rattler between my feet. But there was a bashful look in his eye, and +a withdrawing, deprecating kink in his neck that showed plainly as +words could tell that he would not strike, and only wished to be let +alone. I therefore passed on, lifting my foot a little higher than +usual, and left him to enjoy his life in this his own home. + +My next camp was near the heart of the basin, at the head of a grand +system of cascades from ten to two hundred feet high, one following +the other in close succession and making a total descent of nearly +seventeen hundred feet. The rocks above me leaned over in a +threatening way and were full of seams, making the camp a very unsafe +one during an earthquake. + +Next day the chaparral, in ascending the eastern rim of the basin, +was, if possible, denser and more stubbornly bayoneted than ever. I +followed bear trails, where in some places I found tufts of their hair +that had been pulled out in squeezing a way through; but there was +much of a very interesting character that far overpaid all my pains. +Most of the plants are identical with those of the Sierra, but there +are quite a number of Mexican species. One coniferous tree was all I +found. This is a spruce of a species new to me, Douglasii +macrocarpa.[14] + +My last camp was down at the narrow, notched bottom of a dry channel, +the only open way for the life in the neighborhood. I therefore lay +between two fires, built to fence out snakes and wolves. + +From the summit of the eastern rim I had a glorious view of the valley +out to the ocean, which would require a whole book for its +description. My bread gave out a day before reaching the settlements, +but I felt all the fresher and clearer for the fast. + + + +XII + +Nevada Farms[15] + + +To the farmer who comes to this thirsty land from beneath rainy skies, +Nevada seems one vast desert, all sage and sand, hopelessly +irredeemable now and forever. And this, under present conditions, is +severely true. For notwithstanding it has gardens, grainfields, and +hayfields generously productive, these compared with the arid +stretches of valley and plain, as beheld in general views from the +mountain tops, are mere specks lying inconspicuously here and there, +in out-of-the-way places, often thirty or forty miles apart. + +In leafy regions, blessed with copious rains, we learn to measure the +productive capacity of the soil by its natural vegetation. But this +rule is almost wholly inapplicable here, for, notwithstanding its +savage nakedness, scarce at all veiled by a sparse growth of sage and +linosyris[16], the desert soil of the Great Basin is as rich in the +elements that in rainy regions rise and ripen into food as that of any +other State in the Union. The rocks of its numerous mountain ranges +have been thoroughly crushed and ground by glaciers, thrashed and +vitalized by the sun, and sifted and outspread in lake basins by +powerful torrents that attended the breaking-up of the glacial period, +as if in every way Nature had been making haste to prepare the land +for the husbandman. Soil, climate, topographical conditions, all that +the most exacting could demand, are present, but one thing, water, is +wanting. The present rainfall would be wholly inadequate for +agriculture, even if it were advantageously distributed over the +lowlands, while in fact the greater portion is poured out on the +heights in sudden and violent thundershowers called "cloud-bursts," +the waters of which are fruitlessly swallowed up in sandy gulches and +deltas a few minutes after their first boisterous appearance. The +principal mountain chains, trending nearly north and south, parallel +with the Sierra and the Wahsatch, receive a good deal of snow during +winter, but no great masses are stored up as fountains for large +perennial streams capable of irrigating considerable areas. Most of +it is melted before the end of May and absorbed by moraines and +gravelly taluses, which send forth small rills that slip quietly down +the upper canyons through narrow strips of flowery verdure, most of +them sinking and vanishing before they reach the base of their +fountain ranges. Perhaps not one in ten of the whole number flow out +into the open plains, not a single drop reaches the sea, and only a +few are large enough to irrigate more than one farm of moderate size. + +It is upon these small outflowing rills that most of the Nevada +ranches are located, lying countersunk beneath the general level, just +where the mountains meet the plains, at an average elevation of five +thousand feet above sea level. All the cereals and garden vegetables +thrive here, and yield bountiful crops. Fruit, however, has been, as +yet, grown successfully in only a few specially favored spots. + +Another distinct class of ranches are found sparsely distributed along +the lowest portions of the plains, where the ground is kept moist by +springs, or by narrow threads of moving water called rivers, fed by +some one or more of the most vigorous of the mountain rills that have +succeeded in making their escape from the mountains. These are mostly +devoted to the growth of wild hay, though in some the natural meadow +grasses and sedges have been supplemented by timothy and alfalfa; and +where the soil is not too strongly impregnated with salts, some grain +is raised. Reese River Valley, Big Smoky Valley, and White River +Valley offer fair illustrations of this class. As compared with the +foothill ranches, they are larger and less inconspicuous, as they lie +in the wide, unshadowed levels of the plains--wavy-edged flecks of +green in a wilderness of gray. + +Still another class equally well defined, both as to distribution and +as to products, is restricted to that portion of western Nevada and +the eastern border of California which lies within the redeeming +influences of California waters. Three of the Sierra rivers descend +from their icy fountains into the desert like angels of mercy to bless +Nevada. These are the Walker, Carson, and Truckee; and in the valleys +through which they flow are found by far the most extensive hay and +grain fields within the bounds of the State. Irrigating streams are +led off right and left through innumerable channels, and the sleeping +ground, starting at once into action, pours forth its wealth without +stint. + +But notwithstanding the many porous fields thus fertilized, +considerable portions of the waters of all these rivers continue to +reach their old deathbeds in the desert, indicating that in these salt +valleys there still is room for coming farmers. In middle and eastern +Nevada, however, every rill that I have seen in a ride of three +thousand miles, at all available for irrigation, has been claimed and +put to use. + +It appears, therefore, that under present conditions the limit of +agricultural development in the dry basin between the Sierra and the +Wahsatch has been already approached, a result caused not alone by +natural restrictions as to the area capable of development, but by the +extraordinary stimulus furnished by the mines to agricultural effort. +The gathering of gold and silver, hay and barley, have gone on +together. Most of the mid-valley bogs and meadows, and foothill rills +capable of irrigating from ten to fifty acres, were claimed more than +twenty years ago. + +A majority of these pioneer settlers are plodding Dutchmen, living +content in the back lanes and valleys of Nature; but the high price of +all kinds of farm products tempted many of even the keen Yankee +prospectors, made wise in California, to bind themselves down to this +sure kind of mining. The wildest of wild hay, made chiefly of carices +and rushes, was sold at from two to three hundred dollars per ton on +ranches. The same kind of hay is still worth from fifteen to forty +dollars per ton, according to the distance from mines and comparative +security from competition. Barley and oats are from forty to one +hundred dollars a ton, while all sorts of garden products find ready +sale at high prices. + +With rich mine markets and salubrious climate, the Nevada farmer can +make more money by loose, ragged methods than the same class of +farmers in any other State I have yet seen, while the almost savage +isolation in which they live seems grateful to them. Even in those +cases where the advent of neighbors brings no disputes concerning +water rights and ranges, they seem to prefer solitude, most of them +having been elected from adventurers from California--the pioneers of +pioneers. The passing stranger, however, is always welcomed and +supplied with the best the home affords, and around the fireside, +while he smokes his pipe, very little encouragement is required to +bring forth the story of the farmer's life--hunting, mining, fighting, +in the early Indian times, etc. Only the few who are married hope to +return to California to educate their children, and the ease with +which money is made renders the fulfillment of these hopes +comparatively sure. + +After dwelling thus long on the farms of this dry wonderland, my +readers may be led to fancy them of more importance as compared with +the unbroken fields of Nature than they really are. Making your way +along any of the wide gray valleys that stretch from north to south, +seldom will your eye be interrupted by a single mark of cultivation. +The smooth lake-like ground sweeps on indefinitely, growing more and +more dim in the glowing sunshine, while a mountain range from eight to +ten thousand feet high bounds the view on either hand. No singing +water, no green sod, no moist nook to rest in--mountain and valley +alike naked and shadowless in the sun-glare; and though, perhaps, +traveling a well-worn road to a gold or silver mine, and supplied with +repeated instructions, you can scarce hope to find any human +habitation from day to day, so vast and impressive is the hot, dusty, +alkaline wildness. + +But after riding some thirty or forty miles, and while the sun may be +sinking behind the mountains, you come suddenly upon signs of +cultivation. Clumps of willows indicate water, and water indicates a +farm. Approaching more nearly, you discover what may be a patch of +barley spread out unevenly along the bottom of a flood bed, broken +perhaps, and rendered less distinct by boulder piles and the fringing +willows of a stream. Speedily you can confidently say that the grain +patch is surely such; its ragged bounds become clear; a sand-roofed +cabin comes to view littered with sun-cracked implements and with an +outer girdle of potato, cabbage, and alfalfa patches. + +The immense expanse of mountain-girt valleys, on the edges of which +these hidden ranches lie, make even the largest fields seem comic in +size. The smallest, however, are by no means insignificant in a +pecuniary view. On the east side of the Toyabe Range I discovered a +jolly Irishman who informed me that his income from fifty acres, +reinforced by a sheep range on the adjacent hills, was from seven to +nine thousand dollars per annum. His irrigating brook is about four +feet wide and eight inches deep, flowing about two miles per hour. + +On Duckwater Creek, Nye County, Mr. Irwin has reclaimed a tule swamp +several hundred acres in extent, which is now chiefly devoted to +alfalfa. On twenty-five acres he claims to have raised this year +thirty-seven tons of barley. Indeed, I have not yet noticed a meager +crop of any kind in the State. Fruit alone is conspicuously absent. + +On the California side of the Sierra grain will not ripen at much +greater elevation than four thousand feet above sea level. The +valleys of Nevada lie at a height of from four to six thousand feet, +and both wheat and barley ripen, wherever water may be had, up to +seven thousand feet. The harvest, of course, is later as the +elevation increases. In the valleys of the Carson and Walker Rivers, +four thousand feet above the sea, the grain harvest is about a month +later than in California. In Reese River Valley, six thousand feet, +it begins near the end of August. Winter grain ripens somewhat +earlier, while occasionally one meets a patch of barley in some cool, +high-lying canyon that will not mature before the middle of September. + +Unlike California, Nevada will probably be always richer in gold and +silver than in grain. Utah farmers hope to change the climate of the +east side of the basin by prayer, and point to the recent rise in the +waters of the Great Salt Lake as a beginning of moister times. But +Nevada's only hope, in the way of any considerable increase in +agriculture, is from artesian wells. The experiment has been tried on +a small scale with encouraging success. But what is now wanted seems +to be the boring of a few specimen wells of a large size out in the +main valleys. The encouragement that successful experiments of this +kind would give to emigration seeking farms forms an object well +worthy the attention of the Government. But all that California +farmers in the grand central valley require is the preservation of the +forests and the wise distribution of the glorious abundance of water +from the snow stored on the west flank of the Sierra. + +Whether any considerable area of these sage plains will ever thus be +made to blossom in grass and wheat, experience will show. But in the +mean time Nevada is beautiful in her wildness, and if tillers of the +soil can thus be brought to see that possibly Nature may have other +uses even for RICH soils besides the feeding of human beings, then +will these foodless "deserts" have taught a fine lesson. + + + +XIII + +Nevada Forests[17] + + +When the traveler from California has crossed the Sierra and gone a +little way down the eastern flank, the woods come to an end about as +suddenly and completely as if, going westward, he had reached the +ocean. From the very noblest forests in the world he emerges into +free sunshine and dead alkaline lake-levels. Mountains are seen +beyond, rising in bewildering abundance, range beyond range. But +however closely we have been accustomed to associate forests and +mountains, these always present a singularly barren aspect, appearing +gray and forbidding and shadeless, like heaps of ashes dumped from the +blazing sky. + +But wheresoever we may venture to go in all this good world, nature is +ever found richer and more beautiful than she seems, and nowhere may +you meet with more varied and delightful surprises than in the byways +and recesses of this sublime wilderness--lovely asters and abronias on +the dusty plains, rose-gardens around the mountain wells, and resiny +woods, where all seemed so desolate, adorning the hot foothills as +well as the cool summits, fed by cordial and benevolent storms of rain +and hail and snow; all of these scant and rare as compared with the +immeasurable exuberance of California, but still amply sufficient +throughout the barest deserts for a clear manifestation of God's love. + +Though Nevada is situated in what is called the "Great Basin," no less +than sixty-five groups and chains of mountains rise within the bounds +of the State to a height of about from eight thousand to thirteen +thousand feet above the level of the sea, and as far as I have +observed, every one of these is planted, to some extent, with +coniferous trees, though it is only upon the highest that we find +anything that may fairly be called a forest. The lower ranges and the +foothills and slopes of the higher are roughened with small scrubby +junipers and nut pines, while the dominating peaks, together with the +ridges that swing in grand curves between them, are covered with a +closer and more erect growth of pine, spruce, and fir, resembling the +forests of the Eastern States both as to size and general botanical +characteristics. Here is found what is called the heavy timber, but +the tallest and most fully developed sections of the forests, growing +down in sheltered hollows on moist moraines, would be regarded in +California only as groves of saplings, and so, relatively, they are, +for by careful calculation we find that more than a thousand of these +trees would be required to furnish as much timber as may be obtained +from a single specimen of our Sierra giants. + +The height of the timberline in eastern Nevada, near the middle of the +Great Basin, is about eleven thousand feet above sea level; +consequently the forests, in a dwarfed, storm-beaten condition, pass +over the summits of nearly every range in the State, broken here and +there only by mechanical conditions of the surface rocks. Only three +mountains in the State have as yet come under my observation whose +summits rise distinctly above the treeline. These are Wheeler's Peak, +twelve thousand three hundred feet high, Mount Moriah, about twelve +thousand feet, and Granite Mountain, about the same height, all of +which are situated near the boundary line between Nevada and Utah +Territory. + +In a rambling mountaineering journey of eighteen hundred miles across +the state, I have met nine species of coniferous trees,--four pines, +two spruces, two junipers, and one fir,--about one third the number +found in California. By far the most abundant and interesting of +these is the Pinus Fremontiana,[18] or nut pine. In the number of +individual trees and extent of range this curious little conifer +surpasses all the others combined. Nearly every mountain in the State +is planted with it from near the base to a height of from eight +thousand to nine thousand feet above the sea. Some are covered from +base to summit by this one species, with only a sparse growth of +juniper on the lower slopes to break the continuity of these curious +woods, which, though dark-looking at a little distance, are yet almost +shadeless, and without any hint of the dark glens and hollows so +characteristic of other pine woods. Tens of thousands of acres occur +in one continuous belt. Indeed, viewed comprehensively, the entire +State seems to be pretty evenly divided into mountain ranges covered +with nut pines and plains covered with sage--now a swath of pines +stretching from north to south, now a swath of sage; the one black, +the other gray; one severely level, the other sweeping on complacently +over ridge and valley and lofty crowning dome. + +The real character of a forest of this sort would never be guessed by +the inexperienced observer. Traveling across the sage levels in the +dazzling sunlight, you gaze with shaded eyes at the mountains rising +along their edges, perhaps twenty miles away, but no invitation that +is at all likely to be understood is discernible. Every mountain, +however high it swells into the sky, seems utterly barren. Approaching +nearer, a low brushy growth is seen, strangely black in aspect, as +though it had been burned. This is a nut pine forest, the bountiful +orchard of the red man. When you ascend into its midst you find the +ground beneath the trees, and in the openings also, nearly naked, and +mostly rough on the surface--a succession of crumbling ledges of lava, +limestones, slate, and quartzite, coarsely strewn with soil weathered +from them. Here and there occurs a bunch of sage or linosyris, or a +purple aster, or a tuft of dry bunch-grass. + +The harshest mountainsides, hot and waterless, seem best adapted to +the nut pine's development. No slope is too steep, none too dry; +every situation seems to be gratefully chosen, if only it be +sufficiently rocky and firm to afford secure anchorage for the tough, +grasping roots. It is a sturdy, thickset little tree, usually about +fifteen feet high when full grown, and about as broad as high, holding +its knotty branches well out in every direction in stiff zigzags, but +turning them gracefully upward at the ends in rounded bosses. Though +making so dark a mass in the distance, the foliage is a pale grayish +green, in stiff, awl-shaped fascicles. When examined closely these +round needles seem inclined to be two-leaved, but they are mostly held +firmly together, as if to guard against evaporation. The bark on the +older sections is nearly black, so that the boles and branches are +clearly traced against the prevailing gray of the mountains on which +they delight to dwell. + +The value of this species to Nevada is not easily overestimated. It +furnishes fuel, charcoal, and timber for the mines, and, together with +the enduring juniper, so generally associated with it, supplies the +ranches with abundance of firewood and rough fencing. Many a square +mile has already been denuded in supplying these demands, but, so +great is the area covered by it, no appreciable loss has as yet been +sustained. It is pretty generally known that this tree yields edible +nuts, but their importance and excellence as human food is infinitely +greater than is supposed. In fruitful seasons like this one, the pine +nut crop of Nevada is, perhaps, greater than the entire wheat crop of +California, concerning which so much is said and felt throughout the +food markets of the world. + +The Indians alone appreciate this portion of Nature's bounty and +celebrate the harvest home with dancing and feasting. The cones, +which are a bright grass-green in color and about two inches long by +one and a half in diameter, are beaten off with poles just before the +scales open, gathered in heaps of several bushels, and lightly +scorched by burning a thin covering of brushwood over them. The +resin, with which the cones are bedraggled, is thus burned off, the +nuts slightly roasted, and the scales made to open. Then they are +allowed to dry in the sun, after which the nuts are easily thrashed +out and are ready to be stored away. They are about half an inch long +by a quarter of an inch in diameter, pointed at the upper end, rounded +at the base, light brown in general color, and handsomely dotted with +purple, like birds' eggs. The shells are thin, and may be crushed +between the thumb and finger. The kernels are white and waxy-looking, +becoming brown by roasting, sweet and delicious to every palate, and +are eaten by birds, squirrels, dogs, horses, and man. When the crop +is abundant the Indians bring in large quantities for sale; they are +eaten around every fireside in the State, and oftentimes fed to horses +instead of barley. + +Looking over the whole continent, none of Nature's bounties seems to +me so great as this in the way of food, none so little appreciated. +Fortunately for the Indians and wild animals that gather around +Nature's board, this crop is not easily harvested in a monopolizing +way. If it could be gathered like wheat the whole would be carried +away and dissipated in towns, leaving the brave inhabitants of these +wilds to starve. + +Long before the harvest time, which is in September and October, the +Indians examine the trees with keen discernment, and inasmuch as the +cones require two years to mature from the first appearance of the +little red rosettes of the fertile flowers, the scarcity or abundance +of the crop may be predicted more than a year in advance. Squirrels, +and worms, and Clarke crows, make haste to begin the harvest. When +the crop is ripe the Indians make ready their long beating-poles; +baskets, bags, rags, mats, are gotten together. The squaws out among +the settlers at service, washing and drudging, assemble at the family +huts; the men leave their ranch work; all, old and young, are mounted +on ponies, and set off in great glee to the nut lands, forming +cavalcades curiously picturesque. Flaming scarfs and calico skirts +stream loosely over the knotty ponies, usually two squaws astride of +each, with the small baby midgets bandaged in baskets slung on their +backs, or balanced upon the saddle-bow, while the nut baskets and +water jars project from either side, and the long beating-poles, like +old-fashioned lances, angle out in every direction. + +Arrived at some central point already fixed upon, where water and +grass is found, the squaws with baskets, the men with poles, ascend +the ridges to the laden trees, followed by the children; beating +begins with loud noise and chatter; the burs fly right and left, +lodging against stones and sagebrush; the squaws and children gather +them with fine natural gladness; smoke columns speedily mark the +joyful scene of their labors as the roasting fires are kindled; and, +at night, assembled in circles, garrulous as jays, the first grand nut +feast begins. Sufficient quantities are thus obtained in a few weeks +to last all winter. + +The Indians also gather several species of berries and dry them to +vary their stores, and a few deer and grouse are killed on the +mountains, besides immense numbers of rabbits and hares; but the +pine-nuts are their main dependence--their staff of life, their bread. + +Insects also, scarce noticed by man, come in for their share of this +fine bounty. Eggs are deposited, and the baby grubs, happy fellows, +find themselves in a sweet world of plenty, feeding their way through +the heart of the cone from one nut chamber to another, secure from +rain and wind and heat, until their wings are grown and they are ready +to launch out into the free ocean of air and light. + + + +XIV + +Nevada's Timber Belt[19] + + +The pine woods on the tops of the Nevada mountains are already shining +and blooming in winter snow, making a most blessedly refreshing +appearance to the weary traveler down on the gray plains. During the +fiery days of summer the whole of this vast region seems so perfectly +possessed by the sun that the very memories of pine trees and snow are +in danger of being burned away, leaving one but little more than dust +and metal. But since these first winter blessings have come, the +wealth and beauty of the landscapes have come fairly into view, and +one is rendered capable of looking and seeing. + +The grand nut harvest is over, as far as the Indians are concerned, +though perhaps less than one bushel in a thousand of the whole crop +has been gathered. But the squirrels and birds are still busily +engaged, and by the time that Nature's ends are accomplished, every +nut will doubtless have been put to use. + +All of the nine Nevada conifers mentioned in my last letter are also +found in California, excepting only the Rocky Mountain spruce, which I +have not observed westward of the Snake Range. So greatly, however, +have they been made to vary by differences of soil and climate, that +most of them appear as distinct species. Without seeming in any way +dwarfed or repressed in habit, they nowhere develop to anything like +California dimensions. A height of fifty feet and diameter of twelve +or fourteen inches would probably be found to be above the average +size of those cut for lumber. On the margin of the Carson and +Humboldt Sink the larger sage bushes are called "heavy timber"; and to +the settlers here any tree seems large enough for saw-logs. + +Mills have been built in the most accessible canyons of the higher +ranges, and sufficient lumber of an inferior kind is made to supply +most of the local demand. The principal lumber trees of Nevada are +the white pine (Pinus flexilis), foxtail pine, and Douglas spruce, or +"red pine," as it is called here. Of these the first named is most +generally distributed, being found on all the higher ranges throughout +the State. In botanical characters it is nearly allied to the +Weymouth, or white, pine of the Eastern States, and to the sugar and +mountain pines of the Sierra. In open situations it branches near the +ground and tosses out long down-curving limbs all around, often +gaining in this way a very strikingly picturesque habit. It is seldom +found lower than nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, but +from this height it pushes upward over the roughest ledges to the +extreme limit of tree growth--about eleven thousand feet. + +On the Hot Creek, White Pine, and Golden Gate ranges we find a still +hardier and more picturesque species, called the foxtail pine, from +its long dense leaf-tassels. About a foot or eighteen inches of the +ends of the branches are densely packed with stiff outstanding +needles, which radiate all around like an electric fox- or squirrel-tail. +The needles are about an inch and a half long, slightly curved, +elastic, and glossily polished, so that the sunshine sifting through +them makes them burn with a fine silvery luster, while their number +and elastic temper tell delightfully in the singing winds. + +This tree is pre-eminently picturesque, far surpassing not only its +companion species of the mountains in this respect, but also the most +noted of the lowland oaks and elms. Some stand firmly erect, +feathered with radiant tail tassels down to the ground, forming +slender, tapering towers of shining verdure; others with two or three +specialized branches pushed out at right angles to the trunk and +densely clad with the tasseled sprays, take the form of beautiful +ornamental crosses. Again, in the same woods you find trees that are +made up of several boles united near the ground, and spreading in easy +curves at the sides in a plane parallel to the axis of the mountain, +with the elegant tassels hung in charming order between them the whole +making a perfect harp, ranged across the main wind-lines just where +they may be most effective in the grand storm harmonies. And then +there is an infinite variety of arching forms, standing free or in +groups, leaning away from or toward each other in curious +architectural structures,--innumerable tassels drooping under the +arches and radiating above them, the outside glowing in the light, +masses of deep shade beneath, giving rise to effects marvelously +beautiful,--while on the roughest ledges of crumbling limestone are +lowly old giants, five or six feet in diameter, that have braved the +storms of more than a thousand years. But, whether old or young, +sheltered or exposed to the wildest gales, this tree is ever found to +be irrepressibly and extravagantly picturesque, offering a richer and +more varied series of forms to the artist than any other species I +have yet seen. + +One of the most interesting mountain excursions I have made in the +State was up through a thick spicy forest of these trees to the top of +the highest summit of the Troy Range, about ninety miles to the south +of Hamilton. The day was full of perfect Indian-summer sunshine, calm +and bracing. Jays and Clarke crows made a pleasant stir in the +foothill pines and junipers; grasshoppers danced in the hazy light, +and rattled on the wing in pure glee, reviving suddenly from the +torpor of a frosty October night to exuberant summer joy. The +squirrels were working industriously among the falling nuts; ripe +willows and aspens made gorgeous masses of color on the russet +hillsides and along the edges of the small streams that threaded the +higher ravines; and on the smooth sloping uplands, beneath the foxtail +pines and firs, the ground was covered with brown grasses, enriched +with sunflowers, columbines, and larkspurs and patches of linosyris, +mostly frost-nipped and gone to seed, yet making fine bits of yellow +and purple in the general brown. + +At a height of about ninety-five hundred feet we passed through a +magnificent grove of aspens, about a hundred acres in extent, through +which the mellow sunshine sifted in ravishing splendor, showing every +leaf to be as beautiful in color as the wing of a butterfly, and +making them tell gloriously against the evergreens. These extensive +groves of aspen are a marked feature of the Nevada woods. Some of the +lower mountains are covered with them, giving rise to remarkably +beautiful masses of pale, translucent green in spring and summer, +yellow and orange in autumn, while in winter, after every leaf has +fallen, the white bark of the boles and branches seen in mass seems +like a cloud of mist that has settled close down on the mountain, +conforming to all its hollows and ridges like a mantle, yet roughened +on the surface with innumerable ascending spires. + +Just above the aspens we entered a fine, close growth of foxtail pine, +the tallest and most evenly planted I had yet seen. It extended along +a waving ridge tending north and south and down both sides with but +little interruption for a distance of about five miles. The trees +were mostly straight in the bole, and their shade covered the ground +in the densest places, leaving only small openings to the sun. A few +of the tallest specimens measured over eighty feet, with a diameter of +eighteen inches; but many of the younger trees, growing in tufts, were +nearly fifty feet high, with a diameter of only five or six inches, +while their slender shafts were hidden from top to bottom by a close, +fringy growth of tasseled branchlets. A few white pines and balsam +firs occur here and there, mostly around the edges of sunny openings, +where they enrich the air with their rosiny fragrance, and bring out +the peculiar beauties of the predominating foxtails by contrast. + +Birds find grateful homes here--grouse, chickadees, and linnets, of +which we saw large flocks that had a delightfully enlivening effect. +But the woodpeckers are remarkably rare. Thus far I have noticed only +one species, the golden-winged; and but few of the streams are large +enough or long enough to attract the blessed ousel, so common in the +Sierra. + +On Wheeler's Peak, the dominating summit of the Snake Mountains, I +found all the conifers I had seen on the other ranges of the State, +excepting the foxtail pine, which I have not observed further east +than the White Pine range, but in its stead the beautiful Rocky +Mountain spruce. First, as in the other ranges, we find the juniper +and nut pine; then, higher, the white pine and balsam fir; then the +Douglas spruce and this new Rocky Mountain spruce, which is common +eastward from here, though this range is, as far as I have observed, +its western limit. It is one of the largest and most important of +Nevada conifers, attaining a height of from sixty to eighty feet and a +diameter of nearly two feet, while now and then an exceptional +specimen may be found in shady dells a hundred feet high or more. + +The foliage is bright yellowish and bluish green, according to +exposure and age, growing all around the branchlets, though inclined +to turn upward from the undersides, like that of the plushy firs of +California, making remarkably handsome fernlike plumes. While yet +only mere saplings five or six inches thick at the ground, they +measure fifty or sixty feet in height and are beautifully clothed with +broad, level, fronded plumes down to the base, preserving a strict +arrowy outline, though a few of the larger branches shoot out in free +exuberance, relieving the spire from any unpicturesque stiffness of +aspect, while the conical summit is crowded with thousands of rich +brown cones to complete its beauty. + +We made the ascent of the peak just after the first storm had whitened +its summit and brightened the atmosphere. The foot-slopes are like +those of the Troy range, only more evenly clad with grasses. After +tracing a long, rugged ridge of exceedingly hard quartzite, said to be +veined here and there with gold, we came to the North Dome, a noble +summit rising about a thousand feet above the timberline, its slopes +heavily tree-clad all around, but most perfectly on the north. Here +the Rocky Mountain spruce forms the bulk of the forest. The cones +were ripe; most of them had shed their winged seeds, and the shell-like +scales were conspicuously spread, making rich masses of brown +from the tops of the fertile trees down halfway to the ground, cone +touching cone in lavish clusters. A single branch that might be +carried in the hand would be found to bear a hundred or more. + +Some portions of the wood were almost impenetrable, but in general we +found no difficulty in mazing comfortably on over fallen logs and +under the spreading boughs, while here and there we came to an opening +sufficiently spacious for standpoints, where the trees around their +margins might be seen from top to bottom. The winter sunshine +streamed through the clustered spires, glinting and breaking into