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diff --git a/10012-0.txt b/10012-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48e2e1a --- /dev/null +++ b/10012-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8848 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10012 *** + +[Illustration] + + + + +The Mountains of California + +by John Muir + +Contents + + I THE SIERRA NEVADA + II THE GLACIERS + III THE SNOW + IV A NEAR VIEW OF THE HIGH SIERRA + V THE PASSES + VI THE GLACIER LAKES + VII THE GLACIER MEADOWS + VIII THE FORESTS + IX THE DOUGLAS SQUIRREL + X A WIND-STORM IN THE FORESTS + XI THE RIVER FLOODS + XII SIERRA THUNDER-STORMS + XIII THE WATER-OUZEL + XIV THE WILD SHEEP + XV IN THE SIERRA FOOT-HILLS + XVI THE BEE-PASTURES + +[Illustration: HOOFED LOCUSTS.] + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + HOOFED LOCUSTS + MOUNT TAMALPAIS—NORTH OF THE GOLDEN GATE + MAP OF THE SIERRA NEVADA + MOUNT SHASTA + MOUNT HOOD + MAP OF THE GLACIER COUNTRY + MOUNT RAINIER; NORTH PUYALLUP GLACIER FROM EAGLE CLIFF + KOLANA ROCK, HETCH-HETCHY VALLEY + GENERAL GRANT TREE, GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK + MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY + MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, SHOWING PRESENT RESERVATION BOUNDARY + RANCHERIA FALLS, HETCH-HETCHY VALLEY + VIEW OF THE MONO PLAIN FROM THE FOOT OF BLOODY CAÑON + LAKE TENAYA, ONE OF THE YOSEMITE FOUNTAINS + THE DEATH OF A LAKE + SHADOW LAKE (MERCED LAKE), YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK + VERNAL FALL, YOSEMITE VALLEY + LAKE STARR KING + VIEW IN THE SIERRA FOREST + EDGE OF THE TIMBER LINE ON MOUNT SHASTA + VIEW IN THE MAIN PINE BELT OF THE SIERRA FOREST + NUT PINE + THE GROVE FORM + LOWER MARGIN OF THE MAIN PINE BELT, SHOWING OPEN CHARACTER OF WOODS + SUGAR PINE ON EXPOSED RIDGE + YOUNG SUGAR PINE BEGINNING TO BEAR CONES + FOREST OF SEQUOIA, SUGAR PINE, AND DOUGLAS SPRUCE + PINUS PONDEROSA + SILVER PINE 210 FEET HIGH + INCENSE CEDAR IN ITS PRIME + FOREST OF GRAND SILVER FIRS + VIEW OF FOREST OF THE MAGNIFICENT SILVER FIR + SILVER-FIR FOREST GROWING ON MORAINES OF THE HOFFMAN AND TENAYA GLACIERS + SEQUOIA GIGANTEA. VIEW IN GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK + MUIR GORGE, TUOLUMNE CAÑON—YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK + VIEW IN TUOLUMNE CAÑON, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK + JUNIPER, OR RED CEDAR + STORM-BEATEN JUNIPERS + STORM-BEATEN HEMLOCK SPRUCE, FORTY FEET HIGH + GROUP OF ERECT DWARF PINES + A DWARF PINE + OAK GROWING AMONG YELLOW PINES + PATE VALLEY, SHOWING THE OAKS. TUOLUMNE CAÑON, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK + TRACK OF DOUGLAS SQUIRREL ONCE DOWN AND UP A PINE-TREE WHEN SHOWING OFF TO A SPECTATOR + SEEDS, WINGS, AND SCALE OF SUGAR PINE + TRYING THE BOW + A WIND-STORM IN THE CALIFORNIA FORESTS + YELLOW PINE AND LIBOCEDRUS + BRIDAL VEIL FALLS, YOSEMITE VALLEY + WATER-OUZEL DIVING AND FEEDING + ONE OF THE LATE-SUMMER FEEDING-GROUNDS OF THE OUZEL + OUZEL ENTERING A WHITE CURRENT + THE OUZEL AT HOME + YOSEMITE BIRDS, SNOW-COUND AT THE FOOT OF INDIAN CAÑON + SNOW-BOUND ON MOUNT SHASTA + HEAD OF THE MERINO RAM + HEAD OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILD SHEEP + CROSSING A CAÑON STREAM + WILD SHEEP JUMPING OVER A PRECIPICE + INDIANS HUNTING WILD SHEEP + A BEE-RANCH IN LOWER CALIFORNIA + WILD BEE GARDEN + IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.—WHITE SAGE + A BEE-RANCH ON A SPUR OF THE SAN GABRIEL RANGE.—CARDINAL FLOWER + WILD BUCKWHEAT.—A BEE-RANCH IN THE WILDERNESS + A BEE-PASTURE ON THE MORAINE DESERT.—SPANISH BAYONET + A BEE-KEEPER’S CABIN + + + + +CHAPTER I +THE SIERRA NEVADA + + +Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in +sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. Yet so simple and +massive is the topography of the State in general views, that the main +central portion displays only one valley, and two chains of mountains +which seem almost perfectly regular in trend and height: the Coast +Range on the west side, the Sierra Nevada on the east. These two ranges +coming together in curves on the north and south inclose a magnificent +basin, with a level floor more than 400 miles long, and from 35 to 60 +miles wide. This is the grand Central Valley of California, the waters +of which have only one outlet to the sea through the Golden Gate. But +with this general simplicity of features there is great complexity of +hidden detail. The Coast Range, rising as a grand green barrier against +the ocean, from 2000 to 8000 feet high, is composed of innumerable +forest-crowned spurs, ridges, and rolling hill-waves which inclose a +multitude of smaller valleys; some looking out through long, +forest-lined vistas to the sea; others, with but few trees, to the +Central Valley; while a thousand others yet smaller are embosomed and +concealed in mild, round-browed hills, each, with its own climate, +soil, and productions. + +Making your way through the mazes of the Coast Range to the summit of +any of the inner peaks or passes opposite San Francisco, in the clear +springtime, the grandest and most telling of all California landscapes +is outspread before you. At your feet lies the great Central Valley +glowing golden in the sunshine, extending north and south farther than +the eye can reach, one smooth, flowery, lake-like bed of fertile soil. +Along its eastern margin rises the mighty Sierra, miles in height, +reposing like a smooth, cumulous cloud in the sunny sky, and so +gloriously colored, and so luminous, it seems to be not clothed with +light, but wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city. +Along the top, and extending a good way down, you see a pale, +pearl-gray belt of snow; and below it a belt of blue and dark purple, +marking the extension of the forests; and along the base of the range a +broad belt of rose-purple and yellow, where lie the minor’s gold-fields +and the foot-hill gardens. All these colored belts blending smoothly +make a wall of light ineffably fine, and as beautiful as a rainbow, yet +firm as adamant. + +When I first enjoyed this superb view, one glowing April day, from the +summit of the Pacheco Pass, the Central Valley, but little trampled or +plowed as yet, was one furred, rich sheet of golden compositae, and the +luminous wall of the mountains shone in all its glory. Then it seemed +to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but +the Range of Light. And after ten years spent in the heart of it, +rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, +seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday +radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, +and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of +irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, +the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain-chains I have ever +seen. + +The Sierra is about 500 miles long, 70 miles wide, and from 7000 to +nearly 15,000 feet high. In general views no mark of man is visible on +it, nor anything to suggest the richness of the life it cherishes, or +the depth and grandeur of its sculpture. None of its magnificent +forest-crowned ridges rises much above the general level to publish its +wealth. No great valley or lake is seen, or river, or group of +well-marked features of any kind, standing out in distinct pictures. +Even the summit-peaks, so clear and high in the sky, seem comparatively +smooth and featureless. Nevertheless, glaciers are still at work in the +shadows of the peaks, and thousands of lakes and meadows shine and +bloom beneath them, and the whole range is furrowed with cañons to a +depth of from 2000 to 5000 feet, in which once flowed majestic +glaciers, and in which now flow and sing a band of beautiful rivers. + +Though of such stupendous depth, these famous cañons are not raw, +gloomy, jagged-walled gorges, savage and inaccessible. With rough +passages here and there they still make delightful pathways for the +mountaineer, conducting from the fertile lowlands to the highest icy +fountains, as a kind of mountain streets full of charming life and +light, graded and sculptured by the ancient glaciers, and presenting, +throughout all their courses, a rich variety of novel and attractive +scenery, the most attractive that has yet been discovered in the +mountain-ranges of the world. + +In many places, especially in the middle region of the western flank of +the range, the main cañons widen into spacious valleys or parks, +diversified like artificial landscape-gardens, with charming groves and +meadows, and thickets of blooming bushes, while the lofty, retiring +walls, infinitely varied in form and sculpture, are fringed with ferns, +flowering-plants of many species, oaks, and evergreens, which find +anchorage on a thousand narrow steps and benches; while the whole is +enlivened and made glorious with rejoicing streams that come dancing +and foaming over the sunny brows of the cliffs to join the shining +river that flows in tranquil beauty down the middle of each one of +them. + +The walls of these park valleys of the Yosemite kind are made up of +rocks mountains in size, partly separated from each other by narrow +gorges and side-cañons; and they are so sheer in front, and so +compactly built together on a level floor, that, comprehensively seen, +the parks they inclose look like immense halls or temples lighted from +above. Every rock seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic +repose; others, absolutely sheer, or nearly so, for thousands of feet, +advance their brows in thoughtful attitudes beyond their companions, +giving welcome to storms and calms alike, seemingly conscious yet +heedless of everything going on about them, awful in stern majesty, +types of permanence, yet associated with beauty of the frailest and +most fleeting forms; their feet set in pine-groves and gay emerald +meadows, their brows in the sky; bathed in light, bathed in floods of +singing water, while snow-clouds, avalanches, and the winds shine and +surge and wreathe about them as the years go by, as if into these +mountain mansions Nature had taken pains to gather her choicest +treasures to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with +her. + +[Illustration: MOUNT TAMALPAIS—NORTH OF THE GOLDEN GATE.] + +Here, too, in the middle region of deepest cañons are the grandest +forest-trees, the Sequoia, king of conifers, the noble Sugar and Yellow +Pines, Douglas Spruce, Libocedrus, and the Silver Firs, each a giant of +its kind, assembled together in one and the same forest, surpassing all +other coniferous forests in the world, both in the number of its +species and in the size and beauty of its trees. The winds flow in +melody through their colossal spires, and they are vocal everywhere +with the songs of birds and running water. Miles of fragrant ceanothus +and manzanita bushes bloom beneath them, and lily gardens and meadows, +and damp, ferny glens in endless variety of fragrance and color, +compelling the admiration of every observer. Sweeping on over ridge and +valley, these noble trees extend a continuous belt from end to end of +the range, only slightly interrupted by sheer-walled cañons at +intervals of about fifteen and twenty miles. Here the great burly brown +bears delight to roam, harmonizing with the brown boles of the trees +beneath which they feed. Deer, also, dwell here, and find food and +shelter in the ceanothus tangles, with a multitude of smaller people. +Above this region of giants, the trees grow smaller until the utmost +limit of the timber line is reached on the stormy mountain-slopes at a +height of from ten to twelve thousand feet above the sea, where the +Dwarf Pine is so lowly and hard beset by storms and heavy snow, it is +pressed into flat tangles, over the tops of which we may easily walk. +Below the main forest belt the trees likewise diminish in size, frost +and burning drought repressing and blasting alike. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE SIERRA NEVADA] + +The rose-purple zone along the base of the range comprehends nearly all +the famous gold region of California. And here it was that miners from +every country under the sun assembled in a wild, torrent-like rush to +seek their fortunes. On the banks of every river, ravine, and gully +they have left their marks. Every gravel- and boulder-bed has been +desperately riddled over and over again. But in this region the pick +and shovel, once wielded with savage enthusiasm, have been laid away, +and only quartz-mining is now being carried on to any considerable +extent. The zone in general is made up of low, tawny, waving +foot-hills, roughened here and there with brush and trees, and +outcropping masses of slate, colored gray and red with lichens. The +smaller masses of slate, rising abruptly from the dry, grassy sod in +leaning slabs, look like ancient tombstones in a deserted +burying-ground. In early spring, say from February to April, the whole +of this foot-hill belt is a paradise of bees and flowers. Refreshing +rains then fall freely, birds are busy building their nests, and the +sunshine is balmy and delightful. But by the end of May the soil, +plants, and sky seem to have been baked in an oven. Most of the plants +crumble to dust beneath the foot, and the ground is full of cracks; +while the thirsty traveler gazes with eager longing through the burning +glare to the snowy summits looming like hazy clouds in the distance. + +The trees, mostly _Quercus Douglasii_ and _Pinus Sabiniana_, thirty to +forty feet high, with thin, pale-green foliage, stand far apart and +cast but little shade. Lizards glide about on the rocks enjoying a +constitution that no drought can dry, and ants in amazing numbers, +whose tiny sparks of life seem to burn the brighter with the increasing +heat, ramble industriously in long trains in search of food. Crows, +ravens, magpies—friends in distress—gather on the ground beneath the +best shade-trees, panting with drooping wings and bills wide open, +scarce a note from any of them during the midday hours. Quails, too, +seek the shade during the heat of the day about tepid pools in the +channels of the larger mid-river streams. Rabbits scurry from thicket +to thicket among the ceanothus bushes, and occasionally a long-eared +hare is seen cantering gracefully across the wider openings. The nights +are calm and dewless during the summer, and a thousand voices proclaim +the abundance of life, notwithstanding the desolating effect of dry +sunshine on the plants and larger animals. The hylas make a +delightfully pure and tranquil music after sunset; and coyotes, the +little, despised dogs of the wilderness, brave, hardy fellows, looking +like withered wisps of hay, bark in chorus for hours. Mining-towns, +most of them dead, and a few living ones with bright bits of +cultivation about them, occur at long intervals along the belt, and +cottages covered with climbing roses, in the midst of orange and peach +orchards, and sweet-scented hay-fields in fertile flats where water for +irrigation may be had. But they are mostly far apart, and make scarce +any mark in general views. + +Every winter the High Sierra and the middle forest region get snow in +glorious abundance, and even the foot-hills are at times whitened. Then +all the range looks like a vast beveled wall of purest marble. The +rough places are then made smooth, the death and decay of the year is +covered gently and kindly, and the ground seems as clean as the sky. +And though silent in its flight from the clouds, and when it is taking +its place on rock, or tree, or grassy meadow, how soon the gentle snow +finds a voice! Slipping from the heights, gathering in avalanches, it +booms and roars like thunder, and makes a glorious show as it sweeps +down the mountain-side, arrayed in long, silken streamers and +wreathing, swirling films of crystal dust. + +The north half of the range is mostly covered with floods of lava, and +dotted with volcanoes and craters, some of them recent and perfect in +form, others in various stages of decay. The south half is composed of +granite nearly from base to summit, while a considerable number of +peaks, in the middle of the range, are capped with metamorphic slates, +among which are Mounts Dana and Gibbs to the east of Yosemite Valley. +Mount Whitney, the culminating point of the range near its southern +extremity, lifts its helmet-shaped crest to a height of nearly 14,700 +feet. Mount Shasta, a colossal volcanic cone, rises to a height of +14,440 feet at the northern extremity, and forms a noble landmark for +all the surrounding region within a radius of a hundred miles. Residual +masses of volcanic rocks occur throughout most of the granitic southern +portion also, and a considerable number of old volcanoes on the flanks, +especially along the eastern base of the range near Mono Lake and +southward. But it is only to the northward that the entire range, from +base to summit, is covered with lava. + +From the summit of Mount Whitney only granite is seen. Innumerable +peaks and spires but little lower than its own storm-beaten crags rise +in groups like forest-trees, in full view, segregated by cañons of +tremendous depth and ruggedness. On Shasta nearly every feature in the +vast view speaks of the old volcanic fires. Far to the northward, in +Oregon, the icy volcanoes of Mount Pitt and the Three Sisters rise +above the dark evergreen woods. Southward innumerable smaller craters +and cones are distributed along the axis of the range and on each +flank. Of these, Lassen’s Butte is the highest, being nearly 11,000 +feet above sea-level. Miles of its flanks are reeking and bubbling with +hot springs, many of them so boisterous and sulphurous they seem over +ready to become spouting geysers like those of the Yellowstone. + +The Cinder Cone near marks the most recent volcanic eruption in the +Sierra. It is a symmetrical truncated cone about 700 feet high, covered +with gray cinders and ashes, and has a regular unchanged crater on its +summit, in which a few small Two-leaved Pines are growing. These show +that the age of the cone is not less than eighty years. It stands +between two lakes, which a short time ago were one. Before the cone was +built, a flood of rough vesicular lava was poured into the lake, +cutting it in two, and, overflowing its banks, the fiery flood advanced +into the pine-woods, overwhelming the trees in its way, the charred +ends of some of which may still be seen projecting from beneath the +snout of the lava-stream where it came to rest. Later still there was +an eruption of ashes and loose obsidian cinders, probably from the same +vent, which, besides forming the Cinder Cone, scattered a heavy shower +over the surrounding woods for miles to a depth of from six inches to +several feet. + +The history of this last Sierra eruption is also preserved in the +traditions of the Pitt River Indians. They tell of a fearful time of +darkness, when the sky was black with ashes and smoke that threatened +every living thing with death, and that when at length the sun appeared +once more it was red like blood. + +Less recent craters in great numbers roughen the adjacent region; some +of them with lakes in their throats, others overgrown with trees and +flowers, Nature in these old hearths and firesides having literally +given beauty for ashes. On the northwest side of Mount Shasta there is +a subordinate cone about 3000 feet below the summit, which, has been +active subsequent to the breaking up of the main ice-cap that once +covered the mountain, as is shown by its comparatively unwasted crater +and the streams of unglaciated lava radiating from it. The main summit +is about a mile and a half in diameter, bounded by small crumbling +peaks and ridges, among which we seek in vain for the outlines of the +ancient crater. + +These ruinous masses, and the deep glacial grooves that flute the sides +of the mountain, show that it has been considerably lowered and wasted +by ice; how much we have no sure means of knowing. Just below the +extreme summit hot sulphurous gases and vapor issue from irregular +fissures, mixed with spray derived from melting snow, the last feeble +expression of the mighty force that built the mountain. Not in one +great convulsion was Shasta given birth. The crags of the summit and +the sections exposed by the glaciers down the sides display enough of +its internal framework to prove that comparatively long periods of +quiescence intervened between many distinct eruptions, during which the +cooling lavas ceased to flow, and became permanent additions to the +bulk of the growing mountain. With alternate haste and deliberation +eruption succeeded eruption till the old volcano surpassed even its +present sublime height. + +[Illustration: MOUNT SHASTA] + +Standing on the icy top of this, the grandest of all the fire-mountains +of the Sierra, we can hardly fail to look forward to its next eruption. +Gardens, vineyards, homes have been planted confidingly on the flanks +of volcanoes which, after remaining steadfast for ages, have suddenly +blazed into violent action, and poured forth overwhelming floods of +fire. It is known that more than a thousand years of cool calm have +intervened between violent eruptions. Like gigantic geysers spouting +molten rock instead of water, volcanoes work and rest, and we have no +sure means of knowing whether they are dead when still, or only +sleeping. + +Along the western base of the range a telling series of sedimentary +rocks containing the early history of the Sierra are now being studied. +But leaving for the present these first chapters, we see that only a +very short geological time ago, just before the coming on of that +winter of winters called the glacial period, a vast deluge of molten +rocks poured from many a chasm and crater on the flanks and summit of +the range, filling lake basins and river channels, and obliterating +nearly every existing feature on the northern portion. At length these +all-destroying floods ceased to flow. But while the great volcanic +cones built up along the axis still burned and smoked, the whole Sierra +passed under the domain of ice and snow. Then over the bald, +featureless, fire-blackened mountains, glaciers began to crawl, +covering them from the summits to the sea with a mantle of ice; and +then with infinite deliberation the work went on of sculpturing the +range anew. These mighty agents of erosion, halting never through +unnumbered centuries, crushed and ground the flinty lavas and granites +beneath their crystal folds, wasting and building until in the fullness +of time the Sierra was born again, brought to light nearly as we behold +it today, with glaciers and snow-crushed pines at the top of the range, +wheat-fields and orange-groves at the foot of it. + +This change from icy darkness and death to life and beauty was slow, as +we count time, and is still going on, north and south, over all the +world wherever glaciers exist, whether in the form of distinct rivers, +as in Switzerland, Norway, the mountains of Asia, and the Pacific +Coast; or in continuous mantling folds, as in portions of Alaska, +Greenland, Franz-Joseph-Land, Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, and the lands +about the South Pole. But in no country, as far as I know, may these +majestic changes be studied to better advantage than in the plains and +mountains of California. + +Toward the close of the glacial period, when the snow-clouds became +less fertile and the melting waste of sunshine became greater, the +lower folds of the ice-sheet in California, discharging fleets of +icebergs into the sea, began to shallow and recede from the lowlands, +and then move slowly up the flanks of the Sierra in compliance with the +changes of climate. The great white mantle on the mountains broke up +into a series of glaciers more or less distinct and river-like, with +many tributaries, and these again were melted and divided into still +smaller glaciers, until now only a few of the smallest residual topmost +branches of the grand system exist on the cool slopes of the summit +peaks. + +Plants and animals, biding their time, closely followed the retiring +ice, bestowing quick and joyous animation on the new-born landscapes. +Pine-trees marched up the sun-warmed moraines in long, hopeful files, +taking the ground and establishing themselves as soon as it was ready +for them; brown-spiked sedges fringed the shores of the newborn lakes; +young rivers roared in the abandoned channels of the glaciers; flowers +bloomed around the feet of the great burnished domes,—while with quick +fertility mellow beds of soil, settling and warming, offered food to +multitudes of Nature’s waiting children, great and small, animals as +well as plants; mice, squirrels, marmots, deer, bears, elephants, etc. +The ground burst into bloom with magical rapidity, and the young +forests into bird-song: life in every form warming and sweetening and +growing richer as the years passed away over the mighty Sierra so +lately suggestive of death and consummate desolation only. + +It is hard without long and loving study to realize the magnitude of +the work done on these mountains during the last glacial period by +glaciers, which are only streams of closely compacted snow-crystals. +Careful study of the phenomena presented goes to show that the +pre-glacial condition of the range was comparatively simple: one vast +wave of stone in which a thousand mountains, domes, cañons, ridges, +etc., lay concealed. And in the development of these Nature chose for a +tool not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the +stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly +falling through unnumbered centuries, the offspring of the sun and sea. +Laboring harmoniously in united strength they crushed and ground and +wore away the rocks in their march, making vast beds of soil, and at +the same time developed and fashioned the landscapes into the +delightful variety of hill and dale and lordly mountain that mortals +call beauty. Perhaps more than a mile in average depth has the range +been thus degraded during the last glacial period,—a quantity of +mechanical work almost inconceivably great. And our admiration must be +excited again and again as we toil and study and learn that this vast +job of rockwork, so far-reaching in its influences, was done by agents +so fragile and small as are these flowers of the mountain clouds. +Strong only by force of numbers, they carried away entire mountains, +particle by particle, block by block, and cast them into the sea; +sculptured, fashioned, modeled all the range, and developed its +predestined beauty. All these new Sierra landscapes were evidently +predestined, for the physical structure of the rocks on which the +features of the scenery depend was acquired while they lay at least a +mile deep below the pre-glacial surface. And it was while these +features were taking form in the depths of the range, the particles of +the rocks marching to their appointed places in the dark with reference +to the coming beauty, that the particles of icy vapor in the sky +marching to the same music assembled to bring them to the light. Then, +after their grand task was done, these bands of snow-flowers, these +mighty glaciers, were melted and removed as if of no more importance +than dew destined to last but an hour. Few, however, of Nature’s agents +have left monuments so noble and enduring as they. The great granite +domes a mile high, the cañons as deep, the noble peaks, the Yosemite +valleys, these, and indeed nearly all other features of the Sierra +scenery, are glacier monuments. + +Contemplating the works of these flowers of the sky, one may easily +fancy them endowed with life: messengers sent down to work in the +mountain mines on errands of divine love. Silently flying through the +darkened air, swirling, glinting, to their appointed places, they seem +to have taken counsel together, saying, “Come, we are feeble; let us +help one another. We are many, and together we will be strong. Marching +in close, deep ranks, let us roll away the stones from these mountain +sepulchers, and set the landscapes free. Let us uncover these +clustering domes. Here let us carve a lake basin; there, a Yosemite +Valley; here, a channel for a river with fluted steps and brows for the +plunge of songful cataracts. Yonder let us spread broad sheets of soil, +that man and beast may be fed; and here pile trains of boulders for +pines and giant Sequoias. Here make ground for a meadow; there, for a +garden and grove, making it smooth and fine for small daisies and +violets and beds of heathy bryanthus, spicing it well with crystals, +garnet feldspar, and zircon.” Thus and so on it has oftentimes seemed +to me sang and planned and labored the hearty snow-flower crusaders; +and nothing that I can write can possibly exaggerate the grandeur and +beauty of their work. Like morning mist they have vanished in sunshine, +all save the few small companies that still linger on the coolest +mountainsides, and, as residual glaciers, are still busily at work +completing the last of the lake basins, the last beds of soil, and the +sculpture of some of the highest peaks. + +[Illustration: MOUNT HOOD] + + + + +CHAPTER II +THE GLACIERS + + +Of the small residual glaciers mentioned in the preceding chapter, I +have found sixty-five in that portion of the range lying between +latitude 36° 30′ and 39°. They occur singly or in small groups on the +north sides of the peaks of the High Sierra, sheltered beneath broad +frosty shadows, in amphitheaters of their own making, where the snow, +shooting down from the surrounding heights in avalanches, is most +abundant. Over two thirds of the entire number lie between latitude 37° +and 38°, and form the highest fountains of the San Joaquin, Merced, +Tuolumne, and Owen’s rivers. + +The glaciers of Switzerland, like those of the Sierra, are mere wasting +remnants of mighty ice-floods that once filled the great valleys and +poured into the sea. So, also, are those of Norway, Asia, and South +America. Even the grand continuous mantles of ice that still cover +Greenland, Spitsbergen, Nova Zembla, Franz-Joseph-Land, parts of +Alaska, and the south polar region are shallowing and shrinking. Every +glacier in the world is smaller than it once was. All the world is +growing warmer, or the crop of snow-flowers is diminishing. But in +contemplating the condition of the glaciers of the world, we must bear +in mind while trying to account for the changes going on that the same +sunshine that wastes them builds them. Every glacier records the +expenditure of an enormous amount of sun-heat in lifting the vapor for +the snow of which it is made from the ocean to the mountains, as +Tyndall strikingly shows. + +The number of glaciers in the Alps, according to the Schlagintweit +brothers, is 1100, of which 100 may be regarded as primary, and the +total area of ice, snow, and _névé_ is estimated at 1177 square miles, +or an average for each glacier of little more than one square mile. On +the same authority, the average height above sea-level at which they +melt is about 7414 feet. The Grindelwald glacier descends below 4000 +feet, and one of the Mont Blanc glaciers reaches nearly as low a point. +One of the largest of the Himalaya glaciers on the head waters of the +Ganges does not, according to Captain Hodgson, descend below 12,914 +feet. The largest of the Sierra glaciers on Mount Shasta descends to +within 9500 feet of the level of the sea, which, as far as I have +observed, is the lowest point reached by any glacier within the bounds +of California, the average height of all being not far from 11,000 +feet. + +The changes that have taken place in the glacial conditions of the +Sierra from the time of greatest extension is well illustrated by the +series of glaciers of every size and form extending along the mountains +of the coast to Alaska. A general exploration of this instructive +region shows that to the north of California, through Oregon and +Washington, groups of active glaciers still exist on all the high +volcanic cones of the Cascade Range,—Mount Pitt, the Three Sisters, +Mounts Jefferson, Hood, St. Helens, Adams, Rainier, Baker, and +others,—some of them of considerable size, though none of them approach +the sea. Of these mountains Rainier, in Washington, is the highest and +iciest. Its dome-like summit, between 14,000 and 15,000 feet high, is +capped with ice, and eight glaciers, seven to twelve miles long, +radiate from it as a center, and form the sources of the principal +streams of the State. The lowest-descending of this fine group flows +through beautiful forests to within 3500 feet of the sea-level, and +sends forth a river laden with glacier mud and sand. On through British +Columbia and southeastern Alaska the broad, sustained mountain-chain, +extending along the coast, is generally glacier-bearing. The upper +branches of nearly all the main cañons and fiords are occupied by +glaciers, which gradually increase in size, and descend lower until the +high region between Mount Fairweather and Mount St. Elias is reached, +where a considerable number discharge into the waters of the ocean. +This is preëminently the ice-land of Alaska and of the entire Pacific +Coast. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE GLACIER COUNTRY] + +Northward from here the glaciers gradually diminish in size and +thickness, and melt at higher levels. In Prince William Sound and +Cook’s Inlet many fine glaciers are displayed, pouring from the +surrounding mountains; but to the north of latitude 62° few, if any, +glaciers remain, the ground being mostly low and the snowfall light. +Between latitude 56° and 60° there are probably more than 5000 +glaciers, not counting the smallest. Hundreds of the largest size +descend through the forests to the level of the sea, or near it, though +as far as my own observations have reached, after a pretty thorough +examination of the region, not more than twenty-five discharge icebergs +into the sea. All the long high-walled fiords into which these great +glaciers of the first class flow are of course crowded with icebergs of +every conceivable form, which are detached with thundering noise at +intervals of a few minutes from an imposing ice-wall that is thrust +forward into deep water. But these Pacific Coast icebergs are small as +compared with those of Greenland and the Antarctic region, and only a +few of them escape from the intricate system of channels, with which +this portion of the coast is fringed, into the open sea. Nearly all of +them are swashed and drifted by wind and tide back and forth in the +fiords until finally melted by the ocean water, the sunshine, the warm +winds, and the copious rains of summer. Only one glacier on the coast, +observed by Prof. Russell, discharges its bergs directly into the open +sea, at Icy Cape, opposite Mount St. Elias. The southernmost of the +glaciers that reach the sea occupies a narrow, picturesque fiord about +twenty miles to the northwest of the mouth of the Stikeen River, in +latitude 56° 50′. The fiord is called by the natives “Hutli,” or +Thunder Bay, from the noise made by the discharge of the icebergs. +About one degree farther north there are four of these complete +glaciers, discharging at the heads of the long arms of Holkam Bay. At +the head of the Tahkoo Inlet, still farther north, there is one; and at +the head and around the sides of Glacier Bay, trending in a general +northerly direction from Cross Sound in latitude 58° to 59°, there are +seven of these complete glaciers pouring bergs into the bay and its +branches, and keeping up an eternal thundering. The largest of this +group, the Muir, has upward of 200 tributaries, and a width below the +confluence of the main tributaries of about twenty-five miles. Between +the west side of this icy bay and the ocean all the ground, high and +low, excepting the peaks of the Fairweather Range, is covered with a +mantle of ice from 1000 to probably 3000 feet thick, which discharges +by many distinct mouths. + +[Illustration: MOUNT RAINIER; NORTH PUYALLUP GLACIER FROM EAGLE CLIFF] + +This fragmentary ice-sheet, and the immense glaciers about Mount St. +Elias, together with the multitude of separate river-like glaciers that +load the slopes of the coast mountains, evidently once formed part of a +continuous ice-sheet that flowed over all the region hereabouts, and +only a comparatively short time ago extended as far southward as the +mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, probably farther. All the islands +of the Alexander Archipelago, as well as the headlands and promontories +of the mainland, display telling traces of this great mantle that are +still fresh and unmistakable. They all have the forms of the greatest +strength with reference to the action of a vast rigid press of +oversweeping ice from the north and northwest, and their surfaces have +a smooth, rounded, overrubbed appearance, generally free from angles. +The intricate labyrinth of canals, channels, straits, passages, sounds, +narrows, etc. between the islands, and extending into the mainland, of +course manifest in their forms and trends and general characteristics +the same subordination to the grinding action of universal glaciation +as to their origin, and differ from the islands and banks of the fiords +only in being portions of the pre-glacial margin of the continent more +deeply eroded, and therefore covered by the ocean waters which flowed +into them as the ice was melted out of them. The formation and +extension of fiords in this manner is still going on, and may be +witnessed in many places in Glacier Bay, Yakutat Bay, and adjacent +regions. That the domain of the sea is being extended over the land by +the wearing away of its shores, is well known, but in these icy regions +of Alaska, and even as far south as Vancouver Island, the coast rocks +have been so short a time exposed to wave-action they are but little +wasted as yet. In these regions the extension of the sea effected by +its own action in post-glacial time is scarcely appreciable as compared +with that effected by ice-action. + +Traces of the vanished glaciers made during the period of greater +extension abound on the Sierra as far south as latitude 36°. Even the +polished rock surfaces, the most evanescent of glacial records, are +still found in a wonderfully perfect state of preservation on the upper +half of the middle portion of the range, and form the most striking of +all the glacial phenomena. They occur in large irregular patches in the +summit and middle regions, and though they have been subjected to the +action of the weather with its corroding storms for thousands of years, +their mechanical excellence is such that they still reflect the +sunbeams like glass, and attract the attention of every observer. The +attention of the mountaineer is seldom arrested by moraines, however +regular and high they may be, or by cañons, however deep, or by rocks, +however noble in form and sculpture; but he stoops and rubs his hands +admiringly on the shining surfaces and trios hard to account for their +mysterious smoothness. He has seen the snow descending in avalanches, +but concludes this cannot be the work of snow, for he finds it where no +avalanches occur. Nor can water have done it, for he sees this +smoothness glowing on the sides and tops of the highest domes. Only the +winds of all the agents he knows seem capable of flowing in the +directions indicated by the scoring. Indians, usually so little curious +about geological phenomena, have come to me occasionally and asked me, +“What makeum the ground so smooth at Lake Tenaya?” Even horses and dogs +gaze wonderingly at the strange brightness of the ground, and smell the +polished spaces and place their feet cautiously on them when they come +to them for the first time, as if afraid of sinking. The most perfect +of the polished pavements and walls lie at an elevation of from 7000 to +9000 feet above the sea, where the rock is compact silicious granite. +Small dim patches may be found as low as 3000 feet on the driest and +most enduring portions of sheer walls with a southern exposure, and on +compact swelling bosses partially protected from rain by a covering of +large boulders. On the north half of the range the striated and +polished surfaces are less common, not only because this part of the +chain is lower, but because the surface rocks are chiefly porous lavas +subject to comparatively rapid waste. The ancient moraines also, though +well preserved on most of the south half of the range, are nearly +obliterated to the northward, but then material is found scattered and +disintegrated. + +A similar blurred condition of the superficial records of glacial +action obtains throughout most of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, +and Alaska, due in great part to the action of excessive moisture. Even +in southeastern Alaska, where the most extensive glaciers on the +continent are, the more evanescent of the traces of their former +greater extension, though comparatively recent, are more obscure than +those of the ancient California glaciers whore the climate is drier and +the rocks more resisting. + +These general views of the glaciers of the Pacific Coast will enable my +readers to see something of the changes that have taken place in +California, and will throw light on the residual glaciers of the High +Sierra. + +Prior to the autumn of 1871 the glaciers of the Sierra were unknown. In +October of that year I discovered the Black Mountain Glacier in a +shadowy amphitheater between Black and Rod Mountains, two of the peaks +of the Merced group. This group is the highest portion of a spur that +straggles out from the main axis of the range in the direction of +Yosemite Valley. At the time of this interesting discovery I was +exploring the _névé_ amphitheaters of the group, and tracing the +courses of the ancient glaciers that once poured from its ample +fountains through the Illilouette Basin and the Yosemite Valley, not +expecting to find any active glaciers so far south in the land of +sunshine. + +Beginning on the northwestern extremity of the group, I explored the +chief tributary basins in succession, their moraines, roches +moutonnées, and splendid glacier pavements, taking them in regular +succession without any reference to the time consumed in their study. +The monuments of the tributary that poured its ice from between Red and +Black Mountains I found to be the most interesting of them all; and +when I saw its magnificent moraines extending in majestic curves from +the spacious amphitheater between the mountains, I was exhilarated with +the work that lay before me. It was one of the golden days of the +Sierra Indian summer, when the rich sunshine glorifies every landscape +however rocky and cold, and suggests anything rather than glaciers. The +path of the vanished glacier was warm now, and shone in many places as +if washed with silver. The tall pines growing on the moraines stood +transfigured in the glowing light, the poplar groves on the levels of +the basin were masses of orange-yellow, and the late-blooming +goldenrods added gold to gold. Pushing on over my rosy glacial highway, +I passed lake after lake set in solid basins of granite, and many a +thicket and meadow watered by a stream that issues from the +amphitheater and links the lakes together; now wading through plushy +bogs knee-deep in yellow and purple sphagnum; now passing over bare +rock. The main lateral moraines that bounded the view on either hand +are from 100 to nearly 200 feet high, and about as regular as +artificial embankments, and covered with a superb growth of Silver Fir +and Pine. But this garden and forest luxuriance was speedily left +behind. The trees were dwarfed as I ascended; patches of the alpine +bryanthus and cassiope began to appear, and arctic willows pressed into +flat carpets by the winter snow. The lakelets, which a few miles down +the valley were so richly embroidered with flowery meadows, had here, +at an elevation of 10,000 feet, only small brown mats of carex, leaving +bare rocks around more than half their shores. Yet amid this alpine +suppression the Mountain Pine bravely tossed his storm-beaten branches +on the ledges and buttresses of Red Mountain, some specimens being over +100 feet high, and 24 feet in circumference, seemingly as fresh and +vigorous as the giants of the lower zones. + +Evening came on just as I got fairly within the portal of the main +amphitheater. It is about a mile wide, and a little less than two miles +long. The crumbling spurs and battlements of Red Mountain bound it on +the north, the somber, rudely sculptured precipices of Black Mountain +on the south, and a hacked, splintery _col_, curving around from +mountain to mountain, shuts it in on the east. + +I chose a camping-ground on the brink of one of the lakes where a +thicket of Hemlock Spruce sheltered me from the night wind. Then, after +making a tin-cupful of tea, I sat by my camp-fire reflecting on the +grandeur and significance of the glacial records I had seen. As the +night advanced the mighty rock walls of my mountain mansion seemed to +come nearer, while the starry sky in glorious brightness stretched +across like a ceiling from wall to wall, and fitted closely down into +all the spiky irregularities of the summits. Then, after a long +fireside rest and a glance at my note-book, I cut a few leafy branches +for a bed, and fell into the clear, death-like sleep of the tired +mountaineer. + +Early next morning I set out to trace the grand old glacier that had +done so much for the beauty of the Yosemite region back to its farthest +fountains, enjoying the charm that every explorer feels in Nature’s +untrodden wildernesses. The voices of the mountains were still asleep. +The wind scarce stirred the pine-needles. The sun was up, but it was +yet too cold for the birds and the few burrowing animals that dwell +here. Only the stream, cascading from pool to pool, seemed to be wholly +awake. Yet the spirit of the opening day called to action. The sunbeams +came streaming gloriously through the jagged openings of the _col_, +glancing on the burnished pavements and lighting the silvery lakes, +while every sun-touched rock burned white on its edges like melting +iron in a furnace. Passing round the north shore of my camp lake I +followed the central stream past many cascades from lakelet to lakelet. +The scenery became more rigidly arctic, the Dwarf Pines and Hemlocks +disappeared, and the stream was bordered with icicles. As the sun rose +higher rocks were loosened on shattered portions of the cliffs, and +came down in rattling avalanches, echoing wildly from crag to crag. + +The main lateral moraines that extend from the jaws of the amphitheater +into the Illilouette Basin are continued in straggling masses along the +walls of the amphitheater, while separate boulders, hundreds of tons in +weight, are left stranded here and there out in the middle of the +channel. Here, also, I observed a series of small terminal moraines +ranged along the south wall of the amphitheater, corresponding in size +and form with the shadows cast by the highest portions. The meaning of +this correspondence between moraines and shadows was afterward made +plain. Tracing the stream back to the last of its chain of lakelets, I +noticed a deposit of fine gray mud on the bottom except where the force +of the entering current had prevented its settling. It looked like the +mud worn from a grindstone, and I at once suspected its glacial origin, +for the stream that was carrying it came gurgling out of the base of a +raw moraine that seemed in process of formation. Not a plant or +weather-stain was visible on its rough, unsettled surface. It is from +60 to over 100 feet high, and plunges forward at an angle of 38°. +Cautiously picking my way, I gained the top of the moraine and was +delighted to see a small but well characterized glacier swooping down +from the gloomy precipices of Black Mountain in a finely graduated +curve to the moraine on which I stood. The compact ice appeared on all +the lower portions of the glacier, though gray with dirt and stones +embedded in it. Farther up the ice disappeared beneath coarse +granulated snow. The surface of the glacier was further characterized +by dirt bands and the outcropping edges of the blue veins, showing the +laminated structure of the ice. The uppermost crevasse, or +“bergschrund,” where the _névé_ was attached to the mountain, was from +12 to 14 feet wide, and was bridged in a few places by the remains of +snow avalanches. Creeping along the edge of the schrund, holding on +with benumbed fingers, I discovered clear sections where the bedded +structure was beautifully revealed. The surface snow, though sprinkled +with stones shot down from the cliffs, was in some places almost pure, +gradually becoming crystalline and changing to whitish porous ice of +different shades of color, and this again changing at a depth of 20 or +30 feet to blue ice, some of the ribbon-like bands of which were nearly +pure, and blended with the paler bands in the most gradual and delicate +manner imaginable. A series of rugged zigzags enabled me to make my way +down into the weird under-world of the crevasse. Its chambered hollows +were hung with a multitude of clustered icicles, amid which pale, +subdued light pulsed and shimmered with indescribable loveliness. Water +dripped and tinkled overhead, and from far below came strange, solemn +murmurings from currents that were feeling their way through veins and +fissures in the dark. The chambers of a glacier are perfectly +enchanting, notwithstanding one feels out of place in their frosty +beauty. I was soon cold in my shirt-sleeves, and the leaning wall +threatened to engulf me; yet it was hard to leave the delicious music +of the water and the lovely light. Coming again to the surface, I +noticed boulders of every size on their journeys to the terminal +moraine—journeys of more than a hundred years, without a single stop, +night or day, winter or summer. + +The sun gave birth to a network of sweet-voiced rills that ran +gracefully down the glacier, curling and swirling in their shining +channels, and cutting clear sections through the porous surface-ice +into the solid blue, where the structure of the glacier was beautifully +illustrated. + +The series of small terminal moraines which I had observed in the +morning, along the south wall of the amphitheater, correspond in every +way with the moraine of this glacier, and their distribution with +reference to shadows was now understood. When the climatic changes came +on that caused the melting and retreat of the main glacier that filled +the amphitheater, a series of residual glaciers were left in the cliff +shadows, under the protection of which they lingered, until they formed +the moraines we are studying. Then, as the snow became still less +abundant, all of them vanished in succession, except the one just +described; and the cause of its longer life is sufficiently apparent in +the greater area of snow-basin it drains, and its more perfect +protection from wasting sunshine. How much longer this little glacier +will last depends, of course, on the amount of snow it receives from +year to year, as compared with melting waste. + +After this discovery, I made excursions over all the High Sierra, +pushing my explorations summer after summer, and discovered that what +at first sight in the distance looked like extensive snow-fields, wore +in great part glaciers, busily at work completing the sculpture of the +summit-peaks so grandly blocked out by their giant predecessors. + +On August 21, I set a series of stakes in the Maclure Glacier, near +Mount Lyell, and found its rate of motion to be little more than an +inch a day in the middle, showing a great contrast to the Muir Glacier +in Alaska, which, near the front, flows at a rate of from five to ten +feet in twenty-four hours. Mount Shasta has three glaciers, but Mount +Whitney, although it is the highest mountain in the range, does not now +cherish a single glacier. Small patches of lasting snow and ice occur +on its northern slopes, but they are shallow, and present no well +marked evidence of glacial motion. Its sides, however, are scored and +polished in many places by the action of its ancient glaciers that +flowed east and west as tributaries of the great glaciers that once +filled the valleys of the Kern and Owen’s rivers. + + + + +CHAPTER III +THE SNOW + + +The first snow that whitens the Sierra, usually falls about the end of +October or early in November, to a depth of a few inches, after months +of the most charming Indian summer weather imaginable. But in a few +days, this light covering mostly melts from the slopes exposed to the +sun and causes but little apprehension on the part of mountaineers who +may be lingering among the high peaks at this time. The first general +winter storm that yields snow that is to form a lasting portion of the +season’s supply, seldom breaks on the mountains before the end of +November. Then, warned by the sky, cautions mountaineers, together with +the wild sheep, deer, and most of the birds and bears, make haste to +the lowlands or foot-hills; and burrowing marmots, mountain beavers, +wood-rats, and such people go into winter quarters, some of them not +again to see the light of day until the general awakening and +resurrection of the spring in June or July. The first heavy fall is +usually from about two to four feet in depth. Then, with intervals of +splendid sunshine, storm succeeds storm, heaping snow on snow, until +thirty to fifty feet has fallen. But on account of its settling and +compacting, and the almost constant waste from melting and evaporation, +the average depth actually found at any time seldom exceeds ten feet in +the forest region, or fifteen feet along the slopes of the summit +peaks. + +Even during the coldest weather evaporation never wholly ceases, and +the sunshine that abounds between the storms is sufficiently powerful +to melt the surface more or less through all the winter months. Waste +from melting also goes on to some extent on the bottom from heat stored +up in the rocks, and given off slowly to the snow in contact with them, +as is shown by the rising of the streams on all the higher regions +after the first snowfall, and their steady sustained flow all winter. + +The greater portion of the snow deposited around the lofty summits of +the range falls in small crisp flakes and broken crystals, or, when +accompanied by strong winds and low temperature, the crystals, instead +of being locked together in their fall to form tufted flakes, are +beaten and broken into meal and fine dust. But down in the forest +region the greater portion comes gently to the ground, light and +feathery, some of the flakes in mild weather being nearly an inch in +diameter, and it is evenly distributed and kept from drifting to any +great extent by the shelter afforded by the large trees. Every tree +during the progress of gentle storms is loaded with, fairy bloom at the +coldest and darkest time of year, bending the branches, and hushing +every singing needle. But as soon as the storm is over, and the sun +shines, the snow at once begins to shift and settle and fall from the +branches in miniature avalanches, and the white forest soon becomes +green again. The snow on the ground also settles and thaws every bright +day, and freezes at night, until it becomes coarsely granulated, and +loses every trace of its rayed crystalline structure, and then a man +may walk firmly over its frozen surface as if on ice. The forest region +up to an elevation of 7000 feet is usually in great part free from snow +in June, but at this time the higher regions are still heavy-laden, and +are not touched by spring weather to any considerable extent before the +middle or end of July. + +One of the most striking effects of the snow on the mountains is the +burial of the rivers and small lakes. + +As the snow fa’s in the river +A moment white, then lost forever, + + +sang Burns, in illustrating the fleeting character of human pleasure. +The first snowflakes that fall into the Sierra rivers vanish thus +suddenly; but in great storms, when the temperature is low, the +abundance of the snow at length chills the water nearly to the +freezing-point, and then, of course, it ceases to melt and consume the +snow so suddenly. The falling flakes and crystals form, cloud-like +masses of blue sludge, which are swept forward with the current and +carried down to warmer climates many miles distant, while some are +lodged against logs and rocks and projecting points of the banks, and +last for days, piled high above the level of the water, and show white +again, instead of being at once “lost forever,” while the rivers +themselves are at length lost for months during the snowy period. The +snow is first built out from the banks in bossy, over-curling drifts, +compacting and cementing until the streams are spanned. They then flow +in the dark beneath a continuous covering across the snowy zone, which +is about thirty miles wide. All the Sierra rivers and their tributaries +in these high regions are thus lost every winter, as if another glacial +period had come on. Not a drop of running water is to be seen excepting +at a few points where large falls occur, though the rush and rumble of +the heavier currents may still be heard. Toward spring, when the +weather is warm during the day and frosty at night, repeated thawing +and freezing and new layers of snow render the bridging-masses dense +and firm, so that one may safely walk across the streams, or even lead +a horse across them without danger of falling through. In June the +thinnest parts of the winter ceiling, and those most exposed to +sunshine, begin to give way, forming dark, rugged-edged, pit-like +sinks, at the bottom of which the rushing water may be seen. At the end +of June only here and there may the mountaineer find a secure +snow-bridge. The most lasting of the winter bridges, thawing from below +as well as from above, because of warm currents of air passing through +the tunnels, are strikingly arched and sculptured; and by the +occasional freezing of the oozing, dripping water of the ceiling they +become brightly and picturesquely icy. In some of the reaches, where +there is a free margin, we may walk through them. Small skylights +appearing here and there, these tunnels are not very dark. The roaring +river fills all the arching way with impressively loud reverberating +music, which is sweetened at times by the ouzel, a bird that is not +afraid to go wherever a stream may go, and to sing wherever a stream +sings. + +All the small alpine pools and lakelets are in like manner obliterated +from the winter landscapes, either by being first frozen and then +covered by snow, or by being filled in by avalanches. The first +avalanche of the season shot into a lake basin may perhaps find the +surface frozen. Then there is a grand crashing of breaking ice and +dashing of waves mingled with the low, deep booming of the avalanche. +Detached masses of the invading snow, mixed with fragments of ice, +drift about in sludgy, island-like heaps, while the main body of it +forms a talus with its base wholly or in part resting on the bottom of +the basin, as controlled by its depth and the size of the avalanche. +The next avalanche, of course, encroaches still farther, and so on with +each in succession until the entire basin may be filled and its water +sponged up or displaced. This huge mass of sludge, more or less mixed +with sand, stones, and perhaps timber, is frozen to a considerable +depth, and much sun-heat is required to thaw it. Some of these +unfortunate lakelets are not clear of ice and snow until near the end +of summer. Others are never quite free, opening only on the side +opposite the entrance of the avalanches. Some show only a narrow +crescent of water lying between the shore and sheer bluffs of icy +compacted snow, masses of which breaking off float in front like +icebergs in a miniature Arctic Ocean, while the avalanche heaps leaning +back against the mountains look like small glaciers. The frontal cliffs +are in some instances quite picturesque, and with the berg-dotted +waters in front of them lighted with sunshine are exceedingly +beautiful. It often happens that while one side of a lake basin is +hopelessly snow-buried and frozen, the other, enjoying sunshine, is +adorned with beautiful flower-gardens. Some of the smaller lakes are +extinguished in an instant by a heavy avalanche either of rocks or +snow. The rolling, sliding, ponderous mass entering on one side sweeps +across the bottom and up the opposite side, displacing the water and +even scraping the basin clean, and shoving the accumulated rocks and +sediments up the farther bank and taking full possession. The dislodged +water is in part absorbed, but most of it is sent around the front of +the avalanche and down the channel of the outlet, roaring and hurrying +as if frightened and glad to escape. + +SNOW-BANNERS + +The most magnificent storm phenomenon I ever saw, surpassing in showy +grandeur the most imposing effects of clouds, floods, or avalanches, +was the peaks of the High Sierra, back of Yosemite Valley, decorated +with snow-banners. Many of the starry snow-flowers, out of which these +banners are made, fall before they are ripe, while most of those that +do attain perfect development as six-rayed crystals glint and chafe +against one another in their fall through the frosty air, and are +broken into fragments. This dry fragmentary snow is still further +prepared for the formation of banners by the action of the wind. For, +instead of finding rest at once, like the snow which falls into the +tranquil depths of the forests, it is rolled over and over, beaten +against rock-ridges, and swirled in pits and hollows, like boulders, +pebbles, and sand in the pot-holes of a river, until finally the +delicate angles of the crystals are worn off, and the whole mass is +reduced to dust. And whenever storm-winds find this prepared snow-dust +in a loose condition on exposed slopes, where there is a free upward +sweep to leeward, it is tossed back into the sky, and borne onward from +peak to peak in the form of banners or cloudy drifts, according to the +velocity of the wind and the conformation of the slopes up or around +which it is driven. While thus flying through the air, a small portion +makes good its escape, and remains in the sky as vapor. But far the +greater part, after being driven into the sky again and again, is at +length locked fast in bossy drifts, or in the wombs of glaciers, some +of it to remain silent and rigid for centuries before it is finally +melted and sent singing down the mountainsides to the sea. + +Yet, notwithstanding the abundance of winter snow-dust in the +mountains, and the frequency of high winds, and the length of time the +dust remains loose and exposed to their action, the occurrence of +well-formed banners is, for causes we shall hereafter note, +comparatively rare. I have seen only one display of this kind that +seemed in every way perfect. This was in the winter of 1873, when the +snow-laden summits were swept by a wild “norther.” I happened at the +time to be wintering in Yosemite Valley, that sublime Sierra temple +where every day one may see the grandest sights. Yet even here the wild +gala-day of the north wind seemed surpassingly glorious. I was awakened +in the morning by the rocking of my cabin and the beating of pine-burs +on the roof. Detached torrents and avalanches from the main wind-flood +overhead were rushing wildly down the narrow side cañons, and over the +precipitous walls, with loud resounding roar, rousing the pines to +enthusiastic action, and making the whole valley vibrate as though it +were an instrument being played. + +But afar on the lofty exposed peaks of the range standing so high in +the sky, the storm was expressing itself in still grander characters, +which I was soon to see in all their glory. I had long been anxious to +study some points in the structure of the ice-cone that is formed every +winter at the foot of the upper Yosemite fall, but the blinding spray +by which it is invested had hitherto prevented me from making a +sufficiently near approach. This morning the entire body of the fall +was torn into gauzy shreds, and blown horizontally along the face of +the cliff, leaving the cone dry; and while making my way to the top of +an overlooking ledge to seize so favorable an opportunity to examine +the interior of the cone, the peaks of the Merced group came in sight +over the shoulder of the South Dome, each waving a resplendent banner +against the blue sky, as regular in form, and as firm in texture, as if +woven of fine silk. So rare and splendid a phenomenon, of course, +overbore all other considerations, and I at once let the ice-cone go, +and began to force my way out of the valley to some dome or ridge +sufficiently lofty to command a general view of the main summits, +feeling assured that I should find them bannered still more gloriously; +nor was I in the least disappointed. Indian Cañon, through which I +climbed, was choked with snow that had been shot down in avalanches +from the high cliffs on either side, rendering the ascent difficult; +but inspired by the roaring storm, the tedious wallowing brought no +fatigue, and in four hours I gained the top of a ridge above the +valley, 8000 feet high. And there in bold relief, like a clear +painting, appeared a most imposing scene. Innumerable peaks, black and +sharp, rose grandly into the dark blue sky, their bases set in solid +white, their sides streaked and splashed with snow, like ocean rocks +with foam; and from every summit, all free and unconfused, was +streaming a beautiful silky silvery banner, from half a mile to a mile +in length, slender at the point of attachment, then widening gradually +as it extended from the peak until it was about 1000 or 1500 feet in +breadth, as near as I could estimate. The cluster of peaks called the +“Crown of the Sierra,” at the head of the Merced and Tuolumne +rivers,—Mounts Dana, Gibbs, Conness, Lyell, Maclure, Ritter, with their +nameless compeers,—each had its own refulgent banner, waving with a +clearly visible motion in the sunglow, and there was not a single cloud +in the sky to mar their simple grandeur. Fancy yourself standing on +this Yosemite ridge looking eastward. You notice a strange garish +glitter in the air. The gale drives wildly overhead with a fierce, +tempestuous roar, but its violence is not felt, for you are looking +through a sheltered opening in the woods as through a window. There, in +the immediate foreground of your picture, rises a majestic forest of +Silver Fir blooming in eternal freshness, the foliage yellow-green, and +the snow beneath the trees strewn with their beautiful plumes, plucked +off by the wind. Beyond, and extending over all the middle ground, are +somber swaths of pine, interrupted by huge swelling ridges and domes; +and just beyond the dark