USA > California > California and the Californians and The Alps of King-Kern divide > Part 2
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32 C.ILIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS
regions because incapable of making its own way. It is not the poor and helpless alone who are the victims of imposition. There are fools in all walks of life. Many a well-dressed man or woman can be found in the rooms of the clairvoyant or the Chinese " doctor." In matters of health, especially, men grasp at the most unpromising straws. In one city lately visited, I found scarcely a business block that did not con- tain at least one human leech under the trade name of "healer," metaphysical, electrical, astral, divine, or what not. And these will thrive so long as men seek health or fortune with closed eyes and open hands.
In no way has the unearned increment been more mischievous than in the booming of cities. With the growth of towns comes increase in the value of the holdings of those who hold and wait. If the city grows rapidly enough, these gains may be inordinately great. The marvelous beauty of Southern California and the charm of its climate have impressed thous- ands of people. Two or three times this impression has been epidemic. At one time almost every bluff along the coast, from Los Angeles to San Diego and beyond, was staked out in town lots. The wonderful climate was everywhere, and everywhere men had it for sale, not only along the coast, but throughout the orange-bearing region of the interior. Every resident bought lots, all the lots he could hold. The tourist
CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS 33
took his hand in speculation. Corner lots in San Diego, Del Mar, Azusa, Redlands, Riverside, Pasa- dena, anywhere, brought fabulous prices. A village was laid out in the uninhabited bed of a mountain torrent, and men stood in the streets in Los Angeles, ranged in line, all night long, to wait their turn in buying lots. Worthless land and inaccessible, barren cliffs, river-wash, sand hills, cactus deserts, sinks of alkali, everything met with ready sale. The belief that Southern California would be one great city was universal. The desire to buy became a mania. "Mil- lionaires of a day," even the shrewdest lost their heads, and the boom ended, as such booms always end, in utter collapse.
Mr. T. S. Van Dyke, of San Diego, has written of this collapse: "The money market tightened al- most on the instant. From every quarter of the land the drain of money outward had been enormous, and had been balanced only by the immense amount constantly coming in. Almost from the day this inflow ceased money seemed
scarce everywhere, for the outgo still con- tinued. Not only were vast sums going out every day for water-pipe, railroad iron, cement, lumber, and other material for the great improvements going on in every direction, most of which material had al- ready been ordered, but thousands more were still going out for diamonds and a host of other things
34 CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS
already bought-things that only increase the general indebtedness of a community by making those who cannot afford them imitate those who can. And tens of thousands more were going out for butter, eggs, pork, and even potatoes and other vegetables, which the luxurious boomers thought it beneath the dignity of millionaires to raise."
But the normal growth of Los Angeles and her sister towns has gone on, in spite of these spasms of fever and their consequent chills. Their real advan- tages could not be obscured by the bursting of finan- cial bubbles. By reason of situation and climate they have continued to attract men of wealth and enter- prise, as well as those in search of homes and health.
The search for the unearned increment in bodily health brings many to California who might better have remained at home. The invalid finds health in California only if he is strong enough to grasp it. To one who can spend his life out of doors it is indeed true that "our pines are trees of heal- ing," but to one confined to the house, there is little gain in the new conditions. To those accustomed to the close heat of Eastern rooms the California house in the winter seems depressingly chilly.
I know of few things more pitiful than the annual migration of hopeless consumptives to Los Angeles, Pasadena, and San Diego. The Pullman cars in the winter are full of sick people, banished from the
" Passing monument of California's first page of written history "
CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS 37
East by physicians who do not know what else to do with their incurable patients. They go to the large hotels of Los Angeles or Pasadena, and pay a rate they cannot afford. They shiver in half-warmed rooms; take cold after cold; their symptoms grow alarming; their money wastes away; and finally, in utter despair, they are hurried back homeward, per- haps to die on board the train. Or it may be that they choose cheap lodging-houses, at prices more nearly within their reach. Here again, they suffer for want of home food, home comforts, and home warmth, and the end is just the same. People hope- lessly ill should remain with their friends; even Cali- fornia has no health to give to those who cannot earn it, in part at least, by their own exertions.
