s is one of the grandest sections of the route.

At the first the Frazer is a muddy, yellow river, about the size of
the Willamette above Oregon City, but more rapid and winding, and an
occasional steamer may be seen floating along with the current, or
slowly making headway against it. In some places the railway runs so
close to the precipitous bank of the river that a handkerchief might be
dropped from a car window into the swirling eddies, fifty feet below.
At other places it leaves room--and just room enough--for the old
wagon-road between the track and the river; but it would take a cool
driver, with much confidence in his horses, to remain on his wagon here
when a train passes. At last the road itself becomes frightened and
crosses the river on a bridge, whereupon it winds along the hill-side
above the opposite bank, at a safe distance.

This road was made during the Frazer River gold excitement in 1858, when
twenty-five thousand miners flocked into this region, and wages for any
kind of work were ten to eighteen dollars a day. To-day the metal no
longer exists in what white men consider paying quantity; but Chinamen
may still be seen along the river, washing for remnants, their earnings
being about fifty cents a day. There is also a "Ruby Creek" in this
neighborhood, and some Indian habitations and salmon-fishing places.
Shortly before reaching Yale, which for a long time was the western
end of the road, there is a slight intermission in the scenic drama,
represented by some rich, level, agricultural lands, as if to give the
passengers a moment's rest before the wonders of the Frazer Canyon begin
to monopolize their bewildered attention, till darkness sets in and
drops the curtain on the superb panorama.

Yale, which is so completely shut in by high, frowning mountain walls on
every side that the sun touches the village only during part of the day,
has lost its importance since it ceased to be a terminus, and seems at
present to be inhabited chiefly by Indians and half-breeds. The train is
invaded by a bevy of half-breed girls with baskets of splendid apples
and pears, which could not be beaten for size and flavor in any of our
States, and indicate a possible use for these mountain regions in the
future. And now the train plunges into the midst of the series of
terrific gorges which constitute the Frazer Canyon, and which make this
railway literally the most gorge-ous in the world. Here were appalling
engineerin