Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-12-11
Valley region. The present river
channels have certainly been

RttCI AtAtOhs hO ftC1Ohe ~ ~
channels have certainly been
OPENED BY AN EARTHQUAKES,
Though as yet am not sufficiently
acquainted with the topography of
the country to locate their course
in days gone by. 1t may be that
the face of the land is so changed
that to trace them would be an inn
possibility; there are, however,
certain natural features which
would indicate that we might
search for the old bed at the base
of the Sierras, four to six miles to
the west. Now we are at the
divide between the waters of Rock
and Crooked creeks. Both are
tributaries of Owens river, though
they flow in opposite directions.
Flowing down a debris ridge, eth
er could, by few hours's work, be
turned in an inverse direction. At
one time they had evidently been
of one mind, joining harmoniously
in seeking the shortest passage to
the plains below.
A rough road; very. How any
man or set of men can have tho
conscience to collect heavy toll for
the privilege OF an unexampled op-
portunity TO smash down wagons OF
pull the life aud heart out of unfor-
tunate animals, is one of the mys-
| teries in the makeup of humanity.
A grade, as L understand it, is some
! modification of the perpendicular;
here it appears to be modification
| of q level. l believe in q direct
road as far as practicable; and the
engineer who surveyed this line be-
| lieved in q straight one under any
circumstances. In finding the foot
of hill this course of engineerln
may be said to be a success. The
advantages, however, end here, as
the heavily loaded teamster soon
finds; and L would infer that the
horse or mule which travels this
road during six months is
NOT LIKELY TO FORGET 1T,
That Is if he lives through that per-
I iod, which is more than problemat'
ical. Leaving Round Valley it oc-
cupies six to eight hours to ascend
a grade-stair it tshould be-of three
and q half miles, even after doubl-
| ling or dropping the "back action"
"a second wagon. In the nexl
eight miles it requires the opera
tion of doubling the power to sur.
/ O., c
around which grade might be
constructed at small outlay. III
the sufferipgs of dumb brutes count
for anything in striking balance
at the last day, the proprietors ol
the Mammoth Toll Road-I will
not say grade again-will have
| good reason to remember all ol
these superfluous ascents, and get
ample time to ponder over theil
parsimony and lack Of civil en-
gineering. 1t will only be a fitting
punishment were they to be put
through the countless ages of etern-
ity to surveying heights and grad
tents in places where the toughest
sections of the Alps might be con-
sidered as q plan of comparison.
There is no public conveyance
from Bishop to Mammoth, nor in
fact, any other place in Inyo or
Mono, except Bodie. If you do not
get lift by any of the freighting
teams, or own buggy the chances
are that
| TRAMP AND PACKET LINE
Will have your patronage. Going
up we met many taking advantage
of this primitive and inconvenienl
though reliable means of changing
their location. Some had slightly
improved on the time-honored and
ever-ready conveyance by pressing
a Jack into their service and stick
ing him all over with coffee pots,
frying-pans, picks and shovels, TIL
he appeared to be a cross between
a tin shop and load of fence rails.
Now and then one of these men is O
walker by choice. On the Mohave
Desert we were approached by Q
middle-aged man packing his
blankets. He had "footed 1T" al
the way from Los Angeles. Fol
eighty.five miles he was at the dill
ferent stations, noon and night
ahead of us. Thinking he nigh
be short of money, asked him t.
eat several times, but he would not
declaring that he had plenty o.
money, at the same time slappine
his pocket, which responded with
comforting jingle. At Indian
Wells he took the road to Darwin
at 4 o'clock in the morning, across
a weary, uninviting, sagebrush
plain, and we saw him no more.
There is nothing new from the
Mammoth mines. We are having
fine weather and snow all gone.
Nadeau's teams have made theii
last trip for the season.
| CHAs. J. FORBES.