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the peak from which Bierstadt sketched the
" Gem " beneath. Then there are a thousand
other charms in the vast heights above, and
vast depths below ; in contrasts of light and
shade, form and color ; in mists hanging over
the lake, and clouds clinging to the peaks ; in
the twilight deepening into darkness, or colossal
pyres, kindled by the coming sun, and going out
in the clear light of the day ; or, in the gloom of
the forest mingled with the living silver of the
moonlit lake.

The peaks
may be ascend-
ed — some with
difficult}', and
some with mod-
erate exertion —
but persons of
feeble constitu-
tion may enjoy
all the varied
charms.

The lake is of
easy access, and
has on its banks
a hotel for tour-
ists. The dis-
tance to the lake
by the carriage
road is 2 1-2
miles, and
Truckee 9 miles.
The summit di-
vides the waters
that flow east
and sink amid
desert sands,
from those that
flow west into
the Sacramento
river.

S u m m i t
Valley,— 2 1-2
miles long and
one mile wide,
heads in the
high peaks,

south of the hotel. It has pasturage during the

for many cattle, and its springs and

of products, fresh from the dairy,




LAKE ANGELIXE.



summer

abundance

make it a delightful place for camping out.

Its waters are the source of the South Fork of
the South Yuba River.

The railroad descends to the foot of this val-
ley, keeping the divide on the north to the right,
then, about three miles from the summit, crosses
the most southerly branch of the Yuba. A few
yards before the crossing, is a summer flag sta-
tion, or

Soda Springs Station.— These springs are
situated on the south Bide of the high ridge that
forms the southern wall of Summit Valley, and



are in the headwaters of the American River.
They are numerous, flow abundantly, and are
highly medicinal. Stages run to them both
from the summit, and from Soda Station, and
the ride is not surpassed, if equaled, by any in
the Sierras north of Yosemite, in the number
and beauty of the fine views it affords.

The hotel at the Springs is not an imposing
structure, but it is kept in first-class style and is
a favorite resort.

The dividing ridge, which the railroad now

follows, is on the
left, and on the
right are great
ridges and can-
ons, which gath-
er more water
for the Yuba.
Their extent
alone impresses
t he be h o 1 d e r
with awe, but
the snow sheds
allow no satis-
factory view.

The first reg-
u 1 a r s t a t i o n
after leaving the
summit is 5.8
miles west,
called

Cascade, —
239 miles from
San Francisco.
The vertical de-
scent from the
summit to this
point is 498 feet,
and nothing
here will check
one's readiness
to descend far-
ther, for it is
only a signal
station, and
there are none
to signal, ex-
cept such as are employed on the road.

South of the station are Kidd's Lakes, empty-
ing into the South Branch of the South Yuba
through the Upper and Lower Cascade Ravines.
The bridges over the ravines will be a grateful
but short-lived relief from the restraint of the
snow sheds. The time in passing is too short to
take in the charms of the water-falls in summer,
or the ice-clad rocks in winter, and the extended
view on the right.

Kidd's Lakes an 1 dammed so as to impound the
water during the winter and spring, and when
the dry season approaches, it is let out over the
Cascades into the river and carried, eventually, to
Dutch Flat.



tme &£€iwia fq&sisf.



231




SCENERY OF THE SIERRAS, NEAR SUMMIT.



There is a great spur, called " Crackers "
thrown out in this ridge, through which the
road passes in tunnel No. 5, and thence along
Stanford Bluffs to

Tamarack, — 235 miles from San Francisco,
another signal station. A stop will not be
likely, unless to meet or pass a freight train. A
small saw-mill is in operation during part of the
year. Just below Tamarack, the Yuba has worn
a large gorge, and the bold bluffs, which unfor-
tunately are below the road-bed, have been called
" New Hampshire Rocks," and the name may
well suggest that the Granite State will soon
cease to be regarded as the " Switzerland of
America."

