1. Summit of Pass between Raymond and Wawona, entering Yosemite Valley. 2. Miami Lodge, on way to Yosemite.1. Summit of Pass between Raymond and Wawona, entering Yosemite Valley. 2. Miami Lodge, on way to Yosemite.
In the morning we were on our way to the Big Trees. We decided to leave our car at a humble but very pleasant little forest inn called Fish Camp Hotel, presided over by some Maine people who long ago left the pines of Maine for the pines of California. They have a mountain ranch which they leave in the summer to come up into the higher forests and to keep a little hostel and grocery store. It is a long walk from Fish Camp Hotel to the boundary fence of the National Park where the famous Big Trees are. If one prefers to drive one's car over a somewhat rocky but perfectly passable mountain road and to leave it just outsidethe fence, one can do so. In this way, one's walking powers are kept fresh for the memorable expedition among the Big Trees. One needs a long day in which to see the Trees. We felt sorry for the tourists who were being driven about and who had only an allotted time in which to see the Trees. We had our luncheon with us and were independent. We walked miles along the Park drives. We stood under the Trees, of which there are some five hundred, gazing up at their distant tops. We amused ourselves by measuring their enormous girths with our arms. Most of the time we simply gazed at them from one vantage point and another, lost in wonder at their height, so much greater than we had dreamed, and at their bulk, so enormous as to be difficult to take in. The Big Trees were far bigger, far grander, far more beautiful in their coloring than we had been prepared for. When the afternoon sunlight struck their trunks and they glowed with the wonderful soft, deep red which is their color, we were enchanted. We felt awed, too, not only by their great size, but by their great age. We were in the presence of hoary old men, a detached little company of Ancients who were living long, long before our generation ever came upon the scene, and who had passed through much of the world's history. It was with a glowing sense of satisfaction and happiness and wonder that we came away from our leisurely day among the Trees. Some day we hope to go back and to repeat that experience.
1. Camp Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley. 2. Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Big Trees. 3. Yosemite Falls. 4. Cabin in Mariposa Grove.1. Camp Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley. 2. Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Big Trees. 3. Yosemite Falls. 4. Cabin in Mariposa Grove.
We met later a gentleman who said that he had spent such a day, had had a supper with the forest keeper who sells photographs and souvenirs in his little cottage, and then had lain down to sleep on the pine needles under the great Trees themselves. "I saw the stars pinnacled in their branches," said he.
We had a comfortable night at Fish Camp Hotel, our fellow guests at the next table being a party of Scotch stone-cutters who had come up for a holiday from the granite quarry at Raymond where they were quarrying and shaping stones for some Sacramento public buildings. Bagpipes came out in the evening and the air was full of Scotch music and Scotch jokes. The next morning we drove on to Wawona, passing over the height of the grade and descending a little to come into the lovely Wawona meadows, in whose midst stands the old white wooden hotel which has dispensed delightful hospitalityunder the same landlords for forty years past. Mr. Washburn is the only one left of the brothers who built up the Wawona Hotel, and his son now bears the burden of the hotel administration.
People are always coming and going at Wawona. They are either on their way to the Yosemite; or having seen the Yosemite they are on their way out with a look at the Big Trees, eight miles away, as they pass by. We left our machine at the Wawona garage and took the 12 o'clock stage drawn by four splendid horses, to drive through the meadow and along the mountain for thirty miles to the Yosemite Valley. Later, the Wawona road was to be opened to motor travel. But the leisurely way of approach by the stage was very agreeable. The drive ran through the forest. We saw a pheasant in the bracken by the roadside with her brood of little ones. She walked with her head high, affecting a careless dignity to hide her anxiety, while her babies crouched close to the ground and looked like little brown dots as they skimmed along.
In the late afternoon, we saw a coyote out for his supper. Our stage driver cracked his whip at him and shouted his contempt. We saw the beautifuldeer cross and recross the road, coming down to their drinking places. They are protected by the State and come and go with only the mountain lion to frighten them. And at last after twenty miles of drive through tall pines we came to the famous Inspiration Point where the first view of the Valley burst upon us. We had been driving over a high plateau, and now we were to descend more than a thousand feet into the deep cut which forms the Yosemite. Our stage driver evidently took a genuine pleasure, the pleasure of the showman, in reining up his horses at the psychological moment and allowing us to drink in the view that burst dramatically upon us. There was the green level floor of the Valley far below us; there was El Capitan rising in massive grandeur, a sheer wall of rock, in evening greys and lavenders, above the Valley; there was the Bridal Veil—a silver thread of water falling six hundred feet. And beyond were the Valley walls rising in the distance. In my opinion everyone who wishes to have the most striking entrance to the Yosemite should come in by the Wawona road, and have the great view at Inspiration Point fire the imagination first. A little lower down, we came again on the winding road to thesame view, only from a lower vantage point and therefore more intimate. This point is known as Artists' Point; and after this we were hurrying down the mountain slope, the eager horses well aware that they were approaching food and rest.