forest you see the monarchs of the High Sierra +waving their magnificent banners. They are twenty miles away, but you +would not wish them nearer, for every feature is distinct, and the +whole glorious show is seen in its right proportions. After this +general view, mark how sharply the dark snowless ribs and buttresses +and summits of the peaks are defined, excepting the portions veiled by +the banners, and how delicately their sides are streaked with snow, +where it has come to rest in narrow flutings and gorges. Mark, too, how +grandly the banners wave as the wind is deflected against their sides, +and how trimly each is attached to the very summit of its peak, like a +streamer at a masthead; how smooth and silky they are in texture, and +how finely their fading fringes are penciled on the azure sky. See how +dense and opaque they are at the point of attachment, and how filmy and +translucent toward the end, so that the peaks back of them are seen +dimly, as though you were looking through ground glass. Yet again +observe how some of the longest, belonging to the loftiest summits, +stream perfectly free all the way across intervening notches and passes +from peak to peak, while others overlap and partly hide each other. And +consider how keenly every particle of this wondrous cloth of snow is +flashing out jets of light. These are the main features of the +beautiful and terrible picture as seen from the forest window; and it +would still be surpassingly glorious were the fore- and middle-grounds +obliterated altogether, leaving only the black peaks, the white +banners, and the blue sky. + +[Illustration: KOLANA ROCK, HETCH-HETCHY VALLEY] + +Glancing now in a general way at the formation of snow-banners, we find +that the main causes of the wondrous beauty and perfection of those we +have been contemplating were the favorable direction and great force of +the wind, the abundance of snow-dust, and the peculiar conformation of +the slopes of the peaks. It is essential not only that the wind should +move with great velocity and steadiness to supply a sufficiently +copious and continuous stream of snow-dust, but that it should come +from the north. No perfect banner is ever hung on the Sierra peaks by a +south wind. Had the gale that day blown from the south, leaving other +conditions unchanged, only a dull, confused, fog-like drift would have +been produced; for the snow, instead of being spouted up over the tops +of the peaks in concentrated currents to be drawn out as streamers, +would have been shed off around the sides, and piled down into the +glacier wombs. The cause of the concentrated action of the north wind +is found in the peculiar form of the north sides of the peaks, where +the amphitheaters of the residual glaciers are. In general the south +sides are convex and irregular, while the north sides are concave both +in their vertical and horizontal sections; the wind in ascending these +curves converges toward the summits, carrying the snow in concentrating +currents with it, shooting it almost straight up into the air above the +peaks, from which it is then carried away in a horizontal direction. + +This difference in form between the north and south sides of the peaks +was almost wholly produced by the difference in the kind and quantity +of the glaciation to which they have been subjected, the north sides +having been hollowed by residual shadow-glaciers of a form that never +existed on the sun-beaten sides. + +It appears, therefore, that shadows in great part determine not only +the forms of lofty icy mountains, but also those of the snow-banners +that the wild winds hang on them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +A NEAR VIEW OF THE HIGH SIERRA + + +Early one bright morning in the middle of Indian summer, while the +glacier meadows were still crisp with frost crystals, I set out from +the foot of Mount Lyell, on my way down to Yosemite Valley, to +replenish my exhausted store of bread and tea. I had spent the past +summer, as many preceding ones, exploring the glaciers that lie on the +head waters of the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Merced, and Owen’s rivers; +measuring and studying their movements, trends, crevasses, moraines, +etc., and the part they had played during the period of their greater +extension in the creation and development of the landscapes of this +alpine wonderland. The time for this kind of work was nearly over for +the year, and I began to look forward with delight to the approaching +winter with its wondrous storms, when I would be warmly snow-bound in +my Yosemite cabin with plenty of bread and books; but a tinge of regret +came on when I considered that possibly I might not see this favorite +region again until the next summer, excepting distant views from the +heights about the Yosemite walls. + +To artists, few portions of the High Sierra are, strictly speaking, +picturesque. The whole massive uplift of the range is one great +picture, not clearly divisible into smaller ones; differing much in +this respect from the older, and what may be called, riper mountains of +the Coast Range. All the landscapes of the Sierra, as we have seen, +were born again, remodeled from base to summit by the developing +ice-floods of the last glacial winter. But all those new landscapes +were not brought forth simultaneously; some of the highest, where the +ice lingered longest, are tens of centuries younger than those of the +warmer regions below them. In general, the younger the +mountain-landscapes,—younger, I mean, with reference to the time of +their emergence from the ice of the glacial period,—the less separable +are they into artistic bits capable of being made into warm, +sympathetic, lovable pictures with appreciable humanity in them. + +Here, however, on the head waters of the Tuolumne, is a group of wild +peaks on which the geologist may say that the sun has but just begun to +shine, which is yet in a high degree picturesque, and in its main +features so regular and evenly balanced as almost to appear +conventional—one somber cluster of snow-laden peaks with gray +pine-fringed granite bosses braided around its base, the whole surging +free into the sky from the head of a magnificent valley, whose lofty +walls are beveled away on both sides so as to embrace it all without +admitting anything not strictly belonging to it. The foreground was now +aflame with autumn colors, brown and purple and gold, ripe in the +mellow sunshine; contrasting brightly with the deep, cobalt blue of the +sky, and the black and gray, and pure, spiritual white of the rocks and +glaciers. Down through the midst, the young Tuolumne was seen pouring +from its crystal fountains, now resting in glassy pools as if changing +back again into ice, now leaping in white cascades as if turning to +snow; gliding right and left between granite bosses, then sweeping on +through the smooth, meadowy levels of the valley, swaying pensively +from side to side with calm, stately gestures past dipping willows and +sedges, and around groves of arrowy pine; and throughout its whole +eventful course, whether flowing fast or slow, singing loud or low, +ever filling the landscape with spiritual animation, and manifesting +the grandeur of its sources in every movement and tone. + +Pursuing my lonely way down the valley, I turned again and again to +gaze on the glorious picture, throwing up my arms to inclose it as in a +frame. After long ages of growth in the darkness beneath the glaciers, +through sunshine and storms, it seemed now to be ready and waiting for +the elected artist, like yellow wheat for the reaper; and I could not +help wishing that I might carry colors and brushes with me on my +travels, and learn to paint. In the mean time I had to be content with +photographs on my mind and sketches in my note-books. At length, after +I had rounded a precipitous headland that puts out from the west wall +of the valley, every peak vanished from sight, and I pushed rapidly +along the frozen meadows, over the divide between the waters of the +Merced and Tuolumne, and down through the forests that clothe the +slopes of Cloud’s Rest, arriving in Yosemite in due time—which, with +me, is _any_ time. And, strange to say, among the first people I met +here were two artists who, with letters of introduction, were awaiting +my return. They inquired whether in the course of my explorations in +the adjacent mountains I had ever come upon a landscape suitable for a +large painting; whereupon I began a description of the one that had so +lately excited my admiration. Then, as I went on further and further +into details, their faces began to glow, and I offered to guide them to +it, while they declared that they would gladly follow, far or near, +whithersoever I could spare the time to lead them. + +Since storms might come breaking down through the fine weather at any +time, burying the colors in snow, and cutting off the artists’ retreat, +I advised getting ready at once. + +I led them out of the valley by the Vernal and Nevada Falls, thence +over the main dividing ridge to the Big Tuolumne Meadows, by the old +Mono trail, and thence along the upper Tuolumne River to its head. This +was my companions’ first excursion into the High Sierra, and as I was +almost always alone in my mountaineering, the way that the fresh beauty +was reflected in their faces made for me a novel and interesting study. +They naturally were affected most of all by the colors—the intense +azure of the sky, the purplish grays of the granite, the red and browns +of dry meadows, and the translucent purple and crimson of huckleberry +bogs; the flaming yellow of aspen groves, the silvery flashing of the +streams, and the bright green and blue of the glacier lakes. But the +general expression of the scenery—rocky and savage—seemed sadly +disappointing; and as they threaded the forest from ridge to ridge, +eagerly scanning the landscapes as they were unfolded, they said: “All +this is huge and sublime, but we see nothing as yet at all available +for effective pictures. Art is long, and art is limited, you know; and +here are foregrounds, middle-grounds, backgrounds, all alike; bare +rock-waves, woods, groves, diminutive flecks of meadow, and strips of +glittering water.” “Never mind,” I replied, “only bide a wee, and I +will show you something you will like.” + +At length, toward the end of the second day, the Sierra Crown began to +come into view, and when we had fairly rounded the projecting headland +before mentioned, the whole picture stood revealed in the flush of the +alpenglow. Their enthusiasm was excited beyond bounds, and the more +impulsive of the two, a young Scotchman, dashed ahead, shouting and +gesticulating and tossing his arms in the air like a madman. Here, at +last, was a typical alpine landscape. + +After feasting awhile on the view, I proceeded to make camp in a +sheltered grove a little way back from the meadow, where pine-boughs +could be obtained for beds, and where there was plenty of dry wood for +fires, while the artists ran here and there, along the river-bends and +up the sides of the cañon, choosing foregrounds for sketches. After +dark, when our tea was made and a rousing fire had been built, we began +to make our plans. They decided to remain several days, at the least, +while I concluded to make an excursion in the mean time to the +untouched summit of Ritter. + +It was now about the middle of October, the springtime of snow-flowers. +The first winter-clouds had already bloomed, and the peaks were strewn +with fresh crystals, without, however, affecting the climbing to any +dangerous extent. And as the weather was still profoundly calm, and the +distance to the foot of the mountain only a little more than a day, I +felt that I was running no great risk of being storm-bound. + +Mount Ritter is king of the mountains of the middle portion of the High +Sierra, as Shasta of the north and Whitney of the south sections. +Moreover, as far as I know, it had never been climbed. I had explored +the adjacent wilderness summer after summer, but my studies thus far +had never drawn me to the top of it. Its height above sea-level is +about 13,300 feet, and it is fenced round by steeply inclined glaciers, +and cañons of tremendous depth and ruggedness, which render it almost +inaccessible. But difficulties of this kind only exhilarate the +mountaineer. + +Next morning, the artists went heartily to their work and I to mine. +Former experiences had given good reason to know that passionate +storms, invisible as yet, might be brooding in the calm sun-gold; +therefore, before bidding farewell, I warned the artists not to be +alarmed should I fail to appear before a week or ten days, and advised +them, in case a snow-storm should set in, to keep up big fires and +shelter themselves as best they could, and on no account to become +frightened and attempt to seek their way back to Yosemite alone through +the drifts. + +My general plan was simply this: to scale the cañon, wall, cross over +to the eastern flank of the range, and then make my way southward to +the northern spurs of Mount Ritter in compliance with the intervening +topography; for to push on directly southward from camp through the +innumerable peaks and pinnacles that adorn this portion of the axis of +the range, however interesting, would take too much time, besides being +extremely difficult and dangerous at this time of year. + +All my first day was pure pleasure; simply mountaineering indulgence, +crossing the dry pathways of the ancient glaciers, tracing happy +streams, and learning the habits of the birds and marmots in the groves +and rocks. Before I had gone a mile from camp, I came to the foot of a +white cascade that beats its way down a rugged gorge in the cañon wall, +from a height of about nine hundred feet, and pours its throbbing +waters into the Tuolumne. I was acquainted with its fountains, which, +fortunately, lay in my course. What a fine traveling companion it +proved to be, what songs it sang, and how passionately it told the +mountain’s own joy! Gladly I climbed along its dashing border, +absorbing its divine music, and bathing from time to time in waftings +of irised spray. Climbing higher, higher, now beauty came streaming on +the sight: painted meadows, late-blooming gardens, peaks of rare +architecture, lakes here and there, shining like silver, and glimpses +of the forested middle region and the yellow lowlands far in the west. +Beyond the range I saw the so-called Mono Desert, lying dreamily silent +in thick purple light—a desert of heavy sun-glare beheld from a desert +of ice-burnished granite. Here the waters divide, shouting in glorious +enthusiasm, and falling eastward to vanish in the volcanic sands and +dry sky of the Great Basin, or westward to the Great Valley of +California, and thence through the Bay of San Francisco and the Golden +Gate to the sea. + +Passing a little way down over the summit until I had reached an +elevation of about 10,000 feet, I pushed on southward toward a group of +savage peaks that stand guard about Ritter on the north and west, +groping my way, and dealing instinctively with every obstacle as it +presented itself. Here a huge gorge would be found cutting across my +path, along the dizzy edge of which I scrambled until some less +precipitous point was discovered where I might safely venture to the +bottom and then, selecting some feasible portion of the opposite wall, +reascend with the same slow caution. Massive, flat-topped spurs +alternate with the gorges, plunging abruptly from the shoulders of the +snowy peaks, and planting their feet in the warm desert. These were +everywhere marked and adorned with characteristic sculptures of the +ancient glaciers that swept over this entire region like one vast +ice-wind, and the polished surfaces produced by the ponderous flood are +still so perfectly preserved that in many places the sunlight reflected +from them is about as trying to the eyes as sheets of snow. + +God’s glacial-mills grind slowly, but they have been kept in motion +long enough in California to grind sufficient soil for a glorious +abundance of life, though most of the grist has been carried to the +lowlands, leaving these high regions comparatively lean and bare; while +the post-glacial agents of erosion have not yet furnished sufficient +available food over the general surface for more than a few tufts of +the hardiest plants, chiefly carices and eriogonae. And it is +interesting to learn in this connection that the sparseness and +repressed character of the vegetation at this height is caused more by +want of soil than by harshness of climate; for, here and there, in +sheltered hollows (countersunk beneath the general surface) into which +a few rods of well-ground moraine chips have been dumped, we find +groves of spruce and pine thirty to forty feet high, trimmed around the +edges with willow and huckleberry bushes, and oftentimes still further +by an outer ring of tall grasses, bright with lupines, larkspurs, and +showy columbines, suggesting a climate by no means repressingly severe. +All the streams, too, and the pools at this elevation are furnished +with little gardens wherever soil can be made to lie, which, though +making scarce any show at a distance, constitute charming surprises to +the appreciative observer. In these bits of leanness a few birds find +grateful homes. Having no acquaintance with man, they fear no ill, and +flock curiously about the stranger, almost allowing themselves to be +taken in the hand. In so wild and so beautiful a region was spent my +first day, every sight and sound inspiring, leading one far out of +himself, yet feeding and building up his individuality. + +Now came the solemn, silent evening. Long, blue, spiky shadows crept +out across the snow-fields, while a rosy glow, at first scarce +discernible, gradually deepened and suffused every mountain-top, +flushing the glaciers and the harsh crags above them. This was the +alpenglow, to me one of the most impressive of all the terrestrial +manifestations of God. At the touch of this divine light, the mountains +seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed +and waiting like devout worshipers. Just before the alpenglow began to +fade, two crimson clouds came streaming across the summit like wings of +flame, rendering the sublime scene yet more impressive; then came +darkness and the stars. + +Icy Ritter was still miles away, but I could proceed no farther that +night. I found a good campground on the rim of a glacier basin about +11,000 feet above the sea. A small lake nestles in the bottom of it, +from which I got water for my tea, and a storm-beaten thicket near by +furnished abundance of resiny fire-wood. Somber peaks, hacked and +shattered, circled half-way around the horizon, wearing a savage aspect +in the gloaming, and a waterfall chanted solemnly across the lake on +its way down from the foot of a glacier. The fall and the lake and the +glacier were almost equally bare; while the scraggy pines anchored in +the rock-fissures were so dwarfed and shorn by storm-winds that you +might walk over their tops. In tone and aspect the scene was one of the +most desolate I ever beheld. But the darkest scriptures of the +mountains are illumined with bright passages of love that never fail to +make themselves felt when one is alone. + +I made my bed in a nook of the pine-thicket, where the branches were +pressed and crinkled overhead like a roof, and bent down around the +sides. These are the best bedchambers the high mountains afford—snug as +squirrel-nests, well ventilated, full of spicy odors, and with plenty +of wind-played needles to sing one asleep. I little expected company, +but, creeping in through a low side-door, I found five or six birds +nestling among the tassels. The night-wind began to blow soon after +dark; at first only a gentle breathing, but increasing toward midnight +to a rough gale that fell upon my leafy roof in ragged surges like a +cascade, bearing wild sounds from the crags overhead. The waterfall +sang in chorus, filling the old ice-fountain with its solemn roar, and +seeming to increase in power as the night advanced—fit voice for such a +landscape. I had to creep out many times to the fire during the night, +for it was biting cold and I had no blankets. Gladly I welcomed the +morning star. + +The dawn in the dry, wavering air of the desert was glorious. +Everything encouraged my undertaking and betokened success. There was +no cloud in the sky, no storm-tone in the wind. Breakfast of bread and +tea was soon made. I fastened a hard, durable crust to my belt by way +of provision, in case I should be compelled to pass a night on the +mountain-top; then, securing the remainder of my little stock against +wolves and wood-rats, I set forth free and hopeful. + +How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! To behold this +alone is worth the pains of any excursion a thousand times over. The +highest peaks burned like islands in a sea of liquid shade. Then the +lower peaks and spires caught the glow, and long lances of light, +streaming through many a notch and pass, fell thick on the frozen +meadows. The majestic form of Ritter was full in sight, and I pushed +rapidly on over rounded rock-bosses and pavements, my iron-shod shoes +making a clanking sound, suddenly hushed now and then in rugs of +bryanthus, and sedgy lake-margins soft as moss. Here, too, in this +so-called “land of desolation,” I met cassiope, growing in fringes +among the battered rocks. Her blossoms had faded long ago, but they +were still clinging with happy memories to the evergreen sprays, and +still so beautiful as to thrill every fiber of one’s being. Winter and +summer, you may hear her voice, the low, sweet melody of her purple +bells. No evangel among all the mountain plants speaks Nature’s love +more plainly than cassiope. Where she dwells, the redemption of the +coldest solitude is complete. The very rocks and glaciers seem to feel +her presence, and become imbued with her own fountain sweetness. All +things were warming and awakening. Frozen rills began to flow, the +marmots came out of their nests in boulder-piles and climbed sunny +rocks to bask, and the dun-headed sparrows were flitting about seeking +their breakfasts. The lakes seen from every ridge-top were brilliantly +rippled and spangled, shimmering like the thickets of the low Dwarf +Pines. The rocks, too, seemed responsive to the vital +heat—rock-crystals and snow-crystals thrilling alike. I strode on +exhilarated, as if never more to feel fatigue, limbs moving of +themselves, every sense unfolding like the thawing flowers, to take +part in the new day harmony. + +All along my course thus far, excepting when down in the cañons, the +landscapes were mostly open to me, and expansive, at least on one side. +On the left were the purple plains of Mono, reposing dreamily and warm; +on the right, the near peaks springing keenly into the thin sky with +more and more impressive sublimity. But these larger views were at +length lost. Rugged spurs, and moraines, and huge, projecting +buttresses began to shut me in. Every feature became more rigidly +alpine, without, however, producing any chilling effect; for going to +the mountains is like going home. We always find that the strangest +objects in these fountain wilds are in some degree familiar, and we +look upon them with a vague sense of having seen them before. + +[Illustration: GENERAL GRANT TREE, GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK] + +On the southern shore of a frozen lake, I encountered an extensive +field of hard, granular snow, up which I scampered in fine tone, +intending to follow it to its head, and cross the rocky spur against +which it leans, hoping thus to come direct upon the base of the main +Ritter peak. The surface was pitted with oval hollows, made by stones +and drifted pine-needles that had melted themselves into the mass by +the radiation of absorbed sun-heat. These afforded good footholds, but +the surface curved more and more steeply at the head, and the pits +became shallower and less abundant, until I found myself in danger of +being shed off like avalanching snow. I persisted, however, creeping on +all fours, and shuffling up the smoothest places on my back, as I had +often done on burnished granite, until, after slipping several times, I +was compelled to retrace my course to the bottom, and make my way +around the west end of the lake, and thence up to the summit of the +divide between the head waters of Rush Creek and the northernmost +tributaries of the San Joaquin. + +Arriving on the summit of this dividing crest, one of the most exciting +pieces of pure wilderness was disclosed that I ever discovered in all +my mountaineering. There, immediately in front, loomed the majestic +mass of Mount Ritter, with a glacier swooping down its face nearly to +my feet, then curving westward and pouring its frozen flood into a dark +blue lake, whose shores were bound with precipices of crystalline snow; +while a deep chasm drawn between the divide and the glacier separated +the massive picture from everything else. I could see only the one +sublime mountain, the one glacier, the one lake; the whole veiled with +one blue shadow—rock, ice, and water close together without a single +leaf or sign of life. After gazing spellbound, I began instinctively to +scrutinize every notch and gorge and weathered buttress of the +mountain, with reference to making the ascent. The entire front above +the glacier appeared as one tremendous precipice, slightly receding at +the top, and bristling with spires and pinnacles set above one another +in formidable array. Massive lichen-stained battlements stood forward +here and there, hacked at the top with angular notches, and separated +by frosty gullies and recesses that have been veiled in shadow ever +since their creation; while to right and left, as far as I could see, +were huge, crumbling buttresses, offering no hope to the climber. The +head of the glacier sends up a few finger-like branches through narrow +_couloirs_; but these seemed too steep and short to be available, +especially as I had no ax with which to cut steps, and the numerous +narrow-throated gullies down which stones and snow are avalanched +seemed hopelessly steep, besides being interrupted by vertical cliffs; +while the whole front was rendered still more terribly forbidding by +the chill shadow and the gloomy blackness of the rocks. + +Descending the divide in a hesitating mood, I picked my way across the +yawning chasm at the foot, and climbed out upon the glacier. There were +no meadows now to cheer with their brave colors, nor could I hear the +dun-headed sparrows, whose cheery notes so often relieve the silence of +our highest mountains. The only sounds were the gurgling of small rills +down in the veins and crevasses of the glacier, and now and then the +rattling report of falling stones, with the echoes they shot out into +the crisp air. + +I could not distinctly hope to reach the summit from this side, yet I +moved on across the glacier as if driven by fate. Contending with +myself, the season is too far spent, I said, and even should I be +successful, I might be storm-bound on the mountain; and in the +cloud-darkness, with the cliffs and crevasses covered with snow, how +could I escape? No; I must wait till next summer. I would only approach +the mountain now, and inspect it, creep about its flanks, learn what I +could of its history, holding myself ready to flee on the approach of +the first storm-cloud. But we little know until tried how much of the +uncontrollable there is in us, urging across glaciers and torrents, and +up dangerous heights, let the judgment forbid as it may. + +I succeeded in gaining the foot of the cliff on the eastern extremity +of the glacier, and there discovered the mouth of a narrow avalanche +gully, through which I began to climb, intending to follow it as far as +possible, and at least obtain some fine wild views for my pains. Its +general course is oblique to the plane of the mountain-face, and the +metamorphic slates of which the mountain is built are cut by cleavage +planes in such a way that they weather off in angular blocks, giving +rise to irregular steps that greatly facilitate climbing on the sheer +places. I thus made my way into a wilderness of crumbling spires and +battlements, built together in bewildering combinations, and glazed in +many places with a thin coating of ice, which I had to hammer off with +stones. The situation was becoming gradually more perilous; but, having +passed several dangerous spots, I dared not think of descending; for, +so steep was the entire ascent, one would inevitably fall to the +glacier in case a single misstep were made. Knowing, therefore, the +tried danger beneath, I became all the more anxious concerning the +developments to be made above, and began to be conscious of a vague +foreboding of what actually befell; not that I was given to fear, but +rather because my instincts, usually so positive and true, seemed +vitiated in some way, and were leading me astray. At length, after +attaining an elevation of about 12,800 feet, I found myself at the foot +of a sheer drop in the bed of the avalanche channel I was tracing, +which seemed absolutely to bar further progress. It was only about +forty-five or fifty feet high, and somewhat roughened by fissures and +projections; but these seemed so slight and insecure, as footholds, +that I tried hard to avoid the precipice altogether, by scaling the +wall of the channel on either side. But, though less steep, the walls +were smoother than the obstructing rock, and repeated efforts only +showed that I must either go right ahead or turn back. The tried +dangers beneath seemed even greater than that of the cliff in front; +therefore, after scanning its face again and again, I began to scale +it, picking my holds with intense caution. After gaining a point about +halfway to the top, I was suddenly brought to a dead stop, with arms +outspread, clinging close to the face of the rock, unable to move hand +or foot either up or down. My doom appeared fixed. I _must_ fall. There +would be a moment of bewilderment, and then a lifeless rumble down the +one general precipice to the glacier below. + +When this final danger flashed upon me, I became nerve-shaken for the +first time since setting foot on the mountains, and my mind seemed to +fill with a stifling smoke. But this terrible eclipse lasted only a +moment, when life blazed forth again with preternatural clearness. I +seemed suddenly to become possessed of a new sense. The other self, +bygone experiences, Instinct, or Guardian Angel,—call it what you +will,—came forward and assumed control. Then my trembling muscles +became firm again, every rift and flaw in the rock was seen as through +a microscope, and my limbs moved with a positiveness and precision with +which I seemed to have nothing at all to do. Had I been borne aloft +upon wings, my deliverance could not have been more complete. + +Above this memorable spot, the face of the mountain is still more +savagely hacked and torn. It is a maze of yawning chasms and gullies, +in the angles of which rise beetling crags and piles of detached +boulders that seem to have been gotten ready to be launched below. But +the strange influx of strength I had received seemed inexhaustible. I +found a way without effort, and soon stood upon the topmost crag in the +blessed light. + +How truly glorious the landscape circled around this noble +summit!—giant mountains, valleys innumerable, glaciers and meadows, +rivers and lakes, with the wide blue sky bent tenderly over them all. +But in my first hour of freedom from that terrible shadow, the sunlight +in which I was laving seemed all in all. + +Looking southward along the axis of the range, the eye is first caught +by a row of exceedingly sharp and slender spires, which rise openly to +a height of about a thousand feet, above a series of short, residual +glaciers that lean back against their bases; their fantastic sculpture +and the unrelieved sharpness with which they spring out of the ice +rendering them peculiarly wild and striking. These are “The Minarets.” +Beyond them you behold a sublime wilderness of mountains, their snowy +summits towering together in crowded abundance, peak beyond peak, +swelling higher, higher as they sweep on southward, until the +culminating point of the range is reached on Mount Whitney, near the +head of the Kern River, at an elevation of nearly 14,700 feet above the +level of the sea. + +Westward, the general flank of the range is seen flowing sublimely away +from the sharp summits, in smooth undulations; a sea of huge gray +granite waves dotted with lakes and meadows, and fluted with stupendous +cañons that grow steadily deeper as they recede in the distance. Below +this gray region lies the dark forest zone, broken here and there by +upswelling ridges and domes; and yet beyond lies a yellow, hazy belt, +marking the broad plain of the San Joaquin, bounded on its farther side +by the blue mountains of the coast. + +Turning now to the northward, there in the immediate foreground is the +glorious Sierra Crown, with Cathedral Peak, a temple of marvelous +architecture, a few degrees to the left of it; the gray, massive form +of Mammoth Mountain to the right; while Mounts Ord, Gibbs, Dana, +Conness, Tower Peak, Castle Peak, Silver Mountain, and a host of noble +companions, as yet nameless, make a sublime show along the axis of the +range. + +Eastward, the whole region seems a land of desolation covered with +beautiful light. The torrid volcanic basin of Mono, with its one bare +lake fourteen miles long; Owen’s Valley and the broad lava table-land +at its head, dotted with craters, and the massive Inyo Range, rivaling +even the Sierra in height; these are spread, map-like, beneath you, +with countless ranges beyond, passing and overlapping one another and +fading on the glowing horizon. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY] + +At a distance of less than 3000 feet below the summit of Mount Ritter +you may find tributaries of the San Joaquin and Owen’s rivers, bursting +forth from the ice and snow of the glaciers that load its flanks; while +a little to the north of here are found the highest affluents of the +Tuolumne and Merced. Thus, the fountains of four of the principal +rivers of California are within a radius of four or five miles. + +Lakes are seen gleaming in all sorts of places,—round, or oval, or +square, like very mirrors; others narrow and sinuous, drawn close +around the peaks like silver zones, the highest reflecting only rocks, +snow, and the sky. But neither these nor the glaciers, nor the bits of +brown meadow and moorland that occur here and there, are large enough +to make any marked impression upon the mighty wilderness of mountains. +The eye, rejoicing in its freedom, roves about the vast expanse, yet +returns again and again to the fountain peaks. Perhaps some one of the +multitude excites special attention, some gigantic castle with turret +and battlement, or some Gothic cathedral more abundantly spired than +Milan’s. But, generally, when looking for the first time from an +all-embracing standpoint like this, the inexperienced observer is +oppressed by the incomprehensible grandeur, variety, and abundance of +the mountains rising shoulder to shoulder beyond the reach of vision; +and it is only after they have been studied one by one, long and +lovingly, that their far-reaching harmonies become manifest. Then, +penetrate the wilderness where you may, the main telling features, to +which all the surrounding topography is subordinate, are quickly +perceived, and the most complicated clusters of peaks stand revealed +harmoniously correlated and fashioned like works of art—eloquent +monuments of the ancient ice-rivers that brought them into relief from +the general mass of the range. The cañons, too, some of them a mile +deep, mazing wildly through the mighty host of mountains, however +lawless and ungovernable at first sight they appear, are at length +recognized as the necessary effects of causes which followed each other +in harmonious sequence—Nature’s poems carved on tables of stone—the +simplest and most emphatic of her glacial compositions. + +Could we have been here to observe during the glacial period, we should +have overlooked a wrinkled ocean of ice as continuous as that now +covering the landscapes of Greenland; filling every valley and cañon +with only the tops of the fountain peaks rising darkly above the +rock-encumbered ice-waves like islets in a stormy sea—those islets the +only hints of the glorious landscapes now smiling in the sun. Standing +here in the deep, brooding silence all the wilderness seems motionless, +as if the work of creation were done. But in the midst of this outer +steadfastness we know there is incessant motion and change. Ever and +anon, avalanches are falling from yonder peaks. These cliff-bound +glaciers, seemingly wedged and immovable, are flowing like water and +grinding the rocks beneath them. The lakes are lapping their granite +shores and wearing them away, and every one of these rills and young +rivers is fretting the air into music, and carrying the mountains to +the plains. Here are the roots of all the life of the valleys, and here +more simply than elsewhere is the eternal flux of nature manifested. +Ice changing to water, lakes to meadows, and mountains to plains. And +while we thus contemplate Nature’s methods of landscape creation, and, +reading the records she has carved on the rocks, reconstruct, however +imperfectly, the landscapes of the past, we also learn that as these we +now behold have succeeded those of the pre-glacial age, so they in turn +are withering and vanishing to be succeeded by others yet unborn. + +But in the midst of these fine lessons and landscapes, I had to +remember that the sun was wheeling far to the west, while a new way +down the mountain had to be discovered to some point on the timber line +where I could have a fire; for I had not even burdened myself with a +coat. I first scanned the western spurs, hoping some way might appear +through which I might reach the northern glacier, and cross its snout; +or pass around the lake into which it flows, and thus strike my morning +track. This route was soon sufficiently unfolded to show that, if +practicable at all, it would require so much time that reaching camp +that night would be out of the question. I therefore scrambled back +eastward, descending the southern slopes obliquely at the same time. +Here the crags seemed less formidable, and the head of a glacier that +flows northeast came in sight, which I determined to follow as far as +possible, hoping thus to make my way to the foot of the peak on the +east side, and thence across the intervening cañons and ridges to camp. + +The inclination of the glacier is quite moderate at the head, and, as +the sun had softened the _névé_, I made safe and rapid progress, +running and sliding, and keeping up a sharp outlook for crevasses. +About half a mile from the head, there is an ice-cascade, where the +glacier pours over a sharp declivity and is shattered into massive +blocks separated by deep, blue fissures. To thread my way through the +slippery mazes of this crevassed portion seemed impossible, and I +endeavored to avoid it by climbing off to the shoulder of the mountain. +But the slopes rapidly steepened and at length fell away in sheer +precipices, compelling a return to the ice. Fortunately, the day had +been warm enough to loosen the ice-crystals so as to admit of hollows +being dug in the rotten portions of the blocks, thus enabling me to +pick my way with far less difficulty than I had anticipated. Continuing +down over the snout, and along the left lateral moraine, was only a +confident saunter, showing that the ascent of the mountain by way of +this glacier is easy, provided one is armed with an ax to cut steps +here and there. + +The lower end of the glacier was beautifully waved and barred by the +outcropping edges of the bedded ice-layers which represent the annual +snowfalls, and to some extent the irregularities of structure caused by +the weathering of the walls of crevasses, and by separate snowfalls +which have been followed by rain, hail, thawing and freezing, etc. +Small rills were gliding and swirling over the melting surface with a +smooth, oily appearance, in channels of pure ice—their quick, compliant +movements contrasting most impressively with the rigid, invisible flow +of the glacier itself, on whose back they all were riding. + +Night drew near before I reached the eastern base of the mountain, and +my camp lay many a rugged mile to the north; but ultimate success was +assured. It was now only a matter of endurance and ordinary +mountain-craft. The sunset was, if possible, yet more beautiful than +that of the day before. The Mono landscape seemed to be fairly +saturated with warm, purple light. The peaks marshaled along the summit +were in shadow, but through every notch and pass streamed vivid +sun-fire, soothing and irradiating their rough, black angles, while +companies of small, luminous clouds hovered above them like very angels +of light. + +Darkness came on, but I found my way by the trends of the cañons and +the peaks projected against the sky. All excitement died with the +light, and then I was weary. But the joyful sound of the waterfall +across the lake was heard at last, and soon the stars were seen +reflected in the lake itself. Taking my bearings from these, I +discovered the little pine thicket in which my nest was, and then I had +a rest such as only a tired mountaineer may enjoy. After lying loose +and lost for awhile, I made a sunrise fire, went down to the lake, +dashed water on my head, and dipped a cupful for tea. The revival +brought about by bread and tea was as complete as the exhaustion from +excessive enjoyment and toil. Then I crept beneath the pine-tassels to +bed. The wind was frosty and the fire burned low, but my sleep was none +the less sound, and the evening constellations had swept far to the +west before I awoke. + +After thawing and resting in the morning sunshine, I sauntered +home,—that is, back to the Tuolumne camp,—bearing away toward a cluster +of peaks that hold the fountain snows of one of the north tributaries +of Rush Creek. Here I discovered a group of beautiful glacier lakes, +nestled together in a grand amphitheater. Toward evening, I crossed the +divide separating the Mono waters from those of the Tuolumne, and +entered the glacier basin that now holds the fountain snows of the +stream that forms the upper Tuolumne cascades. This stream I traced +down through its many dells and gorges, meadows and bogs, reaching the +brink of the main Tuolumne at dusk. + +A loud whoop for the artists was answered again and again. Their +camp-fire came in sight, and half an hour afterward I was with them. +They seemed unreasonably glad to see me. I had been absent only three +days; nevertheless, though the weather was fine, they had already been +weighing chances as to whether I would ever return, and trying to +decide whether they should wait longer or begin to seek their way back +to the lowlands. Now their curious troubles were over. They packed +their precious sketches, and next morning we set out homeward bound, +and in two days entered the Yosemite Valley from the north by way of +Indian Cañon. + + + + +CHAPTER V +THE PASSES + + +The sustained grandeur of the High Sierra is strikingly illustrated by +the great height of the passes. Between latitude 36° 20′ and 38° the +lowest pass, gap, gorge, or notch of any kind cutting across the axis +of the range, as far as I have discovered, exceeds 9000 feet in height +above the level of the sea; while the average height of all that are in +use, either by Indians or whites, is perhaps not less than 11,000 feet, +and not one of these is a carriage-pass. + +Farther north a carriage-road has been constructed through what is +known as the Sonora Pass, on the head waters of the Stanislaus and +Walker’s rivers, the summit of which is about 10,000 feet above the +sea. Substantial wagon-roads have also been built through the Carson +and Johnson passes, near the head of Lake Tahoe, over which immense +quantities of freight were hauled from California to the mining regions +of Nevada, before the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. + +Still farther north, a considerable number of comparatively low passes +occur, some of which are accessible to wheeled vehicles, and through +these rugged defiles during the exciting years of the gold period long +emigrant-trains with foot-sore cattle wearily toiled. After the +toil-worn adventurers had escaped a thousand dangers and had crawled +thousands of miles across the plains the snowy Sierra at last loomed in +sight, the eastern wall of the land of gold. And as with shaded eyes +they gazed through the tremulous haze of the desert, with what joy must +they have descried the pass through which they were to enter the better +land of their hopes and dreams! + +Between the Sonora Pass and the southern extremity of the High Sierra, +a distance of nearly 160 miles, there are only five passes through +which trails conduct from one side of the range to the other. These are +barely practicable for animals; a pass in these regions meaning simply +any notch or cañon through which one may, by the exercise of unlimited +patience, make out to lead a mule, or a sure-footed mustang; animals +that can slide or jump as well as walk. Only three of the five passes +may be said to be in use, viz.: the Kearsarge, Mono, and Virginia +Creek; the tracks leading through the others being only obscure Indian +trails, not graded in the least, and scarcely traceable by white men; +for much of the way is over solid rock and earthquake avalanche +taluses, where the unshod ponies of the Indians leave no appreciable +sign. Only skilled mountaineers are able to detect the marks that serve +to guide the Indians, such as slight abrasions of the looser rocks, the +displacement of stones here and there, and bent bushes and weeds. A +general knowledge of the topography is, then, the main guide, enabling +one to determine where the trail ought to go—_must_ go. One of these +Indian trails crosses the range by a nameless pass between the head +waters of the south and middle forks of the San Joaquin, the other +between the north and middle forks of the same river, just to the south +of “The Minarets”; this last being about 9000 feet high, is the lowest +of the five. The Kearsarge is the highest, crossing the summit near the +head of the south fork of King’s River, about eight miles to the north +of Mount Tyndall, through the midst of the most stupendous +rock-scenery. The summit of this pass is over 12,000 feet above +sea-level; nevertheless, it is one of the safest of the five, and is +used every summer, from July to October or November, by hunters, +prospectors, and stock-owners, and to some extent by enterprising +pleasure-seekers also. For, besides the surpassing grandeur of the +scenery about the summit, the trail, in ascending the western flank of +the range, conducts through a grove of the giant Sequoias, and through +the magnificent Yosemite Valley of the south fork of King’s River. This +is, perhaps, the highest traveled pass on the North American continent. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, SHOWING PRESENT RESERVATION +BOUNDARY.] + +The Mono Pass lies to the east of Yosemite Valley, at the head of one +of the tributaries of the south fork of the Tuolumne. This is the best +known and most extensively traveled of all that exist in the High +Sierra. A trail was made through it about the time of the Mono gold +excitement, in the year 1858, by adventurous miners and prospectors—men +who would build a trail down the throat of darkest Erebus on the way to +gold. Though more than a thousand feet lower than the Kearsarge, it is +scarcely less sublime in rock-scenery, while in snowy, falling water it +far surpasses it. Being so favorably situated for the stream of +Yosemite travel, the more adventurous tourists cross over through this +glorious gateway to the volcanic region around Mono Lake. It has +therefore gained a name and fame above every other pass in the range. +According to the few barometrical observations made upon it, its +highest point is 10,765 feet above the sea. The other pass of the five +we have been considering is somewhat lower, and crosses the axis of the +range a few miles to the north of the Mono Pass, at the head of the +southernmost tributary of Walker’s River. It is used chiefly by roaming +bands of the Pah Ute Indians and “sheepmen.” + +But, leaving wheels and animals out of the question, the free +mountaineer with a sack of bread on his shoulders and an ax to cut +steps in ice and frozen snow can make his way across the range almost +everywhere, and at any time of year when the weather is calm. To him +nearly every notch between the peaks is a pass, though much patient +step-cutting is at times required up and down steeply inclined +glaciers, with cautious climbing over precipices that at first sight +would seem hopelessly inaccessible. + +In pursuing my studies, I have crossed from side to side of the range +at intervals of a few miles all along the highest portion of the chain, +with far less real danger than one would naturally count on. And what +fine wildness was thus revealed—storms and avalanches, lakes and +waterfalls, gardens and meadows, and interesting animals—only those +will ever know who give the freest and most buoyant portion of their +lives to climbing and seeing for themselves. + +To the timid traveler, fresh from the sedimentary levels of the +lowlands, these highways, however picturesque and grand, seem terribly +forbidding—cold, dead, gloomy gashes in the bones of the mountains, and +of all Nature’s ways the ones to be most cautiously avoided. Yet they +are full of the finest and most telling examples of Nature’s love; and +though hard to travel, none are safer. For they lead through regions +that lie far above the ordinary haunts of the devil, and of the +pestilence that walks in darkness. True, there are innumerable places +where the careless step will be the last step; and a rock falling from +the cliffs may crush without warning like lightning from the sky; but +what then! Accidents in the mountains are less common than in the +lowlands, and these mountain mansions are decent, delightful, even +divine, places to die in, compared with the doleful chambers of +civilization. Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. +Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain-passes. They will kill care, +save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty +into vigorous, enthusiastic action. Even the sick should try these +so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate they kill, +they cure a thousand. + +All the passes make their steepest ascents on the eastern flank. On +this side the average rise is not far from a thousand feet to the mile, +while on the west it is about two hundred feet. Another marked +difference between the eastern and western portions of the passes is +that the former begin at the very foot of the range, while the latter +can hardly be said to begin lower than an elevation of from seven to +ten thousand feet. Approaching the range from the gray levels of Mono +and Owen’s Valley on the east, the traveler sees before him the steep, +short passes in full view, fenced in by rugged spurs that come plunging +down from the shoulders of the peaks on either side, the courses of the +more direct being disclosed from top to bottom without interruption. +But from the west one sees nothing of the way he may be seeking until +near the summit, after days have been spent in threading the forests +growing on the main dividing ridges between the river cañons. + +It is interesting to observe how surely the alp-crossing animals of +every kind fall into the same trails. The more rugged and inaccessible +the general character of the topography of any particular region, the +more surely will the trails of white men, Indians, bears, wild sheep, +etc., be found converging into the best passes. The Indians of the +western slope venture cautiously over the passes in settled weather to +attend dances, and obtain loads of pine-nuts and the larvae of a small +fly that breeds in Mono and Owen’s lakes, which, when dried, forms an +important article of food; while the Pah Utes cross over from the east +to hunt the deer and obtain supplies of acorns; and it is truly +astonishing to see what immense loads the haggard old squaws make out +to carry bare-footed through these rough passes, oftentimes for a +distance of sixty or seventy miles. They are always accompanied by the +men, who stride on, unburdened and erect, a little in advance, kindly +stooping at difficult places to pile stepping-stones for their patient, +pack-animal wives, just as they would prepare the way for their ponies. + +Bears evince great sagacity as mountaineers, but although they are +tireless and enterprising travelers they seldom cross the range. I have +several times tracked them through the Mono Pass, but only in late +years, after cattle and sheep had passed that way, when they doubtless +were following to feed on the stragglers and on those that had been +killed by falling over the rocks. Even the wild sheep, the best +mountaineers of all, choose regular passes in making journeys across +the summits. Deer seldom cross the range in either direction. I have +never yet observed a single specimen of the mule-deer of the Great +Basin west of the summit, and rarely one of the black-tailed species on +the eastern slope, notwithstanding many of the latter ascend the range +nearly to the summit every summer, to feed in the wild gardens and +bring forth their young. + +The glaciers are the pass-makers, and it is by them that the courses of +all mountaineers are predestined. Without exception every pass in the +Sierra was created by them without the slightest aid or predetermining +guidance from any of the cataclysmic agents. I have seen elaborate +statements of the amount of drilling and blasting accomplished in the +construction of the railroad across the Sierra, above Donner Lake; but +for every pound of rock moved in this way, the glaciers which descended +east and west through this same pass, crushed and carried away more +than a hundred tons. + +The so-called practicable road-passes are simply those portions of the +range more degraded by glacial action than the adjacent portions, and +degraded in such a way as to leave the summits rounded, instead of +sharp; while the peaks, from the superior strength and hardness of +their rocks, or from more favorable position, having suffered less +degradation, are left towering above the passes as if they had been +heaved into the sky by some force acting from beneath. + +The scenery of all the passes, especially at the head, is of the +wildest and grandest description,—lofty peaks massed together and laden +around their bases with ice and snow; chains of glacier lakes; +cascading streams in endless variety, with glorious views, westward +over a sea of rocks and woods, and eastward over strange ashy plains, +volcanoes, and the dry, dead-looking ranges of the Great Basin. Every +pass, however, possesses treasures of beauty all its own. + +Having thus in a general way indicated the height, leading features, +and distribution of the principal passes, I will now endeavor to +describe the Mono Pass in particular, which may, I think, be regarded +as a fair example of the higher alpine passes in general. + +The main portion of the Mono Pass is formed by Bloody Cañon, which +begins at the summit of the range, and runs in a general +east-northeasterly direction to the edge of the Mono Plain. + +The first white men who forced a way through its somber depths were, as +we have seen, eager gold-seekers. But the cañon was known and traveled +as a pass by the Indians and mountain animals long before its discovery +by white men, as is shown by the numerous tributary trails which come +into it from every direction. Its name accords well with the character +of the “early times” in California, and may perhaps have been suggested +by the predominant color of the metamorphic slates in which it is in +great part eroded; or more probably by blood-stains made by the +unfortunate animals which were compelled to slip and shuffle awkwardly +over its rough, cutting rocks. I have never known an animal, either +mule or horse, to make its way through the cañon, either in going up or +down, without losing more or less blood from wounds on the legs. +Occasionally one is killed outright—falling headlong and rolling over +precipices like a boulder. But such accidents are rarer than from the +terrible appearance of the trail one would be led to expect; the more +experienced when driven loose find their way over the dangerous places +with a caution and sagacity that is truly wonderful. During the gold +excitement it was at times a matter of considerable pecuniary +importance to force a way through the cañon with pack-trains early in +the spring while it was yet heavily blocked with snow; and then the +mules with their loads had sometimes to be let down over the steepest +drifts and avalanche beds by means of ropes. + +A good bridle-path leads from Yosemite through many a grove and meadow +up to the head of the cañon, a distance of about thirty miles. Here the +scenery undergoes a sudden and startling condensation. Mountains, red, +gray, and black, rise close at hand on the right, whitened around their +bases with banks of enduring snow; on the left swells the huge red mass +of Mount Gibbs, while in front the eye wanders down the shadowy cañon, +and out on the warm plain of Mono, where the lake is seen gleaming like +a burnished metallic disk, with clusters of lofty volcanic cones to the +south of it. + +When at length we enter the mountain gateway, the somber rocks seem +aware of our presence, and seem to come thronging closer about us. +Happily the ouzel and the old familiar robin are here to sing us +welcome, and azure daisies beam with trustfulness and sympathy, +enabling us to feel something of Nature’s love even here, beneath the +gaze of her coldest rocks. + +The effect of this expressive outspokenness on the part of the +cañon-rocks is greatly enhanced by the quiet aspect of the alpine +meadows through which we pass just before entering the narrow gateway. +The forests in which they lie, and the mountain-tops rising beyond +them, seem quiet and tranquil. We catch their restful spirit, yield to +the soothing influences of the sunshine, and saunter dreamily on +through flowers and bees, scarce touched by a definite thought; then +suddenly we find ourselves in the shadowy cañon, closeted with Nature +in one of her wildest strongholds. + +After the first bewildering impression begins to wear off, we perceive +that it is not altogether terrible; for besides the reassuring birds +and flowers we discover a chain of shining lakelets hanging down from +the very summit of the pass, and linked together by a silvery stream. +The highest are set in bleak, rough bowls, scantily fringed with brown +and yellow sedges. Winter storms blow snow through the cañon in +blinding drifts, and avalanches shoot from the heights. Then are these +sparkling tarns filled and buried, leaving not a hint of their +existence. In June and July they begin to blink and thaw out like +sleepy eyes, the carices thrust up their short brown spikes, the +daisies bloom in turn, and the most profoundly buried of them all is at +length warmed and summered as if winter were only a dream. + +Red Lake is the lowest of the chain, and also the largest. It seems +rather dull and forbidding at first sight, lying motionless in its +deep, dark bed. The cañon wall rises sheer from the water’s edge on the +south, but on the opposite side there is sufficient space and sunshine +for a sedgy daisy garden, the center of which is brilliantly lighted +with lilies, castilleias, larkspurs, and columbines, sheltered from the +wind by leafy willows, and forming a most joyful outburst of plant-life +keenly emphasized by the chill baldness of the onlooking cliffs. + +After indulging here in a dozing, shimmering lake-rest, the happy +stream sets forth again, warbling and trilling like an ouzel, ever +delightfully confiding, no matter how dark the way; leaping, gliding, +hither, thither, clear or foaming: manifesting the beauty of its +wildness in every sound and gesture. + +One of its most beautiful developments is the Diamond Cascade, situated +a short distance below Red Lake. Here the tense, crystalline water is +first dashed into coarse, granular spray mixed with dusty foam, and +then divided into a diamond pattern by following the diagonal +cleavage-joints that intersect the face of the precipice over which it +pours. Viewed in front, it resembles a strip of embroidery of definite +pattern, varying through the seasons with the temperature and the +volume of water. Scarce a flower may be seen along its snowy border. A +few bent pines look on from a distance, and small fringes of cassiope +and rock-ferns are growing in fissures near the head, but these are so +lowly and undemonstrative that only the attentive observer will be +likely to notice them. + +On the north wall of the cañon, a little below the Diamond Cascade, a +glittering side stream makes its appearance, seeming to leap directly +out of the sky. It first resembles a crinkled ribbon of silver hanging +loosely down the wall, but grows wider as it descends, and dashes the +dull rock with foam. A long rough talus curves up against this part of +the cliff, overgrown with snow-pressed willows, in which the fall +disappears with many an eager surge and swirl and plashing leap, +finally beating its way down to its confluence with the main cañon +stream. + +Below this point the climate is no longer arctic. Butterflies become +larger and more abundant, grasses with imposing spread of panicle wave +above your shoulders, and the summery drone of the bumblebee thickens +the air. The Dwarf Pine, the tree-mountaineer that climbs highest and +braves the coldest blasts, is found scattered in storm-beaten clumps +from the summit of the pass about half-way down the cañon. Here it is +succeeded by the hardy Two-leaved Pine, which is speedily joined by the +taller Yellow and Mountain Pines. These, with the burly juniper, and +shimmering aspen, rapidly grow larger as the sunshine becomes richer, +forming groves that block the view; or they stand more apart here and +there in picturesque groups, that make beautiful and obvious harmony +with the rocks and with one another. Blooming underbrush becomes +abundant,—azalea, spiraea, and the brier-rose weaving fringes for the +streams, and shaggy rugs to relieve the stern, unflinching rock-bosses. + +[Illustration: RANCHERIA FALLS, HETCH-HETCHY VALLEY] + +Through this delightful wilderness, Cañon Creek roves without any +constraining channel, throbbing and wavering; now in sunshine, now in +thoughtful shade; falling, swirling, flashing from side to side in +weariless exuberance of energy. A glorious milky way of cascades is +thus developed, of which Bower Cascade, though one of the smallest, is +perhaps the most beautiful of them all. It is situated in the lower +region of the pass, just where the sunshine begins to mellow between +the cold and warm climates. Here the glad creek, grown strong with +tribute gathered from many a snowy fountain on the heights, sings +richer strains, and becomes more human and lovable at every step. Now +you may by its side find the rose and homely yarrow, and small meadows +full of bees and clover. At the head of a low-browed rock, luxuriant +dogwood bushes and willows arch over from bank to bank, embowering the +stream with their leafy branches; and drooping plumes, kept in motion +by the current, fringe the brow of the cascade in front. From this +leafy covert the stream leaps out into the light in a fluted curve +thick sown with sparkling crystals, and falls into a pool filled with +brown boulders, out of which it creeps gray with foam-bells and +disappears in a tangle of verdure like that from which it came. + +Hence, to the foot of the cañon, the metamorphic slates give place to +granite, whose nobler sculpture calls forth expressions of +corresponding beauty from the stream in passing over it,—bright trills +of rapids, booming notes of falls, solemn hushes of smooth-gliding +sheets, all chanting and blending in glorious harmony. When, at length, +its impetuous alpine life is done, it slips through a meadow with +scarce an audible whisper, and falls asleep in Moraine Lake. + +This water-bed is one of the finest I ever saw. Evergreens wave +soothingly about it, and the breath of flowers floats over it like +incense. Here our blessed stream rests from its rocky wanderings, all +its mountaineering done,—no more foaming rock-leaping, no more wild, +exulting song. It falls into a smooth, glassy sleep, stirred only by +the night-wind, which, coming down the cañon, makes it croon and mutter +in ripples along its broidered shores. + +Leaving the lake, it glides quietly through the rushes, destined never +more to touch the living rock. Henceforth its path lies through ancient +moraines and reaches of ashy sage-plain, which nowhere afford rocks +suitable for the development of cascades or sheer falls. Yet this +beauty of maturity, though less striking, is of a still higher order, +enticing us lovingly on through gentian meadows and groves of rustling +aspen to Lake Mono, where, spirit-like, our happy stream vanishes in +vapor, and floats free again in the sky. + +Bloody Cañon, like every other in the Sierra, was recently occupied by +a glacier, which derived its fountain snows from the adjacent summits, +and descended into Mono Lake, at a time when its waters stood at a much +higher level than now. The principal characters in which the history of +the ancient glaciers is preserved are displayed here in marvelous +freshness and simplicity, furnishing the student with extraordinary +advantages for the acquisition of knowledge of this sort. The most +striking passages are polished and striated surfaces, which in many +places reflect the rays of the sun like smooth water. The dam of Red +Lake is an elegantly modeled rib of metamorphic slate, brought into +relief because of its superior strength, and because of the greater +intensity of the glacial erosion of the rock immediately above it, +caused by a steeply inclined tributary glacier, which entered the main +trunk with a heavy down-thrust at the head of the lake. + +Moraine Lake furnishes an equally interesting example of a basin formed +wholly, or in part, by a terminal moraine dam curved across the path of +a stream between two lateral moraines. + +At Moraine Lake the cañon proper terminates, although apparently +continued by the two lateral moraines of the vanished glacier. These +moraines are about 300 feet