a +fine dust of spangles on the spiky leaves and beads of amber gum, and +bringing out the reds and grays and yellows of the lichened boles +which had been freshened by the late storm; while the tip of every +spire looking up through the shadows was dipped in deepest blue. + +The ground was strewn with burs and needles and fallen trees; and, +down in the dells, on the north side of the dome, where strips of +aspen are imbedded in the spruces, every breeze sent the ripe leaves +flying, some lodging in the spruce boughs, making them bloom again, +while the fresh snow beneath looked like a fine painting. + +Around the dome and well up toward the summit of the main peak, the +snow-shed was well marked with tracks of the mule deer and the pretty +stitching and embroidery of field mice, squirrels, and grouse; and on +the way back to camp I came across a strange track, somewhat like that +of a small bear, but more spreading at the toes. It proved to be that +of a wolverine. In my conversations with hunters, both Indians and +white men assure me that there are no bears in Nevada, notwithstanding +the abundance of pine-nuts, of which they are so fond, and the +accessibility of these basin ranges from their favorite haunts in the +Sierra Nevada and Wahsatch Mountains. The mule deer, antelope, wild +sheep, wolverine, and two species of wolves are all of the larger +animals that I have seen or heard of in the State. + + + +XV + +Glacial Phenomena in Nevada[20] + + +The monuments of the Ice Age in the Great Basin have been greatly +obscured and broken, many of the more ancient of them having perished +altogether, leaving scarce a mark, however faint, of their existence-- +a condition of things due not alone to the long-continued action of +post-glacial agents, but also in great part to the perishable +character of the rocks of which they were made. The bottoms of the +main valleys, once grooved and planished like the glacier pavements of +the Sierra, lie buried beneath sediments and detritus derived from the +adjacent mountains, and now form the arid sage plains; characteristic +U-shaped canyons have become V-shaped by the deepening of their +bottoms and straightening of their sides, and decaying glacier +headlands have been undermined and thrown down in loose taluses, while +most of the moraines and striae and scratches have been blurred or +weathered away. Nevertheless, enough remains of the more recent and +the more enduring phenomena to cast a good light well back upon the +conditions of the ancient ice sheet that covered this interesting +region, and upon the system of distinct glaciers that loaded the tops +of the mountains and filled the canyons long after the ice sheet had +been broken up. + +The first glacial traces that I noticed in the basin are on the +Wassuck, Augusta, and Toyabe ranges, consisting of ridges and canyons, +whose trends, contours, and general sculpture are in great part +specifically glacial, though deeply blurred by subsequent denudation. +These discoveries were made during the summer of 1876-77. And again, +on the 17th of last August, while making the ascent of Mount +Jefferson, the dominating mountain of the Toquima range, I discovered +an exceedingly interesting group of moraines, canyons with V-shaped +cross sections, wide neve amphitheatres, moutoneed rocks, glacier +meadows, and one glacier lake, all as fresh and telling as if the +glaciers to which they belonged had scarcely vanished. + +The best preserved and most regular of the moraines are two laterals +about two hundred feet in height and two miles long, extending from +the foot of a magnificent canyon valley on the north side of the +mountain and trending first in a northerly direction, then curving +around to the west, while a well-characterized terminal moraine, +formed by the glacier towards the close of its existence, unites them +near their lower extremities at a height of eighty-five hundred feet. +Another pair of older lateral moraines, belonging to a glacier of +which the one just mentioned was a tributary, extend in a general +northwesterly direction nearly to the level of Big Smoky Valley, about +fifty-five hundred feet above sea level. + +Four other canyons, extending down the eastern slopes of this grand +old mountain into Monito Valley, are hardly less rich in glacial +records, while the effects of the mountain shadows in controlling and +directing the movements of the residual glaciers to which all these +phenomena belonged are everywhere delightfully apparent in the trends +of the canyons and ridges, and in the massive sculpture of the neve +wombs at their heads. This is a very marked and imposing mountain, +attracting the eye from a great distance. It presents a smooth and +gently curved outline against the sky, as observed from the plains, +and is whitened with patches of enduring snow. The summit is made up +of irregular volcanic tables, the most extensive of which is about two +and a half miles long, and like the smaller ones is broken abruptly +down on the edges by the action of the ice. Its height is +approximately eleven thousand three hundred feet above the sea. + +A few days after making these interesting discoveries, I found other +well-preserved glacial traces on Arc Dome, the culminating summit of +the Toyabe Range. On its northeastern slopes there are two small +glacier lakes, and the basins of two others which have recently been +filled with down-washed detritus. One small residual glacier lingered +until quite recently beneath the coolest shadows of the dome, the +moraines and neve-fountains of which are still as fresh and unwasted +as many of those lying at the same elevation on the Sierra--ten +thousand feet--while older and more wasted specimens may be traced on +all the adjacent mountains. The sculpture, too, of all the ridges and +summits of this section of the range is recognized at once as glacial, +some of the larger characters being still easily readable from the +plains at a distance of fifteen or twenty miles. + +The Hot Creek Mountains, lying to the east of the Toquima and Monito +ranges, reach the culminating point on a deeply serrate ridge at a +height of ten thousand feet above the sea. This ridge is found to be +made up of a series of imposing towers and pinnacles which have been +eroded from the solid mass of the mountain by a group of small +residual glaciers that lingered in their shadows long after the larger +ice rivers had vanished. On its western declivities are found a group +of well-characterized moraines, canyons, and roches moutonnees, all of +which are unmistakably fresh and telling. The moraines in particular +could hardly fail to attract the eye of any observer. Some of the +short laterals of the glaciers that drew their fountain snows from the +jagged recesses of the summit are from one to two hundred feet in +height, and scarce at all wasted as yet, notwithstanding the countless +storms that have fallen upon them, while cool rills flow between them, +watering charming gardens of arctic plants--saxifrages, larkspurs, +dwarf birch, ribes, and parnassia, etc.--beautiful memories of the Ice +Age, representing a once greatly extended flora. + +In the course of explorations made to the eastward of here, between +the 38th and 40th parallels, I observed glacial phenomena equally +fresh and demonstrative on all the higher mountains of the White Pine, +Golden Gate, and Snake ranges, varying from those already described +only as determined by differences of elevation, relations to the +snow-bearing winds, and the physical characteristics of the rock +formations. + +On the Jeff Davis group of the Snake Range, the dominating summit of +which is nearly thirteen thousand feet in elevation, and the highest +ground in the basin, every marked feature is a glacier monument--peaks, +valleys, ridges, meadows, and lakes. And because here the +snow-fountains lay at a greater height, while the rock, an exceedingly +hard quartzite, offered superior resistance to post-glacial agents, +the ice-characters are on a larger scale, and are more sharply defined +than any we have noticed elsewhere, and it is probably here that the +last lingering glacier of the basin was located. The summits and +connecting ridges are mere blades and points, ground sharp by the +glaciers that descended on both sides to the main valleys. From one +standpoint I counted nine of these glacial channels with their +moraines sweeping grandly out to the plains to deep sheer-walled +neve-fountains at their heads, making a most vivid picture of the +last days of the Ice Period. + +I have thus far directed attention only to the most recent and +appreciable of the phenomena; but it must be borne in mind that less +recent and less obvious traces of glacial action abound on ALL the +ranges throughout the entire basin, where the fine striae and grooves +have been obliterated, and most of the moraines have been washed away, +or so modified as to be no longer recognizable, and even the lakes and +meadows, so characteristic of glacial regions, have almost entirely +vanished. For there are other monuments, far more enduring than +these, remaining tens of thousands of years after the more perishable +records are lost. Such are the canyons, ridges, and peaks themselves, +the glacial peculiarities of whose trends and contours cannot be hid +from the eye of the skilled observer until changes have been wrought +upon them far more destructive than those to which these basin ranges +have yet been subjected. + +It appears, therefore, that the last of the basin glaciers have but +recently vanished, and that the almost innumerable ranges trending +north and south between the Sierra and the Wahsatch Mountains were +loaded with glaciers that descended to the adjacent valleys during the +last glacial period, and that it is to this mighty host of ice streams +that all the more characteristic of the present features of these +mountain ranges are due. + +But grand as is this vision delineated in these old records, this is +not all; for there is not wanting evidence of a still grander +glaciation extending over all the valleys now forming the sage plains +as well as the mountains. The basins of the main valleys alternating +with the mountain ranges, and which contained lakes during at least +the closing portion of the Ice Period, were eroded wholly, or in part, +from a general elevated tableland, by immense glaciers that flowed +north and south to the ocean. The mountains as well as the valleys +present abundant evidence of this grand origin. + +The flanks of all the interior ranges are seen to have been heavily +abraded and ground away by the ice acting in a direction parallel with +their axes. This action is most strikingly shown upon projecting +portions where the pressure has been greatest. These are shorn off in +smooth planes and bossy outswelling curves, like the outstanding +portions of canyon walls. Moreover, the extremities of the ranges +taper out like those of dividing ridges which have been ground away by +dividing and confluent glaciers. Furthermore, the horizontal sections +of separate mountains, standing isolated in the great valleys, are +lens-shaped like those of mere rocks that rise in the channels of +ordinary canyon glaciers, and which have been overflowed or +pastflowed, while in many of the smaller valleys roches moutonnees +occur in great abundance. + +Again, the mineralogical and physical characters of the two ranges +bounding the sides of many of the valleys indicate that the valleys +were formed simply by the removal of the material between the ranges. +And again, the rim of the general basin, where it is elevated, as for +example on the southwestern portion, instead of being a ridge +sculptured on the sides like a mountain range, is found to be composed +of many short ranges, parallel to one another, and to the interior +ranges, and so modeled as to resemble a row of convex lenses set on +edge and half buried beneath a general surface, without manifesting +any dependence upon synclinal or anticlinal axes--a series of forms +and relations that could have resulted only from the outflow of vast +basin glaciers on their courses to the ocean. + +I cannot, however, present all the evidence here bearing upon these +interesting questions, much less discuss it in all its relations. I +will, therefore, close this letter with a few of the more important +generalizations that have grown up out of the facts that I have +observed. First, at the beginning of the glacial period the region +now known as the Great Basin was an elevated tableland, not furrowed +as at present with mountains and valleys, but comparatively bald and +featureless. + +Second, this tableland, bounded on the east and west by lofty mountain +ranges, but comparatively open on the north and south, was loaded with +ice, which was discharged to the ocean northward and southward, and in +its flow brought most, if not all, the present interior ranges and +valleys into relief by erosion. + +Third, as the glacial winter drew near its close the ice vanished from +the lower portions of the basin, which then became lakes, into which +separate glaciers descended from the mountains. Then these mountain +glaciers vanished in turn, after sculpturing the ranges into their +present condition. + +Fourth, the few immense lakes extending over the lowlands, in the +midst of which many of the interior ranges stood as islands, became +shallow as the ice vanished from the mountains, and separated into +many distinct lakes, whose waters no longer reached the ocean. Most +of these have disappeared by the filling of their basins with detritus +from the mountains, and now form sage plains and "alkali flats." + +The transition from one to the other of these various conditions was +gradual and orderly: first, a nearly simple tableland; then a grand +mer de glace shedding its crawling silver currents to the sea, and +becoming gradually more wrinkled as unequal erosion roughened its bed, +and brought the highest peaks and ridges above the surface; then a +land of lakes, an almost continuous sheet of water stretching from the +Sierra to the Wahsatch, adorned with innumerable island mountains; +then a slow desiccation and decay to present conditions of sage and +sand. + + + +XVI + +Nevada's Dead Towns[21] + + +Nevada is one of the very youngest and wildest of the States; +nevertheless it is already strewn with ruins that seem as gray and +silent and time-worn as if the civilization to which they belonged had +perished centuries ago. Yet, strange to say, all these ruins are +results of mining efforts made within the last few years. Wander +where you may throughout the length and breadth of this mountain-barred +wilderness, you everywhere come upon these dead mining towns, +with their tall chimney stacks, standing forlorn amid broken walls and +furnaces, and machinery half buried in sand, the very names of many of +them already forgotten amid the excitements of later discoveries, and +now known only through tradition--tradition ten years old. + +While exploring the mountain ranges of the State during a considerable +portion of three summers, I think that I have seen at least five of +these deserted towns and villages for every one in ordinary life. +Some of them were probably only camps built by bands of prospectors, +and inhabited for a few months or years, while some specially +interesting canyon was being explored, and then carelessly abandoned +for more promising fields. But many were real towns, regularly laid +out and incorporated, containing well-built hotels, churches, +schoolhouses, post offices, and jails, as well as the mills on which +they all depended; and whose well-graded streets were filled with +lawyers, doctors, brokers, hangmen, real estate agents, etc., the +whole population numbering several thousand. + +A few years ago the population of Hamilton is said to have been nearly +eight thousand; that of Treasure Hill, six thousand; of Shermantown, +seven thousand; of Swansea, three thousand. All of these were +incorporated towns with mayors, councils, fire departments, and daily +newspapers. Hamilton has now about one hundred inhabitants, most of +whom are merely waiting in dreary inaction for something to turn up. +Treasure Hill has about half as many, Shermantown one family, and +Swansea none, while on the other hand the graveyards are far too full. + +In one canyon of the Toyabe range, near Austin, I found no less than +five dead towns without a single inhabitant. The streets and blocks +of "real estate" graded on the hillsides are rapidly falling back into +the wilderness. Sagebrushes are growing up around the forges of the +blacksmith shops, and lizards bask on the crumbling walls. + +While traveling southward from Austin down Big Smoky Valley, I noticed +a remarkably tall and imposing column, rising like a lone pine out of +the sagebrush on the edge of a dry gulch. This proved to be a +smokestack of solid masonry. It seemed strangely out of place in the +desert, as if it had been transported entire from the heart of some +noisy manufacturing town and left here by mistake. I learned +afterwards that it belonged to a set of furnaces that were built by a +New York company to smelt ore that never was found. The tools of the +workmen are still lying in place beside the furnaces, as if dropped in +some sudden Indian or earthquake panic and never afterwards handled. +These imposing ruins, together with the desolate town, lying a quarter +of a mile to the northward, present a most vivid picture of wasted +effort. Coyotes now wander unmolested through the brushy streets, and +of all the busy throng that so lavishly spent their time and money +here only one man remains--a lone bachelor with one suspender. + +Mining discoveries and progress, retrogression and decay, seem to have +been crowded more closely against each other here than on any other +portion of the globe. Some one of the band of adventurous prospectors +who came from the exhausted placers of California would discover some +rich ore--how much or little mattered not at first. These specimens +fell among excited seekers after wealth like sparks in gunpowder, and +in a few days the wilderness was disturbed with the noisy clang of +miners and builders. A little town would then spring up, and before +anything like a careful survey of any particular lode would be made, a +company would be formed, and expensive mills built. Then, after all +the machinery was ready for the ore, perhaps little, or none at all, +was to be found. Meanwhile another discovery was reported, and the +young town was abandoned as completely as a camp made for a single +night; and so on, until some really valuable lode was found, such as +those of Eureka, Austin, Virginia, etc., which formed the substantial +groundwork for a thousand other excitements. + +Passing through the dead town of Schellbourne last month, I asked one +of the few lingering inhabitants why the town was built. "For the +mines," he replied. "And where are the mines?" "On the mountains +back here." "And why were they abandoned?" I asked. "Are they +exhausted?" "Oh, no," he replied, "they are not exhausted; on the +contrary, they have never been worked at all, for unfortunately, just +as we were about ready to open them, the Cherry Creek mines were +discovered across the valley in the Egan range, and everybody rushed +off there, taking what they could with them--houses machinery, and +all. But we are hoping that somebody with money and speculation will +come and revive us yet." + +The dead mining excitements of Nevada were far more intense and +destructive in their action than those of California, because the +prizes at stake were greater, while more skill was required to gain +them. The long trains of gold-seekers making their way to California +had ample time and means to recover from their first attacks of mining +fever while crawling laboriously across the plains, and on their +arrival on any portion of the Sierra gold belt, they at once began to +make money. No matter in what gulch or canyon they worked, some +measure of success was sure, however unskillful they might be. And +though while making ten dollars a day they might be agitated by hopes +of making twenty, or of striking their picks against hundred- or +thousand-dollar nuggets, men of ordinary nerve could still work on +with comparative steadiness, and remain rational. + +But in the case of the Nevada miner, he too often spent himself in +years of weary search without gaining a dollar, traveling hundreds of +miles from mountain to mountain, burdened with wasting hopes of +discovering some hidden vein worth millions, enduring hardships of the +most destructive kind, driving innumerable tunnels into the hillsides, +while his assayed specimens again and again proved worthless. Perhaps +one in a hundred of these brave prospectors would "strike it rich," +while ninety-nine died alone in the mountains or sank out of sight in +the corners of saloons, in a haze of whiskey and tobacco smoke. + +The healthful ministry of wealth is blessed; and surely it is a fine +thing that so many are eager to find the gold and silver that lie hid +in the veins of the mountains. But in the search the seekers too +often become insane, and strike about blindly in the dark like raving +madmen. Seven hundred and fifty tons of ore from the original +Eberhardt mine on Treasure Hill yielded a million and a half dollars, +the whole of this immense sum having been obtained within two hundred +and fifty feet of the surface, the greater portion within one hundred +and forty feet. Other ore masses were scarcely less marvelously rich, +giving rise to one of the most violent excitements that ever occurred +in the history of mining. All kinds of people--shoemakers, tailors, +farmers, etc., as well as miners--left their own right work and fell +in a perfect storm of energy upon the White Pine Hills, covering the +ground like grasshoppers, and seeming determined by the very violence +of their efforts to turn every stone to silver. But with few +exceptions, these mining storms pass away about as suddenly as they +rise, leaving only ruins to tell of the tremendous energy expended, as +heaps of giant boulders in the valley tell of the spent power of the +mountain floods. + +In marked contrast with this destructive unrest is the orderly +deliberation into which miners settle in developing a truly valuable +mine. At Eureka we were kindly led through the treasure chambers of +the Richmond and Eureka Consolidated, our guides leisurely leading the +way from level to level, calling attention to the precious ore masses +which the workmen were slowly breaking to pieces with their picks, +like navvies wearing away the day in a railroad cutting; while down at +the smelting works the bars of bullion were handled with less eager +haste than the farmer shows in gathering his sheaves. + +The wealth Nevada has already given to the world is indeed wonderful, +but the only grand marvel is the energy expended in its development. +The amount of prospecting done in the face of so many dangers and +sacrifices, the innumerable tunnels and shafts bored into the +mountains, the mills that have been built--these would seem to require +a race of giants. But, in full view of the substantial results +achieved, the pure waste manifest in the ruins one meets never fails +to produce a saddening effect. + +The dim old ruins of Europe, so eagerly sought after by travelers, +have something pleasing about them, whatever their historical +associations; for they at least lend some beauty to the landscape. +Their picturesque towers and arches seem to be kindly adopted by +nature, and planted with wild flowers and wreathed with ivy; while +their rugged angles are soothed and freshened and embossed with green +mosses, fresh life and decay mingling in pleasing measures, and the +whole vanishing softly like a ripe, tranquil day fading into night. +So, also, among the older ruins of the East there is a fitness felt. +They have served their time, and like the weather-beaten mountains are +wasting harmoniously. The same is in some degree true of the dead +mining towns of California. + +But those lying to the eastward of the Sierra throughout the ranges of +the Great Basin waste in the dry wilderness like the bones of cattle +that have died of thirst. Many of them do not represent any good +accomplishment, and have no right to be. They are monuments of fraud +and ignorance--sins against science. The drifts and tunnels in the +rocks may perhaps be regarded as the prayers of the prospector, +offered for the wealth he so earnestly craves; but, like prayers of +any kind not in harmony with nature, they are unanswered. But, after +all, effort, however misapplied, is better than stagnation. Better +toil blindly, beating every stone in turn for grains of gold, whether +they contain any or not, than lie down in apathetic decay. + +The fever period is fortunately passing away. The prospector is no +longer the raving, wandering ghoul of ten years ago, rushing in random +lawlessness among the hills, hungry and footsore; but cool and +skillful, well supplied with every necessary, and clad in his right +mind. Capitalists, too, and the public in general, have become wiser, +and do not take fire so readily from mining sparks; while at the same +time a vast amount of real work is being done, and the ratio between +growth and decay is constantly becoming better. + + + +XVII + +Puget Sound + + +Washington Territory, recently admitted[22] into the Union as a State, +lies between latitude 46 degrees and 49 degrees and longitude 117 +degrees and 125 degrees, forming the northwest shoulder of the United +States. The majestic range of the Cascade Mountains naturally divides +the State into two distinct parts, called Eastern and Western +Washington, differing greatly from each other in almost every way, the +western section being less than half as large as the eastern, and, +with its copious rains and deep fertile soil, being clothed with +forests of evergreens, while the eastern section is dry and mostly +treeless, though fertile in many parts, and producing immense +quantities of wheat and hay. Few States are more fertile and +productive in one way or another than Washington, or more strikingly +varied in natural features or resources. + +Within her borders every kind of soil and climate may be found--the +densest woods and dryest plains, the smoothest levels and roughest +mountains. She is rich in square miles (some seventy thousand of +them), in coal, timber, and iron, and in sheltered inland waters that +render these resources advantageously accessible. She also is already +rich in busy workers, who work hard, though not always wisely, +hacking, burning, blasting their way deeper into the wilderness, +beneath the sky, and beneath the ground. The wedges of development +are being driven hard, and none of the obstacles or defenses of nature +can long withstand the onset of this immeasurable industry. + +Puget Sound, so justly famous the world over for the surpassing size +and excellence and abundance of its timber, is a long, many-fingered +arm of the sea reaching southward from the head of the Strait of Juan +de Fuca into the heart of the grand forests of the western portion of +Washington, between the Cascade Range and the mountains of the coast. +It is less than a hundred miles in length, but so numerous are the +branches into which it divides, and so many its bays, harbors, and +islands, that its entire shoreline is said to measure more than +eighteen hundred miles. Throughout its whole vast extent ships move +in safety, and find shelter from every wind that blows, the entire +mountain-girt sea forming one grand unrivaled harbor and center for +commerce. + +The forest trees press forward to the water around all the windings of +the shores in most imposing array, as if they were courting their +fate, coming down from the mountains far and near to offer themselves +to the axe, thus making the place a perfect paradise for the +lumberman. To the lover of nature the scene is enchanting. Water and +sky, mountain and forest, clad in sunshine and clouds, are composed in +landscapes sublime in magnitude, yet exquisitely fine and fresh, and +full of glad, rejoicing life. The shining waters stretch away into +the leafy wilderness, now like the reaches of some majestic river and +again expanding into broad roomy spaces like mountain lakes, their +farther edges fading gradually and blending with the pale blue of the +sky. The wooded shores with an outer fringe of flowering bushes sweep +onward in beautiful curves around bays, and capes, and jutting +promontories innumerable; while the islands, with soft, waving +outlines, lavishly adorned with spruces and cedars, thicken and enrich +the beauty of the waters; and the white spirit mountains looking down +from the sky keep watch and ward over all, faithful and changeless as +the stars. + +All the way from the Strait of Juan de Fuca up to Olympia, a hopeful +town situated at the head of one of the farthest-reaching of the +fingers of the Sound, we are so completely inland and surrounded by +mountains that it is hard to realize that we are sailing on a branch +of the salt sea. We are constantly reminded of Lake Tahoe. There is +the same clearness of the water in calm weather without any trace of +the ocean swell, the same picturesque winding and sculpture of the +shoreline and flowery, leafy luxuriance; only here the trees are +taller and stand much closer together, and the backgrounds are higher +and far more extensive. Here, too, we find greater variety amid the +marvelous wealth of islands and inlets, and also in the changing views +dependent on the weather. As we double cape after cape and round the +uncounted islands, new combinations come to view in endless variety, +sufficient to fill and satisfy the lover of wild beauty through a +whole life. + +Oftentimes in the stillest weather, when all the winds sleep and no +sign of storms is felt or seen, silky clouds form and settle over all +the land, leaving in sight only a circle of water with indefinite +bounds like views in mid-ocean; then, the clouds lifting, some islet +will be presented standing alone, with the tops of its trees dipping +out of sight in pearly gray fringes; or, lifting higher, and perhaps +letting in a ray of sunshine through some rift overhead, the whole +island will be set free and brought forward in vivid relief amid the +gloom, a girdle of silver light of dazzling brightness on the water +about its shores, then darkening again and vanishing back into the +general gloom. Thus island after island may be seen, singly or in +groups, coming and going from darkness to light like a scene of +enchantment, until at length the entire cloud ceiling is rolled away, +and the colossal cone of Mount Rainier is seen in spotless white +looking down over the forests from a distance of sixty miles, but so +lofty and so massive and clearly outlined as to impress itself upon us +as being just back of a strip of woods only a mile or two in breadth. + +For the tourist sailing to Puget Sound from San Francisco there is but +little that is at all striking in the scenery within reach by the way +until the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca is reached. The voyage +is about four days in length and the steamers keep within sight of the +coast, but the hills fronting the sea up to Oregon are mostly bare and +uninviting, the magnificent redwood forests stretching along this +portion of the California coast seeming to keep well back, away from +the heavy winds, so that very little is seen of them; while there are +no deep inlets or lofty mountains visible to break the regular +monotony. Along the coast of Oregon the woods of spruce and fir come +down to the shore, kept fresh and vigorous by copious rains, and +become denser and taller to the northward until, rounding Cape +Flattery, we enter the Strait of Fuca, where, sheltered from the ocean +gales, the forests begin to hint the grandeur they attain in Puget +Sound. Here the scenery in general becomes exceedingly interesting; +for now we have arrived at the grand mountain-walled channel that +forms the entrance to that marvelous network of inland waters that +extends along the margin of the continent to the northward for a +thousand miles. + +This magnificent inlet was named for Juan de Fuca, who discovered it +in 1592 while seeking a mythical strait, supposed to exist somewhere +in the north, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific. It is about +seventy miles long, ten or twelve miles wide, and extends to the +eastward in a nearly straight line between the south end of Vancouver +Island and the Olympic Range of mountains on the mainland. + +Cape Flattery, the western termination of the Olympic Range, is +terribly rugged and jagged, and in stormy weather is utterly +inaccessible from the sea. Then the ponderous rollers of the deep +Pacific thunder amid its caverns and cliffs with the foam and uproar +of a thousand Yosemite waterfalls. The bones of many a noble ship lie +there, and many a sailor. It would seem unlikely that any living +thing should seek rest in such a place, or find it. Nevertheless, +frail and delicate flowers bloom there, flowers of both the land and +the sea; heavy, ungainly seals disport in the swelling waves, and find +grateful retreats back in the inmost bores of its storm-lashed +caverns; while in many a chink and hollow of the highest crags, not +visible from beneath, a great variety of waterfowl make homes and rear +their young. + +But not always are the inhabitants safe, even in such wave-defended +castles as these, for the Indians of the neighboring shores venture +forth in the calmest summer weather in their frail canoes to spear the +seals in the narrow gorges amid the grinding, gurgling din of the +restless waters. At such times also the hunters make out to scale +many of the apparently inaccessible cliffs for the eggs and young of +the gulls and other water birds, occasionally losing their lives in +these perilous adventures, which give rise to many an exciting story +told around the campfires at night when the storms roar loudest. + +Passing through the strait, we have the Olympic Mountains close at +hand on the right, Vancouver Island on the left, and the snowy peak of +Mount Baker straight ahead in the distance. During calm weather, or +when the clouds are lifting and rolling off the mountains after a +storm, all these views are truly magnificent. Mount Baker is one of +that wonderful series of old volcanoes that once flamed along the +summits of the Sierras and Cascades from Lassen to Mount St. Elias. +Its fires are sleeping now, and it is loaded with glaciers, streams of +ice having taken the place of streams of glowing lava. Vancouver +Island presents a charming variety of hill and dale, open sunny spaces +and sweeps of dark forest rising in swell beyond swell to the high +land in the distance. + +But the Olympic Mountains most of all command attention, seen +tellingly near and clear in all their glory, rising from the water's +edge into the sky to a height of six or eight thousand feet. They +bound the strait on the south side throughout its whole extent, +forming a massive sustained wall, flowery and bushy at the base, a +zigzag of snowy peaks along the top, which have ragged-edged fields of +ice and snow beneath them, enclosed in wide amphitheaters opening to +the waters of the strait through spacious forest-filled valleys +enlivened with fine, dashing streams. These valleys mark the courses +of the Olympic glaciers at the period of their greatest extension, +when they poured their tribute into that portion of the great northern +ice sheet that overswept the south end of Vancouver Island and filled +the strait with flowing ice as it is now filled with ocean water. + +The steamers of the Sound usually stop at Esquimalt on their way up, +thus affording tourists an opportunity to visit the interesting town +of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. The