Soon we were on the Valley floor, walls rising to the left and right of us, and ahead of us. Behind us was the way out of the Valley and above us was the mountain road by which we had just come down. Tourists were dropped at various camps, and we drove on to Camp Curry, the last stopping point of the stage. The Yosemite Valley is somewhat like a blind alley. It has but one entrance on the level of the Valley floor. As you drive to the farther end of the Valley, you become aware that you are approaching nearer and nearer to mountain walls, and ere long you are literally against a barrier, all the way from a thousand to three or four thousand feet in height. Anyone who would leave the Yosemite by other than the entrance on the Valley level at its one end must climb. Camp Curry has the great advantage of being located in the closed end of the valley and thus very near to many of the mountain trails. Its proprietor and landlord has built up Camp Curry to be the big, cosmopolitan, happy, democratic settlement that it now is. The food in the dining pavilion is plain but well cooked, and abundantly served in family fashion. The little tents with their two single beds are very comfortable. The camp fire at night, around which almost the entire camp assembles in that intimacy and yet detachment, which belongs to those who dream before a camp fire, is the heart of the camp life, where Mr. Curry gives nightly a family talk on trees, rocks, flowers, and trails. Hot water is a plentiful luxury at Camp Curry, and the host often says, "Camp Curry is on the water wagon, but it is a hot water wagon."
1. Driving Home the Cows. 2. Meeting in the Great American Desert. 3. Bridal Veil from Artist's Point, Yosemite Valley.1. Driving Home the Cows. 2. Meeting in the Great American Desert. 3. Bridal Veil from Artist's Point, Yosemite Valley.
"A year ago," says Mr. Curry, "we put up 10,000 lunches—that meant 20,000 wooden plates, and some 50,000 pieces of white tissue paper. You can see how necessary it is to burn or bury your luncheon papers when you have eaten your lunch on the trails, or in the forests."
Never in any other place in the United States have I heard so much talk of tramps and trails as at Camp Curry in the Yosemite Valley. Most Americans seem to be too indolent or too unused to walking to have the enthusiasm of the trampers and the mountain climbers whom one meets in Europe.But I felt that I was back in the atmosphere of the Tyrol and of Switzerland when I reached Camp Curry and saw the people starting off in the morning for long days of walking and climbing. "I arrived at Camp Curry late in the afternoon just as the people were coming from their day's walks," said a young lady to me. "I thought I had never seen such disreputable looking people. Their boots were muddy, their hair was dishevelled, their faces were flushed and sunburnt. But in a day or two I was coming in from long walks in just the same condition myself." But who that can walk and climb would forego the thrilling pleasure of the long climb to Glacier Point, and the long climb past Nevada and Vernal Falls, and down again into the Valley? Who would miss the long climb up to the Yosemite Falls, where one from a perilous and yet protected vantage point just above the Falls sees that great volume of water launch itself for the awful plunge into the air, and so down into the Valley? Fortunately, there are sturdy mules and horses, sure-footed and plodding, for those who prefer riding to climbing. No one need miss the truly grand experience of the view from Glacier Point, where by staying over night at the hotel one may have both sunset and sunrise. What a world of mountains one looks out upon! There is Half Dome, looking as if a gigantic hand had thrust it up through the earth and into the air, leaving its other half far, far below. There stretches before one a vast, upper country of irregular table lands and peaks, many still white with snow. One is really looking far out over the remote regions of the snowy, pine-covered, high Sierras.
1. Royal Arches, Yosemite Valley. 2. View into Yosemite Valley. 3. Dome and Half Dome, Yosemite Valley.1. Royal Arches, Yosemite Valley. 2. View into Yosemite Valley. 3. Dome and Half Dome, Yosemite Valley.
We took a day for a long excursion to Cloud's Rest. This meant twenty-two miles of mule riding, but it also meant an even more comprehensive and exalted view from the mountain's top, of frozen lakes below, deep canyons, lofty mountain peaks where storms were raging far away, and solitary table lands. Only people of endurance can take such a jaunt, as one's joints grow very weary and aching from the slow riding hour after hour. When we were at Camp Curry, a party of some forty Germans, men and women, were there for the pleasure of "doing" the entire Valley. No climb was too hard for them. They were known as the "German climbing bunch." Every morning one might see them with their paper bags of luncheon and their climbing-sticks, walking gaily alongto the beginning of some one of the mountains trails. They entertained us at the evening camp fire with their German songs, and were altogether an energetic and genial company.
