Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-08-05
A TOUR OF
" W." CALIFORNIA G
Interestingly Written I'm Weekly
Letters by Clarence e. EdwOrds.

San Rafael, California, July 26:
i have travelled on crooked riv-
ers, tramped on crooked trails, and
talked with crooked men, but the
"crookedest railroad in the world"
makes them all look like straight
lines. This road struggles along
under the ponderous name of the
"Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais
Railroad" and is a little longer
than its name. The road is eight
and third miles long and it is
lust two and half miles on an air
line from where it starts to where
it stops. There are two hundred
and eighty-one turns, and every
turn brings new beauties into view.
1t starts almost at sea level and
reaches an altitude of $500 feet, so
it can be perceived that quite a
varied view is presented to the
traveller who goes up. When you
get to the top you face one of the
most beautiful panoramas to be
seen anywhere in the world.
To the south lie the Santa Cruz
mountains, topped by Mount Ham
ilton with its great observatory and
gigantic telescope, shadowing the
Santa Clara valley with its millions
of fruit trees; the eyesweeps around
to the great central valley, five
hundred miles long and fifty wide,
almost as level as floor for its en-
tire length and breadth; and far
distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada
form background for most Won
derous picture, the snow capped
tops glistening in the sun nearly
two hundred miles away; to the
the north the valley is shut off from
cold winds by Shasta's snowy top
rising more than fourteen thousand
| feet from the sea; then come the
hills and valley of the Coast range
with it's vast virgin forests of red
wood and pine, their wonderful
vineyard land and their fishing
grounds and haunts of game ami
mails and birds. To the west lies
the bule Pacific Ocean, with its rest
less waves constantly dashing
| against the cliffs which induced Sir
Francis Drake to name this cOun-
| try "New Albion" This is the
distant panorama. At our feet lies
San Francisco Bay in all it's beauty,
around it's shores nesting city,
town and hamlet from whose tall
factory chimneys rise the smoke of
thousand furnaces. This is the
scene during the day, and with
night comes most wondrous change
A level walk, carved out of the
mountain side, carries one around
the mountain, bringing into view
one of the most brilliant spectacles
ever vouchsafed to man. 1t can
not be better expressed than in the
words of one of the ladies of our
party, ut looks as if the milky way
had fallen to the earth" The cleo
trio lights of twenty-seven cities
and towns make an almost encircl-
ing chain, which is EXCHANGED in
beauty by the moving lights of
numerous ferry boats plying be-
tween the shores of the Bay. Ly-
ing directly below US is San Fran
cisco, on it's many hills, aglow with
myriads of electric lights; just OPP
posite is the long chain of Alameda,
Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and
intermediate towns, for all the
world like some glittering serpent
of fire. Then to add to the strange
ness of the scene powerful search
lights at the Mare Island Navy
yard, the Notifications guarding
the Golden Gate, and the warshlps
in the harbor, flash to and fro, up
and down, in constant play, the
long streamers of light Frightening
some passing cloud, and then bring
ing out into bold relief some full
rugged ship entering the harbor.
When this country was settled by
the Spaniards this mountain was
|