Victoria harbor is +too narrow and difficult of access for the larger class of ships; +therefore a landing has to be made at Esquimalt. The distance, +however, is only about three miles, and the way is delightful, winding +on through a charming forest of Douglas spruce, with here and there +groves of oak and madrone, and a rich undergrowth of hazel, dogwood, +willow, alder, spiraea, rubus, huckleberry, and wild rose. Pretty +cottages occur at intervals along the road, covered with honeysuckle, +and many an upswelling rock, freshly glaciated and furred with yellow +mosses and lichen, telling interesting stories of the icy past. + +Victoria is a quiet, handsome, breezy town, beautifully located on +finely modulated ground at the mouth of the Canal de Haro, with +charming views in front, of islands and mountains and far-reaching +waters, ever changing in the shifting lights and shades of the clouds +and sunshine. In the background there are a mile or two of field and +forest and sunny oak openings; then comes the forest primeval, dense +and shaggy and well-nigh impenetrable. + +Notwithstanding the importance claimed for Victoria as a commercial +center and the capital of British Columbia, it has a rather young, +loose-jointed appearance. The government buildings and some of the +business blocks on the main streets are well built and imposing in +bulk and architecture. These are far less interesting and +characteristic, however, than the mansions set in the midst of +spacious pleasure grounds and the lovely home cottages embowered in +honeysuckle and climbing roses. One soon discovers that this is no +Yankee town. The English faces and the way that English is spoken +alone would tell that; while in business quarters there is a staid +dignity and moderation that is very noticeable, and a want of American +push and hurrah. Love of land and of privacy in homes is made manifest +in the residences, many of which are built in the middle of fields and +orchards or large city blocks, and in the loving care with which these +home grounds are planted. They are very beautiful. The fineness of +the climate, with its copious measure of warm moisture distilling in +dew and fog, and gentle, bathing, laving rain, give them a freshness +and floweriness that is worth going far to see. + +Victoria is noted for its fine drives, and every one who can should +either walk or drive around the outskirts of the town, not only for +the fine views out over the water but to see the cascades of bloom +pouring over the gables of the cottages, and the fresh wild woods with +their flowery, fragrant underbrush. Wild roses abound almost +everywhere. One species, blooming freely along the woodland paths, is +from two to three inches in diameter, and more fragrant than any other +wild rose I ever saw excepting the sweetbriar. This rose and three +species of spiraea fairly fill the air with fragrance after a shower. +And how brightly then do the red berries of the dogwood shine out from +the warm yellow-green of leaves and mosses! + +But still more interesting and significant are the glacial phenomena +displayed hereabouts. All this exuberant tree, bush, and herbaceous +vegetation, cultivated or wild, is growing upon moraine beds outspread +by waters that issued from the ancient glaciers at the time of their +recession, and scarcely at all moved or in any way modified by +post-glacial agencies. The town streets and the roads are graded in +moraine material, among scratched and grooved rock bosses that are as +unweathered and telling as any to be found in the glacier channels of +Alaska. The harbor also is clearly of glacial origin. The rock +islets that rise here and there, forming so marked a feature of the +harbor, are unchanged roches moutonnees, and the shores are grooved, +scratched, and rounded, and in every way as glacial in all their +characteristics as those of a newborn glacial lake. + +Most visitors to Victoria go to the stores of the Hudson's Bay +Company, presumably on account of the romantic associations, or to +purchase a bit of fur or some other wild-Indianish trinket as a +memento. At certain seasons of the year, when the hairy harvests are +gathered in, immense bales of skins may be seen in these unsavory +warehouses, the spoils of many thousand hunts over mountain and plain, +by lonely river and shore. The skins of bears, wolves, beavers, +otters, fishers, martens, lynxes, panthers, wolverine, reindeer, +moose, elk, wild goats, sheep, foxes, squirrels, and many others of +our "poor earth-born companions and fellow mortals" may here be found. + +Vancouver is the southmost and the largest of the countless islands +forming the great archipelago that stretches a thousand miles to the +northward. Its shores have been known a long time, but little is +known of the lofty mountainous interior on account of the difficulties +in the way of explorations--lake, bogs, and shaggy tangled forests. +It is mostly a pure, savage wilderness, without roads or clearings, +and silent so far as man is concerned. Even the Indians keep close to +the shore, getting a living by fishing, dwelling together in villages, +and traveling almost wholly by canoes. White settlements are few and +far between. Good agricultural lands occur here and there on the edge +of the wilderness, but they are hard to clear, and have received but +little attention thus far. Gold, the grand attraction that lights the +way into all kinds of wildernesses and makes rough places smooth, has +been found, but only in small quantities, too small to make much +motion. Almost all the industry of the island is employed upon lumber +and coal, in which, so far as known, its chief wealth lies. + +Leaving Victoria for Port Townsend, after we are fairly out on the +free open water, Mount Baker is seen rising solitary over a dark +breadth of forest, making a glorious show in its pure white raiment. +It is said to be about eleven thousand feet high, is loaded with +glaciers, some of which come well down into the woods, and never, so +far as I have heard, has been climbed, though in all probability it is +not inaccessible. The task of reaching its base through the dense +woods will be likely to prove of greater difficulty than the climb to +the summit. + +In a direction a little to the left of Mount Baker and much nearer, +may be seen the island of San Juan, famous in the young history of the +country for the quarrels concerning its rightful ownership between the +Hudson's Bay Company and Washington Territory, quarrels which nearly +brought on war with Great Britain. Neither party showed any lack of +either pluck or gunpowder. General Scott was sent out by President +Buchanan to negotiate, which resulted in a joint occupancy of the +island. Small quarrels, however, continued to arise until the year +1874, when the peppery question was submitted to the Emperor of +Germany for arbitration. Then the whole island was given to the +United States. + +San Juan is one of a thickset cluster of islands that fills the waters +between Vancouver and the mainland, a little to the north of Victoria. +In some of the intricate channels between these islands the tides run +at times like impetuous rushing rivers, rendering navigation rather +uncertain and dangerous for the small sailing vessels that ply between +Victoria and the settlements on the coast of British Columbia and the +larger islands. The water is generally deep enough everywhere, too +deep in most places for anchorage, and, the winds shifting hither and +thither or dying away altogether, the ships, getting no direction from +their helms, are carried back and forth or are caught in some eddy +where two currents meet and whirled round and round to the dismay of +the sailors, like a chip in a river whirlpool. + +All the way over to Port Townsend the Olympic Mountains well maintain +their massive, imposing grandeur, and present their elaborately carved +summits in clear relief, many of which are out of sight in coming up +the strait on account of our being too near the base of the range. +Turn to them as often as we may, our admiration only grows the warmer +the longer we dwell upon them. The highest peaks are Mount Constance +and Mount Olympus, said to be about eight thousand feet high. + +In two or three hours after leaving Victoria, we arrive at the +handsome little town of Port Townsend, situated at the mouth of Puget +Sound, on the west side. The residential portion of the town is set +on the level top of the bluff that bounds Port Townsend Bay, while +another nearly level space of moderate extent, reaching from the base +of the bluff to the shoreline, is occupied by the business portion, +thus making a town of two separate and distinct stories, which are +connected by long, ladder-like flights of stairs. In the streets of +the lower story, while there is no lack of animation, there is but +little business noise as compared with the amount of business +transacted. This in great part is due to the scarcity of horses and +wagons. Farms and roads back in the woods are few and far between. +Nearly all the tributary settlements are on the coast, and +communication is almost wholly by boats, canoes, and schooners. Hence +country stages and farmers' wagons and buggies, with the whir and din +that belong to them, are wanting. + +This being the port of entry, all vessels have to stop here, and they +make a lively show about the wharves and in the bay. The winds stir +the flags of every civilized nation, while the Indians in their +long-beaked canoes glide about from ship to ship, satisfying their +curiosity or trading with the crews. Keen traders these Indians are, +and few indeed of the sailors or merchants from any country ever get +the better of them in bargains. Curious groups of people may often be +seen in the streets and stores, made up of English, French, Spanish, +Portuguese, Scandinavians, Germans, Greeks, Moors, Japanese, and +Chinese, of every rank and station and style of dress and behavior; +settlers from many a nook and bay and island up and down the coast; +hunters from the wilderness; tourists on their way home by the Sound +and the Columbia River or to Alaska or California. + +The upper story of Port Townsend is charmingly located, wide bright +waters on one side, flowing evergreen woods on the other. The streets +are well laid out and well tended, and the houses, with their +luxuriant gardens about them, have an air of taste and refinement +seldom found in towns set on the edge of a wild forest. The people +seem to have come here to make true homes, attracted by the beauty and +fresh breezy healthfulness of the place as well as by business +advantages, trusting to natural growth and advancement instead of +restless "booming" methods. They perhaps have caught some of the +spirit of calm moderation and enjoyment from their English neighbors +across the water. Of late, however, this sober tranquillity has begun +to give way, some whiffs from the whirlwind of real estate speculation +up the Sound having at length touched the town and ruffled the surface +of its calmness. + +A few miles up the bay is Fort Townsend, which makes a pretty picture +with the green woods rising back of it and the calm water in front. +Across the mouth of the Sound lies the long, narrow Whidbey Island, +named by Vancouver for one of his lieutenants. It is about thirty +miles in length, and is remarkable in this region of crowded forests +and mountains as being comparatively open and low. The soil is good +and easily worked, and a considerable portion of the island has been +under cultivation for many years. Fertile fields, open, parklike +groves of oak, and thick masses of evergreens succeed one another in +charming combinations to make this "the garden spot of the Territory." + +Leaving Port Townsend for Seattle and Tacoma, we enter the Sound and +sail down into the heart of the green, aspiring forests, and find, +look where we may, beauty ever changing, in lavish profusion. Puget +Sound, "the Mediterranean of America" as it is sometimes called, is in +many respects one of the most remarkable bodies of water in the world. +Vancouver, who came here nearly a hundred years ago and made a careful +survey of it, named the larger northern portion of it "Admiralty +Inlet" and one of the long, narrow branches "Hood's Canal'" applying +the name "Puget Sound" only to the comparatively small southern +portion. The latter name, however, is now applied generally to the +entire inlet, and is commonly shortened by the people hereabouts to +"The Sound." The natural wealth and commercial advantages of the +Sound region were quickly recognized, and the cause of the activity +prevailing here is not far to seek. Vancouver, long before +civilization touched these shores, spoke of it in terms of unstinted +praise. He was sent out by the British government with the principal +object in view of "acquiring accurate knowledge as to the nature and +extent of any water communication which may tend in any considerable +degree to facilitate an intercourse for the purposes of commerce +between the northwest coast and the country on the opposite side of +the continent," vague traditions having long been current concerning a +strait supposed to unite the two oceans. Vancouver reported that he +found the coast from San Francisco to Oregon and beyond to present a +nearly straight solid barrier to the sea, without openings, and we may +well guess the joy of the old navigator on the discovery of these +waters after so long and barren a search to the southward. + +His descriptions of the scenery--Mounts Baker, Rainier, St. Helen's, +etc.--were as enthusiastic as those of the most eager landscape lover +of the present day, when scenery is in fashion. He says in one place: +"To describe the beauties of this region will, on some future +occasion, be a very grateful task for the pen of a skillful +panegyrist. The serenity of the climate, the immeasurable pleasing +landscapes, and the abundant fertility that unassisted nature puts +forth, require only to be enriched by the industry of man with +villages, mansions, cottages, and other buildings, to render it the +most lovely country that can be imagined. The labor of the inhabitants +would be amply rewarded in the bounties which nature seems ready to +bestow on cultivation." "A picture so pleasing could not fail to call +to our remembrance certain delightful and beloved situations in old +England." So warm, indeed, were the praises he sung that his +statements were received in England with a good deal of hesitation. +But they were amply corroborated by Wilkes and others who followed +many years later. "Nothing," says Wilkes, "can exceed the beauty of +these waters and their safety. Not a shoal exists in the Straits of +Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound or Hood's Canal, that can +in any way interrupt their navigation by a 74-gun ship. I venture +nothing in saying there is no country in the world that possesses +waters like these." And again, quoting from the United States Coast +Survey, "For depth of water, boldness of approaches, freedom from +hidden dangers, and the immeasurable sea of gigantic timber coming +down to the very shores, these waters are unsurpassed, +unapproachable." + +The Sound region has a fine, fresh, clean climate, well washed both +winter and summer with copious rains and swept with winds and clouds +that come from the mountains and the sea. Every hidden nook in the +depths of the woods is searched and refreshed, leaving no stagnant +air; beaver meadows and lake basin and low and willowy bogs, all are +kept wholesome and sweet the year round. Cloud and sunshine alternate +in bracing, cheering succession, and health and abundance follow the +storms. The outer sea margin is sublimely dashed and drenched with +ocean brine, the spicy scud sweeping at times far inland over the +bending woods, the giant trees waving and chanting in hearty accord as +if surely enjoying it all. + +Heavy, long-continued rains occur in the winter months. Then every +leaf, bathed and brightened, rejoices. Filtering drops and currents +through all the shaggy undergrowth of the woods go with tribute to the +small streams, and these again to the larger. The rivers swell, but +there are no devastating floods; for the thick felt of roots and +mosses holds the abounding waters in check, stored in a thousand +thousand fountains. Neither are there any violent hurricanes here, At +least, I never have heard of any, nor have I come upon their tracks. +Most of the streams are clear and cool always, for their waters are +filtered through deep beds of mosses, and flow beneath shadows all the +way to the sea. Only the streams from the glaciers are turbid and +muddy. On the slopes of the mountains where they rush from their +crystal caves, they carry not only small particles of rock-mud, worn +off the sides and bottoms of the channels of the glaciers, but grains +of sand and pebbles and large boulders tons in weight, rolling them +forward on their way rumbling and bumping to their appointed places at +the foot of steep slopes, to be built into rough bars and beds, while +the smaller material is carried farther and outspread in flats, +perhaps for coming wheat fields and gardens, the finest of it going +out to sea, floating on the tides for weeks and months ere it finds +rest on the bottom. + +Snow seldom falls to any great depth on the lowlands, though it comes +in glorious abundance on the mountains. And only on the mountains +does the temperature fall much below the freezing point. In the +warmest summer weather a temperature of eighty-five degrees or even +more occasionally is reached, but not for long at a time, as such heat +is speedily followed by a breeze from the sea. The most charming days +here are days of perfect calm, when all the winds are holding their +breath and not a leaf stirs. The surface of the Sound shines like a +silver mirror over all its vast extent, reflecting its lovely islands +and shores; and long sheets of spangles flash and dance in the wake of +every swimming seabird and boat. The sun, looking down on the +tranquil landscape, seems conscious of the presence of every living +thing on which he is pouring his blessings, while they in turn, with +perhaps the exception of man, seem conscious of the sun as a +benevolent father and stand hushed and waiting. + + + +XVIII + +The Forests of Washington + + +When we force our way into the depths of the forests, following any of +the rivers back to their fountains, we find that the bulk of the woods +is made up of the Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga Douglasii), named in +honor of David Douglas, an enthusiastic botanical explorer of early +Hudson's Bay times. It is not only a very large tree but a very +beautiful one, with lively bright-green drooping foliage, handsome +pendent cones, and a shaft exquisitely straight and regular. For so +large a tree it is astonishing how many find nourishment and space to +grow on any given area. The magnificent shafts push their spires into +the sky close together with as regular a growth as that of a well- +tilled field of grain. And no ground has been better tilled for the +growth of trees than that on which these forests are growing. For it +has been thoroughly ploughed and rolled by the mighty glaciers from +the mountains, and sifted and mellowed and outspread in beds hundreds +of feet in depth by the broad streams that issued from their fronts at +the time of their recession, after they had long covered all the land. + +The largest tree of this species that I have myself measured was +nearly twelve feet in diameter at a height of five feet from the +ground, and, as near as I could make out under the circumstances, +about three hundred feet in length. It stood near the head of the +Sound not far from Olympia. I have seen a few others, both near the +coast and thirty or forty miles back in the interior, that were from +eight to ten feet in diameter, measured above their bulging insteps; +and many from six to seven feet. I have heard of some that were said +to be three hundred and twenty-five feet in height and fifteen feet in +diameter, but none that I measured were so large, though it is not at +all unlikely that such colossal giants do exist where conditions of +soil and exposure are surpassingly favorable. The average size of all +the trees of this species found up to an elevation on the mountain +slopes of, say, two thousand feet above sea level, taking into account +only what may be called mature trees two hundred and fifty to five +hundred years of age, is perhaps, at a vague guess, not more than a +height of one hundred and seventy-five or two hundred feet and a +diameter of three feet; though, of course, throughout the richest +sections the size is much greater. + +In proportion to its weight when dry, the timber from this tree is +perhaps stronger than that of any other conifer in the country. It is +tough and durable and admirably adapted in every way for shipbuilding, +piles, and heavy timbers in general. But its hardness and liability +to warp render it much inferior to white or sugar pine for fine work. +In the lumber markets of California it is known as "Oregon pine" and +is used almost exclusively for spars, bridge timbers, heavy planking, +and the framework of houses. + +The same species extends northward in abundance through British +Columbia and southward through the coast and middle regions of Oregon +and California. It is also a common tree in the canyons and hollows +of the Wahsatch Mountains in Utah, where it is called "red pine" and +on portions of the Rocky Mountains and some of the short ranges of the +Great Basin. Along the coast of California it keeps company with the +redwood wherever it can find a favorable opening. On the western +slope of the Sierra, with the yellow pine and incense cedar, it forms +a pretty well-defined belt at a height of from three thousand to six +thousand feet above the sea, and extends into the San Gabriel and San +Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. But, though widely +distributed, it is only in these cool, moist northlands that it +reaches its finest development, tall, straight, elastic, and free from +limbs to an immense height, growing down to tide water, where ships of +the largest size may lie close alongside and load at the least +possible cost. + +Growing with the Douglas we find the white spruce, or "Sitka pine," as +it is sometimes called. This also is a very beautiful and majestic +tree, frequently attaining a height of two hundred feet or more and a +diameter of five or six feet. It is very abundant in southeastern +Alaska, forming the greater part of the best forests there. Here it +is found mostly around the sides of beaver-dam and other meadows and +on the borders of the streams, especially where the ground is low. +One tree that I saw felled at the head of the Hop-Ranch meadows on the +upper Snoqualmie River, though far from being the largest I have seen, +measured a hundred and eighty feet in length and four and a half in +diameter, and was two hundred and fifty-seven years of age. + +In habit and general appearance it resembles the Douglas spruce, but +it is somewhat less slender and the needles grow close together all +around the branchlets and are so stiff and sharp-pointed on the +younger branches that they cannot well be handled without gloves. The +timber is tough, close-grained, white, and looks more like pine than +any other of the spruces. It splits freely, makes excellent shingles +and in general use in house-building takes the place of pine. I have +seen logs of this species a hundred feet long and two feet in diameter +at the upper end. It was named in honor of the old Scotch botanist +Archibald Menzies, who came to this coast with Vancouver in 1792[23]. + +The beautiful hemlock spruce with its warm yellow-green foliage is +also common in some portions of these woods. It is tall and slender +and exceedingly graceful in habit before old age comes on, but the +timber is inferior and is seldom used for any other than the roughest +work, such as wharf-building. + +The Western arbor-vitae[24] (Thuja gigantea) grows to a size truly +gigantic on low rich ground. Specimens ten feet in diameter and a +hundred and forty feet high are not at all rare. Some that I have +heard of are said to be fifteen and even eighteen feet thick. Clad in +rich, glossy plumes, with gray lichens covering their smooth, tapering +boles, perfect trees of this species are truly noble objects and well +worthy the place they hold in these glorious forests. It is of this +tree that the Indians make their fine canoes. + +Of the other conifers that are so happy as to have place here, there +are three firs, three or four pines, two cypresses, a yew, and another +spruce, the Abies Pattoniana[25]. This last is perhaps the most +beautiful of all the spruces, but, being comparatively small and +growing only far back on the mountains, it receives but little +attention from most people. Nor is there room in a work like this for +anything like a complete description of it, or of the others I have +just mentioned. Of the three firs, one (Picea grandis)[26], grows +near the coast and is one of the largest trees in the forest, +sometimes attaining a height of two hundred and fifty feet. The +timber, however, is inferior in quality and not much sought after +while so much that is better is within reach. One of the others (P. +amabilis, var. nobilis) forms magnificent forests by itself at a +height of about three thousand to four thousand feet above the sea. +The rich plushy, plumelike branches grow in regular whorls around the +trunk, and on the topmost whorls, standing erect, are the large, +beautiful cones. This is far the most beautiful of all the firs. In +the Sierra Nevada it forms a considerable portion of the main forest +belt on the western slope, and it is there that it reaches its +greatest size and greatest beauty. The third species (P. subalpina) +forms, together with Abies Pattoniana, the upper edge of the +timberline on the portion of the Cascades opposite the Sound. A +thousand feet below the extreme limit of tree growth it occurs in +beautiful groups amid parklike openings where flowers grow in +extravagant profusion. + +The pines are nowhere abundant in the State. The largest, the yellow +pine (Pinus ponderosa), occurs here and there on margins of dry +gravelly prairies, and only in such situations have I yet seen it in +this State. The others (P. monticola and P. contorta) are mostly +restricted to the upper slopes of the mountains, and though the former +of these two attains a good size and makes excellent lumber, it is +mostly beyond reach at present and is not abundant. One of the +cypresses (Cupressus Lawsoniana)[27] grows near the coast and is a +fine large tree, clothed like the arbor-vitae in a glorious wealth of +flat, feathery branches. The other is found here and there well up +toward the edge of the timberline. This is the fine Alaska cedar (C. +Nootkatensis), the lumber from which is noted for its durability, +fineness of grain, and beautiful yellow color, and for its fragrance, +which resembles that of sandalwood. The Alaska Indians make their +canoe paddles of it and weave matting and coarse cloth from the +fibrous brown bark. + +Among the different kinds of hardwood trees are the oak, maple, +madrona, birch, alder, and wild apple, while large cottonwoods are +common along the rivers and shores of the numerous lakes. + +The most striking of these to the traveler is the Menzies arbutus, or +madrona, as it is popularly called in California. Its curious red and +yellow bark, large thick glossy leaves, and panicles of waxy-looking +greenish-white urn-shaped flowers render it very conspicuous. On the +boles of the younger trees and on all the branches, the bark is so +smooth and seamless that it does not appear as bark at all, but rather +the naked wood. The whole tree, with the exception of the larger part +of the trunk, looks as though it had been thoroughly peeled. It is +found sparsely scattered along the shores of the Sound and back in the +forests also on open margins, where the soil is not too wet, and +extends up the coast on Vancouver Island beyond Nanaimo. But in no +part of the State does it reach anything like the size and beauty of +proportions that it attains in California, few trees here being more +than ten or twelve inches in diameter and thirty feet high. It is, +however, a very remarkable-looking object, standing there like some +lost or runaway native of the tropics, naked and painted, beside that +dark mossy ocean of northland conifers. Not even a palm tree would +seem more out of place here. + +The oaks, so far as my observation has reached, seem to be most +abundant and to grow largest on the islands of the San Juan and +Whidbey Archipelago. One of the three species of maples that I have +seen is only a bush that makes tangles on the banks of the rivers. Of +the other two one is a small tree, crooked and moss-grown, holding out +its leaves to catch the light that filters down through the close-set +spires of the great spruces. It grows almost everywhere throughout +the entire extent of the forest until the higher slopes of the +mountains are reached, and produces a very picturesque and delightful +effect; relieving the bareness of the great shafts of the evergreens, +without being close enough in its growth to hide them wholly, or to +cover the bright mossy carpet that is spread beneath all the dense +parts of the woods. + +The other species is also very picturesque and at the same time very +large, the largest tree of its kind that I have ever seen anywhere. +Not even in the great maple woods of Canada have I seen trees either +as large or with so much striking, picturesque character. It is +widely distributed throughout western Washington, but is never found +scattered among the conifers in the dense woods. It keeps together +mostly in magnificent groves by itself on the damp levels along the +banks of streams or lakes where the ground is subject to overflow. In +such situations it attains a height of seventy-five to a hundred feet +and a diameter of four to eight feet. The trunk sends out large limbs +toward its neighbors, laden with long drooping mosses beneath and rows +of ferns on their upper surfaces, thus making a grand series of richly +ornamented interlacing arches, with the leaves laid thick overhead, +rendering the underwood spaces delightfully cool and open. Never have +I seen a finer forest ceiling or a more picturesque one, while the +floor, covered with tall ferns and rubus and thrown into hillocks by +the bulging roots, matches it well. The largest of these maple groves +that I have yet found is on the right bank of the Snoqualmie River, +about a mile above the falls. The whole country hereabouts is +picturesque, and interesting in many ways, and well worthy a visit by +tourists passing through the Sound region, since it is now accessible +by rail from Seattle. + +Looking now at the forests in a comprehensive way, we find in passing +through them again and again from the shores of the Sound to their +upper limits, that some portions are much older than others, the trees +much larger, and the ground beneath them strewn with immense trunks in +every stage of decay, representing several generations of growth, +everything about them giving the impression that these are indeed the +"forests primeval," while in the younger portions, where the elevation +of the ground is the same as to the sea level and the species of trees +are the same as well as the quality of the soil, apart from the +moisture which it holds, the trees seem to be and are mostly of the +same age, perhaps from one hundred to two or three hundred years, with +no gray-bearded, venerable patriarchs--forming tall, majestic woods +without any grandfathers. + +When we examine the ground we find that it is as free from those +mounds of brown crumbling wood and mossy ancient fragments as are the +growing trees from very old ones. Then perchance, we come upon a +section farther up the slopes towards the mountains that has no trees +more than fifty years old, or even fifteen or twenty years old. These +last show plainly enough that they have been devastated by fire, as +the black, melancholy monuments rising here and there above the young +growth bear witness. Then, with this fiery, suggestive testimony, on +examining those sections whose trees are a hundred years old or two +hundred, we find the same fire records, though heavily veiled with +mosses and lichens, showing that a century or two ago the forests that +stood there had been swept away in some tremendous fire at a time when +rare conditions of drouth made their burning possible. Then, the bare +ground sprinkled with the winged seed from the edges of the burned +district, a new forest sprang up, nearly every tree starting at the +same time or within a few years, thus producing the uniformity of size +we find in such places; while, on the other hand, in those sections of +ancient aspect containing very old trees both standing and fallen, we +find no traces of fire, nor from the extreme dampness of the ground +can we see any possibility of fire ever running there. + +Fire, then, is the great governing agent in forest distribution and to +a great extent also in the conditions of forest growth. Where fertile +lands are very wet one half the year and very dry the other, there can +be no forests at all. Where the ground is damp, with drouth occurring +only at intervals of centuries, fine forests may be found, other +conditions being favorable. But it is only where fires never run that +truly ancient forests of pitchy coniferous trees may exist. When the +Washington forests are seen from the deck of a ship out in the middle +of the sound, or even from the top of some high, commanding mountain, +the woods seem everywhere perfectly solid. And so in fact they are in +general found to be. The largest openings are those of the lakes and +prairies, the smaller of beaver meadows, bogs, and the rivers; none of +them large enough to make a distinct mark in comprehensive views. + +Of the lakes there are said to be some thirty in King's County alone; +the largest, Lake Washington, being twenty-six miles long and four +miles wide. Another, which enjoys the duckish name of Lake Squak, is +about ten miles long. Both are pure and beautiful, lying imbedded in +the green wilderness. The rivers are numerous and are but little +affected by the weather, flowing with deep, steady currents the year +round. They are short, however, none of them drawing their sources +from beyond the Cascade Range. Some are navigable for small steamers +on their lower courses, but the openings they make in the woods are +very narrow, the tall trees on their banks leaning over in some +places, making fine shady tunnels. + +The largest of the prairies that I have seen lies to the south of +Tacoma on the line of the Portland and Tacoma Railroad. The ground is +dry and gravelly, a deposit of water-washed cobbles and pebbles +derived from moraines--conditions which readily explain the absence of +trees here and on other prairies adjacent to Yelm. Berries grow in +lavish abundance, enough for man and beast with thousands of tons to +spare. The woods are full of them, especially about the borders of +the waters and meadows where the sunshine may enter. Nowhere in the +north does Nature set a more bountiful table. There are huckleberries +of many species, red, blue, and black, some of them growing close to +the ground, others on bushes eight to ten feet high; also salal +berries, growing on a low, weak-stemmed bush, a species of gaultheria, +seldom more than a foot or two high. This has pale pea-green glossy +leaves two or three inches long and half an inch wide and beautiful +pink flowers, urn-shaped, that make a fine, rich show. The berries +are black when ripe, are extremely abundant, and, with the +huckleberries, form an important part of the food of the