In passing by stage from Carson City to Lake Tahoe a fine view will be obtained of the huge lumber-flume of the Carson and Lake Tahoe Lumber Company, which is twenty-one miles in length and through which seven hundred cords of wood, or half a million feet of lumber or mining timbers can daily be delivered at Carson from the eastern summit of the Sierras. The altitude of the eastern summit is 7,312 feet; of Lake Tahoe, 6,220 feet; and of the western summit, 7,315 feet; consequently the lake lies in a basin about 1000 feet in depth.
At the north end of the lake, near Tahoe City, stands the mountain selected for the Lick Observatory. This astronomical observatory is to be built with money donated for the purpose by James Lick, a San Francisco millionaire, and on it is to be mounted the finest and most powerful telescope that can be manufactured in the world. At Truckee, on the Central Pacific Railroad, the altitude is 5,860 feet; at Summit Valley, seventeen miles further west, it is 6,800; and ten miles beyond, at Cisco, it has decreased to 5,950. Here is the great snow-belt on the summit of the Sierras. It is here that snow falls to such a depth as to almost cover up the houses, and here it is that the people travel on Norwegian snow-shoes in winter, when they travel any other way than by rail.
About Cisco the snow appears to fall to a greater depth than at any other point on the mountains. It is a very difficult matter to keep the track of the railroad open at this place in winter, and at times the trains are almost buried in the snow. The snow-banks are frequently so high on both sides of the track that even the smoke-stack of the engine is hidden when a train passes along.
CHAPTER LVI.
TERRIBLE STORY OF THE DONNERS.
On his arrival at Truckee, the pleasure-seeker will do well to spend a few hours in the examination of the beauties of Donner Lake, a lake much resorted to by the people both of California and Nevada, and a perfect little gem. Those who are afraid to venture out upon the broad waters of Tahoe, will be quite at ease on Donner.
From the town of Truckee, Donner Lake is reached in travelling a distance of but two miles, over an excellent carriage-road. The lake is about three miles in length and from a mile to a mile and a half in width. It is shut in on all sides by lofty and picturesque mountains. To the south and west these are very imposing—mountain piled on mountain. While the mountains to the southward are covered to a considerable extent, in their lower ranges, with pine, fir, spruce, and other evergreen trees, those on the west, toward the summit, are principally bald and barren piles of granite; though there are scattering pines clinging in places where their roots find a hold in the crevices of the rocks.
The track of the Central Pacific Railroad passes along the face of the mountains on the south side of the lake, hundreds of feet above its placid waters. From the lake the trains are seen moving along the sides of the great cliffs, where they seem to run on a track laid in the air or to cling to the rocks “by their eyebrows,” as an old “mountain man” once suggested, on looking up at the trains. At numerous points along the track there are snow-sheds which greatly interfere with the view of the lake from the cars, yet in many places picturesque glimpses of it are obtained, and of the mountain scenery in all directions.
Through the bare granite mountains walling in the lake on the west, passes a tunnel, into which it is a relief to see the trains plunge as they dart through the last of the snow-sheds and glide round the last of the cliffs.
From the top of the great mountain through which passes the railroad-tunnel, is obtained a grand and comprehensive view of Donner Lake and all its surroundings. The valley in which the little sheet of water lies is so small that, seen from above, it presents much the appearance of the crater of an extinct volcano. At each end, east and west, are seen dark groves of small pines, a few acres in extent, and these, with the waters of the lake, occupy all the level land in the basin.
To the eastward of the lake, days of mountain climbing distant, rise the snowy peaks of the eastern summit of the Sierras, glittering in the sunlight and dimly seen; to the westward, on the western summit, rises Donner Peak, crowned with black and rugged rocks, flecked with patches of snow, and tufted here and there with a few scattering and stunted pines. The water of Donner Lake is as clear, cold, and sweet as that of any mountain-spring. At the lake are good hotels and both sail and row-boats for the accommodation of visitors. Those who are lovers of the sport so lauded by good old Isaak Walton, will find an abundance of trout in the small brooks putting down from the mountains. The lake has an outlet at the east end which forms a stream of considerable size, called Little Truckee River. This unites with the main Truckee River, which is the outlet of Lake Tahoe. There is good trout-fishing in the Little Truckee, which is a bright and rapid stream.