high, and extend unbrokenly from the sides +of the cañon into the plain, a distance of about five miles, curving +and tapering in beautiful lines. Their sunward sides are gardens, their +shady sides are groves; the former devoted chiefly to eriogonae, +compositae, and graminae; a square rod containing five or six profusely +flowered eriogonums of several species, about the same number of bahia +and linosyris, and a few grass tufts; each species being planted trimly +apart, with bare gravel between, as if cultivated artificially. + +My first visit to Bloody Cañon was made in the summer of 1869, under +circumstances well calculated to heighten the impressions that are the +peculiar offspring of mountains. I came from the blooming tangles of +Florida, and waded out into the plant-gold of the great valley of +California, when its flora was as yet untrodden. Never before had I +beheld congregations of social flowers half so extensive or half so +glorious. Golden composite covered all the ground from the Coast Range +to the Sierra like a stratum of curdled sunshine, in which I reveled +for weeks, watching the rising and setting of their innumerable suns; +then I gave myself up to be borne forward on the crest of the summer +wave that sweeps annually up the Sierra and spends itself on the snowy +summits. + +At the Big Tuolumne Meadows I remained more than a month, sketching, +botanizing, and climbing among the surrounding mountains. The +mountaineer with whom I then happened to be camping was one of those +remarkable men one so frequently meets in California, the hard angles +and bosses of whose characters have been brought into relief by the +grinding excitements of the gold period, until they resemble glacial +landscapes. But at this late day, my friend’s activities had subsided, +and his craving for rest caused him to become a gentle shepherd and +literally to lie down with the lamb. + +Recognizing the unsatisfiable longings of my Scotch Highland instincts, +he threw out some hints concerning Bloody Cañon, and advised me to +explore it. “I have never seen it myself,” he said, “for I never was so +unfortunate as to pass that way. But I have heard many a strange story +about it, and I warrant you will at least find it wild enough.” + +Then of course I made haste to see it. Early next morning I made up a +bundle of bread, tied my note-book to my belt, and strode away in the +bracing air, full of eager, indefinite hope. The plushy lawns that lay +in my path served to soothe my morning haste. The sod in many places +was starred with daisies and blue gentians, over which I lingered. I +traced the paths of the ancient glaciers over many a shining pavement, +and marked the gaps in the upper forests that told the power of the +winter avalanches. Climbing higher, I saw for the first time the +gradual dwarfing of the pines in compliance with climate, and on the +summit discovered creeping mats of the arctic willow overgrown with +silky catkins, and patches of the dwarf vaccinium with its round +flowers sprinkled in the grass like purple hail; while in every +direction the landscape stretched sublimely away in fresh wildness—a +manuscript written by the hand of Nature alone. + +At length, as I entered the pass, the huge rocks began to close around +in all their wild, mysterious impressiveness, when suddenly, as I was +gazing eagerly about me, a drove of gray hairy beings came in sight, +lumbering toward me with a kind of boneless, wallowing motion like +bears. + +I never turn back, though often so inclined, and in this particular +instance, amid such surroundings, everything seemed singularly +unfavorable for the calm acceptance of so grim a company. Suppressing +my fears, I soon discovered that although as hairy as bears and as +crooked as summit pines, the strange creatures were sufficiently erect +to belong to our own species. They proved to be nothing more formidable +than Mono Indians dressed in the skins of sage-rabbits. Both the men +and the women begged persistently for whisky and tobacco, and seemed so +accustomed to denials that I found it impossible to convince them that +I had none to give. Excepting the names of these two products of +civilization, they seemed to understand not a word of English; but I +afterward learned that they were on their way to Yosemite Valley to +feast awhile on trout and procure a load of acorns to carry back +through the pass to their huts on the shore of Mono Lake. + +Occasionally a good countenance may be seen among the Mono Indians, but +these, the first specimens I had seen, were mostly ugly, and some of +them altogether hideous. The dirt on their faces was fairly stratified, +and seemed so ancient and so undisturbed it might almost possess a +geological significance. The older faces were, moreover, strangely +blurred and divided into sections by furrows that looked like the +cleavage-joints of rocks, suggesting exposure on the mountains in a +castaway condition for ages. Somehow they seemed to have no right place +in the landscape, and I was glad to see them fading out of sight down +the pass. + +Then came evening, and the somber cliffs were inspired with the +ineffable beauty of the alpenglow. A solemn calm fell upon everything. +All the lower portion of the cañon was in gloaming shadow, and I crept +into a hollow near one of the upper lakelets to smooth the ground in a +sheltered nook for a bed. When the short twilight faded, I kindled a +sunny fire, made a cup of tea, and lay down to rest and look at the +stars. Soon the night-wind began to flow and pour in torrents among the +jagged peaks, mingling strange tones with those of the waterfalls +sounding far below; and as I drifted toward sleep I began to experience +an uncomfortable feeling of nearness to the furred Monos. Then the full +moon looked down over the edge of the cañon wall, her countenance +seemingly filled with intense concern, and apparently so near as to +produce a startling effect as if she had entered my bedroom, forgetting +all the world, to gaze on me alone. + +The night was full of strange sounds, and I gladly welcomed the +morning. Breakfast was soon done, and I set forth in the exhilarating +freshness of the new day, rejoicing in the abundance of pure wildness +so close about me. The stupendous rocks, hacked and scarred with +centuries of storms, stood sharply out in the thin early light, while +down in the bottom of the cañon grooved and polished bosses heaved and +glistened like swelling sea-waves, telling a grand old story of the +ancient glacier that poured its crushing floods above them. + +Here for the first time I met the arctic daisies in all their +perfection of purity and spirituality,—gentle mountaineers face to face +with the stormy sky, kept safe and warm by a thousand miracles. I +leaped lightly from rock to rock, glorying in the eternal freshness and +sufficiency of Nature, and in the ineffable tenderness with which she +nurtures her mountain darlings in the very fountains of storms. Fresh +beauty appeared at every step, delicate rock-ferns, and groups of the +fairest flowers. Now another lake came to view, now a waterfall. Never +fell light in brighter spangles, never fell water in whiter foam. I +seemed to float through the cañon enchanted, feeling nothing of its +roughness, and was out in the Mono levels before I was aware. + +Looking back from the shore of Moraine Lake, my morning ramble seemed +all a dream. There curved Bloody Cañon, a mere glacial furrow 2000 feet +deep, with smooth rocks projecting from the sides and braided together +in the middle, like bulging, swelling muscles. Here the lilies were +higher than my head, and the sunshine was warm enough for palms. Yet +the snow around the arctic willows was plainly visible only four miles +away, and between were narrow specimen zones of all the principal +climates of the globe. + +On the bank of a small brook that comes gurgling down the side of the +left lateral moraine, I found a camp-fire still burning, which no doubt +belonged to the gray Indians I had met on the summit, and I listened +instinctively and moved cautiously forward, half expecting to see some +of their grim faces peering out of the bushes. + +Passing on toward the open plain, I noticed three well-defined terminal +moraines curved gracefully across the cañon stream, and joined by long +splices to the two noble laterals. These mark the halting-places of the +vanished glacier when it was retreating into its summit shadows on the +breaking-up of the glacial winter. + +Five miles below the foot of Moraine Lake, just where the lateral +moraines lose themselves in the plain, there was a field of wild rye, +growing in magnificent waving bunches six to eight feet high, bearing +heads from six to twelve inches long. Rubbing out some of the grains, I +found them about five eighths of an inch long, dark-colored, and sweet. +Indian women were gathering it in baskets, bending down large handfuls, +beating it out, and fanning it in the wind. They were quite +picturesque, coming through the rye, as one caught glimpses of them +here and there, in winding lanes and openings, with splendid tufts +arching above their heads, while their incessant chat and laughter +showed their heedless joy. + +Like the rye-field, I found the so-called desert of Mono blooming in a +high state of natural cultivation with the wild rose, cherry, aster, +and the delicate abronia; also innumerable gilias, phloxes, poppies, +and bush-compositae. I observed their gestures and the various +expressions of their corollas, inquiring how they could be so fresh and +beautiful out in this volcanic desert. They told as happy a life as any +plant-company I ever met, and seemed to enjoy even the hot sand and the +wind. + +But the vegetation of the pass has been in great part destroyed, and +the same may be said of all the more accessible passes throughout the +range. Immense numbers of starving sheep and cattle have been driven +through them into Nevada, trampling the wild gardens and meadows almost +out of existence. The lofty walls are untouched by any foot, and the +falls sing on unchanged; but the sight of crushed flowers and stripped, +bitten bushes goes far toward destroying the charm of wildness. + +The cañon should be seen in winter. A good, strong traveler, who knows +the way and the weather, might easily make a safe excursion through it +from Yosemite Valley on snow-shoes during some tranquil time, when the +storms are hushed. The lakes and falls would be buried then; but so, +also, would be the traces of destructive feet, while the views of the +mountains in their winter garb, and the ride at lightning speed down +the pass between the snowy walls, would be truly glorious. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF THE MONO PLAIN FROM THE FOOT OF BLOODY CAÑON.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI +THE GLACIER LAKES + + +Among the many unlooked-for treasures that are bound up and hidden away +in the depths of Sierra solitudes, none more surely charm and surprise +all kinds of travelers than the glacier lakes. The forests and the +glaciers and the snowy fountains of the streams advertise their wealth +in a more or less telling manner even in the distance, but nothing is +seen of the lakes until we have climbed above them. All the upper +branches of the rivers are fairly laden with lakes, like orchard trees +with fruit. They lie embosomed in the deep woods, down in the grovy +bottoms of cañons, high on bald tablelands, and around the feet of the +icy peaks, mirroring back their wild beauty over and over again. Some +conception of their lavish abundance may be made from the fact that, +from one standpoint on the summit of Red Mountain, a day’s journey to +the east of Yosemite Valley, no fewer than forty-two are displayed +within a radius of ten miles. The whole number in the Sierra can hardly +be less than fifteen hundred, not counting the smaller pools and tarns, +which are innumerable. Perhaps two thirds or more lie on the western +flank of the range, and all are restricted to the alpine and subalpine +regions. At the close of the last glacial period, the middle and +foot-hill regions also abounded in lakes, all of which have long since +vanished as completely as the magnificent ancient glaciers that brought +them into existence. + +Though the eastern flank of the range is excessively steep, we find +lakes pretty regularly distributed throughout even the most precipitous +portions. They are mostly found in the upper branches of the cañons, +and in the glacial amphitheaters around the peaks. + +Occasionally long, narrow specimens occur upon the steep sides of +dividing ridges, their basins swung lengthwise like hammocks, and very +rarely one is found lying so exactly on the summit of the range at the +head of some pass that its waters are discharged down both flanks when +the snow is melting fast. But, however situated, they soon cease to +form surprises to the studious mountaineer; for, like all the love-work +of Nature, they are harmoniously related to one another, and to all the +other features of the mountains. It is easy, therefore, to find the +bright lake-eyes in the roughest and most ungovernable-looking +topography of any landscape countenance. Even in the lower regions, +where they have been closed for many a century, their rocky orbits are +still discernible, filled in with the detritus of flood and avalanche. +A beautiful system of grouping in correspondence with the glacial +fountains is soon perceived; also their extension in the direction of +the trends of the ancient glaciers; and in general their dependence as +to form, size, and position upon the character of the rocks in which +their basins have been eroded, and the quantity and direction of +application of the glacial force expended upon each basin. + +In the upper cañons we usually find them in pretty regular succession, +strung together like beads on the bright ribbons of their +feeding-streams, which pour, white and gray with foam and spray, from +one to the other, their perfect mirror stillness making impressive +contrasts with the grand blare and glare of the connecting cataracts. +In Lake Hollow, on the north side of the Hoffman spur, immediately +above the great Tuolumne cañon, there are ten lovely lakelets lying +near together in one general hollow, like eggs in a nest. Seen from +above, in a general view, feathered with Hemlock Spruce, and fringed +with sedge, they seem to me the most singularly beautiful and +interestingly located lake-cluster I have ever yet discovered. + +Lake Tahoe, 22 miles long by about 10 wide, and from 500 to over 1600 +feet in depth, is the largest of all the Sierra lakes. It lies just +beyond the northern limit of the higher portion of the range between +the main axis and a spur that puts out on the east side from near the +head of the Carson River. Its forested shores go curving in and out +around many an emerald bay and pine-crowned promontory, and its waters +are everywhere as keenly pure as any to be found among the highest +mountains. + +Donner Lake, rendered memorable by the terrible fate of the Donner +party, is about three miles long, and lies about ten miles to the north +of Tahoe, at the head of one of the tributaries of the Truckee. A few +miles farther north lies Lake Independence, about the same size as +Donner. But far the greater number of the lakes lie much higher and are +quite small, few of them exceeding a mile in length, most of them less +than half a mile. + +Along the lower edge of the lake-belt, the smallest have disappeared by +the filling-in of their basins, leaving only those of considerable +size. But all along the upper freshly glaciated margin of the +lake-bearing zone, every hollow, however small, lying within reach of +any portion of the close network of streams, contains a bright, +brimming pool; so that the landscape viewed from the mountain-tops +seems to be sown broadcast with them. Many of the larger lakes are +encircled with smaller ones like central gems girdled with sparkling +brilliants. In general, however, there is no marked dividing line as to +size. In order, therefore, to prevent confusion, I would state here +that in giving numbers, I include none less than 500 yards in +circumference. + +In the basin of the Merced River, I counted 131, of which 111 are upon +the tributaries that fall so grandly into Yosemite Valley. Pohono +Creek, which forms the fall of that name, takes its rise in a beautiful +lake, lying beneath the shadow of a lofty granite spur that puts out +from Buena Vista peak. This is now the only lake left in the whole +Pohono Basin. The Illilouette has sixteen, the Nevada no fewer than +sixty-seven, the Tenaya eight, Hoffmann Creek five, and Yosemite Creek +fourteen. There are but two other lake-bearing affluents of the Merced, +viz., the South Fork with fifteen, and Cascade Creek with five, both of +which unite with the main trunk below Yosemite. + +[Illustration: LAKE TENAYA, ONE OF THE YOSEMITE FOUNTAINS.] + +The Merced River, as a whole, is remarkably like an elm-tree, and it +requires but little effort on the part of the imagination to picture it +standing upright, with all its lakes hanging upon its spreading +branches, the topmost eighty miles in height. Now add all the other +lake-bearing rivers of the Sierra, each in its place, and you will have +a truly glorious spectacle,—an avenue the length and width of the +range; the long, slender, gray shafts of the main trunks, the milky way +of arching branches, and the silvery lakes, all clearly defined and +shining on the sky. How excitedly such an addition to the scenery would +be gazed at! Yet these lakeful rivers are still more excitingly +beautiful and impressive in their natural positions to those who have +the eyes to see them as they lie imbedded in their meadows and forests +and glacier-sculptured rocks. + +When a mountain lake is born,—when, like a young eye, it first opens to +the light,—it is an irregular, expressionless crescent, inclosed in +banks of rock and ice,—bare, glaciated rock on the lower side, the +rugged snout of a glacier on the upper. In this condition it remains +for many a year, until at length, toward the end of some auspicious +cluster of seasons, the glacier recedes beyond the upper margin of the +basin, leaving it open from shore to shore for the first time, +thousands of years after its conception beneath the glacier that +excavated its basin. The landscape, cold and bare, is reflected in its +pure depths; the winds ruffle its glassy surface, and the sun fills it +with throbbing spangles, while its waves begin to lap and murmur around +its leafless shores,—sun-spangles during the day and reflected stars at +night its only flowers, the winds and the snow its only visitors. +Meanwhile, the glacier continues to recede, and numerous rills, still +younger than the lake itself, bring down glacier-mud, sand-grains, and +pebbles, giving rise to margin-rings and plats of soil. To these fresh +soil-beds come many a waiting plant. First, a hardy carex with arching +leaves and a spike of brown flowers; then, as the seasons grow warmer, +and the soil-beds deeper and wider, other sedges take their appointed +places, and these are joined by blue gentians, daisies, dodecatheons, +violets, honeyworts, and many a lowly moss. Shrubs also hasten in time +to the new gardens,—kalmia with its glossy leaves and purple flowers, +the arctic willow, making soft woven carpets, together with the heathy +bryanthus and cassiope, the fairest and dearest of them all. Insects +now enrich the air, frogs pipe cheerily in the shallows, soon followed +by the ouzel, which is the first bird to visit a glacier lake, as the +sedge is the first of plants. + +So the young lake grows in beauty, becoming more and more humanly +lovable from century to century. Groves of aspen spring up, and hardy +pines, and the Hemlock Spruce, until it is richly overshadowed and +embowered. But while its shores are being enriched, the soil-beds creep +out with incessant growth, contracting its area, while the lighter +mud-particles deposited on the bottom cause it to grow constantly +shallower, until at length the last remnant of the lake +vanishes,—closed forever in ripe and natural old age. And now its +feeding-stream goes winding on without halting through the new gardens +and groves that have taken its place. + +The length of the life of any lake depends ordinarily upon the capacity +of its basin, as compared with the carrying power of the streams that +flow into it, the character of the rocks over which these streams flow, +and the relative position of the lake toward other lakes. In a series +whose basins lie in the same cañon, and are fed by one and the same +main stream, the uppermost will, of course, vanish first unless some +other lake-filling agent comes in to modify the result; because at +first it receives nearly all of the sediments that the stream brings +down, only the finest of the mud-particles being carried through the +highest of the series to the next below. Then the next higher, and the +next would be successively filled, and the lowest would be the last to +vanish. But this simplicity as to duration is broken in upon in various +ways, chiefly through the action of side-streams that enter the lower +lakes direct. For, notwithstanding many of these side tributaries are +quite short, and, during late summer, feeble, they all become powerful +torrents in springtime when the snow is melting, and carry not only +sand and pine-needles, but large trunks and boulders tons in weight, +sweeping them down their steeply inclined channels and into the lake +basins with astounding energy. Many of these side affluents also have +the advantage of access to the main lateral moraines of the vanished +glacier that occupied the cañon, and upon these they draw for +lake-filling material, while the main trunk stream flows mostly over +clean glacier pavements, where but little moraine matter is ever left +for them to carry. Thus a small rapid stream with abundance of loose +transportable material within its reach may fill up an extensive basin +in a few centuries, while a large perennial trunk stream, flowing over +clean, enduring pavements, though ordinarily a hundred times larger, +may not fill a smaller basin in thousands of years. + +The comparative influence of great and small streams as lake-fillers is +strikingly illustrated in Yosemite Valley, through which the Merced +flows. The bottom of the valley is now composed of level meadow-lands +and dry, sloping soil-beds planted with oak and pine, but it was once a +lake stretching from wall to wall and nearly from one end of the valley +to the other, forming one of the most beautiful cliff-bound sheets of +water that ever existed in the Sierra. And though never perhaps seen by +human eye, it was but yesterday, geologically speaking, since it +disappeared, and the traces of its existence are still so fresh, it may +easily be restored to the eye of imagination and viewed in all its +grandeur, about as truly and vividly as if actually before us. Now we +find that the detritus which fills this magnificent basin was not +brought down from the distant mountains by the main streams that +converge here to form the river, however powerful and available for the +purpose at first sight they appear; but almost wholly by the small +local tributaries, such as those of Indian Cañon, the Sentinel, and the +Three Brothers, and by a few small residual glaciers which lingered in +the shadows of the walls long after the main trunk glacier had receded +beyond the head of the valley. + +Had the glaciers that once covered the range been melted at once, +leaving the entire surface bare from top to bottom simultaneously, then +of course all the lakes would have come into existence at the same +time, and the highest, other circumstances being equal, would, as we +have seen, be the first to vanish. But because they melted gradually +from the foot of the range upward, the lower lakes were the first to +see the light and the first to be obliterated. Therefore, instead of +finding the lakes of the present day at the foot of the range, we find +them at the top. Most of the lower lakes vanished thousands of years +before those now brightening the alpine landscapes were born. And in +general, owing to the deliberation of the upward retreat of the +glaciers, the lowest of the existing lakes are also the oldest, a +gradual transition being apparent throughout the entire belt, from the +older, forested, meadow-rimmed and contracted forms all the way up to +those that are new born, lying bare and meadowless among the highest +peaks. + +[Illustration: THE DEATH OF A LAKE.] + +A few small lakes unfortunately situated are extinguished suddenly by a +single swoop of an avalanche, carrying down immense numbers of trees, +together with the soil they were growing upon. Others are obliterated +by land-slips, earthquake taluses, etc., but these lake-deaths compared +with those resulting from the deliberate and incessant deposition of +sediments, may be termed accidental. Their fate is like that of trees +struck by lightning. + +The lake-line is of course still rising, its present elevation being +about 8000 feet above sea-level; somewhat higher than this toward the +southern extremity of the range, lower toward the northern, on account +of the difference in time of the withdrawal of the glaciers, due to +difference in climate. Specimens occur here and there considerably +below this limit, in basins specially protected from inwashing +detritus, or exceptional in size. These, however, are not sufficiently +numerous to make any marked irregularity in the line. The highest I +have yet found lies at an elevation of about 12,000 feet, in a glacier +womb, at the foot of one of the highest of the summit peaks, a few +miles to the north of Mount Hitter. The basins of perhaps twenty-five +or thirty are still in process of formation beneath the few lingering +glaciers, but by the time they are born, an equal or greater number +will probably have died. Since the beginning of the close of the +ice-period the whole number in the range has perhaps never been greater +than at present. + +A rough approximation to the average duration of these mountain lakes +may be made from data already suggested, but I cannot stop here to +present the subject in detail. I must also forego, in the mean time, +the pleasure of a full discussion of the interesting question of +lake-basin formation, for which fine, clear, demonstrative material +abounds in these mountains. In addition to what has been already given +on the subject, I will only make this one statement. Every lake in the +Sierra is a glacier lake. Their basins were not merely remodeled and +scoured out by this mighty agent, but in the first place were eroded +from the solid. + +I must now make haste to give some nearer views of representative +specimens lying at different elevations on the main lake-belt, +confining myself to descriptions of the features most characteristic of +each. + +SHADOW LAKE + +This is a fine specimen of the oldest and lowest of the existing lakes. +It lies about eight miles above Yosemite Valley, on the main branch of +the Merced, at an elevation of about 7350 feet above the sea; and is +everywhere so securely cliff-bound that without artificial trails only +wild animals can get down to its rocky shores from any direction. Its +original length was about a mile and a half; now it is only half a mile +in length by about a fourth of a mile in width, and over the lowest +portion of the basin ninety-eight feet deep. Its crystal waters are +clasped around on the north and south by majestic granite walls +sculptured in true Yosemitic style into domes, gables, and battlemented +headlands, which on the south come plunging down sheer into deep water, +from a height of from 1500 to 2000 feet. The South Lyell glacier eroded +this magnificent basin out of solid porphyritic granite while forcing +its way westward from the summit fountains toward Yosemite, and the +exposed rocks around the shores, and the projecting bosses of the +walls, ground and burnished beneath the vast ice-flood, still glow with +silvery radiance, notwithstanding the innumerable corroding storms that +have fallen upon them. The general conformation of the basin, as well +as the moraines laid along the top of the walls, and the grooves and +scratches on the bottom and sides, indicate in the most unmistakable +manner the direction pursued by this mighty ice-river, its great depth, +and the tremendous energy it exerted in thrusting itself into and out +of the basin; bearing down with superior pressure upon this portion of +its channel, because of the greater declivity, consequently eroding it +deeper than the other portions about it, and producing the lake-bowl as +the necessary result. + +With these magnificent ice-characters so vividly before us it is not +easy to realize that the old glacier that made them vanished tens of +centuries ago; for, excepting the vegetation that has sprung up, and +the changes effected by an earthquake that hurled rock-avalanches from +the weaker headlands, the basin as a whole presents the same appearance +that it did when first brought to light. The lake itself, however, has +undergone marked changes; one sees at a glance that it is growing old. +More than two thirds of its original area is now dry land, covered with +meadow-grasses and groves of pine and fir, and the level bed of +alluvium stretching across from wall to wall at the head is evidently +growing out all along its lakeward margin, and will at length close the +lake forever. + +[Illustration: SHADOW LAKE (MERCED LAKE), YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.] + +Every lover of fine wildness would delight to saunter on a summer day +through the flowery groves now occupying the filled-up portion of the +basin. The curving shore is clearly traced by a ribbon of white sand +upon which the ripples play; then comes a belt of broad-leafed sedges, +interrupted here and there by impenetrable tangles of willows; beyond +this there are groves of trembling aspen; then a dark, shadowy belt of +Two-leaved Pine, with here and there a round carex meadow ensconced +nest-like in its midst; and lastly, a narrow outer margin of majestic +Silver Fir 200 feet high. The ground beneath the trees is covered with +a luxuriant crop of grasses, chiefly triticum, bromus, and +calamagrostis, with purple spikes and panicles arching to one’s +shoulders; while the open meadow patches glow throughout the summer +with showy flowers,—heleniums, goldenrods, erigerons, lupines, +castilleias, and lilies, and form favorite hiding and feeding-grounds +for bears and deer. + +The rugged south wall is feathered darkly along the top with an +imposing array of spirey Silver Firs, while the rifted precipices all +the way down to the water’s edge are adorned with picturesque old +junipers, their cinnamon-colored bark showing finely upon the neutral +gray of the granite. These, with a few venturesome Dwarf Pines and +Spruces, lean out over fissured ribs and tablets, or stand erect back +in shadowy niches, in an indescribably wild and fearless manner. +Moreover, the white-flowered Douglas spiraea and dwarf evergreen oak +form graceful fringes along the narrower seams, wherever the slightest +hold can be effected. Rock-ferns, too, are here, such as allosorus, +pellaea, and cheilanthes, making handsome rosettes on the drier +fissures; and the delicate maidenhair, cistoperis, and woodsia hide +back in mossy grottoes, moistened by some trickling rill; and then the +orange wall-flower holds up its showy panicles here and there in the +sunshine, and bahia makes bosses of gold. But, notwithstanding all this +plant beauty, the general impression in looking across the lake is of +stern, unflinching rockiness; the ferns and flowers are scarcely seen, +and not one fiftieth of the whole surface is screened with plant life. + +The sunnier north wall is more varied in sculpture, but the general +tone is the same. A few headlands, flat-topped and soil-covered, +support clumps of cedar and pine; and up-curving tangles of chinquapin +and live-oak, growing on rough earthquake taluses, girdle their bases. +Small streams come cascading down between them, their foaming margins +brightened with gay primulas, gilias, and mimuluses. And close along +the shore on this side there is a strip of rocky meadow enameled with +buttercups, daisies, and white violets, and the purple-topped grasses +out on its beveled border dip their leaves into the water. + +The lower edge of the basin is a dam-like swell of solid granite, +heavily abraded by the old glacier, but scarce at all cut into as yet +by the outflowing stream, though it has flowed on unceasingly since the +lake came into existence. + +As soon as the stream is fairly over the lake-lip it breaks into +cascades, never for a moment halting, and scarce abating one jot of its +glad energy, until it reaches the next filled-up basin, a mile below. +Then swirling and curving drowsily through meadow and grove, it breaks +forth anew into gray rapids and falls, leaping and gliding in glorious +exuberance of wild bound and dance down into another and yet another +filled-up lake basin. Then, after a long rest in the levels of Little +Yosemite, it makes its grandest display in the famous Nevada Fall. Out +of the clouds of spray at the foot of the fall the battered, roaring +river gropes its way, makes another mile of cascades and rapids, rests +a moment in Emerald Pool, then plunges over the grand cliff of the +Vernal Fall, and goes thundering and chafing down a boulder-choked +gorge of tremendous depth and wildness into the tranquil reaches of the +old Yosemite lake basin. + +The color-beauty about Shadow Lake during the Indian summer is much +richer than one could hope to find in so young and so glacial a +wilderness. Almost every leaf is tinted then, and the golden-rods are +in bloom; but most of the color is given by the ripe grasses, willows, +and aspens. At the foot of the lake you stand in a trembling aspen +grove, every leaf painted like a butterfly, and away to right and left +round the shores sweeps a curving ribbon of meadow, red and brown +dotted with pale yellow, shading off here and there into hazy purple. +The walls, too, are dashed with bits of bright color that gleam out on +the neutral granite gray. But neither the walls, nor the margin meadow, +nor yet the gay, fluttering grove in which you stand, nor the lake +itself, flashing with spangles, can long hold your attention; for at +the head of the lake there is a gorgeous mass of orange-yellow, +belonging to the main aspen belt of the basin, which seems the very +fountain whence all the color below it had flowed, and here your eye is +filled and fixed. This glorious mass is about thirty feet high, and +extends across the basin nearly from wall to wall. Rich bosses of +willow flame in front of it, and from the base of these the brown +meadow comes forward to the water’s edge, the whole being relieved +against the unyielding green of the coniferae, while thick sun-gold is +poured over all. + +During these blessed color-days no cloud darkens the sky, the winds are +gentle, and the landscape rests, hushed everywhere, and indescribably +impressive. A few ducks are usually seen sailing on the lake, +apparently more for pleasure than anything else, and the ouzels at the +head of the rapids sing always; while robins, grosbeaks, and the +Douglas squirrels are busy in the groves, making delightful company, +and intensifying the feeling of grateful sequestration without ruffling +the deep, hushed calm and peace. + +[Illustration: VERNAL FALL, YOSEMITE VALLEY] + +This autumnal mellowness usually lasts until the end of November. Then +come days of quite another kind. The winter clouds grow, and bloom, and +shed their starry crystals on every leaf and rock, and all the colors +vanish like a sunset. The deer gather and hasten down their well-known +trails, fearful of being snow-bound. Storm succeeds storm, heaping snow +on the cliffs and meadows, and bending the slender pines to the ground +in wide arches, one over the other, clustering and interlacing like +lodged wheat. Avalanches rush and boom from the shelving heights, +piling immense heaps upon the frozen lake, and all the summer glory is +buried and lost. Yet in the midst of this hearty winter the sun shines +warm at times, calling the Douglas squirrel to frisk in the snowy pines +and seek out his hidden stores; and the weather is never so severe as +to drive away the grouse and little nut-hatches and chickadees. + +Toward May, the lake begins to open. The hot sun sends down innumerable +streams over the cliffs, streaking them round and round with foam. The +snow slowly vanishes, and the meadows show tintings of green. Then +spring comes on apace; flowers and flies enrich the air and the sod, +and the deer come back to the upper groves like birds to an old nest. + +I first discovered this charming lake in the autumn of 1872, while on +my way to the glaciers at the head of the river. It was rejoicing then +in its gayest colors, untrodden, hidden in the glorious wildness like +unmined gold. Year after year I walked its shores without discovering +any other trace of humanity than the remains of an Indian camp-fire, +and the thigh-bones of a deer that had been broken to get at the +marrow. It lies out of the regular ways of Indians, who love to hunt in +more accessible fields adjacent to trails. Their knowledge of +deer-haunts had probably enticed them here some hunger-time when they +wished to make sure of a feast; for hunting in this lake-hollow is like +hunting in a fenced park. I had told the beauty of Shadow Lake only to +a few friends, fearing it might come to be trampled and “improved” like +Yosemite. On my last visit, as I was sauntering along the shore on the +strip of sand between the water and sod, reading the tracks of the wild +animals that live here, I was startled by a human track, which I at +once saw belonged to some shepherd; for each step was turned out 35° or +40° from the general course pursued, and was also run over in an +uncertain sprawling fashion at the heel, while a row of round dots on +the right indicated the staff that shepherds carry. None but a shepherd +could make such a track, and after tracing it a few minutes I began to +fear that he might be seeking pasturage; for what else could he be +seeking? Returning from the glaciers shortly afterward, nay worst fears +were realized. A trail had been made down the mountain-side from the +north, and all the gardens and meadows were destroyed by a horde of +hoofed locusts, as if swept by a fire. The money-changers were in the +temple. + +ORANGE LAKE + +Besides these larger cañon lakes, fed by the main cañon streams, there +are many smaller ones lying aloft on the top of rock benches, entirely +independent of the general drainage channels, and of course drawing +their supplies from a very limited area. Notwithstanding they are +mostly small and shallow, owing to their immunity from avalanche +detritus and the inwashings of powerful streams, they often endure +longer than others many times larger but less favorably situated. When +very shallow they become dry toward the end of summer; but because +their basins are ground out of seamless stone they suffer no loss save +from evaporation alone; and the great depth of snow that falls, lasting +into June, makes their dry season short in any case. + +Orange Lake is a fair illustration of this bench form. It lies in the +middle of a beautiful glacial pavement near the lower margin of the +lake-line, about a mile and a half to the northwest of Shadow Lake. It +is only about 100 yards in circumference. Next the water there is a +girdle of carices with wide overarching leaves, then in regular order a +shaggy ruff of huckleberry bushes, a zone of willows with here and +there a bush of the Mountain Ash, then a zone of aspens with a few +pines around the outside. These zones are of course concentric, and +together form a wall beyond which the naked ice-burnished granite +stretches away in every direction, leaving it conspicuously relieved, +like a bunch of palms in a desert. + +In autumn, when the colors are ripe, the whole circular grove, at a +little distance, looks like a big handful of flowers set in a cup to be +kept fresh—a tuft of goldenrods. Its feeding-streams are exceedingly +beautiful, notwithstanding their inconstancy and extreme shallowness. +They have no channel whatever, and consequently are left free to spread +in thin sheets upon the shining granite and wander at will. In many +places the current is less than a fourth of an inch deep, and flows +with so little friction it is scarcely visible. Sometimes there is not +a single foam-bell, or drifting pine-needle, or irregularity of any +sort to manifest its motion. Yet when observed narrowly it is seen to +form a web of gliding lacework exquisitely woven, giving beautiful +reflections from its minute curving ripples and eddies, and differing +from the water-laces of large cascades in being everywhere transparent. +In spring, when the snow is melting, the lake-bowl is brimming full, +and sends forth quite a large stream that slips glassily for 200 yards +or so, until it comes to an almost vertical precipice 800 feet high, +down which it plunges in a fine cataract; then it gathers its scattered +waters and goes smoothly over folds of gently dipping granite to its +confluence with the main cañon stream. During the greater portion of +the year, however, not a single water sound will you hear either at +head or foot of the lake, not oven the whispered lappings of +ripple-waves along the shore; for the winds are fenced out. But the +deep mountain silence is sweetened now and then by birds that stop here +to rest and drink on their way across the cañon. + +LAKE STARR KING + +A beautiful variety of the bench-top lakes occurs just where the great +lateral moraines of the main glaciers have been shoved forward in +outswelling concentric rings by small residual tributary glaciers. +Instead of being encompassed by a narrow ring of trees like Orange +Lake, these lie embosomed in dense moraine woods, so dense that in +seeking them you may pass them by again and again, although you may +know nearly where they lie concealed. + +[Illustration: LAKE STARR KING.] + +Lake Starr King, lying to the north of the cone of that name, above the +Little Yosemite Valley, is a fine specimen of this variety. The ouzels +pass it by, and so do the ducks; they could hardly get into it if they +would, without plumping straight down inside the circling trees. + +Yet these isolated gems, lying like fallen fruit detached from the +branches, are not altogether without inhabitants and joyous, animating +visitors. Of course fishes cannot get into them, and this is generally +true of nearly every glacier lake in the range, but they are all well +stocked with happy frogs. How did the frogs get into them in the first +place? Perhaps their sticky spawn was carried in on the feet of ducks +or other birds, else their progenitors must have made some exciting +excursions through the woods and up the sides of the cañons. Down in +the still, pure depths of these hidden lakelets you may also find the +larvae of innumerable insects and a great variety of beetles, while the +air above them is thick with humming wings, through the midst of which +fly-catchers are constantly darting. And in autumn, when the +huckleberries are ripe, bands of robins and grosbeaks come to feast, +forming altogether delightful little byworlds for the naturalist. + +Pushing our way upward toward the axis of the range, we find lakes in +greater and greater abundance, and more youthful in aspect. At an +elevation of about 9000 feet above sea-level they seem to have arrived +at middle age,—that is, their basins seem to be about half filled with +alluvium. Broad sheets of meadow-land are seen extending into them, +imperfect and boggy in many places and more nearly level than those of +the older lakes below them, and the vegetation of their shores is of +course more alpine. Kalmia, lodum, and cassiope fringe the meadow +rocks, while the luxuriant, waving groves, so characteristic of the +lower lakes, are represented only by clumps of the Dwarf Pine and +Hemlock Spruce. These, however, are oftentimes very picturesquely +grouped on rocky headlands around the outer rim of the meadows, or with +still more striking effect crown some rocky islet. + +Moreover, from causes that we cannot stop here to explain, the cliffs +about these middle-aged lakes are seldom of the massive Yosemite type, +but are more broken, and less sheer, and they usually stand back, +leaving the shores comparatively free; while the few precipitous rocks +that do come forward and plunge directly into deep water are seldom +more than three or four hundred feet high. + +I have never yet met ducks in any of the lakes of this kind, but the +ouzel is never wanting where the feeding-streams are perennial. Wild +sheep and deer may occasionally be seen on the meadows, and very rarely +a bear. One might camp on the rugged shores of these bright fountains +for weeks, without meeting any animal larger than the marmots that +burrow beneath glacier boulders along the edges of the meadows. + +The highest and youngest of all the lakes lie nestled in glacier wombs. +At first sight, they seem pictures of pure bloodless desolation, +miniature arctic seas, bound in perpetual ice and snow, and +overshadowed by harsh, gloomy, crumbling precipices. Their waters are +keen ultramarine blue in the deepest parts, lively grass-green toward +the shore shallows and around the edges of the small bergs usually +floating about in them. A few hardy sedges, frost-pinched every night, +are occasionally found making soft sods along the sun-touched portions +of their shores, and when their northern banks slope openly to the +south, and are soil-covered, no matter how coarsely, they are sure to +be brightened with flowers. One lake in particular now comes to mind +which illustrates the floweriness of the sun-touched banks of these icy +gems. Close up under the shadow of the Sierra Matterhorn, on the +eastern slope of the range, lies one of the iciest of these glacier +lakes at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. A short, ragged-edged +glacier crawls into it from the south, and on the opposite side it is +embanked and dammed by a series of concentric terminal moraines, made +by the glacier when it entirely filled the basin. Half a mile below +lies a second lake, at a height of 11,500 feet, about as cold and as +pure as a snow-crystal. The waters of the first come gurgling down into +it over and through the moraine dam, while a second stream pours into +it direct from a glacier that lies to the southeast. Sheer precipices +of crystalline snow rise out of deep water on the south, keeping +perpetual winter on that side, but there is a fine summery spot on the +other, notwithstanding the lake is only about 300 yards wide. Here, on +August 25, 1873, I found a charming company of flowers, not pinched, +crouching dwarfs, scarce able to look up, but warm and juicy, standing +erect in rich cheery color and bloom. On a narrow strip of shingle, +close to the water’s edge, there were a few tufts of carex gone to +seed; and a little way back up the rocky bank at the foot of a +crumbling wall so inclined as to absorb and radiate as well as reflect +a considerable quantity of sun-heat, was the garden, containing a +thrifty thicket of Cowania covered with large yellow flowers; several +bushes of the alpine ribes with berries nearly ripe and wildly acid; a +few handsome grasses belonging to two distinct species, and one +goldenrod; a few hairy lupines and radiant spragueas, whose blue and +rose-colored flowers were set off to fine advantage amid green carices; +and along a narrow seam in the very warmest angle of the wall a +perfectly gorgeous fringe of _Epilobium obcordatum_ with flowers an +inch wide, crowded together in lavish profusion, and colored as royal a +purple as ever was worn by any high-bred plant of the tropics; and best +of all, and greatest of all, a noble thistle in full bloom, standing +erect, head and shoulders above his companions, and thrusting out his +lances in sturdy vigor as if growing on a Scottish brae. All this brave +warm bloom among the raw stones, right in the face of the onlooking +glaciers. + +As far as I have been able to find out, these upper lakes are +snow-buried in winter to a depth of about thirty-five or forty feet, +and those most exposed to avalanches, to a depth of even a hundred feet +or more. These last are, of course, nearly lost to the landscape. Some +remain buried for years, when the snowfall is exceptionally great, and +many open only on one side late in the season. The snow of the closed +side is composed of coarse granules compacted and frozen into a firm, +faintly stratified mass, like the _névé_ of a glacier. The lapping +waves of the open portion gradually undermine and cause it to break off +in large masses like icebergs, which gives rise to a precipitous front +like the discharging wall of a glacier entering the sea. The play of +the lights among the crystal angles of these snow-cliffs, the pearly +white of the outswelling bosses, the bergs drifting in front, aglow in +the sun and edged with green water, and the deep blue disk of the lake +itself extending to your feet,—this forms a picture that enriches all +your afterlife, and is never forgotten. But however perfect the season +and the day, the cold incompleteness of these young lakes is always +keenly felt. We approach them with a kind of mean caution, and steal +unconfidingly around their crystal shores, dashed and ill at ease, as +if expecting to hear some forbidding voice. But the love-songs of the +ouzels and the love-looks of the daisies gradually reassure us, and +manifest the warm fountain humanity that pervades the coldest and most +solitary of them all. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +THE GLACIER MEADOWS + + +After the lakes on the High Sierra come the glacier meadows. They are +smooth, level, silky lawns, lying embedded in the upper forests, on the +floors of the valleys, and along the broad backs of the main dividing +ridges, at a height of about 8000 to 9500 feet above the sea. + +They are nearly as level as the lakes whose places they have taken, and +present a dry, even surface free from rock-heaps, mossy bogginess, and +the frowsy roughness of rank, coarse-leaved, weedy, and shrubby +vegetation. The sod is close and fine, and so complete that you cannot +see the ground; and at the same time so brightly enameled with flowers +and butterflies that it may well be called a garden-meadow, or +meadow-garden; for the plushy sod is in many places so crowded with +gentians, daisies, ivesias, and various species of orthocarpus that the +grass is scarcely noticeable, while in others the flowers are only +pricked in here and there singly, or in small ornamental rosettes. + +The most influential of the grasses composing the sod is a delicate +calamagrostis with fine filiform leaves, and loose, airy panicles that +seem to float above the flowery lawn like a purple mist. But, write as +I may, I cannot give anything like an adequate idea of the exquisite +beauty of these mountain carpets as they lie smoothly outspread in the +savage wilderness. What words are fine enough to picture them I to what +shall we liken them? The flowery levels of the prairies of the old +West, the luxuriant savannahs of the South, and the finest of +cultivated meadows are coarse in comparison. One may at first sight +compare them with the carefully tended lawns of pleasure-grounds; for +they are as free from weeds as they, and as smooth, but here the +likeness ends; for these wild lawns, with all their exquisite fineness, +have no trace of that painful, licked, snipped, repressed appearance +that pleasure-ground lawns are apt to have even when viewed at a +distance. And, not to mention the flowers with which they are +brightened, their grasses are very much finer both in color and +texture, and instead of lying flat and motionless, matted together like +a dead green cloth, they respond to the touches of every breeze, +rejoicing in pure wildness, blooming and fruiting in the vital light. + +Glacier meadows abound throughout all the alpine and subalpine regions +of the Sierra in still greater numbers than the lakes. Probably from +2500 to 3000 exist between latitude 36° 30′ and 39°, distributed, of +course, like the lakes, in concordance with all the other glacial +features of the landscape. + +On the head waters of the rivers there are what are called “Big +Meadows,” usually about from five to ten miles long. These occupy the +basins of the ancient ice-seas, where many tributary glaciers came +together to form the grand trunks. Most, however, are quite small, +averaging perhaps but little more than three fourths of a mile in +length. + +One of the very finest of the thousands I have enjoyed lies hidden in +an extensive forest of the Two-leaved Pine, on the edge of the basin of +the ancient Tuolumne Mer de Glace, about eight miles to the west of +Mount Dana. + +Imagine yourself at the Tuolumne Soda Springs on the bank of the river, +a day’s journey above Yosemite Valley. You set off northward through a +forest that stretches away indefinitely before you, seemingly unbroken +by openings of any kind. As soon as you are fairly into the woods, the +gray mountain-peaks, with their snowy gorges and hollows, are lost to +view. The ground is littered with fallen trunks that lie crossed and +recrossed like storm-lodged wheat; and besides this close forest of +pines, the rich moraine soil supports a luxuriant growth of +ribbon-leaved grasses—bromus, triticum, calamagrostis, agrostis, etc., +which rear their handsome spikes and panicles above your waist. Making +your way through the fertile wilderness,—finding lively bits of +interest now and then in the squirrels and Clark crows, and perchance +in a deer or bear,—after the lapse of an hour or two vertical bars of +sunshine are seen ahead between the brown shafts of the pines, showing +that you are approaching an open space, and then you suddenly emerge +from the forest shadows upon a delightful purple lawn lying smooth and +free in the light like a lake. This is a glacier meadow. It is about a +mile and a half long by a quarter of a mile wide. The trees come +pressing forward all around in close serried ranks, planting their feet +exactly on its margin, and holding themselves erect, strict and orderly +like soldiers on parade; thus bounding the meadow with exquisite +precision, yet with free curving lines such as Nature alone can draw. +With inexpressible delight you wade out into the grassy sun-lake, +feeling yourself contained in one of Nature’s most sacred chambers, +withdrawn from the sterner influences of the mountains, secure from all +intrusion, secure from yourself, free in the universal beauty. And +notwithstanding the scene is so impressively spiritual, and you seem +dissolved in it, yet everything about you is beating with warm, +terrestrial, human love and life delightfully substantial and familiar. +The resiny pines are types of health and steadfastness; the robins +feeding on the sod belong to the same species you have known since +childhood; and surely these daisies, larkspurs, and goldenrods are the +very friend-flowers of the old home garden. Bees hum as in a harvest +noon, butterflies waver above the flowers, and like them you lave in +the vital sunshine, too richly and homogeneously joy-filled to be +capable of partial thought. You are all eye, sifted through and through +with light and beauty. Sauntering along the brook that meanders +silently through the meadow from the east, special flowers call you +back to discriminating consciousness. The sod comes curving down to the +water’s edge, forming bossy outswelling banks, and in some places +overlapping countersunk boulders and forming bridges. Here you find +mats of the curious dwarf willow scarce an inch high, yet sending up a +multitude of gray silky catkins, illumined here and there with, the +purple cups and bells of bryanthus and vaccinium. + +Go where you may, you everywhere find the lawn divinely beautiful, as +if Nature had fingered and adjusted every plant this very day. The +floating grass panicles are scarcely felt in brushing through their +midst, so flue are they, and none of the flowers have tall or rigid +stalks. In the brightest places you find three species of gentians with +different shades of blue, daisies pure as the sky, silky leaved ivesias +with warm yellow flowers, several species of orthocarpus with blunt, +bossy spikes, red and purple and yellow; the alpine goldenrod, +pentstemon, and clover, fragrant and honeyful, with their colors massed +and blended. Parting the grasses and looking more closely you may trace +the branching of their shining stems, and note the marvelous beauty of +their mist of flowers, the glumes and pales exquisitely penciled, the +yellow dangling stamens, and feathery pistils. Beneath the lowest +leaves you discover a fairy realm of mosses,—hypnum, dicranum, +polytriclium, and many others,—their precious spore-cups poised +daintily on polished shafts, curiously hooded, or open, showing the +richly ornate peristomas worn like royal crowns. Creeping liverworts +are here also in abundance, and several rare species of fungi, +exceedingly small, and frail, and delicate, as if made only for beauty. +Caterpillars, black beetles, and ants roam the wilds of this lower +world, making their way through miniature groves and thickets like +bears in a thick wood. + +And how rich, too, is the life of the sunny air! Every leaf and flower +seems to have its winged representative overhead. Dragon-flies shoot in +vigorous zigzags through the dancing swarms, and a rich profusion of +butterflies—the leguminosae of insects—make a fine addition to the +general show. Many of these last are comparatively small at this +elevation, and as yet almost unknown to science; but every now and then +a familiar vanessa or papilio comes sailing past. Humming-birds, too, +are quite common here, and the robin is always found along the margin +of the stream, or out in the shallowest portions of the sod, and +sometimes the grouse and mountain quail, with their broods of precious +fluffy chickens. Swallows skim the grassy lake from end to end, +fly-catchers come and go in fitful flights from the tops of dead spars, +while woodpeckers swing across from side to side in graceful festoon +curves,—birds, insects, and flowers all in their own way telling a deep +summer joy. + +The influences of pure nature seem to be so little known as yet, that +it is generally supposed that complete pleasure of this kind, +permeating one’s very flesh and bones, unfits the student for +scientific pursuits in which cool judgment and observation are +required. But the effect is just the opposite. Instead of producing a +dissipated condition, the mind is fertilized and stimulated and +developed like sun-fed plants. All that we have seen here enables us to +see with surer vision the fountains among the summit-peaks to the east +whence flowed the glaciers that ground soil for the surrounding forest; +and down at the foot of the meadow the moraine which formed the dam +which gave rise to the lake that occupied this basin before the meadow +was made; and around the margin the stones that were shoved back and +piled up into a rude wall by the expansion of the lake ice during long +bygone winters; and along the sides of the streams the slight hollows +of the meadow which mark those portions of the old lake that were the +last to vanish. + +I would fain ask my readers to linger awhile in this fertile +wilderness, to trace its history from its earliest glacial beginnings, +and learn what we may of its wild inhabitants and visitors. How happy +the birds are all summer and some of them all winter; how the pouched +marmots drive tunnels under the snow, and how fine and brave a life the +slandered coyote lives here, and the deer and bears! But, knowing well +the difference between reading and seeing, I will only ask attention to +some brief sketches of its varying aspects as they are presented +throughout the more marked seasons of the year. + +The summer life we have been depicting lasts with but little abatement +until October, when the night frosts begin to sting, bronzing the +grasses, and ripening the leaves of the creeping heathworts along the +banks of the stream to reddish purple and crimson; while the flowers +disappear, all save the goldenrods and a few daisies, that continue to +bloom on unscathed until the beginning of snowy winter. In still nights +the grass panicles and every leaf and stalk are laden with frost +crystals, through which the morning sunbeams sift in ravishing +splendor, transforming each to a precious diamond radiating the colors +of the rainbow. The brook shallows are plaited across and across with +slender lances of ice, but both these and the grass crystals are melted +before midday, and, notwithstanding the great elevation of the meadow, +the afternoons are still warm enough to revive the chilled butterflies +and call them out to enjoy the late-flowering goldenrods. The divine +alpenglow flushes the surrounding forest every evening, followed by a +crystal night with hosts of lily stars, whose size and brilliancy +cannot be conceived by those who have never risen above the lowlands. + +Thus come and go the bright sun-days of autumn, not a cloud in the sky, +week after week until near December. Then comes a sudden change. Clouds +of a peculiar aspect with a slow, crawling gait gather and grow in the +azure, throwing out satiny fringes, and becoming gradually darker until +every lake-like rift and opening is closed and the whole bent firmament +is obscured in equal structureless gloom. Then comes the snow, for the +clouds are ripe, the meadows of the sky are in bloom, and shed their +radiant blossoms like an orchard in the spring. Lightly, lightly they +lodge in the brown grasses and in the tasseled needles of the pines, +falling hour after hour, day after day, silently, lovingly,—all the +winds hushed,—glancing and circling hither, thither, glinting against +one another, rays interlocking in flakes as large as daisies; and then +the dry grasses, and the trees, and the stones are all equally abloom +again. Thunder-showers occur here during the summer months, and +impressive it is to watch the coming of the big transparent drops, each +a small world in itself,—one unbroken ocean without islands hurling +free through the air like planets through space. But still more +impressive to me is the coming of the snow-flowers,—falling stars, +winter daisies,—giving bloom to all the ground alike. Raindrops blossom +brilliantly in the rainbow, and change to flowers in the sod, but snow +comes in full flower direct from the dark, frozen sky. + +The later snow-storms are oftentimes accompanied by winds that break up +the crystals, when the temperature is low, into single petals and +irregular dusty fragments; but there is comparatively little drifting +on the meadow, so securely is it embosomed in the woods. From December +to May, storm succeeds storm, until the snow is about fifteen or twenty +feet deep, but the surface is always as smooth as the breast of a bird. + +Hushed now is the life that so late was beating warmly. Most of the +birds have gone down below the snow-line, the plants sleep, and all the +fly-wings are folded. Yet the sun beams gloriously many a cloudless day +in midwinter, casting long lance shadows athwart the dazzling expanse. +In June small flecks of the dead, decaying sod begin to appear, +gradually widening and uniting with one another, covered with creeping +rags of water during the day, and ice by night, looking as hopeless and +unvital as crushed rocks just emerging from the darkness of the glacial +period. Walk the meadow now! Scarce the memory of a flower will you +find. The ground seems twice dead. Nevertheless, the annual +resurrection is drawing near. The life-giving sun pours his floods, the +last snow-wreath melts, myriads of growing points push eagerly through +the steaming mold, the birds come back, new wings fill the air, and +fervid summer life comes surging on, seemingly yet more glorious than +before. + +This is a perfect meadow, and under favorable circumstances exists +without manifesting any marked changes for centuries. Nevertheless, +soon or late it must inevitably grow old and vanish. During the calm +Indian summer, scarce a sand-grain moves around its banks, but in +flood-times and storm-times, soil is washed forward upon it and laid in +successive sheets around its gently sloping rim, and is gradually +extended to the center, making it dryer. Through a considerable period +the meadow vegetation is not greatly affected thereby, for it gradually +rises with the rising ground, keeping on the surface like water-plants +rising on the swell of waves. But at length the elevation of the +meadow-land goes on so far as to produce too dry a soil for the +specific meadow-plants, when, of course, they have to give up their +places to others fitted for the new conditions. The most characteristic +of the newcomers at this elevation above the sea are principally +sun-loving gilias, eriogonae, and compositae, and finally forest-trees. +Henceforward the obscuring changes are so manifold that the original +lake-meadow can be unveiled and seen only by the geologist. + +Generally speaking, glacier lakes vanish more slowly than the meadows +that succeed them, because, unless very shallow, a greater quantity of +material is required to fill up their basins and obliterate them than +is required to render the surface of the meadow too high and dry for +meadow vegetation. Furthermore, owing to the weathering to which the +adjacent rocks are subjected, material of the finer sort, susceptible +of transportation by rains and ordinary floods, is more abundant during +the meadow period than during the lake period. Yet doubtless many a +fine meadow favorably situated exists in almost prime beauty for +thousands of years, the process of extinction being exceedingly slow, +as we reckon time. This is especially the case with meadows +circumstanced like the one we have described—embosomed in deep woods, +with the ground rising gently away from it all around, the network of +tree-roots in which all the ground is clasped preventing any rapid +torrential washing. But, in exceptional cases, beautiful lawns formed +with great deliberation are overwhelmed and obliterated at once by the +action of land-slips, earthquake avalanches, or extraordinary floods, +just as lakes are. + +In those glacier meadows that take the places of shallow lakes which +have been fed by feeble streams, glacier mud and fine vegetable humus +enter largely into the composition of the soil; and on account of the +shallowness of this soil, and the seamless, water-tight, undrained +condition of the rock-basins, they are usually