Indians, who +beat them into paste, dry them, and store them away for winter use, to +be eaten with their oily fish. The salmon-berry also is very +plentiful, growing in dense prickly tangles. The flowers are as large +as wild roses and of the same color, and the berries measure nearly an +inch in diameter. Besides these there are gooseberries, currants, +raspberries, blackberries, and, in some favored spots, strawberries. +The mass of the underbrush of the woods is made up in great part of +these berry-bearing bushes. Together with white-flowered spiraea +twenty feet high, hazel, dogwood, wild rose, honeysuckle, +symphoricarpus, etc. But in the depths of the woods, where little +sunshine can reach the ground, there is but little underbrush of any +kind, only a very light growth of huckleberry and rubus and young +maples in most places. The difficulties encountered by the explorer +in penetrating the wilderness are presented mostly by the streams and +bogs, with their tangled margins, and the fallen timber and thick +carpet of moss covering all the ground. + +Notwithstanding the tremendous energy displayed in lumbering and the +grand scale on which it is being carried on, and the number of +settlers pushing into every opening in search of farmlands, the woods +of Washington are still almost entirely virgin and wild, without trace +of human touch, savage or civilized. Indians, no doubt, have ascended +most of the rivers on their way to the mountains to hunt the wild +sheep and goat to obtain wool for their clothing, but with food in +abundance on the coast they had little to tempt them into the +wilderness, and the monuments they have left in it are scarcely more +conspicuous than those of squirrels and bears; far less so than those +of the beavers, which in damming the streams have made clearings and +meadows which will continue to mark the landscape for centuries. Nor +is there much in these woods to tempt the farmer or cattle raiser. A +few settlers established homes on the prairies or open borders of the +woods and in the valleys of the Chehalis and Cowlitz before the gold +days of California. Most of the early immigrants from the Eastern +States, however, settled in the fertile and open Willamette Valley or +Oregon. Even now, when the search for land is so keen, with the +exception of the bottom lands around the Sound and on the lower +reaches of the rivers, there are comparatively few spots of +cultivation in western Washington. On every meadow or opening of any +kind some one will be found keeping cattle, planting hop vines, or +raising hay, vegetables, and patches of grain. All the large spaces +available, even back near the summits of the Cascade Mountains, were +occupied long ago. The newcomers, building their cabins where the +beavers once built theirs, keep a few cows and industriously seek to +enlarge their small meadow patches by chopping, girdling, and burning +the edge of the encircling forest, gnawing like beavers, and +scratching for a living among the blackened stumps and logs, regarding +the trees as their greatest enemies--a sort of larger pernicious weed +immensely difficult to get rid of. + +But all these are as yet mere spots, making no visible scar in the +distance and leaving the grand stretches of the forest as wild as they +were before the discovery of the continent. For many years the axe +has been busy around the shores of the Sound and ships have been +falling in perpetual storm like flakes of snow. The best of the +timber has been cut for a distance of eight or ten miles from the +water and to a much greater distance along the streams deep enough to +float the logs. Railroads, too, have been built to fetch in the logs +from the best bodies of timber otherwise inaccessible except at great +cost. None of the ground, however, has been completely denuded. Most +of the young trees have been left, together with the hemlocks and +other trees undesirable in kind or in some way defective, so that the +neighboring trees appear to have closed over the gaps make by the +removal of the larger and better ones, maintaining the general +continuity of the forest and leaving no sign on the sylvan sea, at +least as seen from a distance. + +In felling the trees they cut them off usually at a height of six to +twelve feet above the ground, so as to avoid cutting through the +swollen base, where the diameter is so much greater. In order to +reach this height the chopper cuts a notch about two inches wide and +three or four deep and drives a board into it, on which he stands +while at work. In case the first notch, cut as high as he can reach, +is not high enough, he stands on the board that has been driven into +the first notch and cuts another. Thus the axeman may often be seen +at work standing eight or ten feet above the ground. If the tree is +so large that with his long-handled axe the chopper is unable to reach +to the farther side of it, then a second chopper is set to work, each +cutting halfway across. And when the tree is about to fall, warned by +the faint crackling of the strained fibers, they jump to the ground, +and stand back out of danger from flying limbs, while the noble giant +that had stood erect in glorious strength and beauty century after +century, bows low at last and with gasp and groan and booming throb +falls to earth. + +Then with long saws the trees are cut into logs of the required +length, peeled, loaded upon wagons capable of carrying a weight of +eight or ten tons, hauled by a long string of oxen to the nearest +available stream or railroad, and floated or carried to the Sound. +There the logs are gathered into booms and towed by steamers to the +mills, where workmen with steel spikes in their boots leap lightly +with easy poise from one to another and by means of long pike poles +push them apart and, selecting such as are at the time required, push +them to the foot of a chute and drive dogs into the ends, when they +are speedily hauled in by the mill machinery alongside the saw +carriage and placed and fixed in position. Then with sounds of greedy +hissing and growling they are rushed back and forth like enormous +shuttles, and in an incredibly short time they are lumber and are +aboard the ships lying at the mill wharves. + +Many of the long, slender boles so abundant in these woods are saved +for spars, and so excellent is their quality that they are in demand +in almost every shipyard of the world. Thus these trees, felled and +stripped of their leaves and branches, are raised again, transplanted +and set firmly erect, given roots of iron and a new foliage of +flapping canvas, and sent to sea. On they speed in glad, free motion, +cheerily waving over the blue, heaving water, responsive to the same +winds that rocked them when they stood at home in the woods. After +standing in one place all their lives they now, like sight-seeing +tourists, go round the world, meeting many a relative from the old +home forest, some like themselves, wandering free, clad in broad +canvas foliage, others planted head downward in mud, holding wharf +platforms aloft to receive the wares of all nations. + +The mills of Puget sound and those of the redwood region of California +are said to be the largest and most effective lumber-makers in the +world. Tacoma alone claims to have eleven sawmills, and Seattle about +as many; while at many other points on the Sound, where the conditions +are particularly favorable, there are immense lumbering +establishments, as at Ports Blakely, Madison, Discovery, Gamble, +Ludlow, etc., with a capacity all together of over three million feet +a day. Nevertheless, the observer coming up the Sound sees not nor +hears anything of this fierce storm of steel that is devouring the +forests, save perhaps the shriek of some whistle or the columns of +smoke that mark the position of the mills. All else seems as serene +and unscathed as the silent watching mountains. + + + +XIX + +People and Towns of Puget Sound + + +As one strolls in the woods about the logging camps, most of the +lumbermen are found to be interesting people to meet, kind and +obliging and sincere, full of knowledge concerning the bark and +sapwood and heartwood of the trees they cut, and how to fell them +without unnecessary breakage, on ground where they may be most +advantageously sawed into logs and loaded for removal. The work is +hard, and all of the older men have a tired, somewhat haggard +appearance. Their faces are doubtful in color, neither sickly nor +quite healthy-looking, and seamed with deep wrinkles like the bark of +the spruces, but with no trace of anxiety. Their clothing is full of +rosin and never wears out. A little of everything in the woods is +stuck fast to these loggers, and their trousers grow constantly +thicker with age. In all their movements and gestures they are heavy +and deliberate like the trees above them, and they walk with a +swaying, rocking gait altogether free from quick, jerky fussiness, for +chopping and log rolling have quenched all that. They are also slow +of speech, as if partly out of breath, and when one tries to draw them +out on some subject away from logs, all the fresh, leafy, outreaching +branches of the mind seem to have been withered and killed with +fatigue, leaving their lives little more than dry lumber. Many a tree +have these old axemen felled, but, round-shouldered and stooping, they +too are beginning to lean over. Many of their companions are already +beneath the moss, and among those that we see at work some are now +dead at the top (bald), leafless, so to speak, and tottering to their +fall. + +A very different man, seen now and then at long intervals but usually +invisible, is the free roamer of the wilderness--hunter, prospector, +explorer, seeking he knows not what. Lithe and sinewy, he walks +erect, making his way with the skill of wild animals, all his senses +in action, watchful and alert, looking keenly at everything in sight, +his imagination well nourished in the wealth of the wilderness, coming +into contact with free nature in a thousand forms, drinking at the +fountains of things, responsive to wild influences, as trees to the +winds. Well he knows the wild animals his neighbors, what fishes are +in the streams, what birds in the forests, and where food may be +found. Hungry at times and weary, he has corresponding enjoyment in +eating and resting, and all the wilderness is home. Some of these +rare, happy rovers die alone among the leaves. Others half settle +down and change in part into farmers; each, making choice of some +fertile spot where the landscape attracts him, builds a small cabin, +where, with few wants to supply from garden or field, he hunts and +farms in turn, going perhaps once a year to the settlements, until +night begins to draw near, and, like forest shadows, thickens into +darkness and his day is done. In these Washington wilds, living +alone, all sorts of men may perchance be found--poets, philosophers, +and even full-blown transcendentalists, though you may go far to find +them. + +Indians are seldom to be met with away from the Sound, excepting about +the few outlying hop ranches, to which they resort in great numbers +during the picking season. Nor in your walks in the woods will you be +likely to see many of the wild animals, however far you may go, with +the exception of the Douglas squirrel and the mountain goat. The +squirrel is everywhere, and the goat you can hardly fail to find if +you climb any of the high mountains. The deer, once very abundant, +may still be found on the islands and along the shores of the Sound, +but the large gray wolves render their existence next to impossible at +any considerable distance back in the woods of the mainland, as they +can easily run them down unless they are near enough to the coast to +make their escape by plunging into the water and swimming to the +islands off shore. The elk and perhaps also the moose still exist in +the most remote and inaccessible solitudes of the forest, but their +numbers have been greatly reduced of late, and even the most +experienced hunters have difficulty in finding them. Of bears there +are two species, the black and the large brown, the former by far the +more common of the two. On the shaggy bottom-lands where berries are +plentiful, and along the rivers while salmon are going up to spawn, +the black bear may be found, fat and at home. Many are killed every +year, both for their flesh and skins. The large brown species likes +higher and opener ground. He is a dangerous animal, a near relative +of the famous grizzly, and wise hunters are very fond of letting him +alone. + +The towns of Puget Sound are of a very lively, progressive, and +aspiring kind, fortunately with abundance of substance about them to +warrant their ambition and make them grow. Like young sapling +sequoias, they are sending out their roots far and near for +nourishment, counting confidently on longevity and grandeur of +stature. Seattle and Tacoma are at present far in the lead of all +others in the race for supremacy, and these two are keen, active +rivals, to all appearances well matched. Tacoma occupies near the +head of the Sound a site of great natural beauty. It is the terminus +of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and calls itself the "City of +Destiny." Seattle is also charmingly located about twenty miles down +the Sound from Tacoma, on Elliott Bay. It is the terminus of the +Seattle, Lake Shore, and Eastern Railroad, now in process of +construction, and calls itself the "Queen City of the Sound" and the +"Metropolis of Washington." What the populations of these towns +number I am not able to say with anything like exactness. They are +probably about the same size and they each claim to have about twenty +thousand people; but their figures are so rapidly changing, and so +often mixed up with counts that refer to the future that exact +measurements of either of these places are about as hard to obtain as +measurements of the clouds of a growing storm. Their edges run back +for miles into the woods among the trees and stumps and brush which +hide a good many of the houses and the stakes which mark the lots; so +that, without being as yet very large towns, they seem to fade away +into the distance. + +But, though young and loose-jointed, they are fast taking on the forms +and manners of old cities, putting on airs, as some would say, like +boys in haste to be men. They are already towns "with all modern +improvements, first-class in every particular," as is said of hotels. +They have electric motors and lights, paved broadways and boulevards, +substantial business blocks, schools, churches, factories, and +foundries. The lusty, titanic clang of boiler making may be heard +there, and plenty of the languid music of pianos mingling with the +babel noises of commerce carried on in a hundred tongues. The main +streets are crowded with bright, wide-awake lawyers, ministers, +merchants, agents for everything under the sun; ox drivers and loggers +in stiff, gummy overalls; back-slanting dudes, well-tailored and +shiny; and fashions and bonnets of every feather and color bloom gayly +in the noisy throng and advertise London and Paris. Vigorous life and +strife are to be seen everywhere. The spirit of progress is in the +air. Still it is hard to realize how much good work is being done +here of a kind that makes for civilization--the enthusiastic, exulting +energy displayed in the building of new towns, railroads, and mills, +in the opening of mines of coal and iron and the development of +natural resources in general. To many, especially in the Atlantic +States, Washington is hardly known at all. It is regarded as being +yet a far wild west--a dim, nebulous expanse of woods--by those who do +not know that railroads and steamers have brought the country out of +the wilderness and abolished the old distances. It is now near to all +the world and is in possession of a share of the best of all that +civilization has to offer, while on some of the lines of advancement +it is at the front. + +Notwithstanding the sharp rivalry between different sections and +towns, the leading men mostly pull together for the general good and +glory,--building, buying, borrowing, to push the country to its place; +keeping arithmetic busy in counting population present and to come, +ships, towns, factories, tons of coal and iron, feet of lumber, miles +of railroad,--Americans, Scandinavians, Irish, Scotch, and Germans +being joined together in the white heat of work like religious crowds +in time of revival who have forgotten sectarianism. It is a fine +thing to see people in hot earnest about anything; therefore, however +extravagant and high the brag ascending from Puget Sound, in most +cases it is likely to appear pardonable and more. + +Seattle was named after an old Indian chief who lived in this part of +the Sound. He was very proud of the honor and lived long enough to +lead his grandchildren about the streets. The greater part of the +lower business portion of the town, including a long stretch of +wharves and warehouses built on piles, was destroyed by fire a few +months ago[28], with immense loss. The people, however, are in no +wise discouraged, and ere long the loss will be gain, inasmuch as a +better class of buildings, chiefly of brick, are being erected in +place of the inflammable wooden ones, which, with comparatively few +exceptions, were built of pitchy spruce. + +With their own scenery so glorious ever on show, one would at first +thought suppose that these happy Puget Sound people would never go +sightseeing from home like less favored mortals. But they do all the +same. Some go boating on the Sound or on the lakes and rivers, or +with their families make excursions at small cost on the steamers. +Others will take the train to the Franklin and Newcastle or Carbon +River coal mines for the sake of the thirty- or forty-mile rides +through the woods, and a look into the black depths of the underworld. +Others again take the steamers for Victoria, Fraser River, or +Vancouver, the new ambitious town at the terminus of the Canadian +Railroad, thus getting views of the outer world in a near foreign +country. One of the regular summer resorts of this region where +people go for fishing, hunting, and the healing of diseases, is the +Green River Hot Springs, in the Cascade Mountains, sixty-one miles +east of Tacoma, on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Green +River is a small rocky stream with picturesque banks, and derives its +name from the beautiful pale-green hue of its waters. + +Among the most interesting of all the summer rest and pleasure places +is the famous "Hop Ranch" on the upper Snoqualmie River, thirty or +forty miles eastward from Seattle. Here the dense forest opens, +allowing fine free views of the adjacent mountains from a long stretch +of ground which is half meadow, half prairie, level and fertile, and +beautifully diversified with outstanding groves of spruces and alders +and rich flowery fringes of spiraea and wild roses, the river +meandering deep and tranquil through the midst of it. On the portions +most easily cleared some three hundred acres of hop vines have been +planted and are now in full bearing, yielding, it is said, at the rate +of about a ton of hops to the acre. They are a beautiful crop, these +vines of the north, pillars of verdure in regular rows, seven feet +apart and eight or ten feet in height; the long, vigorous shoots +sweeping round in fine, wild freedom, and the light, leafy cones +hanging in loose, handsome clusters. + +Perhaps enough of hops might be raised in Washington for the wants of +all the world, but it would be impossible to find pickers to handle +the crop. Most of the picking is done by Indians, and to this fine, +clean, profitable work they come in great numbers in their canoes, old +and young, of many different tribes, bringing wives and children and +household goods, in some cases from a distance of five or six hundred +miles, even from far Alaska. Then they too grow rich and spend their +money on red cloth and trinkets. About a thousand Indians are +required as pickers at the Snoqualmie ranch alone, and a lively and +merry picture they make in the field, arrayed in bright, showy +calicoes, lowering the rustling vine pillars with incessant song- +singing and fun. Still more striking are their queer camps on the +edges of the fields or over on the river bank, with the firelight +shining on their wild jolly faces. But woe to the ranch should +fire-water get there! + +But the chief attractions here are not found in the hops, but in +trout-fishing and bear-hunting, and in the two fine falls on the +river. Formerly the trip from Seattle was a hard one, over corduroy +roads; now it is reached in a few hours by rail along the shores of +Lake Washington and Lake Squak, through a fine sample section of the +forest and past the brow of the main Snoqualmie Fall. From the hotel +at the ranch village the road to the fall leads down the right bank of +the river through the magnificent maple woods I have mentioned +elsewhere, and fine views of the fall may be had on that side, both +from above and below. It is situated on the main river, where it +plunges over a sheer precipice, about two hundred and forty feet high, +in leaving the level meadows of the ancient lake basin. In a general +way it resembles the well-known Nevada Fall in Yosemite, having the +same twisted appearance at the top and the free plunge in numberless +comet-shaped masses into a deep pool seventy-five or eighty yards in +diameter. The pool is of considerable depth, as is shown by the +radiating well-beaten foam and mist, which is of a beautiful rose +color at times, of exquisite fineness of tone, and by the heavy waves +that lash the rocks in front of it. + +Though to a Californian the height of this fall would not seem great, +the volume of water is heavy, and all the surroundings are delightful. +The maple forest, of itself worth a long journey, the beauty of the +river-reaches above and below, and the views down the valley afar over +the mighty forests, with all its lovely trimmings of ferns and +flowers, make this one of the most interesting falls I have ever seen. +The upper fall is about seventy-five feet high, with bouncing rapids +at head and foot, set in a romantic dell thatched with dripping mosses +and ferns and embowered in dense evergreens and blooming bushes, the +distance to it from the upper end of the meadows being about eight +miles. The road leads through majestic woods with ferns ten feet high +beneath some of the thickets, and across a gravelly plain deforested +by fire many years ago. Orange lilies are plentiful, and handsome +shining mats of the kinnikinic, sprinkled with bright scarlet berries. + +From a place called "Hunt's," at the end of the wagon road, a trail +leads through lush, dripping woods (never dry) to Thuja and Mertens, +Menzies, and Douglas spruces. The ground is covered with the best +moss-work of the moist lands of the north, made up mostly of the +various species of hypnum, with some liverworts, marchantia, +jungermannia, etc., in broad sheets and bosses, where never a dust +particle floated, and where all the flowers, fresh with mist and +spray, are wetter than water lilies. The pool at the foot of the fall +is a place surpassingly lovely to look at, with the enthusiastic rush +and song of the falls, the majestic trees overhead leaning over the +brink like listeners eager to catch every word of the white refreshing +waters, the delicate maidenhairs and aspleniums with fronds outspread +gathering the rainbow sprays, and the myriads of hooded mosses, every +cup fresh and shining. + + + +XX + +An Ascent of Mount Rainier + + +Ambitious climbers, seeking adventures and opportunities to test their +strength and skill, occasionally attempt to penetrate the wilderness +on the west side of the Sound, and push on to the summit of Mount +Olympus. But the grandest excursion of all to be make hereabouts is +to Mount Rainier, to climb to the top of its icy crown. The mountain +is very high[29], fourteen thousand four hundred feet, and laden with +glaciers that are terribly roughened and interrupted by crevasses and +ice cliffs. Only good climbers should attempt to gain the summit, led +by a guide of proved nerve and endurance. A good trail has been cut +through the woods to the base of the mountain on the north; but the +summit of the mountain never has been reached from this side, though +many brave attempts have been made upon it. + +Last summer I gained the summit from the south side, in a day and a +half from the timberline, without encountering any desperate obstacles +that could not in some way be passed in good weather. I was +accompanied by Keith, the artist, Professor Ingraham, and five +ambitious young climbers from Seattle. We were led by the veteran +mountaineer and guide Van Trump, of Yelm, who many years before guided +General Stevens in his memorable ascent, and later Mr. Bailey, of +Oakland. With a cumbersome abundance of campstools and blankets we +set out from Seattle, traveling by rail as far as Yelm Prairie, on the +Tacoma and Oregon road. Here we made our first camp and arranged with +Mr. Longmire, a farmer in the neighborhood, for pack and saddle +animals. The noble King Mountain was in full view from here, +glorifying the bright, sunny day with his presence, rising in godlike +majesty over the woods, with the magnificent prairie as a foreground. +The distance to the mountain from Yelm in a straight line is perhaps +fifty miles; but by the mule and yellowjacket trail we had to follow +it is a hundred miles. For, notwithstanding a portion of this trail +runs in the air, where the wasps work hardest, it is far from being an +air line as commonly understood. + +By night of the third day we reached the Soda Springs on the right +bank of the Nisqually, which goes roaring by, gray with mud, gravel, +and boulders from the caves of the glaciers of Rainier, now close at +hand. The distance from the Soda Springs to the Camp of the Clouds is +about ten miles. The first part of the way lies up the Nisqually +Canyon, the bottom of which is flat in some places and the walls very +high and precipitous, like those of the Yosemite Valley. The upper +part of the canyon is still occupied by one of the Nisqually glaciers, +from which this branch of the river draws its source, issuing from a +cave in the gray, rock-strewn snout. About a mile below the glacier +we had to ford the river, which caused some anxiety, for the current +is very rapid and carried forward large boulders as well as lighter +material, while its savage roar is bewildering. + +At this point we left the canyon, climbing out of it by a steep zigzag +up the old lateral moraine of the glacier, which was deposited when +the present glacier flowed past at this height, and is about eight +hundred feet high. It is now covered with a superb growth of Picea +amabilis[30]; so also is the corresponding portion of the right +lateral. From the top of the moraine, still ascending, we passed for +a mile or two through a forest of mixed growth, mainly silver fir, +Patton spruce, and mountain pine, and then came to the charming park +region, at an elevation of about five thousand feet above sea level. +Here the vast continuous woods at length begin to give way under the +dominion of climate, though still at this height retaining their +beauty and giving no sign of stress of storm, sweeping upward in belts +of varying width, composed mainly of one species of fir, sharp and +spiry in form, leaving smooth, spacious parks, with here and there +separate groups of trees standing out in the midst of the openings +like islands in a lake. Every one of these parks, great and small, is +a garden filled knee-deep with fresh, lovely flowers of every hue, the +most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine +gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings. + +We arrived at the Cloud Camp at noon, but no clouds were in sight, +save a few gauzy ornamental wreaths adrift in the sunshine. Out of +the forest at last there stood the mountain, wholly unveiled, awful in +bulk and majesty, filling all the view like a separate, new-born +world, yet withal so fine and so beautiful it might well fire the +dullest observer to desperate enthusiasm. Long we gazed in silent +admiration, buried in tall daisies and anemones by the side of a +snowbank. Higher we could not go with the animals and find food for +them and wood for our own campfires, for just beyond this lies the +region of ice, with only here and there an open spot on the ridges in +the midst of the ice, with dwarf alpine plants, such as saxifrages and +drabas, which reach far up between the glaciers, and low mats of the +beautiful bryanthus, while back of us were the gardens and abundance +of everything that heart could wish. Here we lay all the afternoon, +considering the lilies and the lines of the mountains with reference +to a way to the summit. + +At noon next day we left camp and began our long climb. We were in +light marching order, save one who pluckily determined to carry his +camera to the summit. At night, after a long easy climb over wide and +smooth fields of ice, we reached a narrow ridge, at an elevation of +about ten thousand feet above the sea, on the divide between the +glaciers of the Nisqually and the Cowlitz. Here we lay as best we +could, waiting for another day, without fire of course, as we were now +many miles beyond the timberline and without much to cover us. After +eating a little hardtack, each of us leveled a spot to lie on among +lava-blocks and cinders. The night was cold, and the wind coming down +upon us in stormy surges drove gritty ashes and fragments of pumice +about our ears while chilling to the bone. Very short and shallow was +our sleep that night; but day dawned at last, early rising was easy, +and there was nothing about breakfast to cause any delay. About four +o'clock we were off, and climbing began in earnest. We followed up +the ridge on which we had spent the night, now along its crest, now on +either side, or on the ice leaning against it, until we came to where +it becomes massive and precipitous. Then we were compelled to crawl +along a seam or narrow shelf, on its face, which we traced to its +termination in the base of the great ice cap. From this point all the +climbing was over ice, which was here desperately steep but +fortunately was at the same time carved into innumerable spikes and +pillars which afforded good footholds, and we crawled cautiously on, +warm with ambition and exercise. + +At length, after gaining the upper extreme of our guiding ridge, we +found a good place to rest and prepare ourselves to scale the +dangerous upper curves of the dome. The surface almost everywhere was +bare, hard, snowless ice, extremely slippery; and, though smooth in +general, it was interrupted by a network of yawning crevasses, +outspread like lines of defense against any attempt to win the summit. +Here every one of the party took off his shoes and drove stout steel +caulks about half an inch long into them, having brought tools along +for the purpose, and not having made use of them until now so that the +points might not get dulled on the rocks ere the smooth, dangerous ice +was reached. Besides being well shod each carried an alpenstock, and +for special difficulties we had a hundred feet of rope and an axe, + +Thus prepared, we stepped forth afresh, slowly groping our way through +tangled lines of crevasses, crossing on snow bridges here and there +after cautiously testing them, jumping at narrow places, or crawling +around the ends of the largest, bracing well at every point with our +alpenstocks and setting our spiked shoes squarely down on the +dangerous slopes. It was nerve-trying work, most of it, but we made +good speed nevertheless, and by noon all stood together on the utmost +summit, save one who, his strength failing for a time, came up later. + +We remained on the summit nearly two hours, looking about us at the +vast maplike views, comprehending hundreds of miles of the Cascade +Range, with their black interminable forests and white volcanic cones +in glorious array reaching far into Oregon; the Sound region also, and +the great plains of eastern Washington, hazy and vague in the +distance. Clouds began to gather. Soon of all the land only the +summits of the mountains, St. Helen's, Adams, and Hood, were left in +sight, forming islands in the sky. We found two well-formed and well- +preserved craters on the summit, lying close together like two plates +on a table with their rims touching. The highest point of the +mountain is located between the craters, where their edges come in +contact. Sulphurous fumes and steam issue from several vents, giving +out a sickening smell that can be detected at a considerable distance. +The unwasted condition of these craters, and, indeed, to a great +extent, of the entire mountain, would tend to show that Rainier is +still a comparatively young mountain. With the exception of the +projecting lips of the craters and the top of a subordinate summit a +short distance to the northward, the mountains is solidly capped with +ice all around; and it is this ice cap which forms the grand central +fountain whence all the twenty glaciers of Rainier flow, radiating in +every direction. + +The descent was accomplished without disaster, though several of the +party had narrow escapes. One slipped and fell, and as he shot past +me seemed to be going to certain death. So steep was the ice slope no +one could move to help him, but fortunately, keeping his presence of +mind, he threw himself on his face and digging his alpenstock into the +ice, gradually retarded his motion until he came to rest. Another +broke through a slim bridge over a crevasse, but his momentum at the +time carried him against the lower edge and only his alpenstock was +lost in the abyss. Thus crippled by the loss of his staff, we had to +lower him the rest of the way down the dome by means of the rope we +carried. Falling rocks from the upper precipitous part of the ridge +were also a source of danger, as they came whizzing past in successive +volleys; but none told on us, and when we at length gained the gentle +slopes of the lower ice fields, we ran and slid at our ease, making +fast, glad time, all care and danger past, and arrived at our beloved +Cloud Camp before sundown. + +We were rather weak from want of nourishment, and some suffered from +sunburn, notwithstanding the partial protection of glasses and veils; +otherwise, all were unscathed and well. The view we enjoyed from the +summit could hardly be surpassed in sublimity and grandeur; but one +feels far from home so high in the sky, so much so that one is +inclined to guess that, apart from the acquisition of knowledge and +the exhilaration of climbing, more pleasure is to be found at the foot +of the mountains than on their tops. Doubly happy, however, is the +man to whom lofty mountain tops are within reach, for the lights that +shine there illumine all that lies below. + + + +XXI + +The Physical and Climatic Characteristics of Oregon + + +Oregon is a large, rich, compact section of the west side of the +continent, containing nearly a hundred thousand square miles of deep, +wet evergreen woods, fertile valleys, icy mountains, and high, rolling +wind-swept plains, watered by the majestic Columbia River and its +countless branches. It is bounded on the north by Washington, on the +east by Idaho, on the south by California and Nevada, and on the west +by the Pacific Ocean. It is a grand, hearty, wholesome, foodful +wilderness and, like Washington, once a part of the Oregon Territory, +abounds in bold, far-reaching contrasts as to scenery, climate, soil, +and productions. Side by side there is drouth on a grand scale and +overflowing moisture; flinty, sharply cut lava beds, gloomy and +forbidding, and smooth, flowery lawns; cool bogs, exquisitely plushy +and soft, overshadowed