Chapter 2

ECHO CANYON, UTAH, WHERE THE SHRIEK OF THE LOCOMOTIVE REVERBERATES AMID A THOUSAND CLIFFS AND PEAKS

PULPIT ROCK IN ECHO CANYON. FROM THIS NATURAL ROSTRUM BRIGHAM YOUNG IS SAID TO HAVE PREACHED HIS FIRST SERMON IN THE “PROMISED LAND” TO HIS FOLLOWERS, IN 1847

In 1860 the famous pony express service of Jones, Russell & Company was begun between Sacramento and Salt Lake City, with schedule of three and one-half days. The first express left Sacramento, April 4, 1860, and the first arrived from Salt Lake City April 13, 1860. The record for time was held by the relay of pony express riders that carried President Lincoln’s message from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, seventeen hundred and eighty miles, in five days and eighteen hours. The through stage line across Nevada was established in 1865, when the Overland stage Company extended the line between Virginia City and Sacramento (in operation since 1860) to Salt Lake City and connected with Ben Holladay’s line thence to the Missouri River. The through telegraph line was completed across Nevada in 1865.

IMAGINATION RUNS RIOT AMID THE BRILLIANT COLORING, THE CURIOUS CARVINGS OF THE CLIFFS OF THE ECHO AND WEBER CANYONS. A FERTILE FANCY HAS STYLED THESE “THE WITCHES’ ROCKS”

Nevada is in great part the bed of an ancient ocean ribbed with lean mountains. Multitudes of travelers have noted that the rain, driven in from the Pacific, falls heavily in the valleys of California and up the western slopes of the Sierra, and on the summit of the mountains creates a deep blanket of snow, but to thirsty Nevada gives little save the snow fed rivers that flow down the mountain sides. So while they see skies marvelously clear and crests of brown far-off hills snow-crowned (under the sunlight seemingly tipped with flame), and drink the rare air, to the fevered face a balm and to the lungs as rare old wine to the palate, yet they pass it by and see nothing in the waste out of which to create a home. The Sierra watershed and government money are to change all that. Changed, also, is its mining life to-day. Capital, with new railroads—yes, and Capital, new railroads,—yes, and automobiles,—have torn the mask from the face of this treasure land. The dawn of the day of this land of mystery between the Rockies and the Sierra is here. Salt Lake City is now probably the greatest smelting center of the world and the once named ‘Great American Desert’ is helping give as neighbors to the green fields, running streams and fruitful orchards of the Mormon haven, the tall chimneys and mighty fires of many furnaces. Discoveries of new mining districts follow hard one upon the heels of another.

THRUST FROM THE RED SOIL RISE TWO DAZZLING WALLS OF WHITE—FORTY FEET HIGH, TWENTY FEET APART; SHEER FROM THE BRINK OF THE CLIFF TO THE WATERS OF WEBER RIVER—THE DEVIL’S SLIDE

When the glaciers in the infinite past were set in flow, grinding rocks to make soil from which food could be raised for races of men not then in existence save in the mind of God, Nevada and Utah were not left valueless. Rather, when the world was freighted for its long voyage, some of the richest stores were given this intermountain land to keep, and jealously has she guarded them with barren mountains for sentinels and lusterless sage for a cloak.

“A wide domain of mysteriesAnd signs that men misunderstoodA land of space and dreams; a landOf seas, salt lakes and dried up seas.A land of caves and caravans,And lonely walls and pools;A land that has its purposes and plans.”

“A wide domain of mysteries

And signs that men misunderstood

A land of space and dreams; a land

Of seas, salt lakes and dried up seas.

A land of caves and caravans,

And lonely walls and pools;

A land that has its purposes and plans.”

CROSSING WEBER BRIDGE THE TRAIN PLUNGES INTO A TUNNEL HEWN THROUGH THE ROCK, LEAVING THE SERPENTINE RIVER FOR AWHILE

ALL DAY LONG HEAVY SHADOWS HANG OVER DEVIL’S GATE AND THE FOAMING WATERS CHAFE AGAINST ITS ROCKY PORTALS

So wrote Joaquin Miller thirty years ago; more and more the “purposes and plans” of the great basin become apparent. In forty-seven years Nevada alone has yielded in treasure $1,700,000,000.

But the store of riches is not alone in mines. Silt-laden rivers born in snow-clad mountain heights for untold centuries have carried their riches into the great basin. The principal streams of Nevada have no outletbut disappear in sinks. The Truckee, rising at Lake Tahoe almost at the summit of the Sierra, tumbles down the mountain side to a last resting place in Pyramid and Mud Lakes. The Carson River, rising in equally lofty heights, sinks in a lake of the same name, and the Humboldt, companion to the railway through central Nevada, flows from the Great Wells at the base of the Ruby Range and westerly finds its way 120 miles to a vanishing point in Humboldt Lake.

