Hivii •;'■•'' • • : a ;■. n ■.:•. ; i -. 1 ■■'■'■!"•.-.■.< ! HilllHB njte ^OF-CAllFOflfc ^OFCAIIFO/?^ #Aavaan-# y 0A«vaan-# ^WEIUJIVERS/A ^^lOSAJ UllVKO^ ,5»E-UNIVERS/a o l>irth — he has, too, his moments (»f humble enthusiasm about fire, and food about shade, and drink; and if he givi - to these feelings anything like the prominence which really belonged to them at the time of hi> travelling, he will not seem a very g 1 teacher; once having determined to write the sheer truth concerning the things which chiefly have interested him, he must, and he will, sing a sadly long >train about Self; he will talk for whole pages together about his bivouac fire, and ruin tin Ruins of Baalbec with eight or ten cold lines." Ktnglake: Eothen. PREFAB E fTpHE little thread of land, 90 puny, and yet so 1 obstinate that it baa almost the look <»f an intentional provocation, which has kept the two great oceans of the world asunder, is on tin- point of being severed, and the twin Americas dipped apart With that event there will open tor Califor- nia an era of development as striking as that which followed upon the great awakening in the middle <>f the last century. With increase of commerce and population there will come important physical changes and the obliteration of much of what is dis- tinctively Western in life and manners. Especially for that reason the writer hopes that this volume oi impressions and experiences gained during a leisurely horseback-journey recently made through the o 1 I >ns of the State may be found timely, and not uiih« mt interesl and value. The matters of principal concern to him in making hi> trip Were not, it i-< true, the practical on, : commerce and its prospects and possibility 3. Rather, the Facts ami beauties in nature and the humane and historic elements in life were hi- points of Bpeoal attraction. Thus it occurs that neither the cities d on hi- route nor the industries ot tlie 1 : on are treated in particular detail. It apology x PREFACE be needed for any dearth of what may be called practical information in the volume, he feels that the lack has been, is being, and increasingly will be supplied by the many capable pens always at work on the categorical and statistical side. In describing the features of the scenery no at- tempt has been made to paint in high colors. In- deed, on a re-reading of the manuscript the im- pression is that, in the desire to avoid the flamboy- ant at all hazards, the balance may have been weighted a trifle on the conservative side. But if a mistake has been made, it is in the right direction ; and the writer states here his plain belief that Cali- fornia, with her magnificent mountain range of the Sierra Nevada, her generally diversified configura- tion, a shore-line extending through nearly ten de- grees of latitude (with the variety in climate and in animal and vegetable life which that fact implies), and a history tinged first with the half-pathetic ro- mance of Spain and then by the brief but lurid Epic of Gold, is by much the most beautiful, interesting, and attractive of all the States of the Union. It may fairly be pointed out, further, that there is only one region of the United States, and indeed there can be but few parts of the world, where one may travel with enjoyment for half a year continu- ously, secure from climatic vagaries, and carrying on the animal one rides everything needful for com- fort by day and night. There might well be organ- ized a Society of California Rovers, whose annual PREFACE xi programme it would be bo take to the road, trail, or Bhore at, Bay, the first appearance of apple blos- som, and allow no root, unless One oi r.mvas, to interpose between them and these kindly skies until the last Late Pippin has fallen from the tree, N.B. — For the convenience <»f the