The Pacific Coast scenic tour

Books on California and Alaska exist in abundance, if not superabundance; but the intervening States of Oregon and Washington have been comparatively neglected in a way which se...

In every country the smaller cities are apt to take after the metropolis. Thus, Rouen constantly suggests Paris; Linz, Vienna; the English cities, London, etc. Similarly, Los An...

And yet personal observation has led me to believe that there are special opportunities in this region precisely for the farmer with limited means, if he is willing to curb his...

Yet let not the coming population of the Pacific Andalusia fancy that they will be spared all the trials and annoyances of life. Even Southern California has its disadvantages,—...

Soon thereafter the Laguna is reached, also known as Lake Elsinore; but if the tourist expects to see one of those picturesque mountain lakes for which the State is famous, he w...

The temperature of the air on Catalina Island hardly ever rises above 85°, and, thanks to the twenty miles of water which separate it from the mainland, it is never visited by t...

There are two ways of reaching Santa Barbara from Los Angeles (or San Francisco),—either on a coast steamer or by the new railway branch from Saugus, about twenty-five miles nor...

Having given as much time as possible to these falls, we continue our trip down the same side of the Valley, to the right of the clear and rapid Merced River, till we come under...

It is well to make all one’s plans in advance, so as to be able to reserve a good return seat on the stage as soon as you arrive at the Stoneman. The stage leaves early in the m...

Chinatown in the daytime may be freely visited by the “Melican” man and woman. At night it is advisable to take a policeman or a guide, and leave the women at home, unless their...

The Truckee River is also utilized by the lumbermen to float their logs to market. We saw many of the loggers rolling in the timber and wading in the snow-water with their big r...

The appearance of the women and girls in this circus crowd did not seem to indicate that the climate of Carson Valley is invigorating, or its resources fattening. Though they wo...

Crater Lake lies in the heart of the Cascade Mountains, and at so great an elevation—6,257 feet—as to be rendered inaccessible, except in summer, by the depth of the snow in the...

The same writer tells of a Chinaman who stole the picture of a pretty girl from an album and concealed it in his room. And an Oregon lady related to me an incident which gives f...

Portland is practically a seaport, although situated a hundred miles up the Columbia, and twelve miles more up its tributary, the Willamette, which, up to this point, is deep en...

Usually the Columbia is very high in early summer, especially when there are a few hot days, with much snow in the mountains. The difference between high and low water is forty-...

In insisting so strongly that the monarch of American mountains should have an American name, and not be called after an obscure English lord, I intend no offence to English sen...

Unlike the other mountains of the Pacific Northwest, the dozen or more peaks which make up the Olympic range are not isolated volcanic cones, but form a range of jagged peaks co...

In the narrowest part of the channel a regular water-fall was produced by the headlong plunge of the tide waters down some rocks near the eastern shore, while the other side was...

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 i...

It was Goethe, I believe, who spoke somewhere of the pleasure of arriving at a place famed for its beauty, in the darkness of night, thus reserving for the morning hours, when o...

Having been apprised of the disadvantages to which those who take the regular round trip by stage in five days are subjected, I concluded to see the Park in a more leisurely man...

Previous to Major Powell’s bold expedition down this subterranean river, about twenty years ago, it was practically a _terra_ (or rather _aqua_) _incognita_. For a party of scie...