th and strength
until they form bridges, over which chipmunks, squirrels, porcupines,
'coons, coyotes, and finally mountain lions, bears, and even men cross
with safety. There is the _real origin_ of the suspension bridge.
But this is a miniature, a model, a suggestion of the big bridges.
It affords ready access to the house on the other side. In winter,
however, the boards are taken up, as the heavy snows that fall and
accumulate might wreck it.

It is hard to realize that, a few months from now, when winter begins,
this railroad must perforce cease its operations. Snow falls, here,
where the sun is now smiling so beneficently upon laughing meadows,
dotted here and there with dainty flowers, to a depth of ten and even
twenty feet. The mail--necessarily much reduced in winter--is first of
all carried in sleighs, then, as the snows deepen, on snow-shoes,
so that those who stay to preserve the "summer hotels" from winter's
ravages may not feel entirely shut out from the living world beyond.

But there is nothing that suggests snow now. We are enjoying the
delights of a summer day or evening, and know that we are near our
journey's end. Suddenly there is a long call of the whistle, a short
curve, and if in the daytime, the Lake suddenly appears, or, if at
night, the lights of the Tavern, and our rail journey is done. We are
deposited in Fairyland, for whether it be day or evening, the Lake
or the Tavern, our senses are thrilled and charmed by everything that
appears.

CHAPTER XIII

THE WISHBONE AUTOMOBILE ROUTE TO AND AROUND LAKE TAHOE

This is the name given to the 260-mile automobile route to and from
Lake Tahoe, going in from Sacramento over the world-famed Emigrant
Gap and Donner Lake road, around the western shore of Lake Tahoe,
from Tahoe Tavern to Tallac, and thence back to Sacramento over the
historic and picturesque Placerville road. While both of the two main
arms of the "wishbone" carry the traveler over the Sierras, the roads
are wonderfully different. On the Emigrant Gap arm the road seems to
have been engineered somewhat after the Indian fashion, viz., to allow
the wildest and most expansive outlooks, while the Placerville route
is largely confined to the picturesque and beautiful canyon of the
South Fork of the American River. Both have honored histories and both
are fascinating from the scenic standpoint and the difference in the
two routes merely accentuates the charm of the trip, when compar