The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-09-20
A DARING Birdie TOUR
The Ad9onturos Of Two Girls Among
the Northern Mining Camps

of the bslsam of pins and hr and bitter
juniper
We knew that nearly every gulch had
hidden in it the cabin of a lone miner.
These hermit men, relics Of past, live
year after year i'm solitude broken only
by quarterly tramps 10 the nearest store.
confes> to liking for them, wondering,
respecting pity for men who are sufficient
unto themselves.
When We hao stopped to rest on a noun
tain top and tied the horses, we climbed
part way up huge tower of rock. Anna
stood leaning on fragment and sang, Il
viii Lift up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills
From Whence Cometh My Hep" 1 was
looking down from a higher point, and
saw in the trail an old man with white
beard and white hair on his shoulders. He
was listening, his eyes fixed on the singer.
l moved, and he raised his hand with 8
gesture commanding silence. When the
psalm ended he turned from the trail and
disappeared. l wondered what he thought
OF the vision on the unused trail, and
was glad he heard Anna sing. He will
! never hear anything sweeter till he goes
where the angels be.
When we came TO Black Bear Creek we
recognized it from the description. at
looks like coffee with little milk in it. -
At O. clock We passed the mountain home
of John Da gett. "Onlv eight miles now, I"
l cheered Anna, "and some them level
enough to eAllop." We did galIop reck-
/ lessly over the level, and lost the trail.
| The next mountain Was covered with
thick brush. Unable 10 find the trail we
! fought our way up. Billy kept looking
around so reproachfully as TUFTS of hair
! were torn from his sides, and l was so
! tired l had TO wink hard to keep back the
| tears.
| What happened from the top of that
hill until we rode into sawyers Bar i. a
! blank TO me. Anna says we met man on
mule and l calmly look my half of the
/ trail in the middle, almost pushing him
down the hill. 1t may be so.
! We rested all the day of the Fourth and
saw the town and the people. Sawyers
! Bar is q primitive place and unique. Until
the last few years it had no wagon com.
| municaton with the outside world, de-
| pending on mules in summer and snow
shoes in winter. The elderly Sawyer.
Barbarian does not desire to be wanderel
on the face of the earth. There are two
| places, the Bar and Outside" and decid-
e1ly to be preferred is the Bar. He is con-
sentative, too, preferring to have hi:
daughter marry one OF the 800 native.
! rather than Il foreigner. 1 tried to unraveI
the relationship between some of the
much intermsrried families, but my mathe.
mates gave out.
| Sawyers Bar is not hole. It is crack
| among mountains. The river flows along
the bottom of the crack, and the town is
hung on the hillside. The houses are SO
built into the hill that the elotheslines
back OF them are higher than the roofs.
The one street Is so narrow the teams
which come in have to drive through the
town and turn on the outskirts.
On the morning of the 5th we started on
the second stage of our journey. From
| Sawyers Bar to Etna is only twenty five
miles on new wagon-road. The last OF
| the snow had been cleared off only the
week before. At we stopped for break
fast at the Mountain House, hallway
place of refreshment for man and beast.