hotel, and affords a great deal of variety to the beach hunters.
The Moss Beach is twelve miles south, and here the lovers of the most
beautiful, fanciful and delicate combinations of colors and fibres,
peculiar to sea mosses, can revel to their hearts' content.
The other objects of interest along the coast, are Sea Lion Rocks, two
miles west of the hotel, being, as the name suggests, a large rock
covered with sea lions.
Marble Bath Tubs, five miles south. These are excavations in the solid
rock, in the shape of bath tubs, some of natural and some of colossal
size.
Pescadero Creek, as above intimated, is a noted trouting stream. A
beautiful drive of six miles up the creek, brings us to the Mineral
Springs, and two miles further, is a forest of Big Trees, some of
which are said to be fifty feet in circumference. In their vicinity
are three shingle mills.
One mile west of the town, is a so-called Indian Mound, from the
summit of which a fine view is obtained.
The Butano Falls seven miles distant, on Butano Creek, consists of a
succession of cascades, over thirty feet high, located in a deep
ravine, surrounded by romantic scenery.
From Pescadero, we may keep on up the coast, any Monday, Wednesday or
Friday morning, through San Gregorio, Purissima, and other quiet
little towns, through a beautiful country, over high hills and bluffs
bordering on the beach, and affording most magnificent ocean views,
eighteen miles, to Spanishtown, or
Half Moon Bay.
The shipping-point of a fertile region lying in the immediate
vicinity, and extending back into branching valleys.
From this place the road leaves the coast, climbs the hills, by a
winding and well-cut grade, to a height of eight hundred feet, whence
one enjoys a combination of bay, ocean, hill and valley scenery rarely
equaled. Upon this summit we pass, for convenience's sake, to
Crystal Springs and San Mateo County,
and, after enjoying four miles of charming views, while winding down
the western slopes, we reach
Crystal Springs, where a number of cold, clear springs break through
the rocks, in a romantic canyon, forming so attractive a spot for
summer recreation that a large and fine hotel has been built and well
sustained. The neighboring roads are good, the tramps endless, and
game encouragingly plentiful. Thence four miles of delightful road
brings us to
San Mateo,
and the iron track again. This is a beautiful little town, made
expressly for homes. Several prominent San Francisco merchants have
here hidden their country residences away among oak groves so snugly
that one must know exactly where they are, and even then be close
upon them, before he would begin to suspect their number, their
beauty, and their comfort.
From this place, it is worth one's while to drive or ride four miles
down to
Belmont,
Noted as a favorite picnic ground for large Sunday school and society
excursions, chiefly from San Francisco, and as the residence of Wm. C.
Ralston, Esq., whose country seat, in beauty of location, extent of
accommodations, with variety and completeness of appointments, happily
combines the elegance of a palace with the simplicity and comfort of a
home. Many a distinguished eastern visitor warmly remembers the
generous hospitality of that "home behind the hill."
From Belmont, it is but three miles and a quarter to
Redwood City,
The county seat of San Mateo county, on a navigable slough leading
into the bay. Its chief industry is the hauling from the hills and
shipping from the wharves the redwood lumber, whose abundance has
named the town. It has a good hotel--the American House. Four miles
south of Redwood City,
Menlo Park,
Terminates our excursion in this direction. The attractions of this
place are the fine residences of San Francisco merchants, surrounded
by noble oaks, which, scattered and grouped over a square mile or two,
hereabout, have furnished half the name of the place. Nature made it a
"Park;" man added the "Menlo."
Here we may take the cars again, and after a ride of thirty-two miles,
first passing, in reverse order, through the three towns just named,
with Millbrae, the elegant home of D. O. Mills, Esq., San Bruno,
Twelve Mile Farm, Schoolhouse Station and San Miguel, we complete the
southern tour around the bay and along the coast, and again commit
ourselves for a time to the whirl and dust and bustle of the
metropolis.
Having refreshed ourselves with a dash of city life again for a day or
two, we are off for the northern circuit, including San Rafael, Mt.
