"From the North corner comes the light" …. can it be that sometimes its emerges from the West!
Last but not least is the beautiful Court House. It was rebuilt in 1909 at an approximate cost of $150,000. It is located in a very prominent part of the city, and faces a beautiful little park; a very imposing building with its big golden dome, numerous marble pillars and broad steps. These steps might truly be called the "great divide," as many thousands have tripped up united and returned divided; which incidentally does not mean "united we stand, divided we fall."
Perhaps much more so: "united we fall, divided we stand!"
[Illustration: Interior of Reno National Bank]
As one looks at this palace of Justice one cannot help conjuring up mental pictures of famous beauties and prominent men, whose stories have furnished headlines for the leading newspapers of our big cities in years gone by; they seem to pass in review; a continuous procession ascending the steps in search of freedom and new happiness….
Through this little city flows the Truckee River, which I think is one of its chief beauties. This river is one hundred miles long; flowing out of Lake Tahoe, it empties into Lake Pyramid, a desert lake with no apparent outlet. The waters of the Truckee are as clear as crystal, except when they reflect the rose color of the sunset, or the thousand hues from the mountain peaks when they turn green and gold, rose and purple: I have seen them look as though covered with heliotrope velvet, just at the hour between sunset and moonrise.
One can follow the Truckee River from Reno to Lake Tahoe,—a motor run of about three hours, through scenery of indescribable beauty. The course of the river, tortuous and quickly changing from side to side, offers to the enchanted eye a kaleidoscopic review of towering rocks, foaming waterfalls, pine-clad mountains, snow-capped peaks, emerald lakes and moss-green valleys.
I shall never forget my first trip from Reno to Lake Tahoe over what is known as the "Dog Valley Grade." We stopped at the summit, at the edge of the mountain. Down we peered into the misty shadows of the deep valleys, six hundred feet below. It was a strange sensation to be hanging thus between earth and sky: to feel that the only thing between life and death was about three feet of roadbed, and four "non- skid" tires. It was wonderful to drink in the beauty of it all. I felt like a disembodied spirit, traveling back:…. back over centuries into forgotten ages, trying to realize what this wonderful country must have been like when it was still hidden by the foaming waters of a great inland sea…..
And then we reached beautiful Lake Tahoe, set in the midst of the Sierra Nevadas, surrounded by a dozen snow-capped peaks, the staunch, unflinching satellites of one of God's wondrous treasures. It reflects a picture to be surpassed nowhere else in the world. The great depth of the lake accounts for its glorious color of waters, which, turquoise blue in one place twenty feet away will change to emerald green; the colors do not fade into one another: they are distinctly separated. In some places the depth of the lake is even unknown. Lake Tahoe is twenty-three miles long: its maximum width thirteen. Its altitude is six thousand two hundred and twenty-five feet above sea level: the highest body of water in the United States. On one side its undulating waves kiss the shores of California: on the other those of Nevada, so that exiles of the "Divorce Colony" may take advantage of this delightful summer resort and still remain within the State to which one day they hope to owe their happiness…..
The midsummer air is cool and invigorating; hunting and fishing excellent; motor rides perfect; boating and bathing the finest in the land. Hotel and camping accommodations are splendid; the landscape is picturesque and a never-ending delight to the eye. This is one of the great many splendid advantages of the beautiful city tucked away in the shadow of the Sierras; so cheer-up, you prospective exiles, the wilds have their untold fascinations.