ty, aye fifty lakes, within a radius of fifty miles may
be found, with their connecting creeks, streams and rivers where gamey
trout abound, and where flowers, shrubs and trees in never-ceasing
variety and charm tempt the botanist and nature-lover.

While to some it may not be an attraction, to others there may be both
pleasure and interest in witnessing the operations of the Fallen Leaf
sawmill. This is situated on the western side of the lake, and is
a scene of activity and bustle when logging and lumbering are in
progress. On the hills about the lake the "fellers" may be found,
chopping their way into the hearts of the forest monarchs of pine,
fir and cedar, and then inserting the saw, whose biting teeth soon
cut from rim to rim and cause the crashing downfall of trees that have
stood for centuries. Denuded of their limbs these are then sawn into
appropriate lengths, "snaked" by chains pulled by powerful horses to
the "chute", down which they are shot into the lake, from whence they
are easily towed to the mill. The chute consists of felled logs,
laid side by side, evenly and regularly, so as to form a continuous
trough. This is greased, so that when the heavy logs are placed therein
they slide of their own weight, where there is a declivity, and are
easily dragged or propelled on the level ground.

[Illustration: Boating on Fallen Leaf Lake]

[Illustration: Fallen Leaf Lodge Among the Pines, on Fallen Leaf Lake]

[Illustration: Camp Agassiz Boys setting out for a Trip, Lake Tahoe,
Cal. Copyright 1910, by Harold A. Parker.]

[Illustration: Tahoe Meadows, With Mt. Tallac in the Distance]

I use the word propelled to suggest the interesting method used in
these chutes. Sometimes ten or a dozen logs will be placed, following
each other, a few feet apart, on the trough (the chute). A chain is
fastened to the rear end of the hindermost log. This chain is attached
to a single-tree fastened to a horse's harness. The horse is started.
This makes the hinder log strike the next one, this bumps into the
third and gives it a start, in its turn it bumps the fourth, the
fourth the fifth, and so on, until the whole dozen are in motion. Had
the string of logs been fastened together, the horse would have found
it impossible to move them, but "propelling" them in this fashion they
are all set in motion, and their inertia once overcome there is no
difficulty experienced in keeping them going.

The views from Fallen Leaf Lodge ar