wet, and therefore +occupied by tall grasses and sedges, whose coarse appearance offers a +striking contrast to that of the delicate lawn-making kind described +above. These shallow-soiled meadows are oftentimes still further +roughened and diversified by partially buried moraines and swelling +bosses of the bed-rock, which, with the trees and shrubs growing upon +them, produce a striking effect as they stand in relief like islands in +the grassy level, or sweep across in rugged curves from one forest wall +to the other. + +Throughout the upper meadow region, wherever water is sufficiently +abundant and low in temperature, in basins secure from flood-washing, +handsome bogs are formed with a deep growth of brown and yellow +sphagnum picturesquely ruined with patches of kalmia and ledum which +ripen masses of beautiful color in the autumn. Between these cool, +spongy bogs and the dry, flowery meadows there are many interesting +varieties which are graduated into one another by the varied conditions +already alluded to, forming a series of delightful studies. + +HANGING MEADOWS + +Another, very well-marked and interesting kind of meadow, differing +greatly both in origin and appearance from the lake-meadows, is found +lying aslant upon moraine-covered hillsides trending in the direction +of greatest declivity, waving up and down over rock heaps and ledges, +like rich green ribbons brilliantly illumined with tall flowers. They +occur both in the alpine and subalpine regions in considerable numbers, +and never fail to make telling features in the landscape. They are +often a mile or more in length, but never very wide—usually from thirty +to fifty yards. When the mountain or cañon side on which, they lie dips +at the required angle, and other conditions are at the same time +favorable, they extend from above the timber line to the bottom of a +cañon or lake basin, descending in fine, fluent lines like cascades, +breaking here and there into a kind of spray on large boulders, or +dividing and flowing around on either side of some projecting islet. +Sometimes a noisy stream goes brawling down through them, and again, +scarcely a drop of water is in sight. They owe their existence, +however, to streams, whether visible or invisible, the wildest +specimens being found where some perennial fountain, as a glacier or +snowbank or moraine spring sends down its waters across a rough sheet +of soil in a dissipated web of feeble, oozing rivulets. These +conditions give rise to a meadowy vegetation, whose extending roots +still more obstruct the free flow of the waters, and tend to dissipate +them out over a yet wider area. Thus the moraine soil and the necessary +moisture requisite for the better class of meadow plants are at times +combined about as perfectly as if smoothly outspread on a level +surface. Where the soil happens to be composed of the finer qualities +of glacial detritus and the water is not in excess, the nearest +approach is made by the vegetation to that of the lake-meadow. But +where, as is more commonly the case, the soil is coarse and bouldery, +the vegetation is correspondingly rank. Tall, wide-leaved grasses take +their places along the sides, and rushes and nodding carices in the +wetter portions, mingled with the most beautiful and imposing +flowers,—orange lilies and larkspurs seven or eight feet high, lupines, +senecios, aliums, painted-cups, many species of mimulus and pentstemon, +the ample boat-leaved _veratrum alba_, and the magnificent alpine +columbine, with spurs an inch and a half long. At an elevation of from +seven to nine thousand feet showy flowers frequently form the bulk of +the vegetation; then the hanging meadows become hanging gardens. + +In rare instances we find an alpine basin the bottom of which is a +perfect meadow, and the sides nearly all the way round, rising in +gentle curves, are covered with moraine soil, which, being saturated +with melting snow from encircling fountains, gives rise to an almost +continuous girdle of down-curving meadow vegetation that blends +gracefully into the level meadow at the bottom, thus forming a grand, +smooth, soft, meadow-lined mountain nest. It is in meadows of this sort +that the mountain beaver (_Haplodon_) loves to make his home, +excavating snug chambers beneath the sod, digging canals, turning the +underground waters from channel to channel to suit his convenience, and +feeding the vegetation. + +Another kind of meadow or bog occurs on densely timbered hillsides +where small perennial streams have been dammed at short intervals by +fallen trees. Still another kind is found hanging down smooth, flat +precipices, while corresponding leaning meadows rise to meet them. + +There are also three kinds of small pot-hole meadows one of which is +found along the banks of the main streams, another on the summits of +rocky ridges, and the third on glacier pavements, all of them +interesting in origin and brimful of plant beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +THE FORESTS + + +The coniferous forests of the Sierra are the grandest and most +beautiful in the world, and grow in a delightful climate on the most +interesting and accessible of mountain-ranges, yet strange to say they +are not well known. More than sixty years ago David Douglas, an +enthusiastic botanist and tree lover, wandered alone through fine +sections of the Sugar Pine and Silver Fir woods wild with delight. A +few years later, other botanists made short journeys from the coast +into the lower woods. Then came the wonderful multitude of miners into +the foot-hill zone, mostly blind with gold-dust, soon followed by +“sheepmen,” who, with wool over their eyes, chased their flocks through +all the forest belts from one end of the range to the other. Then the +Yosemite Valley was discovered, and thousands of admiring tourists +passed through sections of the lower and middle zones on their way to +that wonderful park, and gained fine glimpses of the Sugar Pines and +Silver Firs along the edges of dusty trails and roads. But few indeed, +strong and free with eyes undimmed with care, have gone far enough and +lived long enough with the trees to gain anything like a loving +conception of their grandeur and significance as manifested in the +harmonies of their distribution and varying aspects throughout the +seasons, as they stand arrayed in their winter garb rejoicing in +storms, putting forth their fresh leaves in the spring while steaming +with resiny fragrance, receiving the thunder-showers of summer, or +reposing heavy-laden with ripe cones in the rich sungold of autumn. For +knowledge of this kind one must dwell with the trees and grow with +them, without any reference to time in the almanac sense. + +The distribution of the general forest in belts is readily perceived. +These, as we have seen, extend in regular order from one extremity of +the range to the other; and however dense and somber they may appear in +general views, neither on the rocky heights nor down in the leafiest +hollows will you find anything to remind you of the dank, malarial +selvas of the Amazon and Orinoco, with, their “boundless contiguity of +shade,” the monotonous uniformity of the Deodar forests of the +Himalaya, the Black Forest of Europe, or the dense dark woods of +Douglas Spruce where rolls the Oregon. The giant pines, and firs, and +Sequoias hold their arms open to the sunlight, rising above one another +on the mountain benches, marshaled in glorious array, giving forth the +utmost expression of grandeur and beauty with inexhaustible variety and +harmony. + +[Illustration: VIEW IN THE SIERRA FOREST.] + +The inviting openness of the Sierra woods is one of their most +distinguishing characteristics. The trees of all the species stand more +or less apart in groves, or in small, irregular groups, enabling one to +find a way nearly everywhere, along sunny colonnades and through +openings that have a smooth, park-like surface, strewn with brown +needles and burs. Now you cross a wild garden, now a meadow, now a +ferny, willowy stream; and ever and anon you emerge from all the groves +and flowers upon some granite pavement or high, bare ridge commanding +superb views above the waving sea of evergreens far and near. + +One would experience but little difficulty in riding on horseback +through the successive belts all the way up to the storm-beaten fringes +of the icy peaks. The deep cañons, however, that extend from the axis +of the range, cut the belts more or less completely into sections, and +prevent the mounted traveler from tracing them lengthwise. + +This simple arrangement in zones and sections brings the forest, as a +whole, within the comprehension of every observer. The different +species are ever found occupying the same relative positions to one +another, as controlled by soil, climate, and the comparative vigor of +each species in taking and holding the ground; and so appreciable are +these relations, one need never be at a loss in determining, within a +few hundred feet, the elevation above sea-level by the trees alone; +for, notwithstanding some of the species range upward for several +thousand feet, and all pass one another more or less, yet even those +possessing the greatest vertical range are available in this +connection, in as much as they take on new forms corresponding with the +variations in altitude. + +Crossing the treeless plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin from the +west and reaching the Sierra foot-hills, you enter the lower fringe of +the forest, composed of small oaks and pines, growing so far apart that +not one twentieth of the surface of the ground is in shade at clear +noonday. After advancing fifteen or twenty miles, and making an ascent +of from two to three thousand feet, you reach the lower margin of the +main pine belt, composed of the gigantic Sugar Pine, Yellow Pine, +Incense Cedar, and Sequoia. Next you come to the magnificent Silver Fir +belt, and lastly to the upper pine belt, which sweeps up the rocky +acclivities of the summit peaks in a dwarfed, wavering fringe to a +height of from ten to twelve thousand feet. + +[Illustration: EDGE OF THE TIMBER LINE ON MOUNT SHASTA.] + +This general order of distribution, with reference to climate dependent +on elevation, is perceived at once, but there are other harmonies, as +far-reaching in this connection, that become manifest only after +patient observation and study. Perhaps the most interesting of these is +the arrangement of the forests in long, curving bands, braided together +into lace-like patterns, and outspread in charming variety. The key to +this beautiful harmony is the ancient glaciers; where they flowed the +trees followed, tracing their wavering courses along cañons, over +ridges, and over high, rolling plateaus. The Cedars of Lebanon, says +Hooker, are growing upon one of the moraines of an ancient glacier. All +the forests of the Sierra are growing upon moraines. But moraines +vanish like the glaciers that make them. Every storm that falls upon +them wastes them, cutting gaps, disintegrating boulders, and carrying +away their decaying material into new formations, until at length they +are no longer recognizable by any save students, who trace their +transitional forms down from the fresh moraines still in process of +formation, through those that are more and more ancient, and more and +more obscured by vegetation and all kinds of post-glacial weathering. + +Had the ice-sheet that once covered all the range been melted +simultaneously from the foot-hills to the summits, the flanks would, of +course, have been left almost bare of soil, and these noble forests +would be wanting. Many groves and thickets would undoubtedly have grown +up on lake and avalanche beds, and many a fair flower and shrub would +have found food and a dwelling-place in weathered nooks and crevices, +but the Sierra as a whole would have been a bare, rocky desert. + +[Illustration: VIEW IN THE MAIN PINE BELT OF THE SIERRA FOREST.] + +It appears, therefore, that the Sierra forests in general indicate the +extent and positions of the ancient moraines as well as they do lines +of climate. For forests, properly speaking, cannot exist without soil; +and, since the moraines have been deposited upon the solid rock, and +only upon elected places, leaving a considerable portion of the old +glacial surface bare, we find luxuriant forests of pine and fir +abruptly terminated by scored and polished pavements on which not even +a moss is growing, though soil alone is required to fit them for the +growth of trees 200 feet in height. + +THE NUT PINE +(_Pinus Sabiniana_) + +The Nut Pine, the first conifer met in ascending the range from the +west, grows only on the torrid foothills, seeming to delight in the +most ardent sun-heat, like a palm; springing up here and there singly, +or in scattered groups of five or six, among scrubby White Oaks and +thickets of ceanothus and manzanita; its extreme upper limit being +about 4000 feet above the sea, its lower about from 500 to 800 feet. + +This tree is remarkable for its airy, widespread, tropical appearance, +which suggests a region of palms, rather than cool, resiny pine woods. +No one would take it at first sight to be a conifer of any kind, it is +so loose in habit and so widely branched, and its foliage is so thin +and gray. Full-grown specimens are from forty to fifty feet in height, +and from two to three feet in diameter. The trunk usually divides into +three or four main branches, about fifteen and twenty feet from the +ground, which, after bearing away from one another, shoot straight up +and form separate summits; while the crooked subordinate branches +aspire, and radiate, and droop in ornamental sprays. The slender, +grayish-green needles are from eight to twelve inches long, loosely +tasseled, and inclined to droop in handsome curves, contrasting with +the stiff, dark-colored trunk and branches in a very striking manner. +No other tree of my acquaintance, so substantial in body, is in its +foliage so thin and so pervious to the light. The sunbeams sift through +even the leafiest trees with scarcely any interruption, and the weary, +heated traveler finds but little protection in their shade. + +[Illustration: THE NUT PINE (_Pinus Sabiniana_)] + +The generous crop of nutritious nuts which the Nut Pine yields makes it +a favorite with Indians, bears, and squirrels. The cones are most +beautiful, measuring from five to eight inches in length, and not much +less in thickness, rich chocolate-brown in color, and protected by +strong, down-curving hooks which terminate the scales. Nevertheless, +the little Douglas squirrel can open them. Indians gathering the ripe +nuts make a striking picture. The men climb the trees like bears and +beat off the cones with sticks, or recklessly cut off the more fruitful +branches with hatchets, while the squaws gather the big, generous +cones, and roast them until the scales open sufficiently to allow the +hard-shelled seeds to be beaten out. Then, in the cool evenings, men, +women, and children, with their capacity for dirt greatly increased by +the soft resin with which they are all bedraggled, form circles around +camp-fires, on the bank of the nearest stream, and lie in easy +independence cracking nuts and laughing and chattering, as heedless of +the future as the squirrels. + +_Pinus tuberculata_ + +This curious little pine is found at an elevation of from 1500 to 3000 +feet, growing in close, willowy groves. It is exceedingly slender and +graceful in habit, although trees that chance to stand alone outside +the groves sweep forth long, curved branches, producing a striking +contrast to the ordinary grove form. The foliage is of the same +peculiar gray-green color as that of the Nut Pine, and is worn about as +loosely, so that the body of the tree is scarcely obscured by it. + +[Illustration: THE GROVE FORM. THE ISOLATED FORM (PINUS TUBERCULATA).] + +At the age of seven or eight years it begins to bear cones, not on +branches, but on the main axis, and, as they never fall off, the trunk +is soon picturesquely dotted with them. The branches also become +fruitful after they attain sufficient size. The average size of the +older trees is about thirty or forty feet in height, and twelve to +fourteen inches in diameter. The cones are about four inches long, +exceedingly hard, and covered with a sort of silicious varnish and gum, +rendering them impervious to moisture, evidently with a view to the +careful preservation of the seeds. + +No other conifer in the range is so closely restricted to special +localities. It is usually found apart, standing deep in chaparral on +sunny hill-and cañon-sides where there is but little depth of soil, +and, where found at all, it is quite plentiful; but the ordinary +traveler, following carriage-roads and trails, may ascend the range +many times without meeting it. + +While exploring the lower portion of the Merced Cañon I found a lonely +miner seeking his fortune in a quartz vein on a wild mountain-side +planted with this singular tree. He told me that he called it the +Hickory Pine, because of the whiteness and toughness of the wood. It is +so little known, however, that it can hardly be said to have a common +name. Most mountaineers refer to it as “that queer little pine-tree +covered all over with burs.” In my studies of this species I found a +very interesting and significant group of facts, whose relations will +be seen almost as soon as stated: + +1st. All the trees in the groves I examined, however unequal in size, +are of the same age. + +2d. Those groves are all planted on dry hillsides covered with +chaparral, and therefore are liable to be swept by fire. + +3d. There are no seedlings or saplings in or about the living groves, +but there is always a fine, hopeful crop springing up on the ground +once occupied by any grove that has been destroyed by the burning of +the chaparral. + +4th. The cones never fall off and never discharge their seeds until the +tree or branch to which they belong dies. + +[Illustration: LOWER MARGIN OF THE MAIN PINE BELT, SHOWING OPEN +CHARACTER OF WOODS.] + +A full discussion of the bearing of these facts upon one another would +perhaps be out of place here, but I may at least call attention to the +admirable adaptation of the tree to the fire-swept regions where alone +it is found. After a grove has been destroyed, the ground is at once +sown lavishly with all the seeds ripened during its whole life, which +seem to have been carefully held in store with reference to such a +calamity. Then a young grove immediately springs up, giving beauty for +ashes. + +SUGAR PINE +(_Pinus Lambertiana_) + +This is the noblest pine yet discovered, surpassing all others not +merely in size but also in kingly beauty and majesty. + +It towers sublimely from every ridge and cañon of the range, at an +elevation of from three to seven thousand feet above the sea, attaining +most perfect development at a height of about 5000 feet. + +Full-grown specimens are commonly about 220 feet high, and from six to +eight feet in diameter near the ground, though some grand old patriarch +is occasionally met that has enjoyed five or six centuries of storms, +and attained a thickness of ten or even twelve feet, living on +undecayed, sweet and fresh in every fiber. + +In southern Oregon, where it was first discovered by David Douglas, on +the head waters of the Umpqua, it attains still grander dimensions, one +specimen having been measured that was 245 feet high, and over eighteen +feet in diameter three feet from the ground. The discoverer was the +Douglas for whom the noble Douglas Spruce is named, and many other +plants which will keep his memory sweet and fresh as long as trees and +flowers are loved. His first visit to the Pacific Coast was made in the +year 1825. The Oregon Indians watched him with curiosity as he wandered +in the woods collecting specimens, and, unlike the fur-gathering +strangers they had hitherto known, caring nothing about trade. And when +at length they came to know him better, and saw that from year to year +the growing things of the woods and prairies were his only objects of +pursuit, they called him “The Man of Grass,” a title of which he was +proud. During his first summer on the waters of the Columbia he made +Fort Vancouver his headquarters, making excursions from this Hudson Bay +post in every direction. On one of his long trips he saw in an Indian’s +pouch some of the seeds of a new species of pine which he learned were +obtained from a very large tree far to the southward of the Columbia. +At the end of the next summer, returning to Fort Vancouver after the +setting in of the winter rains, bearing in mind the big pine he had +heard of, he set out on an excursion up the Willamette Valley in search +of it; and how he fared, and what dangers and hardships he endured, are +best told in his own journal, from which I quote as follows: + +_October_ 26, 1826. Weather dull. Cold and cloudy. When my friends in +England are made acquainted with my travels I fear they will think I +have told them nothing but my miseries…. I quitted my camp early in the +morning to survey the neighboring country, leaving my guide to take +charge of the horses until my return in the evening. About an hour’s +walk from the camp I met an Indian, who on perceiving me instantly +strung his bow, placed on his left arm a sleeve of raccoon skin and +stood on the defensive. Being quite sure that conduct was prompted by +fear and not by hostile intentions, the poor fellow having probably +never seen such a being as myself before, I laid my gun at my feet on +the ground and waved my hand for him to come to me, which he did slowly +and with great caution. I then made him place his bow and quiver of +arrows beside my gun, and striking a light gave him a smoke out of my +own pipe and a present of a few beads. With my pencil I made a rough +sketch of the cone and pine tree which I wanted to obtain, and drew his +attention to it, when he instantly pointed with his hand to the hills +fifteen or twenty miles distant towards the south; and when I expressed +my intention of going thither, cheerfully set out to accompany me. At +midday I reached my long-wished-for pines, and lost no time in +examining them and endeavoring to collect specimens and seeds. New and +strange things seldom fail to make strong impressions, and are +therefore frequently over-rated; so that, lest I should never see my +friends in England to inform them verbally of this most beautiful and +immensely grand tree, I shall here state the dimensions of the largest +I could find among several that had been blown down by the wind. At 3 +feet from the ground its circumference is 57 feet 9 inches; at 134 +feet, 17 feet 5 inches; the extreme length 245 feet…. As it was +impossible either to climb the tree or hew it down, I endeavored to +knock off the cones by firing at them with ball, when the report of my +gun brought eight Indians, all of them painted with red earth, armed +with bows, arrows, bone-tipped spears, and flint-knives. They appeared +anything but friendly. I explained to them what I wanted, and they +seemed satisfied and sat down to smoke; but presently I saw one of them +string his bow, and another sharpen his flint knife with a pair of +wooden pincers and suspend it off the wrist of his right hand. Further +testimony of their intentions was unnecessary. To save myself by flight +was impossible, so without hesitation I stepped back about five paces, +cocked my gun, drew one of the pistols out of my belt, and holding it +in my left hand and the gun in my right, showed myself determined to +fight for my life. As much as possible I endeavored to preserve my +coolness, and thus we stood looking at one another without making any +movement or uttering a word for perhaps ten minutes, when one at last, +who seemed to be the leader, gave a sign that they wished for some +tobacco; this I signified that they should have if they fetched a +quantity of cones. They went off immediately in search of them, and no +sooner were they all out of sight than I picked up my three cones and +some twigs of the trees and made the quickest possible retreat, +hurrying back to the camp, which I reached before dusk…. I now write +lying on the grass with my gun cocked beside me, and penning these +lines by the light of my Columbian candle, namely, an ignited piece of +rosin-wood. + + +This grand pine discovered under such, exciting circumstances Douglas +named in honor of his friend Dr. Lambert of London. + +The trunk is a smooth, round, delicately tapered shaft, mostly without +limbs, and colored rich purplish-brown, usually enlivened with tufts of +yellow lichen. At the top of this magnificent bole, long, curving +branches sweep gracefully outward and downward, sometimes forming a +palm-like crown, but far more nobly impressive than any palm crown I +ever beheld. The needles are about three inches long, finely tempered +and arranged in rather close tassels at the ends of slender branchlets +that clothe the long, outsweeping limbs. How well they sing in the +wind, and how strikingly harmonious an effect is made by the immense +cylindrical cones that depend loosely from the ends of the main +branches! No one knows what Nature can do in the way of pine-burs until +he has seen those of the Sugar Pine. They are commonly from fifteen to +eighteen inches long, and three in diameter; green, shaded with dark +purple on their sunward sides. They are ripe in September and October. +Then the flat scales open and the seeds take wing, but the empty cones +become still more beautiful and effective, for their diameter is nearly +doubled by the spreading of the scales, and their color changes to a +warm yellowish-brown; while they remain swinging on the tree all the +following winter and summer, and continue effectively beautiful even on +the ground many years after they fall. The wood is deliciously +fragrant, and fine in grain and texture; it is of a rich cream-yellow, +as if formed of condensed sunbeams. _Retinospora obtusa, Siebold_, the +glory of Eastern forests, is called “Fu-si-no-ki” (tree of the sun) by +the Japanese; the Sugar Pine is the sun-tree of the Sierra. +Unfortunately it is greatly prized by the lumbermen, and in accessible +places is always the first tree in the woods to feel their steel. But +the regular lumbermen, with their saw-mills, have been, less generally +destructive thus far than the shingle-makers. The wood splits freely, +and there is a constant demand for the shingles. And because an ax, and +saw, and frow are all the capital required for the business, many of +that drifting, unsteady class of men so large in California engage in +it for a few months in the year. When prospectors, hunters, ranch +hands, etc., touch their “bottom dollar” and find themselves out of +employment, they say, “Well, I can at least go to the Sugar Pines and +make shingles.” A few posts are set in the ground, and a single length +cut from the first tree felled produces boards enough for the walls and +roof of a cabin; all the rest the lumberman makes is for sale, and he +is speedily independent. No gardener or haymaker is more sweetly +perfumed than these rough mountaineers while engaged in this business, +but the havoc they make is most deplorable. + +[Illustration: SUGAR PINE ON EXPOSED RIDGE.] + +The sugar, from which the common name is derived, is to my taste the +best of sweets—better than maple sugar. It exudes from the heart-wood, +where wounds have been made, either by forest fires, or the ax, in the +shape of irregular, crisp, candy-like kernels, which are crowded +together in masses of considerable size, like clusters of resin-beads. +When fresh, it is perfectly white and delicious, but, because most of +the wounds on which it is found have been made by fire, the exuding sap +is stained on the charred surface, and the hardened sugar becomes +brown. Indians are fond of it, but on account of its laxative +properties only small quantities may be eaten. Bears, so fond of sweet +things in general, seem never to taste it; at least I have failed to +find any trace of their teeth in this connection. + +No lover of trees will ever forget his first meeting with the Sugar +Pine, nor will he afterward need a poet to call him to “listen what the +pine-tree saith.” In most pine-trees there is a sameness of expression, +which, to most people, is apt to become monotonous; for the typical +spiry form, however beautiful, affords but little scope for appreciable +individual character. The Sugar Pine is as free from conventionalities +of form and motion as any oak. No two are alike, even to the most +inattentive observer; and, notwithstanding they are ever tossing out +their immense arms in what might seem most extravagant gestures, there +is a majesty and repose about them that precludes all possibility of +the grotesque, or even picturesque, in their general expression. They +are the priests of pines, and seem ever to be addressing the +surrounding forest. The Yellow Pine is found growing with them on warm +hillsides, and the White Silver Fir on cool northern slopes; but, noble +as these are, the Sugar Pine is easily king, and spreads his arms above +them in blessing while they rock and wave in sign of recognition. The +main branches are sometimes found to be forty feet in length, yet +persistently simple, seldom dividing at all, excepting near the end; +but anything like a bare cable appearance is prevented by the small, +tasseled branchlets that extend all around them; and when these superb +limbs sweep out symmetrically on all sides, a crown sixty or seventy +feet wide is formed, which, gracefully poised on the summit of the +noble shaft, and filled with sunshine, is one of the most glorious +forest objects conceivable. Commonly, however, there is a great +preponderance of limbs toward the east, away from the direction of the +prevailing winds. + +No other pine seems to me so unfamiliar and self-contained. In +approaching it, we feel as if in the presence of a superior being, and +begin to walk with a light step, holding our breath. Then, perchance, +while we gaze awe-stricken, along comes a merry squirrel, chattering +and laughing, to break the spell, running up the trunk with no +ceremony, and gnawing off the cones as if they were made only for him; +while the carpenter-woodpecker hammers away at the bark, drilling holes +in which to store his winter supply of acorns. + +[Illustration: YOUNG SUGAR PINE BEGINNING TO BEAR CONES.] + +Although so wild and unconventional when full-grown, the Sugar Pine is +a remarkably proper tree in youth. The old is the most original and +independent in appearance of all the Sierra evergreens; the young is +the most regular,—a strict follower of coniferous fashions,—slim, +erect, with leafy, supple branches kept exactly in place, each tapering +in outline and terminating in a spiry point. The successive +transitional forms presented between the cautious neatness of youth and +bold freedom of maturity offer a delightful study. At the age of fifty +or sixty years, the shy, fashionable form begins to be broken up. +Specialized branches push out in the most unthought-of places, and bend +with the great cones, at once marking individual character, and this +being constantly augmented from year to year by the varying action of +the sunlight, winds, snow-storms, etc., the individuality of the tree +is never again lost in the general forest. + +The most constant companion of this species is the Yellow Pine, and a +worthy companion it is. + +[Illustration: FOREST OF SEQUOIA, SUGAR PINE, AND DOUGLAS SPRUCE.] + +The Douglas Spruce, Libocedrus, Sequoia, and the White Silver Fir are +also more or less associated with it; but on many deep-soiled +mountain-sides, at an elevation of about 5000 feet above the sea, it +forms the bulk of the forest, filling every swell and hollow and +down-plunging ravine. The majestic crowns, approaching each other in +bold curves, make a glorious canopy through which the tempered sunbeams +pour, silvering the needles, and gilding the massive boles, and +flowery, park-like ground, into a scene of enchantment. + +On the most sunny slopes the white-flowered fragrant chamoebatia is +spread like a carpet, brightened during early summer with the crimson +Sarcodes, the wild rose, and innumerable violets and gilias. Not even +in the shadiest nooks will you find any rank, untidy weeds or +unwholesome darkness. On the north sides of ridges the boles are more +slender, and the ground is mostly occupied by an underbrush of hazel, +ceanothus, and flowering dogwood, but never so densely as to prevent +the traveler from sauntering where he will; while the crowning branches +are never impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and never so +interblended as to lose their individuality. + +View the forest from beneath or from some commanding ridge-top; each +tree presents a study in itself, and proclaims the surpassing grandeur +of the species. + +YELLOW, OR SILVER PINE +(_Pinus ponderosa_) + +The Silver, or Yellow, Pine, as it is commonly called, ranks second +among the pines of the Sierra as a lumber tree, and almost rivals the +Sugar Pine in stature and nobleness of port. Because of its superior +powers of enduring variations of climate and soil, it has a more +extensive range than any other conifer growing on the Sierra. On the +western slope it is first met at an elevation of about 2000 feet, and +extends nearly to the upper limit of the timber line. Thence, crossing +the range by the lowest passes, it descends to the eastern base, and +pushes out for a considerable distance into the hot volcanic plains, +growing bravely upon well-watered moraines, gravelly lake basins, +arctic ridges, and torrid lava-beds; planting itself upon the lips of +craters, flourishing vigorously even there, and tossing ripe cones +among the ashes and cinders of Nature’s hearths. + +The average size of full-grown trees on the western slope, where it is +associated with the Sugar Pine, is a little less than 200 feet in +height and from five to six feet in diameter, though specimens may +easily be found that are considerably larger. I measured one, growing +at an elevation of 4000 feet in the valley of the Merced, that is a few +inches over eight feet in diameter, and 220 feet high. + +Where there is plenty of free sunshine and other conditions are +favorable, it presents a striking contrast in form to the Sugar Pine, +being a symmetrical spire, formed of a straight round trunk, clad with +innumerable branches that are divided over and over again. About one +half of the trunk is commonly branchless, but where it grows at all +close, three fourths or more become naked; the tree presenting then a +more slender and elegant shaft than any other tree in the woods. The +bark is mostly arranged in massive plates, some of them measuring four +or five feet in length by eighteen inches in width, with a thickness of +three or four inches, forming a quite marked and distinguishing +feature. The needles are of a fine, warm, yellow-green color, six to +eight inches long, firm and elastic, and crowded in handsome, radiant +tassels on the upturning ends of the branches. The cones are about +three or four inches long, and two and a half wide, growing in close, +sessile clusters among the leaves. + +[Illustration: PINUS PONDEROSA] + +The species attains its noblest form in filled-up lake basins, +especially in those of the older yosemites, and so prominent a part +does it form of their groves that it may well be called the Yosemite +Pine. Ripe specimens favorably situated are almost always 200 feet or +more in height, and the branches clothe the trunk nearly to the ground, +as seen in the illustration. + +The Jeffrey variety attains its finest development in the northern +portion of the range, in the wide basins of the McCloud and Pitt +rivers, where it forms magnificent forests scarcely invaded by any +other tree. It differs from the ordinary form in size, being only about +half as tall, and in its redder and more closely furrowed bark, +grayish-green foliage, less divided branches, and larger cones; but +intermediate forms come in which make a clear separation impossible, +although some botanists regard it as a distinct species. It is this +variety that climbs storm-swept ridges, and wanders out among the +volcanoes of the Great Basin. Whether exposed to extremes of heat or +cold, it is dwarfed like every other tree, and becomes all knots and +angles, wholly unlike the majestic forms we have been sketching. Old +specimens, bearing cones about as big as pineapples, may sometimes be +found clinging to rifted rocks at an elevation of seven or eight +thousand feet, whose highest branches scarce reach above one’s +shoulders. + +[Illustration: SILVER PINE 210 FEET HIGH. (THE FORM GROWING IN +YOSEMITE VALLEY.)] + +I have oftentimes feasted on the beauty of these noble trees when they +were towering in all their winter grandeur, laden with snow—one mass of +bloom; in summer, too, when the brown, staminate clusters hang thick +among the shimmering needles, and the big purple burs are ripening in +the mellow light; but it is during cloudless wind-storms that these +colossal pines are most impressively beautiful. Then they bow like +willows, their leaves streaming forward all in one direction, and, when +the sun shines upon them at the required angle, entire groves glow as +if every leaf were burnished silver. The fall of tropic light on the +royal crown of a palm is a truly glorious spectacle, the fervid +sun-flood breaking upon the glossy leaves in long lance-rays, like +mountain water among boulders. But to me there is something more +impressive in the fall of light upon these Silver Pines. It seems +beaten to the finest dust, and is shed off in myriads of minute +sparkles that seem to come from the very heart of the trees, as if, +like rain falling upon fertile soil, it had been absorbed, to reappear +in flowers of light. + +This species also gives forth the finest music to the wind. After +listening to it in all kinds of winds, night and day, season after +season, I think I could approximate to my position on the mountains by +this pine-music alone. If you would catch the tones of separate +needles, climb a tree. They are well tempered, and give forth no +uncertain sound, each standing out, with no interference excepting +during heavy gales; then you may detect the click of one needle upon +another, readily distinguishable from their free, wing-like hum. Some +idea of their temper may be drawn from the fact that, notwithstanding +they are so long, the vibrations that give rise to the peculiar +shimmering of the light are made at the rate of about two hundred and +fifty per minute. + +When a Sugar Pine and one of this species equal in size are observed +together, the latter is seen to be far more simple in manners, more +lithely graceful, and its beauty is of a kind more easily appreciated; +but then, it is, on the other hand, much less dignified and original in +demeanor. The Silver Pine seems eager to shoot aloft. Even while it is +drowsing in autumn sun-gold, you may still detect a skyward aspiration. +But the Sugar Pine seems too unconsciously noble, and too complete in +every way, to leave room for even a heavenward care. + +DOUGLAS SPRUCE +(_Pseudotsuga Douglasii_) + +This tree is the king of the spruces, as the Sugar Pine is king of +pines. It is by far the most majestic spruce I ever beheld in any +forest, and one of the largest and longest lived of the giants that +flourish throughout the main pine belt, often attaining a height of +nearly 200 feet, and a diameter of six or seven. Where the growth is +not too close, the strong, spreading branches come more than halfway +down the trunk, and these are hung with innumerable slender, swaying +sprays, that are handsomely feathered with the short leaves which +radiate at right angles all around them. This vigorous spruce is ever +beautiful, welcoming the mountain winds and the snow as well as the +mellow summer light, and maintaining its youthful freshness +undiminished from century to century through a thousand storms. + +It makes its finest appearance in the months of June and July. The rich +brown buds with which its sprays are tipped swell and break about this +time, revealing the young leaves, which at first are bright yellow, +making the tree appear as if covered with gay blossoms; while the +pendulous bracted cones with their shell-like scales are a constant +adornment. + +The young trees are mostly gathered into beautiful family groups, each +sapling exquisitely symmetrical. The primary branches are whorled +regularly around the axis, generally in fives, while each is draped +with long, feathery sprays, that descend in curves as free and as +finely drawn as those of falling water. + +In Oregon and Washington it grows in dense forests, growing tall and +mast-like to a height of 300 feet, and is greatly prized as a lumber +tree. But in the Sierra it is scattered among other trees, or forms +small groves, seldom ascending higher than 5500 feet, and never making +what would be called a forest. It is not particular in its choice of +soil—wet or dry, smooth or rocky, it makes out to live well on them +all. Two of the largest specimens I have measured are in Yosemite +Valley, one of which is more than eight feet in diameter, and is +growing upon the terminal moraine of the residual glacier that occupied +the South Fork Canon; the other is nearly as large, growing upon +angular blocks of granite that have been shaken from the precipitous +front of the Liberty Cap near the Nevada Fall. No other tree seems so +capable of adapting itself to earthquake taluses, and many of these +rough boulder-slopes are occupied by it almost exclusively, especially +in yosemite gorges moistened by the spray of waterfalls. + +INCENSE CEDAR +(_Libocedrus decurrens_) + +The Incense Cedar is another of the giants quite generally distributed +throughout this portion of the forest, without exclusively occupying +any considerable area, or even making extensive groves. It ascends to +about 5000 feet on the warmer hillsides, and reaches the climate most +congenial to it at about from 3000 to 4000 feet, growing vigorously at +this elevation on all kinds of soil, and in particular it is capable of +enduring more moisture about its roots than any of its companions, +excepting only the Sequoia. + +The largest specimens are about 150 feet high, and seven feet in +diameter. The bark is brown, of a singularly rich tone very attractive +to artists, and the foliage is tinted with a warmer yellow than that of +any other evergreen in the woods. Casting your eye over the general +forest from some ridge-top, the color alone of its spiry summits is +sufficient to identify it in any company. + +[Illustration: INCENSE CEDAR IN ITS PRIME.] + +In youth, say up to the age of seventy or eighty years, no other tree +forms so strictly tapered a cone from top to bottom. The branches swoop +outward and downward in bold curves, excepting the younger ones near +the top, which aspire, while the lowest droop to the ground, and all +spread out in flat, ferny plumes, beautifully fronded, and imbricated +upon one another. As it becomes older, it grows strikingly irregular +and picturesque. Large special branches put out at right angles from +the trunk, form big, stubborn elbows, and then shoot up parallel with +the axis. Very old trees are usually dead at the top, the main axis +protruding above ample masses of green plumes, gray and lichen-covered, +and drilled full of acorn holes by the woodpeckers. The plumes are +exceedingly beautiful; no waving fern-frond in shady dell is more +unreservedly beautiful in form and texture, or half so inspiring in +color and spicy fragrance. In its prime, the whole tree is thatched +with them, so that they shed off rain and snow like a roof, making fine +mansions for storm-bound birds and mountaineers. But if you would see +the _Libocedrus_ in all its glory, you must go to the woods in winter. +Then it is laden with myriads of four-sided staminate cones about the +size of wheat grains,—winter wheat,—producing a golden tinge, and +forming a noble illustration of Nature’s immortal vigor and virility. +The fertile cones are about three fourths of an inch long, borne on the +outside of the plumy branchlets, where they serve to enrich still more +the surpassing beauty of this grand winter-blooming goldenrod. + +WHITE SILVER FIR +(_Abies concolor_) + +[Illustration: FOREST OF GRAND SILVER FIRS. TWO SEQUOIAS IN THE +FOREGROUND ON THE LEFT.] + +We come now to the most regularly planted of all the main forest belts, +composed almost exclusively of two noble firs—_A. concolor_ and _A. +magnifica_. It extends with no marked interruption for 450 miles, at an +elevation of from 5000 to nearly 9000 feet above the sea. In its youth +_A. concolor_ is a charmingly symmetrical tree with branches regularly +whorled in level collars around its whitish-gray axis, which terminates +in a strong, hopeful shoot. The leaves are in two horizontal rows, +along branchlets that commonly are less than eight years old, forming +handsome plumes, pinnated like the fronds of ferns. The cones are +grayish-green when ripe, cylindrical, about from three to four inches +long by one and a half to two inches wide, and stand upright on the +upper branches. + +Full-grown trees, favorably situated as to soil and exposure, are about +200 feet high, and five or six feet in diameter near the ground, though +larger specimens are by no means rare. + +As old age creeps on, the bark becomes rougher and grayer, the branches +lose their exact regularity, many are snow-bent or broken off, and the +main axis often becomes double or otherwise irregular from accidents to +the terminal bud or shoot; but throughout all the vicissitudes of its +life on the mountains, come what may, the noble grandeur of the species +is patent to every eye. + +MAGNIFICENT SILVER FIR, OR RED FIR +(_Abies magnifica_) + +This is the most charmingly symmetrical of all the giants of the Sierra +woods, far surpassing its companion species in this respect, and easily +distinguished from it by the purplish-red bark, which is also more +closely furrowed than that of the white, and by its larger cones, more +regularly whorled and fronded branches, and by its leaves, which are +shorter, and grow all around the branchlets and point upward. + +In size, these two Silver Firs are about equal, the _magnifica_ perhaps +a little the taller. Specimens from 200 to 250 feet high are not rare +on well-ground moraine soil, at an elevation of from 7500 to 8500 feet +above sea-level. The largest that I measured stands back three miles +from the brink of the north wall of Yosemite Valley. Fifteen years ago +it was 240 feet high, with a diameter of a little more than five feet. + +Happy the man with the freedom and the love to climb one of these +superb trees in full flower and fruit. How admirable the forest-work of +Nature is then seen to be, as one makes his way up through the midst of +the broad, fronded branches, all arranged in exquisite order around the +trunk, like the whorled leaves of lilies, and each branch and branchlet +about as strictly pinnate as the most symmetrical fern-frond. The +staminate cones are seen growing straight downward from the under side +of the young branches in lavish profusion, making fine purple clusters +amid the grayish-green foliage. On the topmost branches the fertile +cones are set firmly on end like small casks. They are about six inches +long, three wide, covered with a fine gray down, and streaked with +crystal balsam that seems to have been poured upon each cone from +above. + +Both the Silver Firs live 250 years or more when the conditions about +them are at all favorable. Some venerable patriarch may often be seen, +heavily storm-marked, towering in severe majesty above the rising +generation, with a protecting grove of saplings pressing close around +his feet, each dressed with such loving care that not a leaf seems +wanting. Other companies are made up of trees near the prime of life, +exquisitely harmonized to one another in form and gesture, as if Nature +had culled them one by one with nice discrimination from all the rest +of the woods. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF FOREST OF THE MAGNIFICENT SILVER FIR.] + +It is from this tree, called Red Fir by the lumberman, that +mountaineers always cut boughs to sleep on when they are so fortunate +as to be within its limits. Two rows of the plushy branches overlapping +along the middle, and a crescent of smaller plumes mixed with ferns and +flowers for a pillow, form the very best bed imaginable. The essences +of the pressed leaves seem to fill every pore of one’s body, the sounds +of falling water make a soothing hush, while the spaces between the +grand spires afford noble openings through which to gaze dreamily into +the starry sky. Even in the matter of sensuous ease, any combination of +cloth, steel springs, and feathers seems vulgar in comparison. + +The fir woods are delightful sauntering-grounds at any time of year, +but most so in autumn. Then the noble trees are hushed in the hazy +light, and drip with balsam; the cones are ripe, and the seeds, with +their ample purple wings, mottle the air like flocks of butterflies; +while deer feeding in the flowery openings between the groves, and +birds and squirrels in the branches, make a pleasant stir which +enriches the deep, brooding calm of the wilderness, and gives a +peculiar impressiveness to every tree. No wonder the enthusiastic +Douglas went wild with joy when he first discovered this species. Even +in the Sierra, where so many noble evergreens challenge admiration, we +linger among these colossal firs with fresh love, and extol their +beauty again and again, as if no other in the world could henceforth +claim our regard. + +[Illustration: SILVER-FIR FOREST GROWING ON MORAINES OF THE HOFFMAN +AND TENAYA GLACIERS.] + +It is in these woods the great granite domes rise that are so striking +and characteristic a feature of the Sierra. And here too we find the +best of the garden meadows. They lie level on the tops of the dividing +ridges, or sloping on the sides of them, embedded in the magnificent +forest. Some of these meadows are in great part occupied by +_Veratrumalba_, which here grows rank and tall, with boat-shaped leaves +thirteen inches long and twelve inches wide, ribbed like those of +cypripedium. Columbine grows on the drier margins with tall larkspurs +and lupines waist-deep in grasses and sedges; several species of +castilleia also make a bright show in beds of blue and white violets +and daisies. But the glory of these forest meadows is a lily—_L. +parvum_. The flowers are orange-colored and quite small, the smallest I +ever saw of the true lilies; but it is showy nevertheless, for it is +seven to eight feet high and waves magnificent racemes of ten to twenty +flowers or more over one’s head, while it stands out in the open ground +with just enough of grass and other plants about it to make a fringe +for its feet and show it off to best advantage. + +A dry spot a little way back from the margin of a Silver Fir lily +garden makes a glorious campground, especially where the slope is +toward the east and opens a view of the distant peaks along the summit +of the range. The tall lilies are brought forward in all their glory by +the light of your blazing camp-fire, relieved against the outer +darkness, and the nearest of the trees with their whorled branches +tower above you like larger lilies, and the sky seen through the garden +opening seems one vast meadow of white lily stars. + +In the morning everything is joyous and bright, the delicious purple of +the dawn changes softly to daffodil yellow and white; while the +sunbeams pouring through the passes between the peaks give a margin of +gold to each of them. Then the spires of the firs in the hollows of the +middle region catch the glow, and your camp grove is filled with light. +The birds begin to stir, seeking sunny branches on the edge of the +meadow for sun-baths after the cold night, and looking for their +breakfasts, every one of them as fresh as a lily and as charmingly +arrayed. Innumerable insects begin to dance, the deer withdraw from the +open glades and ridge-tops to their leafy hiding-places in the +chaparral, the flowers open and straighten their petals as the dew +vanishes, every pulse beats high, every life-cell rejoices, the very +rocks seem to tingle with life, and God is felt brooding over +everything great and small. + +BIG TREE +(_Sequoia gigantea_) + +Between the heavy pine and Silver Fir belts we find the Big Tree, the +king of all the conifers in the world, “the noblest of a noble race.” +It extends in a widely interrupted belt from a small grove on the +middle fork of the American River to the head of Deer Creek, a distance +of about 260 miles, the northern limit being near the thirty-ninth +parallel, the southern a little below the thirty-sixth, and the +elevation of the belt above the sea varies from about 5000 to 8000 +feet. From the American River grove to the forest on King’s River the +species occurs only in small isolated groups so sparsely distributed +along the belt that three of the gaps in it are from forty to sixty +miles wide. But from King’s River southward the Sequoia is not +restricted to mere groves, but extends across the broad rugged basins +of the Kaweah and Tule rivers in noble forests, a distance of nearly +seventy miles, the continuity of this part of the belt being broken +only by deep cañons. The Fresno, the largest of the northern groves, +occupies an area of three or four square miles, a short distance to the +southward of the famous Mariposa Grove. Along the beveled rim of the +cañon of the south fork of King’s River there is a majestic forest of +Sequoia about six miles long by two wide. This is the northernmost +assemblage of Big Trees that may fairly be called a forest. Descending +the precipitous divide between the King’s River and Kaweah you enter +the grand forests that form the main continuous portion of the belt. +Advancing southward the giants become more and more irrepressibly +exuberant, heaving their massive crowns into the sky from every ridge +and slope, and waving onward in graceful compliance with the +complicated topography of the region. The finest of the Kaweah section +of the belt is on the broad ridge between Marble Creek and the middle +fork, and extends from the granite headlands overlooking the hot plains +to within a few miles of the cool glacial fountains of the summit +peaks. The extreme upper limit of the belt is reached between the +middle and south forks of the Kaweah at an elevation of 8400 feet. But +the finest block of Big Tree forest in the entire belt is on the north +fork of Tule River. In the northern groves there are comparatively few +young trees or saplings. But here for every old, storm-stricken giant +there are many in all the glory of prime vigor, and for each of these a +crowd of eager, hopeful young trees and saplings growing heartily on +moraines, rocky ledges, along watercourses, and in the moist alluvium +of meadows, seemingly in hot pursuit of eternal life. + +[Illustration: SEQUOIA GIGANTEA—VIEW IN GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK.] + +But though the area occupied by the species increases so much from +north to south there is no marked increase in the size of the trees. A +height of 275 feet and a diameter near the ground of about 20 feet is +perhaps about the average size of full-grown trees favorably situated; +specimens 25 feet in diameter are not very rare, and a few are nearly +300 feet high. In the Calaveras Grove there are four trees over 300 +feet in height, the tallest of which by careful measurement is 325 +feet. The largest I have yet met in the course of my explorations is a +majestic old scarred monument in the King’s River forest. It is 35 feet +8 inches in diameter inside the bark four feet from the ground. Under +the most favorable conditions these giants probably live 5000 years or +more, though few of even the larger trees are more than half as old. I +never saw a Big Tree that had died a natural death; barring accidents +they seem to be immortal, being exempt from all the diseases that +afflict and kill other trees. Unless destroyed by man, they live on +indefinitely until burned, smashed by lightning, or cast down by +storms, or by the giving way of the ground on which they stand. The age +of one that was felled in the Calaveras Grove, for the sake of having +its stump for a dancing-floor, was about 1300 years, and its diameter, +measured across the stump, 24 feet inside the bark. Another that was +cut down in the King’s River forest was about the same size, but nearly +a thousand years older (2200 years), though not a very old-looking +tree. It was felled to procure a section for exhibition, and thus an +opportunity was given to count its annual rings of growth. The colossal +scarred monument in the King’s River forest mentioned above is burned +half through, and I spent a day in making an estimate of its age, +clearing away the charred surface with an ax and carefully counting the +annual rings with the aid of a pocket-lens. The wood-rings in the +section I laid bare were so involved and contorted in some places that +I was not able to determine its age exactly, but I counted over 4000 +rings, which showed that this tree was in its prime, swaying in the +Sierra winds, when Christ walked the earth. No other tree in the world, +as far as I know, has looked down on so many centuries as the Sequoia, +or opens such impressive and suggestive views into history. + +So exquisitely harmonious and finely balanced are even the very +mightiest of these monarchs of the woods in all their proportions and +circumstances there never is anything overgrown or monstrous-looking +about them. On coming in sight of them for the first time, you are +likely to say, “Oh, see what beautiful, noble-looking trees are +towering there among the firs and pines!”—their grandeur being in the +mean time in great part invisible, but to the living eye it will be +manifested sooner or later, stealing slowly on the senses, like the +grandeur of Niagara, or the lofty Yosemite domes. Their great size is +hidden from the inexperienced observer as long as they are seen at a +distance in one harmonious view. When, however, you approach them and +walk round them, you begin to wonder at their colossal size and seek a +measuring-rod. These giants bulge considerably at the base, but not +more than is required for beauty and safety; and the only reason that +this bulging seems in some cases excessive is that only a comparatively +small section of the shaft is seen at once in near views. One that I +measured in the King’s River forest was 25 feet in diameter at the +ground, and 10 feet in diameter 200 feet above the ground, showing that +the taper of the trunk as a whole is charmingly fine. And when you +stand back far enough to see the massive columns from the swelling +instep to the lofty summit dissolving in a dome of verdure, you rejoice +in the unrivaled display of combined grandeur and beauty. About a +hundred feet or more of the trunk is usually branchless, but its +massive simplicity is relieved by the bark furrows, which instead of +making an irregular network run evenly parallel, like the fluting of an +architectural column, and to some extent by tufts of slender sprays +that wave lightly in the winds and cast flecks of shade, seeming to +have been pinned on here and there for the sake of beauty only. The +young trees have slender simple branches down to the ground, put on +with strict regularity, sharply aspiring at the top, horizontal about +half-way down, and drooping in handsome curves at the base. By the time +the sapling is five or six hundred years old this spiry, feathery, +juvenile habit merges into the firm, rounded dome form of middle age, +which in turn takes on the eccentric picturesqueness of old age. No +other tree in the Sierra forest has foliage so densely massed or +presents outlines so firmly drawn and so steadily subordinate to a +special type. A knotty ungovernable-looking branch five to eight feet +thick may be seen pushing out abruptly from the smooth trunk, as if +sure to throw the regular curve into confusion, but as soon as the +general outline is reached it stops short and dissolves in spreading +bosses of law-abiding sprays, just as if every tree were growing +beneath some huge, invisible bell-glass, against whose sides every +branch was being pressed and molded, yet somehow indulging in so many +small departures from the regular form that there is still an +appearance of freedom. + +The foliage of the saplings is dark bluish-green in color, while the +older trees ripen to a warm brownish-yellow tint like Libocedrus. The +bark is rich cinnamon-brown, purplish in young trees and in shady +portions of the old, while the ground is covered with brown leaves and +burs forming color-masses of extraordinary richness, not to mention the +flowers and underbrush that rejoice about them in their seasons. Walk +the Sequoia woods at any time of year and you will say they are the +most beautiful and majestic on earth. Beautiful and impressive +contrasts meet you everywhere: the colors of tree and flower, rock and +sky, light and shade, strength and frailty, endurance and evanescence, +tangles of supple hazel-bushes, tree-pillars about as rigid as granite +domes, roses and violets, the smallest of their kind, blooming around +the feet of the giants, and rugs of the lowly chamaebatia where the +sunbeams fall. Then in winter the trees themselves break forth in +bloom, myriads of small four-sided staminate cones crowd the ends of +the slender sprays, coloring the whole tree, and when ripe dusting the +air and the ground with golden pollen. The fertile cones are bright +grass-green, measuring about two inches in length by one and a half in +thickness, and are made up of about forty firm rhomboidal scales +densely packed, with from five to eight seeds at the base of each. A +single cone, therefore, contains from two to three hundred seeds, which +are about a fourth of an inch long by three sixteenths wide, including +a thin, flat margin that makes them go glancing and wavering in their +fall like a boy’s kite. The fruitfulness of Sequoia may be illustrated +by two specimen branches one and a half and two inches in diameter on +which I counted 480 cones. No other Sierra conifer produces nearly so +many seeds. Millions are ripened annually by a single tree, and in a +fruitful year the product of one of the northern groves would be enough +to plant all the mountain-ranges of the world. Nature takes care, +however, that not one seed in a million shall germinate at all, and of +those that do perhaps not one in ten thousand is suffered to live +through the many vicissitudes of storm, drought, fire, and +snow-crushing that beset their youth. + +The Douglas squirrel is the happy harvester of most of the Sequoia +cones. Out of every hundred perhaps ninety fall to his share, and +unless cut off by his ivory sickle they shake out their seeds and +remain on the tree for many years. Watching the squirrels at their +harvest work in the Indian summer is one of the most delightful +diversions imaginable. The woods are calm and the ripe colors are +blazing in all their glory; the cone-laden trees stand motionless in +the warm, hazy air, and you may see the crimson-crested woodcock, the +prince of Sierra woodpeckers, drilling some dead limb or fallen trunk +with his bill, and ever and anon filling the glens with his happy +cackle. The humming-bird, too, dwells in these noble woods, and may +oftentimes be seen glancing among the flowers or resting wing-weary on +some leafless twig; here also are the familiar robin of the orchards, +and the brown and grizzly bears so obviously fitted for these majestic +solitudes; and the Douglas squirrel, making more hilarious, exuberant, +vital stir than all the bears, birds, and humming wings together. + +As soon as any accident happens to the crown of these Sequoias, such as +being stricken off by lightning or broken by storms, then the branches +beneath the wound, no matter how situated, seem to be excited like a +colony of bees that have lost their queen, and become anxious to repair +the damage. Limbs that have grown outward for centuries at right angles +to the trunk begin to turn upward to assist in making a new crown, each +speedily assuming the special form of true summits. Even in the case of +mere stumps, burned half through, some mere ornamental tuft will try to +go aloft and do its best as a leader in forming a new head. + +Groups of two or three of these grand trees are often found standing +close together, the seeds from which they sprang having probably grown +on ground cleared for their reception by the fall of a large tree of a +former generation. These patches of fresh, mellow soil beside the +upturned roots of the fallen giant may be from forty to sixty feet +wide, and they are speedily occupied by seedlings. Out of these +seedling-thickets perhaps two or three may become trees, forming those +close groups called “three graces,” “loving couples,” etc. For even +supposing that the trees should stand twenty or thirty feet apart while +young, by the time they are full-grown their trunks will touch and +crowd against each other and even appear as one in some cases. + +It is generally believed that this grand Sequoia was once far more +widely distributed over the Sierra; but after long and careful study I +have come to the conclusion that it never was, at least since the close +of the glacial period, because a diligent search along the margins of +the groves, and in the gaps between, fails to reveal a single trace of +its previous existence beyond its present bounds. Notwithstanding, I +feel confident that if every Sequoia in the range were to die to-day, +numerous monuments of their existence would remain, of so imperishable +a nature as to be available for the student more than ten thousand +years hence. + +In the first place we might notice that no species of coniferous tree +in the range keeps its individuals so well together as Sequoia; a mile +is perhaps the greatest distance of any straggler from the main body, +and all of those stragglers that have come under my observation are +young, instead of old monumental trees, relics of a more extended +growth. + +Again, Sequoia trunks frequently endure for centuries after they fall. +I have a specimen block, cut from a fallen trunk, which is hardly +distinguishable from specimens cut from living trees, although the old +trunk-fragment from which it was derived has lain in the damp forest +more than 380 years, probably thrice as long. The time measure in the +case is simply this: when the ponderous trunk to which the old vestige +belonged fell, it sunk itself into the ground, thus making a long, +straight ditch, and in the middle of this ditch a Silver Fir is growing +that is now four feet in diameter and 380 years old, as determined by +cutting it half through and counting the rings, thus demonstrating that +the remnant of the trunk that made the ditch has lain on the ground +_more_ than 380 years. For it is evident that to find the whole time, +we must add to the 380 years the time that the vanished portion of the +trunk lay in the ditch before being burned out of the way, plus the +time that passed before the seed from which the monumental fir sprang +fell into the prepared soil and took root. Now, because Sequoia trunks +are never wholly consumed in one forest fire, and those fires recur +only at considerable intervals, and because Sequoia ditches after being +cleared are often left unplanted for centuries, it becomes evident that +the trunk remnant in question may probably have lain a thousand years +or more. And this instance is by no means a rare one. + +But admitting that upon those areas supposed to have been once covered +with Sequoia every tree may have fallen, and every trunk may have been +burned or buried, leaving not a remnant, many of the ditches made by +the fall of the ponderous trunks, and the bowls made by their upturning +roots, would remain patent for thousands of years after the last +vestige of the trunks that made them had vanished. Much of this +ditch-writing would no doubt be quickly effaced by the flood-action of +overflowing streams and rain-washing; but no inconsiderable portion +would remain enduringly engraved on ridge-tops beyond such destructive +action; for, where all the conditions are favorable, it is almost +imperishable. _Now these historic ditches and root bowls occur in all +the present Sequoia groves and forests, but as far as I have observed, +not the faintest vestige of one presents itself outside of them_. + +We therefore conclude that the area covered by Sequoia has not been +diminished during the last eight or ten thousand years, and probably +not at all in post-glacial times. + +_Is the species verging to extinction? What are its relations to +climate, soil, and associated trees?