Tamalpais, San Quentin, State Prison, and Saucelito. No. 9: Petaluma,
Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, the Geysers, and Clear Lake, with Sonoma and
its vineyards, we complete No. 10 with Vallejo, Mare Island, the U. S.
Navy Yard, Napa, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll and Calistoga. We come back
down the valley to Vallejo, whence McCue's stages take us to Benicia,
seven and a half miles.
[For particulars of above three trips, see Bancroft's Tourist's
Guide--Geysers.]
11. Mt. Diablo Trip.
Across the strait of Carquinez from Benicia, and connected with it by
a steam ferry, lies
Martinez,
The county seat of Contra Costa county. The town has a picturesque
situation, several pleasant residences, very beautiful surroundings,
and a charming climate. The celebrated Alhambra ranch, which has taken
several medals as the best cultivated farm, yielding the best fruits,
and the best native wine in the State, lies but a short distance
hence. Five miles back from Martinez and the bay, connected with the
former by stage and with the latter by a navigable creek, stands
Pacheco,
A quiet, pleasant, country town, noted as the shipping point of the
broad and fertile agricultural fields of the Diablo and San Ramon
valleys, lying around and beyond it. The manufacture of carriages and
agricultural implements also conduce to its prosperity and importance.
Another daily stage line also connects this town with Oakland.
Eight miles beyond Pacheco, further in and higher up, is
Clayton,
The largest and most romantically situated town in this part of the
State, and in the latter particular, surpassed by few on the coast.
Occupying an elevated bench, or plateau, it commands fine views, and
having many wide-spreading oaks scattered through and around, it
possesses much intrinsic beauty. Mr. Clayton, whose name the town has
taken, has a vineyard of nearly forty thousand vines, which, though
never irrigated, are vigorous and prolific. He sends his excellent
grapes directly to San Francisco, for the immediate market which they
are sure to command, and thus realizes a greater profit than by making
them into wine. Other vineyards and orchards in this vicinity have
over one hundred thousand vines, and nearly forty thousand fruit
trees. Clayton is the usual point of departure for the ascent of
Mount Diablo,
Three thousand eight hundred and seventy-six feet high, and christened
with its infernal appellation because, like its satanic prototype, it
seldom lets men out of its sight. The best time to climb the mountain
is early in the morning--the earlier the better. If one can stand on
the summit at sunrise he will receive the most ample reward for his
early rising. The distance from Clayton up is eight miles; the time
occupied by a comfortable ascent is a little over two hours. If there
are ladies, or persons unused to riding and climbing, the party should
allow a good three hours. The Clayton livery stable furnishes trained
saddle horses for $2.50 a day. The expense of a guide, who furnishes
his own horse, is $4.00 for the trip, which, of course, as in
Yosemite, is usually divided among the party. Though not absolutely
necessary to employ a guide, it is decidedly safer and better,
especially if the party includes ladies, as the trail is in some
places difficult, and even dangerous to strangers. The first four
miles south from Clayton a good carriage-road follows the course of a
stream through a deep canyon. Over this part, ladies unused to the
saddle, and desiring to avoid unnecessary fatigue, would better ride
on wheels. At the end of this road, near a farm-house, the tourist
turns to the right, and follows a cut trail westerly to Deer Flat,
where are two huts and a spring. Beyond Deer Flat, the trail runs
southeasterly to the top of a ridge in sight of the flat below, and
thence lies along the top of this ridge, two and a half miles to the
summit, where, for the first time in his life, probably, the traveler
may get the devil fairly under his feet--or at least the devil's
mountain.
In the opinion of most tourists, this peak commands a more extensive,
varied, and beautiful prospect than any equal elevation in the world.
The mountain has two peaks, lying in a northeast and southwest line,
nearly three miles apart. The southwestern one is the higher, and
possesses scientific or topographical interest, from the fact that the
State Survey made it one of the three "initial points," from which
they ran the "base lines" and "meridian lines," from which or by which
the townships and sections are reckoned and located in all extensive
conveyances of land. This mountain has an additional claim to its
sulphurous surname, from the fact that it is supposed to have been,
formerly, a volcano.
