nce that remind us of those
lines of Joaquin Miller's:
Great massive rocks that near us lay,
Deep nestled in the grass untrod
By aught save wild beasts of the wood--
Great, massive, squared, and chisel'd stone,
Like columns that had toppled down
From temple dome or tower crown,
Along some drifted, silent way
Of desolate and desert town
Built by the children of the Sun.
We pass under the great cliff, and past a glacially-polished dome on
the left. The cliff is all cross-hatched and seamed with infiltrations
of quartz. Ahead of us to the right is a canyon that is the southern
extension of Desolation Valley.
_Strawberry to Kyburgs, 10 Miles_. A few miles below Strawberry
we pass Georgetown Junction (where the road from Georgetown enters the
main road), and ten miles brings us to Kyburgs, 4000 feet elevation,
the canyon narrowing as we descend. On the right we pass Sugar Loaf
(6500 feet).
At Kyburgs the water is taken out for the domestic and irrigation
water-supply of Placerville--8000 inches of water. The station is
located at a break in the mountains where a cone-shaped rock, covered
with trees, is a striking feature.
_Kyburgs, Through Riverton, to Pacific House, 14 Miles_. Passing
the South Fork of the American on the left, nine and a half miles
brings us to Riverton, a charming river resort where many visitors
stop during the season for a day or a week, as this is a noted center
for fishing and hunting. Here we cross over an excellent bridge,
surrounded by a mountain amphitheater lined with trees, and our road
follows the course of the bowlder-strewn river-bed. Yonder is the
scene of a noted "hold-up" in the old mining days.
If we cared to go over the files of the newspapers of the days when
bullion was being shipped daily by stage to Placerville, how many
accounts might we not find of "hold-ups" by daring "road-agents." And
it does not take much imagination to picture in this secluded spot or
that, the sudden appearance of a masked bandit, gun in hand, and to
hear the sharp quick commands, "Halt! and Hands up!" and to hear the
"squeesch" of the brake on the wheel, to see the hands of driver,
express-messenger, and passengers go up in helpless anger and furious
impotence.
Then the "Stand down here!" or "Come off of that quick, and line up
alongside!" and the immediate obedience of all concerned, and the
sharp "keep _them_ hands up, gentlemen, or somebody'll be gettin'
hurt," or perhaps a
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