rest foliage that we had just
left along the lake.

As we rounded mountain shoulder after shoulder we began to look off into
green cultivated farming valleys. Next we were coming down a steep hill
and into Nevada's little capital town of Carson City. The Capitol
building stands at the foot of this long hill road, and as one
approaches from the top of the hill it looks as if one must drive
straight through the Capitol. But the road turns sharply to the left as
one reaches the Capitol street. This one long street with its hotel, its
pleasant shops, and its Capitol is about all there is of the town. We
drove through the town straight on to Reno.

[Illustration: Lincoln Highway near Donner Lake. Donner Lake in
distance.]

Reno is a pleasant town, nobly situated on a high plateau with lofty
mountains towering near. The Truckee River flows straight down from the
heart of the snows through the center of the town and is spanned by a
handsome bridge. The substantial Riverside Hotel stands on the bank of
the river near the bridge. Somehow my impressions of Reno all seem to
cluster around the swift river and the bridge. The library, the hotel,
the Y. M. C. A., and other public buildings are close to the river. If
you walk up the river you come to a little island in the center of the
rushing stream which is a tiny Coney Island for the Reno residents
during the summer. Bridges are flung from bank to island on both sides
of the river. High above the river rise the houses of the well-to-do
people of the town, some of them handsome structures. At the little
hairdresser's where I had a shampoo in the delicious soft snow water of
the river they pointed out to me the home of "our millionaire." So I
crossed the river and went over and up to the higher side of the town,
where was a very beautiful stucco mansion surrounded by wide lawns,
with a view over the river on one side and off to the mountains on the
other. It was a charming situation, and its charm was enhanced for me by
the fact that just a short distance away, outside the town, began the
grey-green desert with its sage brush whose pungent, aromatic odor was
to be in my nostrils for so many days to come. I asked my hairdresser
whether Reno had many people in residence waiting for their divorces.
She said that the new law, by virtue of which they must have a year's
residence in Nevada, instead of the old period of six months, had cut
down, so to speak, the business of divorces. Sh