Looking east upon a clear day, or with the good field glass which some
one of the party has thoughtfully provided, you may see the Pacific
Ocean, sometimes the Farallone Islands, San Francisco, the bay, the
Golden Gate, Mt. Tamalpais, the Petaluma, Sonoma and Napa Valleys, San
Pablo and Suisun Bays, Vallejo, Navy Yard, Benicia, the Sacramento and
San Joaquin Valleys, with the tortuous windings of their serpentine
rivers, creeks and sloughs, Stockton and Sacramento cities, the
Marysville Buttes, and the snow-capped Sierras beyond all; while away
to the southwest the quiet Santa Clara valley completes the
magnificent sweep of the glorious panorama, unrolled for more than a
hundred miles around.
If any of the party feel like sermonizing, the text will readily
occur to you: "Then the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory
of them, and saith unto him: 'All these things will I give thee if
thou wilt fall down and worship me.'" As for his proposition to "fall
down," we have only to remark, "Beloved hearers! don't you do it, for
the devil or any other man;" you'd break your necks as sure as you
tried it. Better _sit_ down in one of the sheltered nooks in the lee
below the summit, eat your lunch and prepare for the descent.
We may easily return to Clayton in time to visit the
Black Diamond Coal Mines,
At Nortonville, six miles distant, over a good road, through a rugged,
mountainous and picturesque region. The tunnels enter the northeast
side of the mountain, descend nearly three hundred feet southwesterly,
whence one level follows a three-foot-thick seam, a good half mile
northwesterly. Two main seams are worked at present, one four feet and
the other about three feet thick. They dip easterly, or northeasterly.
The mine is very neat, and even cleanly, for a coal mine, so that one
_could_ wear down an ordinary suit without harmful soiling.
The railroad from the mine to the pier, five miles and a half below,
whither iron cars, propelled by gravity, can carry three thousand
tons per day, is chiefly remarkable for its unusual grade down the
first mile and a half, through which the descent is two hundred and
seventy-four feet to the mile. To meet this unusual, but unavoidable
necessity, heavy locomotives, of peculiar design and construction,
were invented and built at San Francisco. They weigh twenty tons, have
three pairs of thirty-six-inch driving wheels, with complex and
powerful brakes for the enormous friction necessary.
From these mines one may descend by the railroad already described, to
New York Landing, whence the regular Stockton steamer will transport
him thither, or return him to San Francisco, the tourist's grand base
of supplies, and point of departure for nearly all the more notable
excursions about the State and the coast.
12. Sacramento, Stockton, and the Lakes.
To the eleven tours already detailed, one may, or even must, add a
twelfth, which is separated from the others, and added, in conclusion,
because it consists of cities and places lying on or near the great
overland route by which every tourist will be almost certain to enter
or leave the State; in most cases, both. These are the capital city,
Sacramento; the San Joaquin county seat, Stockton; with Lake Tahoe and
Donner lake. One may stop to see these as he comes or goes, or may
make them the objects of a special excursion, of which the two lakes,
especially Tahoe, are notably worthy.
Sacramento.
At the time of the American occupation of California, and for some
time previous, the present site of this city was called the
"Embarcadero;" that is, in Spanish, simply "the wharf, or the
landing-place," though it strictly means the shipping-place.
Gen. Jno. A. Sutter came from New Mexico and settled here in August,
1839. The next year the Mexican Government granted him the land on
which he had "located." He accordingly built a fort and gave himself
to stock raising, agriculture, and trade. Thenceforward for several
years the place was known only as "Sutter's Fort." In July, 1845, Gen.
Sutter engaged the service of Jas. W. Marshall, as a sort of agent, or
manager. This man became the discoverer of gold in the following
accidental manner: In September, 1847, he went up some fifty miles
from the fort, upon the south fork of the American river, to construct
a sawmill, which, in due time, with one single, most fortunate
blunder, he accomplished. The blunder was this: when the water was let
on, the tail-race proved too narrow and too shallow. To widen and
deepen it in the quickest and cheapest way, he let through a strong
current of water, which swept a mass of mud and gravel down to and
beyond the lower end.