To give life to the desert by joining again these streams with the silt-surface earth of the Nevada valleys through irrigation, is the task now in hand. Ere finished, the commonwealth should be as great in agriculture and horticulture as in mining.

In Nevada’s 110,000 square miles are many thousands of fertile acres requiring but the touch of water to make them productive. Here are some of the great grazing lands of America. A total of not far from 10,000 carloads of cattle, horses and sheep is exported from Nevada every year.

IN OGDEN CANYON IS THE HERMITAGE, BUILT AMID ROMANTIC SURROUNDINGS AND ATTRACTING MANY LOVERS OF TROUT AND SCENERY

The Great Salt Lake Cut-off of the Overland Route westward from Ogden is now of course the main line; the old line runs to the north of Great Salt Lake, crossing the mountains at Promontory at an elevation of 4907 feet and rejoining the Great Salt Lake Cut-off at Umbria Junction. Through trains no longer are operated via Promontory and in the march of progress that station which one day held the attention of the entire country as the junction point of two great railways binding together the East and the West is now only a name on a side line. Yet the day of its birth was oneof glory. New York City celebrated it with the chimes ringing out Old Hundred and a salute of one hundred guns; Philadelphia rang all its bells in celebration and Chicago rejoiced with a mass meeting where Vice President Colfax spoke, and sent through the decorated streets a parade four miles in length. Omaha turned loose with all of its firearms and paraded with every able-bodied man in town in line, and closed the day with fireworks and illuminations. As usual, San Francisco was fore-handed with its rejoicing, starting its celebration two days in advance of the driving of the golden spike, and continuing it two days thereafter to preserve a proper equilibrium. Bret Harte wrote a poem for the event.

The reasons for abandoning the old historic route in favor of the new mid-sea pathway across Great Salt Lake are more eloquently expressed in the diagram onpage 47than can be done by words.

Westward from Ogden, on the new route passing the Lake stations and then Lucin and Montello, the first place of importance is Cobre, junction point with the new Nevada Northern Railway with its line southward through Cherry to Ely, a distance of 153 miles. At Ely is a mountain of copper, one of the great mines of the world. Vast development work is under way here. The Cherry Creek section has gold and silver; as far back as 1876 twenty carloads of ore were teamed 150 miles to the railway and shipped to a smelter, returning an average of $800 to the ton. Absence of transportation has prevented development until now.

THE ENTRANCE TO THE BEAUTIFUL OGDEN CANYON IS BUT A SHORT CAR RIDE FROM THE CITY. ITS SPARKLING WATERS FORM THE BASE OF THE CIVIC SUPPLY

THE OLD MORMON TRAIL, PATHWAY OF THE PIONEERS, CAN STILL BE TRACED NEAR SALT LAKE CITY

Wells, end of the first section going west, is the source of the Humboldt River. There are some thirty springs, very deep,—some perhaps a thousand feet—and never failing. They made of Humboldt Wells a great camping and watering place in the days of the old Overland Trail, three roads, the Grass Creek, the Thousand Springs Valley and the Cedar Pass, converging here. Wells is headquarters for a great cattle country, with ranges extending into Idaho on the North and Utah on the east, and is the supply town for many rich mining districts.

The little town of Deeth is a trading center with all the promise of several hundred square miles of tributary territory very little developed and very rich in mineral resources.

IT IS A FAR CRY FROM THESE DAYS OF THE OVERLAND LIMITED TO THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER OF PIONEER DAYS WHEN TIME AND DISTANCE SEEMED ALMOST UNLIMITED

Elko is picturesquely lively and on the verge of a business renaissance. It has had many ups and downs in a varied life. A million dollars in freight charges were paid here the first year after the railroad was finished, and thirty years ago it had waterworks, a bank, hotels, courthouse, churches, etc., when Nevada was almost terra incognita. Today it has more people (probably 2500 all told) than ever before. The shales near by possess gases rich beyond measure, which may be developed to furnish light, heat and power for the rich two hundred mile section of which Elko is the commercial center. It is a town of attractive homes, goodschools and churches. The Tuscarora, Columbia and Mountain City mining districts use Elko as a gateway to the world. There are good mineral springs here, including a “chicken soup” spring, alleged to supply food and medicine to any traveling Ponce de Leons.

THE STATUE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG, THE SUCCESSFUL LEADER TO THE PROMISED LAND

At Carlin are railroad shops, and the employees with the assistance of the Company maintain a handsome library. The old emigrant road divided just before reaching Carlin and reunited at Gravelly Ford. Once upon a time Shoshone Indians were plentiful hereabouts.

