Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1913-08-07

San Antonio and San Jacinto
only a little lower on either side.
Then the range makes a decided drop
to the south and shows heights OF
quite a different character, with blunt
tops instead Of sharp peaks. Palomar
and Cajon mountains are bold and
conspicuous but not high, as noun
tains on the coast go. Still farther
south, however, in the peninsula of
Lower California. the range makes an
other lunge upward and produces the
great San Pedro Martir mountain.
more than nine thousand feet high.
That is its last great effort, for in its
more southern reaches it is much
broken, with plenty of peaks, to be
sure, but no high ones.
While some Of the mountains of the
upper part of the range are higher
than San Pedro Martir, none other
presents so huge a bulk. Seen from
San Telmo. it is an unbroken wall
forty or fifty miles long. which at the
north end Is first cut down sharply
and then beyond is almost completely
demolished, as mountains rank; and at
the south end is torn into gaps and
has had its crest knocked OF.
There are two picachos, sharp.
needlelike. of pure white granite. but
they are so near the eastern side of
the mountain that they cannot be seen
at all from the west, and not from the
south till one has reached San Juan
De Dios, then they appear pointing
heavenward, shining white like great
icebergs.
Almost Perpendicular.
The western side Of the mountain is
abrupt, with very few places where it
may be climbed, but the eastern side
is still more so and makes an almost
perpendicular drop to the desert. On
that side may descend, in scarcely
more than an hours time, from snow
and freezing temperature to a spot
where the sun is warn and birds are
nesting. And then from beneath the
feathery crowns Of tropical palms he
may look back to where, almost di
rectly overhead, stand the rugged
pines he has Just left.
1t Is miles across the top from east
to west, and with its great length the
dimensions Of the mountain are such
as to almost entitle 1t to be called
a high tableland, with hills and valleys
and streams of its own As 1t is higf
enough to catch winter SHOWS anc
summer rains, the p~asturage on thu
top is always good, and when the low
err lands between the mountain ant
the Pacific are parched with drough
here is a haven for starving herds
They come from as far away as Sal
Juan De Dios and grow fat on tn,
sweet grasses and the delightful,
cool summer aie. When winter grip,
the mountain, however, the herd
must descend. for then the climate 4
too rigorous to be borne without sui
ficient shelter.
The cattle and horses are not tn
only M that grow fat from a sum
mer residence on San Pedro; the herd
ers also are in clover. for the grea
forests are the home of innumerabl
deer, and bighorn as well, though no
In so great numbers as the deer. Tw,
Mexican friends OF mine who wer
tending a herd Of cattle on the sun
init. in two weeks shot fifty deer an
might easily have shot more. but the
could not take car of and transpor
any more jerked meat.
Another man had q standing offe
from q San Francisco Arm of $25 70
every head of a male bighorn, and h
shipped a good many. That traffic q
curse was stopped when Mexican la,
declared a closed seaso for mountai
sheep. 1t was high time, too, for the
were wantonly destroyed, sometime
not even for their heads and skin,
but merely for the pleasure of slaugl
ter. I think IL American nlmrods hs
understood how easily those marve
Gus hunting grounds might be reache
by boat to San Quintin, where an eff
Client Mexican guide with exceller
saddle and pack mules was to be pr,