January 19th, 1848, the birth-day of the "Golden Age" in California,
Marshall noticed several yellowish particles shining out from this mud
and gravel. He was, naturally, curious enough to collect and examine
them. He called five carpenters who were at work on the mill, to join
their judgments with his. They talked over the _possibility_ of its
being gold, but seem to have thought it so little _probable_, that
they quietly returned to their usual work. Among the larger pieces of
"yellow stuff" which Marshall picked up that day, was a pebble
weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains. He gave it to the nearest
housekeeper, Mrs. Weimer, and asked her to boil it in saleratus water
and see what would come of it. She was making soap at the time, and
thinking the lye would prove stronger than simple saleratus water, she
immediately pitched it into the soap kettle, from which it was fished
out the next day, and found all the brighter for its long boiling.
Two weeks later, Marshall brought the specimens down to the fort and
gave them to Sutter to have them tested. Before the General had quite
made up his mind as to whether they were certainly gold or not, he
went up to the mill, and, with Marshall, made a treaty with the
Indians, buying their titles to all the surrounding country. The
little circle that knew it, tried to keep the matter secret, but it
soon leaked out, and though not sure of its real nature, several began
to hunt the yellow stuff that might prove the king of metals.
The next month, February, one of the party carried some of the dust
down to Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Here he providentially met Isaac
Humphrey, an old Georgia gold miner, who, upon his first look at the
specimens, said they were gold, and that the diggings must be rich. He
tried to persuade some of his friends to go up to the mill with him,
but they thought it only a crazy expedition, and let him go alone. Mr.
Humphrey reached the mill March 7th. Only a few were lazily hunting
for gold; there was no excitement; the most of the men were working in
the mill as usual. Next day he began "prospecting," and quickly
satisfied himself that he had "struck it rich." He returned to the
mill, made a "rocker," and immediately commenced placer mining in dead
earnest.
A few days later, Baptiste, a Frenchman, who had mined in Mexico, left
the lumber he was sawing for Sutter, at Weber's, ten miles east of
Coloma, and came over to the mill. He agreed with Humphrey that the
region was rich, furnished himself with rocker and pan, and forthwith
began to develop the shining wealth, beside which mills, lumber,
ranches, flocks, and crops were of small account. So these two men,
Humphrey and Baptiste, became the pioneer gold-miners of California,
and the first practical teachers of placer mining. The lumbermen
around crowded in to see how they did it. The process was simple, the
teachers were obliging, the lesson easy, the result sure and speedy
wealth.
They soon located "claims" all about, began to hoard their "piles,"
and Sutter's Fort, as the place through which all new comers passed,
began a rapid growth, which proved the origin and nucleus of the
present capital of California.
The Sacramento of to-day stands on the east bank of the Sacramento
River, about one mile below the junction of the American River, and at
the head of tide navigation.
Next to San Francisco, it is the largest city in the State, having a
population of twenty thousand.
It owes its importance chiefly to four things:
1st. Its central position, in the midst of the finest agricultural
region of the State.
2d. Its situation at the head of tide water on the largest river of
the State.
3d. It is the great railroad centre. Four leading roads terminate
there.
4th. It is the political capital, having become so in 1854.
The city was originally built on ground so low and level that the
heavy floods have twice broken through the levee and nearly destroyed
the town. The two great floods were those of 1851-2 and 1861-2. Thus,
by sheer necessity of self-preservation, the inhabitants have been
compelled to raise the grade of all the streets, and, in fact, of
almost the whole city, nearly ten feet above the original level.
Sacramento has fine schools and churches, while the gardens, and
shrubbery about the houses, combined with the trees along the streets,
give it a most refreshing, home-like, and attractive appearance.
Beyond the depots, immense foundries and machine shops of the Central
Pacific railroad, the city presents the single great attraction of the
STATE CAPITOL, an immense building occupying the centre of four
blocks, bounded by L and N streets on the north and south, and by
Twelfth and Tenth streets on the east and west. These four blocks were
a gift from the city to the State. The building faces west, fronting
three hundred and twenty feet on Tenth street, while its two wings run
back along L and N streets, one hundred and sixty-four feet upon each.
