Lount Shasta Journal 1917- 1923
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lount Shasta Journal 1917- 1923 by Edward Stuhl J MOUNT SHASTA JOURNAL. 1917 - 1923 by EDWARD STUHL. Association for Northern California Records and Research Chico, California 1989 A Word about this Text— We have edited this manuscript as gently as possible. To preserve the integrity of the text written by Edward Stuhl, whenever clarity was not an issue, we have allowed Mr. Stuhl's original spelling, grammar, word choice, punctuation, and capitalization to stand — such as, "I set in the cold," and, "optical delusion." We have silently corrected obvious typographical errors (e.g., "ticket"for "ticked") and occasionally some words or phrases where his intent was clear, but the clarity of the passage was an issue (e.g., "stacks of hay" for "stakes of hay"). Any other changes, such as the addition of omitted letters, are indicated within square brackets. The original manuscripts are available for study in the Meriam Library's Special Resources Department at California State University, Chico. —Ramona Flynn and Sarah E. Newton INTRODUCTION When he set out on a 350-mile trip to Mount Shasta in June 1917, little did Ed Stuhl realize that he was beginning a pilgrimage that would consume his interest for the remaining sixty seven years of his life. Born in 1887, Stuhl spent his early years hiking and climbing the Austrian Alps. In 1912 he climbed his first American mountain, Mount Tamalpais. In the years before his first trip to Mount Shasta, he climbed Mount Tamalpais several times and went to the top of Mount St Helena. This volume contains accounts of StuhPs two earliest trips to Mount Shasta, traveling by railroad, foot, wagon, and car. Although German was his native language, he writes well in English and these accounts are interestingly and humorously told. "Even a blast of profanity did not stir the stubbornness of my iron mule," he wrote, describing the 7-year-old Ford, "Lizzie", he took on his second trip. He had planned to climb Mount Shasta on his first visit, but experience told him that he was unprepared for this mountain. On his second visit he gave up at 13,COO feet, when he realized that he had underestimated Mount Shasta again, and he came to the conclusion that windproof clothes, an ice-axe, and lined leather gloves were needed. But he did not give up. In the years that followed he climbed Mount Shasta twenty two times, and boasted that he had "hiked and skied practically every possible inch of the mountain, including the five living glaciers". Stuhl climbed most of the mountains in California, Oregon, and Washington. For each climb, he kept a journal, detailing his experiences and describing the flora and fauna found there. In addition he made watercolor paintings of the wildflowers he saw, including all but three of the 207 flowers he found on Mount Shasta. The Edward Stuhl Collection of which these journals are a part, is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Meriam Library at California State University, Chico. The Association for Northern California Records and Research is grateful for permission to publish these first two episodes of Ed Stuhl's lifelong love affair with Mount Shasta. Gazelle Edgewood m. Shasta x •41° $$^W REDDING ClAfri Mount Shasta area, circa 1917 -1923. Edward Stuhl First Visit to Mount Shasta. June-July, 1917. There looms mysteriously a snow covered great mountain, a giant extinct volcano, somewhere in the north of California. But in spite of its bigness it is little known to the proud sons and daughters of the Golden State. It is surprising the difficulties one meets in getting any information out of everyday people about their own native country. Best they can do is to send one to the railroad office and there one will learn that a 350 mile ride over the Shasta Route will deposit the curious traveler at the foot of the mountain. According to my map, Mount Shasta is situated between 41° and 42° north latitude and between 122° and 123° longitude west of Greenwich, near the head waters of the Sacramento River. Its elevation is given to be 14,380 feet. From Beadeker's Nordamerika, Edition 1912, pp. 517, I learnt the following: "Der Mt. Shasta, 4408 m, 19 km von Sisson, ist von hier zu ersteigen. Hin und zuruck 30-40 Stunden; Fuhrer und Pferde im Hotel. Kosten per Person $15-20. Ubernachten in Sisson's Camp, 2745 m, gleich oberhalb der Baumgrenze. Auf dem Hauptgipfel befinded sich eine Triangulirungs Pyramide. Mt Shasta ist ein machtiger erloschener Vulcan, dessen vulcanischer Character am Crater oder West-Gipfel, 3930 m, deutlich erkenn- bar ist, wo sich ein 1200 m breiter und 750 m tiefer Crater offhet. Am Hauptgipfel