by jagged crags barren as icebergs; forests +seemingly boundless and plains with no tree in sight; presenting a +wide range of conditions, but as a whole favorable to industry. +Natural wealth of an available kind abounds nearly everywhere, +inviting the farmer, the stock-raiser, the lumberman, the fisherman, +the manufacturer, and the miner, as well as the free walker in search +of knowledge and wildness. The scenery is mostly of a comfortable, +assuring kind, grand and inspiring without too much of that dreadful +overpowering sublimity and exuberance which tend to discourage effort +and cast people into inaction and superstition. + +Ever since Oregon was first heard of in the romantic, adventurous, +hunting, trapping Wild West days, it seems to have been regarded as +the most attractive and promising of all the Pacific countries for +farmers. While yet the whole region as well as the way to it was +wild, ere a single road or bridge was built, undaunted by the +trackless thousand-mile distances and scalping, cattle-stealing +Indians, long trains of covered wagons began to crawl wearily +westward, crossing how many plains, rivers, ridges, and mountains, +fighting the painted savages and weariness and famine. Setting out +from the frontier of the old West in the spring as soon as the grass +would support their cattle, they pushed on up the Platte, making haste +slowly, however, that they might not be caught in the storms of winter +ere they reached the promised land. They crossed the Rocky Mountains +to Fort Hall; thence followed down the Snake River for three or four +hundred miles, their cattle limping and failing on the rough lava +plains; swimming the streams too deep to be forded, making boats out +of wagon-boxes for the women and children and goods, or where trees +could be had, lashing together logs for rafts. Thence, crossing the +Blue Mountains and the plains of the Columbia, they followed the river +to the Dalles. Here winter would be upon them, and before a wagon +road was built across the Cascade Mountains the toil-worn emigrants +would be compelled to leave their cattle and wagons until the +following summer, and, in the mean time, with the assistance of the +Hudson's Bay Company, make their way to the Willamette Valley on the +river with rafts and boats. + +How strange and remote these trying times have already become! They +are now dim as if a thousand years had passed over them. Steamships +and locomotives with magical influence have well-nigh abolished the +old distances and dangers, and brought forward the New West into near +and familiar companionship with the rest of the world. + +Purely wild for unnumbered centuries, a paradise of oily, salmon-fed +Indians, Oregon is now roughly settled in part and surveyed, its +rivers and mountain ranges, lakes, valleys, and plains have been +traced and mapped in a general way, civilization is beginning to take +root, towns are springing up and flourishing vigorously like a crop +adapted to the soil, and the whole kindly wilderness lies invitingly +near with all its wealth open and ripe for use. + +In sailing along the Oregon coast one sees but few more signs of human +occupation than did Juan de Fuca three centuries ago. The shore +bluffs rise abruptly from the waves, forming a wall apparently +unbroken, though many short rivers from the coast range of mountains +and two from the interior have made narrow openings on their way to +the sea. At the mouths of these rivers good harbors have been +discovered for coasting vessels, which are of great importance to the +lumbermen, dairymen, and farmers of the coast region. But little or +nothing of these appear in general views, only a simple gray wall +nearly straight, green along the top, and the forest stretching back +into the mountains as far as the eye can reach. + +Going ashore, we find few long reaches of sand where one may saunter, +or meadows, save the brown and purple meadows of the sea, overgrown +with slippery kelp, swashed and swirled in the restless breakers. The +abruptness of the shore allows the massive waves that have come from +far over the broad Pacific to get close to the bluffs ere they break, +and the thundering shock shakes the rocks to their foundations. No +calm comes to these shores. Even in the finest weather, when the +ships off shore are becalmed and their sails hang loose against the +mast, there is always a wreath of foam at the base of these bluffs. +The breakers are ever in bloom and crystal brine is ever in the air. + +A scramble along the Oregon sea bluffs proves as richly exciting to +lovers of wild beauty as heart could wish. Here are three hundred +miles of pictures of rock and water in black and white, or gray and +white, with more or less of green and yellow, purple and blue. The +rocks, glistening in sunshine and foam, are never wholly dry--many of +them marvels of wave-sculpture and most imposing in bulk and bearing, +standing boldly forward, monuments of a thousand storms, types of +permanence, holding the homes and places of refuge of multitudes of +seafaring animals in their keeping, yet ever wasting away. How grand +the songs of the waves about them, every wave a fine, hearty storm in +itself, taking its rise on the breezy plains of the sea, perhaps +thousands of miles away, traveling with majestic, slow-heaving +deliberation, reaching the end of its journey, striking its blow, +bursting into a mass of white and pink bloom, then falling spent and +withered to give place to the next in the endless procession, thus +keeping up the glorious show and glorious song through all times and +seasons forever! + +Terribly impressive as is this cliff and wave scenery when the skies +are bright and kindly sunshine makes rainbows in the spray, it is +doubly so in dark, stormy nights, when, crouching in some hollow on +the top of some jutting headland, we may gaze and listen undisturbed +in the heart of it. Perhaps now and then we may dimly see the tops of +the highest breakers, looking ghostly in the gloom; but when the water +happens to be phosphorescent, as it oftentimes is, then both the sea +and the rocks are visible, and the wild, exulting, up-dashing spray +burns, every particle of it, and is combined into one glowing mass of +white fire; while back in the woods and along the bluffs and crags of +the shore the storm wind roars, and the rain-floods, gathering +strength and coming from far and near, rush wildly down every gulch to +the sea, as if eager to join the waves in their grand, savage harmony; +deep calling unto deep in the heart of the great, dark night, making a +sight and a song unspeakably sublime and glorious. + +In the pleasant weather of summer, after the rainy season is past and +only occasional refreshing showers fall, washing the sky and bringing +out the fragrance of the flowers and the evergreens, then one may +enjoy a fine, free walk all the way across the State from the sea to +the eastern boundary on the Snake River. Many a beautiful stream we +should cross in such a walk, singing through forest and meadow and +deep rocky gorge, and many a broad prairie and plain, mountain and +valley, wild garden and desert, presenting landscape beauty on a grand +scale and in a thousand forms, and new lessons without number, +delightful to learn. Oregon has three mountain ranges which run +nearly parallel with the coast, the most influential of which, in +every way, is the Cascade Range. It is about six thousand to seven +thousand feet in average height, and divides the State into two main +sections called Eastern and Western Oregon, corresponding with the +main divisions of Washington; while these are again divided, but less +perfectly, by the Blue Mountains and the Coast Range. The eastern +section is about two hundred and thirty miles wide, and is made up in +great part of the treeless plains of the Columbia, which are green and +flowery in spring, but gray, dusty, hot, and forbidding in summer. +Considerable areas, however, on these plains, as well as some of the +valleys countersunk below the general surface along the banks of the +streams, have proved fertile and produce large crops of wheat, barley, +hay, and other products. + +In general views the western section seems to be covered with one +vast, evenly planted forest, with the exception of the few snow-clad +peaks of the Cascade Range, these peaks being the only points in the +landscape that rise above the timberline. Nevertheless, embosomed in +this forest and lying in the great trough between the Cascades and +coast mountains, there are some of the best bread-bearing valleys to +be found in the world. The largest of these are the Willamette, +Umpqua, and Rogue River Valleys. Inasmuch as a considerable portion +of these main valleys was treeless, or nearly so, as well as +surpassingly fertile, they were the first to attract settlers; and the +Willamette, being at once the largest and nearest to tide water, was +settled first of all, and now contains the greater portion of the +population and wealth of the State. + +The climate of this section, like the corresponding portion of +Washington, is rather damp and sloppy throughout the winter months, +but the summers are bright, ripening the wheat and allowing it to be +garnered in good condition. Taken as a whole, the weather is bland +and kindly, and like the forest trees the crops and cattle grow plump +and sound in it. So also do the people; children ripen well and grow +up with limbs of good size and fiber and, unless overworked in the +woods, live to a good old age, hale and hearty. + +But, like every other happy valley in the world, the sunshine of this +one is not without its shadows. Malarial fevers are not unknown in +some places, and untimely frosts and rains may at long intervals in +some measure disappoint the hopes of the husbandman. Many a tale, +good-natured or otherwise, is told concerning the overflowing +abundance of the Oregon rains. Once an English traveler, as the story +goes, went to a store to make some purchases and on leaving found that +rain was falling; therefore, not liking to get wet, he stepped back to +wait till the shower was over. Seeing no signs of clearing, he soon +became impatient and inquired of the storekeeper how long he thought +the shower would be likely to last. Going to the door and looking +wisely into the gray sky and noting the direction of the wind, the +latter replied that he thought the shower would probably last about +six months, an opinion that of course disgusted the fault-finding +Briton with the "blawsted country," though in fact it is but little if +at all wetter or cloudier than his own. + +No climate seems the best for everybody. Many there be who waste +their lives in a vain search for weather with which no fault may be +found, keeping themselves and their families in constant motion, like +floating seaweeds that never strike root, yielding compliance to every +current of news concerning countries yet untried, believing that +everywhere, anywhere, the sky is fairer and the grass grows greener +than where they happen to be. Before the Oregon and California +railroad was built, the overland journey between these States across +the Siskiyou Mountains in the old-fashioned emigrant wagon was a long +and tedious one. Nevertheless, every season dissatisfied climate- +seekers, too wet and too dry, might be seen plodding along through the +dust in the old " 49style," making their way one half of them from +California to Oregon, the other half from Oregon to California. The +beautiful Sisson meadows at the base of Mount Shasta were a favorite +halfway resting place, where the weary cattle were turned out for a +few days to gather strength for better climates, and it was curious to +hear those perpetual pioneers comparing notes and seeking information +around the campfires. + +"Where are you from?" some Oregonian would ask. + +"The Joaquin." + +"It's dry there, ain't it?" + +"Well, I should say so. No rain at all in summer and none to speak of +in winter, and I'm dried out. I just told my wife I was on the move +again, and I'm going to keep moving till I come to a country where it +rains once in a while, like it does in every reg'lar white man's +country; and that, I guess, will be Oregon, if the news be true." + +"Yes, neighbor, you's heading in the right direction for rain," the +Oregonian would say. "Keep right on to Yamhill and you'll soon be +damp enough. It rains there more than twelve months in the year; at +least, no saying but it will. I've just come from there, plumb +drownded out, and I told my wife to jump into the wagon and we should +start out and see if we couldn't find a dry day somewhere. Last fall +the hay was out and the wood was out, and the cabin leaked, and I made +up my mind to try California the first chance." + +"Well, if you be a horned toad or coyote," the seeker of moisture +would reply, "then maybe you can stand it. Just keep right on by the +Alabama Settlement to Tulare and you can have my place on Big Dry +Creek and welcome. You'll be drowned there mighty seldom. The wagon +spokes and tires will rattle and tell you when you come to it." + +"All right, partner, we'll swap square, you can have mine in Yamhill +and the rain thrown in. Last August a painter sharp came along one +day wanting to know the way to Willamette Falls, and I told him: + Young man, just wait a little and you'll find falls enough without +going to Oregon City after them. The whole dog-gone Noah's flood of a +country will be a fall and melt and float away some day.'" And more to +the same effect. + +But no one need leave Oregon in search of fair weather. The wheat and +cattle region of eastern Oregon and Washington on the upper Columbia +plains is dry enough and dusty enough more than half the year. The +truth is, most of these wanderers enjoy the freedom of gypsy life and +seek not homes but camps. Having crossed the plains and reached the +ocean, they can find no farther west within reach of wagons, and are +therefore compelled now to go north and south between Mexico and +Alaska, always glad to find an excuse for moving, stopping a few +months or weeks here and there, the time being measured by the size of +the camp-meadow, conditions of the grass, game, and other indications. +Even their so-called settlements of a year or two, when they take up +land and build cabins, are only another kind of camp, in no common +sense homes. Never a tree is planted, nor do they plant themselves, +but like good soldiers in time of war are ever ready to march. Their +journey of life is indeed a journey with very matter-of-fact thorns in +the way, though not wholly wanting in compensation. + +One of the most influential of the motives that brought the early +settlers to these shores, apart from that natural instinct to scatter +and multiply which urges even sober salmon to climb the Rocky +Mountains, was their desire to find a country at once fertile and +winterless, where their flocks and herds could find pasture all the +year, thus doing away with the long and tiresome period of haying and +feeding necessary in the eastern and old western States and +Territories. Cheap land and good land there was in abundance in +Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa; but there the labor of +providing for animals of the farm was very great, and much of that +labor was crowded together into a few summer months, while to keep +cool in summers and warm in the icy winters was well-nigh impossible +to poor farmers. + +Along the coast and throughout the greater part of western Oregon in +general, snow seldom falls on the lowlands to a greater depth than a +few inches, and never lies long. Grass is green all winter. The +average temperature for the year in the Willamette Valley is about 52 +degrees, the highest and lowest being about 100 degrees and 20 +degrees, though occasionally a much lower temperature is reached. + +The average rainfall is about fifty or fifty-five inches in the +Willamette Valley, and along the coast seventy-five inches, or even +more at some points--figures that bring many a dreary night and day to +mind, however fine the effect on the great evergreen woods and the +fields of the farmers. The rainy season begins in September or +October and lasts until April or May. Then the whole country is +solemnly soaked and poulticed with the gray, streaming clouds and +fogs, night and day, with marvelous constancy. Towards the beginning +and end of the season a good many bright days occur to break the +pouring gloom, but whole months of rain, continuous, or nearly so, are +not at all rare. Astronomers beneath these Oregon skies would have a +dull time of it. Of all the year only about one fourth of the days +are clear, while three fourths have more or less of fogs, clouds, or +rain. + +The fogs occur mostly in the fall and spring. They are grand, +far-reaching affairs of two kinds, the black and the white, some of the +latter being very beautiful, and the infinite delicacy and tenderness +of their touch as they linger to caress the tall evergreens is most +exquisite. On farms and highways and in the streets of towns, where +work has to be done, there is nothing picturesque or attractive in any +obvious way about the gray, serious-faced rainstorms. Mud abounds. +The rain seems dismal and heedless and gets in everybody's way. Every +face is turned from it, and it has but few friends who recognize its +boundless beneficence. But back in the untrodden woods where no axe +has been lifted, where a deep, rich carpet of brown and golden mosses +covers all the ground like a garment, pressing warmly about the feet +of the trees and rising in thick folds softly and kindly over every +fallen trunk, leaving no spot naked or uncared-for, there the rain is +welcomed, and every drop that falls finds a place and use as sweet and +pure as itself. An excursion into the woods when the rain harvest is +at its height is a noble pleasure, and may be safely enjoyed at small +expense, though very few care to seek it. Shelter is easily found +beneath the great trees in some hollow out of the wind, and one need +carry but little provision, none at all of a kind that a wetting would +spoil. The colors of the woods are then at their best, and the mighty +hosts of the forest, every needle tingling in the blast, wave and sing +in glorious harmony. + + "'T were worth ten years of peaceful life, + one glance at this array." + +The snow that falls in the lowland woods is usually soft, and makes a +fine show coming through the trees in large, feathery tufts, loading +the branches of the firs and spruces and cedars and weighing them down +against the trunks until they look slender and sharp as arrows, while +a strange, muffled silence prevails, giving a peculiar solemnity to +everything. But these lowland snowstorms and their effects quickly +vanish; every crystal melts in a day or two, the bent branches rise +again, and the rain resumes its sway. + +While these gracious rains are searching the roots of the lowlands, +corresponding snows are busy along the heights of the Cascade +Mountains. Month after month, day and night the heavens shed their +icy bloom in stormy, measureless abundance, filling the grand upper +fountains of the rivers to last through the summer. Awful then is the +silence that presses down over the mountain forests. All the smaller +streams vanish from sight, hushed and obliterated. Young groves of +spruce and pine are bowed down as by a gentle hand and put to rest, +not again to see the light or move leaf or limb until the grand +awakening of the springtime, while the larger animals and most of the +birds seek food and shelter in the foothills on the borders of the +valleys and plains. + +The lofty volcanic peaks are yet more heavily snow-laden. To their +upper zones no summer comes. They are white always. From the steep +slopes of the summit the new-fallen snow, while yet dry and loose, +descends in magnificent avalanches to feed the glaciers, making +meanwhile the most glorious manifestations of power. Happy is the man +who may get near them to see and hear. In some sheltered camp nest on +the edge of the timberline one may lie snug and warm, but after the +long shuffle on snowshoes we may have to wait more than a month ere +the heavens open and the grand show is unveiled. In the mean time, +bread may be scarce, unless with careful forecast a sufficient supply +has been provided and securely placed during the summer. +Nevertheless, to be thus deeply snowbound high in the sky is not +without generous compensation for all the cost. And when we at length +go down the long white slopes to the levels of civilization, the pains +vanish like snow in sunshine, while the noble and exalting pleasures +we have gained remain with us to enrich our lives forever. + +The fate of the high-flying mountain snow-flowers is a fascinating +study, though little may we see of their works and ways while their +storms go on. The glinting, swirling swarms fairly thicken the blast, +and all the air, as well as the rocks and trees, is as one smothering +mass of bloom, through the midst of which at close intervals come the +low, intense thunder-tones of the avalanches as they speed on their +way to fill the vast fountain hollows. Here they seem at last to have +found rest. But this rest is only apparent. Gradually the loose +crystals by the pressure of their own weight are welded together into +clear ice, and, as glaciers, march steadily, silently on, with +invisible motion, in broad, deep currents, grinding their way with +irresistible energy to the warmer lowlands, where they vanish in glad, +rejoicing streams. + +In the sober weather of Oregon lightning makes but little show. Those +magnificent thunderstorms that so frequently adorn and glorify the sky +of the Mississippi Valley are wanting here. Dull thunder and +lightning may occasionally be seen and heard, but the imposing +grandeur of great storms marching over the landscape with streaming +banners and a network of fire is almost wholly unknown. + +Crossing the Cascade Range, we pass from a green to a gray country, +from a wilderness of trees to a wilderness of open plains, level or +rolling or rising here and there into hills and short mountain spurs. +Though well supplied with rivers in most of its main sections, it is +generally dry. The annual rainfall is only from about five to fifteen +inches, and the thin winter garment of snow seldom lasts more than a +month or two, though the temperature in many places falls from five to +twenty-five degrees below zero for a short time. That the snow is +light over eastern Oregon, and the average temperature not intolerably +severe, is shown by the fact that large droves of sheep, cattle, and +horses live there through the winter without other food or shelter +than they find for themselves on the open plains or down in the sunken +valleys and gorges along the streams. + +When we read of the mountain ranges of Oregon and Washington with +detailed descriptions of their old volcanoes towering snow-laden and +glacier-laden above the clouds, one may be led to imagine that the +country is far icier and whiter and more mountainous than it is. Only +in winter are the Coast and Cascade Mountains covered with snow. Then +as seen from the main interior valleys they appear as comparatively +low, bossy walls stretching along the horizon and making a magnificent +display of their white wealth. The Coast Range in Oregon does not +perhaps average more than three thousand feet in height. Its snow +does not last long, most of its soil is fertile all the way to the +summits, and the greater part of the range may at some time be brought +under cultivation. The immense deposits on the great central uplift +of the Cascade Range are mostly melted off before the middle of summer +by the comparatively warm winds and rains from the coast, leaving only +a few white spots on the highest ridges, where the depth from drifting +has been greatest, or where the rate of waste has been diminished by +specially favorable conditions as to exposure. Only the great +volcanic cones are truly snow-clad all the year, and these are not +numerous and make but a small portion of the general landscape. + +As we approach Oregon from the coast in summer, no hint of snowy +mountains can be seen, and it is only after we have sailed into the +country by the Columbia, or climbed some one of the commanding +summits, that the great white peaks send us greeting and make telling +advertisements of themselves and of the country over which they rule. +So, also, in coming to Oregon from the east the country by no means +impresses one as being surpassingly mountainous, the abode of peaks +and glaciers. Descending the spurs of the Rocky Mountains into the +basin of the Columbia, we see hot, hundred-mile plains, roughened here +the there by hills and ridges that look hazy and blue in the distance, +until we have pushed well to the westward. Then one white point after +another comes into sight to refresh the eye and the imagination; but +they are yet a long way off, and have much to say only to those who +know them or others of their kind. How grand they are, though +insignificant-looking on the edge of the vast landscape! What noble +woods they nourish, and emerald meadows and gardens! What springs and +streams and waterfalls sing about them and to what a multitude of +happy creatures they give homes and food! + +The principal mountains of the range are Mounts Pitt, Scott, and +Thielson, Diamond Peak, the Three Sisters, Mounts Jefferson, Hood, St. +Helen's, Adams, Rainier, Aix, and Baker. Of these the seven first +named belong to Oregon, the others to Washington. They rise singly at +irregular distances from one another along the main axis of the range +or near it, with an elevation of from about eight thousand to fourteen +thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea. From few +points in the valleys may more than three or four of them be seen, and +of the more distant ones of these only the tops appear. Therefore, +speaking generally, each of the lowland landscapes of the State +contains only one grand snowy mountain. + +The heights back of Portland command one of the best general views of +the forests and also of the most famous of the great mountains both of +Oregon and Washington. Mount Hood is in full view, with the summits +of Mounts Jefferson, St. Helen's, Adams, and Rainier in the distance. +The city of Portland is at our feet, covering a large area along both +banks of the Willamette, and, with its fine streets, schools, +churches, mills, shipping, parks, and gardens, makes a telling picture +of busy, aspiring civilization in the midst of the green wilderness in +which it is planted. The river is displayed to fine advantage in the +foreground of our main view, sweeping in beautiful curves around rich, +leafy islands, its banks fringed with willows. + +A few miles beyond the Willamette flows the renowned Columbia, and the +confluence of these two great rivers is at a point only about ten +miles below the city. Beyond the Columbia extends the immense breadth +of the forest, one dim, black, monotonous field with only the sky, +which one is glad to see is not forested, and the tops of the majestic +old volcanoes to give diversity to the view. That sharp, white, +broad-based pyramid on the south side of the Columbia, a few degrees +to the south of east from where you stand, is the famous Mount Hood. +The distance to it in a straight line is about fifty miles. Its upper +slopes form the only bare ground, bare as to forests, in the landscape +in that direction. It is the pride of Oregonians, and when it is +visible is always pointed out to strangers as the glory of the +country, the mountain of mountains. It is one of the grand series of +extinct volcanoes extending from Lassen's Butte[31] to Mount Baker, a +distance of about six hundred miles, which once flamed like gigantic +watch-fires along the coast. Some of them have been active in recent +times, but no considerable addition to the bulk of Mount Hood has been +made for several centuries, as is shown by the amount of glacial +denudation it has suffered. Its summit has been ground to a point, +which gives it a rather thin, pinched appearance. It has a wide- +flowing base, however, and is fairly well proportioned. Though it is +eleven thousand feet high, it is too far off to make much show under +ordinary conditions in so extensive a landscape. Through a great part +of the summer it is invisible on account of smoke poured into the sky +from burning woods, logging camps, mills, etc., and in winter for +weeks at a time, or even months, it is in the clouds. Only in spring +and early summer and in what there may chance to be of bright weather +in winter is it or any of its companions at all clear or telling. +From the Cascades on the Columbia it may be seen at a distance of +twenty miles or thereabouts, or from other points up and down the +river, and with the magnificent foreground it is very impressive. It +gives the supreme touch of grandeur to all the main Columbia views, +rising at every turn, solitary, majestic, awe-inspiring, the ruling +spirit of the landscape. But, like mountains everywhere, it varies +greatly in impressiveness and apparent height at different times and +seasons, not alone from differences as to the dimness or transparency +of the air. Clear, or arrayed in clouds, it changes both in size and +general expression. Now it looms up to an immense height and seems to +draw near in tremendous grandeur and beauty, holding the eyes of every +beholder in devout and awful interest. Next year or next day, or even +in the same day, you return to the same point of view, perhaps to find +that the glory has departed, as if the mountain had died and the poor +dull, shrunken mass of rocks and ice had lost all power to charm. + +Never shall I forget my first glorious view of Mount Hood one calm +evening in July, though I had seen it many times before this. I was +then sauntering with a friend across the new Willamette bridge between +Portland and East Portland for the sake of the river views, which are +here very fine in the tranquil summer weather. The scene on the water +was a lively one. Boats of every description were gliding, glinting, +drifting about at work or play, and we leaned over the rail from time +to time, contemplating the gay throng. Several lines of ferry boats +were making regular trips at intervals of a few minutes, and river +steamers were coming and going from the wharves, laden with all sorts +of merchandise, raising long diverging swells that make all the light +pleasure craft bow and nod in hearty salutation as they passed. The +crowd was being constantly increased by new arrivals from both shores, +sailboats, rowboats, racing shells, rafts, were loaded with gayly +dressed people, and here and there some adventurous man or boy might +be seen as a merry sailor on a single plank or spar, apparently as +deep in enjoyment as were any on the water. It seemed as if all the +town were coming to the river, renouncing the cares and toils of the +day, determined to take the evening breeze into their pulses, and be +cool and tranquil ere going to bed. + +Absorbed in the happy scene, given up to dreamy, random observation of +what lay immediately before me, I was not conscious of anything +occurring on the outer rim of the landscape. Forest, mountain, and +sky were forgotten, when my companion suddenly directed my attention +to the eastward, shouting, "Oh, look! look!" in so loud and excited a +tone of voice that passers-by, saunterers like ourselves, were +startled and looked over the bridge as if expecting to see some boat +upset. Looking across the forest, over which the mellow light of the +sunset was streaming, I soon discovered the source of my friend's +excitement. There stood Mount Hood in all the glory of the alpenglow, +looming immensely high, beaming with intelligence, and so impressive +that one was overawed as if suddenly brought before some superior +being newly arrived from the sky. + +The atmosphere was somewhat hazy, but the mountain seemed neither near +nor far. Its glaciers flashed in the divine light. The rugged, +storm-worn ridges between them and the snowfields of the summit, these +perhaps might have been traced as far as they were in sight, and the +blending zones of color about the base. But so profound was the +general impression, partial analysis did not come into play. The +whole mountain appeared as one glorious manifestation of divine power, +enthusiastic and benevolent, glowing like a countenance with ineffable +repose and beauty, before which we could only gaze in devout and lowly +admiration. + +The far-famed Oregon forests cover all the western section of the +State, the mountains as well as the lowlands, with the exception of a +few gravelly spots and open spaces in the central portions of the +great cultivated valleys. Beginning on the coast, where their outer +ranks are drenched and buffeted by wind-driven scud from the sea, they +press on in close, majestic ranks over the coast mountains, across the +broad central valleys, and over the Cascade Range, broken and halted +only by the few great peaks that rise like islands above the sea of +evergreens. + +In descending the eastern slopes of the Cascades the rich, abounding, +triumphant exuberance of the trees is quickly subdued; they become +smaller, grow wide apart, leaving dry spaces without moss covering or +underbrush, and before the foot of the range is reached, fail +altogether, stayed by the drouth of the interior almost as suddenly as +on the western margin they are stayed by the sea. Here and there at +wide intervals on the eastern plains patches of a small pine (Pinus +contorta) are found, and a scattering growth of juniper, used by the +settlers mostly for fence posts and firewood. Along the stream +bottoms there is usually more or less of cottonwood and willow, which, +though yielding inferior timber, is yet highly prized in this bare +region. On the Blue Mountains there is pine, spruce, fir, and larch +in abundance for every use, but beyond this range there is nothing +that may be called a forest in the Columbia River basin, until we +reach the spurs of the Rocky Mountains; and these Rocky Mountain +forests are made up of trees which, compared with the giants of the +Pacific Slope, are mere saplings. + + + + +XXII + +The Forests of Oregon and their Inhabitants + + +Like the forests of Washington, already described, those of Oregon are +in great part made up of the Douglas spruce[32], or Oregon pine (Abies +Douglasii). A large number of mills are at work upon this species, +especially along the Columbia, but these as yet have made but little +impression upon its dense masses, the mills here being small as +compared with those of the Puget Sound region. The white cedar, or +Port Orford cedar (Cupressus Lawsoniana, or Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana), +is one of the most beautiful of the evergreens, and produces excellent +lumber, considerable quantities of which are shipped to the San +Francisco market. It is found mostly about Coos Bay, along the +Coquille River, and on the northern slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains, +and extends down the coast into California. The silver firs, the +spruces, and the colossal arbor-vitae, or white cedar[33](Thuja +gigantea), described in the chapter on Washington, are also found here +in great beauty and perfection, the largest of these (Picea grandis, +Loud.; Abies grandis, Lindl.) being confined mostly to the coast +region, where it attains a height of three hundred feet, and a +diameter of ten or twelve feet. Five or six species of pines are +found in the State, the most important of which, both as to lumber and +as to the part they play in the general wealth and beauty of the +forests, are the yellow and sugar pines (Pinus ponderosa and P. +Lambertiana). The yellow pine is most abundant on the eastern slopes +of the Cascades, forming there the main bulk of the forest in many +places. It is also common along the borders of the open spaces in +Willamette Valley. In the southern portion of the State the sugar +pine, which is the king of all the pines and the glory of the Sierra +forests, occurs in considerable abundance in the basins of the Umpqua +and Rogue Rivers, and it was in the Umpqua Hills that this noble tree +was first discovered by the enthusiastic botanical explorer David +Douglas, in the year 1826. + +This is the Douglas for whom the noble Douglas spruce is named, and +many a fair blooming plant also, which will serve to keep his memory +fresh and sweet as long as beautiful trees and flowers are loved. The +Indians of the lower Columbia River watched him with lively curiosity +as he wandered about in the woods day after day, gazing intently on +the ground or at the great trees, collecting specimens of everything +he saw, but, unlike all the eager fur-gathering strangers they had +hitherto seen, caring nothing about trade. And when at length they +came to know him better, and saw that from year to year the growing +things of the woods and prairies, meadows and plains, were his only +object of pursuit, they called him the "Man of Grass," a title of +which he was proud. + +He was a Scotchman and first came to this coast in the spring of 1825 +under the auspices of the London Horticultural Society, landing at the +mouth of the Columbia after a long dismal voyage of eight months and +fourteen days. During this first season he chose Fort Vancouver, +belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, as his headquarters, and from +there made excursions into the glorious wilderness in every direction, +discovering many new species among the trees as well as among the rich +underbrush and smaller herbaceous vegetation. It was while making a +trip to Mount Hood this year that he discovered the two largest and +most beautiful firs in the world (Picea amabilis and P. nobilis--now +called Abies), and from the seeds which he then collected and sent +home tall trees are now growing in Scotland. + +In one of his trips that summer, in the lower Willamette Valley, he +saw in an Indian's tobacco pouch some of the seeds and scales of a new +species of pine, which he learned were gathered from a large tree that +grew far to the southward. Most of the following season was spent on +the upper waters of the Columbia, and it was not until September that +he returned to Fort Vancouver, about the time of the setting-in of the +winter rains. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the great pine he had +heard of, and the seeds of which he had seen, he made haste to set out +on an excursion to the headwaters of the Willamette in search of it; +and how he fared on this excursion and what dangers and hardships he +endured is best told in his own journal, part of which I quote as +follows:-- + + October 26th, 1826. Weather dull. Cold and cloudy. When my + friends in England are made acquainted with my travels I fear + they will think that I have told them nothing but my miseries.... + I quitted my camp early in the morning to survey the neighboring + country, leaving my guide to take charge of the horses until my + return in the evening. About an hour's walk from the camp I met + an Indian, who on perceiving me instantly strung his bow, placed + on his left arm a sleeve of raccoon skin and stood on the + defensive. Being quite sure that conduct was prompted by fear and + not by hostile intentions, the poor fellow having probably never + seen such a being as myself before, I laid my gun at my feet on the + ground and waved my hand for him to come to me, which he did slowly + and with great caution. I then made him place his bow and quiver + of arrows beside my gun, and striking a light gave him a smoke out + of my own pipe and a present of a few beads. With my pencil I made + a rough sketch of the cone and pine tree which I wanted to obtain + and drew his attention to it, when he instantly pointed with his + hand to the hills fifteen or twenty miles distant towards the + south; and when I expressed my intention of going thither, + cheerfully set about accompanying me. At midday I reached my long- + wished-for pines and lost no time in examining them and endeavoring + to collect specimens and seeds. New and strange things seldom fail + to make strong impressions and are therefore frequently overrated; + so that, lest I should never see my friends in England to inform + them verbally of this most beautiful and immensely grand tree, I + shall here state the dimensions of the largest I could find among + several that had been blown down by the wind. At three feet from + the ground its circumference is fifty-seven feet, nine inches; at + one hundred and thirty-four feet, seventeen feet five inches; the + extreme length two hundred and forty-five feet.... As it was + impossible either to climb the tree or hew it down, I endeavored to + knock off the cones by firing at them with ball, when the report of + my gun brought eight Indians, all of them painted with red earth, + armed with bows, arrows, bone-tipped spears, and flint knives. + They appeared anything but friendly. I explained to them what I + wanted and they seemed satisfied and sat down to smoke; but + presently I saw one of them string his bow and another sharpen his + flint knife with a pair of wooden pincers and suspend it on the + wrist of his right hand. Further testimony of their intentions was + unnecessary. To save myself by flight was impossible, so without + hesitation I stepped back about five paces, cocked my gun, drew one + of the pistols out of my belt, and holding it in my left hand, the + gun in my right, showed myself determined to fight for my life. As + much as possible I endeavored to preserve my coolness, and thus we + stood looking at one another without making any movement or + uttering a word for perhaps ten minutes, when one at last, who + seemed to be the leader, gave a sign that they wished for some + tobacco; this I signified they should have if they fetched a + quantity of cones. They went off immediately in search of them, + and no sooner were they all out of sight than I picked up my three + cones and some twigs of the trees and made the quickest possible + retreat, hurrying back to my camp, which I reached before dusk. + The Indian who last undertook to be my guide to the trees I sent + off before gaining my encampment, lest he should betray me. How + irksome is the darkness of night to one under such circumstances. + I cannot speak a word to my guide, nor have I a book to divert my + thoughts, which are continually occupied with the dread lest the + hostile Indians should trace me hither and make an attack. I now + write lying on the grass with my gun cocked beside me, and penning + these lines by the light of my Columbian candle, namely, an ignited + piece of rosin-wood. + +Douglas named this magnificent species Pinus Lambertiana, in honor of +his friend Dr. Lambert, of London. This is the noblest pine thus far +discovered in the forests of the world, surpassing all others not only +in size but in beauty and majesty. Oregon may well be proud that its +discovery was made within her borders, and that, though it is far more +abundant in California, she has the largest known specimens. In the +Sierra the finest sugar pine forests lie at an elevation of about five +thousand feet. In Oregon they occupy much lower ground, some of the +trees being found but little above tide-water. + +No lover of trees will ever forget his first meeting with the sugar +pine. In most coniferous trees there is a sameness of form and +expression which at length becomes wearisome to most people who travel +far in the woods. But the sugar pines are as free from conventional +forms as any of the oaks. No two are so much alike as to hide their +individuality from any observer. Every tree is appreciated as a study +in itself and proclaims in no uncertain terms the surpassing grandeur +of the species. The branches, mostly near the summit, are sometimes +nearly forty feet long, feathered richly all around with short, leafy +branchlets, and tasseled with cones a foot and a half long. And when +these superb arms are outspread, radiating in every direction, an +immense crownlike mass is formed which, poised on the noble shaft and +filled with sunshine, is one of the grandest forest objects +conceivable. But though so wild and unconventional when full-grown, +the sugar pine is a remarkably regular tree in youth, a strict +follower of coniferous fashions, slim, erect, tapering, symmetrical, +every branch in place. At the age of fifty or sixty years this shy, +fashionable form begins to give way. Special branches are thrust out +away from the general outlines of the trees and bent down with cones. +Henceforth it becomes more and more original and independent in style, +pushes boldly aloft into the winds and sunshine, growing ever more +stately and beautiful, a joy and inspiration to every beholder. + +Unfortunately, the sugar pine makes excellent lumber. It is too good +to live, and is already passing rapidly away before the woodman's axe. +Surely out of all of the abounding forest wealth of Oregon a few +specimens might be spared to the world, not as dead lumber, but as +living trees. A park of moderate extent might be set apart and +protected for public use forever, containing at least a few hundreds +of each of these noble pines, spruces, and firs. Happy will be the +men who, having the power and the love and benevolent forecast to do +this, will do it. They will not be forgotten. The trees and their +lovers will sing their praises, and generations yet unborn will rise +up and call them blessed. + +Dotting the prairies and fringing the edges of the great evergreen +forests we find a considerable number of hardwood trees, such as the +oak, maple, ash, alder, laurel, madrone, flowering dogwood, wild +cherry, and wild apple. The white oak (Quercus Garryana) is the most +important of the Oregon oaks as a timber tree, but not nearly so +beautiful as Kellogg's oak (Q. Kelloggii). The former is found mostly +along the Columbia River, particularly about the Dalles, and a +considerable quantity of useful lumber is made from it and sold, +sometimes for eastern white oak, to wagon makers. Kellogg's oak is a +magnificent tree and does much for the picturesque beauty of the +Umpqua and Rogue River Valleys where it abounds. It is also found in +all the Yosemite valleys of the Sierra, and its acorns form an +important part of the food of the Digger Indians. In the Siskiyou +Mountains there is a live oak (Q. chrysolepis), wide-spreading and +very picturesque in form, but not very common. It extends southward +along the western flank of the Sierra and is there more abundant and +much larger than in Oregon, oftentimes five to eight feet in diameter. + +The maples are the same as those in Washington, already described, but +I have not seen any maple groves here equal in extent or in the size +of the trees to those on the Snoqualmie River. + +The Oregon ash is now rare along the stream banks of western Oregon, +and it grows to a good size and furnishes lumber that is for some +purposes equal to the white ash of the Western States. + +Nuttall's flowering dogwood makes a brave display with its wealth of +show involucres in the spring along cool streams. Specimens of the +flowers may be found measuring eight inches in diameter. + +The wild cherry (Prunus emarginata, var. mollis) is a small, handsome +tree seldom more than a foot in diameter at the base. It makes +valuable lumber and its black, astringent fruit furnishes a rich +resource as food for the birds. A smaller form is common in the +Sierra, the fruit of which is eagerly eaten by the Indians and hunters +in time of need. + +The wild apple (Pyrus rivularis) is a fine, hearty, handsome little +tree that grows well in rich, cool soil along streams and on the edges +of beaver meadows from California through Oregon and Washington to +southeastern Alaska. In Oregon it forms dense, tangled thickets, some +of them almost impenetrable. The largest trunks are nearly a foot in +diameter. When in bloom it makes a fine show with its abundant +clusters of flowers, which are white and fragrant. The fruit is very +small and savagely acid. It is wholesome, however, and is eaten by +birds, bears, Indians, and many other adventurers, great and small. + +Passing from beneath the shadows of the woods where the trees grow +close and high, we step into charming wild gardens full of lilies, +orchids, heathworts, roses, etc., with colors so gay and forming such +sumptuous masses of bloom, they make the gardens of civilization, +however lovingly cared for, seem pathetic and silly. Around the great +fire-mountains, above the forests and beneath the snow, there is a +flowery zone of marvelous beauty planted with anemones, erythroniums, +daisies, bryanthus, kalmia, vaccinium, cassiope, saxifrages, etc., +forming one continuous garden fifty or sixty miles in circumference, +and so deep and luxuriant and closely woven it seems as if Nature, +glad to find an opening, were economizing space and trying to see how +may of her bright-eyed darlings she can get together in one mountain +wreath. + +Along the slopes of the Cascades, where the woods are less dense, +especially about the headwaters of the Willamette, there are miles of +rhododendron, making glorious outbursts of purple bloom, and down on +the prairies in rich, damp hollows the blue-flowered camassia grows in +such profusion that at a little distance its dense masses appear as +beautiful blue lakes imbedded in the green, flowery plains; while all +about the streams and the lakes and the beaver meadows and the margins +of the deep woods there is a magnificent tangle of gaultheria and +huckleberry bushes with their myriads of pink bells, reinforced with +hazel, cornel, rubus of many species, wild plum, cherry, and crab +apple; besides thousands of charming bloomers to be found in all sorts +of places throughout the wilderness whose mere names are refreshing, +such as linnaea, menziesia, pyrola, chimaphila, brodiaea, smilacina, +fritillaria, calochortus, trillium, clintonia, veratrum, cypripedium, +goodyera, spiranthes, habenaria, and the rare and lovely "Hider of the +North," Calypso borealis, to find which is alone a sufficient object +for a journey into the wilderness. And besides these there is a +charming underworld of ferns and mosses flourishing gloriously beneath +all the woods. + +Everybody loves wild woods and flowers more or less. Seeds of all +these Oregon evergreens and of many of the flowering shrubs and plants +have been sent to almost every country under the sun, and they are now +growing in carefully tended parks and gardens. And now that the ways +of approach are open one would expect to find these woods and gardens +full of admiring visitors reveling in their beauty like bees in a +clover field. Yet few care to visit them. A portion of the bark of +one of the California trees, the mere dead skin, excited the wondering +attention of thousands when it was set up in the Crystal Palace in +London, as did also a few peeled spars, the shafts of mere saplings +from Oregon or Washington. Could one of these great silver firs or +sugar pines three hundred feet high have been transplanted entire to +that exhibition, how enthusiastic would have been the praises accorded +to it! + +Nevertheless, the countless hosts waving at home beneath their own +sky, beside their own noble rivers and mountains, and standing on a +flower-enameled carpet of mosses thousands of square miles in extent, +attract but little attention. Most travelers content themselves with +what they may chance to see from car windows, hotel verandas, or the +deck of a steamer on the lower Columbia--clinging to the battered +highways like drowning sailors to a life raft. When an excursion into +the woods is proposed, all sorts of exaggerated or imaginary dangers +are conjured up, filling the kindly, soothing wilderness with colds, +fevers, Indians, bears, snakes, bugs, impassable rivers, and jungles +of brush, to which is always added quick and sure starvation. + +As to starvation, the woods are full of food, and a supply of bread +may easily be carried for habit's sake, and replenished now and then +at outlying farms and camps. The Indians are seldom found in the +woods, being confined mainly to the banks of the rivers, where the +greater part of their food is obtained. Moreover, the most of them +have been either buried since the settlement of the country or +civilized into comparative innocence, industry, or harmless laziness. +There are bears in the woods, but not in such numbers nor of such +unspeakable ferocity as town-dwellers imagine, nor do bears spend +their lives in going about the country like the devil, seeking whom +they may devour. Oregon bears, like most others, have no liking for +man either as meat or as society; and while some may be curious at +times to see what manner of creature he is, most of them have learned +to shun people as deadly enemies. They have been poisoned, trapped, +and shot at until they have become shy, and it is no longer easy to +make their acquaintance. Indeed, since the settlement of the country, +notwithstanding far the greater portion is yet wild, it is difficult +to find any of the larger animals that once were numerous and +comparatively familiar, such as the bear, wolf, panther, lynx, deer, +elk, and antelope. + +As early as 1843, while the settlers numbered only a few thousands, +and before any sort of government had been organized, they came +together and held what they called "a wolf meeting," at which a +committee was appointed to devise means for the destruction of wild +animals destructive to tame ones, which committee in due time begged +to report as follows:-- + + It being admitted by all that bears, wolves, panthers, etc., are + destructive to the useful animals owned by the settlers of this + colony, your committee would submit the following resolutions as + the sense of this meeting, by which the community may be governed + in carrying on a defensive and destructive war on all such + animals:-- + + Resolved, 1st.--That we deem it expedient for the community to take + immediate measures for the destruction of all wolves, panthers, and + bears, and such other animals as are known to be destructive to + cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. + + 2d.--That a bounty of fifty cents be paid for the destruction of a + small wolf, $3.00 for a large wolf, $1.50 for a lynx, $2.00 for a + bear and $5.00 for a panther. + +This center of destruction was in the Willamette Valley. But for many +years prior to the beginning of the operations of the "Wolf +Organization" the Hudson's Bay Company had established forts and +trading stations over all the country, wherever fur-gathering Indians +could be found, and vast numbers of these animals were killed. Their +destruction has since gone on at an accelerated rate from year to year +as the settlements have been extended, so that in some cases it is +difficult to obtain specimens enough for the use of naturalists. But +even before any of these settlements were made, and before the coming +of the Hudson's Bay Company, there was very little danger to be met in +passing through this wilderness as far as animals were concerned, and +but little of any kind as compared with the dangers encountered in +crowded houses and streets. + +When Lewis and Clark made their famous trip across the continent in +1804-05, when all the Rocky Mountain region was wild, as well as the +Pacific Slope, they did not lose a single man by wild animals, nor, +though frequently attacked, especially by the grizzlies of the Rocky +Mountains, were any of them wounded seriously. Captain Clark was +bitten on the hand by a wolf as he lay asleep; that was one bite among +more than a hundred men while traveling through eight to nine thousand +miles of savage wilderness. They could hardly have been so fortunate +had they stayed at home. They wintered on the edge of the Clatsop +plains, on the south side of the Columbia River near its mouth. In +the woods on that side they found game abundant, especially elk, and +with the aid of the friendly Indians who furnished salmon and +"wapatoo" (the tubers of Sagittaria variabilis), they were in no +danger of starving. + +But on the return trip in the spring they reached the base of the +Rocky Mountains when the range was yet too heavily snow-laden to be +crossed with horses. Therefore they had to wait some weeks. This was +at the head of one of the northern branches of the Snake River, and, +their scanty stock of provisions being nearly exhausted, the whole +party was compelled to live mostly on bears and dogs; deer, antelope, +and elk, usually abundant, were now scarce because the region had been +closely hunted over by the Indians before their arrival. + +Lewis and Clark had killed a number of bears and saved the skins of +the more interesting specimens, and the variations they found in size, +color of the hair, etc., made great difficulty in classification. +Wishing to get the opinion of the Chopumish Indians, near one of whose +villages they were encamped, concerning the various species, the +explorers unpacked their bundles and spread out for examination all +the skins they had taken. The Indian hunters immediately classed the +white, the deep and the pale grizzly red, the grizzly dark-brown--in +short, all those with the extremities of the hair of a white or frosty +color without regard to the color of the ground or foil--under the +name of hoh-host. The Indians assured them that these were all of the +same species as the white bear, that they associated together, had +longer nails than the others, and never climbed trees. On the other +hand, the black skins, those that were black with white hairs +intermixed or with a white breast, the uniform bay, the brown, and the +light reddish-brown, were classed under the name yack-ah, and were +said to resemble each other in being smaller and having shorter nails, +in climbing trees, and being so little vicious that they could be +pursued with safety. + +Lewis and Clark came to the conclusion that all those with white- +tipped hair found by them in the basin of the Columbia belonged to the +same species as the grizzlies of the upper Missouri; and that the +black and reddish-brown, etc., of the Rocky Mountains belong to a +second species equally distinct from the grizzly and the black bear of +the Pacific Coast and the East, which never vary in color. + +As much as possible should be made by the ordinary traveler of these +descriptions, for he will be likely to see very little of any species +for himself; not that bears no longer exist here, but because, being +shy, they keep out of the way. In order to see them and learn their +habits one must go softly and alone, lingering long in the fringing +woods on the banks of the salmon streams, and in the small openings in +the midst of thickets where berries are most abundant. + +As for rattlesnakes, the other grand dread of town dwellers when they +leave beaten roads, there are two, or perhaps three, species of them +in Oregon. But they are nowhere to be found in great numbers. In +western Oregon they are hardly known at all. In all my walks in the +Oregon forest I have never met a single specimen, though a few have +been seen at long intervals. + +When the country was first settled by the whites, fifty years ago, the +elk roamed through the woods and over the plains to the east of the +Cascades in immense numbers; now they are rarely seen except by +experienced hunters who know their haunts in the deepest and most +inaccessible solitudes to which they have been driven. So majestic an +animal forms a tempting mark for the sportsman's rifle. Countless +thousands have been killed for mere amusement and they already seem to +be nearing extinction as rapidly as the buffalo. The antelope also is +vanishing from the Columbia plains before the farmers and cattlemen. +Whether the moose still lingers in Oregon or Washington I am unable to +say. + +On the highest mountains of the Cascade Range the wild goat roams in +comparative security, few of his enemies caring to go so far in +pursuit and to hunt on ground so high and dangerous. He is a brave, +sturdy shaggy mountaineer of an animal, enjoying the freedom and +security of crumbling ridges and overhanging cliffs above the +glaciers, oftentimes beyond the reach of the most daring hunter. They +seem to be as much at home on the ice and snowfields as on the crags, +making their way in flocks from ridge to ridge on the great volcanic +mountains by crossing the glaciers that lie between them, traveling in +single file guided by an old experienced leader, like a party of +climbers on the Alps. On these ice-journeys they pick their way +through networks of crevasses and over bridges of snow with admirable +skill, and the mountaineer may seldom do better in such places than to +follow their trail, if he can. In the rich alpine gardens and meadows +they find abundance of food, venturing sometimes well down in the +prairie openings on the edge of the timberline, but holding themselves +ever alert and watchful, ready to flee to their highland castles at +the faintest alarm. When their summer pastures are buried beneath the +winter snows, they make haste to the lower ridges, seeking the wind- +beaten crags and slopes where the snow cannot lie at any great depth, +feeding at times on the leaves and twigs of bushes when grass is +beyond reach. + +The wild sheep is another admirable alpine rover, but comparatively +rare in the Oregon mountains, choosing rather the drier ridges to the +southward on the Cascades and to the eastward among the spurs of the +Rocky Mountain chain. + +Deer give beautiful animation to the forests, harmonizing finely in +their color and movements with the gray and brown shafts of the trees +and the swaying of the branches as they stand in groups at rest, or +move gracefully and noiselessly over the mossy ground about the edges +of beaver meadows and flowery glades, daintily culling the leaves and +tips of the mints and aromatic bushes on which they feed. There are +three species, the black-tailed, white-tailed, and mule deer; the last +being restricted in its range to the open woods and plains to the +eastward of the Cascades. They are nowhere very numerous now, killing +for food, for hides, or for mere wanton sport, having well-nigh +exterminated them in the more accessible regions, while elsewhere they +are too often at the mercy of the wolves. + +Gliding about in their shady forest homes, keeping well out of sight, +there is a multitude of sleek fur-clad animals living and enjoying +their clean, beautiful lives. How beautiful and interesting they are +is about as difficult for busy mortals to find out as if their homes +were beyond sight in the sky. Hence the stories of every wild hunter +and trapper are eagerly listened to as being possibly true, or partly +so, however thickly clothed in successive folds of exaggeration and +fancy. Unsatisfying as these accounts must be, a tourist's frightened +rush and scramble through the woods yields far less than the hunter's +wildest stories, while in writing we can do but little more than to +give a few names, as they come to mind,--beaver, squirrel, coon, fox, +marten, fisher, otter, ermine, wildcat,--only this instead of full +descriptions of the bright-eyed furry throng, their snug home nests, +their fears and fights and loves, how they get their food, rear their +young, escape their enemies, and keep themselves warm and well and +exquisitely clean through all the pitiless weather. + +For many years before the settlement of the country the fur of the +beaver brought a high price, and therefore it was pursued with +weariless ardor. Not even in the quest for gold has a more ruthless, +desperate energy been developed. It was in those early beaver-days +that the striking class of adventurers called "free trappers" made +their appearance. Bold, enterprising men, eager to make money, and +inclined at the same time to relish the license of a savage life, +would set forth with a few traps and a gun and a hunting knife, +content at first to venture only a short distance up the beaver +streams nearest to the settlements, and where the Indians were not +likely to molest them. There they would set their traps, while the +buffalo, antelope, deer, etc., furnished a royal supply of food. In a +few months their pack animals would be laden with thousands of +dollars' worth of fur. + +Next season they would venture farther, and again farther, meanwhile +growing rapidly wilder, getting acquainted with the Indian tribes, and +usually marrying among them. Thenceforward no danger could stay them +in their exciting pursuit. Wherever there were beaver they would go, +however far or wild,--the wilder the better, provided their scalps +could be saved. Oftentimes they were compelled to set their traps and +visit them by night and lie hid during the day, when operating in the +neighborhood of hostile Indians. Not then venturing to make a fire or +shoot game, they lived on the raw flesh of the beaver, perhaps +seasoned with wild cresses or berries. Then, returning to the trading +stations, they would spend their hard earnings in a few weeks of +dissipation and "good time," and go again to the bears and beavers, +until at length a bullet or arrow would end all. One after another +would be missed by some friend or trader at the autumn rendezvous, +reported killed by the Indians, and--forgotten. Some men of this +class have, from superior skill or fortune, escaped every danger, +lived to a good old age, and earned fame, and, by their knowledge of +the topography of the vast West then unexplored, have been able to +render important service to the country; but most of them laid their +bones in the wilderness after a few short, keen seasons. So great +were the perils that beset them, the average length of the life of a +"free trapper" has been estimated at less than five years. From the +Columbia waters beaver and beaver men have almost wholly passed away, +and the men once so striking a part of the view have left scarcely the +faintest sign of their existence. On the other hand, a thousand +meadows on the mountains tell the story of the beavers, to remain +fresh and green for many a century, monuments of their happy, +industrious lives. + +But there is a little airy, elfin animal in these woods, and in all +the evergreen woods of the Pacific Coast, that is more influential and +interesting than even the beaver. This is the Douglas squirrel +(Sciurus Douglasi). Go where you will throughout all these noble +forests, you everywhere find this little squirrel the master-existence. +Though only a few inches long, so intense is his fiery vigor +and restlessness, he stirs every grove with wild life, and makes +himself more important than the great bears that shuffle through the +berry tangles beneath him. Every tree feels the sting of his sharp +feet. Nature has made him master-forester, and committed the greater +part of the coniferous crops to his management. Probably over half of +all the ripe cones of the spruces, firs, and pines are cut off and +handled by this busy harvester. Most of them are stored away for food +through the winter and spring, but a part are pushed into shallow pits +and covered loosely, where some of the seeds are no doubt left to +germinate and grow up. All the tree squirrels are more or less +birdlike in voice and movements, but the Douglas is pre-eminently so, +possessing every squirrelish attribute, fully developed and +concentrated. He is the squirrel of squirrels, flashing from branch +to branch of his favorite evergreens, crisp and glossy and sound as a +sunbeam. He stirs the leaves like a rustling breeze, darting across +openings in arrowy lines, launching in curves, glinting deftly from +side to side in sudden zigzags, and swirling in giddy loops and +spirals around the trunks, now on his haunches, now on his head, yet +ever graceful and performing all his feats of strength and skill +without apparent effort. One never tires of this bright spark of +life, the brave little voice crying in the wilderness. His varied, +piney gossip is as savory to the air as balsam to the palate. Some of +his notes are almost flutelike in softness, while others prick and +tingle like thistles. He is the mockingbird of squirrels, barking +like a dog, screaming like a hawk, whistling like a blackbird or +linnet, while in bluff, audacious noisiness he is a jay. A small +thing, but filling and animating all the woods. + +Nor is there any lack of wings, notwithstanding few are to be seen on +short, noisy rambles. The ousel sweetens the shady glens and canyons +where waterfalls abound, and every grove or forest, however silent it +may seem when we chance to pay it a hasty visit, has its singers,-- +thrushes, linnets, warblers,--while hummingbirds glint and hover about +the fringing masses of bloom around stream and meadow openings. But +few of these will show themselves or sing their songs to those who are +ever in haste and getting lost, going in gangs formidable in color and +accoutrements, laughing, hallooing, breaking limbs off the trees as +they pass, awkwardly struggling through briery thickets, entangled +like blue-bottles in spider webs, and stopping from time to time to +fire off their guns and pistols for the sake of the echoes, thus +frightening all the life about them for miles. It is this class of +hunters and travelers who report that there are "no birds in the woods +or game animals of any kind larger than mosquitoes." + +Besides the singing birds mentioned above, the handsome Oregon grouse +may be found in the thick woods, also the dusky grouse and Franklin's +grouse, and in some places the beautiful mountain partridge, or quail. +The white-tailed ptarmigan lives on the lofty snow peaks above the +timber, and the prairie chicken and sage cock on the broad Columbia +plains from the Cascade Range back to the foothills of the Rocky +Mountains. The bald eagle is very common along the Columbia River, or +wherever fish, especially salmon, are plentiful, while swans, herons, +cranes, pelicans, geese, ducks of many species, and water birds in +general abound in the lake region, on the main streams, and along the +coast, stirring the waters and sky into fine, lively pictures, greatly +to the delight of wandering lovers of wildness. + + + +XXIII + + +The Rivers of Oregon + + +Turning from the woods and their inhabitants to the rivers, we find +that while the former are rarely seen by travelers beyond the +immediate borders of the settlements, the great river of Oregon draws +crowds of enthusiastic admirers to sound its praises. Every summer +since the completion of the first overland railroad, tourists have +been coming to it in ever increasing numbers, showing that in general +estimation the Columbia is one of the chief attractions of the Pacific +Coast. And well it deserves the admiration so heartily bestowed upon +it. The beauty and majesty of its waters, and the variety and +grandeur of the scenery through which it flows, lead many to regard it +as the most interesting of all the great rivers of the continent, +notwithstanding the claims of the other members of the family to which +it belongs and which nobody can measure--the Fraser, McKenzie, +Saskatchewan, the Missouri, Yellowstone, Platte, and the Colorado, +with their glacier and geyser fountains, their famous canyons, lakes, +forests, and vast flowery prairies and plains. These great rivers and +the Columbia are intimately related. All draw their upper waters from +the same high fountains on the broad, rugged uplift of the Rocky +Mountains, their branches interlacing like the branches of trees. +They sing their first songs together on the heights; then, collecting +their tributaries, they set out on their grand journey to the +Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean. + +The