At Palisade, the Eureka and Palisade Railroad, eighty miles long, delivers its train loads of ore from the iron, silver and lead mines to the south for shipment to the smelters along the Overland Route. Rich oases, such as Pine Valley and Diamond Valley, are along the branch.

AN EARLY PHOTOGRAPH OF AN OVERLAND CARAVAN CLOSE TO SALT LAKE CITY

Battle Mountain is the junction of the Overland Route and Nevada Central Railway, a line ninety-three miles long, extending southward to Austin, once a famous mining camp and yet the center of a mining districtof much prominence. Battle Mountain lies three miles to the south. In the early sixties it was the scene of a fierce fight between immigrants and Indians. The Indians, while admitting they were worsted, claim to this day “heap white men killed.” The town is in the center of a productive agricultural section, and the Galena, Pittsburg, Copper Canyon and other productive mining districts, such as are springing up all over Nevada, help make it prosperous.

At the right of the station in Golconda are several mineral springs of much value, ranging in temperature from cold to hot enough to boil an egg in a minute. A good hotel is connected with the springs, which in any populous country would be visited by thousands of ill people. The great gold and copper deposits of Golconda are now being developed and extensive furnaces built.

THE MORMON TEMPLE AT SALT LAKE CITY, BUILT OF STONE FROM THE NEIGHBORING MOUNTAINS, STANDS BY THE SPACIOUS TABERNACLE, FAMOUS FOR ITS ACOUSTICS AND THE MUSIC OF ITS CHOIR

Winnemucca, “Napoleon of the Piutes,” was the best known chief of that tribe of Indians, and Winnemucca town was named in his honor. It is a lively place and has perhaps as large a trading area as any city in the West. For thirty years a stage ran between here and Boise City, Idaho, two hundred and fifty miles. Until the building of the Oregon Short Line Winnemucca was gateway to all of Southern Idaho. Today its trade area covers Northern Nevada and Eastern Oregon. The Paradise mines, 25 miles northeast; the Kennedy mines, 50 miles south; and the great sulphur mines, 30 miles northwest, use it as a trading depot. The businessdone in the enterprising town of 2,000 people is not to be measured by its population.

EAGLE GATE IS ONE OF THE INTERESTING MONUMENTS OF EARLIER ZION

Humboldt and Humboldt House for thirty-five years have been famous among Overland travelers as a place of delight with shady groves, green lawns and flowing fountains. Apples, peaches, plums, and cherries grow in the oasis. At a point near Humboldt the old Oregon trail diverged from the Overland Route toward Northern California and Southern Oregon. All along through this section of Nevada, the Overland Route takes the way prepared by the Humboldt River.

SALT LAKE CITY AND COUNTY BUILDING, SHOWS WELL THE MODERN PROGRESS OF THE CITY

No longer, however, does it wind with the stream, but burrows through mountains and spans the river as often as need be to save curves, distance and grades. In the last few years $10,531,425 have been spent in recreating this section of the main trans-continental highway.

THE LION HOUSE, BUILT BY BRIGHAM YOUNG TO SHELTER HIS FAMILY

Lovelock, with its irrigation canals, great alfalfa fields and herds of cattle, is made by the union of the waters of the Humboldt and the fertile soil of its meadows. In a few years Lovelock will be multiplied a hundred fold in Nevada. An hour’s ride beyond is a favored section for the mirage, a summer-time illusion. It is said in the days of the trail many an emigrant thought he saw in the distance a second Lovelock, more lovely, only to be undeceived at even.

THE TITHING HOUSE IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST STRUCTURES

At Hazen, the overland trains leave the passengers who are to go fortune hunting in Southern Nevada among the mines. Rawhide, Fairview, Wonder, Tonopah, Goldfield, Bullfrog, Manhattan, Rhyolite, Beatty and a score more of millionaire making camps already well known to prospectors, capitalists, and stock brokers throughout the country, are reached by the Nevada-California branch railway from Hazen, which connects at Mina with the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. In these regions the scenes of the Comstock Lode days of half a century ago are being repeated. Towns are created overnight—millionaires are made between meals. Stock exchanges ride high upon the enormous output of the mining certificates. Goldfield, but recently a desert, is a city of ten thousand people with good hotels, banks, daily papers, water, electric and gas plants, railroad, telegraph and telephone service, and indeed all the utilities of a modern city. Tonopah is of like history with somewhat smaller population. Here are all the cosmopolitan and adventurous spirits that are lured by gold, making these camps on the human side picturesque beyond measure. Marvelous are the stories, the true ones perhaps most so of all. One man went to Tonopah on $150 he had borrowed; in three years he was worth $2,000,000. Another owned a bed, a tent, and a ten days’ food supply; Goldfield—and today he owns a million dollars. A few men leased a mine; in five months they added to their property two million dollars. Little wonder it is a land of optimism; each treasure seeker has such examples before him to inspire him with hope; and the Nevada camps are the most hopeful and probably the most wonderful mining camps in the world.

