teamers on the lake that run for pleasure-parties and traffic.

From the lake one of the most unique railroads ever built runs to the
summit, a distance of nine miles by the route travelled, although the
distance by an air line is but three, while the elevation that it gains
is eight hundred and fifty feet. It climbs the mountain by zigzag
movements, like a letter Z, the engine sometimes hauling its burden, and
sometimes pushing the train. More than a quarter of a million of dollars
were required to build and stock this novel short line. It is a rare
evidence of engineering skill, and certainly is a good illustration of
Western enterprise. It lacks at least a dozen miles of connecting with
any other railroad point, and its engines, rolling-stock, etc., had to
be hauled up the mountain eight thousand feet high.

[To this description of the liquid marvel of California we add
the author's account of one of its land marvels, a grove of the
"big trees," the vegetable giants of the world.]

The Big Trees, as they are technically called, are of a light, bright
cinnamon color, and have a diameter at the ground of from twenty-five to
forty feet, a height of from three hundred to four hundred and fifty
feet, and a bark that will average one foot and a half in thickness
where it has not been molested. I have seen blocks of bark that would
measure thirty-two inches in thickness, and I have no doubt but some
trees have bark that would average nearly three feet. The texture is
loose and spongy, and when cut transversely it is often worked into
pincushions and such like toys. The wood is light as the cedar, but is
susceptible of a very fine polish. I had a cane made from a piece that I
bought of the guide, and I found it would polish equal to mahogany. The
Mariposa grove is a State park, together with Yosemite Valley, given by
the United States government.

This grove, "together with the Yosemite Valley with its branches and
spurs, an estimated length of fifteen miles, and in average width one
mile back from the edge of the precipice on each side of the valley,
with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the State shall accept this
grant on the express condition that the premises shall be held for
public use and recreation, and shall be inalienable for all time." So it
is absolutely impossible to get a bit of bark or piece of wood except
from the guide, who is allowed to gather them from the outskirts of the
grove from