n once nearly destroyed it. Floods have also swept over
the valley, and carried away large portions of the town; but having
been rebuilt on piles ten feet above the original level, it is now
believed to be secure against injury from this cause.

Sacramento is the terminus of the Western Pacific Railway, from which
the Central Pacific extends east towards the Rocky Mountains. The
railway workshops of the Company are located here, and occupy a large
extent of ground. They are said to be very complete and commodious.

Many of the passengers by the train, whom we had brought on from San
Francisco, or picked up along the road, descended here; and I was very
glad to observe that amongst them were the Chinamen, who relieved us
from their further most disagreeable odour. After a short stoppage,
and rearrangement of the train, we were off again, toiling up the
slopes of the Sierra Nevada--the Switzerland of California.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ACROSS THE SIERRA NEVADA.

RAPID ASCENT--THE TRESTLE-BRIDGES--MOUNTAIN
PROSPECTS--"PLACERS"--SUNSET--CAPE HORN--ALTA--THE SIERRAS BY
NIGHT--CONTRAST OF TEMPERATURES--THE SNOW-SHEDS--THE
SUMMIT--RENO--BREAKFAST AT HUMBOLDT--THE SAGE-BRUSH--BATTLE
MOUNT--SHOSHONIE INDIANS--TEN MILE CANYON--ELKO STATION--GREAT AMERICAN
DESERT--ARRIVAL AT OGDEN.

We had now begun the ascent of the difficult mountain country that
separates the Eastern from the Western States of the Union, and
through which the Central Pacific Railway has been recently
constructed and completed--one of the greatest railway works of our
time. As we advance, the scenery changes rapidly. Instead of the flat
and comparatively monotonous country we have for some time been
passing through, we now cross deep gullies, climb up steep ascents,
and traverse lovely valleys. Sometimes we seem to be enclosed in
mountains with an impenetrable barrier before us. But rushing into a
tunnel, we shortly emerge on the other side, to find ourselves
steaming along the edge of a precipice.

What struck me very much was the apparent slimness of the
trestle-bridges over which we were carried across the gullies, in the
bottom of which mountain torrents were dashing, some fifty or a
hundred feet below us. My first experience of such a crossing was
quite startling. I was standing on the platform of the last car,
looking back at the fast vanishing scene--a winding valley shut in by
pine-clad mountains which we had for some time been ascending,--when,