Columbia, viewed as one from the sea to the mountains, is like a +rugged, broad-topped, picturesque old oak about six hundred miles long +and nearly a thousand miles wide measured across the spread of its +upper branches, the main limbs gnarled and swollen with lakes and +lakelike expansions, while innumerable smaller lakes shine like fruit +among the smaller branches. The main trunk extends back through the +Coast and Cascade Mountains in a general easterly direction for three +hundred miles, when it divides abruptly into two grand branches which +bend off to the northeastward and southeastward. + +The south branch, the longer of the two, called the Snake, or Lewis, +River, extends into the Rocky Mountains as far as the Yellowstone +National Park, where its head tributaries interlace with those of the +Colorado, Missouri, and Yellowstone. The north branch, still called +the Columbia, extends through Washington far into British territory, +its highest tributaries reaching back through long parallel spurs of +the Rockies between and beyond the headwaters of the Fraser, +Athabasca, and Saskatchewan. Each of these main branches, dividing +again and again, spreads a network of channels over the vast +complicated mass of the great range throughout a section nearly a +thousand miles in length, searching every fountain, however small or +great, and gathering a glorious harvest of crystal water to be rolled +through forest and plain in one majestic flood to the sea, reinforced +on the way by tributaries that drain the Blue Mountains and more than +two hundred miles of the Cascade and Coast Ranges. Though less than +half as long as the Mississippi, it is said to carry as much water. +The amount of its discharge at different seasons, however, has never +been exactly measured, but in time of flood its current is +sufficiently massive and powerful to penetrate the sea to a distance +of fifty or sixty miles from shore, its waters being easily recognized +by the difference in color and by the drift of leaves, berries, pine +cones, branches, and trunks of trees that they carry. + +That so large a river as the Columbia, making a telling current so far +from shore, should remain undiscovered while one exploring expedition +after another sailed past seems remarkable, even after due allowance +is made for the cloudy weather that prevails hereabouts and the broad +fence of breakers drawn across the bar. During the last few +centuries, when the maps of the world were in great part blank, the +search for new worlds was fashionable business, and when such large +game was no longer to be found, islands lying unclaimed in the great +oceans, inhabited by useful and profitable people to be converted or +enslaved, became attractive objects; also new ways to India, seas, +straits, El Dorados, fountains of youth, and rivers that flowed over +golden sands. + +Those early explorers and adventurers were mostly brave, enterprising, +and, after their fashion, pious men. In their clumsy sailing vessels +they dared to go where no chart or lighthouse showed the way, where +the set of the currents, the location of sunken outlying rocks and +shoals, were all unknown, facing fate and weather, undaunted however +dark the signs, heaving the lead and thrashing the men to their duty +and trusting to Providence. When a new shore was found on which they +could land, they said their prayers with superb audacity, fought the +natives if they cared to fight, erected crosses, and took possession +in the names of their sovereigns, establishing claims, such as they +were, to everything in sight and beyond, to be quarreled for and +battled for, and passed from hand to hand in treaties and settlements +made during the intermissions of war. + +The branch of the river that bears the name of Columbia all the way to +its head takes its rise in two lakes about ten miles in length that +lie between the Selkirk and main ranges of the Rocky Mountains in +British Columbia, about eighty miles beyond the boundary line. They +are called the Upper and Lower Columbia Lakes. Issuing from these, +the young river holds a nearly straight course for a hundred and +seventy miles in a northwesterly direction to a plain called "Boat +Encampment," receiving many beautiful affluents by the way from the +Selkirk and main ranges, among which are the Beaver-Foot, Blackberry, +Spill-e-Mee-Chene, and Gold Rivers. At Boat Encampment it receives +two large tributaries, the Canoe River from the northwest, a stream +about a hundred and twenty miles long; and the Whirlpool River from +the north, about a hundred and forty miles in length. + +The Whirlpool River takes its rise near the summit of the main axis of +the range on the fifty-fourth parallel, and is the northmost of all +the Columbia waters. About thirty miles above its confluence with the +Columbia it flows through a lake called the Punch-Bowl, and thence it +passes between Mounts Hooker and Brown, said to be fifteen thousand +and sixteen thousand feet high, making magnificent scenery; though the +height of the mountains thereabouts has been considerably +overestimated. From Boat Encampment the river, now a large, clear +stream, said to be nearly a third of a mile in width, doubles back on +its original course and flows southward as far as its confluence with +the Spokane in Washington, a distance of nearly three hundred miles in +a direct line, most of the way through a wild, rocky, picturesque mass +of mountains, charmingly forested with pine and spruce--though the +trees seem strangely small, like second growth saplings, to one +familiar with the western forests of Washington, Oregon, and +California. + +About forty-five miles below Boat Encampment are the Upper Dalles, or +Dalles de Mort, and thirty miles farther the Lower Dalles, where the +river makes a magnificent uproar and interrupts navigation. About +thirty miles below the Lower Dalles the river expands into Upper Arrow +Lake, a beautiful sheet of water forty miles long and five miles wide, +straight as an arrow and with the beautiful forests of the Selkirk +range rising from its east shore, and those of the Gold range from the +west. At the foot of the lake are the Narrows, a few miles in length, +and after these rapids are passed, the river enters Lower Arrow Lake, +which is like the Upper Arrow, but is even longer and not so straight. + +A short distance below the Lower Arrow the Columbia receives the +Kootenay River, the largest affluent thus far on its course and said +to be navigable for small steamers for a hundred and fifty miles. It +is an exceedingly crooked stream, heading beyond the upper Columbia +lakes, and, in its mazy course, flowing to all points of the compass, +it seems lost and baffled in the tangle of mountain spurs and ridges +it drains. Measured around its loops and bends, it is probably more +than five hundred miles in length. It is also rich in lakes, the +largest, Kootenay Lake, being upwards of seventy miles in length with +an average width of five miles. A short distance below the confluence +of the Kootenay, near the boundary line between Washington and British +Columbia, another large stream comes in from the east, Clarke's Fork, +or the Flathead River. Its upper sources are near those of the +Missouri and South Saskatchewan, and in its course it flows through +two large and beautiful lakes, the Flathead and the Pend d'Oreille. +All the lakes we have noticed thus far would make charming places of +summer resort; but Pend d'Oreille, besides being surpassingly +beautiful, has the advantage of being easily accessible, since it is +on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the Territory of +Idaho. In the purity of its waters it reminds one of Tahoe, while its +many picturesque islands crowned with evergreens, and its winding +shores forming an endless variety of bays and promontories lavishly +crowded with spiry spruce and cedar, recall some of the best of the +island scenery of Alaska. + +About thirty-five miles below the mouth of Clark's Fork the Columbia +is joined by the Ne-whoi-al-pit-ku River from the northwest. Here too +are the great Chaudiere, or Kettle, Falls on the main river, with a +total descent of about fifty feet. Fifty miles farther down, the +Spokane River, a clear, dashing stream, comes in from the east. It is +about one hundred and twenty miles long, and takes its rise in the +beautiful Lake Coeur d'Alene, in Idaho, which receives the drainage of +nearly a hundred miles of the western slopes of the Bitter Root +Mountains, through the St. Joseph and Coeur d'Alene Rivers. The lake +is about twenty miles long, set in the midst of charming scenery, and, +like Pend d'Oreille, is easy of access and is already attracting +attention as a summer place for enjoyment, rest, and health. + +The famous Spokane Falls are in Washington, about thirty miles below +the lake, where the river is outspread and divided and makes a grand +descent from a level basaltic plateau, giving rise to one of the most +beautiful as well as one of the greatest and most available of water- +powers in the State. The city of the same name is built on the +plateau along both sides of the series of cascades and falls, which, +rushing and sounding through the midst, give singular beauty and +animation. The young city is also rushing and booming. It is founded +on a rock, leveled and prepared for it, and its streets require no +grading or paving. As a power to whirl the machinery of a great city +and at the same time to train the people to a love of the sublime and +beautiful as displayed in living water, the Spokane Falls are +unrivaled, at least as far as my observation has reached. Nowhere +else have I seen such lessons given by a river in the streets of a +city, such a glad, exulting, abounding outgush, crisp and clear from +the mountains, dividing, falling, displaying its wealth, calling aloud +in the midst of the busy throng, and making glorious offerings for +every use of utility or adornment. + +From the mouth of the Spokane the Columbia, now out of the woods, +flows to the westward with a broad, stately current for a hundred and +twenty miles to receive the Okinagan, a large, generous tributary a +hundred and sixty miles long, coming from the north and drawing some +of its waters from the Cascade Range. More than half its course is +through a chain of lakes, the largest of which at the head of the +river is over sixty miles in length. From its confluence with the +Okinagan the river pursues a southerly course for a hundred and fifty +miles, most of the way through a dreary, treeless, parched plain to +meet the great south fork. The Lewis, or Snake, River is nearly a +thousand miles long and drains nearly the whole of Idaho, a territory +rich in scenery, gold mines, flowery, grassy valleys, and deserts, +while some of the highest tributaries reach into Wyoming, Utah, and +Nevada. Throughout a great part of its course it is countersunk in a +black lava plain and shut in by mural precipices a thousand feet high, +gloomy, forbidding, and unapproachable, although the gloominess of its +canyon is relieved in some manner by its many falls and springs, some +of the springs being large enough to appear as the outlets of +subterranean rivers. They gush out from the faces of the sheer black +walls and descend foaming with brave roar and beauty to swell the +flood below. + +From where the river skirts the base of the Blue Mountains its +surroundings are less forbidding. Much of the country is fertile, but +its canyon is everywhere deep and almost inaccessible. Steamers make +their way up as far as Lewiston, a hundred and fifty miles, and +receive cargoes of wheat at different points through chutes that +extend down from the tops of the bluffs. But though the Hudson's Bay +Company navigated the north fork to its sources, they depended +altogether on pack animals for the transportation of supplies and furs +between the Columbia and Fort Hall on the head of the south fork, +which shows how desperately unmanageable a river it must be. + +A few miles above the mouth of the Snake the Yakima, which drains a +considerable portion of the Cascade Range, enters from the northwest. +It is about a hundred and fifty miles long, but carries comparatively +little water, a great part of what it sets out with from the base of +the mountains being consumed in irrigated fields and meadows in +passing through the settlements along its course, and by evaporation +on the parched desert plains. The grand flood of the Columbia, now +from half a mile to a mile wide, sweeps on to the westward, holding a +nearly direct course until it reaches the mouth of the Willamette, +where it turns to the northward and flows fifty miles along the main +valley between the Coast and Cascade Ranges ere it again resumes its +westward course to the sea. In all its course from the mouth of the +Yakima to the sea, a distance of three hundred miles, the only +considerable affluent from the northward is the Cowlitz, which heads +in the glaciers of Mount Rainier. + +From the south and east it receives the Walla-Walla and Umatilla, +rather short and dreary-looking streams, though the plains they pass +through have proved fertile, and their upper tributaries in the Blue +Mountains, shaded with tall pines, firs, spruces, and the beautiful +Oregon larch (Larix brevifolia), lead into a delightful region. The +John Day River also heads in the Blue Mountains, and flows into the +Columbia sixty miles below the mouth of the Umatilla. Its valley is +in great part fertile, and is noted for the interesting fossils +discovered in it by Professor Condon in sections cut by the river +through the overlying lava beds. + +The Deschutes River comes in from the south about twenty miles below +the John Day. It is a large, boisterous stream, draining the eastern +slope of the Cascade Range for nearly two hundred miles, and from the +great number of falls on the main trunk, as well as on its many +mountain tributaries, well deserves its name. It enters the Columbia +with a grand roar of falls and rapids, and at times seems almost to +rival the main stream in the volume of water it carries. Near the +mouth of the Deschutes are the Falls of the Columbia, where the river +passes a rough bar of lava. The descent is not great, but the immense +volume of water makes a grand display. During the flood season the +falls are obliterated and skillful boatmen pass over them in safety; +while the Dalles, some six or eight miles below, may be passed during +low water but are utterly impassable in flood time. At the Dalles the +vast river is jammed together into a long, narrow slot of unknown +depth cut sheer down in the basalt. + +This slot, or trough, is about a mile and a half long and about sixty +yards wide at the narrowest place. At ordinary times the river seems +to be set on edge and runs swiftly but without much noisy surging with +a descent of about twenty feet to the mile. But when the snow is +melting on the mountains the river rises here sixty feet, or even more +during extraordinary freshets, and spreads out over a great breadth of +massive rocks through which have been cut several other gorges running +parallel with the one usually occupied. All these inferior gorges now +come into use, and the huge, roaring torrent, still rising and +spreading, at length overwhelms the high jagged rock walls between +them, making a tremendous display of chafing, surging, shattered +currents, counter-currents, and hollow whirls that no words can be +made to describe. A few miles below the Dalles the storm-tossed river +gets itself together again, looks like water, becomes silent, and with +stately, tranquil deliberation goes on its way, out of the gray region +of sage and sand into the Oregon woods. Thirty-five or forty miles +below the Dalles are the Cascades of the Columbia, where the river in +passing through the mountains makes another magnificent display of +foaming, surging rapids, which form the first obstruction to +navigation from the ocean, a hundred and twenty miles distant. This +obstruction is to be overcome by locks, which are now being made. + +Between the Dalles and the Cascades the river is like a lake a mile or +two wide, lying in a valley, or canyon, about three thousand feet +deep. The walls of the canyon lean well back in most places, and +leave here and there small strips, or bays, of level ground along the +water's edge. But towards the Cascades, and for some distance below +them, the immediate banks are guarded by walls of columnar basalt, +which are worn in many places into a great variety of bold and +picturesque forms, such as the Castle Rock, the Rooster Rock, the +Pillars of Hercules, Cape Horn, etc., while back of these rise the +sublime mountain walls, forest-crowned and fringed more or less from +top to base with pine, spruce, and shaggy underbrush, especially in +the narrow gorges and ravines, where innumerable small streams come +dancing and drifting down, misty and white, to join the mighty river. +Many of these falls on both sides of the canyon of the Columbia are +far larger and more interesting in every way than would be guessed +from the slight glimpses one gets of them while sailing past on the +river, or from the car windows. The Multnomah Falls are particularly +interesting, and occupy fern-lined gorges of marvelous beauty in the +basalt. They are said to be about eight hundred feet in height and, +at times of high water when the mountain snows are melting, are well +worthy of a place beside the famous falls of Yosemite Valley. + +According to an Indian tradition, the river of the Cascades once +flowed through the basalt beneath a natural bridge that was broken +down during a mountain war, when the old volcanoes, Hood and St. +Helen's, on opposite sides of the river, hurled rocks at each other, +thus forming a dam. That the river has been dammed here to some +extent, and within a comparatively short period, seems probable, to +say the least, since great numbers of submerged trees standing erect +may be found along both shores, while, as we have seen, the whole +river for thirty miles above the Cascades looks like a lake or mill- +pond. On the other hand, it is held by some that the submerged groves +were carried into their places by immense landslides. + +Much of interest in the connection must necessarily be omitted for +want of space. About forty miles below the Cascades the river +receives the Willamette, the last of its great tributaries. It is +navigable for ocean vessels as far as Portland, ten miles above its +mouth, and for river steamers a hundred miles farther. The Falls of +the Willamette are fifteen miles above Portland, where the river, +coming out of dense woods, breaks its way across a bar of black basalt +and falls forty feet in a passion of snowy foam, showing to fine +advantage against its background of evergreens. + +Of the fertility and beauty of the Willamette all the world has heard. +It lies between the Cascade and Coast Ranges, and is bounded on the +south by the Calapooya Mountains, a cross-spur that separates it from +the valley of the Umpqua. + +It was here the first settlements for agriculture were made and a +provisional government organized, while the settlers, isolated in the +far wilderness, numbered only a few thousand and were laboring under +the opposition of the British Government and the Hudson's Bay Company. +Eager desire in the acquisition of territory on the part of these +pioneer state-builders was more truly boundless than the wilderness +they were in, and their unconscionable patriotism was equaled only by +their belligerence. For here, while negotiations were pending for the +location of the northern boundary, originated the celebrated "Fifty- +four forty or fight," about as reasonable a war-cry as the "North Pole +or fight." Yet sad was the day that brought the news of the signing +of the treaty fixing their boundary along the forty-ninth parallel, +thus leaving the little land-hungry settlement only a mere +quarter-million of miles! + +As the Willamette is one of the most foodful of valleys, so is the +Columbia one of the most foodful of rivers. During the fisher's +harvest time salmon from the sea come in countless millions, urging +their way against falls, rapids, and shallows, up into the very heart +of the Rocky Mountains, supplying everybody by the way with most +bountiful masses of delicious food, weighing from twenty to eighty +pounds each, plump and smooth like loaves of bread ready for the oven. +The supply seems inexhaustible, as well it might. Large quantities +were used by the Indians as fuel, and by the Hudson's Bay people as +manure for their gardens at the forts. Used, wasted, canned and sent +in shiploads to all the world, a grand harvest was reaped every year +while nobody sowed. Of late, however, the salmon crop has begun to +fail, and millions of young fry are now sown like wheat in the river +every year, from hatching establishments belonging to the Government. + +All of the Oregon waters that win their way to the sea are a tributary +to the Columbia, save the short streams of the immediate coast, and +the Umpqua and Rogue Rivers in southern Oregon. These both head in +the Cascade Mountains and find their way to the sea through gaps in +the Coast Range, and both drain large and fertile and beautiful +valleys. Rogue River Valley is peculiarly attractive. With a fine +climate, and kindly, productive soil, the scenery is delightful. +About the main, central open portion of the basin, dotted with +picturesque groves of oak, there are many smaller valleys charmingly +environed, the whole surrounded in the distance by the Siskiyou, +Coast, Umpqua, and Cascade Mountains. Besides the cereals nearly +every sort of fruit flourishes here, and large areas are being devoted +to peach, apricot, nectarine, and vine culture. To me it seems above +all others the garden valley of Oregon and the most delightful place +for a home. On the eastern rim of the valley, in the Cascade +Mountains, about sixty miles from Medford in a direct line, is the +remarkable Crater Lake, usually regarded as the one grand wonder of +the region. It lies in a deep, sheer-walled basin about seven +thousand feet above the level of the sea, supposed to be the crater of +an extinct volcano. + +Oregon as it is today is a very young country, though most of it seems +old. Contemplating the Columbia sweeping from forest to forest, +across plain and desert, one is led to say of it, as did Byron of the +ocean, -- + + "Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now." + +How ancient appear the crumbling basaltic monuments along its banks, +and the gray plains to the east of the Cascades! Nevertheless, the +river as well as its basin in anything like their present condition +are comparatively but of yesterday. Looming no further back in the +geological records than the Tertiary Period, the Oregon of that time +looks altogether strange in the few suggestive glimpses we may get of +it--forests in which palm trees wave their royal crowns, and strange +animals roaming beneath them or about the reedy margins of lakes, the +oreodon, the lophiodon, and several extinct species of the horse, the +camel, and other animals. + +Then came the fire period with its darkening showers of ashes and +cinders and its vast floods of molten lava, making quite another +Oregon from the fair and fertile land of the preceding era. And +again, while yet the volcanic fires show signs of action in the smoke +and flame of the higher mountains, the whole region passes under the +dominion of ice, and from the frost and darkness and death of the +Glacial Period, Oregon has but recently emerged to the kindly warmth +and life of today. + + + +XXIV + +The Grand Canyon of the Colorado + + +Happy nowadays is the tourist, with earth's wonders, new and old, +spread invitingly open before him, and a host of able workers as his +slaves making everything easy, padding plush about him, grading roads +for him, boring tunnels, moving hills out of his way, eager, like the +Devil, to show him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and +foolishness, spiritualizing travel for him with lightning and steam, +abolishing space and time and almost everything else. Little children +and tender, pulpy people, as well as storm-seasoned explorers, may now +go almost everywhere in smooth comfort, cross oceans and deserts +scarce accessible to fishes and birds, and, dragged by steel horses, +go up high mountains, riding gloriously beneath starry showers of +sparks, ascending like Elijah in a whirlwind and chariot of fire. + +First of the wonders of the great West to be brought within reach of +the tourist were the Yosemite and the Big Trees, on the completion of +the first transcontinental railway; next came the Yellowstone and icy +Alaska, by the northern roads; and last the Grand Canyon of the +Colorado, which, naturally the hardest to reach, has now become, by a +branch of the Santa Fe, the most accessible of all. + +Of course, with this wonderful extension of steel ways through our +wildness there is loss as well as gain. Nearly all railroads are +bordered by belts of desolation. The finest wilderness perishes as if +stricken with pestilence. Bird and beast people, if not the dryads, +are frightened from the groves. Too often the groves also vanish, +leaving nothing but ashes. Fortunately, nature has a few big places +beyond man's power to spoil--the ocean, the two icy ends of the globe, +and the Grand Canyon. + +When I first heard of the Santa Fe trains running to the edge of the +Grand Canyon of Arizona, I was troubled with thoughts of the +disenchantment likely to follow. But last winter, when I saw those +trains crawling along through the pines of the Coconino Forest and +close up to the brink of the chasm at Bright Angel, I was glad to +discover that in the presence of such stupendous scenery they are +nothing. The locomotives and trains are mere beetles and +caterpillars, and the noise they make is as little disturbing as the +hooting of an owl in the lonely woods. + +In a dry, hot, monotonous forested plateau, seemingly boundless, you +come suddenly and without warning upon the abrupt edge of a gigantic +sunken landscape of the wildest, most multitudinous features, and +those features, sharp and angular, are made out of flat beds of +limestone and sandstone forming a spiry, jagged, gloriously colored +mountain range countersunk in a level gray plain. It is a hard job to +sketch it even in scrawniest outline; and, try as I may, not in the +least sparing myself, I cannot tell the hundredth part of the wonders +of its features--the side canyons, gorges, alcoves, cloisters, and +amphitheaters of vast sweep and depth, carved in its magnificent +walls; the throng of great architectural rocks it contains resembling +castles, cathedrals, temples, and palaces, towered and spired and +painted, some of them nearly a mile high, yet beneath one's feet. All +this, however, is less difficult than to give any idea of the +impression of wild, primeval beauty and power one receives in merely +gazing from its brink. The view down the gulf of color and over the +rim of its wonderful wall, more than any other view I know, leads us +to think of our earth as a star with stars swimming in light, every +radiant spire pointing the way to the heavens. + +But it is impossible to conceive what the canyon is, or what +impression it makes, from descriptions or pictures, however good. +Naturally it is untellable even to those who have seen something +perhaps a little like it on a small scale in this same plateau region. +One's most extravagant expectations are indefinitely surpassed, though +one expects much from what is said of it as "the biggest chasm on +earth"--"so big is it that all other big things--Yosemite, the +Yellowstone, the Pyramids, Chicago--all would be lost if tumbled into +it." Naturally enough, illustrations as to size are sought for among +other canyons like or unlike it, with the common result of worse +confounding confusion. The prudent keep silence. It was once said +that the "Grand Canyon could put a dozen Yosemites in its vest +pocket." + +The justly famous Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is, like the +Colorado, gorgeously colored and abruptly countersunk in a plateau, +and both are mainly the work of water. But the Colorado's canyon is +more than a thousand times larger, and as a score or two of new +buildings of ordinary size would not appreciably change the general +view of a great city, so hundreds of Yellowstones might be eroded in +the sides of the Colorado Canyon without noticeably augmenting its +size or the richness of its sculpture. + +But it is not true that the great Yosemite rocks would be thus lost or +hidden. Nothing of their kind in the world, so far as I know, rivals +El Capitan and Tissiack, much less dwarfs or in any way belittles +them. None of the sandstone or limestone precipices of the canyon +that I have seen or heard of approaches in smooth, flawless strength +and grandeur the granite face of El Capitan or the Tenaya side of +Cloud's Rest. These colossal cliffs, types of permanence, are about +three thousand and six thousand feet high; those of the canyon that +are sheer are about half as high, and are types of fleeting change; +while glorious-domed Tissiack, noblest of mountain buildings, far from +being overshadowed or lost in this rosy, spiry canyon company, would +draw every eye, and, in serene majesty, "aboon them a'" she would take +her place--castle, temple, palace, or tower. Nevertheless a noted +writer, comparing the Grand Canyon in a general way with the glacial +Yosemite, says: "And the Yosemite--ah, the lovely Yosemite! Dumped +down into the wilderness of gorges and mountains, it would take a +guide who knew of its existence a long time to find it." This is +striking, and shows up well above the levels of commonplace +description, but it is confusing, and has the fatal fault of not being +true. As well try to describe an eagle by putting a lark in it. "And +the lark--ah, the lovely lark! Dumped down the red, royal gorge of +the eagle, it would be hard to find." Each in its own place is +better, singing at heaven's gate, and sailing the sky with the clouds. + +Every feature of Nature's big face is beautiful,--height and hollow, +wrinkle, furrow, and line,--and this is the main master-furrow of its +kind on our continent, incomparably greater and more impressive than +any other yet discovered, or likely to be discovered, now that all the +great rivers have been traced to their heads. + +The Colorado River rises in the heart of the continent on the dividing +ranges and ridges between the two oceans, drains thousands of snowy +mountains through narrow or spacious valleys, and thence through +canyons of every color, sheer-walled and deep, all of which seem to be +represented in this one grand canyon of canyons. + +It is very hard to give anything like an adequate conception of its +size; much more of its color, its vast wall-sculpture, the wealth of +ornate architectural buildings that fill it, or, most of all, the +tremendous impression it makes. According to Major Powell, it is +about two hundred and seventeen miles long, from five to fifteen miles +wide from rim to rim, and from about five thousand to six thousand +feet deep. So tremendous a chasm would be one of the world's greatest +wonders even if, like ordinary canyons cut in sedimentary rocks, it +were empty and its walls were simple. But instead of being plain, the +walls are so deeply and elaborately carved into all sorts of recesses-- +alcoves, cirques, amphitheaters, and side canyons--that, were you to +trace the rim closely around on both sides, your journey would be +nearly a thousand miles long. Into all these recesses the level, +continuous beds of rock in ledges and benches, with their various +colors, run like broad ribbons, marvelously beautiful and effective +even at a distance of ten or twelve miles. And the vast space these +glorious walls enclose, instead of being empty, is crowded with +gigantic architectural rock forms gorgeously colored and adorned with +towers and spires like works of art. + +Looking down from this level plateau, we are more impressed with a +feeling of being on the top of everything than when looking from the +summit of a mountain. From side to side of the vast gulf, temples, +palaces, towers, and spires come soaring up in thick array half a mile +or nearly a mile above their sunken, hidden bases, some to a level +with our standpoint, but none higher. And in the inspiring morning +light all are so fresh and rosy-looking that they seem new-born; as +if, like the quick-growing crimson snowplants of the California woods, +they had just sprung up, hatched by the warm, brooding, motherly +weather. + +In trying to describe the great pines and sequoias of the Sierra, I +have often thought that if one of these trees could be set by itself +in some city park, its grandeur might there be impressively realized; +while in its home forests, where all magnitudes are great, the weary, +satiated traveler sees none of them truly. It is so with these +majestic rock structures. + +Though mere residual masses of the plateau, they are dowered with the +grandeur and repose of mountains, together with the finely chiseled +carving and modeling of man's temples and palaces, and often, to a +considerable extent, with their symmetry. Some, closely observed, +look like ruins; but even these stand plumb and true, and show +architectural forms loaded with lines strictly regular and decorative, +and all are arrayed in colors that storms and time seem only to +brighten. They are not placed in regular rows in line with the river, +but "a' through ither," as the Scotch say, in lavish, exuberant +crowds, as if nature in wildest extravagance held her bravest +structures as common as gravel-piles. Yonder stands a spiry cathedral +nearly five thousand feet in height, nobly symmetrical, with sheer +buttressed walls and arched doors and windows, as richly finished and +decorated with sculptures as the great rock temples of India or Egypt. +Beside it rises a huge castle with arched gateway, turrets, watch-towers, +ramparts, etc., and to right and left palaces, obelisks, and +pyramids fairly fill the gulf, all colossal and all lavishly painted +and carved. Here and there a flat-topped structure may be seen, or +one imperfectly domed; but the prevailing style is ornate Gothic, with +many hints of Egyptian and Indian. + +Throughout this vast extent of wild architecture--nature's own capital +city--there seem to be no ordinary dwellings. All look like grand and +important public structures, except perhaps some of the lower +pyramids, broad-based and sharp-pointed, covered with down-flowing +talus like loosely set tents with hollow, sagging sides. The roofs +often have disintegrated rocks heaped and draggled over them, but in +the main the masonry is firm and laid in regular courses, as if done +by square and rule. + +Nevertheless they are ever changing; their tops are now a dome, now a +flat table or a spire, as harder or softer strata are reached in their +slow degradation, while the sides, with all their fine moldings, are +being steadily undermined and eaten away. But no essential change in +style or color is thus effected. From century to century they stand +the same. What seems confusion among the rough earthquake-shaken +crags nearest one comes to order as soon as the main plan of the +various structures appears. Every building, however complicated and +laden with ornamental lines, is at one with itself and every one of +its neighbors, for the same characteristic controlling belts of color +and solid strata extend with wonderful constancy for very great +distances, and pass through and give style to thousands of separate +structures, however their smaller characters may vary. + +Of all the various kinds of ornamental work displayed--carving, +tracery on cliff faces, moldings, arches, pinnacles--none is more +admirably effective or charms