Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-07-08
4 95ZE -GRON1u R0lvT ~

Eg8 HAT which is rare in the world
of nature is always richly
MI priced by man, be it some
strange fantastic form, some
exotic growth, or some very
EeautifuI bloom. The stOnecrop, the
@ge-brush and the cactus have
elaimed California for their own,
Spreading out into the desert-lands
WhiCh lie to the eastward, and climb
ihg up over the foothills of the Sierras,
Nhere they mark the boundary of fer
nifty and cIOthe the nakedness of
sbnd-dune and sOil-serac with spuri-
0aIs vegetation; thus by the artemisias,
SblVias, audibertias, dudleyas, OPIUM
Has and mamillarias is the wilderness
made to bloom. But it was not to
feVel in the marvels on the mesas,
Dor the charms of the chapparral that
jOurneyed one afternoon to Del Mar,
q tiny Wayside station near San Di-
Ngo, perched on the top of high cliff
hbOye the wash Of the blue Pacific
waves. For days l had STEPPED my
nbul in the delights of the woods and
tastes, found companionship with
Mrds and things that creep, and gath
red here and there fragile fragrant
lowers. But now the rarest tree in
khe whole wide world had called to
pc from its isolation; the report of
Is marvellous characteristics, its
ngged beauty, its picturesque habitat
hRd all been detailed, and so one
sloriOus day. when the California sky
Mas domed like lapis lazuli, travelled
y Del Mar to see the famous Torrey
Mnes.
n 1t is enthralling to think how ma
Ore has set this handful of cOnifers
"a a Californian cliff, the only speci-
mens of their kind ever found on
@rth, save for a few on the near by
sland of Santa Rosa. It was not I'M
"a the year 1850 that these trees were
discovered by Mr.. J. L. LIE COnte, who
DrthWith named them Pinus torrey
Pa, after Dr. John Torrey of New
York, and since then many botanists
90 nature-lOVers have made a pill
limage to this lonely shrine on the
spmmIt of the Windswept bluffs,
Mong them Engelmann, Asa Gray,
Ryard Taylor and Charles F. Holder.
Ravlng the station at Del Mar, l fol
owed the railroad for a mile or so,
emerging out of a cutting on to a
"Trip of track which skirted deep
@yne Chiseled and channeled like the
%and Canon of Colorado in miniature;
Rence rounding a rampant of rock I
@me upon a mass of Quarried quarts
sRlmmering in the sunlight, such as is
|Sed for the foundation of roads in
Als vicinity. The shining pyramid
NaS my signpost to leave the steel
ais and turn towards the sea.
A steep, sandy trail led down to join
Re oiled road which skirted the shore
- far as the foot of the southerly
Radland, and then wound away
nong the hills behind the cliffs. From
Als point l gained my first view OF
& NY pihSS, q SIuoSSA Va IVA va ~
#nnkS and twisted branches covered
#th fascicles of immensely long
8ayes outlined against the sky sew
"a hundred feet above me. To scram-
Is up the dry banks covered with
Aanzanita, masses of pinkish buck
neat and all manner of caeti and
pnecrops mingled with the inflated
Pos Of the locoweed and the aromatic
Nants Of the Yerba santa, or mountain
I'm, was but the work Of a few mo-
#ents, and there on the top stood the
Nue groves of rare trees. sheltered
"a the most part in small ravines,
ene specimens, however, growing at
Re extreme edge of the bluffs where
Re hooks and crannies offered but
sant foOthold or nourishment for
fgetation. Some of the trees are as
@nch as four feet in circumference
pG rise to a height of from five to
~ feet, those standing in exposed
Fces being more bent and fantas-