It is true that the "one-lunged people " form a considerable part of the population of Southern Cali- fornia. It is also true that no part of our Union has a better population, and that many of these men and women are now as robust and vigorous as one could desire. But this happy change is possible only to those in the first stages of the disease. Out-of-door life and physical activity enable the system to suppress the germs of disease, but climate without activity does not cure. So far as climate is concerned, many parts of the arid regions in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado as well as portions of Old Mexico ( Cuerna- vaca or Morelia for example) are more favorable
38 CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS
than California, because they are protected from the chill of the sea. Another class of health-seekers re- ceives less sympathy in California, and perhaps de- serves less. Jaundiced hypochondriacs and neurotic wrecks shiver in California winter boarding-houses, torment themselves with ennui at the country ranches, poison themselves with "nerve foods," and perhaps finally survive to write the sad and squalid "truth about California." Doubtless it is all inexpressibly tedious to them; subjective woe is always hard to bear-but it is not California.
There are others, too, who are disaffected, but I need not stop to discuss them or their points of view. It is true, in general, that few to whom anything else is anywhere possible find disappointment in Cali- fornia.
With all this, the social life is, in its essentials, that of the rest of the United States, for the same blood flows in the veins of those whose influence dom- inates it. Under all its deviations and variations lies the old Puritan conscience, which is still the backbone of the civilization of the republic. Life in California is a little fresher, a little freer, a good deal richer, in its physical aspects, and for these reasons, more in- tensely and characteristically American. With per- haps ninety-five per cent of identity there is five per cent of divergence, and this five per cent I have em- phasized even to exaggeration. We know our friends
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" Crumble to ruins the old Franciscan Missions "
CALIFORNIA AND THE CALIFORNIANS 41
by their slight differences in feature or expression, not by their common humanity. Much of this diver- gence is already fading away. Scenery and climate remain, but there is less elbow-room, and the unearned increment is disappearing. That which is solid will endure; the rest will vanish. The forces that ally us to the East are growing stronger every year with the immigration of men with new ideas. The vigorous growth of the two universities in California insures the elevation as well as the retention of these ideas. Through their influence California will contribute a generous share to the social development of the East, and be a giver as well as a receiver.
To-day the pressure of higher education is greater to the square mile, if we may use such an expression, than anywhere else in our country. In no other state is the path from the farmhouse to the college so well trodden as here. It requires no prophet to forecast the educational pre-eminence of California, for the basis of intellectual development is already assured. But however close the alliance with Eastern culture, to the last certain traits will persist. California is the most cosmopolitan of all the states of the Union, and such she will remain. Whatever the fates may bring, her people will be tolerant, hopeful, and adequate, sure of themselves, masters of the present, fearless of the future.
THE ALPS OF THE KING- KERN DIVIDE
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From a photo by Le Conte
The East Vidette
THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
1 The high Sierras, the huge crests at the head of the King's, Kern, Kaweah, and San Joaquin rivers, are Alps indeed, not lower than the grandest of those in Europe, and scarcely inferior in magnificence. The number of peaks in this region which pass the limit of 13,000 feet is not less than in all Switzerland. The highest of these peaks, Mount Whitney, is given by Prof. J. N. Le Conte as 14,522 feet in height. It is thus a little lower than the Matterhorn (14,705), while Mt. Blanc (15,731), Monte Rosa (15,366), the Mischabelhorn (14,941), and the Weisshorn (14,803), outrank it a little more. But virtually all reach much the same level, and between these peaks, and the next in rank in Switzerland, the Finster Aarhorn (14,026), California claims a good many, notably Mount Williamson (14,448), Tyndall (14,360), Jordan (14,212), Junction (about 14,200), two of the Kaweahs ( 14, 139 and 14, 141), and Barnard, Keith, Agassiz's Needles, Dusy, Sheep Mountain, Milestone, and the South Palisade, each something over 14,000 feet, and a host of high points as University of California Peak (13,900), Gould Peak (13,391), Rixford, Brewer ( 13,886), Stanford (14,100), Ericson (13,900), Lyell, and a
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
host of others named and unnamed which fall but little below. In this we need not mention Shasta (14,400), tall, lone and tremendous, but which is put up independently on a different plan in another part of the State.