general, and especially the non-Californian, reader, the pronun- ciation, and also the meaning where it is to the point, of the Spanish words which occur in tin- text an- given in a Glossary, placed at the end of the volume, preceding the Index. These words are nu- merous, but they are unavoidable in the nature of the case, since most of the place-names throughout the coast region of California are Spanish. Beyond these place-names, however, the Spanish words in- troduced are those only that have passed into common Bpeech in the one-time Spanish and Mex- i< aw territories. I 06 \v.i .1 1 s, Cai.ifok.ma. CONTENTS CHAPTER I Leaving I'l Monte — Objects <>f the ride — Our hones and equipment — HI Montr — The tirst Mi— ion San ( iabrid — iidly Mexicans -A ranch-house of Old California — Downey —A fanner of California's best type Sleepy HoUowa — Camp <>n the Sao Joaquin — Coyotes and sul- phureoua coffee Lagunat anon —Warfare of sun and fo^ — The > ina Beach i CHAPTER II AHao Cafion — The eucalyptus — Bird voices at morning — A painter's coast -Our camp at Aliso (anon — I tUTCS and resemblances — A typical Southern California Cafion — The artist's point of view — A hermit- i.ive — California land-grants: their names — Dana's rliit at San |n. in - The town of San J nan (apistrano: its old-time air: its ndned Mission — Relics of Mission days .... 17 CHAPTER III San Juan Hot Springs —San Mateo — A princely ranch: the Santa Margarit 1 Via itudesof Western towns: Fallbro >k — Palomar Mountain —The village of Pala — The •rronged Indiana of AguaCahente 1 he Mission oi San An- tonio at Pala - American hospitality at the old Monserate ranch-ho 1 Alvarado — WQd-cats —The San Luis Rey VaUej W ide inter- lude', — The 1 luajome: it- deterioration — I he Mission of s.m Lui ' restored" ■Oceanaide — Companion- ship and 1 Night at La Coata ... 31 CHAPT1 R tV Boom towns — Del Mar: the rorreypine I he old Alvarado m in idem of "the < ternal feminine'' — 1 he xiv CONTENTS decay of the historic Spanish-California houses — Las Penas- quitas Valley and ranch-house — The Linda Vista Mesa: prospects of a kangaroo ranch — Mission Valley — The Mission of San Diego — Old Town — San Diego, our south- ern terminus: bay and water-front — The highlands of Mexico in sight 43 CHAPTER V Northward bound — San Fernando: its Mission — The San Fernando Valley — Topanga Canon — Wild flowers — A wayside Thomas — The coast — Dana's opinion of San Pedro — North- Westward Ho! — The Malibu: "No Tres- passing" — Shoreside sheep — I am an object of compas- sion — The pro and con of solitude — Camp by the ocean edge 54 CHAPTER VI An inland trail — Strange country : downs and combes — Boney Mountain — Friendly Mexicans again — Sycamore Canon — Sunday in camp — A night disturbance — Oak-glades — The Santa Barbara Channel Islands in view — The rest- ing-place of Cabrillo — Hueneme: a moribund town — Ox- nard, " the hated rival" — An embarrassing companion — Ventura: its Mission — San Buenaventura: nasturtiums and simplicity 67 CHAPTER VII Fording the Ventura River — Tramps in clover — Hospitality unfailing — Carpinteria — Origins of Spanish place-names — A huge grape-vine — Summerland: oil wells in tide- water — Montecito and millionaires — Santa Barbara: as Dana saw it: and to-day — The Mission — A link with the past — The de la Guerra mansion — Santa Barbara of the far future 79 CHAPTER VIII Arboreal strangers — A squally evening — Roadside camp and company — An incongruity: church as barn — The village of Naples — The Refugio Pass — More pleasant Mexicans: CONTEXTS xv Bernardito the Jolly — Crossing tin- Santa Ynea Mountains A wonderful landscape - W il< i Bowers, and the madrono — Las Lomas de la Purificacion A landed les — l [ding tin- \un.i Yin-/. River 88 CHAP! 1 R IX in Santa [nes - Mission, hospitality — Quaint reHi An operatic departure 1 h<- Gaviota Pass -Magnifi- cent ".ik- and sycamores —Tin- Nojogui waterfall — S -A travelling emporium Last ruces An adven- ture with quicksand - Voices "I the sea — Evicted by the ride — Sea-birds, and a rattlesnake — A sunset island . 