A PLACE FOR VACATIONS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jun 13, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 24.

A PLACE FOR VACATIONS.

By Editor

AMONG the most beautiful parts of beautiful California is that section traversed by the California Northwestern Railway. This includes the counties of Marin, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino, just north of San Francisco Bay. The main line begins at San Francisco, crossing the bay in fine large ferry steamers, and extending to Ukiah, 113 miles north, on the fringe of the great redwoods in the midst of the Coast Range. Branches tap the beautiful sections of Sonoma Valley, both east and west, while stage routes thread fertile valley, mountain canyon, riverside, and lake shore in every direction.

The scenery includes lake and river, hill and dale, mountain and valley, forest and sea; and the abundant vegetation is everywhere in evidence, from the tiny grass blade or the rushes in the tules to the giant redwoods, from 20 to 60 feet in circumference and 200 to 400 feet in height. There is not one dull, dry, dusty, or uninteresting mile from the teeming city on the bay to the thriving town of Ukiah, standing on the skirts of the redwoods in the North. Marin, Sonoma, and Russian River Valleys are all beautiful and fertile.

The entire route revels in flowers. Fruits of all kinds—apples, pears, grapes, oranges, lemons, prunes, apricots, olives, plums, cherries, berries of all sorts and kinds, etc.—abound. There are five large canneries on the route. Of prunes alone, 25,000 tons of dried were shipped last season. Corn, wheat, barley, oats, and hay grow in abundance without irrigation. Many hops are raised.

Fine horses and cattle are found in plenty. Marin is the dairy county of the State. In one small section of Sonoma County a half million dollars worth of eggs and poultry are sold annually.

In the four counties named above are over three hundred streams, furnishing 6,000 miles of water length. The largest of these are the Russian and Eel Rivers. A number of lakes are in evidence. These streams abound in fish, especially trout. The railway maintains a fine fish hatchery at Ukiah, stocking the streams with trout.

While fresh-water springs are plentiful, there are numerous and various mineral springs, some of them made effervescent in the laboratory of nature, and heated in her steam pipes. Springs and groups of springs are advertised as health resorts to the number of not less than fourteen. At Hopland, on a recent trip, we saw two six-horse stages waiting for passengers. What a ride one gets up the mountains! Hotels and homes are open along the way to the traveler to the number of 200. There are also plenty of fine camping-places to be had.

Devil's Canyon at the Geysers, Near Cloverdale.

There is no section in this unparalleled State equal to that through which passes the California Northwestern Railway. The company are constantly putting forth efforts to make it more interesting and profitable to the tourist and vacation idler. And the genial and obliging conductors, Messrs. M. McDonough, J. K. Smith, A. Crawford, J. Johnson, on the main line trains, and T. L. Crane, R. Brown, H. Fritz, and J. L. Hammond on the branches, will do all in their power to make it pleasant.

Are you going for a vacation? Are you going camping? Try the California Northwestern Railway and that section of country, unexcelled in natural beauty and productiveness.

Write to Mr. R. X. Ryan, general passenger and freight agent, for circulars, terms, etc., corner California and Sansome Streets.