_ + +All the phenomena bearing on these questions also throw light, as we +shall endeavor to show, upon the peculiar distribution of the species, +and sustain the conclusion already arrived at on the question of +extension. + +In the northern groups, as we have seen, there are few young trees or +saplings growing up around the failing old ones to perpetuate the race, +and in as much as those aged Sequoias, so nearly childless, are the +only ones commonly known, the species, to most observers, seems doomed +to speedy extinction, as being nothing more than an expiring remnant, +vanquished in the so-called struggle for life by pines and firs that +have driven it into its last strongholds in moist glens where climate +is exceptionally favorable. But the language of the majestic continuous +forests of the south creates a very different impression. No tree of +all the forest is more enduringly established in concordance with +climate and soil. It grows heartily everywhere—on moraines, rocky +ledges, along watercourses, and in the deep, moist alluvium of meadows, +with a multitude of seedlings and saplings crowding up around the aged, +seemingly abundantly able to maintain the forest in prime vigor. For +every old storm-stricken tree, there is one or more in all the glory of +prime; and for each of these many young trees and crowds of exuberant +saplings. So that if all the trees of any section of the main Sequoia +forest were ranged together according to age, a very promising curve +would be presented, all the way up from last year’s seedlings to +giants, and with the young and middle-aged portion of the curve many +times longer than the old portion. Even as far north as the Fresno, I +counted 536 saplings and seedlings growing promisingly upon a piece of +rough avalanche soil not exceeding two acres in area. This soil bed is +about seven years old, and has been seeded almost simultaneously by +pines, firs, Libocedrus, and Sequoia, presenting a simple and +instructive illustration of the struggle for life among the rival +species; and it was interesting to note that the conditions thus far +affecting them have enabled the young Sequoias to gain a marked +advantage. + +In every instance like the above I have observed that the seedling +Sequoia is capable of growing on both drier and wetter soil than its +rivals, but requires more sunshine than they; the latter fact being +clearly shown wherever a Sugar Pine or fir is growing in close contact +with a Sequoia of about equal age and size, and equally exposed to the +sun; the branches of the latter in such cases are always less leafy. +Toward the south, however, where the Sequoia becomes _more_ exuberant +and numerous, the rival trees become _less_ so; and where they mix with +Sequoias, they mostly grow up beneath them, like slender grasses among +stalks of Indian corn. Upon a bed of sandy flood-soil I counted +ninety-four Sequoias, from one to twelve feet high, on a patch, of +ground once occupied by four large Sugar Pines which lay crumbling +beneath them,—an instance of conditions which have enabled Sequoias to +crowd out the pines. + +[Illustration: MUIR GORGE, TUOLUMNE CAÑON—YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.] + +I also noted eighty-six vigorous saplings upon a piece of fresh ground +prepared for their reception by fire. Thus fire, the great destroyer of +Sequoia, also furnishes bare virgin ground, one of the conditions +essential for its growth from the seed. Fresh ground is, however, +furnished in sufficient quantities for the constant renewal of the +forests without fire, viz., by the fall of old trees. The soil is thus +upturned and mellowed, and many trees are planted for every one that +falls. Land-slips and floods also give rise to bare virgin ground; and +a tree now and then owes its existence to a burrowing wolf or squirrel, +but the most regular supply of fresh soil is furnished by the fall of +aged trees. + +The climatic changes in progress in the Sierra, bearing on the tenure +of tree life, are entirely misapprehended, especially as to the time +and the means employed by Nature in effecting them. It is constantly +asserted in a vague way that the Sierra was vastly wetter than now, and +that the increasing drought will of itself extinguish Sequoia, leaving +its ground to other trees supposed capable of nourishing in a drier +climate. But that Sequoia can and does grow on as dry ground as any of +its present rivals, is manifest in a thousand places. “Why, then,” it +will be asked, “are Sequoias always found in greatest abundance in +well-watered places where streams are exceptionally abundant?” Simply +because a growth of Sequoias creates those streams. The thirsty +mountaineer knows well that in every Sequoia grove he will find running +water, but it is a mistake to suppose that the water is the cause of +the grove being there; on the contrary, the grove is the cause of the +water being there. Drain off the water and the trees will remain, but +cut off the trees, and the streams will vanish. Never was cause more +completely mistaken for effect than in the case of these related +phenomena of Sequoia woods and perennial streams, and I confess that at +first I shared in the blunder. + +When attention is called to the method of Sequoia stream-making, it +will be apprehended at once. The roots of this immense tree fill the +ground, forming a thick sponge that absorbs and holds back the rains +and melting snows, only allowing them to ooze and flow gently. Indeed, +every fallen leaf and rootlet, as well as long clasping root, and +prostrate trunk, may be regarded as a dam hoarding the bounty of +storm-clouds, and dispensing it as blessings all through the summer, +instead of allowing it to go headlong in short-lived floods. +Evaporation is also checked by the dense foliage to a greater extent +than by any other Sierra tree, and the air is entangled in masses and +broad sheets that are quickly saturated; while thirsty winds are not +allowed to go sponging and licking along the ground. + +So great is the retention of water in many places in the main belt, +that bogs and meadows are created by the killing of the trees. A single +trunk falling across a stream in the woods forms a dam 200 feet long, +and from ten to thirty feet high, giving rise to a pond which kills the +trees within its reach. These dead trees fall in turn, thus making a +clearing, while sediments gradually accumulate changing the pond into a +bog, or meadow, for a growth of carices and sphagnum. In some instances +a series of small bogs or meadows rise above one another on a hillside, +which are gradually merged into one another, forming sloping bogs, or +meadows, which make striking features of Sequoia woods, and since all +the trees that have fallen into them have been preserved, they contain +records of the generations that have passed since they began to form. + +Since, then, it is a fact that thousands of Sequoias are growing +thriftily on what is termed dry ground, and even clinging like mountain +pines to rifts in granite precipices; and since it has also been shown +that the extra moisture found in connection with the denser growths is +an effect of their presence, instead of a cause of their presence, then +the notions as to the former extension of the species and its near +approach to extinction, based upon its supposed dependence on greater +moisture, are seen to be erroneous. + +The decrease in the rain- and snow-fall since the close of the glacial +period in the Sierra is much less than is commonly guessed. The highest +post-glacial watermarks are well preserved in all the upper river +channels, and they are not greatly higher than the spring floodmarks of +the present; showing conclusively that no extraordinary decrease has +taken place in the volume of the upper tributaries of post-glacial +Sierra streams since they came into existence. But in the mean time, +eliminating all this complicated question of climatic change, the plain +fact remains that _the present rain- and snow-fall is abundantly +sufficient for the luxuriant growth of Sequoia forests_. Indeed, all my +observations tend to show that in a prolonged drought the Sugar Pines +and firs would perish before the Sequoia, not alone because of the +greater longevity of individual trees, but because the species can +endure more drought, and make the most of whatever moisture falls. + +Again, if the restriction and irregular distribution of the species be +interpreted as a result of the desiccation of the range, then instead +of increasing as it does in individuals toward the south where the +rainfall is less, it should diminish. + +If, then, the peculiar distribution of Sequoia has not been governed by +superior conditions of soil as to fertility or moisture, by what has it +been governed? + +In the course of my studies I observed that the northern groves, the +only ones I was at first acquainted with, were located on just those +portions of the general forest soil-belt that were first laid bare +toward the close of the glacial period when the ice-sheet began to +break up into individual glaciers. And while searching the wide basin +of the San Joaquin, and trying to account for the absence of Sequoia +where every condition seemed favorable for its growth, it occured to me +that this remarkable gap in the Sequoia belt is located exactly in the +basin of the vast ancient _mer de glace_ of the San Joaquin and King’s +River basins, which poured its frozen floods to the plain, fed by the +snows that fell on more than fifty miles of the summit. I then +perceived that the next great gap in the belt to the northward, forty +miles wide, extending between the Calaveras and Tuolumne groves, occurs +in the basin of the great ancient _mer de glace_ of the Tuolumne and +Stanislaus basins, and that the smaller gap between the Merced and +Mariposa groves occurs in the basin of the smaller glacier of the +Merced. _The wider the ancient glacier, the wider the corresponding gap +in the Sequoia belt_. + +Finally, pursuing my investigations across the basins of the Kaweah and +Tule, I discovered that the Sequoia belt attained its greatest +development just where, owing to the topographical peculiarities of the +region, the ground had been most perfectly protected from the main +ice-rivers that continued to pour past from the summit fountains long +after the smaller local glaciers had been melted. + +Taking now a general view of the belt, beginning at the south, we see +that the majestic ancient glaciers were shed off right and left down +the valleys of Kern and King’s rivers by the lofty protective spurs +outspread embracingly above the warm Sequoia-filled basins of the +Kaweah and Tule. Then, next northward, occurs the wide Sequoia-less +channel, or basin, of the ancient San Joaquin and King’s River _mer de +glace_; then the warm, protected spots of Fresno and Mariposa groves; +then the Sequoia-less channel of the ancient Merced glacier; next the +warm, sheltered ground of the Merced and Tuolumne groves; then the +Sequoia-less channel of the grand ancient _mer de glace_ of the +Tuolumne and Stanislaus; then the warm old ground of the Calaveras and +Stanislaus groves. It appears, therefore, that just where, at a certain +period in the history of the Sierra, the glaciers were not, there the +Sequoia is, and just where the glaciers were, there the Sequoia is not. + +[Illustration: VIEW IN TUOLUMNE CAÑON, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.] + +What the other conditions may have been that enabled Sequoia to +establish itself upon these oldest and warmest portions of the main +glacial soil-belt, I cannot say. I might venture to state, however, in +this connection, that since the Sequoia forests present a more and more +ancient aspect as they extend southward, I am inclined to think that +the species was distributed from the south, while the Sugar Pine, its +great rival in the northern groves, seems to have come around the head +of the Sacramento valley and down the Sierra from the north; +consequently, when the Sierra soil-beds were first thrown open to +preemption on the melting of the ice-sheet, the Sequoia may have +established itself along the available portions of the south half of +the range prior to the arrival of the Sugar Pine, while the Sugar Pine +took possession of the north half prior to the arrival of Sequoia. + +But however much uncertainty may attach to this branch of the question, +there are no obscuring shadows upon the grand general relationship we +have pointed out between the present distribution of Sequoia and the +ancient glaciers of the Sierra. And when we bear in mind that all the +present forests of the Sierra are young, growing on moraine soil +recently deposited, and that the flank of the range itself, with all +its landscapes, is new-born, recently sculptured, and brought to the +light of day from beneath the ice mantle of the glacial winter, then a +thousand lawless mysteries disappear, and broad harmonies take their +places. + +But although all the observed phenomena bearing on the post-glacial +history of this colossal tree point to the conclusion that it never was +more widely distributed on the Sierra since the close of the glacial +epoch; that its present forests are scarcely past prime, if, indeed, +they have reached prime; that the post-glacial day of the species is +probably not half done; yet, when from a wider outlook the vast +antiquity of the genus is considered, and its ancient richness in +species and individuals; comparing our Sierra Giant and _Sequoia +sempervirens_ of the Coast Range, the only other living species of +Sequoia, with the twelve fossil species already discovered and +described by Heer and Lesquereux, some of which seem to have flourished +over vast areas in the Arctic regions and in Europe and our own +territories, during tertiary and cretaceous times,—then indeed it +becomes plain that our two surviving species, restricted to narrow +belts within the limits of California, are mere remnants of the genus, +both as to species and individuals, and that they probably are verging +to extinction. But the verge of a period beginning in cretaceous times +may have a breadth of tens of thousands of years, not to mention the +possible existence of conditions calculated to multiply and reëxtend +both species and individuals. This, however, is a branch of the +question into which I do not now purpose to enter. + +In studying the fate of our forest king, we have thus far considered +the action of purely natural causes only; but, unfortunately, _man_ is +in the woods, and waste and pure destruction are making rapid headway. +If the importance of forests were at all understood, even from an +economic standpoint, their preservation would call forth the most +watchful attention of government. Only of late years by means of forest +reservations has the simplest groundwork for available legislation been +laid, while in many of the finest groves every species of destruction +is still moving on with accelerated speed. + +In the course of my explorations I found no fewer than five mills +located on or near the lower edge of the Sequoia belt, all of which +were cutting considerable quantities of Big Tree lumber. Most of the +Fresno group are doomed to feed the mills recently erected near them, +and a company of lumbermen are now cutting the magnificent forest on +King’s River. In these milling operations waste far exceeds use, for +after the choice young manageable trees on any given spot have been +felled, the woods are fired to clear the ground of limbs and refuse +with reference to further operations, and, of course, most of the +seedlings and saplings are destroyed. + +These mill ravages, however, are small as compared with the +comprehensive destruction caused by “sheepmen.” Incredible numbers of +sheep are driven to the mountain pastures every summer, and their +course is ever marked by desolation. Every wild garden is trodden down, +the shrubs are stripped of leaves as if devoured by locusts, and the +woods are burned. Running fires are set everywhere, with a view to +clearing the ground of prostrate trunks, to facilitate the movements of +the flocks and improve the pastures. The entire forest belt is thus +swept and devastated from one extremity of the range to the other, and, +with the exception of the resinous _Pinus contorta_, Sequoia suffers +most of all. Indians burn off the underbrush in certain localities to +facilitate deer-hunting, mountaineers and lumbermen carelessly allow +their camp-fires to run; but the fires of the sheepmen, or +_muttoneers_, form more than ninety per cent. of all destructive fires +that range the Sierra forests. + +It appears, therefore, that notwithstanding our forest king might live +on gloriously in Nature’s keeping, it is rapidly vanishing before the +fire and steel of man; and unless protective measures be speedily +invented and applied, in a few decades, at the farthest, all that will +be left of _Sequoia gigantea_ will be a few hacked and scarred +monuments. + +TWO-LEAVED, OR TAMARACK, PINE +(_Pinus contorta_, var._Marrayana_) + +This species forms the bulk of the alpine forests, extending along the +range, above the fir zone, up to a height of from 8000 to 9500 feet +above the sea, growing in beautiful order upon moraines that are +scarcely changed as yet by post-glacial weathering. Compared with the +giants of the lower zones, this is a small tree, seldom attaining a +height of a hundred feet. The largest specimen I ever measured was +ninety feet in height, and a little over six in diameter four feet from +the ground. The average height of mature trees throughout the entire +belt is probably not far from fifty or sixty feet, with a diameter of +two feet. It is a well-proportioned, rather handsome little pine, with +grayish-brown bark, and crooked, much-divided branches, which cover the +greater portion of the trunk, not so densely, however, as to prevent +its being seen. The lower limbs curve downward, gradually take a +horizontal position about half-way up the trunk, then aspire more and +more toward the summit, thus forming a sharp, conical top. The foliage +is short and rigid, two leaves in a fascicle, arranged in comparatively +long, cylindrical tassels at the ends of the tough, up-curving +branchlets. The cones are about two inches long, growing in stiff +clusters among the needles, without making any striking effect, except +while very young, when they are of a vivid crimson color, and the whole +tree appears to be dotted with brilliant flowers. The sterile cones are +still more showy, on account of their great abundance, often giving a +reddish-yellow tinge to the whole mass of the foliage, and filling the +air with pollen. + +No other pine on the range is so regularly planted as this one. Moraine +forests sweep along the sides of the high, rocky valleys for miles +without interruption; still, strictly speaking, they are not dense, for +flecks of sunshine and flowers find their way into the darkest places, +where the trees grow tallest and thickest. Tall, nutritious grasses are +specially abundant beneath them, growing over all the ground, in +sunshine and shade, over extensive areas like a farmer’s crop, and +serving as pasture for the multitude of sheep that are driven from the +arid plains every summer as soon as the snow is melted. + +The Two-leaved Pine, more than any other, is subject to destruction by +fire. The thin bark is streaked and sprinkled with resin, as though it +had been showered down upon it like rain, so that even the green trees +catch fire readily, and during strong winds whole forests are +destroyed, the flames leaping from tree to tree, forming one continuous +belt of roaring fire that goes surging and racing onward above the +bending woods, like the grass-fires of a prairie. During the calm, dry +season of Indian summer, the fire creeps quietly along the ground, +feeding on the dry needles and burs; then, arriving at the foot of a +tree, the resiny bark is ignited, and the heated air ascends in a +powerful current, increasing in velocity, and dragging the flames +swiftly upward; then the leaves catch fire, and an immense column of +flame, beautifully spired on the edges, and tinted a rose-purple hue, +rushes aloft thirty or forty feet above the top of the tree, forming a +grand spectacle, especially on a dark night. It lasts, however, only a +few seconds, vanishing with magical rapidity, to be succeeded by others +along the fire-line at irregular intervals for weeks at a time—tree +after tree flashing and darkening, leaving the trunks and branches +hardly scarred. The heat, however, is sufficient to kill the trees, and +in a few years the bark shrivels and falls off. Belts miles in extent +are thus killed and left standing with the branches on, peeled and +rigid, appearing gray in the distance, like misty clouds. Later the +branches drop off, leaving a forest of bleached spars. At length the +roots decay, and the forlorn trunks are blown down during some storm, +and piled one upon another encumbering the ground until they are +consumed by the next fire, and leave it ready for a fresh crop. + +The endurance of the species is shown by its wandering occasionally out +over the lava plains with the Yellow Pine, and climbing moraineless +mountain-sides with the Dwarf Pine, clinging to any chance support in +rifts and crevices of storm-beaten rocks—always, however, showing the +effects of such hardships in every feature. + +Down in sheltered lake hollows, on beds of rich alluvium, it varies so +far from the common form as frequently to be taken for a distinct +species. Here it grows in dense sods, like grasses, from forty to +eighty feet high, bending all together to the breeze and whirling in +eddying gusts more lithely than any other tree in the woods. I have +frequently found specimens fifty feet high less than five inches in +diameter. Being thus slender, and at the same time well clad with leafy +boughs, it is oftentimes bent to the ground when laden with soft snow, +forming beautiful arches in endless variety, some of which last until +the melting of the snow in spring. + +MOUNTAIN PINE +(_Pinus monticola_) + +The Mountain Pine is king of the alpine woods, brave, hardy, and +long-lived, towering grandly above its companions, and becoming +stronger and more imposing just where other species begin to crouch and +disappear. At its best it is usually about ninety feet high and five or +six in diameter, though a specimen is often met considerably larger +than this. The trunk is as massive and as suggestive of enduring +strength as that of an oak. About two thirds of the trunk is commonly +free of limbs, but close, fringy tufts of sprays occur all the way +down, like those which adorn the colossal shafts of Sequoia. The bark +is deep reddish-brown upon trees that occupy exposed situations near +its upper limit, and furrowed rather deeply, the main furrows running +nearly parallel with each other, and connected by conspicuous cross +furrows, which, with one exception, are, as far as I have noticed, +peculiar to this species. + +The cones are from four to eight inches long, slender, cylindrical, and +somewhat curved, resembling those of the common White Pine of the +Atlantic coast. They grow in clusters of about from three to six or +seven, becoming pendulous as they increase in weight, chiefly by the +bending of the branches. + +This species is nearly related to the Sugar Pine, and, though not half +so tall, it constantly suggests its noble relative in the way that it +extends its long arms and in general habit. The Mountain Pine is first +met on the upper margin of the fir zone, growing singly in a subdued, +inconspicuous form, in what appear as chance situations, without making +much impression on the general forest. Continuing up through the +Two-leaved Pines in the same scattered growth, it begins to show its +character, and at an elevation of about 10,000 feet attains its noblest +development near the middle of the range, tossing its tough arms in the +frosty air, welcoming storms and feeding on them, and reaching the +grand old age of 1000 years. + +JUNIPER, OR RED CEDAR +(_Juniperus occidentalis_) + +[Illustration: JUNIPER, OR RED CEDAR.] + +The Juniper is preëminently a rock tree, occupying the baldest domes +and pavements, where there is scarcely a handful of soil, at a height +of from 7000 to 9500 feet. In such situations the trunk is frequently +over eight feet in diameter, and not much more in height. The top is +almost always dead in old trees, and great stubborn limbs push out +horizontally that are mostly broken and bare at the ends, but densely +covered and embedded here and there with bossy mounds of gray foliage. +Some are mere weathered stumps, as broad as long, decorated with a few +leafy sprays, reminding one of the crumbling towers of some ancient +castle scantily draped with ivy. Only upon the head waters of the +Carson have I found this species established on good moraine soil. Here +it flourishes with the Silver and Two-leaved Pines, in great beauty and +luxuriance, attaining a height of from forty to sixty feet, and +manifesting but little of that rocky angularity so characteristic a +feature throughout the greater portion, of its range. Two of the +largest, growing at the head of Hope Valley, measured twenty-nine feet +three inches and twenty-five feet six inches in circumference, +respectively, four feet from the ground. The bark is of a bright +cinnamon color, and, in thrifty trees, beautifully braided and +reticulated, flaking off in thin, lustrous ribbons that are sometimes +used by Indians for tent-matting. Its fine color and odd +picturesqueness always catch an artist’s eye, but to me the Juniper +seems a singularly dull and taciturn tree, never speaking to one’s +heart. I have spent many a day and night in its company, in all kinds +of weather, and have ever found it silent, cold, and rigid, like a +column of ice. Its broad stumpiness, of course, precludes all +possibility of waving, or even shaking; but it is not this rocky +steadfastness that constitutes its silence. In calm, sun-days the Sugar +Pine preaches the grandeur of the mountains like an apostle without +moving a leaf. + +[Illustration: STORM-BEATEN JUNIPERS.] + +On level rocks it dies standing, and wastes insensibly out of existence +like granite, the wind exerting about as little control over it alive +or dead as it does over a glacier boulder. Some are undoubtedly over +2000 years old. All the trees of the alpine woods suffer, more or less, +from avalanches, the Two-leaved Pine most of all. Gaps two or three +hundred yards wide, extending from the upper limit of the tree-line to +the bottoms of valleys and lake basins, are of common occurrence in all +the upper forests, resembling the clearings of settlers in the old +backwoods. Scarcely a tree is spared, even the soil is scraped away, +while the thousands of uprooted pines and spruces are piled upon one +another heads downward, and tucked snugly in along the sides of the +clearing in two windrows, like lateral moraines. The pines lie with +branches wilted and drooping like weeds. Not so the burly junipers. +After braving in silence the storms of perhaps a dozen or twenty +centuries, they seem in this, their last calamity, to become somewhat +communicative, making sign of a very unwilling acceptance of their +fate, holding themselves well up from the ground on knees and elbows, +seemingly ill at ease, and anxious, like stubborn wrestlers, to rise +again. + +HEMLOCK SPRUCE +(_Tsuga Pattoniana_) + +The Hemlock Spruce is the most singularly beautiful of all the +California coniferae. So slender is its axis at the top, that it bends +over and droops like the stalk of a nodding lily. The branches droop +also, and divide into innumerable slender, waving sprays, which are +arranged in a varied, eloquent harmony that is wholly indescribable. +Its cones are purple, and hang free, in the form of little tassels two +inches long from all the sprays from top to bottom. Though exquisitely +delicate and feminine in expression, it grows best where the snow lies +deepest, far up in the region of storms, at an elevation of from 9000 +to 9500 feet, on frosty northern slopes; but it is capable of growing +considerably higher, say 10,500 feet. The tallest specimens, growing in +sheltered hollows somewhat beneath the heaviest wind-currents, are from +eighty to a hundred feet high, and from two to four feet in diameter. +The very largest specimen I ever found was nineteen feet seven inches +in circumference four feet from the ground, growing on the edge of Lake +Hollow, at an elevation of 9250 feet above the level of the sea. At the +age of twenty or thirty years it becomes fruitful, and hangs out its +beautiful purple cones at the ends of the slender sprays, where they +swing free in the breeze, and contrast delightfully with the cool green +foliage. They are translucent when young, and their beauty is +delicious. After they are fully ripe, they spread their shell-like +scales and allow the brown-winged seeds to fly in the mellow air, while +the empty cones remain to beautify the tree until the coming of a fresh +crop. + +[Illustration: STORM-BEATEN HEMLOCK SPRUCE, FORTY FEET HIGH.] + +The staminate cones of all the coniferae are beautiful, growing in +bright clusters, yellow, and rose, and crimson. Those of the Hemlock +Spruce are the most beautiful of all, forming little conelets of blue +flowers, each on a slender stem. + +Under all conditions, sheltered or storm-beaten, well-fed or ill-fed, +this tree is singularly graceful in habit. Even at its highest limit +upon exposed ridge-tops, though compelled to crouch in dense thickets, +huddled close together, as if for mutual protection, it still manages +to throw out its sprays in irrepressible loveliness; while on +well-ground moraine soil it develops a perfectly tropical luxuriance of +foliage and fruit, and is the very loveliest tree in the forest; poised +in thin white sunshine, clad with branches from head to foot, yet not +in the faintest degree heavy or bunchy, it towers in unassuming +majesty, drooping as if unaffected with the aspiring tendencies of its +race, loving the ground while transparently conscious of heaven and +joyously receptive of its blessings, reaching out its branches like +sensitive tentacles, feeling the light and reveling in it. No other of +our alpine conifers so finely veils its strength. Its delicate branches +yield to the mountains’ gentlest breath; yet is it strong to meet the +wildest onsets of the gale,—strong not in resistance, but compliance, +bowing, snow-laden, to the ground, gracefully accepting burial month +after month in the darkness beneath the heavy mantle of winter. + +When the first soft snow begins to fall, the flakes lodge in the +leaves, weighing down the branches against the trunk. Then the axis +bends yet lower and lower, until the slender top touches the ground, +thus forming a fine ornamental arch. The snow still falls lavishly, and +the whole tree is at length buried, to sleep and rest in its beautiful +grave as though dead. Entire groves of young trees, from ten to forty +feet high, are thus buried every winter like slender grasses. But, like +the violets and daisies which the heaviest snows crush not, they are +safe. It is as though this were only Nature’s method of putting her +darlings to sleep instead of leaving them exposed to the biting storms +of winter. + +Thus warmly wrapped they await the summer resurrection. The snow +becomes soft in the sunshine, and freezes at night, making the mass +hard and compact, like ice, so that during the months of April and May +you can ride a horse over the prostrate groves without catching sight +of a single leaf. At length the down-pouring sunshine sets them free. +First the elastic tops of the arches begin to appear, then one branch +after another, each springing loose with a gentle rustling sound, and +at length the whole tree, with the assistance of the winds, gradually +unbends and rises and settles back into its place in the warm air, as +dry and feathery and fresh as young ferns just out of the coil. + +Some of the finest groves I have yet found are on the southern slopes +of Lassen’s Butte. There are also many charming companies on the head +waters of the Tuolumne, Merced, and San Joaquin, and, in general, the +species is so far from being rare that you can scarcely fail to find +groves of considerable extent in crossing the range, choose what pass +you may. The Mountain Pine grows beside it, and more frequently the +two-leaved species; but there are many beautiful groups, numbering 1000 +individuals, or more, without a single intruder. + +I wish I had space to write more of the surpassing beauty of this +favorite spruce. Every tree-lover is sure to regard it with special +admiration; apathetic mountaineers, even, seeking only game or gold, +stop to gaze on first meeting it, and mutter to themselves: “That’s a +mighty pretty tree,” some of them adding, “d——d pretty!” In autumn, +when its cones are ripe, the little striped tamias, and the Douglas +squirrel, and the Clark crow make a happy stir in its groves. The deer +love to lie down beneath its spreading branches; bright streams from +the snow that is always near ripple through its groves, and bryanthus +spreads precious carpets in its shade. But the best words only hint its +charms. Come to the mountains and see. + +DWARF PINE +(_Pinus albicaulis_) + +This species forms the extreme edge of the timber line throughout +nearly the whole extent of the range on both flanks. It is first met +growing in company with _Pinus contorta_, var. _Murrayana_, on the +upper margin of the belt, as an erect tree from fifteen to thirty feet +high and from one to two feet in thickness; thence it goes straggling +up the flanks of the summit peaks, upon moraines or crumbling ledges, +wherever it can obtain a foothold, to an elevation of from 10,000 to +12,000 feet, where it dwarfs to a mass of crumpled, prostrate branches, +covered with slender, upright shoots, each tipped with a short, +close-packed tassel of leaves. The bark is smooth and purplish, in some +places almost white. The fertile cones grow in rigid clusters upon the +upper branches, dark chocolate in color while young, and bear beautiful +pearly seeds about the size of peas, most of which are eaten by two +species of tamias and the notable Clark crow. The staminate cones occur +in clusters, about an inch wide, down among the leaves, and, as they +are colored bright rose-purple, they give rise to a lively, flowery +appearance little looked for in such a tree. + +[Illustration: GROUP OF ERECT DWARF PINES.] + +Pines are commonly regarded as sky-loving trees that must necessarily +aspire or die. This species forms a marked exception, creeping lowly, +in compliance with the most rigorous demands of climate, yet enduring +bravely to a more advanced age than many of its lofty relatives in the +sun-lands below. Seen from a distance, it would never be taken for a +tree of any kind. Yonder, for example, is Cathedral Peak, some three +miles away, with a scattered growth of this pine creeping like mosses +over the roof and around the beveled edges of the north gable, nowhere +giving any hint of an ascending axis. When approached quite near it +still appears matted and heathy, and is so low that one experiences no +great difficulty in walking over the top of it. Yet it is seldom +absolutely prostrate, at its lowest usually attaining a height of three +or four feet, with a main trunk, and branches outspread and +intertangled above it, as if in ascending they had been checked by a +ceiling, against which they had grown and been compelled to spread +horizontally. The winter snow is indeed such a ceiling, lasting half +the year; while the pressed, shorn surface is made yet smoother by +violent winds, armed with cutting sand-grains, that beat down any shoot +that offers to rise much above the general level, and carve the dead +trunks and branches in beautiful patterns. + +During stormy nights I have often camped snugly beneath the interlacing +arches of this little pine. The needles, which have accumulated for +centuries, make fine beds, a fact well known to other mountaineers, +such as deer and wild sheep, who paw out oval hollows and lie beneath +the larger trees in safe and comfortable concealment. + +[Illustration: A DWARF PINE.] + +The longevity of this lowly dwarf is far greater than would be guessed. +Here, for example, is a specimen, growing at an elevation of 10,700 +feet, which seems as though it might be plucked up by the roots, for it +is only three and a half inches in diameter, and its topmost tassel is +hardly three feet above the ground. Cutting it half through and +counting the annual rings with the aid of a lens, we find its age to be +no less than 255 years. Here is another telling specimen about the same +height, 426 years old, whose trunk is only six inches in diameter; and +one of its supple branchlets, hardly an eighth of an inch in diameter +inside the bark, is seventy-five years old, and so filled with oily +balsam, and so well seasoned by storms, that we may tie it in knots +like a whip-cord. + +WHITE PINE +(_Pinus flexilis_) + +This species is widely distributed throughout the Rocky Mountains, and +over all the higher of the many ranges of the Great Basin, between the +Wahsatch Mountains and the Sierra, where it is known as White Pine. In +the Sierra it is sparsely scattered along the eastern flank, from +Bloody Cañon southward nearly to the extremity of the range, opposite +the village of Lone Pine, nowhere forming any appreciable portion of +the general forest. From its peculiar position, in loose, straggling +parties, it seems to have been derived from the Basin ranges to the +eastward, where it is abundant. + +It is a larger tree than the Dwarf Pine. At an elevation of about 9000 +feet above the sea, it often attains a height of forty or fifty feet, +and a diameter of from three to five feet. The cones open freely when +ripe, and are twice as large as those of the _albicaulis_, and the +foliage and branches are more open, having a tendency to sweep out in +free, wild curves, like those of the Mountain Pine, to which it is +closely allied. It is seldom found lower than 9000 feet above +sea-level, but from this elevation it pushes upward over the roughest +ledges to the extreme limit of tree-growth, where, in its dwarfed, +storm-crushed condition, it is more like the white-barked species. + +Throughout Utah and Nevada it is one of the principal timber-trees, +great quantities being cut every year for the mines. The famous White +Pine Mining District, White Pine City, and the White Pine Mountains +have derived their names from it. + +NEEDLE PINE +(_Pinus aristata_) + +This species is restricted in the Sierra to the southern portion of the +range, about the head waters of Kings and Kern rivers, where it forms +extensive forests, and in some places accompanies the Dwarf Pine to the +extreme limit of tree-growth. + +It is first met at an elevation of between 9000 and 10,000 feet, and +runs up to 11,000 without seeming to suffer greatly from the climate or +the leanness of the soil. It is a much finer tree than the Dwarf Pine. +Instead of growing in clumps and low, heathy mats, it manages in some +way to maintain an erect position, and usually stands single. Wherever +the young trees are at all sheltered, they grow up straight and arrowy, +with delicately tapered bole, and ascending branches terminated with +glossy, bottle-brush tassels. At middle age, certain limbs are +specialized and pushed far out for the bearing of cones, after the +manner of the Sugar Pine; and in old age these branches droop and cast +about in every direction, giving rise to very picturesque effects. The +trunk becomes deep brown and rough, like that of the Mountain Pine, +while the young cones are of a strange, dull, blackish-blue color, +clustered on the upper branches. When ripe they are from three to four +inches long, yellowish brown, resembling in every way those of the +Mountain Pine. Excepting the Sugar Pine, no tree on the mountains is so +capable of individual expression, while in grace of form and movement +it constantly reminds one of the Hemlock Spruce. + +[Illustration: OAK GROWING AMONG YELLOW PINES.] + +The largest specimen I measured was a little over five feet in diameter +and ninety feet in height, but this is more than twice the ordinary +size. + +This species is common throughout the Rocky Mountains and most of the +short ranges of the Great Basin, where it is called the Fox-tail Pine, +from its long dense leaf-tassels. On the Hot Creek, White Pine, and +Golden Gate ranges it is quite abundant. About a foot or eighteen +inches of the ends of the branches is densely packed with stiff +outstanding needles which radiate like an electric fox or squirrel’s +tail. The needles have a glossy polish, and the sunshine sifting +through them makes them burn with silvery luster, while their number +and elastic temper tell delightfully in the winds. This tree is here +still more original and picturesque than in the Sierra, far surpassing +not only its companion conifers in this respect, but also the most +noted of the lowland oaks. Some stand firmly erect, feathered with +radiant tassels down to the ground, forming slender tapering towers of +shining verdure; others, with two or three specialized branches pushed +out at right angles to the trunk and densely clad with tasseled sprays, +take the form of beautiful ornamental crosses. Again in the same woods +you find trees that are made up of several boles united near the +ground, spreading at the sides in a plane parallel to the axis of the +mountain, with the elegant tassels hung in charming order between them, +making a harp held against the main wind lines where they are most +effective in playing the grand storm harmonies. And besides these there +are many variable arching forms, alone or in groups, with innumerable +tassels drooping beneath the arches or radiant above them, and many +lowly giants of no particular form that have braved the storms of a +thousand years. But whether old or young, sheltered or exposed to the +wildest gales, this tree is ever found irrepressibly and extravagantly +picturesque, and offers a richer and more varied series of forms to the +artist than any other conifer I know of. + +NUT PINE +(_Pinus monophylla_) + +The Nut Pine covers or rather dots the eastern flank of the Sierra, to +which it is mostly restricted, in grayish, bush-like patches, from the +margin of the sage-plains to an elevation of from 7000 to 8000 feet. + +A more contentedly fruitful and unaspiring conifer could not be +conceived. All the species we have been sketching make departures more +or less distant from the typical spire form, but none goes so far as +this. Without any apparent exigency of climate or soil, it remains near +the ground, throwing out crooked, divergent branches like an orchard +apple-tree, and seldom pushes a single shoot higher than fifteen or +twenty feet above the ground. + +The average thickness of the trunk is, perhaps, about ten or twelve +inches. The leaves are mostly undivided, like round awls, instead of +being separated, like those of other pines, into twos and threes and +fives. The cones are green while growing, and are usually found over +all the tree, forming quite a marked feature as seen against the +bluish-gray foliage. They are quite small, only about two inches in +length, and give no promise of edible nuts; but when we come to open +them, we find that about half the entire bulk of the cone is made up of +sweet, nutritious seeds, the kernels of which are nearly as large as +those of hazel-nuts. + +This is undoubtedly the most important food-tree on the Sierra, and +furnishes the Mono, Carson, and Walker River Indians with more and +better nuts than all the other species taken together. It is the +Indians’ own tree, and many a white man have they killed for cutting it +down. + +In its development Nature seems to have aimed at the formation of as +great a fruit-bearing surface as possible. Being so low and accessible, +the cones are readily beaten off with poles, and the nuts procured by +roasting them until the scales open. In bountiful seasons a single +Indian will gather thirty or forty bushels of them—a fine squirrelish +employment. + +Of all the conifers along the eastern base of the Sierra, and on all +the many mountain groups and short ranges of the Great Basin, this +foodful little pine is the commonest tree, and the most important. +Nearly every mountain is planted with it to a height of from 8000 to +9000 feet above the sea. Some are covered from base to summit by this +one species, with only a sparse growth of juniper on the lower slopes +to break the continuity of its curious woods, which, though +dark-looking at a distance, are almost shadeless, and have none of the +damp, leafy glens and hollows so characteristic of other pine woods. +Tens of thousands of acres occur in continuous belts. Indeed, viewed +comprehensively the entire Basin seems to be pretty evenly divided into +level plains dotted with sage-bushes and mountain-chains covered with +Nut Pines. No slope is too rough, none too dry, for these bountiful +orchards of the red man. + +The value of this species to Nevada is not easily overestimated. It +furnishes charcoal and timber for the mines, and, with the juniper, +supplies the ranches with fuel and rough fencing. In fruitful seasons +the nut crop is perhaps greater than the California wheat crop, which +exerts so much influence throughout the food markets of the world. +When, the crop is ripe, the Indians make ready the long beating-poles; +bags, baskets, mats, and sacks are collected; the women out at service +among the settlers, washing or drudging, assemble at the family huts; +the men leave their ranch work; old and young, all are mounted on +ponies and start in great glee to the nut-lands, forming curiously +picturesque cavalcades; flaming scarfs and calico skirts stream loosely +over the knotty ponies, two squaws usually astride of each, with baby +midgets bandaged in baskets slung on their backs or balanced on the +saddle-bow; while nut-baskets and water-jars project from each side, +and the long beating-poles make angles in every direction. Arriving at +some well-known central point where grass and water are found, the +squaws with baskets, the men with poles ascend the ridges to the laden +trees, followed by the children. Then the beating begins right merrily, +the burs fly in every direction, rolling down the slopes, lodging here +and there against rocks and sage-bushes, chased and gathered by the +women and children with fine natural gladness. Smoke-columns speedily +mark the joyful scene of their labors as the roasting-fires are +kindled, and, at night, assembled in gay circles garrulous as jays, +they begin the first nut feast of the season. + +The nuts are about half an inch long and a quarter of an inch in +diameter, pointed at the top, round at the base, light brown in general +color, and, like many other pine seeds, handsomely dotted with purple, +like birds’ eggs. The shells are thin and may be crushed between the +thumb and finger. The kernels are white, becoming brown by roasting, +and are sweet to every palate, being eaten by birds, squirrels, dogs, +horses, and men. Perhaps less than one bushel in a thousand of the +whole crop is ever gathered. Still, besides supplying their own wants, +in times of plenty the Indians bring large quantities to market; then +they are eaten around nearly every fireside in the State, and are even +fed to horses occasionally instead of barley. + +Of other trees growing on the Sierra, but forming a very small part of +the general forest, we may briefly notice the following: + +_Chamoecyparis Lawsoniana_ is a magnificent tree in the coast ranges, +but small in the Sierra. It is found only well to the northward along +the banks of cool streams on the upper Sacramento toward Mount Shasta. +Only a few trees of this species, as far as I have seen, have as yet +gained a place in the Sierra woods. It has evidently been derived from +the coast range by way of the tangle of connecting mountains at the +head of the Sacramento Valley. + +In shady dells and on cool stream banks of the northern Sierra we also +find the Yew (_Taxus brevifolia_). + +The interesting Nutmeg Tree (_Torreya Californica_) is sparsely +distributed along the western flank of the range at an elevation of +about 4000 feet, mostly in gulches and cañons. It is a small, prickly +leaved, glossy evergreen, like a conifer, from twenty to fifty feet +high, and one to two feet in diameter. The fruit resembles a green-gage +plum, and contains one seed, about the size of an acorn, and like a +nutmeg, hence the common name. The wood is fine-grained and of a +beautiful, creamy yellow color like box, sweet-scented when dry, though +the green leaves emit a disagreeable odor. + +_Betula occidentalis_, the only birch, is a small, slender tree +restricted to the eastern flank of the range along stream-sides below +the pine-belt, especially in Owen’s Valley. + +Alder, Maple, and Nuttall’s Flowering Dogwood make beautiful bowers +over swift, cool streams at an elevation of from 3000 to 5000 feet, +mixed more or less with willows and cottonwood; and above these in lake +basins the aspen forms fine ornamental groves, and lets its light shine +gloriously in the autumn months. + +The Chestnut Oak (_Quercus densiflora_) seems to have come from the +coast range around the head of the Sacramento Valley, like the +_Chamaecyparis_, but as it extends southward along the lower edge of +the main pine-belt it grows smaller until it finally dwarfs to a mere +chaparral bush. In the coast mountains it is a fine, tall, rather +slender tree, about from sixty to seventy-five feet high, growing with +the grand _Sequoia sempervirens_, or Redwood. But unfortunately it is +too good to live, and is now being rapidly destroyed for tan-bark. + +[Illustration: PATE VALLEY, SHOWING THE OAKS. TUOLUMNE CAÑON, YOSEMITE +NATIONAL PARK.] + +Besides the common Douglas Oak and the grand _Quercus Wislizeni_ of the +foot-hills, and several small ones that make dense growths of +chaparral, there are two mountain-oaks that grow with the pines up to +an elevation of about 5000 feet above the sea, and greatly enhance the +beauty of the yosemite parks. These are the Mountain Live Oak and the +Kellogg Oak, named in honor of the admirable botanical pioneer of +California. Kellogg’s Oak (_Quercus Kelloggii_) is a firm, bright, +beautiful tree, reaching a height of sixty feet, four to seven feet in +diameter, with wide-spreading branches, and growing at an elevation of +from 3000 to 5000 feet in sunny valleys and flats among the evergreens, +and higher in a dwarfed state. In the cliff-bound parks about 4000 feet +above the sea it is so abundant and effective it might fairly be called +the Yosemite Oak. The leaves make beautiful masses of purple in the +spring, and yellow in ripe autumn; while its acorns are eagerly +gathered by Indians, squirrels, and woodpeckers. The Mountain Live Oak +(_Q. Chrysolepis_) is a tough, rugged mountaineer of a tree, growing +bravely and attaining noble dimensions on the roughest earthquake +taluses in deep cañons and yosemite valleys. The trunk is usually +short, dividing near the ground into great, wide-spreading limbs, and +these again into a multitude of slender sprays, many of them cord-like +and drooping to the ground, like those of the Great White Oak of the +lowlands (_Q. lobata_). The top of the tree where there is plenty of +space is broad and bossy, with a dense covering of shining leaves, +making delightful canopies, the complicated system of gray, +interlacing, arching branches as seen from beneath being exceedingly +rich and picturesque. No other tree that I know dwarfs so regularly and +completely as this under changes of climate due to changes in +elevation. At the foot of a cañon 4000 feet above the sea you may find +magnificent specimens of this oak fifty feet high, with craggy, bulging +trunks, five to seven feet in diameter, and at the head of the cañon, +2500 feet higher, a dense, soft, low, shrubby growth of the same +species, while all the way up the cañon between these extremes of size +and habit a perfect gradation may be traced. The largest I have seen +was fifty feet high, eight feet in diameter, and about seventy-five +feet in spread. The trunk was all knots and buttresses, gray like +granite, and about as angular and irregular as the boulders on which it +was growing—a type of steadfast, unwedgeable strength. + + + + +CHAPTER IX +THE DOUGLAS SQUIRREL +(_Sciurus Douglasii_) + + +The Douglas Squirrel is by far the most interesting and influential of +the California sciuridae, surpassing every other species in force of +character, numbers, and extent of range, and in the amount of influence +he brings to bear upon the health and distribution of the vast forests +he inhabits. + +Go where you will throughout the noble woods of the Sierra Nevada, +among the giant pines and spruces of the lower zones, up through the +towering Silver Firs to the storm-bent thickets of the summit peaks, +you everywhere find this little squirrel the master-existence. Though +only a few inches long, so intense is his fiery vigor and restlessness, +he stirs every grove with wild life, and makes himself more important +than even the huge bears that shuffle through the tangled underbrush +beneath him. Every wind is fretted by his voice, almost every bole and +branch feels the sting of his sharp feet. How much the growth of the +trees is stimulated by this means it is not easy to learn, but his +action in manipulating their seeds is more appreciable. Nature has made +him master forester and committed most of her coniferous crops to his +paws. Probably over fifty per cent. of all the cones ripened on the +Sierra are cut off and handled by the Douglas alone, and of those of +the Big Trees perhaps ninety per cent. pass through his hands: the +greater portion is of course stored away for food to last during the +winter and spring, but some of them are tucked separately into loosely +covered holes, where some of the seeds germinate and become trees. But +the Sierra is only one of the many provinces over which he holds sway, +for his dominion extends over all the Redwood Belt of the Coast +Mountains, and far northward throughout the majestic forests of Oregon, +Washington, and British Columbia. I make haste to mention these facts, +to show upon how substantial a foundation the importance I ascribe to +him rests. + +The Douglas is closely allied to the Red Squirrel or Chickaree of the +eastern woods. Ours may be a lineal descendant of this species, +distributed westward to the Pacific by way of the Great Lakes and the +Rocky Mountains, and thence southward along our forested ranges. This +view is suggested by the fact that our species becomes redder and more +Chickaree-like in general, the farther it is traced back along the +course indicated above. But whatever their relationship, and the +evolutionary forces that have acted upon them, the Douglas is now the +larger and more beautiful animal. + +From the nose to the root of the tail he measures about eight inches; +and his tail, which he so effectively uses in interpreting his +feelings, is about six inches in length. He wears dark bluish-gray over +the back and half-way down the sides, bright buff on the belly, with a +stripe of dark gray, nearly black, separating the upper and under +colors; this dividing stripe, however, is not very sharply defined. He +has long black whiskers, which gives him a rather fierce look when +observed closely, strong claws, sharp as fish-hooks, and the brightest +of bright eyes, full of telling speculation. + +A King’s River Indian told me that they call him “Pillillooeet,” which, +rapidly pronounced with the first syllable heavily accented, is not +unlike the lusty exclamation he utters on his way up a tree when +excited. Most mountaineers in California call him the Pine Squirrel; +and when I asked an old trapper whether he knew our little forester, he +replied with brightening countenance: “Oh, yes, of course I know him; +everybody knows him. When I’m huntin’ in the woods, I often find out +where the deer are by his barkin’ at ’em. I call ’em Lightnin’ +Squirrels, because they’re so mighty quick and peert.” + +All the true squirrels are more or less birdlike in speech and +movements; but the Douglas is preëminently so, possessing, as he does, +every attribute peculiarly squirrelish enthusiastically concentrated. +He is the squirrel of squirrels, flashing from branch to branch of his +favorite evergreens crisp and glossy and undiseased as a sunbeam. Give +him wings and he would outfly any bird in the woods. His big gray +cousin is a looser animal, seemingly light enough to float on the wind; +yet when leaping from limb to limb, or out of one tree-top to another, +he sometimes halts to gather strength, as if making efforts concerning +the upshot of which he does not always feel exactly confident. But the +Douglas, with his denser body, leaps and glides in hidden strength, +seemingly as independent of common muscles as a mountain stream. He +threads the tasseled branches of the pines, stirring their needles like +a rustling breeze; now shooting across openings in arrowy lines; now +launching in curves, glinting deftly from side to side in sudden +zigzags, and swirling in giddy loops and spirals around the knotty +trunks; getting into what seem to be the most impossible situations +without sense of danger; now on his haunches, now on his head; yet ever +graceful, and punctuating his most irrepressible outbursts of energy +with little dots and dashes of perfect repose. He is, without +exception, the wildest animal I ever saw,—a fiery, sputtering little +bolt of life, luxuriating in quick oxygen and the woods’ best juices. +One can hardly think of such a creature being dependent, like the rest +of us, on climate and food. But, after all, it requires no long +acquaintance to learn he is human, for he works for a living. His +busiest time is in the Indian summer. Then he gathers burs and +hazel-nuts like a plodding farmer, working continuously every day for +hours; saying not a word; cutting off the ripe cones at the top of his +speed, as if employed by the job, and examining every branch in regular +order, as if careful that not one should escape him; then, descending, +he stores them away beneath logs and stumps, in anticipation of the +pinching hunger days of winter. He seems himself a kind of coniferous +fruit,—both fruit and flower. The resiny essences of the pines pervade +every pore of his body, and eating his flesh is like chewing gum. + +One never tires of this bright chip of nature,—this brave little voice +crying in the wilderness,—of observing his many works and ways, and +listening to his curious language. His musical, piny gossip is as +savory to the ear as balsam to the palate; and, though he has not +exactly the gift of song, some of his notes are as sweet as those of a +linnet—almost flute-like in softness, while others prick and tingle +like thistles. He is the mocking-bird of squirrels, pouring forth mixed +chatter and song like a perennial fountain; barking like a dog, +screaming like a hawk, chirping like a blackbird or a sparrow; while in +bluff, audacious noisiness he is a very jay. + +[Illustration: TRACK OF DOUGLAS SQUIRREL ONCE DOWN AND UP A PINE-TREE +WHEN SHOWING OFF TO A SPECTATOR.] + +In descending the trunk of a tree with the intention of alighting on +the ground, he preserves a cautious silence, mindful, perhaps, of foxes +and wildcats; but while rocking safely at home in the pine-tops there +is no end to his capers and noise; and woe to the gray squirrel or +chipmunk that ventures to set foot on his favorite tree! No matter how +slyly they trace the furrows of the bark, they are speedily discovered, +and kicked down-stairs with comic vehemence, while a torrent of angry +notes comes rushing from his whiskered lips that sounds remarkably like +swearing. He will even attempt at times to drive away dogs and men, +especially if he has had no previous knowledge of them. Seeing a man +for the first time, he approaches nearer and nearer, until within a few +feet; then, with an angry outburst, he makes a sudden rush, all teeth +and eyes, as if about to eat you up. But, finding that the big, forked +animal doesn’t scare, he prudently beats a retreat, and sets himself up +to reconnoiter on some overhanging branch, scrutinizing every movement +you make with ludicrous solemnity. Gathering courage, he ventures down +the trunk again, churring and chirping, and jerking nervously up and +down in curious loops, eyeing you all the time, as if snowing off and +demanding your admiration. Finally, growing calmer, he settles down in +a comfortable posture on some horizontal branch commanding a good view, +and beats time with his tail to a steady “Chee-up! chee-up!” or, when +somewhat less excited, “Pee-ah!” with the first syllable keenly +accented, and the second drawn out like the scream of a hawk,—repeating +this slowly and more emphatically at first, then gradually faster, +until a rate of about 150 words a minute is reached; usually sitting +all the time on his haunches, with paws resting on his breast, which +pulses visibly with each word. It is remarkable, too, that, though +articulating distinctly, he keeps his mouth shut most of the time, and +speaks through his nose. I have occasionally observed him even eating +Sequoia seeds and nibbling a troublesome flea, without ceasing or in +any way confusing his “Pee-ah! pee-ah!” for a single moment. + +While ascending trees all his claws come into play, but in descending +the weight of his body is sustained chiefly by those of the hind feet; +still in neither case do his movements suggest effort, though if you +are near enough you may see the bulging strength of his short, +bear-like arms, and note his sinewy fists clinched in the bark. + +Whether going up or down, he carries his tail extended at full length +in line with his body, unless it be required for gestures. But while +running along horizontal limbs or fallen trunks, it is frequently +folded forward over the back, with the airy tip daintily upcurled. In +cool weather it keeps him warm. Then, after he has finished his meal, +you may see him crouched close on some level limb with his tail-robe +neatly spread and reaching forward to his ears, the electric, +outstanding hairs quivering in the breeze like pine-needles. But in wet +or very cold weather he stays in his nest, and while curled up there +his comforter is long enough to come forward around his nose. It is +seldom so cold, however, as to prevent his going out to his stores when +hungry. + +Once as I lay storm-bound on the upper edge of the timber line on Mount +Shasta, the thermometer nearly at zero and the sky thick with driving +snow, a Douglas came bravely out several times from one of the lower +hollows of a Dwarf Pine near my camp, faced the wind without seeming to +feel it much, frisked lightly about over the mealy snow, and dug his +way down to some hidden seeds with wonderful precision, as if to his +eyes the thick snow-covering were glass. + +No other of the Sierra animals of my acquaintance is better fed, not +even the deer, amid abundance of sweet herbs and shrubs, or the +mountain sheep, or omnivorous bears. His food consists of grass-seeds, +berries, hazel-nuts, chinquapins, and the nuts and seeds of all the +coniferous trees without exception,—Pine, Fir, Spruce, Libocedrus, +Juniper, and Sequoia,—he is fond of them all, and they all agree with +him, green or ripe. No cone is too large for him to manage, none so +small as to be beneath his notice. The smaller ones, such as those of +the Hemlock, and the Douglas Spruce, and the Two-leaved Pine, he cuts +off and eats on a branch of the tree, without allowing them to fall; +beginning at the bottom of the cone and cutting away the scales to +expose the seeds; not gnawing by guess, like a bear, but turning them +round and round in regular order, in compliance with their spiral +arrangement. + +When thus employed, his location in the tree is betrayed by a dribble +of scales, shells, and seed-wings, and, every few minutes, by the fall +of the stripped axis of the cone. Then of course he is ready for +another, and if you are watching you may catch a glimpse of him as he +glides silently out to the end of a branch and see him examining the +cone-clusters until he finds one to his mind; then, leaning over, pull +back the springy needles out of his way, grasp the cone with his paws +to prevent its falling, snip it off in an incredibly short time, seize +it with jaws grotesquely stretched, and return to his chosen seat near +the trunk. But the immense size of the cones of the Sugar Pine—from +fifteen to twenty inches in length—and those of the Jeffrey variety of +the Yellow Pine compel him to adopt a quite different method. He cuts +them off without attempting to hold them, then goes down