Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1871-11-29
Miscellany
Editorial Correspondent Of the Mechanical News.
A Trip TO the Big Trees and the
Yosemite.
SAN FRANcIsco, Ger. Sd, 1871

After seeing the various objects Of ma
terialhterest in ard about San Francisco VIC
be thought ourselves that the GROWING glory
of Californian natural scenery yet remain
ed TO be seen. So We resolved to brave
the inevitable hardships intervening. espe-
cially as going home without visiting the
Big Trees aud the wonderful Yosemite
would, by implication, confess our trip to
have been made in vain.
Having beheld with our own eyes the
SURPRISING beauties and grandeur of that
enchanted valley, We of course must do as
every body else has done who has been
similarly blesscd-commit our observa-
tious aud experience to writing, regardless
OF the fact that it has been done hundreds
of times before, and that tie whole sub
ject, at the hands of the ittterateur and
artist has become trite and thread-bare,
aud every object Of novelty and beauty as
carefully extracted as the precious metal
from some super-worked placer But
low to reach the valley With the smallest
amount Of fatigue is ssally an important
problem. and as difficult for the stranger
to solve as it is important.
Preparatory to trip fraught with such
varied experiences of pleasure and pain,
we consult every available map Of Cali
fornia, talked big tree and Yosemite to
any one who would patiently suffer the in-
fiction, badgered the returned tourist,
and listened, at first with beaming delight,
to a host of solicitors for various compet-
ing routes, as each recited the superior
attractions and advantages secured by his
particular route, until, for sheer relief
from the intricate confusion into which
our Investigations serve only to plunge us,
we trautically chose u route at last, caring
but little where, save that it led toward
the valley and from our besiegers. The
route we finally selected is that known as
the Hutchlngs route. so named, suppos.
ed, out Of Difference to the estimable
gentleman whose name stands so intimate
| ly connected with the history of the Yose-
mite. The route is ria Railroad from
San Francisco to Stockton and Milton, a
distance of about 100 miles; thence by
stage to the Calaveras grove of big trees,
and hence by the Coullerville trail into
the valley. We had not been many hours
on the road before we came to the conc lu
sion, in common, doubtless, with all tour
lists, that we unluckily had selected I
route embracing the rockest roads, thu
deepest aud vilest dust, the steepes
grades, and the most reckless, unmercifu
j ebu on the whole coast as our driver
But learning shortly that these were bu
the necessary evils common to California
staging, in whatever locality, We modified
oar views and now believe that this route
though blindly chosen. is the most desira
BILE one into the valley, inasmuch as by |
the equipments are fully equal to an.
ether, aud it possesses the advantages o
passing through, or rather over, severa
mountain ranges the beauty Of who's
scenery alone is well worth the fatigues o
the trip. The familiar call aboard "a
the Central Pacific Depot was to us al
oouiveeut for the whole phrase "To th
big trees and Yosemite" In few hour
we find Ourselves at Stockton, where W
change for the cars Of the Stockton AM
i Copperopolis Railroad, a new road a
present completed only as far as Milton
but designed TO penetrate further eastwar'
into the foot hills of the Sierras, which to
Al i 10 N