The morning call., 1892-07-24

Calaveras. You could linger for days
around the abandoned embarcaderos along
the bay shore, or pitch your tent beside the
Alameda, which runs into the bay down
there. and dream away your whole vaca-
tiOn in peace.
Instead of doing this, however, you push
on early on the morning of the fourth day
out from the village Of AlvaTado. your face
set IN The direction of the great LiyeTmOre
valley, famous for its grain and its wine.
Your way lies through great fields Of sugar
beets sucking up sweetness from the earth
10 give II out next fall in the great worn"
OF the big mills not far from here. Go down
there then and you may see the mammoth
beets carried 10 the mill. poured into a big
receptacle in one part of the building 10 pour
out OF chute, In still another part, into
clean, blue Paper-lined barrels as i No.
granulated sugar. Leaving the beet-fiel
you wind through field of roses; acres
upon acres Of them; red. yellow. pink,
white, almost black some of them. stretch
Ing as far as you can see. and burdenng
the air with their delicious fragrance. 1t is
the rose garden Of the California Nursery
Company. Beyond that you pass through
the pleasant little hamlet Of Niles, and
enter the Alameda Canyon just where
stands the wreck of old Don Jesu
VallejO's big adobe mills. Time was when
the don owned this whole section; the cat
tie on thousand hills were his Now the
family Is scattered abroad, no one knows
where. One survivor, daughter, is liv-
ing in greatly reduced circumstances
in Oakland. The old family resi-
dence, pTetentious two-siory adobe
building covered with one of the
few old tile roofs in the State, still stands at
the old Mission. given over to mercantile
uses, and the Spring Valley Water Company
owns the mill. 1t thinks it owns the canyon
also. it would appear from the warning
pacsrds 1t has posted on the grand old trees
ali along It's length, fOTblddng campers 10
use the water Of the river, and virtually
prohibiting eneampment above the dam. A
great many wOuld-be campers have been
deferred from their a accustomed haunts by
these notices, but a few brave spirits, set
ting them at defiance, have pitched their
camps where they have pleased. and you
pass group after group of bathers aud boat
men enjoying themselves TO their hearts
content.
Penetrating along a mile or two through
the cut, not keeping to the beaten road, hut
travelling through the underbrush, in tho
stream or out, just as pony happens 10 feel
inclined, you make your way above the
dam. just below 1t is a deep. wide ford
The little mare likes this. She lifts her feet
high and sets them down with splash that
sends the flying DROPS up into your face
She puts down her nose aud drinks deep
and long OF the clear water giving q sur
prised snort as venturesome fish, OF which
the stream is full, brushes against her lips.
You curl up your feet and sit at ease in
midstream. The great trees that line
either bank almost meet overhead. The
suns light glints through their branches
and makes patches of light on the water
The current flows past you until it seems
IL you and not IL moves. AS you sit there,
around bend. with many merry calls and
shrleks OF laughter come q group Of SWIM
mers-a score or more laughing, happy
schoolgirls, for the most part, in pretty
oathlng SUITS Ihey shout jolly greeting