more than the webs of rain-channeled +taluses. Marvelously extensive, without the slightest appearance of +waste or excess, they cover roofs and dome tops and the base of every +cliff, belt each spire and pyramid and massy, towering temple, and in +beautiful continuous lines go sweeping along the great walls in and +out around all the intricate system of side canyons, amphitheaters, +cirques, and scallops into which they are sculptured. From one point +hundreds of miles of the fairy embroidery may be traced. It is all so +fine and orderly that it would seem that not only had the clouds and +streams been kept harmoniously busy in the making of it, but that +every raindrop sent like a bullet to a mark had been the subject of a +separate thought, so sure is the outcome of beauty through the stormy +centuries. Surely nowhere else are there illustrations so striking of +the natural beauty of desolation and death, so many of nature's own +mountain buildings wasting in glory of high desert air--going to dust. +See how steadfast in beauty they all are in their going. Look again +and again how the rough, dusty boulders and sand of disintegration +from the upper ledges wreathe in beauty for ashes--as in the flowers +of a prairie after fires--but here the very dust and ashes are +beautiful. + +Gazing across the mighty chasm, we at last discover that it is not its +great depth nor length, nor yet these wonderful buildings, that most +impresses us. It is its immense width, sharply defined by precipitous +walls plunging suddenly down from a flat plain, declaring in terms +instantly apprehended that the vast gulf is a gash in the once +unbroken plateau, made by slow, orderly erosion and removal of huge +beds of rocks. Other valleys of erosion are as great--in all their +dimensions some are greater--but none of these produces an effect on +the imagination at once so quick and profound, coming without study, +given at a glance. Therefore by far the greatest and most influential +feature of this view from Bright Angel or any other of the canyon +views is the opposite wall. Of the one beneath our feet we see only +fragmentary sections in cirques and amphitheaters and on the sides of +the out-jutting promontories between them, while the other, though far +distant, is beheld in all its glory of color and noble proportions-- +the one supreme beauty and wonder to which the eye is ever turning. +For while charming with its beauty it tells the story of the +stupendous erosion of the canyon--the foundation of the unspeakable +impression made on everybody. It seems a gigantic statement for even +nature to make, all in one mighty stone word, apprehended at once like +a burst of light, celestial color its natural vesture, coming in glory +to mind and heart as to a home prepared for it from the very +beginning. Wildness so godful, cosmic, primeval, bestows a new sense +of earth's beauty and size. Not even from high mountains does the +world seem so wide, so like a star in glory of light on its way +through the heavens. + +I have observed scenery-hunters of all sorts getting first views of +yosemites, glaciers, White Mountain ranges, etc. Mixed with the +enthusiasm which such scenery naturally excites, there is often weak +gushing, and many splutter aloud like little waterfalls. Here, for a +few moments at least, there is silence, and all are in dead earnest, +as if awed and hushed by an earthquake--perhaps until the cook cries +"Breakfast!" or the stable-boy "Horses are ready!" Then the poor +unfortunates, slaves of regular habits, turn quickly away, gasping and +muttering as if wondering where they had been and what had enchanted +them. + +Roads have been made from Bright Angel Hotel through the Coconino +Forest to the ends of outstanding promontories, commanding extensive +views up and down the canyon. The nearest of them, three or four +miles east and west, are O'Neill's Point and Rowe's Point; the latter, +besides commanding the eternally interesting canyon, gives +wide-sweeping views southeast and west over the dark forest roof +to the San Francisco and Mount Trumbull volcanoes--the bluest of +mountains over the blackest of level woods. + +Instead of thus riding in dust with the crowd, more will be gained by +going quietly afoot along the rim at different times of day and night, +free to observe the vegetation, the fossils in the rocks, the seams +beneath overhanging ledges once inhabited by Indians, and to watch the +stupendous scenery in the changing lights and shadows, clouds, +showers, and storms. One need not go hunting the so-called "points of +interest." The verge anywhere, everywhere, is a point of interest +beyond one's wildest dreams. + +As yet, few of the promontories or throng of mountain buildings in the +canyon are named. Nor among such exuberance of forms are names +thought of by the bewildered, hurried tourist. He would be as likely +to think of names for waves in a storm. The Eastern and Western +Cloisters, Hindu Amphitheater, Cape Royal, Powell's Plateau, Grand +View Point, Point Sublime, Bissell and Moran Points, the Temple of +Set, Vishnu's Temple, Shiva's Temple, Twin Temples, Tower of Babel, +Hance's Column--these fairly good names given by Dutton, Holmes, +Moran, and others are scattered over a large stretch of the canyon +wilderness. + +All the canyon rock-beds are lavishly painted, except a few neutral +bars and the granite notch at the bottom occupied by the river, which +makes but little sign. It is a vast wilderness of rocks in a sea of +light, colored and glowing like oak and maple woods in autumn, when +the sun-gold is richest. I have just said that it is impossible to +learn what the canyon is like from descriptions and pictures. +Powell's and Dutton's descriptions present magnificent views not only +of the canyon but of all the grand region round about it; and Holmes's +drawings, accompanying Dutton's report, are wonderfully good. Surely +faithful and loving skill can go no farther in putting the +multitudinous decorated forms on paper. But the COLORS, the living +rejoicing COLORS, chanting morning and evening in chorus to heaven! +Whose brush or pencil, however lovingly inspired, can give us these? +And if paint is of no effect, what hope lies in pen-work? Only this: +some may be incited by it to go and see for themselves. + +No other range of mountainous rock-work of anything like the same +extent have I seen that is so strangely, boldly, lavishly colored. +The famous Yellowstone Canyon below the falls comes to mind; but, +wonderful as it is, and well deserved as is its fame, compared with +this it is only a bright rainbow ribbon at the roots of the pines. +Each of the series of level, continuous beds of carboniferous rocks of +the canyon has, as we have seen, its own characteristic color. The +summit limestone beds are pale yellow; next below these are the +beautiful rose-colored cross-bedded sandstones; next there are a +thousand feet of brilliant red sandstones; and below these the red +wall limestones, over two thousand feet thick, rich massy red, the +greatest and most influential of the series, and forming the main +color-fountain. Between these are many neutral-tinted beds. The +prevailing colors are wonderfully deep and clear, changing and +blending with varying intensity from hour to hour, day to day, season +to season; throbbing, wavering, glowing, responding to every passing +cloud or storm, a world of color in itself, now burning in separate +rainbow bars streaked and blotched with shade, now glowing in one +smooth, all-pervading ethereal radiance like the alpenglow, uniting +the rocky world with the heavens. + +The dawn, as in all the pure, dry desert country is ineffably +beautiful; and when the first level sunbeams sting the domes and +spires, with what a burst of power the big, wild days begin! The dead +and the living, rocks and hearts alike, awake and sing the new-old song +of creation. All the massy headlands and salient angles of the walls, +and the multitudinous temples and palaces, seem to catch the light at +once, and cast thick black shadows athwart hollow and gorge, bringing +out details as well as the main massive features of the architecture; +while all the rocks, as if wild with life, throb and quiver and glow +in the glorious sunburst, rejoicing. Every rock temple then becomes a +temple of music; every spire and pinnacle an angel of light and song, +shouting color hallelujahs. + +As the day draws to a close, shadows, wondrous, black, and thick, like +those of the morning, fill up the wall hollows, while the glowing +rocks, their rough angles burned off, seem soft and hot to the heart +as they stand submerged in purple haze, which now fills the canyon +like a sea. Still deeper, richer, more divine grow the great walls +and temples, until in the supreme flaming glory of sunset the whole +canyon is transfigured, as if all the life and light of centuries of +sunshine stored up and condensed in the rocks was now being poured +forth as from one glorious fountain, flooding both earth and sky. + +Strange to say, in the full white effulgence of the midday hours the +bright colors grow dim and terrestrial in common gray haze; and the +rocks, after the manner of mountains, seem to crouch and drowse and +shrink to less than half their real stature, and have nothing to say +to one, as if not at home. But it is fine to see how quickly they +come to life and grow radiant and communicative as soon as a band of +white clouds come floating by. As if shouting for joy, they seem to +spring up to meet them in hearty salutation, eager to touch them and +beg their blessings. It is just in the midst of these dull midday +hours that the canyon clouds are born. + +A good storm cloud full of lightning and rain on its way to its work +on a sunny desert day is a glorious object. Across the canyon, +opposite the hotel, is a little tributary of the Colorado called +Bright Angel Creek. A fountain-cloud still better deserves the name +"Angel of the Desert Wells"--clad in bright plumage, carrying cool +shade and living water to countless animals and plants ready to +perish, noble in form and gesture, seeming able for anything, pouring +life-giving, wonder-working floods from its alabaster fountains, as if +some sky-lake had broken. To every gulch and gorge on its favorite +ground is given a passionate torrent, roaring, replying to the +rejoicing lightning--stones, tons in weight, hurrying away as if +frightened, showing something of the way Grand Canyon work is done. +Most of the fertile summer clouds of the canyon are of this sort, +massive, swelling cumuli, growing rapidly, displaying delicious tones +of purple and gray in the hollows of their sun-beaten houses, +showering favored areas of the heated landscape, and vanishing in an +hour or two. Some, busy and thoughtful-looking, glide with beautiful +motion along the middle of the canyon in flocks, turning aside here +and there, lingering as if studying the needs of particular spots, +exploring side canyons, peering into hollows like birds seeding nest- +places, or hovering aloft on outspread wings. They scan all the red +wilderness, dispensing their blessings of cool shadows and rain where +the need is the greatest, refreshing the rocks, their offspring as +well as the vegetation, continuing their sculpture, deepening gorges +and sharpening peaks. Sometimes, blending all together, they weave a +ceiling from rim to rim, perhaps opening a window here and there for +sunshine to stream through, suddenly lighting some palace or temple +and making it flare in the rain as if on fire. + +Sometimes, as one sits gazing from a high, jutting promontory, the sky +all clear, showing not the slightest wisp or penciling, a bright band +of cumuli will appear suddenly, coming up the canyon in single file, +as if tracing a well-known trail, passing in review, each in turn +darting its lances and dropping its shower, making a row of little +vertical rivers in the air above the big brown one. Others seem to +grow from mere points, and fly high above the canyon, yet following +its course for a long time, noiseless, as if hunting, then suddenly +darting lightning at unseen marks, and hurrying on. Or they loiter +here and there as if idle, like laborers out of work, waiting to be +hired. + +Half a dozen or more showers may oftentimes be seen falling at once, +while far the greater part of the sky is in sunshine, and not a +raindrop comes nigh one. These thundershowers from as many separate +clouds, looking like wisps of long hair, may vary greatly in effects. +The pale, faint streaks are showers that fail to reach the ground, +being evaporated on the way down through the dry, thirsty air, like +streams in deserts. Many, on the other hand, which in the distance +seem insignificant, are really heavy rain, however local; these are +the gray wisps well zigzagged with lightning. The darker ones are +torrent rain, which on broad, steep slopes of favorable conformation +give rise to so-called "cloudbursts"; and wonderful is the commotion +they cause. The gorges and gulches below them, usually dry, break out +in loud uproar, with a sudden downrush of muddy, boulder-laden floods. +Down they all go in one simultaneous gush, roaring like lions rudely +awakened, each of the tawny brood actually kicking up a dust at the +first onset. + +During the winter months snow falls over all the high plateau, usually +to a considerable depth, whitening the rim and the roofs of the canyon +buildings. But last winter, when I arrived at Bright Angel in the +middle of January, there was no snow in sight, and the ground was dry, +greatly to my disappointment, for I had made the trip mainly to see +the canyon in its winter garb. Soothingly I was informed that this +was an exceptional season, and that the good snow might arrive at any +time. After waiting a few days, I gladly hailed a broad-browed cloud +coming grandly on from the west in big promising blackness, very +unlike the white sailors of the summer skies. Under the lee of a rim- +ledge, with another snow-lover, I watched its movements as it took +possession of the canyon and all the adjacent region in sight. +Trailing its gray fringes over the spiry tops of the great temples and +towers, it gradually settled lower, embracing them all with ineffable +kindness and gentleness of touch, and fondled the little cedars and +pines as they quivered eagerly in the wind like young birds begging +their mothers to feed them. The first flakes and crystals began to +fly about noon, sweeping straight up the middle of the canyon, and +swirling in magnificent eddies along the sides. Gradually the hearty +swarms closed their ranks, and all the canyon was lost in gray bloom +except a short section of the wall and a few trees beside us, which +looked glad with snow in their needles and about their feet as they +leaned out over the gulf. Suddenly the storm opened with magical +effect to the north over the canyon of Bright Angel Creek, inclosing a +sunlit mass of the canyon architecture, spanned by great white +concentric arches of cloud like the bows of a silvery aurora. Above +these and a little back of them was a series of upboiling purple +clouds, and high above all, in the background, a range of noble cumuli +towered aloft like snow-laden mountains, their pure pearl bosses +flooded with sunshine. The whole noble picture, calmly glowing, was +framed in thick gray gloom, which soon closed over it; and the storm +went on, opening and closing until night covered all. + +Two days later, when we were on a jutting point about eighteen miles +east of Bright Angel and one thousand feet higher, we enjoyed another +storm of equal glory as to cloud effects, though only a few inches of +snow fell. Before the storm began we had a magnificent view of this +grander upper part of the canyon and also of the Coconino Forest and +the Painted Desert. The march of the clouds with their storm banners +flying over this sublime landscape was unspeakably glorious, and so +also was the breaking up of the storm next morning--the mingling of +silver-capped rock, sunshine, and cloud. + +Most tourists make out to be in a hurry even here; therefore their +days or hours would be best spent on the promontories nearest the +hotel. Yet a surprising number go down the Bright Angel Trail to the +brink of the inner gloomy granite gorge overlooking the river. Deep +canyons attract like high mountains; the deeper they are, the more +surely are we drawn into them. On foot, of course, there is no danger +whatever, and, with ordinary precautions, but little on animals. In +comfortable tourist faith, unthinking, unfearing, down go men, women, +and children on whatever is offered, horse, mule, or burro, as if +saying with Jean Paul, "fear nothing but fear"--not without reason, +for these canyon trails down the stairways of the gods are less +dangerous than they seem, less dangerous than home stairs. The guides +are cautious, and so are the experienced, much-enduring beasts. The +scrawniest Rosinantes and wizened-rat mules cling hard to the rocks +endwise or sidewise, like lizards or ants. From terrace to terrace, +climate to climate, down one creeps in sun and shade, through gorge +and gully and grassy ravine, and, after a long scramble on foot, at +last beneath the mighty cliffs one comes to the grand, roaring river. + +To the mountaineer the depth of the canyon, from five thousand to six +thousand feet, will not seem so very wonderful, for he has often +explored others that are about as deep. But the most experienced will +be awestruck by the vast extent of huge rock monuments of pointed +masonry built up in regular courses towering above, beneath, and round +about him. By the Bright Angel Trail the last fifteen hundred feet of +the descent to the river has to be made afoot down the gorge of Indian +Garden Creek. Most of the visitors do not like this part, and are +content to stop at the end of the horse trail and look down on the +dull-brown flood from the edge of the Indian Garden Plateau. By the +new Hance Trail, excepting a few daringly steep spots, you can ride +all the way to the river, where there is a good spacious camp-ground +in a mesquite grove. This trail, built by brave Hance, begins on the +highest part of the rim, eight thousand feet above the sea, a thousand +feet higher than the head of Bright Angel Trail, and the descent is a +little over six thousand feet, through a wonderful variety of climate +and life. Often late in the fall, when frosty winds are blowing and +snow is flying at one end of the trail, tender plants are blooming in +balmy summer weather at the other. The trip down and up can be made +afoot easily in a day. In this way one is free to observe the scenery +and vegetation, instead of merely clinging to his animal and watching +its steps. But all who have time should go prepared to camp awhile on +the riverbank, to rest and learn something about the plants and +animals and the mighty flood roaring past. In cool, shady +amphitheaters at the head of the trail there are groves of white +silver fir and Douglas spruce, with ferns and saxifrages that recall +snowy mountains; below these, yellow pine, nut pine, juniper, +hop-hornbeam, ash, maple, holly-leaved berberis, cowania, spiraea, dwarf +oak, and other small shrubs and trees. In dry gulches and on taluses +and sun-beaten crags are sparsely scattered yuccas, cactuses, agave, +etc. Where springs gush from the rocks there are willow thickets, +grassy flats, and bright, flowery gardens, and in the hottest recesses +the delicate abronia, mesquite, woody compositae, and arborescent +cactuses. + +The most striking and characteristic part of this widely varied +vegetation are the cactaceae--strange, leafless, old-fashioned plants +with beautiful flowers and fruit, in every way able and admirable. +While grimly defending themselves with innumerable barbed spears, they +offer both food and drink to man and beast. Their juicy globes and +disks and fluted cylindrical columns are almost the only desert wells +that never go dry, and they always seem to rejoice the more and grow +plumper and juicier the hotter the sunshine and sand. Some are +spherical, like rolled-up porcupines, crouching in rock-hollows +beneath a mist of gray lances, unmoved by the wildest winds. Others, +standing as erect as bushes and trees or tall branchless pillars +crowned with magnificent flowers, their prickly armor sparkling, look +boldly abroad over the glaring desert, making the strangest forests +ever seen or dreamed of. Cereus giganteus, the grim chief of the +desert tribe, is often thirty or forty feet high in southern Arizona. +Several species of tree yuccas in the same desert, laden in early +spring with superb white lilies, form forests hardly less wonderful, +though here they grow singly or in small lonely groves. The low, +almost stemless Yucca baccata, with beautiful lily flowers and sweet +banana-like fruit, prized by the Indians, is common along the canyon +rim, growing on lean, rocky soil beneath mountain mahogany, nut pines, +and junipers, beside dense flowery mats of Spiraea caespitosa and the +beautiful pinnate-leaved Spiraea millefolia. The nut pine (Pinus +edulis) scattered along the upper slopes and roofs of the canyon +buildings, is the principal tree of the strange dwarf Coconino Forest. +It is a picturesque stub of a pine about twenty-five feet high, +usually with dead, lichened limbs thrust through its rounded head, and +grows on crags and fissured rock tables, braving heat and frost, snow +and drought, and continuing patiently, faithfully fruitful for +centuries. Indians and insects and almost every desert bird and beast +come to it to be fed. + +To civilized people from corn and cattle and wheat-field countries the +canyon at first sight seems as uninhabitable as a glacier crevasse, +utterly silent and barren. Nevertheless it is the home of the +multitude of our fellow-mortals, men as well as animals and plants. +Centuries ago it was inhabited by tribes of Indians, who, long before +Columbus saw America, built thousands of stone houses in its crags, +and large ones, some of them several stories high, with hundreds of +rooms, on the mesas of the adjacent regions. Their cliff-dwellings, +almost numberless, are still to be seen in the canyon, scattered along +both sides from top to bottom and throughout its entire length, built +of stone and mortar in seams and fissures like swallows' nests, or on +isolated ridges and peaks. The ruins of larger buildings are found on +open spots by the river, but most of them aloft on the brink of the +wildest, giddiest precipices, sites evidently chosen for safety from +enemies, and seemingly accessible only to the birds of the air. Many +caves were also used as dwelling-places, as were mere seams on cliff- +fronts formed by unequal weathering and with or without outer or side +walls; and some of them were covered with colored pictures of animals. +The most interesting of these cliff-dwellings had pathetic little +ribbon-like strips of garden on narrow terraces, where irrigating +water could be carried to them--most romantic of sky-gardens, but +eloquent of hard times. + +In recesses along the river and on the first plateau flats above its +gorge were fields and gardens of considerable size, where irrigating +ditches may still be traced. Some of these ancient gardens are still +cultivated by Indians, descendants of cliff-dwellers, who raise corn, +squashes, melons, potatoes, etc., to reinforce the produce of the many +wild food-furnishing plants--nuts, beans, berries, yucca and cactus +fruits, grass and sunflower seeds, etc.--and the flesh of animals-- +deer, rabbits, lizards, etc. The canyon Indians I have met here seem +to be living much as did their ancestors, though not now driven into +rock-dens. They are able, erect men, with commanding eyes, which +nothing that they wish to see can escape. They are never in a hurry, +have a strikingly measured, deliberate, bearish manner of moving the +limbs and turning the head, are capable of enduring weather, thirst, +hunger, and over-abundance, and are blessed with stomachs which +triumph over everything the wilderness may offer. Evidently their +lives are not bitter. + +The largest of the canyon animals one is likely to see is the wild +sheep, or Rocky Mountain bighorn, a most admirable beast, with limbs +that never fail, at home on the most nerve-trying precipices, +acquainted with all the springs and passes and broken-down jumpable +places in the sheer ribbon cliffs, bounding from crag to crag in easy +grace and confidence of strength, his great horns held high above his +shoulders, wild red blood beating and hissing through every fiber of +him like the wind through a quivering mountain pine. + +Deer also are occasionally met in the canyon, making their way to the +river when the wells of the plateau are dry. Along the short spring +streams beavers are still busy, as is shown by the cottonwood and +willow timber they have cut and peeled, found in all the river drift- +heaps. In the most barren cliffs and gulches there dwell a multitude +of lesser animals, well-dressed, clear-eyed, happy little beasts--wood +rats, kangaroo rats, gophers, wood mice, skunks, rabbits, bobcats, and +many others, gathering food, or dozing in their sun-warmed dens. +Lizards, too, of every kind and color are here enjoying life on the +hot cliffs, and making the brightest of them brighter. + +Nor is there any lack of feathered people. The golden eagle may be +seen, and the osprey, hawks, jays, hummingbirds, the mourning dove, +and cheery familiar singers--the black-headed grosbeak, robin, +bluebird, Townsend's thrush, and many warblers, sailing the sky and +enlivening the rocks and bushes through all the canyon wilderness. + +Here at Hance's river camp or a few miles above it brave Powell and +his brave men passed their first night in the canyon on the +adventurous voyage of discovery thirty-three[34] years ago. They +faced a thousand dangers, open or hidden, now in their boats gladly +sliding down swift, smooth reaches, now rolled over and over in back- +combing surges of rough, roaring cataracts, sucked under in eddies, +swimming like beavers, tossed and beaten like castaway drift--stout- +hearted, undaunted, doing their work through it all. After a month of +this they floated smoothly out of the dark, gloomy, roaring abyss into +light and safety two hundred miles below. As the flood rushes past +us, heavy-laden with desert mud, we naturally think of its sources, +its countless silvery branches outspread on thousands of snowy +mountains along the crest of the continent, and the life of them, the +beauty of them, their history and romance. Its topmost springs are far +north and east in Wyoming and Colorado, on the snowy Wind River, +Front, Park, and Sawatch Ranges, dividing the two ocean waters, and +the Elk, Wahsatch, Uinta, and innumerable spurs streaked with streams, +made famous by early explorers and hunters. It is a river of rivers-- +the Du Chesne, San Rafael, Yampa, Dolores, Gunnison, Cochetopa, +Uncompahgre, Eagle, and Roaring Rivers, the Green and the Grand, and +scores of others with branches innumerable, as mad and glad a band as +ever sang on mountains, descending in glory of foam and spray from +snow-banks and glaciers through their rocky moraine-dammed, beaver- +dammed channels. Then, all emerging from dark balsam and pine woods +and coming together, they meander through wide, sunny park valleys, +and at length enter the great plateau and flow in deep canyons, the +beginning of the system culminating in this grand canyon of canyons. + +Our warm canyon camp is also a good place to give a thought to the +glaciers which still exist at the heads of the highest tributaries. +Some of them are of considerable size, especially those on the Wind +River and Sawatch ranges in Wyoming and Colorado. They are remnants +of a vast system of glaciers which recently covered the upper part of +the Colorado basin, sculptured its peaks, ridges, and valleys to their +present forms, and extended far out over the plateau region--how far I +cannot now say. It appears, therefore, that, however old the main +trunk of the Colorado may be, all its widespread upper branches and +the landscapes they flow through are new-born, scarce at all changed +as yet in any important feature since they first came to light at the +close of the Glacial Period. + +The so-called Grand Colorado Plateau, of which the Grand Canyon is +only one of the well-proportioned features, extends with a breadth of +hundreds of miles from the flanks of the Wahsatch and Park Mountains +to the south of the San Francisco Peaks. Immediately to the north of +the deepest part of the canyon it rises in a series of subordinate +plateaus, diversified with green meadows, marshes, bogs, ponds, +forests, and grovy park valleys, a favorite Indian hunting ground, +inhabited by elk, deer, beaver, etc. But far the greater part of the +plateau is good sound desert, rocky, sandy, or fluffy with loose ashes +and dust, dissected in some places into a labyrinth of stream-channel +chasms like cracks in a dry clay-bed, or the narrow slit crevasses of +glaciers--blackened with lava flows, dotted with volcanoes and +beautiful buttes, and lined with long continuous escarpments--a vast +bed of sediments of an ancient sea-bottom, still nearly as level as +when first laid down after being heaved into the sky a mile or two +high. + +Walking quietly about in the alleys and byways of the Grand Canyon +city, we learn something of the way it was made; and all must admire +effects so great from means apparently so simple; rain striking light +hammer blows or heavier in streams, with many rest Sundays; soft air +and light, gentle sappers and miners, toiling forever; the big river +sawing the plateau asunder, carrying away the eroded and ground waste, +and exposing the edges of the strata to the weather; rain torrents +sawing cross-streets and alleys, exposing the strata in the same way +in hundreds of sections, the softer, less resisting beds weathering +and receding faster, thus undermining the harder beds, which fall, not +only in small weathered particles, but in heavy sheer-cleaving masses, +assisted down from time to time by kindly earthquakes, rain torrents +rushing the fallen material to the river, keeping the wall rocks +constantly exposed. Thus the canyon grows wider and deeper. So also +do the side canyons and amphitheaters, while secondary gorges and +cirques gradually isolate masses of the promontories, forming new +buildings, all of which are being weathered and pulled and shaken down +while being built, showing destruction and creation as one. We see +the proudest temples and palaces in stateliest attitudes, wearing +their sheets of detritus as royal robes, shedding off showers of red +and yellow stones like trees in autumn shedding their leaves, going to +dust like beautiful days to night, proclaiming as with the tongues of +angels the natural beauty of death. + +Every building is seen to be a remnant of once continuous beds of +sediments,--sand and slime on the floor of an ancient sea, and filled +with the remains of animals,--and every particle of the sandstones and +limestones of these wonderful structures to be derived from other +landscapes, weathered and rolled and ground in the storms and streams +of other ages. And when we examine the escarpments, hills, buttes, +and other monumental masses of the plateau on either side of the +canyon, we discover that an amount of material has been carried off in +the general denudation of the region compared with which even that +carried away in the making of the Grand Canyon is as nothing. Thus +each wonder in sight becomes a window through which other wonders come +to view. In no other part of this continent are the wonders of +geology, the records of the world's auld lang syne, more widely +opened, or displayed in higher piles. The whole canyon is a mine of +fossils, in which five thousand feet of horizontal strata are exposed +in regular succession over more than a thousand square miles of wall- +space, and on the adjacent plateau region there is another series of +beds twice as thick, forming a grand geological library--a collection +of stone books covering thousands of miles of shelving, tier on tier, +conveniently arranged for the student. And with what wonderful +scriptures are their pages filled--myriad forms of successive floras +and faunas, lavishly illustrated with colored drawings, carrying us +back into the midst of the life of a past infinitely remote. And as +we go on and on, studying this old, old life in the light of the life +beating warmly about us, we enrich and lengthen our own. + + +THE END + + + +Footnotes [by the editor of the 1918 original of this text]: + + +[1] This essay was written early in 1875. + +[2] The wild sheep of California are now classified as Ovis nelsoni. +Whether those of the Shasta region belonged to the latter species, or +to the bighorn species of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, is still an +unsettled question. + +[3] An excerpt from a letter to a friend, written in 1872. + +[4] Muir at this time was making Yosemite Valley his home. + +[5] An obsolete genus of plants now replaced in the main by +Chrysothamnus and Ericameria. + +[6] An early local name for what is now known as Lassen Peak, or Mt. +Lassen. In 1914 its volcanic activity was resumed with spectacular +eruptions of ashes, steam, and gas. + +[7] Pronounced Too'-lay. + +[8] Letter dated "Salt Lake City, Utah, May 15, 1877." + +[9] Letter dated "Salt Lake City, Utah, May 19, 1877." + +[10] Letter dated "Lake Point, Utah, May 20, 1877." + +[11] Letter dated "Salt Lake, July, 1877." + +[12] Letter dated "September 1, 1877." + +[13] Letter written during the first week of September, 1877. + +[14] The spruce, or hemlock, then known as Abies Douglasii var. +macrocarpa is now called Pseudotsuga macrocarpa. + +[15] Written at Ward, Nevada, in September, 1878. + +[16] See footnote 5. + +[17] Written at Eureka, Nevada, in October, 1878. + +[18] Now called Pinus monophylla, or one-leaf pinyon. + +[19] Written at Pioche, Nevada, in October, 1878. + +[20] Written at Eureka, Nevada, in November, 1878. + +[21] Date and place of writing not given. Published in the San +Francisco Evening Bulletin, January 15, 1879. + +[22] November 11, 1889; Muir's description probably was written toward +the end of the same year. + +[23] This tree, now known to botanists as Picea sitchensis, was named +Abies Menziesii by Lindley in 1833. + +[24] Also known as "canoe cedar," and described in Jepson's Silva of +California under the more recent specific name Thuja plicata. + +[25] Now classified as Tsuga mertensiana Sarg. + +[26] Now Abies grandis Lindley. + +[27] Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Parl. (Port Orford cedar) in Jepson's +Silva. + +[28] 1889. + +[29] A careful re-determination of the height of Rainier, made by +Professor A. G. McAdie in 1905, gave an altitude of 14,394 feet. The +Standard Dictionary wrongly describes it is "the highest peak (14,363 +feet) within the United States." The United States Baedeker and +railroad literature overstate its altitude by more than a hundred +feet. + +[30] Doubtless the red silver fir, now classified as Abies amabilis. + +[31] Lassen Peak on recent maps. + +[32] Pseudotsuga taxifolia Brit. + +[33] Thuja plicata Don. + +[34] Muir wrote this description in 1902; Major J. W. Powell made his +descent through the canyon, with small boats, in 1869. + +Note from the transcriber: + +A phrase Muir uses that readers might doubt: "fountain range," by +which he means a mountainous area where rain or snow fall that is the +source of water for a river or stream downslope. So it is not a +typographical error for "mountain range"! Another odd phrase is +"(something) is well worthy (something else)" rather than "well worth" +or "well worthy of." He uses this at least twice in this work. --jg + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Steep Trails by John Muir + + |