The open air life and the grandeur of the trails were very hard to leave, but we came away one noon and once more drove back to Wawona. There we were detained for a week by a break in the car. We started out one morning when the rain was pouring to take the Mariposa road. We found that with no chains and with the machine slipping and sliding on the steep clay road, progress would be impossible. I tried to help the matter by putting freshly cut branches of odorous balsam fir under the wheels to help them grip. I walked behind the machine with a log, throwing it under the wheels as they advanced foot by foot, T. fighting at the steering wheel like the pilot of a drifting ship. But it was impossible to make headway. We met some teamsters who had evidently been taking something hot to counteract the discomfort of their wet exteriors. One said solemnly of the sun when we expressed a wish that it would appear, "Yes, the sun is our father, and our step-father." Then he added, "I'd worship the sun if I were a heathen.I kinder do, now." He went on irrelevantly, "I do think Roosevelt's one of the best men we've got. I do think so. I do so." We were close to a deserted logging camp, which looked doubly melancholy in the falling rain. There was the deserted runway, there were the empty cottages, with broken windows and doors swinging open. Back of the cottages were piles of tin cans. One cottage still bore its old name, "Idle Burg." All about were blooming columbines and the odorous balsam.
There was nothing for it but to go back to Wawona, which we did. When we reached there, we found that we had a broken spring. We spent several days waiting for a new spring to come up from Raymond. In the meantime we discovered the loveliness of the Wawona meadows and explored the walks about the hotel. We went down to the blacksmith shop to see the big stage horses shod and the smith handle them as if they were his children. "California is God's country," said he. "I came here forty years ago, but I aint done much for myself until the last two or three years." At last the motor car was ready, and we had once more a drive through the forest, stopping for a delightful dinner and evening at Miami Lodge. The nextday we were dropping down from the high Sierras by the Mariposa road. Turning to the right, before reaching Raymond, the foothills of the Sierras made very rough, broken country for travel, and our road was indifferent. We passed poor little ranches dropped in among the rocks and gulleys. We saw lonely looking women sitting on the porches of unpainted wooden ranch houses, and finally we came to Mariposa, which reminded me of Bret Harte more than any other place I had seen in California.
1. In the Lower Sierras, California. 2. Eastern Slope of Sierras.1. In the Lower Sierras, California. 2. Eastern Slope of Sierras.
Mariposa is a mining town from which the miners have departed. In mining days it was a busy center, with miners eating and drinking, and walking up and down its little street. But some of the mines have been closed, the miners have gone to other districts, and the town is left high and dry. A few men were hanging idly about in front of the dreary looking little stores. The two places that seemed to be alive were a general department store kept by an Italian, and a little restaurant kept by a Chinaman. We bought our gasoline from Mr. Trabucco and went in to have some tea at John Chinaman's place. He was a shrewd looking, middle-aged Chinaman in a very pessimistic mood. "You see dis town? You see more'n I do," he said sadly. We assured him that we saw very little town. Indeed, Mariposa is just the sad little shell of a town from which most of the life has moved away, leaving the dingy little wooden buildings along the dusty street. Our Chinaman charged us fifteen cents apiece for a single cup of tea, flanked by some very stale store cookies, which he took from the show window. He evidently felt that he should make hay while the sun was shining. From Mariposa, we had a long afternoon drive over lonely, rolling country to Snelling. When we reached its one little hotel, we found that we were too late for supper. California has an eight hour law, and domestic servants cannot be kept over time. In large hotels they have different shifts; but in country places the landlord must let his cook go at the appointed time. However, our host was disposed to be accommodating. "The missus and I are always here," he said, and went over to buy a bit of steak for our supper. We were very tired after the extremely rough driving in the foothills, and slept heavily.
Snelling lies in a valley where there is evidently plenty of warmth and water. The fig trees arewonderfully luxuriant. We passed some beautiful grain ranches the next morning and so came to Stockton, where at the Hotel Stockton we saw the red, white, and blue sign that was to guide us across the continent. We were at last on the Lincoln Highway, the old road with the new name which runs from ocean to ocean and which is destined to be one of the famous highways of the world.
The Stockton Inn is a beautiful modern hostel, European in plan, with every convenience, not to say luxury. One should go up on its roof garden for an afternoon cup of tea just for the pleasure of looking down on the San Joaquin River, whose headwaters run up into the town. Boats lie all along the piers, and it looks very like a bit of Holland. I could have easily believed that I was looking down on an Amsterdam canal from the roof garden of the Stockton Hotel. All through California, but more particularly between Monterey and Los Angeles and along the coast, we had seen workmen tramping from place to place, sometimes alone, usually in bands of six or seven. They carried their blankets rolled on their backs, and many of them were clear-eyed, respectable looking men. We saw one such man in Stockton on his way to take the river boat. He had his blanket on his back, and he wore a somewhat battered straw hat. His trousers were ragged, and he looked as if he had tramped many a weary mile. He was tall and bony, with a sandy beard. I took him to be a Scot. I was so anxious to help the poor fellow out that I urged T. to speak to him and offer him a suit of clothes. To our surprise the man refused them in a very free and easy, genial way. "O, nay, thank you," he said, "I'm doin' all right."