TO SALTAIR, ON THE BORDERS OF GREAT SALT LAKE, CLOSE TO THE CITY, GO THOUSANDS DAILY TO BATHE IN ITS STRANGE WATERS, TOO SALT FOR LIFE, TOO HEAVY FOR THE LIGHTER WINDS TO CURL, TOO BUOYANT TO SWIM IN SWIFTLY

Sign, “Last Spike”

Hazen is also the junction point for another railroad, a fourteen-mile branch line to Fallon, the commercial center of the Truckee-Carson reclamation project.

PROMONTORY POINT AT THE EASTERN END OF GREAT SALT LAKE. HERE WAS THE JUNCTION OF THE TWO LINES WHERE THE LAST SPIKE WAS DRIVEN, BINDING THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT WITH A TRAIL OF STEEL

ACROSS THE SILENT DESOLATE SEA, THE TRAIN RUNS ON THE GREAT SALT LAKE CUT-OFF, THE BUILDING OF WHICH IS ONE OF THE TRIUMPHS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

THE PELICAN REARS ITS YOUNG ON THE LONELY ISLANDS OF THE INLAND SEA

The United States Government has diverted the waters of the Truckee and Carson Rivers by a series of canals, reservoirs and laterals upon 250,000 acres of the bed of an ancient lake with deep rich soil composed of materials washed down from the surrounding mountains. Already water is ready to irrigate about 100,000 acres, of which a large part is Government land and the remainder either railroad or privately owned land which can be purchased at reasonable figures. About 50,000 acres have been settled upon and nearly one thousand farms more are ready for settlement.

LOOKING WESTWARD ALONG THE PATHWAY MADE FROM SHORE TO SHORE WHERE TIME AND NATURE WERE DEFEATED

The Government has invested several million dollars in the project and guarantees the water supply. The public land may be taken up under the Homestead Act and it is the purpose of the Reclamation Service that settlers shall have farm units varying in size from forty to one hundred and sixty acres, according to the location, smoothness of the surface and quality of land. The average size of the farms is 80 acres. The intensive cultivation possible under an irrigation system makes it most profitable to till a farm of moderate size. The railroad lands are now on sale at an average price of about $5 per acre and other privately owned lands may be secured at from $5 to $20 per acre. The cost of the water system is assessed against the land on the basis of ten equal annual payments andis now determined to be $30 per acre or $3 per year without interest. There is additional charge for maintenance of the canal system, which in 1908 amounted to 40c per acre. The only other charges to settlers are $6.50 for a forty-acre farm and $8 for an eighty-acre farm, the Government fees for filing; save that if the farm is within the railroad grant limit the fee becomes $8 for a forty-acre farm and $11 for an eighty-acre farm. The filing charge before United States Commissioner at Fallon is $1.

SEAGULLS IN COUNTLESS NUMBERS GIVE LIFE TO THIS AMERICAN DEAD SEA

THE PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS OF NEVADA HAVE A CHARM ABOVE THE RICHES THEY YIELD TO THE INSISTENT SEEKER

With water absolutely assured by the Government and the fertility of the land unquestioned, no one possessed of energy and good health with sufficient money to purchase the actual needs of a residence and farm cultivation, say from $1000 to $2000, need fear failure. The Carson Valley is to be a great garden spot, rich in small fruits such as apples, pears, peaches; rich in surface crops such as potatoes, onions, sugar beets; rich in dairy products, in great fields of alfalfa and herds of live stock. An experimental farm is maintained by the Government and already it has been proved that almost any temperate zone crop can be grown successfully. Probably the highest cash markets in America, the great mines of Nevada, Utah and California, are near at hand and the surplus can be exportedto the eastern and western borders of the continent and perhaps yet farther.

A STORY NOT NEEDING WORDS—WHY THE OLD ROUTE WAS ABANDONED

The Nevada & California Railway extends southward into the Owens River Valley from Mina, well known for its agricultural oases along the river, for its mines and for its superb scenery, its western wall of mountains being the highest and most impressive in the United States proper.

