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Shasta l^oate.

Shasta is the last grand towering landmark of the Sierra in the north, standing alone in its white, silent
majestj' : half its slopes of evergreen and half of snow, this crowning glory of the north is forever and from all
sides overpowering in its grandeur. It matters not whether it be by glimpses through the pine slopes of the
Sacramento Canyon, from the broad table lands of Strawberry and Shasta Valleys, or from the summit of the
rugged Siskiyous, the eye turns with an ever-increasing interest and delight towards Shasta.

There are immense glaciers in its awful gorges on the eastern and northern sides : but on account of the
almost inaccessible heights and depths in their neighborhood they remain for the most part in secret solitude in
their icy beds. With the exception of Whitney — the giant of them all — they have been designated by Indian
names. The most southerly one, which heads near Thumb Rock, is Konwa Kiton (mud glacier), Wintun
(Indian tribal name), Hotlum (Steep rock), Bolam (great). From these great ice bodies there flow in summer
myriads of translucent streams : in winter old Boreas seals them up with his step-mother breath, and no sound of
trickling rill is heard again until the time of the singing of birds is come.

Shasta is visible for two hundred miles of the Portland route ; from the upper Sacramento Valley its pale,
cloud-like shaft is faintly outlined against the northea.stern sky. From Castle Creek to McCloud fragments
of its dazzling white tower arc disclo.sed through frame-work of dark-green pine needles ; at Sisson, the
noonday splendor of its mighty front shines down full upon you with a power that stirs you to the very soul.
Receding from it northwards there are visions of splintered peaks, lava-worn abysms and beetling crags, their
deep recesses enswathed in a whiteness like luito wool. Distance lends a mellow enchantment to the view, paring
down the rough spurs, dips and angles, so that from the Klamath, and all the way up the sides of the Siskiyous
this northern buttress of the Sierra seems a thing more of heaven than earth.

PUBLISHED B^'

HEHt^V R. KfJflPP, SflN FlRRNCISCO

834859

t^emafkable Engineeping along the "Shasta f^oute."

The completion a few months ago of the all-rail line between San
Francisco and Portland, Or., marked the successful termination of
one of the most difficult and costly railway engineering achievements
on the continent. For some years the Southern Pacific Company and
the Oregon & California Railroad have been in operation respectively
from San Francisco north and from Portland south, nearly to the
boundary between the two States ; but the tremendous mountain
ranges which intervened constituted a barrier not only discouraging
to those who were called upon to provide mouey for overcoming it,
but it was even believed by some, would battte the skill of the engineer
and the railway builder if the completion of the work was really
undertaken. The Southern Pacific Company, however, did under
take and did successfully carry through this great work ; and now
the traveler, by palace car between the chief cities of California and
Oregon, is enabled to view, along portions "f the "Shasta Itoute,"
the grandest mountain scenery of the Pacific Coast, and probably
of North America. While something has been writen of the engi-
neering difficulties encountered in completing this line, no descrip-
tion that we have seen gives an adequate idea of what has been over-
come.

Leaving San Krancisco at 6.30 P. M. , the tourist reaches Delta, "298
miles northward, about 0.30 a. m. , and for the next throe liour.s is
viewing the tremendous scenery upon which Mount Shasta, from his
snowy heights, looks down.

The barrinr that occasioned the necessity of the " B'g Bend of the
Sacramento " was one of the huge flanks of Shasta that plunges down
across the cafion a few miles above Mossbrae Falls. From this point,
Eighteenth Crossing, to Edgewood, a distance of twenty-five miles,
the route is along the foothills of Shasta, the highest point reached
(near Muir's Peak) being nearly 4,000 feet.

The loadstone of the scenery everywhere on this twenty-five mile
ride is, of cours«!, the mountains. The eye tnay sweep the horizon
around and meet scenes of sublimity on every hand ; but it turns
instinctively again to catch the first Hashes of almost supernatural
light that gUam down through the grand avenues of the pines and
finally burst into unobstructed splendor at the plateau of Straw-
berry Valley.

Words fail entirely here to give the faintest idea of the solemn
repose and unspeakable grandeur of this stately giant of the north,
who has reared his cloud-capped towers and icy-lava cliffs to an ele-
vation of more than two verticle miles above the surrounding land-
scape. The neighboring peaks, that elsewhere would attract general
attention, dwindle into insignificance in its mighty shadows.
Where once the lurid glare of volcanic fires blazed (Uit from this
high citadel, there is now eternal hoar frost, ice, snow and utter
silence. Glaciers fill its ancient lava grooves ; and streams of the
coldest water spring from the crevasses made long ago by the burn-
ing, fiery lava.

The sublime scenery enjoyed in crossing the Siskiyou Mountains
is presented in the afternoon— Gregory, 409 miles north of San
Francisco, being reached at 2.30 P. M., Siskiyou at "2.55 p. M., and
the day's ride terminating with a short stop at Ashland, in Oregon, a
little after 5.00 o'clock. The Siskiyou Mountains, up whose ru.ged
sides the grade reaches the steep pitch of 174 feet to the mile, run
at right angles with the Cascades and form a natural geographical,
as well as an artificial. State line between California and Oregon.

The scenery all along this tortuous route from State line to the
summit an<l down into the Kogue River Valley is alive with interest.
Before entering 'I'uunel No. 13, going north, the last view of Cali-
fornia is had : and it is an appropriate clo.sing scene in the great
panoramic e.\hibition of northern California. Down the northern
slope of the Siskiyous to Ashland the scenery is grandly diversified
by forest, field and stream, by mountain, valley and plain.

A profile of the long curve over the Siskiyous would show to the
engineer very cleary the heavy work thnt had to be done in cutting
a pathway, stfep though it is, ahing the rugged mountain sides,
through numerous rocky walls, and over many gorges which had to
be spanned with costly iron bridges. ; . !•. • t '• .' ^•"•_ '.

With Ills mind excited and almost overpoweftcl^jJ'tJieVweinspM"-
ing scenery, anud which he has spent the.tlay, the,trn,vflv jviy.coji-
teutedly retire as he is carried over the stijj i;u^^cctbu{ tos* iiSippJipV^
scenery of southern Oregon, and before 1 KO(f o'clVd<*ftexWnSrnirg
will find himself in Portland, the capital of that new and wonder-
fully growing State. — From Rnitmai/ At/f, May 11. 1SS8.

MT, SHASTA (14,442 FEET HIEH), FROM SISSDN'S, CAL,

BLaCK BUTTE AND MT, SHASTA.

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MT, SHASTil, FRDM MDTT STilTIDN,

MDSS BRAE FALLS, D, & C, R, R,

mf^^ --^^^rt^^'^ , ^i j|g

MDSS BRUE FALLS, D, & C, R, R

CASTLE ROCK, FRDM LOWER SDEA SPRIN&S,

LC3P RNU TUNNEL IS, SISKIYDU MOUNTAINS,

CROSSING- DF SALRfiMENTD RIVER, D, & C, R. R.

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