The road continues on the north or Yuba side
of the divide, between the waters of the Yuba
and American Rivers ; and between Tamarack
and Cisco, Red Spur and Trap Spur are passed
by tunnels No. 4 and No. 3. Three and a half
miles from Tamarack is

Cisco, — 231 miles from San Francisco, a day
and night telegraph station, with an elevation
of 5,939 feet. It was named after John J. Cisco,
the sterling, assistant treasurer of the United



States, at New York City, during the late civil
war. Cisco was for a year and a half the ter-
minus of the road, and lively with business for
the construction of the road, and for Nevada.
It had a population of 7,000, and some dwellings
erected at a cost of $5,000 ; large warehouses, and
all the intensity of frontier life. After the re-
moval of the terminus to Truckee, the deserted
buildings were either taken down and removed
or went fast to decay, until their destruction was
hastened by a fire that left nothing for the
morning sun to rise upon, but the freight house
with a platform 1,000 feet long, standing alone
amid the ashes and surrounding forests.

From Cisco there is a beautiful view on the
north, with Red Mountain in the distance.
Just back of Red Mountain is the Old Man
Mountain, but hid from view until the train de-
scends a few miles farther.

To detect in this any sharp or remote outline
of the human profile, wrought in colossal propor-
tion by the hand that moulded and chiseled the
infinite shapes of nature, is probably beyond
the keenness of any Yankee.

Leaving Cisco, the railroad continues on the



fmm @mmFi€ w&wmmw.



233



north side of the divide, with the canons of the
many streams that form the Yuba on the right,
and a deep valley near by through hard por-
phyry, passing Black Butte on the left, crossing
Butte Canon, around Hopkins' Bluffs and Mil-
ler's Bluffs, eight and a half miles to

Emit/rant Gap, — 223 miles from San Fran-
cisco, another day and night telegraph station, is
almost one vertical mile above San Francisco,
the altitude being 5,221 feet. Just before
reaching this station, the Yuba turns abruptly
to the north, and just west of the turning place,
with an elevation barely perceptible to one rush-
ing by, Bear River heads in a valley of the
same name, clothed in summer with a delightful
green. At Emigrant Gap the divide is crossed
by means of a tunnel, and the old Emigrant
Road crossed the Gap here, and is crossed by
the railroad, just a few rods west of the tunnel.
Here the old emigrants let their wagons down
the steep mountain side by ropes, with which a
turn or two were taken around the trees at the
Gap. How much better are iron rails than rug-
ged rocks, and atmospheric brakes than treach-
erous cords I

On the right we have now the headwaters of
the Bear River, but of the valley one can have
only a glimpse except by ascending the rocks
above the railroad.

Once over the divide, there are on the left, the
headwaters of a branch of the North Fork of the
American River, and the road follows Wilson's
Ravine, and the valley of the same name is in
sight for some distance. A number of little ra-
vines may be noticed emptying in Wilson's, the
largest of which, called " Sailor's," is crossed
where the road doubles Lost Camp Spur, from
which one may look across the ravine and see
tunnel No. 1 on Grizzly Hill, and continuing he
will pass along and around Blue Canon.

Blue Canon, — -217 miles from San Fran-
cisco, at the crossing of which, 5.2 miles from
Emigrant Gap, is the hotel, a store, a shipping
point for six saw-mills, and a day and night
telegraph station. The elevation is now 4,693
feet. The snow sheds are unfrequent and shorter,
and the traveler will become more interested in
the scenery now growing most wonderfully, until
it becomes the grandest on the line of the road
across the Continent.

A little mining is carried on in Blue Canon,
but on too small a scale to interest a stranger.

Blue Canon is the limit of the snow which
remains during the winter. It is noted for
the best water on the mountains — water
so esteemed by the railroad men that it is car-
ried to supply their shops at Rocklin and
Sacramento,

Flumes and ditches are almost constantly in
sight. The canon grows deep rapidly and seems
to fall away from the railroad, so that one in-
stinctively wonders how he is to get down so far.



This portion of the railroad has the steepest
grade on the whole line — 116 feet to the mile.

China Jianc/ie. — About two miles west of
Blue Canon, a side track is passed where the
close-tilling Celestial gardened prior to and at
the location of the road — and the fact lingers in
the name, China Ranche. Mountains may be
seen as far as the eye can reach. After passing
the ranche, there is a very deep cut through
Prospect Hill, the name suggesting the loss of
the passenger in the cut. On the west side of
Prospect Hill is Little Blue Canon, where Shady
Run, a pretty little creek, is seen on the left. It
was so named by engineer Guppy at the time
the road was located, in honor of the good camp-
ing ground it afforded.