99 ( I! AIM IK X A bad road — A Marblehead skipper: bygone a haling — Portu- guese nahermen — Point Conception: night at the light- bouse A natural division point — The Jalama: fine old olives Camp on the Eepada: tramp company again — A Point Conception wind — An inexplicable family — The 1 binese freemasons: DonCamik> t a Span- iah-Caltfornian — The Mission of La Purisima Conception 114 CHAP! ER XI Pine ("anon — Tin- Burton Mesa — ("amp on th<- "-.in Antonio — Th<- Si. rr.i Santa Lucia in view — Caamalia and the •it"- — A fine seascape — Point Sal: friendly en- tertainers A Sj mi>h Petruchk) — Fog and rough trail Guadalupe -Humor- I ertJaing — The Val- ind town of Santa Maria Southern California left behind "Hunting >n" Tin- Nipomo Valley: the Dana family — Arroyo Grande Vallej San Luis '■ i\ An Indian lmr\ iiu | l.i< <■ A Portuguese .1 Ih<- AvOas of A vila: more Srjanish-Califonuan , itality: SI and the drama of California . . 129 (ii \rn R xii ins The knob-cone pine — A lost trail — ip "ii I >i.; going — A d bate with Chin Jit) , and Iridi — I . San ! .. 01 xvi CONTENTS — Volcanic peaks — A gray day — Italian-Swiss settlers — Blithe cowboys — Morro — Entering the Coast Range country — Cayucos — The town of Cambria — Abalone fish- ers — San Simeon — Piedras Blancas lighthouse — Welsh kindness — Indian relics — A primitive school — Irish hospitality again 147 CHAPTER XIII San Carpoforo Canon — Oddities of pronunciation — More kind Mexicans — A mountain home — The Pear Orchard — A resting spell — The Santa Lucia fir — Duality of cli- mate — Physical and pictorial aspects of the region — A hot climb — Crossing the crest — More great oaks — Camp on the Nacimiento River — A delightful swim — Sunday in camp — The trail lost — Intelligence of Chino — The San Antonio River — The village of Jolon: Indian music: my classification 166 CHAPTER XIV Farewell, Chino; enter Anton — Camp at the Mission of San Antonio de Padua: crows, ants, swallows, and coyotes — Spanish hospitality and family affection — Dog versus skunk — Digger-pines — Recrossing the crest — Santa Lucia Peak — Los Burros mining settlement — A voluble box-lid — Delightful trail — Entering the redwoods — The coast again — Bold scenery — Pacific Valley : a lonely ranch : "Striking it rich" — The weekly mail 182 CHAPTER XV Camp at Mill Creek — "Tools and the Man" — A serpentine trail — Lucia, a postal frontier — A lost school-house — The tan-bark oak — A Coast Range sunset — Gamboa's Ranch: a rare situation — Sudden changes of scenery — The trail lost again: rough scrambling — Little's Springs: a bath in mid-air — Unseen choristers — Two hundred feet of magazines — Camp among the redwoods — Superb trees — Castro's Ranch 194 CHAPTER XVI From trail to road — The Big Sur River — Canon of the Little Sur — Point Sur lighthouse — A Robinson Crusoe and a CONTENTS xvii in mineralogy — Portuguese friendliness on e more 1 !><■ perfection oi coast sce n er y — Point Lobos — I ^presses and pines — I hi- Mission "t San < arios, i ar- m tri\i.ility — Ben Lomond: .1 catechism — The 1 twood Park: redwoods compared with the Big •tail —Again at the coast — Pigeon Point — Pescadero: a bibulous banker 224 CHAPTER Will Dust and wild B ow ers — Half Moon Hay — "Gilt-edged" real ■estate 'I be Montara Mountain coast — First view of San Francisco Hay — Colma: an Italian lodging-house — Sm Francisco: as in 1906, and now: Bohemia: Ste v enson: th<- Mission I tolores — Ferry to Saosslito — Mill Valley — :>t Tamalpais; a famous view — Tin- Muir Woods: m ire splendid redwoods — Willow (-'amp — lir^t rain — Bolinas ery 1 ountry and a lonely ranch — A pleasant meeting — Drake's Bay: the i !olden Hind; tin- Erst Pron - taut service on Pacific >h'.r<-, : Drak<'^ monument, and " I >r.ik. - l tram" CHAP! l R XIX Tomalea Bay — Wind, dust ind chickens -Dual blue Camp and ( Russian River — I untry, and a sunst -t erpt from hist . .