The Newtown bee., 1904-08-05

and stock raising and wheat growing predominate all through the Sacra- mento valley. Next to San Joaquin valley, it is the $~ &y& @A GREATEST WHEAT GROWING SECTION in the state. Thousands of acres are covered with the golden grain and as 1t is harvest time we see how they do ] it as we pass along. In a small field of 10 or 20 acres we may find just the mower that falls the grain as it is cut, | when it is raked with horse rake, drawn together in one mass and threshed in the field. All grain is threshed in the field for that matter. Another man may go in with reaper and binder and leave his crop cut and in the bundle, to be followed later by the gatherer who threshes it out when convenient. But the way that will make an Fastener look on in amaze ment is, to see the header at work that takes the heads off the standing straw, threshes it and bags it as fast as a man can tie the bags, standing on the platform and dropping the grain bagged on the ground to be gathered by a follower. A big field is the best l 10 or l5 miles travel before they make one round. Mules are the best for that because they are more steady in their gait. It takes about 40 mules eight abreast, to furnish power for that and several men to run it. On the principle that it takes as long to rig for two hours work as fora whole day am told it is customary to run from in the morning till at night, feeding six times day and paying $5 a day. We saw two rigs of the latter ] infi fo1 o irp swath. This wheat belt of the Sacra- mentO valley extends northeasterly about 90 miles and all the way along
 we can see on what magnificent scale the raising of that cereal is carried on.
 As we leave the wheat belt and ap- proach the foot hills of the great s. erra Nevada range we pass through an
 immense peach raising belt. At every station little boys held their small
 baskets up to us and ''Only a dime' we
 are told. Before we reach the summit
 we must make climb of nearly 5000
 feet.
 ANOTHER MONSTER ENGINE IS HITCH ED ON
 and the climb begins. The two great man as they puff and toll up the wind.
 ing grade. Lamps are lighted and we go through mountain tunnels. At
 one point on the range we pass
 around what is called Cape Horn.
 Here fork of the American river can
 be seen foaming 1900 feet below. The
 train rolls on and we are soon clinging
 to the sides of a mountain wall where
 a stone could be dropped from car
 window straight into a chasm 2500 feet
 below. The road here was carved
 from the solid rock. The Workmen
 when building it were suspended from
 til they had blasted enough to gain a
 foothold. For many years this was claimed as the highest railroad point
 in North America. Above our heads
 tower gigantic peaks, snow clad they are now, and as we pass along we
 again enjoy the luxury of seeing snow ; in July. At Summit we reach
 THE HIGHEST POINT IN THE SIERRA
 % NEVADA MOUNTAINS
 and we get an unobstructed view o1 the range in all directions. All through the vast range we have beer } climbing, we again meet our old friend of the San JacintO mountains, the
 manZanita, shrub of undergrOwtf l; most beautiful and once seen not sOOr to be forgotten. Our elevation il 7,0l8. It is the great divide of tht Sierra Nevadas and the many little streams made from the summer melt } ing of the snow that covers the peak' 7 far above our heads, all find their way 3 though it may be through devious . courses, to empty at widely divergent points into the Sacramento river ant F from thence into the Pacific ocean. Ii ] brought fresh to me those beautiful . lines that have so often ran thrOugl 3 my mind when standing on some loft. ] mountain peak while on this trip ) from quoting which can no longe ] refrain:
 . '"Thou who woulds't see the lovely and tn
 wild
 ; Mingled in harmony on Natures face; ] Ascend our rocky mountains,
 8 Let thy foot fail not from weariness, l For, on their tops the beauty and the majest ? Spread wide beneath shall make thee to for ] get
 l The steep and to'lsome way" r While we werelclimbingIto reach thi a great elevation, we passed many httl e stations, at some of which we stopped d Bear in mind they are deep in tn e shadows of the great peaks and ar s outlets, breathing places, for tn }, sparse population that would be fOun # were we to leave our car and spen a days in mountain foot trailing. Befor e we round Cape Horn we reach AL
 burn, which, if not Goldsmith O "sweetest village of the plain," look