1. Roof Garden, Stockton Hotel. 2. Head of San Joaquin River, Stockton.1. Roof Garden, Stockton Hotel. 2. Head of San Joaquin River, Stockton.
Stockton is a city with wide streets, an open plaza, and a Courthouse surrounded by a border of green lawn and palm trees. I saw a turbaned Hindoo lying asleep under a palm tree in the afternoon sun on the Courthouse lawn. White men lay asleep near him. It was at Stockton that we saw our first rodeo or round-up. The rodeo is a part professional and part amateur Wild-West show. The cowboys wear their gayest shirts, of red and pink and variegated silks. They wear their handsomest "chaps" or riding trousers, cut very wide, and made of buckskin or of sheepskin with the wool side out. They have on their widest-brimmed, highest crowned sombreros and their most ornately stitched boots. The cowgirls arein brown or grey velveteen, or perhaps in khaki. They, too, wear broad-brimmed hats and riding boots with spurs. Some of them wear red silk handkerchiefs knotted about their necks. We saw such an exhibition of cattle lassoing and of roping and throwing steers, of rope spinning and of trick riding as we had never before seen. Doubtless it is an old story for Californians, but it was all new and interesting to us. The most interesting feat was the roping and throwing of a steer. Two men ride down the steer, and as one of them approaches the beast he slips off his horse and catches the steer with a lightning stroke around his neck. He endeavors by casting his weight on the beast's neck and by dexterously twisting it to throw the animal. Usually he succeeds; but sometimes a stubborn beast refuses to be taken by surprise, plants his feet firmly, and lowers his dangerous horns. Then follows a locked struggle, and it is a serious matter for the cattleman if his hold slips.
1. and 2. Cowboy Rodeo, Stockton, Cal. 3. Hereford Bull, Wyoming. 4. Cowboy Rodeo, Laramie, Wyoming.1. and 2. Cowboy Rodeo, Stockton, Cal. 3. Hereford Bull, Wyoming. 4. Cowboy Rodeo, Laramie, Wyoming.
When we left Stockton we felt that the great adventure had really begun. We were now to traverse the Lincoln Highway and were to be guided by the red, white, and blue marks; sometimes painted on telephone poles, sometimes put up by way of advertisement over garage doors or swinging on hotel signboards; sometimes painted on little stakes, like croquet goals, scattered along over the great spaces of the desert. We learned to love the red, white, and blue, and the familiar big L which told us that we were on the right road. Had we taken the Lincoln Highway literally from ocean to ocean, we should have driven direct from San Francisco to Stockton. As it was we saw California first, and came in at Stockton.
It was a bright, sunny day, the thirteenth ofJune, when we left Stockton for Sacramento. We drove along an excellent asphalt road, through grain fields and orchards, the almond orchards being loaded with their green, velvety fruit. It was late afternoon when we reached our hostel, the Sacramento Hotel. Sacramento is even to-day more or less a frontier town. Judging by appearances, there are more saloons in proportion to the other shops of Sacramento than in any other town in California, unless it be San Francisco. The town is well shaded. One sees many wooden buildings of old-fashioned architecture, the old mansard roof being much in evidence. A most pleasant spot in Sacramento is the beautifully kept park around the fine State House. Its walks are shaded by a fine row of palms, another of magnolias which were in full bloom, and yet another of beautiful old cedars. I liked the "Sacramento Bee" building which has two interesting bas reliefs of printers of the Middle Ages working a hand press. Sacramento is very hot in summer, its stone pavements and asphalt streets radiating heat like an open oven.
1. Philips Hotel on Lincoln Highway near Lake Tahoe. 2. View on Lake Tahoe. 3. Looking up Yosemite Valley. 4. Upper Yosemite Falls.1. Philips Hotel on Lincoln Highway near Lake Tahoe. 2. View on Lake Tahoe. 3. Looking up Yosemite Valley. 4. Upper Yosemite Falls.
Leaving Sacramento, we drove across rolling plains, mostly grain fields, to Folsom. From Folsom to the busy little town of Placerville we had more broken country and a decidedly bumpy road. We found the drive from Folsom to Placerville uninteresting, the forest being scrubby, the road dry and dusty. As soon as we left Placerville we came into beautiful country. We had stretches of distant mountain views and magnificent wooded hills all about us. A mountain stream, the American River, green and foaming, roared alongside the road. The road was in excellent condition and ran on through the forest for miles, flanked by sugar pines, cedars, firs, balsams, and yellow pines. Squirrels darted back and forth in front of us. The wild white lilac was blooming at the roadside. Ascending hour by hour, we passed several pleasant-looking mountain inns and came at last to Phillips', a simple place where they gave us, outside the main house, a tiny cottage all to ourselves. It had one room and from its door we looked straight away into the forest. They gave us some beefsteak, some fried potatoes, some canned corn, carrots, cake, custard, and tea for our supper.