Shady Run, — 212 miles from San Fran-
cisco, is a side track, but not even a flag-station,
4.7 miles from Blue Canon. Near it the railroad
passes around Trail Spur, and, on the left is one
of the finest views on the line of the road, the
junction of Blue Canon Creek and the North
Fork of the American River; there the great
chasm, worn by glaciers to a depth of about
2,000 feet, extendiug a mile to the junction of
the South Branch, the precipitous sides narrow-
ing to the water's edge and forbidding ascent
even on foot, through the narrow gorge — and
mountain upon mountain, back toward the snow
peaks left an hour and a half ago — and east-
ward for fifty or more miles, till they are min-
gled in the eye as the stars of the milky way, add
to the impressiveness of the view which is en-
chanced by its suddenness.

Just west of Trail Spur, and after passing
Serpentine Ravine, one may look down the Great
American Canon into Green Valley and Giant's
Gap. beyond. The view is sublime, with the
bright emerald green of the pastures ; the ter-
raced and rounded, black, gloomy forests, over-
head, and the frowning approach of the majestic
mountains, stopped where the icy torrent slowly
rent the very frame-work of the Continent.

For a time the tourist will be compelled to
leave the main slope of the American River and
be carried across the ridge or divide at Hog's
Back, across Canon Creek, to

Alta, — 208 miles from San Francisco; 3,607
feet elevation. Here are several stores and the
center of considerable lumber trade. Its popu-
lation does not exceed a hundred. It is a day
telegraph station, 4.8 miles from Shady Run.
At one time soap-root, a bulb, growing like the
stub of a coarse, brown mohair switch, just
emerging from the ground, was gathered by the
Chinamen. It has strong alkaline properties,
and is used for washing and for genuine hair
mattresses. It has become too scarce to be gath-
ered here with profit by even the keen, moon-
eyed Celestial.

Below Alta we strike the slope of Bear River,
and on this water-shed we travel, winding among



FMS &$GIF>I© W0&MI&F.



235



hills, until we near Cape Horn. But only 1.9
miles from Alta, we arrive at

Dutch Flat, — 200 miles from San Francisco,
our approach to which is heralded by the unmis-
takable evidences of mining, seen in the up-
turned face of the country.

The water that came down in advance of the
cars from Summit Valley and Kidd's Lakes is now
utilized. It was gathered from the East Fork of
the American River, from Monumental Canon and
Wilson's Ravine, and carried in Bradley's ditch
around Lost Camp Spur and emptied into Blue
Canon, near Blue Canon Station, and taken up
again at the station and carried by ditches and
flumes to Fort Point, where the railroad crosses
it, and soon after one of the spurs is tunneled in
two places to find an easy grade, but it cannot
descend safely as fast as the cars, and at Pros-
pect Hill passes through a tunnel 100 feet above
the railroad, and is then emptied into Canon
Creek, from which it is agaiu taken up and dis-
tributed by flumes or great iron pipes to the
mines we overlook at Dutch Flat and Gold Run.
There are three separate ditches, the " Cedar
Creek," an English company, bringing water
from the American River; the "Miner's Mining
and Ditch Company," with water from Bear
River, and the " Yuba Ditch Company." The
first two companies own and work mines, and
the latter derives all its revenue from the sale of
water. For hydraulic mining, this is one of the
most important regions in the State.

Dutch Flat, or German Level, has an altitude
of 3,395 feet. It is an old town, the mining
having begun in 1851. It was once more largely
populated than now, yet it boasts 1,500 inhab-
itants. It has a Methodist and a Congregational
Church, and the finest school-house in the in-
terior of the State. It has a tri-weekly stage to
Nevada City, 16 miles, leaving every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday morning. The time is
three hours and the fare 183.00. The route passes
through the towns of Little York, 2 1-2 miles,
You Bet, 6 miles, and Red Dog, S miles from
Dutch Flat. The town is built at the head of
Dutch Flat Canon, and is very irregular and
hilly. It has good stores, hotels and restaurants,
a,nd an enterprising semi-weekly newspaper.

Placer Mining, — Where the earth-carrying
gold could be easily dug, and water was of ready
access, and the diggings were rich enough, the
washing out was done by hand, and this form of
gold hunting was called placer mining. It re-
quired no capital except the simple tools and im-
plements used in digging and washing, with food
enough to keep one till some return from labor
could be obtained. Several hundred million
dollars value of gold were thus washed out of
the surface soil of California in early years. Lit-
tle ground remains that can be made to pay by
this process, and it is almost a thing of the past.
It naturally led, however, to hydraulic mining



which is as flourishing as ever, and promises
to continue so for many years. Placer miners
came occasionally upon ground which, though
carrying gold, was not rich enough to pay if
worked by hand, but would pay handsomely
when handled on a large scale. The device was
soon adopted of providing flumes in place of
cradles and rockers. Into these flumes a stream
was turned and the earth shoveled in. Large
quantities could thus be washed as easily as
small amounts had been before.

