New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-08
ASCENDING MT. SHASTA.
A JOURNEY IN WHICH TIE SOUND OF TIE
AXE WAS THE ONLY THING UNPLEASANT.

San Francisco April 90 tSpccial.-It was ON a
,lear golden morning in September that left my
camp on the McCloud River for a four DAYS trim.
including a visit to the summit of Mt. Shasta.
From the western side of Shasta Valley the
mountain was in full view before us, some twenty
miles away, but appearing far less. The extreme
clearness of the atmosphere Of California reduces
the apparent distances amazingly, while il seems
10 throw the mountain into wonderful clcarness
Of relief against the blue sky The side of the
mountain was covered with the deep-driven SHOWS
OF ages making one feel the shortness of the
span Of human life, in the presence of 50 much
antiquity as the Great Sentinel" of the western
coast could display in the aged forests on its
base the changeless rocks the eternal snow.
Although single peak-perhaps because of IFS
isolation from any mountain chain-the attrac-
ton is unique, and enchains the eye, and Yet in
the perfectly level valley hundreds of disjointcd
peaked little hillocks rise for twenty-five miles
about, as if anxious to emulate their great neigh
Dor in shape, if not In magnitude
| crossed the ford OF the Shasta River and ell
joyed the many smaller streams which, clear as
crystal and icy cold. spring from the mountain
tanks above All day it seemed that could put
forth my hand and touch the mountain that was
graciously bearing me company, deceptive was
the clear air through which / moved The won
derful dryness of the atmosphere made it possible
for Inc TO endure temperature Of 100 degrees
without discomfort. In the evening | watched
the setting sun from the Strawberry Valley rancho
the purple rays lingering and playing for twenty
minutes or more about its summit, when to all
other mountains the sun had set. From the
Strawberry Valley ranch the great black Butte.
a conical pile of stones some 5000 feet in height,
Shasta's nearest neighbor, rises directly into the
sky. The black Butte lss no apparent excuse for
existence, save as it lends its backncss, foil
against the snowy white of the larger mountain
II resembles nothing more than pile of waste
rock thrown from the excavations of some Titanic
quarry. 1 left the ranch after good nights rest
with warnings about grizzlies California lions
and rattlesnakes. OF these ! was not afraid; the
dangers that ! really had TO fear were falling
rocks and stones, canon crevices snow
gullies, exhaustion and cold. The trail
led through gently ascending forest
of the Pinus Lambert,niana rising sngly with
almost no branches for the first % feet. these
great-trunked silver pines stood like the columns
Of temple to support the heavenly dome. All
day, as we rode, we loved them more and better.
AT our feet they cast hundreds of the great cones
measuring from twelve to twenty-four inches in
length, filled with the little round seeds known
as pine nuts These are roasted and made into
bread, or eaten as we eat chestnuts. They have
sweet oily taste, and are wholesome. The
woods where they grow are full Of dainty. com
panionable little squirrels, who do not dsdain
to cat the pine nuts without cooking, especially
after they have been boarded in underground nests
TO grow sweet and toothsome. for one variety of
the California squirrel disiains the tree as an
rtac uirip tive in bie
respect to the ieldrat which often builds his nest
in the branches of a live oak, while the squirrel
contents himself with an underground snuggery
These pines are as tall but Of lesser grth than
the great seqtitias. They are often from 273 TO
800 feet high, and measure nine to ten feet in
diameter. 1t is hard for the human eye to take
in their height at less distance than that of
seventy five feet. To stand at the foot of one
of them and allow the eye to follow its trunk
until it pierceS heaven with its shaft brings an
intense sense of the Almighty Power and Pres
enoe Perpendicular lines channel the trunks as
an architect might trace them. In the light
Of (.e camp fire the glowing trunks appeared
like the Jasper colonnades OF a heavenly Jernsa-
lem, and as the moonlight silvered their trunks
and revealed their beauties, and we thought OF
the years it had taken TO bring them to this stage
OF perfection, a sort of sacred awe fell upon US.
an awe exceeding that produced by the most per-
feet cathedral of human building
Think, indignant Eastern friend of your own
devastated Adirondacks. the gradual fall OF the
Hudson River, owing 10 the destruction OF The
duff" or heavy moss that used 10 retain the
moisture, and sending a constant stream
OF water out, even in the dry season, keep the
river al a constant level, and sadly join in my
disrnay at hearing the sound of the axe in the
lumber camp Before the fall Of night many OF
these forest giants will bite the dust. On our
late return from our long days climb more than
one Of the century beauties lay prone, wrenched
from its proud privilege by the greed OF man.
For six or eight miles Of the upward way from
camp / followed blind snow trail through
bushes of manzanita chaparral II is in chaparral
such as this that the grizzly, the ursls horloiiS'
makes his home. lie is often four feet high ana
seven feet long. and sometimes grows to weigh
about 1000 pounds his usual weight being 500
or 900 pounds He disdains man as food, pre-
ferring berries. Yet he is the most dangerous
of animals TO attack, and some dozen men are
killed or mutilated yearly by these California
monsters. The possibility OF encountering nm
forms half the romantic interest OF wood lie IN
California mountains. The probability OF not
doing so makes that life reasonably safe. j never
met him, greatly to my regret ana advantage.
emerged upon barren rocky plateau ana
before the sun rose began the climb on foot.
After an hours toll over broken rock and stone,
through a snowy ravine, looscning masses OF
rock which bounded into the abyss below, began
TO think that had reached the desired summit.
but merely looked out over fields Of lava, scoria'
snow and glaciers. | crossed ravincs from fifty
TO one hundred feet wide half-flled with snow
and ICE lying in ridges like the waves on an
ocean, sharp and uncomfortable. Again think
ing ] had made the summit, came upon table
land Of snow about quarter of a mile in diane
ter. could look down into assures from 100 to
]. 900 feet in DEPTH and still it was snow. From
this field, in fssure few hundred feet from the
summit, the Sacramento takes its rise Running
through deep gorgcs. sometimes appearing, some
times hidden, the stream PUSHES on, breaking out
.4..=o aft