Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-10-27
MOUNT SHASTA.
A Description of II In joaquin afller.s
Most Picturesque style

*sA~c+ AA&t@A&@1NN 80 ANs
AS lone as God. and white a. 4 winter
moon, Mount Shasta starts up sudden
and solitary from the heart of the great
black forests Of northern California.
writes joaquin Miller in Ny Own
Story.
You would hardly cali Mount Shasta a
part of the Sicrras; you would say rather
that it is The great white tower of some
ancient and eternal wall. with nearly ali
of the white walls overthrown.
1t has no rival! There Is not even a
snow crowned subject in sight of its
dominion. A shining pyramid in mail Of
everlasting frosts andice, the sailor some
times, in day of singular ciearness,
catches glinpses of it from the sea, a
hundred miles away to the vest; and it
may be seen from the dome OF the capi-
tol, $40 miles distant The Immigrant
coming from the east beholds the snowy.
solitary pillar from afar cut on the arid
sage bush plains, and lifts his hands in
silence as in answer 10 q sign.
Column upon column of storm
stained tamarack, strong, tossing pines
and warlike looking frs have rallied
here. They stand with their lacks
against this mountain, frowning down
dark browed and confronting the face
of the Saxon. They defy the advance
of civilization into their ranks. What
if these dark and splendid columns, 100
miles in depth. should be the last to go
down in Americal What if it should be
the old guard gathered here, marsllaled
around their emperor in pluines and
armor that may die. but not surrender!
Ascend lhis mountain, stand against
the snow above the upper belt Of pines,
and take glance below. Toward the
sea nothing but the black and unbrosen
forest Mountains, it is true, dip and
divide and break the monotony as the
waves break up the sea; yet it is still the
sea, still the unbrol1en forest, black and
magnificent. To the south the landscape
sinks and declines gradually, but still
maintains its columns of dark plumed
grenadiers, till the Sacramento Valley is
reached, nearly hundred miles away.
Silver rivers run here, the sweetest in
the world They wind and wind among
the rocks and messy roots, with Cali
fornia lilies, and the yew with scarlet
berries dripping in the water, and trout
:dling in the eddies and cool places by
the basketful. On the east the forest
still keeps up unbroken rank till tho
Pitt River Valley is reached. and even
there it surrounds the valley and locks it
up tight in its black embrace. To the
north, it is true, Shasta Valley makes
~.,.;t, = Is,,,,.la =, ti,, -, III s., AMI .,,.,
plow there and Mexicans drive their
mules or herd their mustang ponies on
the open plain. But the valley il linn
tied. surrounded by the forest, confined
and imprisoned
Looking intently down among the
black aud rolling hills, 40 miles away TO
the west, and here and there you see a
haze of cloud or smoke hung up above
the trees; or, driven by the wind that is
coming from the sea, it may drag and
creep along as if tangled in the tops.
These are mining camps. Men are
there, down in these dreadful canyons,
out of the sight of the sun. swallowed up,
buried in the impenetrabie gloom Of the
forest toiling for gold. Each one Of these
camps is world itself. History, ro-
nance, tragedy. poetry, in every one Of
them. They are connected together, and
reach the outer world only by narrow
little pack trail, stretching through the
timber, stringing round the mountains,
barely wide enough to admit the foot
men and little Mexican mules, with their
apparajos, to pass in single file.
But now the natives of these forests.
/ lived with them for years. You do
not see the smoke of their wigwams
through the trees They do not smite
the mountain rocks for gold, nor fell the
pines. nor roll up the waters and ruin
them for the fishermen. All this mag
nificent forest is their estate. The great
spirit made this mountain first Of all,
and gave it to them, they say, and they
have possessed it ever since. They pre-
serve the forest, keep out the fires, for
it is the park Of their deer