Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-05-04
A LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
CASPER. MEND0cINo Co, }
Aprll 6. 1874.


of conveyance has its drawbacks to the
uninitiated | have just returned from
journey of 1870 miles, which took me
over the Coast Range, the last 80 miles
of which was made on foot, ''for exer-
else" | was mounted on small, yell
lowish locking animal, which looked to
ne like mule. but as they said it was
a ''hoss, | accepted it as such. These
animals are Mexican breed worth from
$50 to $40. They are broke to the sad
dle-can walk on the edge of a preci-
pice where a cat would be afraid to 90,
swim a river and follow trail as well
as an Indian. There is one other trait
peculiar to this breed. which one should
understand to give the creature its mer-
! its lust arouse the Mexican blood and
your animal will at once commence d
course of gymnastics that would surprise
a circus performer. Balancing himself
on his front feet, he tries vigorously to
put his hind ones into the stirrups be-
fore you have taken yours out then with
out giving any notice, he elevates the
other end and makes the attempt with
his front feet rapidly repeating the OPP
erations. while he rolls from side to side
for variations Il can not think of de-
scribing the result This very beautiful
performance is called ''bucking" by Cal
ifornians. The Coast Range In many
places comes to the very shores of the
! Pacific, and as there is no bed rock the
clay and gravel of which they are COM
posed, has been washed away by the
creeks, until they presenta system of deep
! gulches on whose banks the noted red
wood grows IN profusion, and down the
sides Of which these trees are cut. and
IN summer the logs are rolled down into
the valleys, and are carried to the mills
by the winters rains. The roads zig
gag among the gulches, making very ca
sy grade, but increasing the distance SO
that stone thrown down the mountain,
would strike the road in some places far
IN the rear. Back and forth you are con
tlnuaily going as soon as you reach the
summit Of one divide, you go down as
you came up, cross the creek at the bot
tom and commence the ascent of another.
each little higher than the preceding,
until the principal summit Is reached.
Just before reaching the summit in a
little valley surrounded by redwoods, is
the hotel, twenty miles from an lnhabi-
tant on one side, and twenty-five on the
other. You are greeted here, as every
where else in California. by a quorum
of dogs. The hotel proper is not very
imposing building, but with the sleep
ing apartments, which are a little re-
moved from the main building, barn and
sheds, it looks very we'll. On the gables
over the doors are hung deer ana elk
horns, while on the barn was nailed two
bear skins. which the landlord said were
the fruits of his yesterdays hunt. All
of these buildings-house, barn, sheds.
bedrooms, and garden fence were built
from the lumber obtained from one tree,
and as it was split out. all of the top of
the tree was still on the ground. Boards
II feet long, one inch in thickness, were
as free from wind as those cut with q
board saw. The bark from this tree was
thirteen inches thick | measured one
huge tree that stood near the house and
found it to be 5 feet in circumference,
i've feet from the ground. Redwood re-
sembles CEDAR but has the very peculiar
property of shrinking endwise, and
sometimes sidewise 1t turns black on
exposure to the weather but never rots.
The landlord was a miner in the DAYS
of '49-a rough man-had been ..bust-
ed time and again. and was very fond
OF narratlng tales of blood shed. which
he had been witness to. Finally warm
ing with his subject, he showed me the
graves of two persons with whom he
once had "a slight unpleasantness."
was obliged to stay with him all night.
but saw no ghosts of the departed. Re-
Stunning my journey in the morning, slow
ly at first, L soon reached the summit of
the mountain. To the West could be
seen the Pacific with millions of acres
OF the dense redwood forest to the East
was the celebrated Little Lake valley .
North and South, mountains covered
with timber, except the very tops which
were snow capped. I was ENJOYING a
Vermont winter with snow in abundance
all around, while at the hotel which 7
had just left it was spring while down
In the valley the people were enjoying
warm summer weather, with the wheat
up SIX inches, and the peach tree in full
bloom. You can get any kind of climate
you Ike in the state, and in this county
there are three grades On the Coast
the thermometer stands at about so de-
grees the year round on the mountains
1t is cold ; in the valleys it is hot De
scend'ng on the eastern side of the range
you soon leave the redwoods, and mass
through groves of scrub oak, which Iii.
mlnish as you near the valley. Here are
some of the best grazing lands in the
state, where are seen thousands of sheen
and cattle feeding Ona r,or l.,