If for a moment we compare the high Sierra Nevada with the Alps, we find in the mountains of Switzerland greater variety of form, and of rock formation, and with greater picturesqueness in color, the white of the snow being sharply contrasted with the green of the flower-carpeted pastures. The rain- fall and the snowfall of the Alps is far more exces- sive, hence all the deep valleys are filled with snow, the cañons are glaciers, the vast slow-melting snow masses become compacted into ice before they disap- pear.
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The Sierras are richer in color, and they throb with life. The dry air that flows over them is stimu- lating, balsam-laden, and always transparent to the vision. The Alps are almost always bathed or swathed in clouds. Their air is clear only when it has been newly washed by some wild storm. When a storm is over, the sky soon's needs washing again, and in its blue reaches is full of a streamy suggestion as though it had not been properly dried.
The glacial basins of the high Sierras, huge tracts of polished granite, furrowed by streams and fringed with mountain vegetation, are far more impressive
View South from the Summit of Mt. Brewer
From a photo by Le Conte
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
than similar regions in the Alps. In the Alps the glaciers are still alive and at work. In the Sierras, a few little ones are left here and there, high on the flanks of precipices, but the valleys below them, once filled with ice, are now bare, slicken and sharp-backed or clogged with moraines, just as the glaciers left them. The wreck of the vanished glacier, as in Ouzel Basin of Mt. Brewer, and Desolation Valley of Pyramid Peak, may tell us more of what a glacier does than a living glacier itself.
The forests of the Sierras are beyond comparison nobler than those of the Alps. The pine, fir, and larch woods of Switzerland are only second growth, mere brush, by the side of the huge pines (Sugar Pine, Yellow Pine, and High Mountain Pine) of the flanks of the Sierras. Giant firs and spruces, too, rival the largest trees on earth, while above all, supremely pre-eminent over all other vegetation, towers the giant Sequoia, mightiest of trees. On a small tree, ten feet through, cut at Sequoia Mills, I counted 1902 rings of annual growth. This tree was a sapling, four feet through, at the time of the fall of Rome. The greatest Sequoias, happily yet uncut, have doubtless four times this age, and it is safe to say many of them have stood on earth at least 8000 years. Converse, the discoverer of the Converse Basin, in Tulare County, claims to have counted 11,000 rings.
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
So far as man is concerned, there are great differ- ences between the Sierras and the Alps. The Alps have good roads, trails, hotels everywhere. They are thoroughly civilized, provided with guides, guide- posts, ropes and railings, and the traveler, whatever else he may do, cannot go astray. If he gets lost he has plenty of company. The Sierras are uninhabited. In their high reaches there is no hotel, and not often a shed or a roof of any kind. The trails are rough, and when one climbs out from the canons he has only to go as he pleases. But wherever he goes he cannot fail to be pleased. The Sierras are far more hospitable than the Alps, and the danger of accident is far less. Every day in the Alps may be a day of storm, and no one can safely sleep in the open air. In the Sierras there are but two or three rainy days in the summer, and these are thunder-showers in August afternoons. The weather is scarcely a factor to be considered; every day is a good day, one or two perhaps a little better.
The traveler is sure of dry, clear air, a little brisk and frosty in the morning, making a blanket welcome, but all he needs is a blanket. For luxury he will make a bonfire of dry branches-pine, cedar, cottonwood, all burn alike-and there is always a dead tree ready to his hand. He will build his fire near the brook that he may put out its smoldering embers in the morning. No matter how high his
The North Guard of Mt. Brewer
From a photo by Le Conte
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
flame may rise in the evening, with morning only embers are left. And surely no mountain lover will leave his fire uncovered to burn and murder its way through the forest. The United States government now has its rangers out to protect the forests from fire, and to punish the careless camper, be he angler, mountaineer, or prospector. This is most wise, and it should have been done long ago. More than this the State or government should never let another acre of land on the Sierras be denuded of its timber. On the preservation of our forests depends the fer- tility of our plains. To California this matter is vital above all others. Commerce will come in due time whatever we do; but a forest once uprooted, we can never restore. The great Calaveras grove of Sequoias is now for sale, the first known, and, perhaps, the most picturesque of all, going to the lumber man who will make the highest bid. To destroy this noblest of groves for the lumber that is in it would be barbarous. There should be but one bidder for the Calaveras grove-the people of the United States. We cannot call ourselves civilized if we stand by, consenting to its destruction, as we have done to the slaughter of the great Sequoias of the Converse Basin, with brush, sawdust and soil, all, save the primeval granite, all vanishing in the final conflagration of the abandoned lumber camps.