and drags them +from where they have chanced to fall up to the bare, swelling ground +around the instep of the tree, where he demolishes them in the same +methodical way, beginning at the bottom and following the scale-spirals +to the top. + +[Illustration: SEEDS, WINGS, AND SCALE OF SUGAR PINE. (NAT. SIZE.)] + +From a single Sugar Pine cone he gets from two to four hundred seeds +about half the size of a hazel-nut, so that in a few minutes he can +procure enough to last a week. He seems, however, to prefer those of +the two Silver First above all others; perhaps because they are most +easily obtained, as the scales drop off when ripe without needing to be +cut. Both species are filled with an exceedingly pungent, aromatic oil, +which spices all his flesh, and is of itself sufficient to account for +his lightning energy. + +You may easily know this little workman by his chips. On sunny +hillsides around the principal trees they lie in big piles,—bushels and +basketfuls of them, all fresh and clean, making the most beautiful +kitchen-middens imaginable. The brown and yellow scales and nut-shells +are as abundant and as delicately penciled and tinted as the shells +along the sea-shore; while the beautiful red and purple seed-wings +mingled with them would lead one to fancy that innumerable butterflies +had there met their fate. + +He feasts on all the species long before they are ripe, but is wise +enough to wait until they are matured before he gathers them into his +barns. This is in October and November, which with him are the two +busiest months of the year. All kinds of burs, big and little, are now +cut off and showered down alike, and the ground is speedily covered +with them. A constant thudding and bumping is kept up; some of the +larger cones chancing to fall on old logs make the forest reëcho with +the sound. Other nut-eaters less industrious know well what is going +on, and hasten to carry away the cones as they fall. But however busy +the harvester may be, he is not slow to descry the pilferers below, and +instantly leaves his work to drive them away. The little striped tamias +is a thorn in his flesh, stealing persistently, punish him as he may. +The large Gray Squirrel gives trouble also, although the Douglas has +been accused of stealing from him. Generally, however, just the +opposite is the case. + +The excellence of the Sierra evergreens is well known to nurserymen +throughout the world, consequently there is considerable demand for the +seeds. The greater portion of the supply has hitherto been procured by +chopping down the trees in the more accessible sections of the forest +alongside of bridle-paths that cross the range. Sequoia seeds at first +brought from twenty to thirty dollars per pound, and therefore were +eagerly sought after. Some of the smaller fruitful trees were cut down +in the groves not protected by government, especially those of Fresno +and King’s River. Most of the Sequoias, however, are of so gigantic a +size that the seedsmen have to look for the greater portion of their +supplies to the Douglas, who soon learns he is no match for these +freebooters. He is wise enough, however, to cease working the instant +he perceives them, and never fails to embrace every opportunity to +recover his burs whenever they happen to be stored in any place +accessible to him, and the busy seedsman often finds on returning to +camp that the little Douglas has exhaustively spoiled the spoiler. I +know one seed-gatherer who, whenever he robs the squirrels, scatters +wheat or barley beneath the trees as conscience-money. + +The want of appreciable life remarked by so many travelers in the +Sierra forests is never felt at this time of year. Banish all the +humming insects and the birds and quadrupeds, leaving only Sir Douglas, +and the most solitary of our so-called solitudes would still throb with +ardent life. But if you should go impatiently even into the most +populous of the groves on purpose to meet him, and walk about looking +up among the branches, you would see very little of him. But lie down +at the foot of one of the trees and straightway he will come. For, in +the midst of the ordinary forest sounds, the falling of burs, piping of +quails, the screaming of the Clark Crow, and the rustling of deer and +bears among the chaparral, he is quick to detect your strange +footsteps, and will hasten to make a good, close inspection of you as +soon as you are still. First, you may hear him sounding a few notes of +curious inquiry, but more likely the first intimation of his approach +will be the prickly sounds of his feet as he descends the tree +overhead, just before he makes his savage onrush to frighten you and +proclaim your presence to every squirrel and bird in the neighborhood. +If you remain perfectly motionless, he will come nearer and nearer, and +probably set your flesh a-tingle by frisking across your body. Once, +while I was seated at the foot of a Hemlock Spruce in one of the most +inaccessible of the San Joaquin yosemites engaged in sketching, a +reckless fellow came up behind me, passed under my bended arm, and +jumped on my paper. And one warm afternoon, while an old friend of mine +was reading out in the shade of his cabin, one of his Douglas neighbors +jumped from the gable upon his head, and then with admirable assurance +ran down over his shoulder and on to the book he held in his hand. + +Our Douglas enjoys a large social circle; for, besides his numerous +relatives, _Sciurus fossor, Tamias quadrivitatus, T. Townsendii, +Spermophilus Beccheyi, S. Douglasii_, he maintains intimate relations +with the nut-eating birds, particularly the Clark Crow (_Picicorvus +columbianus_) and the numerous woodpeckers and jays. The two +spermophiles are astonishingly abundant in the lowlands and lower +foot-hills, but more and more sparingly distributed up through the +Douglas domains,—seldom venturing higher than six or seven thousand +feet above the level of the sea. The gray sciurus ranges but little +higher than this. The little striped tamias alone is associated with +him everywhere. In the lower and middle zones, where they all meet, +they are tolerably harmonious—a happy family, though very amusing +skirmishes may occasionally be witnessed. Wherever the ancient glaciers +have spread forest soil there you find our wee hero, most abundant +where depth of soil and genial climate have given rise to a +corresponding luxuriance in the trees, but following every kind of +growth up the curving moraines to the highest glacial fountains. + +Though I cannot of course expect all my readers to sympathize fully in +my admiration of this little animal, few, I hope, will think this +sketch of his life too long. I cannot begin to tell here how much he +has cheered my lonely wanderings during all the years I have been +pursuing my studies in these glorious wilds; or how much unmistakable +humanity I have found in him. Take this for example: One calm, creamy +Indian summer morning, when the nuts were ripe, I was camped in the +upper pine-woods of the south fork of the San Joaquin, where the +squirrels seemed to be about as plentiful as the ripe burs. They were +taking an early breakfast before going to their regular harvest-work. +While I was busy with my own breakfast I heard the thudding fall of two +or three heavy cones from a Yellow Pine near me. I stole noiselessly +forward within about twenty feet of the base of it to observe. In a few +moments down came the Douglas. The breakfast-burs he had cut off had +rolled on the gently sloping ground into a clump of ceanothus bushes, +but he seemed to know exactly where they were, for he found them at +once, apparently without searching for them. They were more than twice +as heavy as himself, but after turning them into the right position for +getting a good hold with his long sickle-teeth he managed to drag them +up to the foot of the tree from which he had cut them, moving backward. +Then seating himself comfortably, he held them on end, bottom up, and +demolished them at his ease. A good deal of nibbling had to be done +before he got anything to eat, because the lower scales are barren, but +when he had patiently worked his way up to the fertile ones he found +two sweet nuts at the base of each, shaped like trimmed hams, and +spotted purple like birds’ eggs. And notwithstanding these cones were +dripping with soft balsam, and covered with prickles, and so strongly +put together that a boy would be puzzled to cut them open with a +jack-knife, he accomplished his meal with easy dignity and cleanliness, +making less effort apparently than a man would in eating soft cookery +from a plate. + +Breakfast done, I whistled a tune for him before he went to work, +curious to see how he would be affected by it. He had not seen me all +this while; but the instant I began to whistle he darted up the tree +nearest to him, and came out on a small dead limb opposite me, and +composed himself to listen. I sang and whistled more than a dozen airs, +and as the music changed his eyes sparkled, and he turned his head +quickly from side to side, but made no other response. Other squirrels, +hearing the strange sounds, came around on all sides, also chipmunks +and birds. One of the birds, a handsome, speckle-breasted thrush, +seemed even more interested than the squirrels. After listening for +awhile on one of the lower dead sprays of a pine, he came swooping +forward within a few feet of my face, and remained fluttering in the +air for half a minute or so, sustaining himself with whirring +wing-beats, like a humming-bird in front of a flower, while I could +look into his eyes and see his innocent wonder. + +By this time my performance must have lasted nearly half an hour. I +sang or whistled “Bonnie Boon,” “Lass o’ Gowrie,” “O’er the Water to +Charlie,” “Bonnie Woods o’ Cragie Lee,” etc., all of which seemed to be +listened to with bright interest, my first Douglas sitting patiently +through it all, with his telling eyes fixed upon me until I ventured to +give the “Old Hundredth,” when he screamed his Indian name, +Pillillooeet, turned tail, and darted with ludicrous haste up the tree +out of sight, his voice and actions in the case leaving a somewhat +profane impression, as if he had said, “I’ll be hanged if you get me to +hear anything so solemn and unpiny.” This acted as a signal for the +general dispersal of the whole hairy tribe, though the birds seemed +willing to wait further developments, music being naturally more in +their line. + +What there can be in that grand old church-tune that is so offensive to +birds and squirrels I can’t imagine. A year or two after this High +Sierra concert, I was sitting one fine day on a hill in the Coast Range +where the common Ground Squirrels were abundant. They were very shy on +account of being hunted so much; but after I had been silent and +motionless for half an hour or so they began to venture out of their +holes and to feed on the seeds of the grasses and thistles around me as +if I were no more to be feared than a tree-stump. Then it occurred to +me that this was a good opportunity to find out whether they also +disliked “Old Hundredth.” Therefore I began to whistle as nearly as I +could remember the same familiar airs that had pleased the mountaineers +of the Sierra. They at once stopped eating, stood erect, and listened +patiently until I came to “Old Hundredth,” when with ludicrous haste +every one of them rushed to their holes and bolted in, their feet +twinkling in the air for a moment as they vanished. + +No one who makes the acquaintance of our forester will fail to admire +him; but he is far too self-reliant and warlike ever to be taken for a +darling. + +How long the life of a Douglas Squirrel may be, I don’t know. The young +seem to sprout from knot-holes, perfect from the first, and as enduring +as their own trees. It is difficult, indeed, to realize that so +condensed a piece of sun-fire should ever become dim or die at all. He +is seldom killed by hunters, for he is too small to encourage much of +their attention, and when pursued in settled regions becomes +excessively shy, and keeps close in the furrows of the highest trunks, +many of which are of the same color as himself. Indian boys, however, +lie in wait with unbounded patience to shoot them with arrows. In the +lower and middle zones a few fall a prey to rattlesnakes. Occasionally +he is pursued by hawks and wildcats, etc. But, upon the whole, he +dwells safely in the deep bosom of the woods, the most highly favored +of all his happy tribe. May his tribe increase! + +[Illustration: TRYING THE BOW.] + + + + +CHAPTER X +A WIND-STORM IN THE FORESTS + + +The mountain winds, like the dew and rain, sunshine and snow, are +measured and bestowed with love on the forests to develop their +strength and beauty. However restricted the scope of other forest +influences, that of the winds is universal. The snow bends and trims +the upper forests every winter, the lightning strikes a single tree +here and there, while avalanches mow down thousands at a swoop as a +gardener trims out a bed of flowers. But the winds go to every tree, +fingering every leaf and branch and furrowed bole; not one is +forgotten; the Mountain Pine towering with outstretched arms on the +rugged buttresses of the icy peaks, the lowliest and most retiring +tenant of the dells; they seek and find them all, caressing them +tenderly, bending them in lusty exercise, stimulating their growth, +plucking off a leaf or limb as required, or removing an entire tree or +grove, now whispering and cooing through the branches like a sleepy +child, now roaring like the ocean; the winds blessing the forests, the +forests the winds, with ineffable beauty and harmony as the sure +result. + +[Illustration: A WIND-STORM IN THE CALIFORNIA FORESTS. (AFTER A +SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.)] + +After one has seen pines six feet in diameter bending like grasses +before a mountain gale, and ever and anon some giant falling with a +crash that shakes the hills, it seems astonishing that any, save the +lowest thickset trees, could ever have found a period sufficiently +stormless to establish themselves; or, once established, that they +should not, sooner or later, have been blown down. But when the storm +is over, and we behold the same forests tranquil again, towering fresh +and unscathed in erect majesty, and consider what centuries of storms +have fallen upon them since they were first planted,—hail, to break the +tender seedlings; lightning, to scorch and shatter; snow, winds, and +avalanches, to crush and overwhelm,—while the manifest result of all +this wild storm-culture is the glorious perfection we behold; then +faith in Nature’s forestry is established, and we cease to deplore the +violence of her most destructive gales, or of any other storm-implement +whatsoever. + +There are two trees in the Sierra forests that are never blown down, so +long as they continue in sound health. These are the Juniper and the +Dwarf Pine of the summit peaks. Their stiff, crooked roots grip the +storm-beaten ledges like eagles’ claws, while their lithe, cord-like +branches bend round compliantly, offering but slight holds for winds, +however violent. The other alpine conifers—the Needle Pine, Mountain +Pine, Two-leaved Pine, and Hemlock Spruce—are never thinned out by this +agent to any destructive extent, on account of their admirable +toughness and the closeness of their growth. In general the same is +true of the giants of the lower zones. The kingly Sugar Pine, towering +aloft to a height of more than 200 feet, offers a fine mark to +storm-winds; but it is not densely foliaged, and its long, horizontal +arms swing round compliantly in the blast, like tresses of green, +fluent algae in a brook; while the Silver Firs in most places keep +their ranks well together in united strength. The Yellow or Silver Pine +is more frequently overturned than any other tree on the Sierra, +because its leaves and branches form a larger mass in proportion to its +height, while in many places it is planted sparsely, leaving open lanes +through which storms may enter with full force. Furthermore, because it +is distributed along the lower portion of the range, which was the +first to be left bare on the breaking up of the ice-sheet at the close +of the glacial winter, the soil it is growing upon has been longer +exposed to post-glacial weathering, and consequently is in a more +crumbling, decayed condition than the fresher soils farther up the +range, and therefore offers a less secure anchorage for the roots. + +While exploring the forest zones of Mount Shasta, I discovered the path +of a hurricane strewn with thousands of pines of this species. Great +and small had been uprooted or wrenched off by sheer force, making a +clean gap, like that made by a snow avalanche. But hurricanes capable +of doing this class of work are rare in the Sierra, and when we have +explored the forests from one extremity of the range to the other, we +are compelled to believe that they are the most beautiful on the face +of the earth, however we may regard the agents that have made them so. + +There is always something deeply exciting, not only in the sounds of +winds in the woods, which exert more or less influence over every mind, +but in their varied waterlike flow as manifested by the movements of +the trees, especially those of the conifers. By no other trees are they +rendered so extensively and impressively visible, not even by the +lordly tropic palms or tree-ferns responsive to the gentlest breeze. +The waving of a forest of the giant Sequoias is indescribably +impressive and sublime, but the pines seem to me the best interpreters +of winds. They are mighty waving goldenrods, ever in tune, singing and +writing wind-music all their long century lives. Little, however, of +this noble tree-waving and tree-music will you see or hear in the +strictly alpine portion of the forests. The burly Juniper, whose girth +sometimes more than equals its height, is about as rigid as the rocks +on which it grows. The slender lash-like sprays of the Dwarf Pine +stream out in wavering ripples, but the tallest and slenderest are far +too unyielding to wave even in the heaviest gales. They only shake in +quick, short vibrations. The Hemlock Spruce, however, and the Mountain +Pine, and some of the tallest thickets of the Two-leaved species bow in +storms with considerable scope and gracefulness. But it is only in the +lower and middle zones that the meeting of winds and woods is to be +seen in all its grandeur. + +One of the most beautiful and exhilarating storms I ever enjoyed in the +Sierra occurred in December, 1874, when I happened to be exploring one +of the tributary valleys of the Yuba River. The sky and the ground and +the trees had been thoroughly rain-washed and were dry again. The day +was intensely pure, one of those incomparable bits of California +winter, warm and balmy and full of white sparkling sunshine, redolent +of all the purest influences of the spring, and at the same time +enlivened with one of the most bracing wind-storms conceivable. Instead +of camping out, as I usually do, I then chanced to be stopping at the +house of a friend. But when the storm began to sound, I lost no time in +pushing out into the woods to enjoy it. For on such occasions Nature +has always something rare to show us, and the danger to life and limb +is hardly greater than one would experience crouching deprecatingly +beneath a roof. + +It was still early morning when I found myself fairly adrift. Delicious +sunshine came pouring over the hills, lighting the tops of the pines, +and setting free a steam of summery fragrance that contrasted strangely +with the wild tones of the storm. The air was mottled with pine-tassels +and bright green plumes, that went flashing past in the sunlight like +birds pursued. But there was not the slightest dustiness, nothing less +pure than leaves, and ripe pollen, and flecks of withered bracken and +moss. I heard trees falling for hours at the rate of one every two or +three minutes; some uprooted, partly on account of the loose, +water-soaked condition of the ground; others broken straight across, +where some weakness caused by fire had determined the spot. The +gestures of the various trees made a delightful study. Young Sugar +Pines, light and feathery as squirrel-tails, were bowing almost to the +ground; while the grand old patriarchs, whose massive boles had been +tried in a hundred storms, waved solemnly above them, their long, +arching branches streaming fluently on the gale, and every needle +thrilling and ringing and shedding off keen lances of light like a +diamond. The Douglas Spruces, with long sprays drawn out in level +tresses, and needles massed in a gray, shimmering glow, presented a +most striking appearance as they stood in bold relief along the +hilltops. The madroños in the dells, with their red bark and large +glossy leaves tilted every way, reflected the sunshine in throbbing +spangles like those one so often sees on the rippled surface of a +glacier lake. But the Silver Pines were now the most impressively +beautiful of all. Colossal spires 200 feet in height waved like supple +golden-rods chanting and bowing low as if in worship, while the whole +mass of their long, tremulous foliage was kindled into one continuous +blaze of white sun-fire. The force of the gale was such that the most +steadfast monarch of them all rocked down to its roots with a motion +plainly perceptible when one leaned against it. Nature was holding high +festival, and every fiber of the most rigid giants thrilled with glad +excitement. + +I drifted on through the midst of this passionate music and motion, +across many a glen, from ridge to ridge; often halting in the lee of a +rock for shelter, or to gaze and listen. Even when the grand anthem had +swelled to its highest pitch, I could distinctly hear the varying tones +of individual trees,—Spruce, and Fir, and Pine, and leafless Oak,—and +even the infinitely gentle rustle of the withered grasses at my feet. +Each was expressing itself in its own way,—singing its own song, and +making its own peculiar gestures,—manifesting a richness of variety to +be found in no other forest I have yet seen. The coniferous woods of +Canada, and the Carolinas, and Florida, are made up of trees that +resemble one another about as nearly as blades of grass, and grow close +together in much the same way. Coniferous trees, in general, seldom +possess individual character, such as is manifest among Oaks and Elms. +But the California forests are made up of a greater number of distinct +species than any other in the world. And in them we find, not only a +marked differentiation into special groups, but also a marked +individuality in almost every tree, giving rise to storm effects +indescribably glorious. + +Toward midday, after a long, tingling scramble through copses of hazel +and ceanothus, I gained the summit of the highest ridge in the +neighborhood; and then it occurred to me that it would be a fine thing +to climb one of the trees to obtain a wider outlook and get my ear +close to the Aeolian music of its topmost needles. But under the +circumstances the choice of a tree was a serious matter. One whose +instep was not very strong seemed in danger of being blown down, or of +being struck by others in case they should fall; another was branchless +to a considerable height above the ground, and at the same time too +large to be grasped with arms and legs in climbing; while others were +not favorably situated for clear views. After cautiously casting about, +I made choice of the tallest of a group of Douglas Spruces that were +growing close together like a tuft of grass, no one of which seemed +likely to fall unless all the rest fell with it. Though comparatively +young, they were about 100 feet high, and their lithe, brushy tops were +rocking and swirling in wild ecstasy. Being accustomed to climb trees +in making botanical studies, I experienced no difficulty in reaching +the top of this one, and never before did I enjoy so noble an +exhilaration of motion. The slender tops fairly flapped and swished in +the passionate torrent, bending and swirling backward and forward, +round and round, tracing indescribable combinations of vertical and +horizontal curves, while I clung with muscles firm braced, like a +bobolink on a reed. + +[Illustration: YELLOW PINE AND LIBOCEDRUS +The two inside trees are Libocedrus, the two outside trees, Yellow +Pine.] + +In its widest sweeps my tree-top described an arc of from twenty to +thirty degrees, but I felt sure of its elastic temper, having seen +others of the same species still more severely tried—bent almost to the +ground indeed, in heavy snows—without breaking a fiber. I was therefore +safe, and free to take the wind into my pulses and enjoy the excited +forest from my superb outlook. The view from here must be extremely +beautiful in any weather. Now my eye roved over the piny hills and +dales as over fields of waving grain, and felt the light running in +ripples and broad swelling undulations across the valleys from ridge to +ridge, as the shining foliage was stirred by corresponding waves of +air. Oftentimes these waves of reflected light would break up suddenly +into a kind of beaten foam, and again, after chasing one another in +regular order, they would seem to bend forward in concentric curves, +and disappear on some hillside, like sea-waves on a shelving shore. The +quantity of light reflected from the bent needles was so great as to +make whole groves appear as if covered with snow, while the black +shadows beneath the trees greatly enhanced the effect of the silvery +splendor. + +Excepting only the shadows there was nothing somber in all this wild +sea of pines. On the contrary, notwithstanding this was the winter +season, the colors were remarkably beautiful. The shafts of the pine +and libocedrus were brown and purple, and most of the foliage was well +tinged with yellow; the laurel groves, with the pale undersides of +their leaves turned upward, made masses of gray; and then there was +many a dash of chocolate color from clumps of manzanita, and jet of +vivid crimson from the bark of the madroños, while the ground on the +hillsides, appearing here and there through openings between the +groves, displayed masses of pale purple and brown. + +The sounds of the storm corresponded gloriously with this wild +exuberance of light and motion. The profound bass of the naked branches +and boles booming like waterfalls; the quick, tense vibrations of the +pine-needles, now rising to a shrill, whistling hiss, now falling to a +silky murmur; the rustling of laurel groves in the dells, and the keen +metallic click of leaf on leaf—all this was heard in easy analysis when +the attention was calmly bent. + +The varied gestures of the multitude were seen to fine advantage, so +that one could recognize the different species at a distance of several +miles by this means alone, as well as by their forms and colors, and +the way they reflected the light. All seemed strong and comfortable, as +if really enjoying the storm, while responding to its most enthusiastic +greetings. We hear much nowadays concerning the universal struggle for +existence, but no struggle in the common meaning of the word was +manifest here; no recognition of danger by any tree; no deprecation; +but rather an invincible gladness as remote from exultation as from +fear. + +I kept my lofty perch for hours, frequently closing my eyes to enjoy +the music by itself, or to feast quietly on the delicious fragrance +that was streaming past. The fragrance of the woods was less marked +than that produced during warm rain, when so many balsamic buds and +leaves are steeped like tea; but, from the chafing of resiny branches +against each other, and the incessant attrition of myriads of needles, +the gale was spiced to a very tonic degree. And besides the fragrance +from these local sources there were traces of scents brought from afar. +For this wind came first from the sea, rubbing against its fresh, briny +waves, then distilled through the redwoods, threading rich ferny +gulches, and spreading itself in broad undulating currents over many a +flower-enameled ridge of the coast mountains, then across the golden +plains, up the purple foot-hills, and into these piny woods with the +varied incense gathered by the way. + +Winds are advertisements of all they touch, however much or little we +may be able to read them; telling their wanderings even by their scents +alone. Mariners detect the flowery perfume of land-winds far at sea, +and sea-winds carry the fragrance of dulse and tangle far inland, where +it is quickly recognized, though mingled with the scents of a thousand +land-flowers. As an illustration of this, I may tell here that I +breathed sea-air on the Firth of Forth, in Scotland, while a boy; then +was taken to Wisconsin, where I remained nineteen years; then, without +in all this time having breathed one breath of the sea, I walked +quietly, alone, from the middle of the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf +of Mexico, on a botanical excursion, and while in Florida, far from the +coast, my attention wholly bent on the splendid tropical vegetation +about me, I suddenly recognized a sea-breeze, as it came sifting +through the palmettos and blooming vine-tangles, which at once awakened +and set free a thousand dormant associations, and made me a boy again +in Scotland, as if all the intervening years had been annihilated. + +Most people like to look at mountain rivers, and bear them in mind; but +few care to look at the winds, though far more beautiful and sublime, +and though they become at times about as visible as flowing water. When +the north winds in winter are making upward sweeps over the curving +summits of the High Sierra, the fact is sometimes published with flying +snow-banners a mile long. Those portions of the winds thus embodied can +scarce be wholly invisible, even to the darkest imagination. And when +we look around over an agitated forest, we may see something of the +wind that stirs it, by its effects upon the trees. Yonder it descends +in a rush of water-like ripples, and sweeps over the bending pines from +hill to hill. Nearer, we see detached plumes and leaves, now speeding +by on level currents, now whirling in eddies, or, escaping over the +edges of the whirls, soaring aloft on grand, upswelling domes of air, +or tossing on flame-like crests. Smooth, deep currents, cascades, +falls, and swirling eddies, sing around every tree and leaf, and over +all the varied topography of the region with telling changes of form, +like mountain rivers conforming to the features of their channels. + +After tracing the Sierra streams from their fountains to the plains, +marking where they bloom white in falls, glide in crystal plumes, surge +gray and foam-filled in boulder-choked gorges, and slip through the +woods in long, tranquil reaches—after thus learning their language and +forms in detail, we may at length hear them chanting all together in +one grand anthem, and comprehend them all in clear inner vision, +covering the range like lace. But even this spectacle is far less +sublime and not a whit more substantial than what we may behold of +these storm-streams of air in the mountain woods. + +We all travel the milky way together, trees and men; but it never +occurred to me until this storm-day, while swinging in the wind, that +trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make many journeys, +not extensive ones, it is true; but our own little journeys, away and +back again, are only little more than tree-wavings—many of them not so +much. + +When the storm began to abate, I dismounted and sauntered down through +the calming woods. The storm-tones died away, and, turning toward the +east, I beheld the countless hosts of the forests hushed and tranquil, +towering above one another on the slopes of the hills like a devout +audience. The setting sun filled them with amber light, and seemed to +say, while they listened, “My peace I give unto you.” + +As I gazed on the impressive scene, all the so-called ruin of the storm +was forgotten, and never before did these noble woods appear so fresh, +so joyous, so immortal. + + + + +CHAPTER XI +THE RIVER FLOODS + + +The Sierra rivers are flooded every spring by the melting of the snow +as regularly as the famous old Nile. They begin to rise in May, and in +June high-water mark is reached. But because the melting does not go on +rapidly over all the fountains, high and low, simultaneously, and the +melted snow is not reinforced at this time of year by rain, the spring +floods are seldom very violent or destructive. The thousand falls, +however, and the cascades in the cañons are then in full bloom, and +sing songs from one end of the range to the other. Of course the snow +on the lower tributaries of the rivers is first melted, then that on +the higher fountains most exposed to sunshine, and about a month later +the cooler, shadowy fountains send down their treasures, thus allowing +the main trunk streams nearly six weeks to get their waters hurried +through the foot-hills and across the lowlands to the sea. Therefore +very violent spring floods are avoided, and will be as long as the +shading, restraining forests last. The rivers of the north half of the +range are still less subject to sudden floods, because their upper +fountains in great part lie protected from the changes of the weather +beneath thick folds of lava, just as many of the rivers of Alaska lie +beneath folds of ice, coming to the light farther down the range in +large springs, while those of the high Sierra lie on the surface of +solid granite, exposed to every change of temperature. More than ninety +per cent. of the water derived from the snow and ice of Mount Shasta is +at once absorbed and drained away beneath the porous lava folds of the +mountain, where mumbling and groping in the dark they at length find +larger fissures and tunnel-like caves from which they emerge, filtered +and cool, in the form of large springs, some of them so large they give +birth to rivers that set out on their journeys beneath the sun without +any visible intermediate period of childhood. Thus the Shasta River +issues from a large lake-like spring in Shasta Valley, and about two +thirds of the volume of the McCloud River gushes forth suddenly from +the face of a lava bluff in a roaring spring seventy-five yards wide. + +These spring rivers of the north are of course shorter than those of +the south whose tributaries extend up to the tops of the mountains. +Fall River, an important tributary of the Pitt or Upper Sacramento, is +only about ten miles long, and is all falls, cascades, and springs from +its head to its confluence with the Pitt. Bountiful springs, charmingly +embowered, issue from the rocks at one end of it, a snowy fall a +hundred and eighty feet high thunders at the other, and a rush of +crystal rapids sing and dance between. Of course such streams are but +little affected by the weather. Sheltered from evaporation their flow +is nearly as full in the autumn as in the time of general spring +floods. While those of the high Sierra diminish to less than the +hundredth part of their springtime prime, shallowing in autumn to a +series of silent pools among the rocks and hollows of their channels, +connected by feeble, creeping threads of water, like the sluggish +sentences of a tired writer, connected by a drizzle of “ands” and +“buts.” Strange to say, the greatest floods occur in winter, when one +would suppose all the wild waters would be muffled and chained in frost +and snow. The same long, all-day storms of the so-called Rainy Season +in California, that give rain to the lowlands, give dry frosty snow to +the mountains. But at rare intervals warm rains and warm winds invade +the mountains and push back the snow line from 2000 feet to 8000, or +even higher, and then come the big floods. + +I was usually driven down out of the High Sierra about the end of +November, but the winter of 1874 and 1875 was so warm and calm that I +was tempted to seek general views of the geology and topography of the +basin of Feather River in January. And I had just completed a hasty +survey of the region, and made my way down to winter quarters, when one +of the grandest flood-storms that I ever saw broke on the mountains. I +was then in the edge of the main forest belt at a small foot-hill town +called Knoxville, on the divide between the waters of the Feather and +Yuba rivers. The cause of this notable flood was simply a sudden and +copious fall of warm wind and rain on the basins of these rivers at a +time when they contained a considerable quantity of snow. The rain was +so heavy and long-sustained that it was, of itself, sufficient to make +a good wild flood, while the snow which the warm wind and rain melted +on the upper and middle regions of the basins was sufficient to make +another flood equal to that of the rain. Now these two distinct +harvests of flood waters were gathered simultaneously and poured out on +the plain in one magnificent avalanche. The basins of the Yuba and +Feather, like many others of the Sierra, are admirably adapted to the +growth of floods of this kind. Their many tributaries radiate far and +wide, comprehending extensive areas, and the tributaries are steeply +inclined, while the trunks are comparatively level. While the +flood-storm was in progress the thermometer at Knoxville ranged between +44° and 50°; and when warm wind and warm rain fall simultaneously on +snow contained in basins like these, both the rain and that portion of +the snow which the rain and wind melt are at first sponged up and held +back until the combined mass becomes sludge, which at length, suddenly +dissolving, slips and descends all together to the trunk channel; and +since the deeper the stream the faster it flows, the flooded portion of +the current above overtakes the slower foot-hill portion below it, and +all sweeping forward together with a high, overcurling front, debouches +on the open plain with a violence and suddenness that at first seem +wholly unaccountable. The destructiveness of the lower portion of this +particular flood was somewhat augmented by mining gravel in the river +channels, and by levees which gave way after having at first restrained +and held back the accumulating waters. These exaggerating conditions +did not, however, greatly influence the general result, the main effect +having been caused by the rare combination of flood factors indicated +above. It is a pity that but few people meet and enjoy storms so noble +as this in their homes in the mountains, for, spending themselves in +the open levels of the plains, they are likely to be remembered more by +the bridges and houses they carry away than by their beauty or the +thousand blessings they bring to the fields and gardens of Nature. + +On the morning of the flood, January 19th, all the Feather and Yuba +landscapes were covered with running water, muddy torrents filled every +gulch and ravine, and the sky was thick with rain. The pines had long +been sleeping in sunshine; they were now awake, roaring and waving with +the beating storm, and the winds sweeping along the curves of hill and +dale, streaming through the woods, surging and gurgling on the tops of +rocky ridges, made the wildest of wild storm melody. + +It was easy to see that only a small part of the rain reached the +ground in the form of drops. Most of it was thrashed into dusty spray +like that into which small waterfalls are divided when they dash on +shelving rocks. Never have I seen water coming from the sky in denser +or more passionate streams. The wind chased the spray forward in +choking drifts, and compelled me again and again to seek shelter in the +dell copses and back of large trees to rest and catch my breath. +Wherever I went, on ridges or in hollows, enthusiastic water still +flashed and gurgled about my ankles, recalling a wild winter flood in +Yosemite when a hundred waterfalls came booming and chanting together +and filled the grand valley with a sea-like roar. + +After drifting an hour or two in the lower woods, I set out for the +summit of a hill 900 feet high, with a view to getting as near the +heart of the storm as possible. In order to reach it I had to cross Dry +Creek, a tributary of the Yuba that goes crawling along the base of the +hill on the northwest. It was now a booming river as large as the +Tuolumne at ordinary stages, its current brown with mining-mud washed +down from many a “claim,” and mottled with sluice-boxes, fence-rails, +and logs that had long lain above its reach. A slim foot-bridge +stretched across it, now scarcely above the swollen current. Here I was +glad to linger, gazing and listening, while the storm was in its +richest mood—the gray rain-flood above, the brown river-flood beneath. +The language of the river was scarcely less enchanting than that of the +wind and rain; the sublime overboom of the main bouncing, exulting +current, the swash and gurgle of the eddies, the keen dash and clash of +heavy waves breaking against rocks, and the smooth, downy hush of +shallow currents feeling their way through the willow thickets of the +margin. And amid all this varied throng of sounds I heard the smothered +bumping and rumbling of boulders on the bottom as they were shoving and +rolling forward against one another in a wild rush, after having lain +still for probably 100 years or more. + +The glad creek rose high above its banks and wandered from its channel +out over many a briery sand-flat and meadow. Alders and willows +waist-deep were bearing up against the current with nervous trembling +gestures, as if afraid of being carried away, while supple branches +bending confidingly, dipped lightly and rose again, as if stroking the +wild waters in play. Leaving the bridge and passing on through the +storm-thrashed woods, all the ground seemed to be moving. Pine-tassels, +flakes of bark, soil, leaves, and broken branches were being swept +forward, and many a rock-fragment, weathered from exposed ledges, was +now receiving its first rounding and polishing in the wild streams of +the storm. On they rushed through every gulch and hollow, leaping, +gliding, working with a will, and rejoicing like living creatures. + +Nor was the flood confined to the ground. Every tree had a water system +of its own spreading far and wide like miniature Amazons and +Mississippis. + +Toward midday, cloud, wind, and rain reached their highest development. +The storm was in full bloom, and formed, from my commanding outlook on +the hilltop, one of the most glorious views I ever beheld. As far as +the eye could reach, above, beneath, around, wind-driven rain filled +the air like one vast waterfall. Detached clouds swept imposingly up +the valley, as if they were endowed with independent motion and had +special work to do in replenishing the mountain wells, now rising above +the pine-tops, now descending into their midst, fondling their arrowy +spires and soothing every branch and leaf with gentleness in the midst +of all the savage sound and motion. Others keeping near the ground +glided behind separate groves, and brought them forward into relief +with admirable distinctness; or, passing in front, eclipsed whole +groves in succession, pine after pine melting in their gray fringes and +bursting forth again seemingly clearer than before. + +The forms of storms are in great part measured, and controlled by the +topography of the regions where they rise and over which they pass. +When, therefore, we attempt to study them from the valleys, or from +gaps and openings of the forest, we are confounded by a multitude of +separate and apparently antagonistic impressions. The bottom of the +storm is broken up into innumerable waves and currents that surge +against the hillsides like sea-waves against a shore, and these, +reacting on the nether surface of the storm, erode immense cavernous +hollows and cañons, and sweep forward the resulting detritus in long +trains, like the moraines of glaciers. But, as we ascend, these +partial, confusing effects disappear and the phenomena are beheld +united and harmonious. + +The longer I gazed into the storm, the more plainly visible it became. +The drifting cloud detritus gave it a kind of visible body, which +explained many perplexing phenomena, and published its movements in +plain terms, while the texture of the falling mass of rain rounded it +out and rendered it more complete. Because raindrops differ in size +they fall at different velocities and overtake and clash against one +another, producing mist and spray. They also, of course, yield unequal +compliance to the force of the wind, which gives rise to a still +greater degree of interference, and passionate gusts sweep off clouds +of spray from the groves like that torn from wave-tops in a gale. All +these factors of irregularity in density, color, and texture of the +general rain mass tend to make it the more appreciable and telling. It +is then seen as one grand flood rushing over bank and brae, bending the +pines like weeds, curving this way and that, whirling in huge eddies in +hollows and dells, while the main current pours grandly over all, like +ocean currents over the landscapes that lie hidden at the bottom of the +sea. + +I watched the gestures of the pines while the storm was at its height, +and it was easy to see that they were not distressed. Several large +Sugar Pines stood near the thicket in which I was sheltered, bowing +solemnly and tossing their long arms as if interpreting the very words +of the storm while accepting its wildest onsets with passionate +exhilaration. The lions were feeding. Those who have observed +sunflowers feasting on sunshine during the golden days of Indian summer +know that none of their gestures express thankfulness. Their celestial +food is too heartily given, too heartily taken to leave room for +thanks. The pines were evidently accepting the benefactions of the +storm in the same whole-souled manner; and when I looked down among the +budding hazels, and still lower to the young violets and fern-tufts on +the rocks, I noticed the same divine methods of giving and taking, and +the same exquisite adaptations of what seems an outbreak of violent and +uncontrollable force to the purposes of beautiful and delicate life. +Calms like sleep come upon landscapes, just as they do on people and +trees, and storms awaken them in the same way. In the dry midsummer of +the lower portion of the range the withered hills and valleys seem to +lie as empty and expressionless as dead shells on a shore. Even the +highest mountains may be found occasionally dull and uncommunicative as +if in some way they had lost countenance and shrunk to less than half +their real stature. But when the lightnings crash and echo in the +cañons, and the clouds come down wreathing and crowning their bald +snowy heads, every feature beams with expression and they rise again in +all their imposing majesty. + +Storms are fine speakers, and tell all they know, but their voices of +lightning, torrent, and rushing wind are much less numerous than the +nameless still, small voices too low for human ears; and because we are +poor listeners we fail to catch much that is fairly within reach. Our +best rains are heard mostly on roofs, and winds in chimneys; and when +by choice or compulsion we are pushed into the heart of a storm, the +confusion made by cumbersome equipments and nervous haste and mean +fear, prevent our hearing any other than the loudest expressions. Yet +we may draw enjoyment from storm sounds that are beyond hearing, and +storm movements we cannot see. The sublime whirl of planets around +their suns is as silent as raindrops oozing in the dark among the roots +of plants. In this great storm, as in every other, there were tones and +gestures inexpressibly gentle manifested in the midst of what is called +violence and fury, but easily recognized by all who look and listen for +them. The rain brought out the colors of the woods with delightful +freshness, the rich brown of the bark of the trees and the fallen burs +and leaves and dead ferns; the grays of rocks and lichens; the light +purple of swelling buds, and the warm yellow greens of the libocedrus +and mosses. The air was steaming with delightful fragrance, not rising +and wafting past in separate masses, but diffused through all the +atmosphere. Pine woods are always fragrant, but most so in spring when +the young tassels are opening and in warm weather when the various gums +and balsams are softened by the sun. The wind was now chafing their +innumerable needles and the warm rain was steeping them. Monardella +grows here in large beds in the openings, and there is plenty of laurel +in dells and manzanita on the hillsides, and the rosy, fragrant +chamoebatia carpets the ground almost everywhere. These, with the gums +and balsams of the woods, form the main local fragrance-fountains of +the storm. The ascending clouds of aroma wind-rolled and rain-washed +became pure like light and traveled with the wind as part of it. Toward +the middle of the afternoon the main flood cloud lifted along its +western border revealing a beautiful section of the Sacramento Valley +some twenty or thirty miles away, brilliantly sun-lighted and +glistering with rain-sheets as if paved with silver. Soon afterward a +jagged bluff-like cloud with a sheer face appeared over the valley of +the Yuba, dark-colored and roughened with numerous furrows like some +huge lava-table. The blue Coast Range was seen stretching along the sky +like a beveled wall, and the somber, craggy Marysville Buttes rose +impressively out of the flooded plain like islands out of the sea. Then +the rain began to abate and I sauntered down through the dripping +bushes reveling in the universal vigor and freshness that inspired all +the life about me. How clean and unworn and immortal the woods seemed +to be!—the lofty cedars in full bloom laden with golden pollen and +their washed plumes shining; the pines rocking gently and settling back +into rest, and the evening sunbeams spangling on the broad leaves of +the madroños, their tracery of yellow boughs relieved against dusky +thickets of Chestnut Oak; liverworts, lycopodiums, ferns were exulting +in glorious revival, and every moss that had ever lived seemed to be +coming crowding back from the dead to clothe each trunk and stone in +living green. The steaming ground seemed fairly to throb and tingle +with life; smilax, fritillaria, saxifrage, and young violets were +pushing up as if already conscious of the summer glory, and innumerable +green and yellow buds were peeping and smiling everywhere. + +As for the birds and squirrels, not a wing or tail of them was to be +seen while the storm was blowing. Squirrels dislike wet weather more +than cats do; therefore they were at home rocking in their dry nests. +The birds were hiding in the dells out of the wind, some of the +strongest of them pecking at acorns and manzanita berries, but most +were perched on low twigs, their breast feathers puffed out and keeping +one another company through the hard time as best they could. + +When I arrived at the village about sundown, the good people bestirred +themselves, pitying my bedraggled condition as if I were some benumbed +castaway snatched from the sea, while I, in turn, warm with excitement +and reeking like the ground, pitied them for being dry and defrauded of +all the glory that Nature had spread round about them that day. + + + + +CHAPTER XII +SIERRA THUNDER-STORMS + + +The weather of spring and summer in the middle region of the Sierra is +usually well flecked with rains and light dustings of snow, most of +which are far too obviously joyful and life-giving to be regarded as +storms; and in the picturesque beauty and clearness of outlines of +their clouds they offer striking contrasts to those boundless, +all-embracing cloud-mantles of the storms of winter. The smallest and +most perfectly individualized specimens present a richly modeled +cumulous cloud rising above the dark woods, about 11 A.M., swelling +with a visible motion straight up into the calm, sunny sky to a height +of 12,000 to 14,000 feet above the sea, its white, pearly bosses +relieved by gray and pale purple shadows in the hollows, and showing +outlines as keenly defined as those of the glacier-polished domes. In +less than an hour it attains full development and stands poised in the +blazing sunshine like some colossal mountain, as beautiful in form and +finish as if it were to become a permanent addition to the landscape. +Presently a thunderbolt crashes through the crisp air, ringing like +steel on steel, sharp and clear, its startling detonation breaking into +a spray of echoes against the cliffs and cañon walls. Then down comes a +cataract of rain. The big drops sift through the pine-needles, plash +and patter on the granite pavements, and pour down the sides of ridges +and domes in a network of gray, bubbling rills. In a few minutes the +cloud withers to a mesh of dim filaments and disappears, leaving the +sky perfectly clear and bright, every dust-particle wiped and washed +out of it. Everything is refreshed and invigorated, a steam of +fragrance rises, and the storm is finished—one cloud, one +lightning-stroke, and one dash of rain. This is the Sierra mid-summer +thunder-storm reduced to its lowest terms. But some of them attain much +larger proportions, and assume a grandeur and energy of expression +hardly surpassed by those bred in the depths of winter, producing those +sudden floods called “cloud-bursts,” which are local, and to a +considerable extent periodical, for they appear nearly every day about +the same time for weeks, usually about eleven o’clock, and lasting from +five minutes to an hour or two. One soon becomes so accustomed to see +them that the noon sky seems empty and abandoned without them, as if +Nature were forgetting something. When the glorious pearl and alabaster +clouds of these noonday storms are being built I never give attention +to anything else. No mountain or mountain-range, however divinely +clothed with light, has a more enduring charm than those fleeting +mountains of the sky—floating fountains bearing water for every well, +the angels of the streams and lakes; brooding in the deep azure, or +sweeping softly along the ground over ridge and dome, over meadow, over +forest, over garden and grove; lingering with cooling shadows, +refreshing every flower, and soothing rugged rock-brows with a +gentleness of touch and gesture wholly divine. + +[Illustration: BRIDAL VEIL FALLS, YOSEMITE VALLEY.] + +The most beautiful and imposing of the summer storms rise just above +the upper edge of the Silver Fir zone, and all are so beautiful that it +is not easy to choose any one for particular description. The one that +I remember best fell on the mountains near Yosemite Valley, July 19, +1869, while I was encamped in the Silver Fir woods. A range of bossy +cumuli took possession of the sky, huge domes and peaks rising one +beyond another with deep cañons between them, bending this way and that +in long curves and reaches, interrupted here and there with white +upboiling masses that looked like the spray of waterfalls. Zigzag +lances of lightning followed each other in quick succession, and the +thunder was so gloriously loud and massive it seemed as if surely an +entire mountain was being shattered at every stroke. Only the trees +were touched, however, so far as I could see,—a few firs 200 feet high, +perhaps, and five to six feet in diameter, were split into long rails +and slivers from top to bottom and scattered to all points of the +compass. Then came the rain in a hearty flood, covering the ground and +making it shine with a continuous sheet of water that, like a +transparent film or skin, fitted closely down over all the rugged +anatomy of the landscape. + +It is not long, geologically speaking, since the first raindrop fell on +the present landscapes of the Sierra; and in the few tens of thousands +of years of stormy cultivation they have been blest with, how beautiful +they have become! The first rains fell on raw, crumbling moraines and +rocks without a plant. Now scarcely a drop can fail to find a beautiful +mark: on the tops of the peaks, on the smooth glacier pavements, on the +curves of the domes, on moraines full of crystals, on the thousand +forms of yosemitic sculpture with their tender beauty of balmy, flowery +vegetation, laving, plashing, glinting, pattering; some falling softly +on meadows, creeping out of sight, seeking and finding every thirsty +rootlet, some through the spires of the woods, sifting in dust through +the needles, and whispering good cheer to each of them; some falling +with blunt tapping sounds, drumming on the broad leaves of veratrum, +cypripedium, saxifrage; some falling straight into fragrant corollas, +kissing the lips of lilies, glinting on the sides of crystals, on +shining grains of gold; some falling into the fountains of snow to +swell their well-saved stores; some into the lakes and rivers, patting +the smooth glassy levels, making dimples and bells and spray, washing +the mountain windows, washing the wandering winds; some plashing into +the heart of snowy falls and cascades as if eager to join in the dance +and the song and beat the foam yet finer. Good work and happy work for +the merry mountain raindrops, each one of them a brave fall in itself, +rushing from the cliffs and hollows of the clouds into the cliffs and +hollows of the mountains; away from the thunder of the sky into the +thunder of the roaring rivers. And how far they have to go, and how +many cups to fill—cassiope-cups, holding half a drop, and lake basins +between the hills, each replenished with equal care—every drop God’s +messenger sent on its way with glorious pomp and display of +power—silvery new-born stars with lake and river, mountain and +valley—all that the landscape holds—reflected in their crystal depths. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +THE WATER-OUZEL + + +The waterfalls of the Sierra are frequented by only one bird,—the Ouzel +or Water Thrush (_Cinclus Mexicanus_, SW.). He is a singularly joyous +and lovable little fellow, about the size of a robin, clad in a plain +waterproof suit of bluish gray, with a tinge of chocolate on the head +and shoulders. In form he is about as smoothly plump and compact as a +pebble that has been whirled in a pot-hole, the flowing contour of his +body being interrupted only by his strong feet and bill, the crisp +wing-tips, and the up-slanted wren-like tail. Among all the countless +waterfalls I have met in the course of ten years’ exploration in the +Sierra, whether among the icy peaks, or warm foot-hills, or in the +profound yosemitic cañons of the middle region, not one was found +without its Ouzel. No cañon is too cold for this little bird, none too +lonely, provided it be rich in falling water. Find a fall, or cascade, +or rushing rapid, anywhere upon a clear stream, and there you will +surely find its complementary Ouzel, flitting about in the spray, +diving in foaming eddies, whirling like a leaf among beaten foam-bells; +ever vigorous and enthusiastic, yet self-contained, and neither seeking +nor shunning your company. + +[Illustration: WATER-OUZEL DIVING AND FEEDING.] + +If disturbed while dipping about in the margin shallows, he either sets +off with a rapid whir to some other feeding-ground up or down the +stream, or alights on some half-submerged rock or snag out in the +current, and immediately begins to nod and courtesy like a wren, +turning his head from side to side with many other odd dainty movements +that never fail to fix the attention of the observer. + +He is the mountain streams’ own darling, the humming-bird of blooming +waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves +flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and meadows. Among all the mountain +birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings,—none so +unfailingly. For both in winter and summer he sings, sweetly, cheerily, +independent alike of sunshine and of love, requiring no other +inspiration than the stream on which he dwells. While water sings, so +must he, in heat or cold, calm or storm, ever attuning his voice in +sure accord; low in the drought of summer and the drought of winter, +but never silent. + +During the golden days of Indian summer, after most of the snow has +been melted, and the mountain streams have become feeble,—a succession +of silent pools, linked together by shallow, transparent currents and +strips of silvery lacework,—then the song of the Ouzel is at its lowest +ebb. But as soon as the winter clouds have bloomed, and the mountain +treasuries are once more replenished with snow, the voices of the +streams and ouzels increase in strength and richness until the flood +season of early summer. Then the torrents chant their noblest anthems, +and then is the flood-time of our songster’s melody. As for weather, +dark days and sun days are the same to him. The voices of most +song-birds, however joyous, suffer a long winter eclipse; but the Ouzel +sings on through all the seasons and every kind of storm. Indeed no +storm can be more violent than those of the waterfalls in the midst of +which he delights to dwell. However dark and boisterous the weather, +snowing, blowing, or cloudy, all the same he sings, and with never a +note of sadness. No need of spring sunshine to thaw _his_ song, for it +never freezes. Never shall you hear anything wintry from _his_ warm +breast; no pinched cheeping, no wavering notes between sorrow and joy; +his mellow, fluty voice is ever tuned to downright gladness, as free +from dejection as cock-crowing. + +It is pitiful to see wee frost-pinched sparrows on cold mornings in the +mountain groves shaking the snow from their feathers, and hopping about +as if anxious to be cheery, then hastening back to their hidings out of +the wind, puffing out their breast-feathers over their toes, and +subsiding among the leaves, cold and breakfastless, while the snow +continues to fall, and there is no sign of clearing. But the Ouzel +never calls forth a single touch of pity; not because he is strong to +endure, but rather because he seems to live a charmed life beyond the +reach of every influence that makes endurance necessary. + +One wild winter morning, when Yosemite Valley was swept its length from +west to east by a cordial snow-storm, I sallied forth to see what I +might learn and enjoy. A sort of gray, gloaming-like darkness filled +the valley, the huge walls were out of sight, all ordinary sounds were +smothered, and even the loudest booming of the falls was at times +buried beneath the roar of the heavy-laden blast. The loose snow was +already over five feet deep on the meadows, making extended walks +impossible without the aid of snow-shoes. I found no great difficulty, +however, in making my way to a certain ripple on the river where one of +my ouzels lived. He was at home, busily gleaning his breakfast among +the pebbles of a shallow portion of the margin, apparently unaware of +anything extraordinary in the weather. Presently he flew out to a stone +against which the icy current was beating, and turning his back to the +wind, sang as delightfully as a lark in springtime. + +After spending an hour or two with my favorite, I made my way across +the valley, boring and wallowing through the drifts, to learn as +definitely as possible how the other birds were spending their time. +The Yosemite birds are easily found during the winter because all of +them excepting the Ouzel are restricted to the sunny north side of the +valley, the south side being constantly eclipsed by the great frosty +shadow of the wall. And because the Indian Cañon groves, from their +peculiar exposure, are the warmest, the birds congregate there, more +especially in severe weather. + +I found most of the robins cowering on the lee side of the larger +branches where the snow could not fall upon them, while two or three of +the more enterprising were making desperate efforts to reach the +mistletoe berries by clinging nervously to the under side of the +snow-crowned masses, back downward, like woodpeckers. Every now and +then they would dislodge some of the loose fringes of the snow-crown, +which would come sifting down on them and send them screaming back to +camp, where they would subside among their companions with a shiver, +muttering in low, querulous chatter like hungry children. + +Some of the sparrows were busy at the feet of the larger trees gleaning +seeds and benumbed insects, joined now and then by a robin weary of his +unsuccessful attempts upon the snow-covered berries. The brave +woodpeckers were clinging to the snowless sides of the larger boles and +overarching branches of the camp trees, making short nights from side +to side of the grove, pecking now and then at the acorns they had +stored in the bark, and chattering aimlessly as if unable to keep +still, yet evidently putting in the time in a very dull way, like +storm-bound travelers at a country tavern. The hardy nut-hatches were +threading the open furrows of the trunks in their usual industrious +manner, and uttering their quaint notes, evidently less distressed than +their neighbors. The Steller jays were of course making more noisy stir +than all the other birds combined; ever coming and going with loud +bluster, screaming as if each had a lump of melting sludge in his +throat, and taking good care to improve the favorable opportunity +afforded by the storm to steal from the acorn stores of the +woodpeckers. I also noticed one solitary gray eagle braving the storm +on the top of a tall pine-stump just outside the main grove. He was +standing bolt upright with his back to the wind, a tuft of snow piled +on his square shoulders, a monument of passive endurance. Thus every +snow-bound bird seemed more or less uncomfortable if not in positive +distress. + +The storm was reflected in every gesture, and not one cheerful note, +not to say song, came from a single bill; their cowering, joyless +endurance offering a striking contrast to the spontaneous, +irrepressible gladness of the Ouzel, who could no more help exhaling +sweet song than a rose sweet fragrance. He _must_ sing though the +heavens fall. I remember noticing the distress of a pair of robins +during the violent earthquake of the year 1872, when the pines of the +Valley, with strange movements, flapped and waved their branches, and +beetling rock-brows came thundering down to the meadows in tremendous +avalanches. It did not occur to me in the midst of the excitement of +other observations to look for the ouzels, but I doubt not they were +singing straight on through it all, regarding the terrible rock-thunder +as fearlessly as they do the booming of the waterfalls. + +What may be regarded as the separate songs of the Ouzel are exceedingly +difficult of description, because they are so variable and at the same +time so confluent. Though I have been acquainted with my favorite ten +years, and during most of this time have heard him sing nearly every +day, I still detect notes and strains that seem new to me. Nearly all +of his music is sweet and tender, lapsing from his round breast like +water over the smooth lip of a pool, then breaking farther on into a +sparkling foam of melodious notes, which, glow with subdued enthusiasm, +yet without expressing much of the strong, gushing ecstasy of the +bobolink or skylark. + +The more striking strains are perfect arabesques of melody, composed of +a few full, round, mellow notes, embroidered with delicate trills which +fade and melt in long slender cadences. In a general way his music is +that of the streams refined and spiritualized. The deep booming notes +of the falls are in it, the trills of rapids, the gurgling of margin +eddies, the low whispering of level reaches, and the sweet tinkle of +separate drops oozing from the ends of mosses and falling into tranquil +pools. + +The Ouzel never sings in chorus with other birds, nor with his kind, +but only with the streams. And like flowers that bloom beneath the +surface of the ground, some of our favorite’s best song-blossoms never +rise above the surface of the heavier music of the water. I have often +observed him singing in the midst of beaten spray, his music completely +buried beneath the water’s roar; yet I knew he was surely singing by +his gestures and the movements of his bill. + +His food, as far as I have noticed, consists of all kinds of water +insects, which in summer are chiefly procured along shallow margins. +Here he wades about ducking his head under water and deftly turning +over pebbles and fallen leaves with his bill, seldom choosing to go +into deep water where he has to use his wings in diving. + +He seems to be especially fond of the larvae; of mosquitos, found in +abundance attached to the bottom of smooth rock channels where the +current is shallow. When feeding in such places he wades up-stream, and +often while his head is under water the swift current is deflected +upward along the glossy curves of his neck and shoulders, in the form +of a clear, crystalline shell, which fairly incloses him like a +bell-glass, the shell being broken and re-formed as he lifts and dips +his head; while ever and anon he sidles out to where the too powerful +current carries him off his feet; then he dexterously rises on the wing +and goes gleaning again in shallower places. + +But during the winter, when the stream-banks are embossed in snow, and +the streams themselves are chilled nearly to the freezing-point, so +that the snow falling into them in stormy weather is not wholly +dissolved, but forms a thin, blue sludge, thus rendering the current +opaque—then he seeks the deeper portions of the main rivers, where he +may dive to clear water beneath the sludge. Or he repairs to some open +lake or mill-pond, at the bottom of which he feeds in safety. + +When thus compelled to betake himself to a lake, he does not plunge +into it at once like a duck, but always alights in the first place upon +some rock or fallen pine along the shore. Then flying out thirty or +forty yards, more or less, according to the character of the bottom, he +alights with a dainty glint on the surface, swims about, looks down, +finally makes up his mind, and disappears with a sharp stroke of his +wings. After feeding for two or three minutes he suddenly reappears, +showers the water from his wings with one vigorous shake, and rises +abruptly into the air as if pushed up from beneath, comes back to his +perch, sings a few minutes, and goes out to dive again; thus coming and +going, singing and diving at the same place for hours. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE LATE-SUMMER FEEDING-GROUNDS OF THE OUZEL.] + +The Ouzel is usually found singly; rarely in pairs, excepting during +the breeding season, and _very_ rarely in threes or fours. I once +observed three thus spending a winter morning in company, upon a small +glacier lake, on the Upper Merced, about 7500 feet above the level of +the sea. A storm had occurred during the night, but the morning sun +shone unclouded, and the shadowy lake, gleaming darkly in its setting +of fresh snow, lay smooth and motionless as a mirror. My camp chanced +to be within a few feet of the water’s edge, opposite a fallen pine, +some of the branches of which leaned out over the lake. Here my three +dearly welcome visitors took up their station, and at once began to +embroider the frosty air with their delicious melody, doubly delightful +to me that particular morning, as I had been somewhat apprehensive of +danger in breaking my way down through the snow-choked cañons to the +lowlands. + +The portion of the lake bottom selected for a feeding-ground lies at a +depth of fifteen or twenty feet below the surface, and is covered with +a short growth of algae and other aquatic plants,—facts I had +previously determined while sailing over it on a raft. After alighting +on the glassy surface, they occasionally indulged in a little play, +chasing one another round about in small circles; then all three would +suddenly dive together, and then come ashore and sing. + +The Ouzel seldom swims more than a few yards on the surface, for, not +being web-footed, he makes rather slow progress, but by means of his +strong, crisp wings he swims, or rather flies, with celerity under the +surface, often to considerable distances. But it is in withstanding the +force of heavy rapids that his strength of wing in this respect is most +strikingly manifested. The following may be regarded as a fair +illustration of his power of sub-aquatic flight. One stormy morning in +winter when the Merced River was blue and green with unmelted snow, I +observed one of my ouzels perched on a snag out in the midst of a +swift-rushing rapid, singing cheerily, as if everything was just to his +mind; and while I stood on the bank admiring him, he suddenly plunged +into the sludgy current, leaving his song abruptly broken off. After +feeding a minute or two at the bottom, and when one would suppose that +he must inevitably be swept far down-stream, he emerged just where he +went down, alighted on the same snag, showered the water-beads from his +feathers, and continued his unfinished song, seemingly in tranquil ease +as if it had suffered no interruption. + +[Illustration: OUZEL ENTERING A WHITE CURRENT.] + +The Ouzel alone of all birds dares to enter a white torrent. And though +strictly terrestrial in structure, no other is so inseparably related +to water, not even the duck, or the bold ocean albatross, or the +stormy-petrel. For ducks go ashore as soon as they finish feeding in +undisturbed places, and very often make long flights over land from +lake to lake or field to field. The same is true of most other aquatic +birds. But the Ouzel, born on the brink of a stream, or on a snag or +boulder in the midst of it, seldom leaves it for a single moment. For, +notwithstanding he is often on the wing, he never flies overland, but +whirs with, rapid, quail-like beat above the stream, tracing all its +windings. Even when the stream is quite small, say from five to ten +feet wide, he seldom shortens his flight by crossing a bend, however +abrupt it may be; and even when disturbed by meeting some one on the +bank, he prefers to fly over one’s head, to dodging out over the +ground. When, therefore, his flight along a crooked stream is viewed +endwise, it appears most strikingly wavered—a description on the air of +every curve with lightning-like rapidity. + +The vertical curves and angles of the most precipitous torrents he +traces with the same rigid fidelity, swooping down the inclines of +cascades, dropping sheer over dizzy falls amid the spray, and ascending +with the same fearlessness and ease, seldom seeking to lessen the +steepness of the acclivity by beginning to ascend before reaching the +base of the fall. No matter though it may be several hundred feet in +height he holds straight on, as if about to dash headlong into the +throng of booming rockets, then darts abruptly upward, and, after +alighting at the top of the precipice to rest a moment, proceeds to +feed and sing. His flight is solid and impetuous, without any +intermission of wing-beats,—one homogeneous buzz like that of a laden +bee on its way home. And while thus buzzing freely from fall to fall, +he is frequently heard giving utterance to a long outdrawn train of +unmodulated notes, in no way connected with his song, but corresponding +closely with his flight in sustained vigor. + +Were the flights of all the ouzels in the Sierra traced on a chart, +they would indicate the direction of the flow of the entire system of +ancient glaciers, from about the period of the breaking up of the +ice-sheet until near the close of the glacial winter; because the +streams which the ouzels so rigidly follow are, with the unimportant +exceptions of a few side tributaries, all flowing in channels eroded +for them out of the solid flank of the range by the vanished +glaciers,—the streams tracing the ancient glaciers, the ouzels tracing +the streams. Nor do we find so complete compliance to glacial +conditions in the life of any other mountain bird, or animal of any +kind. Bears frequently accept the pathways laid down by glaciers as the +easiest to travel; but they often leave them and cross over from cañon +to cañon. So also, most of the birds trace the moraines to some extent, +because the forests are growing on them. But they wander far, crossing +the cañons from grove to grove, and draw exceedingly angular and +complicated courses. + +The Ouzel’s nest is one of the most extraordinary pieces of bird +architecture I ever saw, odd and novel in design, perfectly fresh and +beautiful, and in every way worthy of the genius of the little builder. +It is about a foot in diameter, round and bossy in outline, with a +neatly arched opening near the bottom, somewhat like an old-fashioned +brick oven, or Hottentot’s hut. It is built almost exclusively of green +and yellow mosses, chiefly the beautiful fronded hypnum that covers the +rocks and old drift-logs in the vicinity of waterfalls. These are +deftly interwoven, and felted together into a charming little hut; and +so situated that many of the outer mosses continue to flourish as if +they had not been plucked. A few fine, silky-stemmed grasses are +occasionally found interwoven with the mosses, but, with the exception +of a thin layer lining the floor, their presence seems accidental, as +they are of a species found growing with the mosses and are probably +plucked with them. The site chosen for this curious mansion is usually +some little rock-shelf within reach of the lighter particles of the +spray of a waterfall, so that its walls are kept green and growing, at +least during the time of high water. + +No harsh lines are presented by any portion of the nest as seen in +place, but when removed from its shelf, the back and bottom, and +sometimes a portion of the top, is found quite sharply angular, because +it is made to conform to the surface of the rock upon which and against +which it is built, the little architect always taking advantage of +slight crevices and protuberances that may chance to offer, to render +his structure stable by means of a kind of gripping and dovetailing. + +In choosing a building-spot, concealment does not seem to be taken into +consideration; yet notwithstanding the nest is large and guilelessly +exposed to view, it is far from being easily detected, chiefly because +it swells forward like any other bulging moss-cushion growing naturally +in such situations. This is more especially the case where the nest is +kept fresh by being well sprinkled. Sometimes these romantic little +huts have their beauty enhanced by rock-ferns and grasses that spring +up around the mossy walls, or in front of the door-sill, dripping with +crystal beads. + +Furthermore, at certain hours of the day, when the sunshine is poured +down at the required angle, the whole mass of the spray enveloping the +fairy establishment is brilliantly irised; and it is through so +glorious a rainbow atmosphere as this that some of our blessed ouzels +obtain their first peep at the world. + +Ouzels seem so completely part and parcel of the streams they inhabit, +they scarce suggest any other origin than the streams themselves; and +one might almost be pardoned in fancying they come direct from the +living waters, like flowers from the ground. At least, from whatever +cause, it never occurred to me to look for their nests until more than +a year after I had made the acquaintance of the birds themselves, +although I found one the very day on which I began the search. In +making my way from Yosemite to the glaciers at the heads of the Merced +and Tuolumne rivers, I camped in a particularly wild and romantic +portion of the Nevada cañon where in previous excursions I had never +failed to enjoy the company of my favorites, who were attracted here, +no doubt, by the safe nesting-places in the shelving rocks, and by the +abundance of food and falling water. The river, for miles above and +below, consists of a succession of small falls from ten to sixty feet +in height, connected by flat, plume-like cascades that go flashing from +fall to fall, free and almost channelless, over waving folds of +glacier-polished granite. + +On the south side of one of the falls, that portion of the precipice +which is bathed by the spray presents a series of little shelves and +tablets caused by the development of planes of cleavage in the granite, +and by the consequent fall of masses through the action of the water. +“Now here,” said I, “of all places, is the most charming spot for an +Ouzel’s nest.” Then carefully scanning the fretted face of the +precipice through the spray, I at length noticed a yellowish +moss-cushion, growing on the edge of a level tablet within five or six +feet of the outer folds of the fall. But apart from the fact of its +being situated where one acquainted with the lives of ouzels would +fancy an Ouzel’s nest ought to be, there was nothing in its appearance +visible at first sight, to distinguish it from other bosses of +rock-moss similarly situated with reference to perennial spray; and it +was not until I had scrutinized it again and again, and had removed my +shoes and stockings and crept along the face of the rock within eight +or ten feet of it, that I could decide certainly whether it was a nest +or a natural growth. + +In these moss huts three or four eggs are laid, white like +foam-bubbles; and well may the little birds hatched from them sing +water songs, for they hear them all their lives, and even before they +are born. + +I have often observed the young just out of the nest making their odd +gestures, and seeming in every way as much at home as their experienced +parents, like young bees on their first excursions to the flower +fields. No amount of familiarity with people and their ways seems to +change them in the least. To all appearance their behavior is just the +same on seeing a man for the first time, as when they have seen him +frequently. + +[Illustration: THE OUZEL AT HOME.] + +On the lower reaches of the rivers where mills are built, they sing on +through the din of the machinery, and all the noisy confusion of dogs, +cattle, and workmen. On one occasion, while a wood-chopper was at work +on the river-bank, I observed one cheerily singing within reach of the +flying chips. Nor does any kind of unwonted disturbance put him in bad +humor, or frighten him out of calm self-possession. In passing through +a narrow gorge, I once drove one ahead of me from rapid to rapid, +disturbing him four times in quick succession where he could not very +well fly past me on account of the narrowness of the channel. Most +birds under similar circumstances fancy themselves pursued, and become +suspiciously uneasy; but, instead of growing nervous about it, he made +his usual dippings, and sang one of his most tranquil strains. When +observed within a few yards their eyes are seen to express remarkable +gentleness and intelligence; but they seldom allow so near a view +unless one wears clothing of about the same color as the rocks and +trees, and knows how to sit still. On one occasion, while rambling +along the shore of a mountain lake, where the birds, at least those +born that season, had never seen a man, I sat down to rest on a large +stone close to the water’s edge, upon which it seemed the ouzels and +sandpipers were in the habit of alighting when they came to feed on +that part of the shore, and some of the other birds also, when they +came down to wash or drink. In a few minutes, along came a whirring +Ouzel and alighted on the stone beside me, within reach of my hand. +Then suddenly observing me, he stooped nervously as if about to fly on +the instant, but as I remained as motionless as the stone, he gained +confidence, and looked me steadily in the face for about a minute, then +flew quietly to the outlet and began to sing. Next came a sandpiper and +gazed at me with much the same guileless expression of eye as the +Ouzel. Lastly, down with a swoop came a Steller’s jay out of a +fir-tree, probably with the intention of moistening his noisy throat. +But instead of sitting confidingly as my other visitors had done, he +rushed off at once, nearly tumbling heels over head into the lake in +his suspicious confusion, and with loud screams roused the +neighborhood. + +Love for song-birds, with their sweet human voices, appears to be more +common and unfailing than love for flowers. Every one loves flowers to +some extent, at least in life’s fresh morning, attracted by them as +instinctively as humming-birds and bees. Even the young Digger Indians +have sufficient love for the brightest of those found growing on the +mountains to gather them and braid them, as decorations for the hair. +And I was glad to discover, through the few Indians that could be +induced to talk on the subject, that they have names for the wild rose +and the lily, and other conspicuous flowers, whether available as food +or otherwise. Most men, however, whether savage or civilized, become +apathetic toward all plants that have no other apparent use than the +use of beauty. But fortunately one’s first instinctive love of +song-birds is never wholly obliterated, no matter what the influences +upon our lives may be. I have often been delighted to see a pure, +spiritual glow come into the countenances of hard business-men and old +miners, when a song-bird chanced to alight near them. Nevertheless, the +little mouthful of meat that swells out the breasts of some song-birds +is too often the cause of their death. Larks and robins in particular +are brought to market in hundreds. But fortunately the Ouzel has no +enemy so eager to eat his little body as to follow him into the +mountain solitudes. I never knew him to be chased even by hawks. + +An acquaintance of mine, a sort of foot-hill mountaineer, had a pet +cat, a great, dozy, overgrown creature, about as broad-shouldered as a +lynx. During the winter, while the snow lay deep, the mountaineer sat +in his lonely cabin among the pines smoking his pipe and wearing the +dull time away. Tom was his sole companion, sharing his bed, and +sitting beside him on a stool with much the same drowsy expression of +eye as his master. The good-natured bachelor was content with his hard +fare of soda-bread and bacon, but Tom, the only creature in the world +acknowledging dependence on him, must needs be provided with fresh +meat. Accordingly he bestirred himself to contrive squirrel-traps, and +waded the snowy woods with his gun, making sad havoc among the few +winter birds, sparing neither robin, sparrow, nor tiny nuthatch, and +the pleasure of seeing Tom eat and grow fat was his great reward. + +One cold afternoon, while hunting along the river-bank, he noticed a +plain-feathered little bird skipping about in the shallows, and +immediately raised his gun. But just then the confiding songster began +to sing, and after listening to his summery melody the charmed hunter +turned away, saying, “Bless your little heart, I can’t shoot you, not +even for Tom.” + +[Illustration: YOSEMITE BIRDS, SNOW-BOUND AT THE FOOT OF INDIAN +CAÑON.] + +Even so far north as icy Alaska, I have found my glad singer. When I +was exploring the glaciers between Mount Fairweather and the Stikeen +River, one cold day in November, after trying in vain to force a way +through the innumerable icebergs of Sum Dum Bay to the great glaciers +at the head of it, I was weary and baffled and sat resting in my canoe +convinced at last that I would have to leave this part of my work for +another year. Then I began to plan my escape to open water before the +young ice which was beginning to form should shut me in. While I thus +lingered drifting with the bergs, in the midst of these gloomy +forebodings and all the terrible glacial desolation and grandeur, I +suddenly heard the well-known whir of an Ouzel’s wings, and, looking +up, saw my little comforter coming straight across the ice from the +shore. In a second or two he was with me, flying three times round my +head with a happy salute, as if saying, “Cheer up, old friend; you see +I’m here, and all’s well.” Then he flew back to the shore, alighted on +the topmost jag of a stranded iceberg, and began to nod and bow as +though he were on one of his favorite boulders in the midst of a sunny +Sierra cascade. + +The species is distributed all along the mountain-ranges of the Pacific +Coast from Alaska to Mexico, and east to the Rocky Mountains. +Nevertheless, it is as yet comparatively little known. Audubon and +Wilson did not meet it. Swainson was, I believe, the first naturalist +to describe a specimen from Mexico. Specimens were shortly afterward +procured by Drummond near the sources of the Athabasca River, between +the fifty-fourth and fifty-sixth parallels; and it has been collected +by nearly all of the numerous exploring expeditions undertaken of late +through our Western States and Territories; for it never fails to +engage the attention of naturalists in a very particular manner. + +Such, then, is our little cinclus, beloved of every one who is so +fortunate as to know him. Tracing on strong wing every curve of the +most precipitous torrents from one extremity of the Sierra to the +other; not fearing to follow them through their darkest gorges and +coldest snow-tunnels; acquainted with every waterfall, echoing their +divine music; and throughout the whole of their beautiful lives +interpreting all that we in our unbelief call terrible in the +utterances of torrents and storms, as only varied expressions of God’s +eternal love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +THE WILD SHEEP +(_Ovis montana_) + + +The wild sheep ranks highest among the animal mountaineers of the +Sierra. Possessed of keen sight and scent, and strong limbs, he dwells +secure amid the loftiest summits, leaping unscathed from crag to crag, +up and down the fronts of giddy precipices, crossing foaming torrents +and slopes of frozen snow, exposed to the wildest storms, yet +maintaining a brave, warm life, and developing from generation to +generation in perfect strength and beauty. + +Nearly all the lofty mountain-chains of the globe are inhabited by wild +sheep, most of which, on account of the remote and all but inaccessible +regions where they dwell, are imperfectly known as yet. They are +classified by different naturalists under from five to ten distinct +species or varieties, the best known being the burrhel of the Himalaya +(_Ovis burrhel_, Blyth); the argali, the large wild sheep of central +and northeastern Asia (_O. ammon_, Linn., or _Caprovis argali_); the +Corsican mouflon (_O. musimon_, Pal.); the aoudad of the mountains of +northern Africa (_Ammotragus tragelaphus_); and the Rocky Mountain +bighorn (_O. montana_, Cuv.). To this last-named species belongs the +wild sheep of the Sierra. Its range, according to the late Professor +Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, extends “from the region of the +upper Missouri and Yellowstone to the Rocky Mountains and the high +grounds adjacent to them on the eastern slope, and as far south as the +Rio Grande. Westward it extends to the coast ranges of Washington, +Oregon, and California, and follows the highlands some distance into +Mexico.”[1] Throughout the vast region bounded on the east by the +Wahsatch Mountains and on the west by the Sierra there are more than a +hundred subordinate ranges and mountain groups, trending north and +south, range beyond range, with summits rising from eight to twelve +thousand feet above the level of the sea, probably all of which, +according to my own observations, is, or has been, inhabited by this +species. + +Compared with the argali, which, considering its size and the vast +extent of its range, is probably the most important of all the wild +sheep, our species is about the same size, but the horns are less +twisted and less divergent. The more important characteristics are, +however, essentially the same, some of the best naturalists maintaining +that the two are only varied forms of one species. In accordance with +this view, Cuvier conjectures that since central Asia seems to be the +region where the sheep first appeared, and from which it has been +distributed, the argali may have been distributed over this continent +from Asia by crossing Bering Strait on ice. This conjecture is not so +ill founded as at first sight would appear; for the Strait is only +about fifty miles wide, is interrupted by three islands, and is jammed +with ice nearly every winter. Furthermore the argali is abundant on the +mountains adjacent to the Strait at East Cape, where it is well known +to the Tschuckchi hunters and where I have seen many of their horns. + +On account of the extreme variability of the sheep under culture, it is +generally supposed that the innumerable domestic breeds have all been +derived from the few wild species; but the whole question is involved +in obscurity. According to Darwin, sheep have been domesticated from a +very ancient period, the remains of a small breed, differing from any +now known, having been found in the famous Swiss lake-dwellings. + +Compared with the best-known domestic breeds, we find that our wild +species is much larger, and, instead of an all-wool garment, wears a +thick over-coat of hair like that of the deer, and an under-covering of +fine wool. The hair, though rather coarse, is comfortably soft and +spongy, and lies smooth, as if carefully tended with comb and brush. +The predominant color during most of the year is brownish-gray, varying +to bluish-gray in the autumn; the belly and a large, conspicuous patch +on the buttocks are white; and the tail, which is very short, like that +of a deer, is black, with a yellowish border. The wool is white, and +grows in beautiful spirals down out of sight among the shining hair, +like delicate climbing vines among stalks of corn. + +The horns of the male are of immense size, measuring in their greater +diameter from five to six and a half inches, and from two and a half to +three feet in length around the curve. They are yellowish-white in +color, and ridged transversely, like those of the domestic ram. Their +cross-section near the base is somewhat triangular in outline, and +flattened toward the tip. Rising boldly from the top of the head, they +curve gently backward and outward, then forward and outward, until +about three fourths of a circle is described, and until the flattened, +blunt tips are about two feet or two and a half feet apart. Those of +the female are flattened throughout their entire length, are less +curved than those of the male, and much smaller, measuring less than a +foot along the curve. + +A ram and ewe that I obtained near the Modoc lava-beds, to the +northeast of Mount Shasta, measured as follows: + +_Ram._ _Ewe._ +_ft._ _in._ _ft._ _in._ +Height at shoulders 3 6 3 0 +Girth around shoulders 3 11 3 3¾ +Length from nose to root of tail 5 10¼ 4 3½ +Length of ears 0 4¾ 0 5 +Length of tail 0 4½ 0 4½ +Length of horns around curve 2 9 0 11½ +Distance across from tip to tip of horns 2 5½ +Circumference of horns at base 1 4 0 6 + +The measurements of a male obtained in the Rocky Mountains by Audubon +vary but little as compared with the above. The weight of his specimen +was 344 pounds,[2] which is, perhaps, about an average for full-grown +males. The females are about a third lighter. + +Besides these differences in size, color, hair, etc., as noted above, +we may observe that the domestic sheep, in a general way, is +expressionless, like a dull bundle of something only half alive, while +the wild is as elegant and graceful as a deer, every movement +manifesting admirable strength and character. The tame is timid; the +wild is bold. The tame is always more or less ruffled and dirty; while +the wild is as smooth and clean as the flowers of his mountain +pastures. + +The earliest mention that I have been able to find of the wild sheep in +America is by Father Picolo, a Catholic missionary at Monterey, in the +year 1797, who, after describing it, oddly enough, as “a kind of deer +with a sheep-like head, and about as large as a calf one or two years +old,” naturally hurries on to remark: “I have eaten of these beasts; +their flesh is very tender and delicious.” Mackenzie, in his northern +travels, heard the species spoken of by the Indians as “white +buffaloes.” And Lewis and Clark tell us that, in a time of great +scarcity on the head waters of the Missouri, they saw plenty of wild +sheep, but they were “too shy to be shot.” + +A few of the more energetic of the Pah Ute Indians hunt the wild sheep +every season among the more accessible sections of the High Sierra, in +the neighborhood of passes, where, from having been pursued, they have +become extremely wary; but in the rugged wilderness of peaks and +cañons, where the foaming tributaries of the San Joaquin and King’s +rivers take their rise, they fear no hunter save the wolf, and are more +guileless and approachable than their tame kindred. + +While engaged in the work of exploring high regions where they delight +to roam I have been greatly interested in studying their habits. In the +months of November and December, and probably during a considerable +portion of midwinter, they all flock together, male and female, old and +young. I once found a complete band of this kind numbering upward of +fifty, which, on being alarmed, went bounding away across a jagged +lava-bed at admirable speed, led by a majestic old ram, with the lambs +safe in the middle of the flock. + +In spring and summer, the full-grown rams form separate bands of from +three to twenty, and are usually found feeding along the edges of +glacier meadows, or resting among the castle-like crags of the high +summits; and whether quietly feeding, or scaling the wild cliffs, their +noble forms and the power and beauty of their movements never fail to +strike the beholder with lively admiration. + +Their resting-places seem to be chosen with reference to sunshine and a +wide outlook, and most of all to safety. Their feeding-grounds are +among the most beautiful of the wild gardens, bright with daisies and +gentians and mats of purple bryanthus, lying hidden away on rocky +headlands and cañon sides, where sunshine is abundant, or down in the +shady glacier valleys, along the banks of the streams and lakes, where +the plushy sod is greenest. Here they feast all summer, the happy +wanderers, perhaps relishing the beauty as well as the taste of the +lovely flora on which they feed. + +[Illustration: SNOW-BOUND ON MOUNT SHASTA.] + +When the winter storms set in, loading their highland pastures with +snow, then, like the birds, they gather and go to lower climates, +usually descending the eastern flank of the range to the rough, +volcanic table-lands and treeless ranges of the Great Basin adjacent to +the Sierra. They never make haste, however, and seem to have no dread +of storms, many of the strongest only going down leisurely to bare, +wind-swept ridges, to feed on bushes and dry bunch-grass, and then +returning up into the snow. Once I was snow-bound on Mount Shasta for +three days, a little below the timber line. It was a dark and stormy +time, well calculated to test the skill and endurance of mountaineers. +The snow-laden gale drove on night and day in hissing, blinding floods, +and when at length it began to abate, I found that a small band of wild +sheep had weathered the storm in the lee of a clump of Dwarf Pines a +few yards above my storm-nest, where the snow was eight or ten feet +deep. I was warm back of a rock, with blankets, bread, and fire. My +brave companions lay in the snow, without food, and with only the +partial shelter of the short trees, yet they made no sign of suffering +or faint-heartedness. + +In the months of May and June, the wild sheep bring forth their young +in solitary and almost inaccessible crags, far above the nesting-rocks +of the eagle. I have frequently come upon the beds of the ewes and +lambs at an elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above sea-level. +These beds are simply oval-shaped hollows, pawed out among loose, +disintegrating rock-chips and sand, upon some sunny spot commanding a +good outlook, and partially sheltered from the winds that sweep those +lofty peaks almost without intermission. Such is the cradle of the +little mountaineer, aloft in the very sky; rocked in storms, curtained +in clouds, sleeping in thin, icy air; but, wrapped in his hairy coat, +and nourished by a strong, warm mother, defended from the talons of the +eagle and the teeth of the sly coyote, the bonny lamb grows apace. He +soon learns to nibble the tufted rock-grasses and leaves of the white +spirsea; his horns begin to shoot, and before summer is done he is +strong and agile, and goes forth with the flock, watched by the same +divine love that tends the more helpless human lamb in its cradle by +the fireside. + +Nothing is more commonly remarked by noisy, dusty trail-travelers in +the Sierra than the want of animal life—no song-birds, no deer, no +squirrels, no game of any kind, they say. But if such could only go +away quietly into the wilderness, sauntering afoot and alone with +natural deliberation, they would soon learn that these mountain +mansions are not without inhabitants, many of whom, confiding and +gentle, would not try to shun their acquaintance. + +[Illustration: HEAD OF THE MERINO RAM (DOMESTIC).] + +In the fall of 1873 I was tracing the South Fork of the San Joaquin up +its wild cañon to its farthest glacier fountains. It was the season of +alpine Indian summer. The sun beamed lovingly; the squirrels were +nutting in the pine-trees, butterflies hovered about the last of the +goldenrods, the willow and maple thickets were yellow, the meadows +brown, and the whole sunny, mellow landscape glowed like a countenance +in the deepest and sweetest repose. On my way over the glacier-polished +rocks along the river, I came to an expanded portion of the cañon, +about two miles long and half a mile wide, which formed a level park +inclosed with picturesque granite walls like those of Yosemite Valley. +Down through the middle of it poured the beautiful river shining and +spangling in the golden light, yellow groves on its banks, and strips +of brown meadow; while the whole park was astir with wild life, some of +which even the noisiest and least observing of travelers must have seen +had they been with me. Deer, with their supple, well-grown fawns, +bounded from thicket to thicket as I advanced; grouse kept rising from +the brown grass with a great whirring of wings, and, alighting on the +lower branches of the pines and poplars, allowed a near approach, as if +curious to see me. Farther on, a broad-shouldered wildcat showed +himself, coming out of a grove, and crossing the river on a flood-jamb +of logs, halting for a moment to look back. The bird-like tamias +frisked about my feet everywhere among the pine-needles and seedy +grass-tufts; cranes waded the shallows of the river-bends, the +kingfisher rattled from perch to perch, and the blessed ouzel sang amid +the spray of every cascade. Where may lonely wanderer find a more +interesting family of mountain-dwellers, earth-born companions and +fellow-mortals? It was afternoon when I joined them, and the glorious +landscape began to fade in the gloaming before I awoke from their +enchantment. Then I sought a camp-ground on the river-bank, made a +cupful of tea, and lay down to sleep on a smooth place among the yellow +leaves of an aspen grove. Next day I discovered yet grander landscapes +and grander life. Following the river over huge, swelling rock-bosses +through a majestic cañon, and past innumerable cascades, the scenery in +general became gradually wilder and more alpine. The Sugar Pine and +Silver Firs gave place to the hardier Cedar and Hemlock Spruce. The +cañon walls became more rugged and bare, and gentians and arctic +daisies became more abundant in the gardens and strips of meadow along +the streams. Toward the middle of the afternoon I came to another +valley, strikingly wild and original in all its features, and perhaps +never before touched by human foot. As regards area of level +bottom-land, it is one of the very smallest of the Yosemite type, but +its walls are sublime, rising to a height of from 2000 to 4000 feet +above the river. At the head of the valley the main cañon forks, as is +found to be the case in all yosemites. The formation of this one is due +chiefly to the action of two great glaciers, whose fountains lay to the +eastward, on the flanks of Mounts Humphrey and Emerson and a cluster of +nameless peaks farther south. + +[Illustration: HEAD OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILD SHEEP.] + +The gray, boulder-chafed river was singing loudly through the valley, +but above its massy roar I heard the booming of a waterfall, which drew +me eagerly on; and just as I emerged from the tangled groves and +brier-thickets at the head of the valley, the main fork of the river +came in sight, falling fresh from its glacier fountains in a snowy +cascade, between granite walls 2000 feet high. The steep incline down +which the glad waters thundered seemed to bar all farther progress. It +was not long, however, before I discovered a crooked seam in the rock, +by which I was enabled to climb to the edge of a terrace that crosses +the cañon, and divides the cataract nearly in the middle. Here I sat +down to take breath and make some entries in my note-book, taking +advantage, at the same time, of my elevated position above the trees to +gaze back over the valley into the heart of the noble landscape, little +knowing the while what neighbors were near. + +After spending a few minutes in this way, I chanced to look across the +fall, and there stood three sheep quietly observing me. Never did the +sudden appearance of a mountain, or fall, or human friend more forcibly +seize and rivet my attention. Anxiety to observe accurately held me +perfectly still. Eagerly I marked the flowing undulations of their +firm, braided muscles, their strong legs, ears, eyes, heads, their +graceful rounded necks, the color of their hair, and the bold, +upsweeping curves of their noble horns. When they moved I watched every +gesture, while they, in no wise disconcerted either by my attention or +by the tumultuous roar of the water, advanced deliberately alongside +the rapids, between the two divisions of the cataract, turning now and +then to look at me. Presently they came to a steep, ice-burnished +acclivity, which they ascended by a succession of quick, short, +stiff-legged leaps, reaching the top without a struggle. This was the +most startling feat of mountaineering I had ever witnessed, and, +considering only the mechanics of the thing, my astonishment could +hardly have been greater had they displayed wings and taken to flight. +“Surefooted” mules on such ground would have fallen and rolled like +loosened boulders. Many a time, where the slopes are far lower, I have +been compelled to take off my shoes and stockings, tie them to my belt, +and creep barefooted, with the utmost caution. No wonder then, that I +watched the progress of these animal mountaineers with keen sympathy, +and exulted in the boundless sufficiency of wild nature displayed in +their invention, construction, and keeping. A few minutes later I +caught sight of a dozen more in one band, near the foot of the upper +fall. They were standing on the same side of the river with me, only +twenty-five or thirty yards away, looking as unworn and perfect as if +created on the spot. It appeared by their tracks, which I had seen in +the Little Yosemite, and by their present position, that when I came up +the cañon they were all feeding together down in the valley, and in +their haste to reach high ground, where they could look about them to +ascertain the nature of the strange disturbance, they were divided, +three ascending on one side the river, the rest on the other. + +The main band, headed by an experienced chief, now began to cross the +wild rapids between the two divisions of the cascade. This was another +exciting feat; for, among all the varied experiences of mountaineers, +the crossing of boisterous, rock-dashed torrents is found to be one of +the most trying to the nerves. Yet these fine fellows walked fearlessly +to the brink, and jumped from boulder to boulder, holding themselves in +easy poise above the whirling, confusing current, as if they were doing +nothing extraordinary. + +[Illustration: CROSSING A CAÑON STREAM.] + +In the immediate foreground of this rare picture there was a fold of +ice-burnished granite, traversed by a few bold lines in which +rock-ferns and tufts of bryanthus were growing, the gray cañon walls on +the sides, nobly sculptured and adorned with brown cedars and pines; +lofty peaks in the distance, and in the middle ground the snowy fall, +the voice and soul of the landscape; fringing bushes beating time to +its thunder-tones, the brave sheep in front of it, their gray forms +slightly obscured in the spray, yet standing out in good, heavy relief +against the close white water, with their huge horns rising like the +upturned roots of dead pine-trees, while the evening sunbeams streaming +up the cañon colored all the picture a rosy purple and made it +glorious. After crossing the river, the dauntless climbers, led by +their chief, at once began to scale the cañon wall, turning now right, +now left, in long, single file, keeping well apart out of one another’s +way, and leaping in regular succession from crag to crag, now ascending +slippery dome-curves, now walking leisurely along the edges of +precipices, stopping at times to gaze down at me from some flat-topped +rock, with heads held aslant, as if curious to learn what I thought +about it, or whether I was likely to follow them. After reaching the +top of the wall, which, at this place, is somewhere between 1500 and +2000 feet high, they were still visible against the sky as they +lingered, looking down in groups of twos or threes. + +Throughout the entire ascent they did not make a single awkward step, +or an unsuccessful effort of any kind. I have frequently seen tame +sheep in mountains jump upon a sloping rock-surface, hold on +tremulously a few seconds, and fall back baffled and irresolute. But in +the most trying situations, where the slightest want or inaccuracy +would have been fatal, these always seemed to move in comfortable +reliance on their strength and skill, the limits of which they never +appeared to know. Moreover, each one of the flock, while following the +guidance of the most experienced, yet climbed with intelligent +independence as a perfect individual, capable of separate existence +whenever it should wish or be compelled to withdraw from the little +clan. The domestic sheep, on the contrary, is only a fraction of an +animal, a whole flock being required to form an individual, just as +numerous flowerets are required to make one complete sunflower. + +Those shepherds who, in summer, drive their flocks to the mountain +pastures, and, while watching them night and day, have seen them +frightened by bears and storms, and scattered like wind-driven chaff, +will, in some measure, be able to appreciate the self-reliance and +strength and noble individuality of Nature’s sheep. + +Like the Alp-climbing ibex of Europe, our mountaineer is said to plunge +headlong down the faces of sheer precipices, and alight on his big +horns. I know only two hunters who claim to have actually witnessed +this feat; I never was so fortunate. They describe the act as a diving +head-foremost. The horns are so large at the base that they cover the +upper portion of the head down nearly to a level with the eyes, and the +skull is exceedingly strong. I struck an old, bleached specimen on +Mount Ritter a dozen blows with my ice-ax without breaking it. Such +skulls would not fracture very readily by the wildest rock-diving, but +other bones could hardly be expected to hold together in such a +performance; and the mechanical difficulties in the way of controlling +their movements, after striking upon an irregular surface, are, in +themselves, sufficient to show this boulder-like method of progression +to be impossible, even in the absence of all other evidence on the +subject; moreover, the ewes follow wherever the rams may lead, although +their horns are mere spikes. I have found many pairs of the horns of +the old rams considerably battered, doubtless a result of fighting. I +was particularly interested in the question, after witnessing the +performances of this San Joaquin band upon the glaciated rocks at the +foot of the falls; and as soon as I procured specimens and examined +their feet, all the mystery disappeared. The secret, considered in +connection with exceptionally strong muscles, is simply this: the wide +posterior portion of the bottom of the foot, instead of wearing down +and becoming flat and hard, like the feet of tame sheep and horses, +bulges out in a soft, rubber-like pad or cushion, which not only grips +and holds well on smooth rocks, but fits into small cavities, and down +upon or against slight protuberances. Even the hardest portions of the +edge of the hoof are comparatively soft and elastic; furthermore, the +toes admit of an extraordinary amount of both lateral and vertical +movement, allowing the foot to accommodate itself still more perfectly +to the irregularities of rock surfaces, while at the same time +increasing the gripping power. + +At the base of Sheep Rock, one of the winter strongholds of the Shasta +flocks, there lives a stock-raiser who has had the advantage of +observing the movements of wild sheep every winter; and, in the course +of a conversation with him on the subject of their diving habits, he +pointed to the front of a lava headland about 150 feet high, which is +only eight or ten degrees out of the perpendicular. “There,” said he, +“I followed a band of them fellows to the back of that rock yonder, and +expected to capture them all, for I thought I had a dead thing on them. +I got behind them on a narrow bench that runs along the face of the +wall near the top and comes to an end where they couldn’t get away +without falling and being killed; but they jumped off, and landed all +right, as if that were the regular thing with them.” + +“What!” said I, “jumped 150 feet perpendicular! Did you see them do +it?” + +“No,” he replied, “I didn’t see them going down, for I was behind them; +but I saw them go off over the brink, and then I went below and found +their tracks where they struck on the loose rubbish at the bottom. They +just _sailed right off_, and landed on their feet right side up. That +is the kind of animal _they_ is—beats anything else that goes on four +legs.” + +[Illustration: WILD SHEEP JUMPING OVER A PRECIPICE.] + +On another occasion, a flock that was pursued by hunters retreated to +another portion of this same cliff where it is still higher, and, on +being followed, they were seen jumping down in perfect order, one +behind another, by two men who happened to be chopping where they had a +fair view of them and could watch their progress from top to bottom of +the precipice. Both ewes and rams made the frightful descent without +evincing any extraordinary concern, hugging the rock closely, and +controlling the velocity of their half falling, half leaping movements +by striking at short intervals and holding back with their cushioned, +rubber feet upon small ledges and roughened inclines until near the +bottom, when they “sailed off” into the free air and alighted on their +feet, but with their bodies so nearly in a vertical position that they +appeared to be diving. + +It appears, therefore, that the methods of this wild mountaineering +become clearly comprehensible as soon as we make ourselves acquainted +with the rocks, and the kind of feet and muscles brought to bear upon +them. + +The Modoc and Pah Ute Indians are, or rather have been, the most +successful hunters of the wild sheep in the regions that have come +under my own observation. I have seen large numbers of heads and horns +in the caves of Mount Shasta and the Modoc lava-beds, where the Indians +had been feasting in stormy weather; also in the cañons of the Sierra +opposite Owen’s Valley; while the heavy obsidian arrow-heads found on +some of the highest peaks show that this warfare has long been going +on. + +In the more accessible ranges that stretch across the desert regions of +western Utah and Nevada, considerable numbers of Indians used to hunt +in company like packs of wolves, and being perfectly acquainted with +the topography of their hunting-grounds, and with the habits and +instincts of the game, they were pretty successful. On the tops of +nearly every one of the Nevada mountains that I have visited, I found +small, nest-like inclosures built of stones, in which, as I afterward +learned, one or more Indians would lie in wait while their companions +scoured the ridges below, knowing that the alarmed sheep would surely +run to the summit, and when they could be made to approach with the +wind they were shot at short range. + +[Illustration: INDIANS HUNTING WILD SHEEP.] + +Still larger bands of Indians used to make extensive hunts upon some +dominant mountain much frequented by the sheep, such as Mount Grant on +the Wassuck Range to the west of Walker Lake. On some particular spot, +favorably situated with reference to the well-known trails of the +sheep, they built a high-walled corral, with long guiding wings +diverging from the gateway; and into this inclosure they sometimes +succeeded in driving the noble game. Great numbers of Indians were of +course required, more, indeed, than they could usually muster, counting +in squaws, children, and all; they were compelled, therefore, to build +rows of dummy hunters out of stones, along the ridge-tops which they +wished to prevent the sheep from crossing. And, without discrediting +the sagacity of the game, these dummies were found effective; for, with +a few live Indians moving about excitedly among them, they could hardly +be distinguished at a little distance from men, by any one not in the +secret. The whole ridge-top then seemed to be alive with hunters. + +The only animal that may fairly be regarded as a companion or rival of +the sheep is the so-called Rocky Mountain goat (_Aplocerus montana_, +Rich.), which, as its name indicates, is more antelope than goat. He, +too, is a brave and hardy climber, fearlessly crossing the wildest +summits, and braving the severest storms, but he is shaggy, +short-legged, and much less dignified in demeanor than the sheep. His +jet-black horns are only about five or six inches in length, and the +long, white hair with which he is covered obscures the expression of +his limbs. I have never yet seen a single specimen in the Sierra, +though possibly a few flocks may have lived on Mount Shasta a +comparatively short time ago. + +The ranges of these two mountaineers are pretty distinct, and they see +but little of each other; the sheep being restricted mostly to the dry, +inland mountains; the goat or chamois to the wet, snowy glacier-laden +mountains of the northwest coast of the continent in Oregon, +Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Probably more than 200 dwell +on the icy, volcanic cone of Mount Rainier; and while I was exploring +the glaciers of Alaska I saw flocks of these admirable mountaineers +nearly every day, and often followed their trails through the mazes of +bewildering crevasses, in which they are excellent guides. + +Three species of deer are found in California,—the black-tailed, +white-tailed, and mule deer. The first mentioned (_Cervus Columbianus_) +is by far the most abundant, and occasionally meets the sheep during +the summer on high glacier meadows, and along the edge of the timber +line; but being a forest animal, seeking shelter and rearing its young +in dense thickets, it seldom visits the wild sheep in its higher homes. +The antelope, though not a mountaineer, is occasionally met in winter +by the sheep while feeding along the edges of the sage-plains and bare +volcanic hills to the east of the Sierra. So also is the mule deer, +which is almost restricted in its range to this eastern region. The +white-tailed species belongs to the coast ranges. + +Perhaps no wild animal in the world is without enemies, but +highlanders, as a class, have fewer than lowlanders. The wily panther, +slipping and crouching among long grass and bushes, pounces upon the +antelope and deer, but seldom crosses the bald, craggy thresholds of +the sheep. Neither can the bears be regarded as enemies; for, though +they seek to vary their every-day diet of nuts and berries by an +occasional meal of mutton, they prefer to hunt tame and helpless +flocks. Eagles and coyotes, no doubt, capture an unprotected lamb at +times, or some unfortunate beset in deep, soft snow, but these cases +are little more than accidents. So, also, a few perish in +long-continued snow-storms, though, in all my mountaineering, I have +not found more than five or six that seemed to have met their fate in +this way. A little band of three were discovered snow-bound in Bloody +Canon a few years ago, and were killed with an ax by mountaineers, who +chanced to be crossing the range in winter. + +Man is the most dangerous enemy of all, but even from him our brave +mountain-dweller has little to fear in the remote solitudes of the High +Sierra. The golden plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin were lately +thronged with bands of elk and antelope, but, being fertile and +accessible, they were required for human pastures. So, also, are many +of the feeding-grounds of the deer—hill, valley, forest, and meadow—but +it will be long before man will care to take the highland castles of +the sheep. And when we consider here how rapidly entire species of +noble animals, such as the elk, moose, and buffalo, are being pushed to +the very verge of extinction, all lovers of wildness will rejoice with +me in the rocky security of _Ovis montana_, the bravest of all the +Sierra mountaineers. + + [1] Pacific Railroad Survey, Vol. VIII, page 678. + + + [2] Audubon and Bachman’s “Quadrupeds of North America.” + + + + +CHAPTER XV +IN THE SIERRA FOOT-HILLS + + +Murphy’s camp is a curious old mining-town in Calaveras County, at an +elevation of 2400 feet above the sea, situated like a nest in the +center of a rough, gravelly region, rich in gold. Granites, slates, +lavas, limestone, iron ores, quartz veins, auriferous gravels, remnants +of dead fire-rivers and dead water-rivers are developed here side by +side within a radius of a few miles, and placed invitingly open before +the student like a book, while the people and the region beyond the +camp furnish mines of study of never-failing interest and variety. + +When I discovered this curious place, I was tracing the channels of the +ancient pre-glacial rivers, instructive sections of which have been +laid bare here and in the adjacent regions by the miners. Rivers, +according to the poets, “go on forever”; but those of the Sierra are +young as yet and have scarcely learned the way down to the sea; while +at least one generation of them have died and vanished together with +most of the basins they drained. All that remains of them to tell their +history is a series of interrupted fragments of channels, mostly choked +with gravel, and buried beneath broad, thick sheets of lava. These are +known as the “Dead Rivers of California,” and the gravel deposited in +them is comprehensively called the “Blue Lead.” In some places the +channels of the present rivers trend in the same direction, or nearly +so, as those of the ancient rivers; but, in general, there is little +correspondence between them, the entire drainage having been changed, +or, rather, made new. Many of the hills of the ancient landscapes have +become hollows, and the old hollows have become hills. Therefore the +fragmentary channels, with their loads of auriferous gravel, occur in +all kinds of unthought-of places, trending obliquely, or even at right +angles to the present drainage, across the tops of lofty ridges or far +beneath them, presenting impressive illustrations of the magnitude of +the changes accomplished since those ancient streams were annihilated. +The last volcanic period preceding the regeneration of the Sierra +landscapes seems to have come on over all the range almost +simultaneously, like the glacial period, notwithstanding lavas of +different age occur together in many places, indicating numerous +periods of activity in the Sierra fire-fountains. The most important of +the ancient river-channels in this region is a section that extends +from the south side of the town beneath Coyote Creek and the ridge +beyond it to the Cañon of the Stanislaus; but on account of its depth +below the general surface of the present valleys the rich gold gravels +it is known to contain cannot be easily worked on a large scale. Their +extraordinary richness may be inferred from the fact that many claims +were profitably worked in them by sinking shafts to a depth of 200 feet +or more, and hoisting the dirt by a windlass. Should the dip of this +ancient channel be such as to make the Stanislaus Cañon available as a +dump, then the grand deposit might be worked by the hydraulic method, +and although a long, expensive tunnel would be required, the scheme +might still prove profitable, for there is “millions in it.” + +The importance of these ancient gravels as gold fountains is well known +to miners. Even the superficial placers of the present streams have +derived much of their gold from them. According to all accounts, the +Murphy placers have been very rich—“terrific rich,” as they say here. +The hills have been cut and scalped, and every gorge and gulch and +valley torn to pieces and disemboweled, expressing a fierce and +desperate energy hard to understand. Still, any kind of effort-making +is better than inaction, and there is something sublime in seeing men +working in dead earnest at anything, pursuing an object with +glacier-like energy and persistence. Many a brave fellow has recorded a +most eventful chapter of life on these Calaveras rocks. But most of the +pioneer miners are sleeping now, their wild day done, while the few +survivors linger languidly in the washed-out gulches or sleepy village +like harried bees around the ruins of their hive. “We have no industry +left _now_,” they told me, “and no men; everybody and everything +hereabouts has gone to decay. We are only bummers—out of the game, a +thin scatterin’ of poor, dilapidated cusses, compared with what we used +to be in the grand old gold-days. We were giants then, and you can look +around here and see our tracks.” But although these lingering pioneers +are perhaps more exhausted than the mines, and about as dead as the +dead rivers, they are yet a rare and interesting set of men, with much +gold mixed with the rough, rocky gravel of their characters; and they +manifest a breeding and intelligence little looked for in such +surroundings as theirs. As the heavy, long-continued grinding of the +glaciers brought out the features of the Sierra, so the intense +experiences of the gold period have brought out the features of these +old miners, forming a richness and variety of character little known as +yet. The sketches of Bret Harte, Hayes, and Miller have not exhausted +this field by any means. It is interesting to note the extremes +possible in one and the same character: harshness and gentleness, +manliness and childishness, apathy and fierce endeavor. Men who, twenty +years ago, would not cease their shoveling to save their lives, now +play in the streets with children. Their long, Micawber-like waiting +after the exhaustion of the placers has brought on an exaggerated form +of dotage. I heard a group of brawny pioneers in the street eagerly +discussing the quantity of tail required for a boy’s kite; and one +graybeard undertook the sport of flying it, volunteering the +information that he was a boy, “always was a boy, and d—n a man who was +not a boy inside, however ancient outside!” Mines, morals, politics, +the immortality of the soul, etc., were discussed beneath shade-trees +and in saloons, the time for each being governed apparently by the +temperature. Contact with Nature, and the habits of observation +acquired in gold-seeking, had made them all, to some extent, +collectors, and, like wood-rats, they had gathered all kinds of odd +specimens into their cabins, and now required me to examine them. They +were themselves the oddest and most interesting specimens. One of them +offered to show me around the old diggings, giving me fair warning +before setting out that I might not like him, “because,” said he, +“people say I’m eccentric. I notice everything, and gather beetles and +snakes and anything that’s queer; and so some don’t like me, and call +me eccentric. I’m always trying to find out things. Now, there’s a +weed; the Indians eat it for greens. What do you call those long-bodied +flies with big heads?” “Dragon-flies,” I suggested. “Well, their jaws +work sidewise, instead of up and down, and grasshoppers’ jaws work the +same way, and therefore I think they are the same species. I always +notice everything like that, and just because I do, they say I’m +eccentric,” etc. + +Anxious that I should miss none of the wonders of their old gold-field, +the good people had much to say about the marvelous beauty of Cave City +Cave, and advised me to explore it. This I was very glad to do, and +finding a guide who knew the way to the mouth of it, I set out from +Murphy the next morning. + +The most beautiful and extensive of the mountain caves of California +occur in a belt of metamorphic limestone that is pretty generally +developed along the western flank of the Sierra from the McCloud River +on the north to the Kaweah on the south, a distance of over 400 miles, +at an elevation of from 2000 to 7000 feet above the sea. Besides this +regular belt of caves, the California landscapes are diversified by +long imposing ranks of sea-caves, rugged and variable in architecture, +carved in the coast headlands and precipices by centuries of +wave-dashing; and innumerable lava-caves, great and small, originating +in the unequal flowing and hardening of the lava sheets in which they +occur, fine illustrations of which are presented in the famous Modoc +Lava Beds, and around the base of icy Shasta. In this comprehensive +glance we may also notice the shallow wind-worn caves in stratified +sandstones along the margins of the plains; and the cave-like recesses +in the Sierra slates and granites, where bears and other mountaineers +find shelter during the fall of sudden storms. In general, however, the +grand massive uplift of the Sierra, as far as it has been laid-bare to +observation, is about as solid and caveless as a boulder. + +Fresh beauty opens one’s eyes wherever it is really seen, but the very +abundance and completeness of the common beauty that besets our steps +prevents its being absorbed and appreciated. It is a good thing, +therefore, to make short excursions now and then to the bottom of the +sea among dulse and coral, or up among the clouds on mountain-tops, or +in balloons, or even to creep like worms into dark holes and caverns +underground, not only to learn something of what is going on in those +out-of-the-way places, but to see better what the sun sees on our +return to common every-day beauty. + +Our way from Murphy’s to the cave lay across a series of picturesque, +moory ridges in the chaparral region between the brown foot-hills and +the forests, a flowery stretch of rolling hill-waves breaking here and +there into a kind of rocky foam on the higher summits, and sinking into +delightful bosky hollows embowered with vines. The day was a fine +specimen of California summer, pure sunshine, unshaded most of the time +by a single cloud. As the sun rose higher, the heated air began to flow +in tremulous waves from every southern slope. The sea-breeze that +usually comes up the foot-hills at this season, with cooling on its +wings, was scarcely perceptible. The birds were assembled beneath leafy +shade, or made short, languid flights in search of food, all save the +majestic buzzard; with broad wings outspread he sailed the warm air +unwearily from ridge to ridge, seeming to enjoy the fervid sunshine +like a butterfly. Squirrels, too, whose spicy ardor no heat or cold may +abate, were nutting among the pines, and the innumerable hosts of the +insect kingdom were throbbing and wavering unwearied as sunbeams. + +This brushy, berry-bearing region used to be a deer and bear pasture, +but since the disturbances of the gold period these fine animals have +almost wholly disappeared. Here, also, once roamed the mastodon and +elephant, whose bones are found entombed in the river gravels and +beneath thick folds of lava. Toward noon, as we were riding slowly over +bank and brae, basking in the unfeverish sun-heat, we witnessed the +upheaval of a new mountain-range, a Sierra of clouds abounding in +landscapes as truly sublime and beautiful—if only we have a mind to +think so and eyes to see—as the more ancient rocky Sierra beneath it, +with its forests and waterfalls; reminding us that, as there is a lower +world of caves, so, also, there is an upper world of clouds. Huge, +bossy cumuli developed with astonishing rapidity from mere buds, +swelling with visible motion into colossal mountains, and piling +higher, higher, in long massive ranges, peak beyond peak, dome over +dome, with many a picturesque valley and shadowy cave between; while +the dark firs and pines of the upper benches of the Sierra were +projected against their pearl bosses with exquisite clearness of +outline. These cloud mountains vanished in the azure as quickly as they +were developed, leaving no detritus; but they were not a whit less real +or interesting on this account. The more enduring hills over which we +rode were vanishing as surely as they, only not