THE HUMBOLDT RIVER, CROSSED AT RYNDON, PROVES NEVADA NOT EVERYWHERE THE DESERT IT IS TOO OFTEN ASSUMED TO BE

IN PALISADE CANYON, NEVADA, THE OVERLAND LIMITED FOLLOWS THE COURSE OF THE RIVER, WHICH REFLECTS EVER CHANGING PICTURES OF CASTELLATED CLIFFS AND VERDANT BANKS

AT HUMBOLDT STATION, ONE OF NEVADA’S RAPIDLY SPREADING OASES

IRRIGATION AT LOVELOCK AND MANY OTHER PLACES IN NEVADA IS RAPIDLY SHOWING THAT NOT ALL ITS WEALTH LIES IN MINES

Reno, the most important and substantial Nevada cities, is 18,000 people and growing rapidly. To it the Virginia and Truckee Railroad brings business from the south, while the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway connects it with Northern California, Plumas and Modoc Counties (now being further developed by new lines under construction) and Southern Oregon. There is much good farming territory tributary; the Truckee meadows and Carson Valley are close by. The Truckee-Carson project will add to its trade greatly. The two factors giving greatest force to Reno’s forward movement are, however, the establishment of great railway terminals and shops by the Overland Route at Sparks, adjoining Reno, and the positionof the city as the chief commercial center of the richest, and now the most actively exploited mining area in America. It has all the utilities of a city even to suburban electric railway service, is kept informed by four newspapers and carries $6,000,000 in deposit in six banks. The Nevada State University is one of the foremost schools of the West, and in its mining and agricultural department work ranks especially high. The Mackay Mining Building, dedicated June 6, 1908, is the pride of the university.

Carson City, Nevada’s capital, is a beautiful place of 5,000 people on the Virginia & Truckee Railway, thirty-one miles from Reno. It is the oldest town in the State, has an abundance of good water and good shade, creditable State buildings, and a United States branch mint. It trades freely with Southwestern Nevada and the Inyo Valley of California.

THE HEAD GATES NEAR HAZEN, NEVADA, OF THE CARSON-TRUCKEE IRRIGATION PROJECT WHEREBY THE GOVERNMENT PLANS TO GIVE IRRIGATED LANDS TO SETTLERS AT THE COST OF THE WATER

Virginia City, fifty-two miles from Reno on the Virginia & Truckee Ry., and the adjoining town of Gold Hill, are famous places, once the center of tremendous mining activity. The treasure houses underneath held wonderful stores of wealth. Virginia City at one time had 30,000 people, one-third of the population being always underground. The place was built on the steep slope of Mount Davidson, 6200 feet above sea-level. Until the discovery of the Comstock Lode (an ore-channel four miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, along the eastern base of Mount Davidson, eighteen miles southeast of Reno), men worth $200,000 were called rich, and the world’s millionaires could be counted on one’s fingers. In June, 1859, miners (among whom were Peter O’Riley, Patrick McLaughlin,James Finney, John Bishop, W. P. T. Comstock, and a man named Penrod) working in the ravine along the base of Mount Davidson, were much annoyed by a strange blue-black substance that clogged their rockers. Finally a sample was taken to Nevada City, Cal., for assay. It yielded over $6,000 per ton in gold and silver. Since the day of the rush that followed that discovery, work on the Comstock Lode has never ceased. From that ore-channel have been taken more than $700,000,000; the Consolidated California Virginia took out in six years $119,000,000 and paid $67,000,000 in dividends. Of the history of that wonderful time, little can be said here, and such men as William Sharon, John P. Jones, John W. Mackay, James G. Fair, I. W. Requa, Marcus Daly, Adolph Sutro, made famous by their connections with the Comstock Lode, must be passed by with merely mention of names. Mark Twain’s “Roughing It” and contemporary works, provide “mighty interesting” reading about that treasure era.

A WESTERN MINNEHAHACopyright byF. A. Rinehart, Omaha.

AT RENO MODERN BUILDINGS AND THE FINE BRIDGE THAT SPANS THE TRUCKEE MARK THE UPBUILDING OF NEVADA’S PRINCIPAL CITY

Reno is at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the great wall rising to thewestward and separating California from the rest of the country. This highest of mountain chains in our country extends several hundred miles north and south. Perhaps no other range of mountains in the world has attractions so great or of such variety. The Sierra Nevada, the Snowy Range, or, as John Muir has more aptly termed it, the Range of Light, has many main ridges extending from 6,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level, with guardian peaks over 14,000 feet high. Highest of all and greatest mountain peak in the United States outside of Alaska is Mt. Whitney, 14,529 feet high. These mountains which the Overland Route crosses on its way to the Pacific have the greatest coniferous forests on earth. Among its peaks nestle the largest and most numerous of mountain lakes. Between its walls are unsurpassed mountain chasms. Its streams, unexcelled in beauty, possess the greatest potential power of all the waters of American mountains.

