The Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1865-1870, 1868-08-26

be Plaza.
SCENERY ALONG TIE CALIFORNIA EMF
THE PACIFIC RAILRoAD.-T The s. F
lines says On leaving Sacramento, afte1
tossing the American river, the passage oil
hich is effected by a Howe bridge 397 fee,
length. in two spans of 1872 feet each in
e clear, and with an elevation of six fee,
J the clear above the highest water, the road
rs across level plain, studded with trees
ID sprinkled here and there with residences
I'd farm houses. The character of the
|untry remains unaltered until Rocklin. a
|ation twenty-five miles from Sacramento.
reached. At this point the foothills of
+e great mountain range are struck, and
road now runs through a gradually ris-
e series Of rolling hills, p!entifully tim
red, and broken here and there by out
PP2ings Of rock. Hence upward the scene
Is Diversified and picturesque At New
site we cross trestling five hundred feet
|ng and sixty feet in hight. A, the engine
|pToAcAes the chastu, speed is reduced, and
u tender and delicate pace the heavy train
kns smoothly along the two narrow beams
|"ood on which the rails are Lid, and the
| i4ln9 OF a pebble on which mi ht hurl US
% the valley sixty feet beneath. But il
i never do TO feel On Ilrni>h at this stage o
I road, for Is not Cane Horn before us +: |
Jar Auburn we cross another piece of tres. |
work, thirty light fec. IN hight. and four
inbred feet long. Bar rhis Is nothing. as |
have reason to thing when in Cluper |
vine, we seem t. plunge into space, and !
king from the platform Of the cars see
below Us the tops Of tail trees While we
WY pass nlnety-tnree feet above them. on
restle*oTk five hundred feet in length.
stand upon the platform Of a car, and
K clear down between the rails a hundred
L, ana then TO examine the structure of
trestlawork, the beams Of which, sub
|htlaI enough, no doubt. are dwarfrd into
RE scantling by the massive grandeur of
great hills that loom up all around, give.
F to feeling which nay be pIeasurable
fltement. Upward. steadily upward, we
We can even feel the stcepness of the
De, ana the powerful locomotive seem 10
+ ana wreStte with the ACTIVITY, as it
rs Us toward the summit with heavy and
a@ured tread. We have passed deep
tlng, ana we are now sklrtiug the summit
b hlll from which we catch occasional
npses ola level So far below Us that we
b instinctive!y to the guard rails of the
form on which we are standing. Anoth-
moment, and we are passing Cape Horn. I
tgine rocky bluff, rising twelve hun
p feet above the valley which extends at
feet. 50 small an interval between, that
fancy stone thrown from the car would
INTO the bright yellow waters of the
|erlcan river, which, dyniled to a tiny
amlet, rolls silently a thousand feet be- :
IN Us. On one hand a steep wall of rock, y
)w US the narrow track, and beyond, an \
lense valley, hemmed in By mountains
'se tops, lofty as they are, we can al
i overlook. and the great pine trees on
'se steep sides seem no larger than gar {
shrubs, in the blue distance. Down, ,
down beneath us. thick forests lie, and
ne mountain sides are fringed with their
( green growth. Standing beside them
would appear but as as a pigny, :
raSted with their giant hight, yet here \
r wavering tops, a hundred feet above
surface of the earth, seem but as tufts of
her on highland slope. Silent and e
mn in their majectic grandeur these
lty hills have stood for ages. the winter
vs. reyerently covering their topmost
- S''ttii.iei sun Guy ~ hissiuS tue ~
IS they encircle. Barriers, grim and y
/, to the pleasant land that lies beyond Al,
|. Obstacles, formidable and desperate W
e rude tribes who once sought scanty
istence upon their uncongenial slopes.
have yielded at last to the wisdom and
zee OF the age. and their sub!imest nights n,
estInedt 20 bring to the traveller no more III
fness and vexation of spirit, but only
apture inspired by natures srandest
5, and the elevation of the thought
led by their contemplation. So
weep round the bod bluff, and the
" thread in the valley is shut out from "
lev. Strange as it NAV seem. We do not
that the character Of the road at Cape -
can justly be said to produce anything
| feeling of fear. Great as is the hight, DR.
steep as is the wall, partly natural and
: artificial, which sustains the roadway. a
ind is too much occupied with the wild
y Of the scene to harbor thoughts of
Ii Is true that a deviation from the
Of two feet, would hurl the train head
own to inevitable destruction, and that ",
event of an accident at this point, not ,..s
= preventive apparatus that the mind of
can conceive of would avail to save a
rom sudden and terrible death. But it'll
cult to think of such things as thesel
scene so magnificent, BEL
us the smallest crossing of a chasm
'stlework seemed fraught with more Sro
r than this terrible yet maj estic passage.