The gold in each case, except that portion
which was impalpably fine, and would even float
on water, was detained by riffles on the bottom
of the rocker, or the flume, and gathered up from
time to time. It was found eventually that
large banks sometimes hundreds of feet high,
were rich enough in gold to pay for working,
and the device was next adopted of directing a
stream against them to wash them down. Stiff
beds of cement have been found rich in gold,
but too stiff to yield to any except a mighty
force. Higher heads of water have been sought,
until even 500 feet of head have been employed,
the usual range being from 50 feet to 300, and a
force obtained which nothing can resist. Such
a stream issuing from a six-inch nozzle, comes
out as solidto the touch as ice, the toughest bed of
cement crumbles "before it, and boulders weigh-
ing tons are tossed about as lightly as pebbles.
A man struck by such a stream w : ould never
know what hurt him. The strongest iron pipe
is required to carry the water to the nozzle,
through which it is played. No hose can be
made strong enough to bear the pressure, and
the directing of the stream to the point desired
is effected by two iron jointed pipes, moving in
planes at right angles to each other, and thus
securing a sweep in every direction. The
amount of the force exerted by such a stream as
has been described, it is impossible to estimate
except approximately, but 1,300 pounds to the
inch is not too high. To provide the water re-
quired where " hydraulicking " is done on a large
scale, streams are brought long distances.

The price for selling water is graduated by
the size of the opening through which it is de-
livered, usually under six inches pressure. Prac-
tically it is found that there is in California,
more gold than water, for there are many places
rich in gold, which cannot be worked for lack of
water.

The season varies in length, according to the
situation and the rain-fall, but nowhere is it pos-
sible to work the whole year, and probably on an
average the active season does not exceed seven
or eight months. There is one feature connected
with hydraulic mining which no one can contem-
plate without regret. It leaves desolation be-
hind it in the form of heaps of shapeless gravel
and boulders, which must lie for ages before blos-
soming again with verdure. One of the difficult



236



TSE &£€IFIG W®U'm§W.




GIANT'S GAP, AMERICAN RIVER CANON.



DV THOMAS MORAS.



237



problems in hydraulicking is to find room for the
debris which the streams, used in washing down
banks of earth, are constantly carrying along with
them. The beds of streams have been filled up
in some parts of the State so as to increase
greatly the exposure of the cultivated regions be-
low the mining districts to inundation and ruin.
Legislation has been sought by the farmers to
protect their interests, but the effort was opposed
by the miners and a dead-lock followed. The
miuldiness which will strike the tourist as
affecting all the mountain streams on the west
slope of the Sierra Nevadas, is the result of this
mining. Once the Sacramento River, the Feather
and the American Rivers were clear as crystal,
but the hunt. for gold has made them like the
Missouri River in high flood and even muddier,
and they are not likely, while this generation and
the next are on the stage of life, to resume their
former clearness and purity.

Hold Hun, — 204 miles from San Francisco,
another mining town in the famous Blue Lode.
It is a day telegraph station, with an altitude of
3,220 feet. It lias a population of 700, with a
large number of stores, and several hotels. A
mile west of Gold Run and to the right, across
Bear River, may be seen You Bet, Red Dog,
Little York, and other mining towns can be
pointed out from the cars by those familiar with
the country; but Ophirwill be seen by every one,
looking out on the right-hand side.

A farmer from Lancaster or Chester County,
Pa., would not be impressed with the worth of
the country ; but the lover of nature, who does
not tire of the variety in the mountain scenery,
will yet feel new interest in the signs of speed-
ily emerging into an open and cultivated coun-
try. Over the Bear River Canon, on the right,
may be traced the thin outline of the basin of
the Sacramento River, and, in a favorable atmos-
phere, the Coast Range beyond is clearly visible.

Once, all the ravines in this vicinity around
it, swarmed with miners. " They went to the
land of Ophir for gold." The placer mines
were very rich, and covered with only from one
to three feet of surface. The days are long past,
but every pioneer has fresh recollections of them.