The Sierra Nevada is crossed by the Overland Route along a scenic pathway associated with much of interest in history and tradition. Here were the greatest obstacles in the way of the pioneer railroad builders. Nature seemed here to have rallied her forces for a final stand. Here Theodore Judah, the pioneer pathfinder of the railway, found his most difficult work. The climb up the mountain side is up the canyon of the beautiful Truckee River, a famous trout stream, a journey lined with beautiful forests of pine and mountain walls.

A STREET IN CARSON CITY, NEVADA, WHERE FAMOUS FOOTPRINTS AND FOSSIL REMAINS OF PREHISTORIC MONSTERS HAVE BEEN FOUND

At Boca, Prosser Creek and Iceland, the “chief crop” is ice; at Floriston, paper; at Truckee, lumber and box stock; and at Lake Tahoe, a very good time. Boca is junction with the Boca & Loyalton road, a forty mile line northward through Sierra and Plumas Valleys—noted for its forests, beautiful little valleys, and lakes. Truckee is a lumbering and railroad town of twothousand people, Thence, a distance of 14 miles farther up the river, runs the Lake Tahoe Railway to the shore of Lake Tahoe.

VIRGINIA CITY, NEVADA, AS IN THE DAYS OF THE COMSTOCK LODE. STILL FURNISHES RICH YIELDS OF PRECIOUS MINERALS

Lake Tahoe, largest of the world’s mountain lakes, is 23 miles long by 13 miles broad, 6,220 feet above sea-level, and over 2,000 feet deep. It is a body of the purest, clearest, and most wonderfully tinted water imaginable, held in a mountain rimmed cup with its edge crested with ever present snow, sparkling as a jewel. Between snow line and the lake are beautiful pine forests, in which, half hidden, are such famous resorts as Tahoe Tavern, McKinney’s, Tallac, Glenbrook, Brockway, and Tahoe City. The summer climate with great abundance of sunshiny days, the invigorating pine-scented atmosphere, and the cool nights and delightful days, alone make of Tahoe and its neighboring Sierra lakes—Fallen Leaf, Cascade, and others—an unsurpassed summer place. But when are added the forests, the scenery of the Snowy Range, the fishing and hunting, and the out of door sports, the first place among mountain lake resorts must be given to this region. A swift and well fitted steamer circles the lake every summer day from Tahoe Tavern.

The trout of Tahoe, the Truckee river, and neighboring lakes and streams, make good the claim that no place excels this region for the fisherman. Usually they run from three to six pounds in weight, but specimens weighing over thirty pounds have been taken.

Such out of door joys as boating, horseback riding, mountain climbing, and hunting, can be enjoyed under the most favorable conditions. Excursions up Freel’s Peak, and Mt. Tallac, and to Glen Alpine, are very much worth while. Of the hotel accommodations, it is, perhaps, enough to say, that one may be comfortable in a tent or a cabin, or enjoy hotel service unexcelled at any summer resort in America.

THE OVERLAND LIMITED AT FLORISTON CLOSE TO THE CALIFORNIA LINE, THE PORTAL TO A RIDE THROUGH SCENES OF GREAT BEAUTY

West of Truckee on the Overland Route, we pass Webber, Donner, and Independence Lakes. The unfortunate Donner party camped by the lake of that name, snowed in, in the winter of 1846-47, losing 43 of its 83 members before relief came in February. Of these mountain glacial lakes, cups of clear water, there are some six thousand in the region between Truckee and the Tule river to the south.

The summit of the Sierra is reached twelve miles west of Truckee, 7018 feet above the sea-level. Along this part of the journey the track is protected by snow-sheds, but the sides of the sheds are latticed and there are many intervening stretches of clear track, so the scenery is not lost.

The ride down the western wall of the Sierras is one of entrancing interest. At the summit during the winter of 1907 were many feet of snow. Ravines were filled with it, snow-sheds covered with it, and trees made snow mounds by it; and yet scarce three hours’ ride away, roses brightened porches and roofs, the scent of orange blossoms filled the air, early peaches and almonds bloomed in the orchards, the fields were vividly green with foot high grain, and the hills aflame with wild poppies. It is this transition from snowy winter to blooming spring that is perhaps the most delightful experience of the westbound traveler during the colder months over the Overland Route as the train glides swiftly from the summit to the sea.

