eer love of adventure for adventure's sake played a
most important part. Later on, the turbulent element arrived. It was due
to the rectitude, inherent sense of justice and courage of the pioneers
that they were held in check and, by force of arms when necessary, made
to understand the white man's code of honor.

So much in song and story has been said of the scramble for gold in the
early days after the discovery, and so little attention given to
the artistic and aesthetic sense of the pioneers, that the general
impression made by the famous old mining towns of California, when seen
for the first time, may be worth recording. In the massive stone hotels
and stores of that period, as well as in the careful construction
of dwelling houses, they exhibited a true perception of "the eternal
fitness of things." The buildings of the fifties, in their extreme
simplicity, are far more imposing than the nondescript, pretentious
structures of today, and will, beyond doubt, in usefulness outlast them.

As a result of ignoring the checker-board plan, and permitting the
streets to follow the natural contour of the hills and ravines, these
mountain towns seem to have become blended and to be in harmony with
the wonderful setting Nature has provided. All buildings, residential or
otherwise, are protected from the summer heat by umbrageous trees.
Lawns of richest green delight the eye, and vines and flowers surround
cottages perched on steep hillsides, or half-hidden in deep ravines.
The first glimpse from a distant eminence of any of the old mining towns
conveys the suggestion of peaceful homes buried in greenery, basking
contentedly in the brilliant sunshine, surrounded by the whispering
pines, with the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada for a background.

You also receive the impression of cleanliness. If there were any old
cans, scraps of paper and miscellaneous rubbish lying about in any town
through which I passed, I did not notice them. One is struck, too, by
the absence of the "vacant lot"--that unsightly blot of such frequent
occurrence in all towns in the process of building, especially when
forced by "booms" beyond their normal growth. Fortunately the very word
"boom," in its significance as applied to inflated real estate values,
has no meaning in these towns, with the result that they are compact.
One may search in vain for the "house to let" sign. When no more houses
were needed, no more houses were built. This compact