Daily national Democrat., 1859-12-15
The Wonders OF California and Its Sur
rouudiugs.

most Ordinary attentlon 10 OuslueSs mas eu"~
bled many of them to Rmass fortunes with a
magic like that which attached to the Alad-
den's lamp of Arabic romance. They know
that the pick and shovel are at work in the
mountains that the farreaching tunnels are
| exploring the bowels of the earth that the
golden beds Of streams are yielding their
age hidden treasures to the light. But, con-
fined to one particular spot, and absorbed In
the continued labor of increasing their
wealth, they are ignorant Of the true beauty
glory and grandeur Of the country In re-
gard to its physical aspect, they have heard
Of the Yosemite Falls, of Mount Shasta, of
Pilots Peak of Lassen's Butte, of the Gold
Lake, of the Boiling Springs, of the Great
Meadows, of the Mono Lake &c, &c.-that
is, it is possible that they may have heard of
some of these wonders of the world; but
of their mystery and the phenomena which
cluster around them they know but liitle, ii
anything They do not realize how varied
and how numerous are the physical wonders
which surround them.
The broad sheet Of crystal water, known
as the Honey Lake, and fed by two perennial
rivers which seemed to have flowed into it
for ages past, disappears in day, and leaves
a waste of dry land in its place The dwell
lers upon its margin are stricken with aston
ishment but the people at large make small
note of the circumstance. Whether 1T
plunged into the earth or evaporated into
Heaven they know not, nor do they seem to
be aware that it is only one of the thousand
strange and unaccountable things which be-
long to this magical regionof the earth
A bold, clear stream of water dashes
through the middle of desert on the west
ern rim of the Great Basin, where never a
river flowed before but where was n wide
waste of barrenness-and man and beast
thirsted nigh unto famishing, Hundreds of
witnesses testify to the phenomenon it be
comes the theme of newspaper paragraph,
and is forgotten in day.
The Truckee and the Humboldt rivers, to
say nothing of the smaller streams of the
deserts, sink bodily into the earth, and de-
scend the Lord only knows where, In other
countries, It would be a wonder. Here it is
the theme of passing remark
Upon the top of the rugged mountains,
in q region of the highest altitude, are vast
tracts of tabular land covered with green
and luxuriant meadows The emigrant opens
his eyes with grateful wonder as he sees them,
turns his jaded cattle upon the rich grasses
which they afford, and soon regards them as
mere matter of course.
The four falls of the Yosemite constitute
the greatest wonder, in the line of such exhi-
billions Of nature, IN the agorld, and yet the
too common idea is that the Yosemite Valley
is very pretty place to go to when one has
nothing else to do
The Mammoth Grove of Mariposa is with
out comparison upon the face of the earth.
One hundred and fifty trees over forty feet
in circumference, and one of the remaining
$50 trees measuring 102 feet in circumfer-
ence, to say nothing of the fallen monster
which measured when standing over four hun
has astonished the civilized globe. The
amazing extent of their growth has impressed
the most stolid minds, and yet they are but
one of the thousand grandeurs of this mar
vellous land
We venture to say that many Californians
have never heard of the eleven boiling
springs at the head of Honey Lake Valley;
or, if they have, know very little about them.
And yet, eleven steaming fountains, boiling
up from the unsounded depths of the earth,
and all comprised within the space of half an
acre of ground, one of them throwing its
volume of scalding water to the hight of four
or six fe ct, and all of them depositing upon
their scared margins the strange reyealments
of their unexplored sources, are no ordinary
sight
If we turn from these more startling OBJ
ieets Of wonderment to consider the strange
variety of climate which we possess, from
the most desolate of Siberian dreariness to
the balmiest of Italian summers, with every
possible gradation between, we shall not be
less astonished Nor shall we to a less de-
gree marvel at the productiveness of our soil
at the gardens and orchards hanging ripe
and blooming from the precipitous sides of
the hills, while the toiling miner digs his
tunnel beneath-at the vine clad plains of
Los Angeles; the mineral springs and the
great borax lake of Napa; the beds of mar
BILE of Placer, of Plumas, of Sierra, of ANA
dor and of Solano; the coal beds of Sonoma,
of Trinity and of San Mateo; the sulphur
and the iron of other counties the copper
and the silver of San Diego the quicksilver
veins of Santa Clara and San Bernardino; /;
the lead deposits of other regions the vast
fields of timber in all the mountain counties,
and whatever else might be named in the
wide map of the grand resources of the coun-
try.
We might go on to consider the moral and
social phenomena of this portion of the
Union, had We the space and time and we
should lind no fewer marvels than those en-
braced in the physical character of the State
and its borders. 1t may be that we shall
touch on this portion of our theme hereaf-
ter.
MISINo ACCIDENTS IN NEVADA CoUNTY.-On
Wednesday last, near Buena Vista, while Mr..
Henry Shaw was being lowered into a shaft
the rope broke and he fell to the bottom, a
distance of some eighty feet, breaking his