74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



point of view, the direction, and the character of the landscape 

 are continually changing. With no deep cuts, no tunnels, facing 

 first one and then the other and finally all the points of the com- 

 pass, sweeping around spurs, with distant views of land and sea, and 

 near views of great beauty; then facing the steep sides of the 

 mountain, its geology and flora affording interesting pictures; then 

 over trestles with the branches of the bay, redwood, madrono, oak, 

 and manzanita just out of reach — all these form beauties and 

 attractions possessed by no other road known to the writer. A 

 faint idea of the appearance of the road and of the scenery may 

 be had from the appended photographs. 



The Meteorological Station.- — The advantages of Mount Ta- 

 malpais as a meteorological station have long been recognized, and 



The Double Bow. 



many efforts have been made to utilize them. It frequently pro- 

 jects many hundreds of feet above fogs which cover the adjacent 

 shores, and during these periods one can look out upon an ocean 

 of rolling, fleecy clouds which break upon the mountains around 

 its base and visible from its summit. This freedom from obscuring 

 conditions gives an opportunity to more freely observe and study 

 meteorological phenomena, and caused the Weather Bureau to 

 make a series of preliminary observations in 1897, and, these re- 

 sulting favorably, a fully equipped permanent station was subse- 

 quently built. The results have fully equaled expectations. 

 The advantages of the location may be briefly summarized as 

 follows : 



1. It is close to the coast line, and is so elevated that it is 