Its height is eighty feet, divided into three lofty stories. The lower
story is granite; those above, brick. The main entrance is approached
by granite steps, twenty-five feet high and eighty feet wide. The
style of architecture is composite--the Roman Corinthian. The building
was begun ten years ago, has been steadily carried on since, and will
probably require two or three years longer for its full completion.
The Interior.--Entering the vestibule, we find ourselves in a hall
twenty feet deep, seventy-three feet wide, and having broad stairs on
either hand. From the vestibule a broad and high-arched doorway,
admits us to the
Rotunda, seventy-two feet in diameter, and rising through the height
of the first dome. In the wall, between the openings of the different
broad halls, are four niches to be filled by statues of Washington,
Lincoln, a pioneer miner, and a pioneer hunter, one half larger than
life. Above these niches and the hall entrances, will be eight panels,
each thirteen feet by six, with stucco frames for frescoes. Directly
over each of these will be a round panel for similar purposes, and
with similar ornamentation. Above these circular panels, will be a row
of thirteen sunken panels, each thirteen by eight and a half feet, to
be filled with pictures; and over these, still higher up, a tier of
frames, each ten by sixteen feet, numbering sixteen in all, and also
intended for paintings. The frames of these last extend clear to the
bottom of the sky-light, and are to be painted red, white and blue,
successively, thus presenting from below a huge sixteen pointed star
of the national colors.
The First Story is twenty-one and a half feet high. From the right of
the rotunda, a hall sixteen feet wide, leads south through the centre
of that wing. First, on the right, are the Secretary of State's two
rooms, twenty-nine feet wide, and having a united length of
forty-seven feet, elegantly finished and furnished. Beyond these, in
the southwest corner, is a reception, or committee room, twenty-seven
by thirty, while the other corner has a like space divided into two
rooms for similar purposes. Opposite the Secretary's is the Chief
Justice's room. As we may not have time to descend to and describe the
lower or ground floor, we may here say that its space is mainly
occupied by the Judges of the Supreme Court. In the north wing we have
a similar arrangement of rooms, and to be occupied by the State
Treasurer, Controller, Attorney-General, Board of Education, besides
two yet unassigned.
Returning to the rotunda, and going east, we enter the
Supreme Court Room, occupying a circular or ellipsoidal projection
built out from the east side of the building between the two wings.
The room is fifty-eight by forty-six feet, lofty and well-lighted.
Thence, crossing a hall on the southwest, one enters the Supreme Court
Library Room, twenty-eight by thirty-three feet, and containing four
thousand volumes.
The Second Floor has a height of twenty feet clear, with halls like
those below. Along the central portion of the main hall the rooms on
either side are the Public Law Library Room, two Committee rooms on
each side of the Library, two rooms for the Sergeants-at-Arms of the
Assembly and the Senate, and eight Committee Rooms. Occupying the east
half of the south wing is the Senate chamber, while the Assembly
chamber has the corresponding location in the north wing, and the
State Library occupies the circular projection on the east side
immediately over the Supreme Court Room already described. Between the
Senate Chamber and the hall swing a pair of magnificent double doors
of solid black walnut, inclosing beautiful panels of California
laurel-wood, bordered by elaborate carving. These doors are thirteen
feet high by seven feet wide, and six inches thick, and for massive
elegance and costliness, are among the noticeable features of the
Capitol. The Chamber itself is sixty-two feet deep, seventy-two feet
wide, and forty-six feet high. A continuous gallery, supported by
eight Corinthian columns, extends across the west side, and throws a
wing some distance forward on both the north and south. These columns
are copied from those in portico of Septimus Severus at Rome. Twenty
windows light the room by day, and two large gilt and crystal
chandeliers by night. The President's desk occupies a recess in the
centre of the east side. Above the desk, large gold letters present
the motto, "Senatoris est civitatis libertatem tueri." A full-length
portrait of Washington hangs above this motto. The senators' desks
are of black walnut, of large size, and handsome pattern. A capacious
arm-chair, upholstered with crimson plush velvet, accompanies each
desk.