We left our door open at night, that the fresh mountain air might come in freely. I awoke early in the morning and saw the first lights on the hills. Away off in the forest I heard a hermit thrush calling.After breakfast we drove along through pine forest, the snow on the hills not very far away, and soon came to the summit of the Pass, 7395 feet. A party in a Reo car had been over the Pass three weeks earlier, toiling through the snow, and had posted several signs, painted in flamboyant red: "First car up May 25, 1914." Below us was the marshy valley surrounding the southern end of Lake Tahoe. We saw the exquisite green of these watery meadows and the lovely clumps of pines growing here and there in the valley. Beyond stretched the great lake surrounded by lofty mountains—a glorious view. We drove carefully down the steep hill on to the plain and past Meyers. The road was very sandy, and as we drove among the pine trees it was in some places so narrow that the hubs of our machine just cleared the tree trunks. We went first to Tallac, where there is a very pleasant hotel on the lake. But it was full and we turned back to Al Tahoe, a hotel in a great open space at the southern end of the lake, with pine trees scattered here and there, and a little colony of cottages outside the main building. We established ourselves in one of these cottages, a one-room house with three wooden sides and a long curtain across its open side. The fourth side of the building had been literally lifted up and was supported by wooden props. In this way it became a roof for the little platform of boards which stretched in front of the cottage, and a sheltered porch was thus improvised. At night we drew our calico curtain across the open front of our cottage, and so slept practically in the open air.
1. Mountain Stream in California. 2. Fallen Leaf Lake, near Lake Tahoe. 3. Mountains around Lake Tahoe.1. Mountain Stream in California. 2. Fallen Leaf Lake, near Lake Tahoe. 3. Mountains around Lake Tahoe.
From Al Tahoe one can make many excursions on foot or by boat. As there was still snow on the road we did not undertake the motor drive from Al Tahoe to Tahoe Tavern and Donner Lake. We did drive the nine or ten miles of mountain road to Fallen Leaf Lake, which is a most exquisite mountain lake right under the shadow of Mt. Tallac. The trails from the hotel at Fallen Leaf Lake are very numerous and attract many enthusiastic mountain climbers. The first rain that we had experienced in all our long journey we had at Al Tahoe. When we left our hotel early in the morning to drive to Carson City the rain was still falling, but it cleared within an hour after our start, and we had no more rain until we reached Ohio. Lake Tahoe on our left was wonderfully beautiful in the morning light. The rich manzanita and other busheswere shining with moisture, the tall pines were reflected in the clear depths of the lake, the shores were wild and lonely. The road rose high above the lake, and in one or two places ran along the edge of a precipitous cliff. After leaving the lake we came into a rather desolate mountain region where the whole character of the country changed. The road was a narrow shelf along a barren, rocky mountain side. There were but few trees. The color of the rock and of patches of brilliant yellow flowers, growing along the roadside, gave variety to the landscape. Otherwise it was somewhat dreary and forbidding after the rich forest foliage that we had just left along the lake.
As we rounded mountain shoulder after shoulder we began to look off into green cultivated farming valleys. Next we were coming down a steep hill and into Nevada's little capital town of Carson City. The Capitol building stands at the foot of this long hill road, and as one approaches from the top of the hill it looks as if one must drive straight through the Capitol. But the road turns sharply to the left as one reaches the Capitol street. This one long street with its hotel, its pleasant shops, and its Capitol is about all there is of the town. We drove through the town straight on to Reno.
Lincoln Highway near Donner Lake. Donner Lake in distance.Lincoln Highway near Donner Lake. Donner Lake in distance.
Reno is a pleasant town, nobly situated on a high plateau with lofty mountains towering near. The Truckee River flows straight down from the heart of the snows through the center of the town and is spanned by a handsome bridge. The substantial Riverside Hotel stands on the bank of the river near the bridge. Somehow my impressions of Reno all seem to cluster around the swift river and the bridge. The library, the hotel, the Y. M. C. A., and other public buildings are close to the river. If you walk up the river you come to a little island in the center of the rushing stream which is a tiny Coney Island for the Reno residents during the summer. Bridges are flung from bank to island on both sides of the river. High above the river rise the houses of the well-to-do people of the town, some of them handsome structures. At the little hairdresser's where I had a shampoo in the delicious soft snow water of the river they pointed out to me the home of "our millionaire." So I crossed the river and went over and up to the higher side of the town, where was a very beautiful stucco mansionsurrounded by wide lawns, with a view over the river on one side and off to the mountains on the other. It was a charming situation, and its charm was enhanced for me by the fact that just a short distance away, outside the town, began the grey-green desert with its sage brush whose pungent, aromatic odor was to be in my nostrils for so many days to come. I asked my hairdresser whether Reno had many people in residence waiting for their divorces. She said that the new law, by virtue of which they must have a year's residence in Nevada, instead of the old period of six months, had cut down, so to speak, the business of divorces. She assured me that the Reno people deplored this as formerly the town was full of boarders and lodgers "doing time." I confess I was somewhat shocked by such a sordid point of view. I found myself looking quietly around the Riverside dining room to see whether I could pick out in the well filled room any candidates for divorce, and then I reflected that they were probably looking at me with the same query in their minds.
