Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-08
Gbe 9an spp durcse. GbnrsOag aummg, august s. 1872

| next morning shells and meat are gone eaten
away by the chemicals. The ink spring flows a
very good ink; Dr. Todd wrote his volume
"Sunset Land" with it.
The heat in the DEVILS canyon at midday is
Intense. The ground is parched, ashy and hot
enough TO crisp the shoe soles near the orifces.
The earthquake in March, 1872, shook this re-
gion fearfully, tumhling the rock and scoriS
down the slopes, and some large boulders into
the witches cauldron. The guide, who CHANGED
to be near, said to me he had to be lively to get
his shins out of the way, and that the cauldron
tossed and Kissed as though his majesty was
burning petroleum, instead of wood, in his sub
terranean furnaces.
Sulphur is the prevailing substance, which
probably accounts for the birthstone theology
associated with the place. May be similar
locality and formation was the Hades of the
ancient Greek, his Tartarus of eternal punish
ment. 1t is unfortunate Excepting for the
mirth which it provokes), that the satanic gov
ernOr's name has been given to so many places.
Here is the DEVILS inkstand his workshop, tea
kettle, and last of all lofty, conical rock at
the end of the canyon, is nicknamed his pulpit.
No announcements are ever made of the hours
of service so that it is quite uncertain when one
can hear him. The presumption is that he is
little fitful and erratic in this matter-like
Greeley. He may be heard either at Baltimore,
Philadelphia or Cincinnati, just as he takes a
notion, or gets a chance. The indications are
that their policies are identical.
Seriously, these geysers are marvellous aud
mysterious, and worth long journeys to see.
They are studies for the scientist, and furnish
amusement and wonder for the sightseers
What are they2 What causes them2 How long
have they been boiling and steaming, and when
will they cease sending these misty columns up
toward the clouds? These are some of the
queries that crowd upon the mind while viewing
this laboratory of nature, this semi-mraculous
phenomenon of a supreme and omnipotent
power. The vulgar names Of a darkened, bigot
ed, minimizing and unreasoning heathensm are
uniting. There is nothing but that tends tC
instruct and entertain, and will impress the be
holder with new and stronger sense of an all
wise and all powerful creator.
The stage ride thither from Calistoga, where
the cars are vacated for the coach, is twenty
eight miles through the upper end of the Maps
valley; then the route passes over and among
| the coast range of mountains, in the heart Of
which the springs are.
The summit, or ridge, where passengers pass
| is over four thousand feet above the sea. In
| eighteen miles over the peaks, crests and crags
the road has two hundred and forty-fve turns
some Of them of ox-bow form. The road is
| narrow-just wide enough for the wagons.
Going down either side the summit, the horses
start into a ten mile gait, and keep it up along
the edge of perpendicular precpceS that go
down straight more than thousand feet. Yet
no accident has ever occurred. The horses are
trained to the tracks and the drivers unrivalled
in their speciality. Nowhere can their equals be
found for daring and skill.
This ride to the geysers is a feast day in the
calendar, point to date from in the memory.
Forty or fifty persons go in daily from May 10
September. The Geyser hotel sets upon the hill
side opposite the Devils canyon, and in fullview
of the springs. Though everything must be
brought nearly 80 miles over the route just out
Incl, yet under the management of genial
and intelligent German, DR.. Sasenbeth, all
corners are well cared for.
California has two staple interests-viz
mining and agriculture. At present they are
about equal in importance and worth in export
value, though the latter leads. Formerly, for
several years, mining was carried on by ndlvid-
uals and little organized incorporated captaliwas
employed. Placer, or surface, not quartz mining,
was the custom. Now, scarce any mineral is
worked except by incorporated capital, managed
by expert chemists and wel.trained superin-
tendents, who make it speciality as much as in
any department of manufactures There is
more law and less luck than in the early days of
mining. Experience has lately demonstrated
that certain rich mines that suddenly gave out,
the veins ceasing, have become the best paying
by sinking the shafts four or five hundred feet
deeper Veins that stopped at 1900 hundred feet
are now supplying the richest rock at 1900 feet.
Experts are of opinion. that this will prove
an unfailing result in all deep mines,
owing to the peculiar geological for
nation Of the interior. Experienced
English mining capitalists are investing
largely, and are securing the most promising
lodes. We meet Englishmen in cars, coaches,
hotels and steamers. Many are merely tourists
on the ''round the world" trip; Others are from
Australia, India or China, but good proper
ton are on the scent for good paying invest
ments in mines, lands, bonds, mortgages, etc
and they are usually wise and shrewd in their
selections. Not only in California, but Arizona,
Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Utah, all over this
immense western domain, they have an eye to
the main chance. We have met more English
than Yankee travellers. Two years since they
were the exception.
Some of these mines are yielding several thou
sand dollars month, a large portion being net
profit. The government has nearly completed
the new mint at San francisco. 1t Is built of
Oregon sandstone in a massive, plain, and sub
stantial manner with no fancy architecture, and
is indicative of the business within.
Wheat fields abound in every direction, cover
ing the fertile valleys Of the San Joaquin and
Sacramento as far as the eye can reach Vessels
load at the wharyes for almost every chief port
on both oceans. All grains are threshed in the
fields and put into sacks. We have not space
here 10 write what we know about farming, but
would refer those desiring information
concerning it to the excellent and
elaborate article in the July num-
Der of Harper's Magazine, by Charles Nord-
hoff, Esq, Of the New York Evening Post He
was on the coast early in 80, and has passed
some months here recently. lie is an acute and
reliable observer. An index of the rise of lands
is at Merced-a station on the Visalia division
of the Western Pacific railroad. Four or five
years ago land was selling for dollar an acre
now it brings fifteen dollars. This is fair sam
pie. The farmer makes as much from the APP
probation of his property as from his crops ;
while he raises more with the same outlay and
labor than anywhere east of the Missouri. He
has his choice of almost everything that grows
under the sun, is not limited to wheat, corn,
potatoes, and the usual Accomplishments, but
may grow oranges and olives, silk worms and
cotton, etc, etc.
But this American occident is mindful of
other interest than bunOwng for precious
metals and trying how much and how various
can be grown per acre. 1t has made wise, per-
manent and liberal provisions for common
schools, and a mammoth university. No state
In the Union has such large endowments for its
institutions of learning of all grades, from the
A primary 10 the college that IL a university
in its full meaning, comprising the chief depart