Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/200

 164 THE TOURIST'S CALIFORNIA Golden West began its restoration, expending over $50,000 upon it, including additional land. A mu- seum is now enclosed within the rectangle. The old fort, one of the hallowed landmarks of our country, looks no longer upon a rude plain harried by Indians and swarming with the un- couth figures of white men, but upon a park of well-nurtured flowers and pleasant paths wind- ing over a lawn of smoothest green. In Pioneer Hall are many mementoes, books and newspapers associated with early days. There are also owned in Sacramento the saw installed at Sutter's mill when gold was found, and other be- longings of the city's first settler. Sacramento's best route to the north in point of speed and luxury is by way of Davis (15 miles west), where the Shasta Limited from San Francisco is met at 2:20 P.M. By motor, Sacramento - Shasta Springs, 239 miles. On the Way to Shasta. Two-thirds of the route is through the Valley of the Sacramento, a rich area of 6000 acres. This valley is believed to have once held the waters of a lake. Monotonous hills with corrugated flanks abut vegas which in summer-time show every tint of desolate brown, but change in the win- ter to a waking green that glows to emerald in the spring. Hot winds, endless barley-fields, flies, mosquitoes, sun-beaten roads and malaria