1. Crossing Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa. 2. Bridge near Reno.1. Crossing Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa. 2. Bridge near Reno.
At Reno we followed our rule of visiting university buildings. We had seen the famous State University and the equally famous Stanford University in California, and wished to continue our study of college buildings and of the general atmosphere of Western institutions. Unfortunately it was holiday time, but we were shown about most courteously by a young instructor. The Nevada State University buildings are modest and comparatively few in number, but in good taste. They have a fine situation on a high plateau, wind-swept and mountain-surrounded, at the edge of the town. Westerners call these lofty terraces, which drop down one below another in step fashion at the foot of the great mountains, benches.
We had seen the very noble School of Mines at the University of California, erected by Mrs. Hearst to her husband's memory. We were equally interested in the smaller but very pretty building erected by Mr. Clarence Mackay for the University of Nevada School of Mines. A striking statue of Mr. Mackay in his miner's dress and with his miner's pick, stands in front of the building and looks down the green lengths of the open campus.
Our guide told us that the attendance at the School of Mines varies annually with the fluctuations of mining fortunes. In good years when the mines are doing well, the University has betweenfifty and sixty students of mining engineering. In poor mining years the attendance drops off. He told us some interesting tales of the "good old days" when miners wore two shirts sewed together at the bottom, thus making a sort of bag, and helped themselves liberally to gold while in the diggings. He said that a miner had been known to pay a mine foreman a thousand dollars for the privilege of working in a rich corner of the mine, with the result that he would be able to make up the price of his privilege within two or three days. He explained that there was a general rule to the effect that a miner should not be stripped for examination except to his shirt; with possible exceptions if he were under very strong suspicion.
I was sorry to come away from Reno. I liked the little town, with the sound of the rushing river coming in at my hotel window, and the feeling of space and freedom that the high situation gave. Reno is 4500 feet above sea level.
From Reno we drove on to Fallon, a little town where we spent the night. I took my last look at the high Sierras as we drove across the grassy plains in leaving Reno. There they were, still snowy, towering above the town. We came along by the river,but left it later for a more or less hilly road across rather barren country. We stopped at a little roadside place where there was a small grocery next to a tiny dwelling, to ask for some luncheon. The groceryman was very dubious and non-committal and referred us to his wife. I had noticed that at our approach she fled to some improvised chicken coops back of the little dwelling. So I tracked her to her lair and found the poor little thing really standing at bay. She was a small woman, overshadowed by an immense Mexican straw hat. She said to me somewhat defiantly and almost tearfully that she couldn't possibly do another drop of work. She explained that she had the railroad men to care for when they came in from the road, and that she had two hundred chickens to look after. "I carry all the water for them myself," she said tearfully. I looked around at the hot, dusty little settlement, with no spear of grass, and felt sorry for her. I told her that we wouldn't for the world inconvenience her, whereat she softened and told me that if we would drive on to the next settlement we could get some luncheon. Which we did, and a very indifferent luncheon it was. However, it was spiced by an ardent conversation between T. anda railroad man on the foreign policy of the present Administration. A woman looks on at these encounters, into which men plunge without a moment's introduction or hesitation, and into which they throw themselves so earnestly, with admiration tinged with awe.
