Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/187

Rh coast towns between Cazadero and the Oregon border.

Fort Bragg has rail connection with Willits (on the Northwestern) via the California Western Railroad, whose winding route is starred by untamed scenes of river and mountain. The Noyo is one of the streams of Northern California most beloved by the camper, the huntsman and angler.

In the green solitudes of these wild-wood spaces one may roam far on paths which give no sound beneath the foot among brown shafts topped by soaring branches, along stealthy little streams bearing their secrets to the sea, over hill-tops which glimpse the rugged summits of the Coast Range. Miles upon miles of towering sequoias are here now for our enjoyment. But ogre-mills are devouring them fast, slicing their lengths into huge steaks, splintering them into tooth-picks. Not long ago the Federal Government gave to one mill 2,000,000 acres of trees for a sum which approximated $2.00 for each acre.

The railway is pushing through to join the line which already runs south from Eureka. But the tourist will regret its completion if it deprive him of the motor-ride which for 70 miles follows the Overland Highway between Longvale (152 miles north of San Francisco) and Fort Seward. The stages of the Scenic Auto Route (San Francisco