Page:Motoring Magazine and Motor Life July 1915.djvu/11

, 1915.

warning signal when you are wandering around on the hills west of the city.

After topping the long hill in “slicker than a whistle” fashion," [sic] we were anxious to get back home, so it took to the left at the first fork in the road, and it wasn’t long until it had packed us from the skyline boulevard to the Cornell road. Right here allow us to make a recommendation.

Even though you don’t make the St. Helens trip, or can’t go anywhere else, go out sometime for a taste of the Cornell road. If you haven’t been over it recently you don’t know what you are missing. You may enter the Cornell road by branching off from Washington street just west of Twenty-third street. It will carry you below and around the edge of Westover Terraces before you come to the prettiest part of the road.

In going to St. Helens it is possible, of course, to travel the first leg of the trip via the Cornell road and the Skyline boulevard and meet the regular Linnton road, where the Germantown road ends by intersecting with it a few yards north of Claremont Tavern. Also it is possible to travel over Willamette boulevard and other paved streets to St. John’s, and then ferry across to intersect with the St. Helens road also at Claremont.

Without crowding yourselves at all, you can cover the 29.7 miles to St. Helens in about two hours’ running time and return within the same space of time.

A most important public event has occurred with the completion of the State highway into the Big Basin. This wonderful redwood park should be visited in 1915 not only by residents of the State of California, but by all who come here as visitors to see the big Exposition and other California sights. As a primeval redwood forest in all of its natural beauty it is not equaled anywhere.

The park lies in what is commonly known as the Big Basin. Its surface is composed of narrow valleys, plateaus and rolling hills and slopes. It contains a noble forest of gigantic redwood trees, many specimens measuring from 15 to 20 feet and more in diameter, and they are often from 250 to 360 feet high. They are symmetrical, graceful and majestic. It is the oldest known forest in the world. Professor Fernow, the eminent German forester, formerly of the University of Berlin, and now connected with Cornell University, who laid out the forestry system of the United States for the government, says of this forest that it is the most interesting, beautiful and noble of any forest of the world; that aside from the fact of its giant sequoias and the large variety of other trees, the California Redwood park possesses a woodsiness and charm that is a constant delight to the visitor.

There is must to see in this park that is unique among the marvels of nature. The climate is mild and ideal for camping. The elevation is from 1,000 to 1,200 feet above the sea.

According to geographic and other authorities, the height of the Cedar of Lebanon is only about an average of 80 feet, while the giant redwood of the Big Basin towers up to 360 feet, in some instances. The biggest diameter of the cedar is about 16 feet, while many of the giant redwoods in the Big Basin measure over 20 feet.

If the ancient forest of cedars clothing the sides of the mountains of Lebanon were famed the world over for their beauty and enduring qualities, and were visited yearly by multitudes of pilgrims, how much more worthy of a niche in the temple of fame are the giant trees of California.

A good automobile road is now complete into this California redwood park. This park is the property of the State of California, and is free to all. It is a people’s playground. Camping is allowed under the direction of the park warden without charge. The grounds at Governor’s Camp have a perfect sewerage system, and pure mountain water is on tap at convenient intervals.

The new road is from 16 to 24 feet wide with a maximum grade of 5 per cent in a few places. The tourist at the Exposition can now make the trip into the California Redwood park in from three to five hours, according to how fast he is driven. People from Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda have a straight drive of 60 miles of fine valley road, and 19 miles of mountain grade. They can come straight through the valley of Santa Clara, passing through San Jose almost in a straight line, and go right into the Governor’s Camp in the heart of the park. On May 1st the hotel at Governor’s Camp was opened under the able management of Mrs. Glass. Board and lodging can be had at $2.25 per day. Single meals are 50 cents; dinners 75 cents. Board per week $14.

—“Is your car a good one?” “Discriminating people choose them,” said the glib automobile salesman. “More of our cars are stolen than any other make.”–Kansas City Journal.