Page:Motoring Magazine and Motor Life November 1913.djvu/8

 MOTORING MAGAZINE AND MOTOR LIFE

��November, 1913.

��ties the indescribable blue waters of Don- ner Lake. Those who have never seen Donner Lake from the crossing of snow shed number six have not seen the grand- est picture to be witnessed in California. From the opening in snow shed number six there is a drop of about two hundred feet, which is the steepest on the Tahoe loop. It is for this reason it is by far preferable to go by way of Auburn and return by way of Placerville.

From snow shed number six on down past Donner Lake into Truckee, it is an easy ride. Turning at the mountain rail- road town to the left, one takes the road to the right along the banks of the Truckee River to Tahoe City, where splendid accommodations to suit every one's purse can be had. From Auburn to Tahoe City is a nice day's drive.

From Tahoe City the old road leads around to McKinneys, along the shores of Lake Tahoe. It is from the latter point to Tallac that the connecting link of the State road has just been finished. It is, in keeping with all the State roads, well built and abounds in beautiful sce- nic effect; from the summit of Rubicon,

��one can look for miles over the lakes into Nevada, and over the eastern boundary of the State of California. It is in keep- ing with the grandeur of the whole coun- try.

At Tallac one meets the Placerville road. From the lake side to the foot of Meyer's grade, one travels through meadow country; the grade at Meyer's station is short, but one appreciates that it is as hard a climb as there is to be found in the West. Once at the summit, it is a continuous drop down into Placer- ville, a distance of nearly fifty miles.

This fifty miles is replete with the his- tory of the stirring scenes of the early gold days in California. It was along this road that gold was first discovered, and one sees on every hand the scarred earth, the result of placer and hydraulic mining; in fact, the now quiet and se- date town of Placerville was once the roaring hangtown of '49 and early '59.

From Placerville to Folsom one con- tinues to see the marks of early days. It is this Placerville road which Mark Twain made famous in his story of the wild ride of Horace Greeley.

��From Folsom to Sacramento is a bou- levard; the 22 miles is in strong contrast to the twenty-five miles between Placer- ville and Folsom. It would be hard to find a worse piece of road than the latter, and if Mark Twain to-day were to ride over this section, he would imagine his Greeley story was a joy ride on a moon- light night.

Sacramento is the end of a good day's run from Tahoe City by the way of Tal- lac. From the capital it is merely up to the motorist how he wishes to return to San Francisco.

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It seems a shame that commercialism should have so ruthlessly cut its way through the Redwoods of California. One sees on every hand in touring the scars of the saw and axe. Those who would soften these scars have called the stumps the pulpit Redwoods, and in verse and prose have woven romance around the shoots coming from the roots that have developed into young trees, which they have called the Redwood ring.

���A pulpit redwood on the road to San Ansclmo.

��— Photo by Arthur Spaulding Co.

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