In the high Sierras, the form of the mountains V
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
favors the climber. Each peak is part of a great anticlinal fold, broken and precipitous on the east side, retaining the original slope on the west. Most of the mountains about Mt. Whitney share the form of that mountain. A gentle slope on the west side, covered by broken, frost-bitten rocks; on the east side a perpendicular descent to an abyss. On the east and north almost every peak is vertical and inac- cessible, while the west side offers no difficulty. Only time and patience are demanded to creep upward over the broken stones and climb the highest of them. All of them require endurance, for they are very high, but few of them demand any special skill or any ner- vous strain, and the views the summits yield are most repaying.
To reach the best of them one should leave the Southern Pacific railroad at Sanger. Here he meets the stages which run to the Converse Basin. In a ride, preferably taken at night, all night, he crosses the hot plains of the foothills. Turning in at mid- night, he sleeps till morning, then taking the stage again, he rides up hill all day, past Millwood, the General Grant National Park, with its giant Se- quoias, and through the pine forests to Huckleberry Camp. Here he is met by a troop of saddle horses, and a charming day's ride obliquely down the slopes of King's River Cañon, brings him at night to a camp in the river bottom. There may be a house
Crag Ericsson
From a photo by Le Conte
THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE 57
there or a tent, but he needs neither, for night is full of stars-and the stars keep off the rain. Taking his horse again in the morning, by noon he reaches the Sentinel Camp, which is the best center for excur- sions. Hence are usually horses, mules, tents, and blankets for rent, and provisions for sale, so that henceforth all the traveler needs to take with him will be strong clothing, stout nailed shoes, and good temper.
The King's River Canon he will contrast with the Yosemite. The Yosemite has finer single rocks, higher single cliffs, far more majestic waterfalls, and a general air of perfection as scenery. The King's River Cañon is on a larger scale, with higher walls, which slope backward out of sight, and the moun- tains into which it rises are far wilder and more stupendous.
The traveler will not be long in the Cañon before he will want to climb up to take a look at some of these. He may wind up the dusty trail to Goat Mountain and see them all at once in glorious waves of distances. He may, perhaps, crawl to the top of the grand Sentinel and see some of them at another angle.\ He may wander to Kearsarge Pass, on the Main Divide, at the head of the Canon, and see the world from one of the three great peaks, Rixford, Gould, or the highest of all, the huge mass of crumb- ling granite called University of California Peak.
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THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE
Or he may turn toward the heart of the mountains themselves and lay his camp at East Lake in the Ouzel Basin, the wonderful glaciated north slope of Mt. Brewer. Here John Muir studied the water- ouzel in its home, and wrote of it the best biography yet given of any bird; and here, too, you may watch the ouzel and the winter wren, the marmot and the mountain chipmunks.
Here you may climb Mt. Brewer ( 13,886 feet), the culminating outpost of the cross-divide between the King's and the Kern. Or you may go farther, turning eastward into the very center of the frost- king's domains, climbing the gorge of turbulent Stanford brook, past stately Crag Ericsson, over Harrison's Pass, an old sheep trail, steep, dusty, and hopeless, to the frost-bitten crag named Stanford. This peak lies in the King's-Kern divide, in the very center of the high Sierras. It is a double-topped ridge, the highest summit 14,100 feet, the southern- most, known as Gregory's Monument, about 20 feet lower.
From this peak one may see nearly all the high Sierras, from the San Joaquin Alps on the north to the Kern Alps on the south; and whoso once climbs this crag or the peak of its sister university, or any other of their craggy brethren, has earned a place in the roll of honor of those " whose feet are beautiful on the mountains." He will join the Sierra Club.
Mt. Brewer and the North Guard from Charlotte Peak
From a photo by Le Conte
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Summit of Goat Mountain
From a photo by Le Conte
THE ALPS OF THE KING-KERN DIVIDE 63
He will fight in every way he knows against the wanton destruction of our forests and the desecration of our mountains, and whenever the fates permit, he will wander back to the "heart of the Sierras," the Ouzel Basin, and the Mountains of the Great Divide !
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