Mountain, Lake, and Valley [pp. 540-552]

0 OUNTAINr, LA/KE, AND VALLEY.
A congeries of small lakes is found
to the southward of the Pacific Rail road where it crosses the summit, each
of which has its peculiar charms, and its
special friends among the numerous
tourists who begin to seek these sylvan
sheets through the warm season. They
lie from 6,oo0o to 7,00ooo feet above the
level of the sea, where the snow falls
commonly ten feet deep, and stays from
November or December until July, with
lingering patches sometimes on the peaks
above until the next winter. Some of
these lakes are appropriated for ice supplies to the lower country. Rude
hotels have been erected near a few, to
accommodate the visitors who go there
to fish, sail, sketch and recuperate.
All the lakes of Sierra and Nevada
counties, except one or two-like Donner, which lies on the eastern side of
the summit, or Truckee, which is just
over the line of gradual eastern descent
in the Henness Pass, and feeds Little
Truckee river-are sources of the numerous tributary streams that feed and
form the Yuba river or the northern
forks of the American. Another congeries of small lakes in Placer and E1
Dorado counties feed the larger forks of
the American and Cosumnes, and supply an extensive system of mining canals. The South Fork Canal, one of the
largest of these works, having a length
of one hundred and forty-two and a half
miles, is partly supplied from Silver,
Red and Willow Lakes, which store up
together nearly 350,000,000 cubic feet of
water. Some of this goes to irrigate
the vineyards for which the high red
hills of El Dorado are becoming celebrated. Through the whole middle
tier of mining counties, from Siskiyou
to Mariposa, the summit lakes are more
or less drawn upon to fill artificial channels, and aid in the extraction of gold
and the cultivation of the soil. Their
names, obtained from a variety of private sources, make a long list, and suggest their picturesque qualitiesr- as
Silver, Crystal, Cascade, Emerald, Blue,
Clear, Grass, Fallen Leaf, Tule, Wil low, Mirror, Meadow, Alder, etc. Many
are named from the peaks that over look them, from the wild animals or
birds which frequent them, from the
circumstances of their discovery, or from
the persons who first took up abodes
near them. They need not be separate ly mentioned or described.
The most extensive and celebrated
of the whole group is Lake Tahoe, in
E1 Dorado county, only fifteen miles
southwardly from Donner Lake and
the line of the Central Pacific Railroad.
It is about twenty-three miles long from
northeast to southwest, and fifteen miles
wide at its widest. It has an altitude
of 6,218 feet above the level of the sea,
and the dark frowning ridges that wall
it in have an elevation of from I,ooo to
4,ooo feet more. The water has a great
depth. Three miles from the inner line
of a gently descending, sandy shore, it
is nearly 1,300 feet deep. Four or five
miles further, the depth is nearly i,6oo
feet, and this is probably the extremest
sounding. Yet, profound as it is, it is
wonderfully transparent, and the sensation upon floating over and gazing into
its still bosom, where the gray granite
bowlders can be seen far, far below, and
large trout dart swiftly, incapable of
concealment, is almost akin to that one
might feel in a balloon above the earth.
The color of the water changes with its
depth, from a light blueish green near
the shore, to a darker green further
out, and finally to a blue so deep that
artists hardly dare put it on canvas.
When the lake is still, it is one of the
loveliest sights conceivable,- flashing
silvery in the sun, or mocking all the
colors of the sky, while the sound of its
soft beating on the beach is like the
music of the sea-shell. When the wind
angers its surface, its waves are dangerous to buffet. The sail that would
float over its still face like a cloud, is
then driven like fate, and lucky to
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