THE TRUCKEE RIVER IS ONE OF THE MOST GENEROUS AND MOST EASILY FISHED OF TROUT STREAMS

LAKE TAHOE, TWENTY-THREE MILES LONG, THIRTEEN WIDE, SURROUNDED BY SNOW CLAD MOUNTAINS, SET AS THE MAIN JEWEL OF A PENDANT OF GLEAMING LAKES, HAS NO PEER IN ALL AMERICA

CAVE ROCK, LAKE TAHOE, WHERE THE BIG TROUT LOVE TO LIE IN THE SHADY DEPTHS

At Cape Horn the road follows a shelf hewn around the face of the mountain; sheerly below, 1200 feet, is the American river in its winding canyon, while above the mountain wall rises to the clouds.

From Cape Horn the Sacramento Valley, fair and fruitful, is spread below as a great relief map of orchards, villages and cities, and winding rivers and green slopes. Past Emigrant Gap, Cowles, Dutch Flat and Gold Run—historic names—these mark the center of the greatest excitement America ever knew over placer mines. Colfax has interest partly in golden fruit and partly in gold. Twenty miles away, and reached by the Nevada county Narrow Gauge, are the thriving cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City, once great mining camps, and yet owning much mineral importance. They are now among California’s most important cities with prospects of advancement still bright before them.

TAHOE TAVERN—MOST MODERN OF HOSTELRIES IN EQUIPMENT, IS DESIGNED IN HARMONY WITH ITS SURROUNDINGS OF PINEY WOODS AND WILD FLOWER GARDENS

All down this slope of the Sierra, past beautiful Auburn, a modern town, and yet with a touch of ancient days, half hidden in foliage and flowers, with orange and peach blossoms, are natural sanitariums where people suffering from asthma and other throat and lung troubles are surprising their home doctors continually by getting well. From Auburn, Newcastle (center of the great Placer County fruit belt) Penryn and neighboringstations, are shipped each year thousands of cars of green fruit, principally peaches, to the Eastern markets. No other section of the west ships so many cars of fresh peaches to market and its fame as an orange growing section is growing rapidly.

THE PAVILION AT TALLAC, ANOTHER POPULAR LAKE RESORT

The Overland Route joins the Road of a Thousand Wonders (between Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles) at Roseville, a great railway center to be, with fifty-seven miles of yards, round-houses of sixty-four stalls, machine and car shops, club house, icing plant and hospital. From Roseville to Sacramento the nineteen mile journey is made past horse ranches (a notable one at Ben Ali), and great dairy farms.

Sacramento, the capital city of California, is a manufacturing and wholesale center, with an ever increasing and diversified trade extending up to central Oregon on the North, and to central Nevada on the East. Its post office receipts, school attendance, and directory returns, indicate the city has a population of practically 50,000. The railway shops of the Southern Pacific cover twenty acres, and employ 3,000 people. The rich tributary country about Sacramento amounts to 600,000 acres in area. Its bank capital and resources are greater than in many cities of over a hundred thousand people.

THE STEAMER “TAHOE” DAILY CIRCLES THE SAPPHIRE WATERS OF THE LAKE

Here was born the Central Pacific Railroad. Theodore D. Judah had been employed by a California company to build a road from Sacramento to Folsom(forty miles), but his eyes were ever turning Sierraward. At last he gained the attention of Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins, and the Crockers, and succeeded in interesting them in the stupendous project of building a railroad, which, in a hundred miles was to rise from about sea-level to almost half a mile; then to drop 3300 feet and then crossing ten ranges of mountains, was to find a way to meet the western end of a road from the Missouri, by the waters of Great Salt Lake.

LAKE TAHOE’S SHORES ARE RICH IN SHELTERED COVES WHERE THE TRANSPARENT WATERS REFLECT THE PINES

MOUNT TALLAC, ONE OF THE SNOW CLAD PEAKS THAT GUARD LAKE TAHOE: 9,785 FEET HIGH, IT IS EASILY ACCESSIBLE AND THE SCENES FROM ITS SUMMIT ARE OF GREAT BEAUTY

