The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-01

for fifty miles? There are several
places in California where such
an experience can be had. The
ride is not only an uninterrupted
constant slide for forty or fifty miles
from the start to finish, but 1t is as thrill
ing, risky and rapid as anyone might
wish. Think of riding in small craft
in a great trough projecting in the air
fifty or seventy feet above the earth,
from a lofty mountain crest down through
fcrests, across canyons, shooting around
precipices and crags, flying over cattle
ranches orchards and vineyards, and
darling in this rude craft over people
flower gardens and homes, amid very
picturesque scenery. Consider the fascl-
nation of travelling in four hours down
a watery toboggan slide from the snow
clad and icy peaks of the tallest sierras
down into a valley as balmy as May
morning, and amid vegetation as fresh
and luxuriant as in midsummer. No
where in the broad world may such an
experience be duplicated.
Fumes by which cut lumber of logs
may be fioated from the forests prime
val and the sawmills on the spurs of the
Sierra Nevada range down to the valleys
below are common on this coast from
San Diego to Vancouver. They are built
upon huge trestIes 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 a yard deep at the
deepest part. When in operation the
flume is gorged for a week at time
with lumber, which is fished out at the
valley terminus of the fiume and sorted
and piled ready for use. The longest
fume is in Northern California. 1t is
sixty-four miles long ana cost $780, 900,
where the lumber is cheap. A new f1ume
was recently finished in Fresno county.
1t is with this flume that this story
deals. 1t leads from the immense pine
forests on the mountains, 1000 feet above
sea level, down into San Joaquin valley,
at the little town of Coils near Fresno.
In other words, the flume starts amid the
perpetual SHOWS and ice of the sierras
and terminates amid the growing vine
yards and apricot orchards of the semi
tropic San Joaquin. Stephenson creek, in
the mountains, supplies the water.
The f1ume boats in which the rapid
journeys are made down the fumes, are
simple They are made the shape of the
F-boXes of the fumes The upper ends
of the boats are closed by a board nailed
across, but left open to let out the water
which splashes over the sides of the
boat from time to time. Short boards are
laid across for seats, depending on how
many persons are to make the Journey
A carpenter can make one of these
boats in half an uour. The boat is meant
only for the journey, for none is ever
hauled back for another voyage. Only
a little preparation is necessary for a
trip of this kind and a half dollar will
buy enough lumber for the boat, and a
man is poor carpenter indeed who can
not make his own vessel. The trip is
made with little danger-at least in this
Fresno tlume. The principal trouble is
when once started there are few places
where one can stop. The current is gen.
orally so rapid that it makes landing i'm
possible. and the voyager can only sit
still and let the boat run.
The first ride down the new fume from
start to finish was made a few days ago.
The boat was made the evening before at
the reservoir on Stephenson Creek, the
est. eastern terminus of the flume, and every
thlng WAS prepared for an early start and
ample provision was made for all emer-
gencies. even to taking along a shotgun
and rifles. the former for killing quail
and birds, the latter for bear or any large
game that might be seen, for the fiume,
during more than thirty miles OF it's
course, passes through a wild region of
mountains. hills and forests. Astounding
IN game from the smallest bird TO the
largest animal.
Ihe passenger does not realize just how
he gets into the boat nor how he makes
the start 1t is all over before he has
desire to clutch at things, but before he
can do so he is gone and the speed makes
MN catch his breath, and that is all he
can do; The start has been made and it
might be race TO the finish
Before the passenger has time to look
pack or forward or to ask any questions
ne mas run the first half mile and is
sWtGplhg around curve, which opens
70 MS vision sight not pleasant to con-
template. The flume passes between two
WaIls OF rock and then out along the face
OF solid rock, forming the side of Ste
P ihiIS mountain. If one can look down
MHiIe speeding across the giddy height
ne VIII see beneath him the CANYON of
the creek, deep down in the shadows of
morning, almost dark with the denths
- Ho poat seems lying through space 1t
IS only moment till the giddy place is
PASSED and the boat darts into a, mass
OF the mountain ~ 'O0
ne place just behind was one of the
roost perllous In the f1ume. In building
me structure the workmen could NOT finS
4UoIlaS, ana were let down by ropes from
t me prlnk of the cliff below, and thus
tney hung while with hammer ond lii
they cut holes in the solid rock an6 re u,dil
% lCLoiages IN Which to hang the flume
aoW II rests there perhaps solid enoIioh
Gu Gu Propaoiy safe enough, but one has
sIahSe feelings as he sits in nerroI,
boat and makes the VOYAGE in noidair INV Nv
O. o4Iui not Knowing when one of the
80 VIII snap and let the whole struc
PluilSS INTO the depths
~, vi lidt morning there were manv and
large lcicles hanging under the A.,
SohetlmeS the ice was piled IN froT,
M Se S!ouhd TO the fume twenty to thirty
anneo II, ,d,' columns and arches, having the
appearance of marble of intense y1bito
ness. III the water is permitted to t.,
9lI WINTER in the fume there niob+ Nv
sanger that the ice would accumniate + ne
1 ny ,TeIsht on some of the high trestias
S |UulQ De sufficient to drag the entira
structure down. 0 eHlTe
49, yer 1our-mile run the boat s,,d
6r ~ SiHerges from forest Of pines ana
ie1ca e't ~ oNe passengers in the boat exper
I +Uice me 1eeIlrg of a person in a ha1ioo,,
When the world seems to dron aW,aW f.o'ii
LSHGer hlm: The nume ruas ont o,, Ill q
is ,.isi IreStle and at first glance nothing
- NEifSIole Underneath. There seems fo he
Eclhlng but unfathomablo snacn ~ pe
- - nedI uhe turn around the POINT of ST.
fHrtVli mountain. and the vast abvec
cenvo, -" Whicf seemed bsstomless is the
Just now far beneath it wonId he hi
20 guess. Ut broke not less than . 600
1eet; 1T may be less. "N O'VVV
Nv DG one Dy leaning over as the boat hurries
~ OiLe Gan catch mOmentarv view oF
NE NE white foam of the river of the canyoy,
III q sound Is heard. The plunginS nf
; ;tlS river over the surken rocks that Fret
IT'S enamel cannot send even a ,o,'r 80
up the summit of the cliff from u,hii iu ~!
bSS5eheer IN the fiume boat looks down
as ne hurricS on. Nearly evarJ-nh vi
az s tS the canyon is dark at that hour
CT the morning, but at two ar + huec
rIaces the sunlight pours through tbe
gate s in the cliffs and the beams f sae
end ON dlo am floods, silent i'll the distance
lie sEId the blackness of the granite
cilifs which hang like walls thou sst,,.G
feet above the river. s''ii0
so ane passenger cannot look twice at +be
s soaie :, Inc t next minute he has passed
c1yIya INTO aro n5aber, then comes curve after
a aie htcle while the canyon. which haJ
seemed so nearly bottomless. has heen IeTt
i IenlIla, The first twelve miles of the
Journey N~lng the traveller 70 a. -. ~ INC