Snow-drifts in the higher altitudes sometimes block the motorist's way. 



MOTORING IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 



By Charles J. Belden 



ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 



" Out beyond the high Sierras, where the world is 



big and free, 

 My thoughts do often wander, and 'tis there I 



long to be, 

 For the stately pines do whisper and the rugged 



peaks they call 

 When the sun sinks down behind them in a 



blood- red fiery ball." 



TO the motor- 

 ist with pi- 

 oneering in- 

 stinct who delights 

 in exploring the 

 unbeaten paths of 

 the wilds, the 

 great chain of the 

 snow-capped Sier- 

 ran Cordilleras of 

 our western coast 

 offers untold pos- 

 sibilities. The 

 high passes of the Swiss and Italian Alps 

 VOL. LVIL 20 



have long since become familiar touring- 

 grounds, and every season witnesses the 

 passage of thousands of motor-cars over 

 the Simplon, the St. Gothard, the Mont 

 Cenis, and other of the well-known Al- 

 pine roads. 



The Stelvio Pass of the Austrian Tyrol 

 has always held an undisputed supremacy 

 in Europe as regards altitude and diffi- 

 culty of ascent, and, notwithstanding the 

 high degree of reliability of present-day 

 machines, many motorists hesitate before 

 crossing this pass. The Stelvio reaches an 

 altitude of 9,041 feet above sea-level, and 

 even in midsummer the traveller may 

 expect to encounter snow-storms on the 

 summit. This altitude, however, is sur- 

 passed in America by a comparatively un- 

 known pass in the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains called Sonora Pass, located about 

 midway between Lake Tahoe and the 



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