so fast, a difference +which is great or small according to the standpoint from which it is +contemplated. + +At the bottom of every dell we found little homesteads embosomed in +wild brush and vines wherever the recession of the hills left patches +of arable ground. These secluded flats are settled mostly by Italians +and Germans, who plant a few vegetables and grape-vines at odd times, +while their main business is mining and prospecting. In spite of all +the natural beauty of these dell cabins, they can hardly be called +homes. They are only a better kind of camp, gladly abandoned whenever +the hoped-for gold harvest has been gathered. There is an air of +profound unrest and melancholy about the best of them. Their beauty is +thrust upon them by exuberant Nature, apart from which they are only a +few logs and boards rudely jointed and without either ceiling or floor, +a rough fireplace with corresponding cooking utensils, a shelf-bed, and +stool. The ground about them is strewn with battered prospecting-pans, +picks, sluice-boxes, and quartz specimens from many a ledge, indicating +the trend of their owners’ hard lives. + +The ride from Murphy’s to the cave is scarcely two hours long, but we +lingered among quartz-ledges and banks of dead river gravel until long +after noon. At length emerging from a narrow-throated gorge, a small +house came in sight set in a thicket of fig-trees at the base of a +limestone hill. “That,” said my guide, pointing to the house, “is Cave +City, and the cave is in that gray hill.” Arriving at the one house of +this one-house city, we were boisterously welcomed by three drunken men +who had come to town to hold a spree. The mistress of the house tried +to keep order, and in reply to our inquiries told us that the cave +guide was then in the cave with a party of ladies. “And must we wait +until he returns?” we asked. No, that was unnecessary; we might take +candles and go into the cave alone, provided we shouted from time to +time so as to be found by the guide, and were careful not to fall over +the rocks or into the dark pools. Accordingly taking a trail from the +house, we were led around the base of the hill to the mouth of the +cave, a small inconspicuous archway, mossy around the edges and shaped +like the door of a water-ouzel’s nest, with no appreciable hint or +advertisement of the grandeur of the many crystal chambers within. +Lighting our candles, which seemed to have no illuminating power in the +thick darkness, we groped our way onward as best we could along narrow +lanes and alleys, from chamber to chamber, around rustic columns and +heaps of fallen rocks, stopping to rest now and then in particularly +beautiful places—fairy alcoves furnished with admirable variety of +shelves and tables, and round bossy stools covered with sparkling +crystals. Some of the corridors were muddy, and in plodding along these +we seemed to be in the streets of some prairie village in spring-time. +Then we would come to handsome marble stairways conducting right and +left into upper chambers ranged above one another three or four stories +high, floors, ceilings, and walls lavishly decorated with innumerable +crystalline forms. After thus wandering exploringly, and alone for a +mile or so, fairly enchanted, a murmur of voices and a gleam of light +betrayed the approach of the guide and his party, from whom, when they +came up, we received a most hearty and natural stare, as we stood half +concealed in a side recess among stalagmites. I ventured to ask the +dripping, crouching company how they had enjoyed their saunter, anxious +to learn how the strange sunless scenery of the underworld had +impressed them. “Ah, it’s nice! It’s splendid!” they all replied and +echoed. “The Bridal Chamber back here is just glorious! This morning we +came down from the Calaveras Big Tree Grove, and the trees are nothing +to it.” After making this curious comparison they hastened sunward, the +guide promising to join us shortly on the bank of a deep pool, where we +were to wait for him. This is a charming little lakelet of unknown +depth, never yet stirred by a breeze, and its eternal calm excites the +imagination even more profoundly than the silvery lakes of the glaciers +rimmed with meadows and snow and reflecting sublime mountains. + +Our guide, a jolly, rollicking Italian, led us into the heart of the +hill, up and down, right and left, from chamber to chamber more and +more magnificent, all a-glitter like a glacier cave with icicle-like +stalactites and stalagmites combined in forms of indescribable beauty. +We were shown one large room that was occasionally used as a +dancing-hall; another that was used as a chapel, with natural pulpit +and crosses and pews, sermons in every stone, where a priest had said +mass. Mass-saying is not so generally developed in connection with +natural wonders as dancing. One of the first conceits excited by the +giant Sequoias was to cut one of them down and dance on its stump. We +have also seen dancing in the spray of Niagara; dancing in the famous +Bower Cave above Coulterville; and nowhere have I seen so much dancing +as in Yosemite. A dance on the inaccessible South Dome would likely +follow the making of an easy way to the top of it. + +It was delightful to witness here the infinite deliberation of Nature, +and the simplicity of her methods in the production of such mighty +results, such perfect repose combined with restless enthusiastic +energy. Though cold and bloodless as a landscape of polar ice, building +was going on in the dark with incessant activity. The archways and +ceilings were everywhere hung with down-growing crystals, like inverted +groves of leafless saplings, some of them large, others delicately +attenuated, each tipped with a single drop of water, like the terminal +bud of a pine-tree. The only appreciable sounds were the dripping and +tinkling of water failing into pools or faintly plashing on the crystal +floors. + +In some places the crystal decorations are arranged in graceful flowing +folds deeply plicated like stiff silken drapery. In others straight +lines of the ordinary stalactite forms are combined with reference to +size and tone in a regularly graduated system like the strings of a +harp with musical tones corresponding thereto; and on these stone harps +we played by striking the crystal strings with a stick. The delicious +liquid tones they gave forth seemed perfectly divine as they sweetly +whispered and wavered through the majestic halls and died away in +faintest cadence,—the music of fairy-land. Here we lingered and +reveled, rejoicing to find so much music in stony silence, so much +splendor in darkness, so many mansions in the depths of the mountains, +buildings ever in process of construction, yet ever finished, +developing from perfection to perfection, profusion without +overabundance; every particle visible or invisible in glorious motion, +marching to the music of the spheres in a region regarded as the abode +of eternal stillness and death. + +The outer chambers of mountain caves are frequently selected as homes +by wild beasts. In the Sierra, however, they seem to prefer homes and +hiding-places in chaparral and beneath shelving precipices, as I have +never seen their tracks in any of the caves. This is the more +remarkable because notwithstanding the darkness and oozing water there +is nothing uncomfortably cellar-like or sepulchral about them. + +When we emerged into the bright landscapes of the sun everything looked +brighter, and we felt our faith in Nature’s beauty strengthened, and +saw more clearly that beauty is universal and immortal, above, beneath, +on land and sea, mountain and plain, in heat and cold, light and +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +THE BEE-PASTURES + + +When California was wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its +entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy +Sierra to the ocean. + +Wherever a bee might fly within the bounds of this virgin +wilderness—through the redwood forests, along the banks of the rivers, +along the bluffs and headlands fronting the sea, over valley and plain, +park and grove, and deep, leafy glen, or far up the piny slopes of the +mountains—throughout every belt and section of climate up to the timber +line, bee-flowers bloomed in lavish, abundance. Here they grew more or +less apart in special sheets and patches of no great size, there in +broad, flowing folds hundreds of miles in length—zones of polleny +forests, zones of flowery chaparral, stream-tangles of rubus and wild +rose, sheets of golden composite, beds of violets, beds of mint, beds +of bryanthus and clover, and so on, certain species blooming somewhere +all the year round. + +But of late years plows and sheep have made sad havoc in these glorious +pastures, destroying tens of thousands of the flowery acres like a +fire, and banishing many species of the best honey-plants to rocky +cliffs and fence-corners, while, on the other hand, cultivation thus +far has given no adequate compensation, at least in kind; only acres of +alfalfa for miles of the richest wild pasture, ornamental roses and +honeysuckles around cottage doors for cascades of wild roses in the +dells, and small, square orchards and orange-groves for broad +mountain-belts of chaparral. + +The Great Central Plain of California, during the months of March, +April, and May, was one smooth, continuous bed of honey-bloom, so +marvelously rich that, in walking from one end of it to the other, a +distance of more than 400 miles, your foot would press about a hundred +flowers at every step. Mints, gilias, nemophilas, castilleias, and +innumerable compositae were so crowded together that, had ninety-nine +per cent. of them been taken away, the plain would still have seemed to +any but Californians extravagantly flowery. The radiant, honeyful +corollas, touching and overlapping, and rising above one another, +glowed in the living light like a sunset sky—one sheet of purple and +gold, with the bright Sacramento pouring through the midst of it from +the north, the San Joaquin from the south, and their many tributaries +sweeping in at right angles from the mountains, dividing the plain into +sections fringed with trees. + +Along the rivers there is a strip of bottom-land, countersunk beneath +the general level, and wider toward the foot-hills, where magnificent +oaks, from three to eight feet in diameter, cast grateful masses of +shade over the open, prairie-like levels. And close along the water’s +edge there was a fine jungle of tropical luxuriance, composed of +wild-rose and bramble bushes and a great variety of climbing vines, +wreathing and interlacing the branches and trunks of willows and +alders, and swinging across from summit to summit in heavy festoons. +Here the wild bees reveled in fresh bloom long after the flowers of the +drier plain had withered and gone to seed. And in midsummer, when the +“blackberries” were ripe, the Indians came from the mountains to +feast—men, women, and babies in long, noisy trains, often joined by the +farmers of the neighborhood, who gathered this wild fruit with +commendable appreciation of its superior flavor, while their home +orchards were full of ripe peaches, apricots, nectarines, and figs, and +their vineyards were laden with grapes. But, though these luxuriant, +shaggy river-beds were thus distinct from the smooth, treeless plain, +they made no heavy dividing lines in general views. The whole appeared +as one continuous sheet of bloom bounded only by the mountains. + +When I first saw this central garden, the most extensive and regular of +all the bee-pastures of the State, it seemed all one sheet of plant +gold, hazy and vanishing in the distance, distinct as a new map along +the foot-hills at my feet. + +Descending the eastern slopes of the Coast Range through beds of gilias +and lupines, and around many a breezy hillock and bush-crowned +headland, I at length waded out into the midst of it. All the ground +was covered, not with grass and green leaves, but with radiant +corollas, about ankle-deep next the foot-hills, knee-deep or more five +or six miles out. Here were bahia, madia, madaria, burrielia, +chrysopsis, corethrogyne, grindelia, etc., growing in close social +congregations of various shades of yellow, blending finely with the +purples of clarkia, orthocarpus, and oenothera, whose delicate petals +were drinking the vital sunbeams without giving back any sparkling +glow. + +[Illustration: A BEE-RANCH IN LOWER CALIFORNIA.] + +Because so long a period of extreme drought succeeds the rainy season, +most of the vegetation is composed of annuals, which spring up +simultaneously, and bloom together at about the same height above the +ground, the general surface being but slightly ruffled by the taller +phacelias, pentstemons, and groups of _Salvia carduacea_, the king of +the mints. + +Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy sun-plants brushed +against my feet at every step, and closed over them as if I were wading +in liquid gold. The air was sweet with fragrance, the larks sang their +blessed songs, rising on the wing as I advanced, then sinking out of +sight in the polleny sod, while myriads of wild bees stirred the lower +air with their monotonous hum—monotonous, yet forever fresh and sweet +as every-day sunshine. Hares and spermophiles showed themselves in +considerable numbers in shallow places, and small bands of antelopes +were almost constantly in sight, gazing curiously from some slight +elevation, and then bounding swiftly away with unrivaled grace of +motion. Yet I could discover no crushed flowers to mark their track, +nor, indeed, any destructive action of any wild foot or tooth whatever. + +The great yellow days circled by uncounted, while I drifted toward the +north, observing the countless forms of life thronging about me, lying +down almost anywhere on the approach of night. And what glorious +botanical beds I had! Oftentimes on awaking I would find several new +species leaning over me and looking me full in the face, so that my +studies would begin before rising. + +About the first of May I turned eastward, crossing the San Joaquin +River between the mouths of the Tuolumne and Merced, and by the time I +had reached the Sierra foot-hills most of the vegetation had gone to +seed and become as dry as hay. + +All the seasons of the great plain are warm or temperate, and +bee-flowers are never wholly wanting; but the grand springtime—the +annual resurrection—is governed by the rains, which usually set in +about the middle of November or the beginning of December. Then the +seeds, that for six months have lain on the ground dry and fresh as if +they had been gathered into barns, at once unfold their treasured life. +The general brown and purple of the ground, and the dead vegetation of +the preceding year, give place to the green of mosses and liverworts +and myriads of young leaves. Then one species after another comes into +flower, gradually overspreading the green with yellow and purple, which +lasts until May. + +The “rainy season” is by no means a gloomy, soggy period of constant +cloudiness and rain. Perhaps nowhere else in North America, perhaps in +the world, are the months of December, January, February, and March so +full of bland, plant-building sunshine. Referring to my notes of the +winter and spring of 1868-69, every day of which I spent out of doors, +on that section of the plain lying between the Tuolumne and Merced +rivers, I find that the first rain of the season fell on December 18th. +January had only six rainy days—that is, days on which rain fell; +February three, March five, April three, and May three, completing the +so-called rainy season, which was about an average one. The ordinary +rain-storm of this region is seldom very cold or violent. The winds, +which in settled weather come from the northwest, veer round into the +opposite direction, the sky fills gradually and evenly with one general +cloud, from which, the rain falls steadily, often for days in +succession, at a temperature of about 45° or 50°. + +More than seventy-five per cent. of all the rain of this season came +from the northwest, down the coast over southeastern Alaska, British +Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, though the local winds of these +circular storms blow from the southeast. One magnificent local storm +from the northwest fell on March 21. A massive, round-browed cloud came +swelling and thundering over the flowery plain in most imposing +majesty, its bossy front burning white and purple in the full blaze of +the sun, while warm rain poured from its ample fountains like a +cataract, beating down flowers and bees, and flooding the dry +watercourses as suddenly as those of Nevada are flooded by the +so-called “cloudbursts.” But in less than half an hour not a trace of +the heavy, mountain-like cloud-structure was left in the sky, and the +bees were on the wing, as if nothing more gratefully refreshing could +have been sent them. + +By the end of January four species of plants were in flower, and five +or six mosses had already adjusted their hoods and were in the prime of +life; but the flowers were not sufficiently numerous as yet to affect +greatly the general green of the young leaves. Violets made their +appearance in the first week of February, and toward the end of this +month the warmer portions of the plain were already golden with myriads +of the flowers of rayed composite. + +This was the full springtime. The sunshine grew warmer and richer, new +plants bloomed every day; the air became more tuneful with humming +wings, and sweeter with the fragrance of the opening flowers. Ants and +ground squirrels were getting ready for their summer work, rubbing +their benumbed limbs, and sunning themselves on the husk-piles before +their doors, and spiders were busy mending their old webs, or weaving +new ones. + +In March, the vegetation was more than doubled in depth and color; +claytonia, calandrinia, a large white gilia, and two nemophilas were in +bloom, together with a host of yellow composite, tall enough now to +bend in the wind and show wavering ripples of shade. + +In April, plant-life, as a whole, reached its greatest height, and the +plain, over all its varied surface, was mantled with a close, furred +plush of purple and golden corollas. By the end of this month, most of +the species had ripened their seeds, but undecayed, still seemed to be +in bloom from the numerous corolla-like involucres and whorls of chaffy +scales of the composite. In May, the bees found in flower only a few +deep-set liliaceous plants and eriogonums. + +June, July, August, and September is the season of rest and sleep,—a +winter of dry heat,—followed in October by a second outburst of bloom +at the very driest time of the year. Then, after the shrunken mass of +leaves and stalks of the dead vegetation crinkle and turn to dust +beneath the foot, as if it had been baked in an oven, _Hemizonia +virgata_, a slender, unobtrusive little plant, from six inches to three +feet high, suddenly makes its appearance in patches miles in extent, +like a resurrection of the bloom of April. I have counted upward of +3000 flowers, five eighths of an inch in diameter, on a single plant. +Both its leaves and stems are so slender as to be nearly invisible, at +a distance of a few yards, amid so showy a multitude of flowers. The +ray and disk flowers are both yellow, the stamens purple, and the +texture of the rays is rich and velvety, like the petals of garden +pansies. The prevailing wind turns all the heads round to the +southeast, so that in facing northwestward we have the flowers looking +us in the face. In my estimation, this little plant, the last born of +the brilliant host of compositae that glorify the plain, is the most +interesting of all. It remains in flower until November, uniting with +two or three species of wiry eriogonums, which continue the floral +chain around December to the spring flowers of January. Thus, although +the main bloom and honey season is only about three months long, the +floral circle, however thin around some of the hot, rainless months, is +never completely broken. + +How long the various species of wild bees have lived in this +honey-garden, nobody knows; probably ever since the main body of the +present flora gained possession of the land, toward the close of the +glacial period. The first brown honey-bees brought to California are +said to have arrived in San Francisco in March, 1853. A bee-keeper by +the name of Shelton purchased a lot, consisting of twelve swarms, from +some one at Aspinwall, who had brought them from New York. When landed +at San Francisco, all the hives contained live bees, but they finally +dwindled to one hive, which was taken to San José. The little +immigrants flourished and multiplied in the bountiful pastures of the +Santa Clara Valley, sending off three swarms the first season. The +owner was killed shortly afterward, and in settling up his estate, two +of the swarms were sold at auction for $105 and $110 respectively. +Other importations were made, from time to time, by way of the Isthmus, +and, though great pains were taken to insure success, about one half +usually died on the way. Four swarms were brought safely across the +plains in 1859, the hives being placed in the rear end of a wagon, +which was stopped in the afternoon to allow the bees to fly and feed in +the floweriest places that were within reach until dark, when the hives +were closed. + +In 1855, two years after the time of the first arrivals from New York, +a single swarm was brought over from San José, and let fly in the Great +Central Plain. Bee-culture, however, has never gained much attention +here, notwithstanding the extraordinary abundance of honey-bloom, and +the high price of honey during the early years. A few hives are found +here and there among settlers who chanced to have learned something +about the business before coming to the State. But sheep, cattle, +grain, and fruit raising are the chief industries, as they require less +skill and care, while the profits thus far have been greater. In 1856 +honey sold here at from one and a half to two dollars per pound. Twelve +years later the price had fallen to twelve and a half cents. In 1868 I +sat down to dinner with a band of ravenous sheep-shearers at a ranch on +the San Joaquin, where fifteen or twenty hives were kept, and our host +advised us not to spare the large pan of honey he had placed on the +table, as it was the cheapest article he had to offer. In all my walks, +however, I have never come upon a regular bee-ranch in the Central +Valley like those so common and so skilfully managed in the southern +counties of the State. The few pounds of honey and wax produced are +consumed at home, and are scarcely taken into account among the coarser +products of the farm. The swarms that escape from their careless owners +have a weary, perplexing time of it in seeking suitable homes. Most of +them make their way to the foot-hills of the mountains, or to the trees +that line the banks of the rivers, where some hollow log or trunk may +be found. A friend of mine, while out hunting on the San Joaquin, came +upon an old coon trap, hidden among some tall grass, near the edge of +the river, upon which he sat down to rest. Shortly afterward his +attention was attracted to a crowd of angry bees that were flying +excitedly about his head, when he discovered that he was sitting upon +their hive, which was found to contain more than 200 pounds of honey. +Out in the broad, swampy delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin +rivers, the little wanderers have been known to build their combs in a +bunch of rushes, or stiff, wiry grass, only slightly protected from the +weather, and in danger every spring of being carried away by floods. +They have the advantage, however, of a vast extent of fresh pasture, +accessible only to themselves. + +The present condition of the Grand Central Garden is very different +from that we have sketched. About twenty years ago, when the gold +placers had been pretty thoroughly exhausted, the attention of +fortune-seekers—not home-seekers—was, in great part, turned away from +the mines to the fertile plains, and many began experiments in a kind +of restless, wild agriculture. A load of lumber would be hauled to some +spot on the free wilderness, where water could be easily found, and a +rude box-cabin built. Then a gang-plow was procured, and a dozen +mustang ponies, worth ten or fifteen dollars apiece, and with these +hundreds of acres were stirred as easily as if the land had been under +cultivation for years, tough, perennial roots being almost wholly +absent. Thus a ranch was established, and from these bare wooden huts, +as centers of desolation, the wild flora vanished in ever-widening +circles. But the arch destroyers are the shepherds, with their flocks +of hoofed locusts, sweeping over the ground like a fire, and trampling +down every rod that escapes the plow as completely as if the whole +plain were a cottage garden-plot without a fence. But notwithstanding +these destroyers, a thousand swarms of bees may be pastured here for +every one now gathering honey. The greater portion is still covered +every season with a repressed growth of bee-flowers, for most of the +species are annuals, and many of them are not relished by sheep or +cattle, while the rapidity of their growth enables them to develop and +mature their seeds before any foot has time to crush them. The ground +is, therefore, kept sweet, and the race is perpetuated, though only as +a suggestive shadow of the magnificence of its wildness. + +The time will undoubtedly come when the entire area of this noble +valley will be tilled like a garden, when the fertilizing waters of the +mountains, now flowing to the sea, will be distributed to every acre, +giving rise to prosperous towns, wealth, arts, etc. Then, I suppose, +there will be few left, even among botanists, to deplore the vanished +primeval flora. In the mean time, the pure waste going on—the wanton +destruction of the innocents—is a sad sight to see, and the sun may +well be pitied in being compelled to look on. + +The bee-pastures of the Coast Ranges last longer and are more varied +than those of the great plain, on account of differences of soil and +climate, moisture, and shade, etc. Some of the mountains are upward of +4000 feet in height, and small streams, springs, oozy bogs, etc., occur +in great abundance and variety in the wooded regions, while open parks, +flooded with sunshine, and hill-girt valleys lying at different +elevations, each with its own peculiar climate and exposure, possess +the required conditions for the development of species and families of +plants widely varied. + +Next the plain there is, first, a series of smooth hills, planted with +a rich and showy vegetation that differs but little from that of the +plain itself—as if the edge of the plain had been lifted and bent into +flowing folds, with all its flowers in place, only toned down a little +as to their luxuriance, and a few new species introduced, such as the +hill lupines, mints, and gilias. The colors show finely when thus held +to view on the slopes; patches of red, purple, blue, yellow, and white, +blending around the edges, the whole appearing at a little distance +like a map colored in sections. + +Above this lies the park and chaparral region, with oaks, mostly +evergreen, planted wide apart, and blooming shrubs from three to ten +feet high; manzanita and ceanothus of several species, mixed with +rhamnus, cercis, pickeringia, cherry, amelanchier, and adenostoma, in +shaggy, interlocking thickets, and many species of hosackia, clover, +monardella, castilleia, etc., in the openings. + +The main ranges send out spurs somewhat parallel to their axes, +inclosing level valleys, many of them quite extensive, and containing a +great profusion of sun-loving bee-flowers in their wild state; but +these are, in great part, already lost to the bees by cultivation. + +Nearer the coast are the giant forests of the redwoods, extending from +near the Oregon line to Santa Cruz. Beneath the cool, deep shade of +these majestic trees the ground is occupied by ferns, chiefly +woodwardia and aspidiums, with only a few flowering plants—oxalis, +trientalis, erythronium, fritillaria, smilax, and other shade-lovers. +But all along the redwood belt there are sunny openings on hill-slopes +looking to the south, where the giant trees stand back, and give the +ground to the small sunflowers and the bees. Around the lofty redwood +walls of these little bee-acres there is usually a fringe of Chestnut +Oak, Laurel, and Madroño, the last of which is a surpassingly beautiful +tree, and a great favorite with the bees. The trunks of the largest +specimens are seven or eight feet thick, and about fifty feet high; the +bark red and chocolate colored, the leaves plain, large, and glossy, +like those of _Magnolia grandiflora_, while the flowers are +yellowish-white, and urn-shaped, in well-proportioned panicles, from +five to ten inches long. When in full bloom, a single tree seems to be +visited at times by a whole hive of bees at once, and the deep hum of +such a multitude makes the listener guess that more than the ordinary +work of honey-winning must be going on. + +How perfectly enchanting and care-obliterating are these withdrawn +gardens of the woods—long vistas opening to the sea—sunshine sifting +and pouring upon the flowery ground in a tremulous, shifting mosaic, as +the light-ways in the leafy wall open and close with the swaying +breeze—shining leaves and flowers, birds and bees, mingling together in +springtime harmony, and soothing fragrance exhaling from a thousand +thousand fountains! In these balmy, dissolving days, when the deep +heart-beats of Nature are felt thrilling rocks and trees and everything +alike, common business and friends are happily forgotten, and even the +natural honey-work of bees, and the care of birds for their young, and +mothers for their children, seem slightly out of place. + +To the northward, in Humboldt and the adjacent counties, whole +hillsides are covered with rhododendron, making a glorious melody of +bee-bloom in the spring. And the Western azalea, hardly less flowery, +grows in massy thickets three to eight feet high around the edges of +groves and woods as far south as San Luis Obispo, usually accompanied +by manzanita; while the valleys, with their varying moisture and shade, +yield a rich variety of the smaller honey-flowers, such as mentha, +lycopus, micromeria, audibertia, trichostema, and other mints; with +vaccinium, wild strawberry, geranium, calais, and goldenrod; and in the +cool glens along the stream-banks, where the shade of trees is not too +deep, spiraea, dog-wood, heteromeles, and calycanthus, and many species +of rubus form interlacing tangles, some portion of which continues in +bloom for months. + +Though the coast region was the first to be invaded and settled by +white men, it has suffered less from a bee point of view than either of +the other main divisions, chiefly, no doubt, because of the unevenness +of the surface, and because it is owned and protected instead of lying +exposed to the flocks of the wandering “sheepmen.” These remarks apply +more particularly to the north half of the coast. Farther south there +is less moisture, less forest shade, and the honey flora is less +varied. + +The Sierra region is the largest of the three main divisions of the +bee-lands of the State, and the most regularly varied in its +subdivisions, owing to their gradual rise from the level of the Central +Plain to the alpine summits. The foot-hill region is about as dry and +sunful, from the end of May until the setting in of the winter rains, +as the plain. There are no shady forests, no damp glens, at all like +those lying at the same elevations in the Coast Mountains. The social +compositae of the plain, with a few added species, form the bulk of the +herbaceous portion of the vegetation up to a height of 1500 feet or +more, shaded lightly here and there with oaks and Sabine Pines, and +interrupted by patches of ceanothus and buckeye. Above this, and just +below the forest region, there is a dark, heath-like belt of chaparral, +composed almost exclusively of _Adenostoma fasciculata_, a bush +belonging to the rose family, from five to eight feet high, with small, +round leaves in fascicles, and bearing a multitude of small white +flowers in panicles on the ends of the upper branches. Where it occurs +at all, it usually covers all the ground with a close, impenetrable +growth, scarcely broken for miles. + +Up through the forest region, to a height of about 9000 feet above +sea-level, there are ragged patches of manzanita, and five or six +species of ceanothus, called deer-brush or California lilac. These are +the most important of all the honey-bearing bushes of the Sierra. +_Chamaebatia foliolosa_, a little shrub about a foot high, with flowers +like the strawberry, makes handsome carpets beneath the pines, and +seems to be a favorite with the bees; while pines themselves furnish +unlimited quantities of pollen and honey-dew. The product of a single +tree, ripening its pollen at the right time of year, would be +sufficient for the wants of a whole hive. Along the streams there is a +rich growth of lilies, larkspurs, pedicularis, castilleias, and clover. +The alpine region contains the flowery glacier meadows, and countless +small gardens in all sorts of places full of potentilla of several +species, spraguea, ivesia, epilobium, and goldenrod, with beds of +bryanthus and the charming cassiope covered with sweet bells. Even the +tops of the mountains are blessed with flowers,—dwarf phlox, +polemonium, ribes, hulsea, etc. I have seen wild bees and butterflies +feeding at a height of 13,000 feet above the sea. Many, however, that +go up these dangerous heights never come down again. Some, undoubtedly, +perish in storms, and I have found thousands lying dead or benumbed on +the surface of the glaciers, to which they had perhaps been attracted +by the white glare, taking them for beds of bloom. + +From swarms that escaped their owners in the lowlands, the honey-bee is +now generally distributed throughout the whole length of the Sierra, up +to an elevation of 8000 feet above sea-level. At this height they +flourish without care, though the snow every winter is deep. Even +higher than this several bee-trees have been cut which contained over +200 pounds of honey. + +The destructive action of sheep has not been so general on the mountain +pastures as on those of the great plain, but in many places it has been +more complete, owing to the more friable character of the soil, and its +sloping position. The slant digging and down-raking action of hoofs on +the steeper slopes of moraines has uprooted and buried many of the +tender plants from year to year, without allowing them time to mature +their seeds. The shrubs, too, are badly bitten, especially the various +species of ceanothus. Fortunately, neither sheep nor cattle care to +feed on the manzanita, spiraea, or adenostoma; and these fine +honey-bushes are too stiff and tall, or grow in places too rough and +inaccessible, to be trodden under foot. Also the cañon walls and +gorges, which form so considerable a part of the area of the range, +while inaccessible to domestic sheep, are well fringed with +honey-shrubs, and contain thousands of lovely bee-gardens, lying hid in +narrow side-cañons and recesses fenced with avalanche taluses, and on +the top of flat, projecting headlands, where only bees would think to +look for them. + +But, on the other hand, a great portion of the woody plants that escape +the feet and teeth of the sheep are destroyed by the shepherds by means +of running fires, which are set everywhere during the dry autumn for +the purpose of burning off the old fallen trunks and underbrush, with a +view to improving the pastures, and making more open ways for the +flocks. These destructive sheep-fires sweep through nearly the entire +forest belt of the range, from one extremity to the other, consuming +not only the underbrush, but the young trees and seedlings on which the +permanence of the forests depends; thus setting in motion a long train +of evils which will certainly reach far beyond bees and beekeepers. + +[Illustration: WILD BEE GARDEN.] + +The plow has not yet invaded the forest region to any appreciable +extent, neither has it accomplished much in the foot-hills. Thousands +of bee-ranches might be established along the margin of the plain, and +up to a height of 4000 feet, wherever water could be obtained. The +climate at this elevation admits of the making of permanent homes, and +by moving the hives to higher pastures as the lower pass out of bloom, +the annual yield of honey would be nearly doubled. The foot-hill +pastures, as we have seen, fail about the end of May, those of the +chaparral belt and lower forests are in full bloom in June, those of +the upper and alpine region in July, August, and September. In +Scotland, after the best of the Lowland bloom is past, the bees are +carried in carts to the Highlands, and set free on the heather hills. +In France, too, and in Poland, they are carried from pasture to pasture +among orchards and fields in the same way, and along the rivers in +barges to collect the honey of the delightful vegetation of the banks. +In Egypt they are taken far up the Nile, and floated slowly home again, +gathering the honey-harvest of the various fields on the way, timing +their movements in accord with the seasons. Were similar methods +pursued in California the productive season would last nearly all the +year. + +The average elevation of the north half of the Sierra is, as we have +seen, considerably less than that of the south half, and small streams, +with the bank and meadow gardens dependent upon them, are less +abundant. Around the head waters of the Yuba, Feather, and Pitt rivers, +the extensive tablelands of lava are sparsely planted with pines, +through which the sunshine reaches the ground with little interruption. +Here flourishes a scattered, tufted growth of golden applopappus, +linosyris, bahia, wyetheia, arnica, artemisia, and similar plants; with +manzanita, cherry, plum, and thorn in ragged patches on the cooler +hill-slopes. At the extremities of the Great Central Plain, the Sierra +and Coast Ranges curve around and lock together in a labyrinth of +mountains and valleys, throughout which their floras are mingled, +making at the north, with its temperate climate and copious rainfall, a +perfect paradise for bees, though, strange to say, scarcely a single +regular bee-ranch has yet been established in it. + +Of all the upper flower fields of the Sierra, Shasta is the most +honeyful, and may yet surpass in fame the celebrated honey hills of +Hybla and hearthy Hymettus. Regarding this noble mountain from a bee +point of view, encircled by its many climates, and sweeping aloft from +the torrid plain into the frosty azure, we find the first 5000 feet +from the summit generally snow-clad, and therefore about as honeyless +as the sea. The base of this arctic region is girdled by a belt of +crumbling lava measuring about 1000 feet in vertical breadth, and is +mostly free from snow in summer. Beautiful lichens enliven the faces of +the cliffs with their bright colors, and in some of the warmer nooks +there are a few tufts of alpine daisies, wall-flowers and pentstemons; +but, notwithstanding these bloom freely in the late summer, the zone as +a whole is almost as honeyless as the icy summit, and its lower edge +may be taken as the honey-line. Immediately below this comes the forest +zone, covered with a rich growth of conifers, chiefly Silver Firs, rich +in pollen and honey-dew, and diversified with countless garden +openings, many of them less than a hundred yards across. Next, in +orderly succession, comes the great bee zone. Its area far surpasses +that of the icy summit and both the other zones combined, for it goes +sweeping majestically around the entire mountain, with a breadth of six +or seven miles and a circumference of nearly a hundred miles. + +Shasta, as we have already seen, is a fire-mountain created by a +succession of eruptions of ashes and molten lava, which, flowing over +the lips of its several craters, grew outward and upward like the trunk +of a knotty exogenous tree. Then followed a strange contrast. The +glacial winter came on, loading the cooling mountain with ice, which +flowed slowly outward in every direction, radiating from the summit in +the form of one vast conical glacier—a down-crawling mantle of ice upon +a fountain of smoldering fire, crushing and grinding for centuries its +brown, flinty lavas with incessant activity, and thus degrading and +remodeling the entire mountain. When, at length, the glacial period +began to draw near its close, the ice-mantle was gradually melted off +around the bottom, and, in receding and breaking into its present +fragmentary condition, irregular rings and heaps of moraine matter were +stored upon its flanks. The glacial erosion of most of the Shasta lavas +produces detritus, composed of rough, sub-angular boulders of moderate +size and of porous gravel and sand, which yields freely to the +transporting power of running water. Magnificent floods from the ample +fountains of ice and snow working with sublime energy upon this +prepared glacial detritus, sorted it out and carried down immense +quantities from the higher slopes, and reformed it in smooth, +delta-like beds around the base; and it is these flood-beds joined +together that now form the main honey-zone of the old volcano. + +Thus, by forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive, has Mother +Nature accomplished her beneficent designs—now a flood of fire, now a +flood of ice, now a flood of water; and at length an outburst of +organic life, a milky way of snowy petals and wings, girdling the +rugged mountain like a cloud, as if the vivifying sunbeams beating +against its sides had broken into a foam of plant-bloom and bees, as +sea-waves break and bloom on a rock shore. + +In this flowery wilderness the bees rove and revel, rejoicing in the +bounty of the sun, clambering eagerly through bramble and hucklebloom, +ringing the myriad bells of the manzanita, now humming aloft among +polleny willows and firs, now down on the ashy ground among gilias and +buttercups, and anon plunging deep into snowy banks of cherry and +buckthorn. They consider the lilies and roll into them, and, like +lilies, they toil not, for they are impelled by sun-power, as +water-wheels by water-power; and when the one has plenty of +high-pressure water, the other plenty of sunshine, they hum and quiver +alike. Sauntering in the Shasta bee-lands in the sun-days of summer, +one may readily infer the time of day from the comparative energy of +bee-movements alone—drowsy and moderate in the cool of the morning, +increasing in energy with the ascending sun, and, at high noon, +thrilling and quivering in wild ecstasy, then gradually declining again +to the stillness of night. In my excursions among the glaciers I +occasionally meet bees that are hungry, like mountaineers who venture +too far and remain too long above the bread-line; then they droop and +wither like autumn leaves. The Shasta bees are perhaps better fed than +any others in the Sierra. Their field-work is one perpetual feast; but, +however exhilarating the sunshine or bountiful the supply of flowers, +they are always dainty feeders. Humming-moths and hummingbirds seldom +set foot upon a flower, but poise on the wing in front of it, and reach +forward as if they were sucking through straws. But bees, though, as +dainty as they, hug their favorite flowers with profound cordiality, +and push their blunt, polleny faces against them, like babies on their +mother’s bosom. And fondly, too, with eternal love, does Mother Nature +clasp her small bee-babies, and suckle them, multitudes at once, on her +warm Shasta breast. + +Besides the common honey-bee there are many other species here—fine +mossy, burly fellows, who were nourished on the mountains thousands of +sunny seasons before the advent of the domestic species. Among these +are the bumblebees, mason-bees, carpenter-bees, and leaf-cutters. +Butterflies, too, and moths of every size and pattern; some +broad-winged like bats, flapping slowly, and sailing in easy curves; +others like small, flying violets, shaking about loosely in short, +crooked flights close to the flowers, feasting luxuriously night and +day. Great numbers of deer also delight to dwell in the brushy portions +of the bee-pastures. + +Bears, too, roam the sweet wilderness, their blunt, shaggy forms +harmonizing well with the trees and tangled bushes, and with the bees, +also, notwithstanding the disparity in size. They are fond of all good +things, and enjoy them to the utmost, with but little troublesome +discrimination—flowers and leaves as well as berries, and the bees +themselves as well as their honey. Though the California bears have as +yet had but little experience with honeybees, they often succeed in +reaching their bountiful stores, and it seems doubtful whether bees +themselves enjoy honey with so great a relish. By means of their +powerful teeth and claws they can gnaw and tear open almost any hive +conveniently accessible. Most honey-bees, however, in search of a home +are wise enough to make choice of a hollow in a living tree, a +considerable distance above the ground, when such places are to be had; +then they are pretty secure, for though the smaller black and brown +bears climb well, they are unable to break into strong hives while +compelled to exert themselves to keep from falling, and at the same +time to endure the stings of the fighting bees without having their +paws free to rub them off. But woe to the black bumblebees discovered +in their mossy nests in the ground! With a few strokes of their huge +paws the bears uncover the entire establishment, and, before time is +given for a general buzz, bees old and young, larvae, honey, stings, +nest, and all are taken in one ravishing mouthful. + +Not the least influential of the agents concerned in the superior +sweetness of the Shasta flora are its storms—storms I mean that are +strictly local, bred and born on the mountain. The magical rapidity +with which they are grown on the mountain-top, and bestow their charity +in rain and snow, never fails to astonish the inexperienced lowlander. +Often in calm, glowing days, while the bees are still on the wing, a +storm-cloud may be seen far above in the pure ether, swelling its pearl +bosses, and growing silently, like a plant. Presently a clear, ringing +discharge of thunder is heard, followed by a rush of wind that comes +sounding over the bending woods like the roar of the ocean, mingling +raindrops, snow-flowers, honey-flowers, and bees in wild storm harmony. + +Still more impressive are the warm, reviving days of spring in the +mountain pastures. The blood of the plants throbbing beneath the +life-giving sunshine seems to be heard and felt. Plant growth goes on +before our eyes, and every tree in the woods, and every bush and flower +is seen as a hive of restless industry. The deeps of the sky are +mottled with singing wings of every tone and color; clouds of brilliant +chrysididae dancing and swirling in exquisite rhythm, golden-barred +vespidae, dragon-flies, butterflies, grating cicadas, and jolly, +rattling grasshoppers, fairly enameling the light. + +[Illustration: IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY.—WHITE SAGE.] + +On bright, crisp mornings a striking optical effect may frequently be +observed from the shadows of the higher mountains while the sunbeams +are pouring past overhead. Then every insect, no matter what may be its +own proper color, burns white in the light. Gauzy-winged hymenoptera, +moths, jet-black beetles, all are transfigured alike in pure, spiritual +white, like snowflakes. + +In Southern California, where bee-culture has had so much skilful +attention of late years, the pasturage is not more abundant, or more +advantageously varied as to the number of its honey-plants and their +distribution over mountain and plain, than that of many other portions +of the State where the industrial currents flow in other channels. The +famous White Sage (_Audibertia_), belonging to the mint family, +flourishes here in all its glory, blooming in May, and yielding great +quantities of clear, pale honey, which is greatly prized in every +market it has yet reached. This species grows chiefly in the valleys +and low hills. The Black Sage on the mountains is part of a dense, +thorny chaparral, which is composed chiefly of adenostoma, ceanothus, +manzanita, and cherry—not differing greatly from that of the southern +portion of the Sierra, but more dense and continuous, and taller, and +remaining longer in bloom. Stream-side gardens, so charming a feature +of both the Sierra and Coast Mountains, are less numerous in Southern +California, but they are exceedingly rich in honey-flowers, wherever +found,—melilotus, columbine, collinsia, verbena, zauschneria, wild +rose, honeysuckle, philadelphus, and lilies rising from the warm, moist +dells in a very storm of exuberance. Wild buckwheat of many species is +developed in abundance over the dry, sandy valleys and lower slopes of +the mountains, toward the end of summer, and is, at this time, the main +dependence of the bees, reinforced here and there by orange groves, +alfalfa fields, and small home gardens. + +The main honey months, in ordinary seasons, are April, May, June, July, +and August; while the other months are usually flowery enough to yield +sufficient for the bees. + +According to Mr. J.T. Gordon, President of the Los Angeles County +Bee-keepers’ Association, the first bees introduced into the county +were a single hive, which cost $150 in San Francisco, and arrived in +September, 1854.[1] In April, of the following year, this hive sent out +two swarms, which were sold for $100 each. From this small beginning +the bees gradually multiplied to about 3000 swarms in the year 1873. In +1876 it was estimated that there were between 15,000 and 20,000 hives +in the county, producing an annual yield of about 100 pounds to the +hive—in some exceptional cases, a much greater yield. + +In San Diego County, at the beginning of the season of 1878, there were +about 24,000 hives, and the shipments from the one port of San Diego +for the same year, from July 17 to November 10, were 1071 barrels, +15,544 cases, and nearly 90 tons. The largest bee-ranches have about a +thousand hives, and are carefully and skilfully managed, every +scientific appliance of merit being brought into use. There are few +bee-keepers, however, who own half as many as this, or who give their +undivided attention to the business. Orange culture, at present, is +heavily overshadowing every other business. + +A good many of the so-called bee-ranches of Los Angeles and San Diego +counties are still of the rudest pioneer kind imaginable. A man +unsuccessful in everything else hears the interesting story of the +profits and comforts of bee-keeping, and concludes to try it; he buys a +few colonies, or gets them, from some overstocked ranch on shares, +takes them back to the foot of some cañon, where the pasturage is +fresh, squats on the land, with, or without, the permission of the +owner, sets up his hives, makes a box-cabin for himself, scarcely +bigger than a bee-hive, and awaits his fortune. + +Bees suffer sadly from famine during the dry years which occasionally +occur in the southern and middle portions of the State. If the rainfall +amounts only to three or four inches, instead of from twelve to twenty, +as in ordinary seasons, then sheep and cattle die in thousands, and so +do these small, winged cattle, unless they are carefully fed, or +removed to other pastures. The year 1877 will long be remembered as +exceptionally rainless and distressing. Scarcely a flower bloomed on +the dry valleys away from the stream-sides, and not a single +grain-field depending upon rain was reaped. The seed only sprouted, +came up a little way, and withered. Horses, cattle, and sheep grew +thinner day by day, nibbling at bushes and weeds, along the shallowing +edges of streams, many of which were dried up altogether, for the first +time since the settlement of the country. + +[Illustration: A BEE-RANCH ON A SPUR OF THE SAN GABRIEL RANGE. +CARDINAL FLOWER.] + +In the course of a trip I made during the summer of that year through +Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles +counties, the deplorable effects of the drought were everywhere +visible—leafless fields, dead and dying cattle, dead bees, and +half-dead people with dusty, doleful faces. Even the birds and +squirrels were in distress, though their suffering was less painfully +apparent than that of the poor cattle. These were falling one by one in +slow, sure starvation along the banks of the hot, sluggish streams, +while thousands of buzzards correspondingly fat were sailing above +them, or standing gorged on the ground beneath the trees, waiting with +easy faith for fresh carcasses. The quails, prudently considering the +hard times, abandoned all thought of pairing. They were too poor to +marry, and so continued in flocks all through the year without +attempting to rear young. The ground-squirrels, though an exceptionally +industrious and enterprising race, as every farmer knows, were hard +pushed for a living; not a fresh leaf or seed was to be found save in +the trees, whose bossy masses of dark green foliage presented a +striking contrast to the ashen baldness of the ground beneath them. The +squirrels, leaving their accustomed feeding-grounds, betook themselves +to the leafy oaks to gnaw out the acorn stores of the provident +woodpeckers, but the latter kept up a vigilant watch upon their +movements. I noticed four woodpeckers in league against one squirrel, +driving the poor fellow out of an oak that they claimed. He dodged +round the knotty trunk from side to side, as nimbly as he could in his +famished condition, only to find a sharp bill everywhere. But the fate +of the bees that year seemed the saddest of all. In different portions +of Los Angeles and San Diego counties, from one half to three fourths +of them died of sheer starvation. Not less than 18,000 colonies +perished in these two counties alone, while in the adjacent counties +the death-rate was hardly less. + +[Illustration: WILD BUCKWHEAT.—A BEE RANCH IN THE WILDERNESS.] + +Even the colonies nearest to the mountains suffered this year, for the +smaller vegetation on the foot-hills was affected by the drought almost +as severely as that of the valleys and plains, and even the hardy, +deep-rooted chaparral, the surest dependence of the bees, bloomed +sparingly, while much of it was beyond reach. Every swarm could have +been saved, however, by promptly supplying them with food when their +own stores began to fail, and before they became enfeebled and +discouraged; or by cutting roads back into the mountains, and taking +them into the heart of the flowery chaparral. The Santa Lucia, San +Rafael, San Gabriel, San Jacinto, and San Bernardino ranges are almost +untouched as yet save by the wild bees. Some idea of their resources, +and of the advantages and disadvantages they offer to bee-keepers, may +be formed from an excursion that I made into the San Gabriel Range +about the beginning of August of “the dry year.” This range, containing +most of the characteristic features of the other ranges just mentioned, +overlooks the Los Angeles vineyards and orange groves from the north, +and is more rigidly inaccessible in the ordinary meaning of the word +than any other that I ever attempted to penetrate. The slopes are +exceptionally steep and insecure to the foot, and they are covered with +thorny bushes from five to ten feet high. With the exception of little +spots not visible in general views, the entire surface is covered with +them, massed in close hedge growth, sweeping gracefully down into every +gorge and hollow, and swelling over every ridge and summit in shaggy, +ungovernable exuberance, offering more honey to the acre for half the +year than the most crowded clover-field. But when beheld from the open +San Gabriel Valley, beaten with dry sunshine, all that was seen of the +range seemed to wear a forbidding aspect. From base to summit all +seemed gray, barren, silent, its glorious chaparral appearing like dry +moss creeping over its dull, wrinkled ridges and hollows. + +Setting out from Pasadena, I reached the foot of the range about +sundown; and being weary and heated with my walk across the shadeless +valley, concluded to camp for the night. After resting a few moments, I +began to look about among the flood-boulders of Eaton Creek for a +camp-ground, when I came upon a strange, dark-looking man who had been +chopping cord-wood. He seemed surprised at seeing me, so I sat down +with him on the live-oak log he had been cutting, and made haste to +give a reason for my appearance in his solitude, explaining that I was +anxious to find out something about the mountains, and meant to make my +way up Eaton Creek next morning. Then he kindly invited me to camp with +him, and led me to his little cabin, situated at the foot of the +mountains, where a small spring oozes out of a bank overgrown with +wild-rose bushes. After supper, when the daylight was gone, he +explained that he was out of candles; so we sat in the dark, while he +gave me a sketch of his life in a mixture of Spanish and English. He +was born in Mexico, his father Irish, his mother Spanish. He had been a +miner, rancher, prospector, hunter, etc., rambling always, and wearing +his life away in mere waste; but now he was going to settle down. His +past life, he said, was of “no account,” but the future was promising. +He was going to “make money and marry a Spanish woman.” People mine +here for water as for gold. He had been running a tunnel into a spur of +the mountain back of his cabin. “My prospect is good,” he said, “and if +I chance to strike a good, strong flow, I’ll soon be worth $5000 or +$10,000. For that flat out there,” referring to a small, irregular +patch of bouldery detritus, two or three acres in size, that had been +deposited by Eaton Creek during some flood season,—“that flat is large +enough for a nice orange-grove, and the bank behind the cabin will do +for a vineyard, and after watering my own trees and vines I will have +some water left to sell to my neighbors below me, down the valley. And +then,” he continued, “I can keep bees, and make money that way, too, +for the mountains above here are just full of honey in the summer-time, +and one of my neighbors down here says that he will let me have a whole +lot of hives, on shares, to start with. You see I’ve a good thing; I’m +all right now.” All this prospective affluence in the sunken, +boulder-choked flood-bed of a mountain-stream! Leaving the bees out of +the count, most fortune-seekers would as soon think of settling on the +summit of Mount Shasta. Next morning, wishing my hopeful entertainer +good luck, I set out on my shaggy excursion. + +[Illustration: A BEE-PASTURE ON THE MORAINE DESERT, SPANISH BAYONET.] + +About half an hour’s walk above the cabin, I came to “The Fall,” famous +throughout the valley settlements as the finest yet discovered in the +San Gabriel Mountains. It is a charming little thing, with a low, sweet +voice, singing like a bird, as it pours from a notch in a short ledge, +some thirty-five or forty feet into a round mirror-pool. The face of +the cliff back of it, and on both sides, is smoothly covered and +embossed with mosses, against which the white water shines out in showy +relief, like a silver instrument in a velvet case. Hither come the San +Gabriel lads and lassies, to gather ferns and dabble away their hot +holidays in the cool water, glad to escape from their commonplace +palm-gardens and orange-groves. The delicate maidenhair grows on +fissured rocks within reach of the spray, while broad-leaved maples and +sycamores cast soft, mellow shade over a rich profusion of bee-flowers, +growing among boulders in front of the pool—the fall, the flowers, the +bees, the ferny rocks, and leafy shade forming a charming little poem +of wildness, the last of a series extending down the flowery slopes of +Mount San Antonio through the rugged, foam-beaten bosses of the main +Eaton Canon. + +From the base of the fall I followed the ridge that forms the western +rim of the Eaton basin to the summit of one of the principal peaks, +which is about 5000 feet above sea-level. Then, turning eastward, I +crossed the middle of the basin, forcing a way over its many +subordinate ridges and across its eastern rim, having to contend almost +everywhere with the floweriest and most impenetrable growth of +honey-bushes I had ever encountered since first my mountaineering +began. Most of the Shasta chaparral is leafy nearly to the ground; here +the main stems are naked for three or four feet, and interspiked with +dead twigs, forming a stiff _chevaux de frise_ through which even the +bears make their way with difficulty. I was compelled to creep for +miles on all fours, and in following the bear-trails often found tufts +of hair on the bushes where they had forced themselves through. + +For 100 feet or so above the fall the ascent was made possible only by +tough cushions of club-moss that clung to the rock. Above this the +ridge weathers away to a thin knife-blade for a few hundred yards, and +thence to the summit of the range it carries a bristly mane of +chaparral. Here and there small openings occur on rocky places, +commanding fine views across the cultivated valley to the ocean. These +I found by the tracks were favorite outlooks and resting-places for the +wild animals—bears, wolves, foxes, wildcats, etc.—which abound here, +and would have to be taken into account in the establishment of +bee-ranches. In the deepest thickets I found wood-rat villages—groups +of huts four to six feet high, built of sticks and leaves in rough, +tapering piles, like musk-rat cabins. I noticed a good many bees, too, +most of them wild. The tame honey-bees seemed languid and wing-weary, +as if they had come all the way up from the flowerless valley. + +After reaching the summit I had time to make only a hasty survey of the +basin, now glowing in the sunset gold, before hastening down into one +of the tributary cañons in search, of water. Emerging from a +particularly tedious breadth of chaparral, I found myself free and +erect in a beautiful park-like grove of Mountain Live Oak, where the +ground was planted with aspidiums and brier-roses, while the glossy +foliage made a close canopy overhead, leaving the gray dividing trunks +bare to show the beauty of their interlacing arches. The bottom of the +cañon was dry where I first reached it, but a bunch of scarlet mimulus +indicated water at no great distance, and I soon discovered about a +bucketful in a hollow of the rock. This, however, was full of dead +bees, wasps, beetles, and leaves, well steeped and simmered, and would, +therefore, require boiling and filtering through fresh charcoal before +it could be made available. Tracing the dry channel about a mile +farther down to its junction with a larger tributary cañon, I at length +discovered a lot of boulder pools, clear as crystal, brimming full, and +linked together by glistening streamlets just strong enough to sing +audibly. Flowers in full bloom adorned their margins, lilies ten feet +high, larkspur, columbines, and luxuriant ferns, leaning and +overarching in lavish abundance, while a noble old Live Oak spread its +rugged arms over all. Here I camped, making my bed on smooth +cobblestones. + +[Illustration: A BEE-KEEPER’S CABIN.—BURRIELIA (ABOVE).—MADIA (BELOW).] + +Next day, in the channel of a tributary that heads on Mount San +Antonio, I passed about fifteen or twenty gardens like the one in which +I slept—lilies in every one of them, in the full pomp of bloom. My +third camp was made near the middle of the general basin, at the head +of a long system of cascades from ten to 200 feet high, one following +the other in close succession down a rocky, inaccessible cañon, making +a total descent of nearly 1700 feet. Above the cascades the main stream +passes through a series of open, sunny levels, the largest of which are +about an acre in size, where the wild bees and their companions were +feasting on a showy growth of zauschneria, painted cups, and +monardella; and gray squirrels were busy harvesting the burs of the +Douglas Spruce, the only conifer I met in the basin. + +The eastern slopes of the basin are in every way similar to those we +have described, and the same may be said of other portions of the +range. From the highest summit, far as the eye could reach, the +landscape was one vast bee-pasture, a rolling wilderness of +honey-bloom, scarcely broken by bits of forest or the rocky outcrops of +hilltops and ridges. + +Behind the San Bernardino Range lies the wild “sage-brush country,” +bounded on the east by the Colorado River, and extending in a general +northerly direction to Nevada and along the eastern base of the Sierra +beyond Mono Lake. + +The greater portion of this immense region, including Owen’s Valley, +Death Valley, and the Sink of the Mohave, the area of which is nearly +one fifth that of the entire State, is usually regarded as a desert, +not because of any lack in the soil, but for want of rain, and rivers +available for irrigation. Very little of it, however, is desert in the +eyes of a bee. + +Looking now over all the available pastures of California, it appears +that the business of beekeeping is still in its infancy. Even in the +more enterprising of the southern counties, where so vigorous a +beginning has been made, less than a tenth of their honey resources +have as yet been developed; while in the Great Plain, the Coast Ranges, +the Sierra Nevada, and the northern region about Mount Shasta, the +business can hardly be said to exist at all. What the limits of its +developments in the future may be, with the advantages of cheaper +transportation and the invention of better methods in general, it is +not easy to guess. Nor, on the other hand, are we able to measure the +influence on bee interests likely to follow the destruction of the +forests, now rapidly falling before fire and the ax. As to the sheep +evil, that can hardly become greater than it is at the present day. In +short, notwithstanding the wide-spread deterioration and destruction of +every kind already effected, California, with her incomparable climate +and flora, is still, as far as I know, the best of all the bee-lands of +the world. + + [1] Fifteen hives of Italian bees were introduced into Los Angeles + County in 1855, and in 1876 they had increased to 500. The marked + superiority claimed for them over the common species is now attracting + considerable attention. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10012 *** |