or the city-bred man the wondrous things of a creation forever going on, equally by building up and breaking down.
Cite, for instance, the Southern Pacific’s entrance into Oregon. It leaves the Sacramento Valley only to enter the long, winding and beautiful canon of the Upper Sacramento River, where the hillsides are covered with pine, oak, and madrono forest,- the narrow bottoms with cotton-wood, poplar, and willow thickets, while the banks are overbung with water-loving plants, and the river dances down, down, bright, joyous, and tireless, towards the sea, bearing with it the weariness which may have oppressed us; for who can be weary in such scenes ? Every now and then the toiling train glides past a settler’s home, the chosen residence of some man who loves these beautiful solitudes better than the busy life of towns or the more genial climate of the valley. Then, again, up the canon we catch a glimpse of Mount Shasta, with its massive bulk divided into triple peaks piercing the sky at fourteen thousand four hundred and forty feet,— shining white with a blue sky over it.
Up and up we go. Lower Soda Springs, Upper Soda Springs (and what delicious water!); Mossbrae Falls in a semicircle of mossy rocks,—emerald and silver,—where the water seems to come from the top of a mountain in many streams, a novel and charming effect; then up and up once more, following ridges and making long loops which take us past the spot we touched twenty or thirty minutes before, but at an elevation above it of several hundred feet;—then Sissons. At Sissons is a fine view of Mount Shasta, and an expanse of level country beyond, with this and other peaks in sight continually. Across this elevated plateau runs the Klamath River, and upon it is the once populous mining town of Yreka, where A. D. Richardson discovered a palindrome on a sign,— Yreka Bakery. I have no doubt this literary curiosity still maintains its position, but the railroad avoids the town, and travellers lose the opportunity of verifying it.
Soon begins the ascent of the Siskiyou (seize cailleux ) Mountains, with their long piney slopes and dome-shaped summits, their cathedral-spire-like peaks, and magnificent forests surrounding them. By a winding way, with enchanting views on every hand, we glide smoothly down the north side into the
