Black Boulder Claim

THIS Introduction is a story of the experiences of two boys in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Lassen and Plunias Counties, California. Their adven tures take them from Jamesville, a small mining town, up over Old Baldy to Eagle Lake and that spur of the range in which the lake is held. Anyone knowing this section of the country will be pleased to find that the scene of the story, all of the description of the towns and the groves and the ranges, is kept strictly within the bounds of truth, and that one must draw on his imagina tion for the plot alone. For those who have never been in this beautiful and wild part of our land, itmay be well to give a short description of the flora and fauna of the country. Everyone, naturally, has heard of the giant redwoods of California Sequoia Gigantica, which grow in large groves, covering spaces of perhaps less than a hundred acres. Some of these are noble, huge old giants, sur rounded by pines and beautiful Douglas spruces. More perfect specimens are peculiarly symmetrical and regu lar, though like the columns in Greek architecture they are not spoiled by being too conventional, showing great variety in harmony and general unity the inspiring shafts with rich, long, fluted bark, absolutely clear of smaller limbs for almost two hundred feet, are tufted 5 Introduction here and there with bunches of green. The main branches of the oldest trees are very large and crooked, and zigzag stiffly to the point where they dissolve in dense masses of little branches, making a regular, though greatly varied, outline. The foliage at the top ter minates in a great dome, that may be distinguished from even great distances, thrown up against the sky above the darkerbed of pine and firs and spruces. This is the king of all conifers, not only in size, but in majesty of bearing. Some of these trees are so large at the base that whole stage-coaches, horses attached, have been able to drive through them. Small lakes abound in this country, many thousand feet above the sea, on ridges, along mountainsides and in piles of moraine boulders. The largest of these lakes are found at the foot of declivities where the push of the glaciers was heaviest. These attain considerable size and depth. Their waters are remarkably clear and one can see down through them for great distances. Below the waters of many of the lakes, the rock in some places still shows the grooving and polishing marks of the glacier period the erosion of the wave action has not as yet entirely obliterated these superficial marks of glacia- tion. In our story, one of the boys shoots a bear and it is a well-known fact that this great range of mountains abounds with game, one reason being that the large na tional parks serve as excellent preserves, and also be- 6 Introduction cause the mountain fastnesses of the Sierra range fur nish safe shelter for the wild folk of the woods. Again, he shoots a cougar or mountain panther, which is stealing up in the night to slay his horse, Zim. These ferocious beasts are so plentiful that the state of Cali fornia pays a bounty for all of them killed when suf ficient proof is given. Rabbits, squirrels, quail and other small birds and animals are in abundance. The foliage and undergrowth is dense and where land is covered in this way, game is bound to be plentiful. One of the largest bushes of this country is the man- zanita, which has exceedingly crooked, stubborn branches and is not easily penetrated. In the first part of the story, Ted is told that he will find gold in the roots. The reason for this is that the manzanita grass grows proportionately above and below the surface of the ground...