1. Smelter near Ely, Nevada. 2. Lahontan Dam, Nevada.1. Smelter near Ely, Nevada. 2. Lahontan Dam, Nevada.
As we drove along the dusty road a short, rather thick snake, its back marked by shining black diamonds, wriggled hurriedly across the road in front of us, escaping to the sage brush. I asked later what this snake was, for I felt certain that it was poisonous. Sure enough, it was a diamond-backed rattle snake. We came soon to another little town where there was a good hotel. Hanging on the wall of the hotel was a painting of the proposed Lahontan Dam and the country which its life-giving streams would touch. We decided, instead of going direct to Fallon, to drive across country to the Dam, making a slight detour. We were very glad that we did so, for we found the young superintendent of the Dam construction, a Brown University man, very courteous indeed. We went to look at the enormous pile of sand and clay which has been banked up day after day and week after week until the Lahontan Dam is the largest earth dam in the world. We saw cement spillways, one on each side of the earth dam proper, their tall steps planned to break the fall of the water at any time of great flood and pressure. We saw the lake itself with its measuring tower and gate already sixty feet under the rising water. Mr. Tillinghast told us that the lake stretches back into the hills and the canyon for twenty miles. We heard of the millions of fertile acres which this water, already beginning to be released in a rushing stream, was to make possible. Some miles back we had seen irrigated country, green and fertile, cut, so to speak, right out of the desert. Alfalfa was growing luxuriantly and was being cured in high green stacks under the sun. Settlers' little cottages were a visible promise of the future, just as they had been in California. We congratulated Mr. Tillinghast on his work, and told him that in days to come he should bring his grandchildren to see the Lahontan Dam, a splendid monument to his work and the work of the men with him.
We saw where he and his assistant engineer lived with their families. They had small but comfortable quarters made of houses built of tar paper. Some chicken yards were near, and an improvisedtennis court was in front of the little row of houses. Near by was a little schoolhouse for the children of the settlement. Here New England women, city born and bred, were living happily with their children while their husbands built the great Dam. One lady told us that her relatives in Providence commiserated her lot. "But," said she, "the boys are so well and live such a free and happy life in this glorious air that we really dread being moved to another piece of work when the Dam is finished." From Lahontan we picked our way across the desert with its sage brush and its spaces, to Fallon.
When we left Fallon we had before us a very trying drive. The country east of Fallon, past Salt Wells Ranch and as far as Sand Springs, was in bad condition because of recent heavy rains. We met heavy wagons drawn by ten, twelve, fourteen, and sometimes sixteen horses and mules, struggling madly and almost hopelessly through the sticky mud. The drivers were cracking their whips, yelling and swearing, and the poor animals' flanks and bellies were thick with mud. The heavy wagons were piled high with bales and boxes. In some instances the horses of one team were being unharnessed to be added to another team where the wagonstuck hopelessly in the mud. A country woman told me later that she had seen the horses of these trucking teams come in at night, their flanks covered with the dried blood which had streamed down from the wounds made by a pitchfork in the hands of a desperate and angry teamster determined to get his team started out of a mud hole.
We had an advantage because of the broad tires of our machine, and got on very well by picking our way across the plain and keeping well to the left of a long stretch filled with salt water holes and with a fairly large salt lake. A new road had been made by travelers, far away from the regular road, which ran close to this small inland sea and which was a hopeless quagmire. The land about us was dreary and desolate and yet had its own charm. Off to the left were immense sand hills blown up by the wind, and barren, rocky hills, the Wind Mountains. We came at last to the little station known as Sand Springs, which is simply a lodging place for the teamsters and their horses for the night. We could look down from the plateau on which the little house and the barns stood, upon the white and clay-colored, desolate spaces of the salty valley below. The landlady welcomed us cordiallyand gave us a plain but hearty lunch. She was a Californian and told me that she and her husband missed the green hills and fields of their own State. She said that they had wonderful salt for curing and packing their winter meats from the lake down in the valley. She said that the salt could be raked up in great heaps, white and coarse but with great strength and savor. She was mourning the loss of her cows, which had disappeared. They had been gone a month and she feared that in wandering away on the mountain ranges they had been driven off by "cattle rustlers."
From Sand Springs we drove on through a more hilly country, the road winding along through an open canyon. We passed Frenchman's Flat, where there was a little restaurant and where a Frenchman came out to pass the time of day. He greeted us very pleasantly and would doubtless have given us a good meal if we had not already had one. We then crossed another great level and passed three ranches known as West Gate, Little Gate, and East Gate. We were coming into a much more fertile country, a high valley with mountains rising on either side. Ahead of us, marked by its tall cottonwood trees, was Alpine Ranch, a part of the big Williams estate and our destination for the night. It was very cheering to drive through the paddock, cross a bubbling little stream, and come up alongside the long, low, pleasant ranch house.
1. On the Lincoln Highway. 2. Ranch House at East Gate, Nov. 3. Road Scene near Rawlins, Wyoming.1. On the Lincoln Highway. 2. Ranch House at East Gate, Nov. 3. Road Scene near Rawlins, Wyoming.
We had had as traveling companion from Fallon, across the Salt Flats and through the hills, a young commercial man from San Francisco driving his Ford car through to Utah. We were both glad to make the journey across the desert in company, hoping to be of mutual assistance in case of any accident to our cars. Mr. N. now proposed to take supper at Alpine Ranch and to travel by night in order to gain time. We warned him that he might get into trouble, but he assured us that he often traveled at night and enjoyed the stillness and the freedom to speed along. We found Mr. and Mrs. Dudley of the ranch hospitable and willing to give us bed and board. It is very pleasant for those who are willing to forego luxuries to stop at farm houses and ranch houses, to take the fare and sleep upon the beds given them, and to enjoy the talk of the people and the contact with real ranch life.