-.• ird surround- md a one sea nt, a lumbering • !> stent —Apia m, GualaJa 255 xviii CONTENTS CHAPTER XX Big Bert — Odd names — The lowland fir — Wild flowers — Point Arena: the lot of lumber towns — The Alder Creek dispute — Greenwood — Gray weather — Autumn colors — Navarro, a deserted village — A confidence concerning Albion — Little River: blessings on that little girl! — Men- docino City — Fort Bragg — Rain again — Scotch hospi- tality — A fine surf — Sunday at Hardy Creek . . .268 CHAPTER XXI Forest and foxgloves — Usal — A warm climb — Kenny's: a free-and-easy reception — The autumn woods — Entering Humboldt County — Dry climatic belts — The King's Peak Range — The Mattole Valley — Yews — The village of Petrolia: reminders of earthquake — Cape Mendocino, a sa- lient point: its lighthouse — A sunset — Capetown — The Bear River Range — Cedars — Gentle teamsters — The Sitka spruce — Ferndale — Eel River: an official "hold- up" — Humboldt Bay — Eureka, the capital of northern California: its prospects and history 282 CHAPTER XXII Areata — Furze and daisies — Mad River — Stump land — Trinidad Bay, headland, and lighthouse — Lagoons — Norwegian and Indian — The coast hemlock — The village of Orick — Fine game country — Splendid forest — Fog among the redwoods: a weird scene — A strange couple: sentiment yields to fact — Crossing the Klamath River — Requa: the Klamath Indians — The forest again — Cres- cent City: saloons and a prospective harbor — Doubtful sailing dates — Smith River Corners — The Oregon coast in view — The goal is reached : congratulations — Good- bye to Anton, — and to Oregon 297 ILLUSTRATIONS The Coast of the Montana Mm mains . Frontispiece A Ranch-House of Spanish Days 8 HOW WE TRAVELLED: CARL Ky I El. AM) "THE PHILOSOPHIC Billy" 16 The Mission of San Antonio at Pala .... 34 Interior of the Church at the Mission of San An- tonio 36 Tin: Remains of the First of the California Missions: San Diego de Alcala 48 The Mission of Santa Barbara 86 The Coast near Point Sal 132 On the Nacimiento River 176 In the Heart of the Coast Range 198 At Point Lobos, near Monterey 214 A Forest Road in Santa Cruz County .... 234 on Russian River 258 r and Fog: In the Heart of the Humboldt Red- woods 302 Tin: Ki wivrii Kiyik: Rbqua on the Farther Side . 306 At the Goal: where CALIFORNIA meets Oregon . . 310 CALIFORNIA COAST TRAILS AFTER I Leaving II Monte — Objects of the ride — Our horses and equip- rn< in ll Monte lii" first Mil ion San Gabriel — Friendly Mexicans A ranch-house <>l < >1 • 1 California Downey — A fanner of California's best type — Sleep) Holl n I amp on the San Joaquin l ind sulphureous coffee Laguna Canon — Warfare <>f sun and fog — The i".i>t: Laguna Beach. m T T 111.0:" said a little girl in a sunbonnet,in shy 1 1 response to my own salutation. (I did not know her, but I like shy little girls in sunbonnets.) "Hello! traveUin' or jest goin' somewheres?" said a pumpkin-faced boy, grinning at us over a gate. To this ingenious witticism we deigned no reply. " 1 lello! — ■ goin' campin'?" said a rancher, jolting (.n a load of hay U hind two serious horses. The rancher, with no very wonderful feat of dis- cernment, had nil the mark. Carl Byte! the painter and I were riding down the south road from El Monte one midsummer morning, with our blan- kets roil..! behind our Baddies and other appurten- ances of outdoor living slung aboul us. Ever since I ha