184 Spring Station,” midway between Sum- mit and Cascade stations. Tamerack—is the next station, 4.2 miles from Cascade, and 3.51 miles from Cisco—At one time this was quite an important place, being the “terminus” during the time occupied in tunneling through the summit; then, it was a place of 500 inhabitants, now, a score or so make up the town. From this station we pass along rapidly and easily, without the help of the locomo- tive. To the right, occasional glimpses of the Bear and Yuba Rivers can be seen far below us. Emigrant Gap—is 8.5 miles west of Cisco, at the place where the old emi- grant road crossed the Divide, and fol- lowed down the ridges to the valley of the Sacramento. The emigrants passed over the “gap,” we pass under it, making a slight difference in elevation between the two roads, as well asa difference in the mode of traveling. We have seen the last of the old emigrant road that we have fol- lowed so far. No more will the weary emi- eee toil over the long and weary journey. pace is annihilated, and the tireless iron horse will henceforth haul an iron wagon over an iron road, landing the tourist and emigrant fresh and hearty, after a week’s ride, from the far eastern shores of our country to the far western—from ocean to ocean. Passing on amid the grand old pines, leaving the summit peaks behind, we turn up Blue Canyon, the road-bed on the oppo- site bank apparently running parallel with the one we are traversing. Swinging around the head of the canyon, past saw- mills and lumber side-tracks, 5.2 miles, we reach Blue Canyen—a freight and lum- ber station, where immense quantities of lumber are shipped from mills in the vicin- ity. Before the railroad reached these mountains, the lumber interest of this sec- tion was of little value, there being only a | local demand, which hardly paid for build- ing mills and keeping teams. The mines were then the only market—the cost of freight to the valleys forbidding competi- tion with the Puget Sound lumber trade, or with mills situated so much nearer the agricultural districts. Now the lumber can be sent to the valleys, and sold as cheaply as any, in a market rarely overstocked ; for the one item of lumber forms one of the sta- CROFUTT’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST prices, and being in better demand than any other article of trade, on the coast, if we except wheat. Leaving Blue Canyon, we speed along around the hill-sides, past Cuina Rancu—a side-track, about two miles west. The passenger should now watch the scenery on the left. Shady Rum—is 4.72 miles west of | Blue Canyon, but passenger trains seldom stop. On the left, south side, can be seen one of the grandest gorges in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, “The Great American Canyon.” (See illustration, page 157). At this point the American River is com- pressed between two walls, 2,000 feet high, and so nearly perpendicular that we can stand on the brink of the cliff and look directly down on the foaming waters be- low. The canyon is about two miles long, and so precipitous are its sides, which are washed by the torrent, that it has been found impossible to ascend the stream through the gorge, even on foot. This isa beautiful view—one of nature’s most mag- nificant panoramas. But we soon lose sight of it, as our train turns to the right, up a side canyon, 4.84 miles from Shady Run, and stops at | Alta—aAlta looks old and weather. | beaten, and its half-dozen board houses, | with sharp roofs, look as though there was | little less than a century between the pres- | ent and the time when they were ushered | into existence—like its namesake in San | Francisco, after which it was named. Dutch Flat— is 1.87 miles from Alta; | | old settlers call it German Level. The town of Dutch Flat is situated in a hollow, near | and to the right of the road, a por- tion of it being in plain view. The town contains many good buildings, churches, schools, and hotels. Thearmer,a weekly | newspaper, is a new institution at Dutch | Flat. Population, about 2,000. One feature of this town is worth noting, and worthy of commendation—the beautiful gardens and fine orchards which ornament almost every house. In almost all of the moun- tain towns—in fact in all of the older min- ing towns—the scene is reproduced, while many of the valley towns are bare of vines, flowers or fruit trees; the miner’s cabin has its garden and fruit trees attached, if water can be had for irrigation, while half of the | farm-houses have neither fruit trees, shrubs, | flowers nor gardens around them. ; Stages leave this station daily for Little ple market articles, ruling at more regular | York, You Bet and Red Dog. Freight