We had a delightful evening with the Dudleys. We ate our supper at a long table filled with ranchmen,and took part in an animated conversation on the merits of the present Administration. We ate from a red tablecloth, but that did not trouble us. After supper, in the soft evening air, we had a talk with the family as to the advantages of the government ownership of railways. A woman from a nearby town took an earnest share in the conversation and showed herself well acquainted with the arguments for and against such ownership. The master of the ranch told us something of his difficulty in keeping men steadily at work on the ranch. He said that they came and went constantly in spite of good pay, steady work, and kindly treatment. He said that it was very difficult to get a man to stay more than two years. He would bring his roll of bedding, as is Western custom, take his place in the bunk house and at the table and in the fields for a time, but he could not be persuaded to stay long. The wandering habit had too strong a grip upon him.
We went out into the ample paddock to see the mules and horses roving comfortably about. Two of the wild horses of the plains had recently been captured and brought in. Both were going through a course of discipline which the ranchman assuredus would have to be made more severe later on. One was a beautiful young mare with her colt following her closely. She had a heavy yoke bar hanging by a sort of collar from her neck, and so arranged as to clog and trip her if she attempted to run. She was peacefully wandering about, but snorted with fear as we came near her. Her master assured us that she could easily be tamed, and that she was not to be driven or saddled, but was to be used as a bell mare. That is, she was to be the leader of the herd let out on the plains. The ranchman explained that a company of horses will not leave a mare with a young colt, consequently she is used to keep them from straying away long distances. The other horse was a fine animal but much less docile of spirit. "I feel sorry for him," said his master; "he has got a lot to go through with, but he must learn; there is no other way for him." The animal had both his fore legs and hind legs "hand" cuffed, only a short chain being used on the shackles. He was in this way so hobbled that he had to move by little leaps forward, first his fore feet, then his hind feet. By this clumsy hopping he managed to get about. "He must first learn to accept this and then we will go on with his education," said his master. Helooked very wild and untamed of spirit, poor fellow, and made frantic efforts to rush away as we came near him. But he had already found out that his cruel chains were inexorable.
We walked out into the lovely valley and toward the purple hills that rose above it. One can never tire of the evenings and the mornings of the great Western plains and table lands. Nowhere else have I seen such wonderful sunsets; glorious in crimsons, purples, violets, rose lavenders, ashes of roses, and finally soft greys. Nowhere have I seen lovelier dawns, the air so crystal clear, the morning light so full of rose and lavender mysteries, the whole day so full of wide and happy promise.
Mr. N. had insisted on going on after supper at the ranch. We had seen him disappear down the valley, his machine finally hidden in acres of grey-green sage brush.
The next morning we drove on, passing at the end of the valley through a short but rough canyon, with rocky walls to the left and right. There we saw a board sign marking "Water 100 feet down." Doubtless this was a boon to travelers in the old days. Once through the canyon, we came out into another wide valley, lonely and spacious. As wedrove along, we saw ahead of us what seemed to be a small motor car by the roadside.
"I believe that's N's car!" said T. As we came up to it we saw that the two left wheels were hopelessly down in a deep rut. Mr. N. had stuck his card in the windshield of the car, and had written on it, "Gone for some boards; wait until I come back." Soon we saw him coming across the desert with some loose boards in his arms. We found that the poor fellow had been there from ten o'clock the night before until ten o'clock in the morning, the hour of our passing. He had been bowling along comfortably and somewhat sleepily the previous night, when suddenly his car bumped into a muddy rut from which he found it impossible to extricate the machine. He told us that he had worked frantically and futilely until about midnight. Then he put out his lights, wrapped himself up as best he could, and slept until seven. He said that utter stillness and darkness were about him. "Not even a jack rabbit passed." At seven he again began to struggle with his car. He had the sure hope that we would come along sooner or later. He had calculated that we would arrive about eleven. When we found him he had just gone to a deserted, fallingranch house to find a few boards to be used as levers. He and T., taking our machine, now drove to the ranch house and brought back a goodly supply of boards and some heavier pieces of timber which they had torn from the dropping fences. The boards they put in the rut in front of the wheels in order that they might get a grip when once they started. The heavier timbers they used as levers. And so by dint of hard work and by the help of two young men who passed in their motor half an hour after our arrival, the front wheel was pried out of the sticky mud, and the car was once more gotten on firm ground. It was past one o'clock when we climbed up the bare road to the high town of Austin and went to the International Hotel for our luncheon. What with lack of sleep and his long fast Mr. N. was quite worn out. A good luncheon prepared by a Japanese cook and served by a natty and very debonair Japanese waiter put us all in better trim.