The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-04-28

IN the tunnels last season. The trees
were cut twenty feet from the ground
We pass deserted villages which stood
on the old wagon road. The railroad has
depopulated them. We might have all
the houses rent free now. 1t is one of the
peculiarities Of this section Of our country,
that people have not felt that there was
anything permanently settled. Go into
any of the mining towns We see empty
houses and stores. The occupants are
away in some new place, They live on
excitement. They are restless. They are
going to do better somewhere else. The
houses here cost them a few hundred dol
lars; if they can sell them for anything, well
and good; if no purchasers appear, they
pack up and leave them to the rats.
CHANGE OF CLIMATE.
There is marked difference between
the western and eastern slopes of the
Sierra Nevadas. On the western, there
are dense forests, trees tall and straight,
of large dimensions. There are numerous
mountain springs. When the clouds of the
Pacific, saturated with moisture, roll in
land upon these mountains, the moisture
is taken up by the growing vegetation.
Pass ten miles down the eastern slope and
we behold barren soil. scanty growth of
timber. diminutive trees, with only here
and there a spring trickling from the
rocks
We can easily understand VIII yit is
that California has her rainless summer,
and then an outpouring from the clouds as
if the windows of Heaven were opened.
These streams on the western slope, dry
in October, send down tremendous floods
in January. When the nights become
cold IN the fall the deposition of moisture
commences. Vegetation does not need it
then, and the streams begin to rise before
a drop of rain falls from the clouds. A
few weeks later, when the warm winds of
the Pacific coming northward from the
tropics, are waited against the mountains,
the clouds give down their treasure till
the sun, travelling northward again in
March, gives warmer days and nights, ex-
panding the air and stopping the deposi-
ton Of moisture, thus bringing on the
rainless season.
But nothing of this occurs on the east
ern slope, and hence the barren plains, the
treeless hills. the verdureless mountains of
the vast region extending from the east
ern boundary Of California, almost to the
Missouri river, over which we are building
the great iron highway,
DOWN THE EASTERN SLOPE.
The railroad runs down the valley of
the Iruckee, stream fed by Bonner Lake
and Lake Tanoe-a large sheet of water
few miles south of the railroad Here we
come to the saw mills 4 year ago this
region was almost a solitude, broken only
by the rumbling of the wheels of wagons
laden with supplies for some of the min
ing towns of Nevada and of the overland
stages. But now the valley is humming
with saws. Their buzzing is louder than
the thunder Of the descending train. We
pass railroad ties measured by the thous- |
and cords-immense piles of boards and
plank aud timbers for bridges, houses, and !
stations. We see OK teams like those of |
Maine, hundreds of men around saw mills, |
Cinnamon with their sleeves rolled up
handling lumber, side tracks with carloads |
Of timber, engines fired up, letting off |
steam as an impatient, high-mettled horse |
champs and tramps and snorts till allowed |
to start.
TOWNS.
The town of Truckee is to be a railroad |
repair station. 1t was all burned down
asst July. but it is built up again, and is
ivlier than ever. The repair shop being
located here, there has been grand rush
If npprla 'Iba hpn-o5 oil g
all crowded and huddled together, as if
here was but limited amount of land in
.he whole world, and it was of the utmost
Importance that every inch should be
Insurance companies ought
% have high premiums for insuring prop
,rty in such a town. Give a high wind
md start spark in one building, and the
lanes will make clean work of the whole
place, with the exception of the railroad
buildings which stand apart.
There is great crowd at the station.
n two minutes the majority have hold of
he Sacramento Union, to find out what
5 going on in the world. In no other
country can we see such a scene.
Look at the crowd moment! We be-
lOld men in the full vigor of manhood,
lale, hearty, brawny, Injured to hardship,
wearing clothes of the stoutest material.
they are men of enterprise, activity, intel
gence, unbOunded hope. They are the
most sanguine men in the world. They
'elleve in the Central Pacific Railroad.
hey believe in the destiny of America
hat it is to be the greatest nation of all
lme. and that California will beat the
.ast out and out in the race for glory
Jdrteton, IN Boston Journal.
A MORMON CHURCH.-The Salt Lake {
reporter of March 9th the Gentle rep
at Salt Lake. says:
The services at BishOn WoolIav;s maat Z