FROM THE SMALLER ATTENDANT LAKES DROP MANY BEAUTIFUL FALLS, WELL WORTH VISITING

DONNER LAKE. SCENE OF A WINTER TRAGEDY IN EARLY CALIFORNIA DAYS

It was done. The story of the doing cannot be told here. It is one of volumes, and simply the names of the men whose daring and genius solved its problems may be mentioned. It was a combination predestined, irresistible, a union of men for whom opportunity needed to knock but lightly, who saw the grandeur of the task before them and rose to its inspiration. Each had his allotted place to which he seemed peculiarly fitted and each, through the sheer love of the work and indomitable purpose made perfect his part in this modern conquest of America. Judah, the great engineer, saw the work through, and then, in a few months, died—but fame is his. Senator A. A. Sargent framed the laws that made the work possible. Senator Leland Stanford was the great political executive who handled the road’s relations with the Government—a many sided, brilliant man, and a mighty pioneer, in farming, fruit growing, and stock raising, as well as railroad building. Charles Crocker was the master mind in the field, and organizer of men and affairs, and withal, much beloved by all who knew him. Judge Crocker, the road’s first attorney, was of inestimable value to it, but so noiseless, modest and retiring, that his relations with the line are almost forgotten. Mark Hopkins was the trained man of business, who directed the office affairs, carrying in his brain every detail of the enterprise, and working upon it night andday. Collis P. Huntington, famous in every line of work he undertook, outlived his associates, and became one of the world’s greatest builders and financiers. To Mr. Huntington and to Edward H. Harriman (whose financial genius and constructive ability have contributed more in high class, modern railways to the advancement of the West than any other man), the empire beyond the Missouri and the Mississippi owes more than to any other two.

SHY DEER WATCH THE PASSING TRAINS FROM THE LEAFY COVERTS OF THE CANYONS

Sacramento has many places of interest; the capitol building and its fine grounds, Sutter’s Fort, and the Crocker Art Gallery being among them. The city has beautiful tree lined avenues, fine houses with flower gardens, lawns, and citrus and deciduous fruit, good urban and suburban electric line service, railways radiating in four directions, and three more—two steam and one electric—under construction; altogether a modern, charming city with such unusual out of doors attractions as only California can give.

NEAR NEWCASTLE THE WILDER SCENERY GIVES PLACE TO PEACEFUL ORCHARDS

Among public works is the handsome Government building, in which are the post office, land office, weather bureau, and other Governmentoffices. In yards the magnolia blooms and the broad leaves of the plantain and banana arrest the eye. Palms are plentiful and with variety; orange and lemon trees are numerous. Camellias bloom in profusion.

The journey from Sacramento to San Francisco may be made over the ninety mile direct route via Benicia or the longer way through Stockton. The Benicia Route is through deciduous fruit sections, of which Davis and Elmira are business centers and junctions respectively for lines through the west side of the Sacramento Valley and up the beautiful Capay Valley. The Overland Route from Elmira follows along the marshes of upper Suisun Bay, where tens of thousands of wild ducks and wild geese find a home.

At Suisun, a branch line leads to the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, famous these forty years past for fruits and wine and rural loveliness. Suisun has many fruit establishments. Beyond, fifteen miles, is Benicia, with its Government post and arsenal.

UP AT SUMMIT THE DOMAIN OF KING SNOW, BEAUTIFUL TO LOOK AT THOUGH FRIGID IN WELCOME, IS SWIFTLY LEFT BEHIND

Thence the great double ferryboat, the Solano, swallows the train, and moves across the picturesque Carquinez straits, a mile wide, to Port Costa. This is the largest ferryboat in the world, and perhaps the only double one. Its two paddle wheels may be made to revolve in opposite directions, turning the boat around almost in its own length. As one crosses, to the left lies Suisun Bay, to the right, San Pablo Bay. The ferry unloads its trains at Port Costa, place of mammoth grain warehouseswith capacity for more than 350,000 tons. Thirty deep-sea ships may unload here at one time.

THE TRAIN DROPS QUICKLY FROM THE REGION OF PINES AND FROST INTO A FAIRYLAND OF PALMS AND FLOWERS

A few miles beyond Port Costa is Vallejo Junction; thence the ferry boat El Capitan carries passengers the intervening four miles to Vallejo, and to Mare Island Navy Yard. From the train you may catch a glimpse of the warships at anchor, of the wooded island where Uncle Sam has three thousand employees, and of Vallejo, upon its hills facing it, a lively city of 12,000 people.

The great tower opposite Vallejo Junction carries across the straits the transmission wires of the electric companies that gather the weight of falling water in the Sierra Nevada and deliver it to San Francisco and the bay counties to move street cars, light cities, and keep the wheels of industry whirring.

Along this water front from between Vallejo Junction and Oakland are great manufactories. Here are the Selby Smelting works where something better than alchemy brings gold from rough rock; here (at a safe distance) are powder works and soap factories, steel and wire works, sugar refining works, syrup, oil and borax refineries, canneries and tanneries and various wood working establishments.

Past Richmond, a manufacturing city, and Berkeley, a beautiful residence city of 40,000 people, the Overland Route leads to Oakland.

Berkeley is built upon the slopes of hills to a height of six hundred feet. It is the seat of the University of California, and the location of the State Asylum for the Blind, the Deaf, and the Dumb. The University grounds are beautiful and under the Bernard plans, involving an ultimate expenditure of $50,000,000, the buildings will have no second place in American architecture.

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