The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1896-08-12
A FlFTY-TW0 MILE SLIDE
A CALIFORNIA WATER ToBoGGAN
THAT BEATS THE WORLD. -

Passengers in v-Shaped Boat Make
the Trip on a TrestIe in About
-Four Hours.
X FRESNO (Cal.) letter to the
n Chicago Tribune says: What
M would the people in the
Northern States, who find'de-
light in coasting hills a quarter mile
long, or who go into ecstacy at shoot
ing down toboggan slide, say to a
ride la toboggan down a slide fifty
miles long? There are several places
in California where such an expert
ence may be had. The ride is not only
an uninterrupted constant slide for
forty or fifty miles from start to fin
ish, but it is as thrilling, risky and
rapid as any one might wish. Think
of riding in small craft in a great
trough from thirty to 100 feet in the
air from lofty mountain crest down
through forests, across canons, around
preciplces and crags, over cattle
ranches, orchards and vineyards, and
amid very picturesque scenery Con-
sider the fascination of travelling in
lOuI hOuIb uOMh huNSlJ bOOQkBdh
slide from the snow-clad and icy peaks
of the tallest Sierras to q valley as
balmy as a May morning, and amid
vegetation as fresh and luxuriant as in
midsummer. Nowhere in the broad
world may such an experience be du-
plicated.
Fumes by which cut lumber or logs
may lie foated from the forests
primeval and the sawmills on the
spurs of the Sierra Nevada range
down to the valley below are common
on this coast from San Diego TO Van
couver. They are built upon huge
trestles and vary in height from
ten to 100 feet, depending upon
the level of the country traversed.
All the fumes are V-shaped,
and the water flowing through
is q yard deep at the deepest part.
When in operation the fume is gorged
for week at time with lumber,
which is fshed out at the valley term
inus of the fume and sorted and
piled ready for use. The longest
hume is in Northern California. 1t is
sixty-four miles long, and cost $780,
900 where lumber is cheap. A new
lumber fume was recently finished in
Fresno County. 1t leads from the i'm
mense pine forests on the mountains,
1000 feet above sea level, down to the
San Joaquin Valley, at the little town
of Coils, near Fresno. In other words,
the hume starts amid the perpetual
SHOWS and ice of the Sierra and term
mates amid raisin vineyards and ap-
ricot orchards of the semitropic San
Joaquin. Stephenson Creek, in the
mountains, supplies the fiume with
water.
The hume boats in which the rapid
journeys are made down the fumes
are simple. They are made the shape
of the V-boxes of the fumes. The
upper ends of the boats are closed by
q board nailed across, but left open to
let out the water when it splashes over
the sides of the boats. Short boards
are laid across for seats, depending
upon how many persons are to make
the Journey. A carpenter can make
one of these boats in half an hour.
The boat is meant for only one Jour-
ney. None is ever hauled back for an
other voyage.
Half dollar will buy enough lum-
ber for the boat, and man is poor
carpenter indeed who cannot make his
own vessel. The trip is made with
little danger-at least in this Fresno
County fume. The principal trouble
is that when once started there are
comparatively few places where one
can stop. The current is generally so
rapid that it makes landing impossi-
BILE, and the voyager can only sit still
and let the boat run.