'HarfiCRKaEviiBRAiiy {. CT i\ c^ r Li-l.k,_ 1^ (♦>> T lte...^(l ^ D ■•■•-J ^" 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. .i .•.«-« 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. /.\::^:>:^-:: .^^•••- u □ a t-H 1/1 fC D D 1-? H H H K H H W M U H H D pi u d HDRSESHDE, D, & C, R, R. ^ I MT, Hnnn, from FORTLiiNfl, 1