" Off to the Mines."—" Hallo, Bill ! where
are you off to, on that mule ? " [The boys all
call him Bill, and so do I, but his name is Wil-
liam Graves.] " Wa'al, I guess I'll go'n prospect
a little, " says Bill, as he and his mule lazily
trudge down the canon. I have known Bill
these nine years, and he is a genuine prospector.
I once paid him and a " pard " $5,000 in twenty-
dollar gold pieces for a claim they had worked
on a while. [The " pard " is not an " honest
miner" any longer, but edits a one-horse paper
in a little place out in the desert.] How much
Bill got of the $5,000 I never knew, except that
it did not long keep, him from hard fare, camp-
ing out, cooking and washing for himself, and



every once in a while finding a claim to work on,
locate, praise up and try to sell, and then get
sick of and abandon. 1 would like to know how
many fortunes in which his fancy and confident
belief have reveled, have vanished and been for-
gotten, like dreams. He has never struck it rich
since he made his sale to me, and I fear he never
will again, but no use to tell him so. There is
the "Belle Boyden," on which he is keeping up
assessment work, hiring out for a while to earn
something ahead, so as to buy grub and keep
himself going for a few weeks.

It would be cruel to call him back now and
ask him about it, but he would like nothing bet-
ter, and would talk about its dip, and the rock it
lies in, and how much it looks like some vein or
other that has turned out well, — it is astonishing
how many veins run in his head — and how many
feet there are in the claim, and what he values
his feet at, and how much he wouldn't take for it,
if he only had money to open it, till he and I
were both tired. Bill has gone through too
many tight squeezes, and seen too much of tough
life to be very emotional, but get him going on
about the claim that he now holds and believes
in, and his eyes brighten, and he talks with unc-
tion. He is tall and loosely hung together, and
to hear him drawl out his slow speech and move
draggingly around, one would not think he could
do much, but give him a pick, a drill, and a
sledge-hammer, and set him to running a drift, or
sinking a shaft, and not many will beat him.
He is cute, too. When I bought his claim he
went off to Frisco and New York, and it was
rich to hear him tell how the sharpers of all
hues and colors were after him, thinking they
never had a better chance at a greenhorn, when
they were never worse mistaken. What he does
not know about holding one's own in a game
with the boys, whether it be at cards or banter
and jokes, is not worth knowing. He is honest
and kind — a whole-souled fellow, true as steel,
and would doubtless take a fine polish, but his
prospect is small of ever getting it. He will go
on walking the mountains, camping here and
there, hunting for ledges while he has grub, and
working when he has not, till his hard life tells
on him, and he breaks down, and it is sad to
know that then he will go quick. Such as he are
the men that prospect the country, penetrating
its canons, exploring its gulches, climbing over
and over its mountain sides, and finding the out-
croppings of its mineral treasures, but hardly
ever are they any the richer for it themselves.

Secret Town', — and Secret Town Ravine.
There is a side track but it is not now a station,
and the high, curved trestle-work, at first 1,100
feet long will soon be entirely replaced by the
more durable embankment. The ravine was
named from its early history, to mark the efforts
of a party, to conceal their discoveries of rich
claims.



238



FMM &MIJF1G W&W'BISW.



About a mile and half below Secret Town,
there is a pretty view, where the railroad is
near the edge of the side hill, and the deep
ravine falls rapidly away to the American
River.

A Chinese Idea of Voider. — "What's usee
play poker?" remarked an almond-eyed denizen
of Tucson, Nevada, the other day. " Me hold

four klings and ■ —

a lace ; Melican
man hold all
same time four
laces and aiding;
whole week
washee gone
lik ee wood-
bine."

Cape Horn
Miffs — is a side
track, at which
the overland
trains stop on
signal, but the
Virginia C i t y
passenger train
will not stop. It
is 5.9 miles from
Gold Run, and
not far from
Cape Horn. Be-
fore the train
" doubles " t h i
point or Cape,
Robber's Ravine
will be seen on
the left, deepen-
ing into the great
canon of the
American River.

Cape Horn.
— Around t h e
Cape, the rail-
road clings to tin •
precipitous bluff
at a point nearly
2,0(50 feet above
the river and far
below the sum-
mit, and where
the first foot-hold
for the daring
workman on tin
narrow ledge
was gained by men who were let down with ropes
from the summit.