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Show THE WONDERS OF CALIFORNIA. 151 Before noon we enter the Tuolumne Grove, where many trees are as large as the average at Calaveras, but none within less than two or three feet of the largest there. Over all this part of the Sierras, prob-ably forty miles each way, the timber is immense. We drive between two trees, each twenty feet in thickness. We find one stump forty feet high and twenty- six feet thick, and hundreds scattered for miles along the way from ten to eighteen feet thick, and from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet high. If the traveler does not wish to make the diversion by Calaveras Grove, he can still enjoy the sight of tall timber here, on the direct route to Yosemite. Thirty-seven miles from Garrote bring us to Tamarack Flat, the highest point on the road, the end of staging, and no wonder. The remaining five miles down into the valley must be made on horseback. While transferring baggage very little is allowed to pack- mules, the guide and driver amuse us with accounts of former tourists, partic-ularly, of Anna Dickinson, who rode astride into the valley, and thereby demonstrated her right to vote, drink " cocktails/ bear arms, and work the roads, without regard to age, sex, or previous condition of servitude. They tell us with great glee of Olive Logan, who, when told she must ride thus into the valley, tried practising on the back of the coach seats, and when laughed at for her pains, took her revenge by savagely abusing every thing on the road. When Mrs. Cady Stanton was here a few weeks before, she found it impossible to fit herself to the saddle, averring she had not been in one for thirty years. Our accomplished guide, Mr. F. A. Brightman, saddled seven different mules for her ( she states the fact in her report), and still she would not risk it, and " while the guides laughed behind their horses, and even the mules winked knowingly, and shook their long ears comically, still she stood a spectacle for men and donkeys." In vain the skillful Brightman assured her he had piloted five thousand persons down that fearful incline, and not an accident. She would not be persuaded, and walked the entire distance, equal to twenty miles on level ground. While we pause, a brief note on the route is in order. From Mil-ton, by way of the Big Trees to Yosemite, is 150 miles; and from Yosemite back by Chinese Camp direct is 109 miles, making a total of staging of 259 miles. Add 100 by rail going to Milton, and twenty by rail and 100 by steamer returning, and we have a total of 220 by rail and steamer, and a grand total of 479 miles in going and return. For all this we pay the moderate price of forty- six dol-lars per man. To this must be added three dollars per day for nee- |