182 Cc

ROFUTY’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST

 

directly across the broken land bordering
the lake meadows, for the foot of the
Sierras. Then skirting along the hill-side,
through long snow sheds, with the spark-
ling Coldstream on our right, winding
through the grassey valley and among
waving pines, for 6.52 miles, we pass

Strong’s Canyon—-and bend,
around the southern end of the valley,
which borders Donner Lake, then crossing
Coldstream, commence the ascent of the
mountains. Soon after passing this side-
track, our train enters a snow-shed,
which—with a number of tunnels,—is
continuous for twenty-eight miles, with but
a few “ peck-holes,” through which to get
a glimpse at the beautiful scenery along
this part of the route—yet, we shall de-
scribe it, allthe seme. As the train skirts
the eastern base, rising higher and higher,
Donner Lake is far below, looking like a
lake of silver set in the shadows of green
forests and brown mountains. Up still,
the long, black Jine of the road bending
around and seemingly stealing away in the
same direction in which we are moving,
though far below us, points out the wind-
ing course we have followed.

p, still up, higher and higher toils the
train, through the long line of snow-sheds
leading to the first tunnel, while the loco-
motives are snorting an angry defiance as
they enter the gloomy, rock-bound chamber.

Summit—-is 14.31 miles west of
Truckee, the highest point on the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, passed over by the
Central Pacific railroad, 7,017 feet above
thelevel of the sea. Distance from Omaha,
1,669 miles; from San Francisco, 245 miles.
This is not the highest land of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, by any means, for
bleak and bare of vendure, rise the granite
peaks around us, to an altitude of over
10,000 feet. Piles of granite—their weather-
stained and moss-clad sides glistening in
the morning sun—rise between us and the
“ western shore,” hiding from our sightthe
vast expanse of plain that we know lies be
tween us and the golden shores of the
Pacific Ocean. Scattering groups of hardy
fir and spruce, line the mountain gorges,
where rest the everlasting snows that have
rested in the deep shady guiches, near the
summit of these towering old mountains—
who can tell how long? They have lain,
evidently, since Adam was a very small
boy, or the tree sprouted from which our
apple-loving ancestor, Eve, plucked that
bedeviled fruit.

We are on the dividing ridges which
separate the head-waters of several moun-
tain rivers, which, by different and _ tor-
tuous courses, find at last the same common
receptacle for their snow-fed waters—the
Sacramento River. Close to our right,
far down in that fir-clad gorge, the waters
of the South Yuba leap and dance along,
amid dense and gloomy forests, and over
almost countless rapids, cascades and
waterfalls. This stream heads against and
far up the Summit, one branch crossing
the road at the next station, Cascade. After
passing Cisco, the head waters of Bear
River can be seen lying between the Divide
and the Yuba, which ,winds away be-
yond, out ofsight, behind another mountain
ridge. Farther on still, and we find the
American River on our left. These streams
reach the same ending the Sacramento River
but are far apart, where they mingle with
thatstream. There isno grander scenery
in the Sierras, of towering mountains, deep
gorges, lofty precipices, sparklin
falls and crystal lakes, than xbohat within
an easy distance of thisplace. The tourist
can find scenes of the deepest interest and
grandest beauty; the scholar and philoso-
pher, objects of rare value for scientific in-
vestigation; the hunter and the angler can
find an almost unlimited field for his
amusement; the former in the gorges of
the mountains, where the timid deer and
fierce grizzly bear make their homes; the
latter among the mountain lakes and
streams, where the speckle: trout leaps in
its joyous freedom, while around all, is the
music of snow-fed mountain torrent and
mountain breeze, and over allis the clear
blue sky of a sunny clime, tempered and
softened by the shadows of the everlasting
hills.

TUNNELS AND SNow-SHEDsS—From the
time theroad enters the crests of the “ Sum-
mit,” it passes through a succession of tun-
nels and snow-sheds so closely connected
that the traveler can hardly tell when tre
cars enter or leave a tunnel. The Summit
tunnel, the longest of the number, is 1,659
feet long, the others ranging from 100 to
870 feet in length.

The snow-sheds are solid structures, built
of sawed and round timber, completely
roofing in the road for many miles (see
illustration, pages, 85-101.) Whenthe road
was completed, there were 23 miles of shed
built, at an actual cost of $10,000 per mile.
With the additions since made, the line
reaches about 45 miles, which includes the

 

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