befinden sich auch heisse Quellen und Fumarolen. Die Aussicht ist uberaus grossartig." [Mt. Shasta, 4,408 meters, 19 kilometers from Sisson, can be climbed from here. There and back 30-40 hours. Guide and horses at the hotel. Cost per person $15- 20. Overnight stay at Sisson's Camp, 2,745 meters, just above the tree line. On the main peak is a triangular pyramid. Mt. Shasta is a powerful extinct volcano, the 1 volcanic character of which can be distinctly seen at the crater or west peak, 3,930 meters, where there is a crater that is 1,200 meters wide and 750 meters deep. On the main peak are also hot springs and fumaroles. The view is exceedingly splendid]. Furthermore, in the Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento I saw a painting, 'Mount Shasta* by William Keith. It presents a noble snowy peak, towering over sunny meadows and above shadowy forests into a cerulean sky. No more 'information' do I need; such little is enough to set out exploring for myself. June 28, 1917. The crossing of the San Francisco Bay at that early morning hour when the golden sunbeams radiated from beyond the hills of Mount Diablo was a fitful prelude to the trip. There is a certain fascination in that morning bustle across the bay, of coming and going and meeting of ferry boats accompanied by graceful gliding and screeching flocks of sea gulls. And later follows another thrill, when the entire Southern Pacific train is divided into three sections and pushed on a giant ferry boat, monster locomotive and all, to cross the Carquinez Strait of the Sacramento. Then follows much monotony when the long snake-like train speeds through the marshes and farm lands of the Sacramento Valley and soon one wishes our dear sun had left about one half of its rays beyond that Don Diablo mountain. After a few hours the Marysville Buttes begin to loom up isolated from the middle of the plains. They are a grotesque rugged group of sharp peaks and connecting ridges of volcanic origin and leave much thought for wonderment and imagination. Then follow more endless grain fields, becoming orchards, and beconing orchards and broad sun-baked steppes over which the heated atmosphere visibly vibrates. The distant mountains of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range are almost veiled from view by a bluish haze of humidity. And what a heat!; no matter how fast the train flies, there is no cooling from the wind, it blows as hot as the breath from a furnace. On crossing the elevated rolling dry plains of Tehama and Shasta counties the scenery undergoes a pleasant change. Dark groves of stately oak greet the eye; the atmosphere is clearer; the mountain ranges are closing in from both sides. There are the soft contoured heights of the Yolla Bolly Mountains to the west and to the east, above the red Sierra foothills, rear the sharp crags of Mount Lassen to an elevation of 10,437 feet. Since 1914 Lassen is pronounced the only living volcano in the United States. Reports of Lassen's activities reach the world from the town of Red Bluff, a point of convenient observation; unfortunately as 1 passed there no spectacular column of smoke was visible over the grim peak. At five in the afternoon the train reached the town of Redding situated at the termination of the big Sacramento Valley and I was glad to escape into the open. My ticket called only for this 260 mile ride and 1 did not renew it as the mountains were close at hand and I was determined to cover the remaining 70 to 80 miles to Mount Shasta humbly "per pedes apostolorum". Therefore 1 shipped the dunnage bag, containing blankets, clothes and a few books, ahead, while to my back I strapped my good rucksack and with a pair of well hobnailed boots on my feet the world was mine. Immediately upon leaving Redding to the north a striking view unfolded before my gazing eye as I suddenly stood on the rim of the mesa high above the Sacramento River. The elevated valley floor around Redding, with its park-like groves of stately oaks, is bedded snugly into the crotch where that Northern California mountain vastness divides in two mountain systems, the Coast Range on the west and the Sierra Nevada on the east, both forming the great interior valley of the Sacramento. And here the fine river breaks its ties from its mountain home. Relieved from a narrow rocky canyon it spreads wide and smooth and glistening, almost like a mountain lake, hemmed in by luscious green willows and cottonwoods along the shores. The road dropped down the high embankment to a lofty big-arched concrete bridge, crossing the river, to rise on the other side up into the hills again, while the railroad, I noticed, closely followed the river towards the canyon.