Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-09-02

BY.OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CLARENCE f.. EDwORDs, VINO
WILL FURNISH Us INTER-
ESTlNG ARTICLES OF THE
GOLDEN STATE

Eureka, California, Aug. 20
Who has not felt the yearning for
the free and open life of the red
man, with his untrammeled wander
ings by day, and his dreamless
sleep in the tepee or before the
glowing fire by night? There is a
turning to nature that comes to all
of lis just at the time when tree
buds are swelling and little grass
roots are stirring; when birds begin
to feel the restless call for mlgra-
ton; when streams are singing and
the road is calling. Then it is that
Mans thoughts turn to the woods
and the fields. Perhaps it is the
faint of savage blood not yet entire
| w eradicated since the days when
his ancestors lived under the trees
and had their homes in caves and
holes in the rock.
That is the feeling that prompt
ed me to take the trip from Uklah
in Mendocino county to Eureka IN
Humboldt county, some ninety odd
miles of travel, over the old stage
road, instead of in the conventional
way by sea on a well appointed
steamer.
1t may he said without fear of
successful contradiction that there
are more people living in California
who know how to camp out, than
in any equal territory elsewhere.
The reason that this is true lies in
the fact that California is the camp
ers paradise. From early May un-
til late in September there is no
fear of rains spelling the pleasure.
No untoward storms make trouble.
This condition is one of the prime
essentials for perfect camp life, for
sometimes even a tent between one
and the sky is too much, and many
a happy camping trip is taken in
California in which the entire house
| hold effects consists of frying pan
a coffee pot and an AK, with a tin
cup as luxury anda pair or blank
cts for appearance sake.
Ny outfit consisted of little more
than this, and wherever the ashes
of our campfres lie whitening along
the read lies also memory OF happy
days. These northern woods are
full of game, the streams are filled
with trout, and between the two
there was never a day that we did
not have Injuries grazing our hum
BILE board. My camera records
ideal pictures, and while we arrived
at Eureka, brown and rugged, we
have renewed our health and feel
that we have cheated nature out OF
few more years of life.
started to tell this story in or
der to give an idea of what the
great forests of California means,
but have. as usual wandered off the
track. Leaving, the end of the lit;
tie logging road &C Sherwood, after
Having climbedup some three thous-
and feet on fiat car pulled by q
little putting engine, we started off
along the road and almost immedl-
ately were under the shelter of the
great forest Long, cool vistas
reached down between the giant
trunks, and our feet pressed the
soft carpet of pine needles laid foI
countless years to form this ideal
haven of rest. Balsamic aromas
from the trees mingle with sweet
perfume of flowers, bringing health
and rest to the ailing and weary
little streams sing their way merrily
to the sea, each the home of such
fish as make the anglers heart sing
with joy; pure air, soft turf under
foot, blue sky overhead unadulter-
ated by CRIME of cities, the beauty
of trees and flowers, the Joy ofsong
birds, all these are the gifts of Ma
ture to him who seeks the solitudes
of the forests.
1t was through such delights as
these that we travelled until we
reached the terminus of the little
railroad running out of Eureka to
Hydesyille. Then we came to this
splendid seaport of the north, 1t
is hemmed in from the outer world
bv forest and mountain and sea,
and until the new railroad now
building from San Francisco reaches
Eureka, it will be isolated except
over the broad expanse of ocean.
1t seems strange that San Francis
co should depend so largely upon
this country for its supply and for
it's lumber, since all the produce
must be sent by sea nearly four
hundred miles, yet Humboldt coun-
ty is one of the great producing
counties of the State, being famed
for her dairy products, her lumber
and her fruits.
Humboldt Bay spreads out owes
wide expanse. making an ideal
land-locked harbor, being third in
Importance in California, and being
one of three harbors of the State,
presented by nature. 1t is not a
very populous county, but a vast
amount of business is done, all go
ing out to the markets of the world
by sea.