STEEP TRAILS 



would probably last about six months, an 

 opinion that of course disgusted the fault- 

 finding Briton with the "blawsted country," 

 though in fact it is but little if at all wetter or 

 cloudier than his own. 



No climate seems the best for everybody. 

 Many there be who waste their lives in a vain 

 search for weather with which no fault may 

 be found, keeping themselves and their fami- 

 lies in constant motion, like floating seaweeds 

 that never strike root, yielding compliance to 

 every current of news concerning countries 

 yet untried, believing that everywhere, any- 

 where, the sky is fairer and the grass grows 

 greener than where they happen to be. Be- 

 fore the Oregon and California railroad was 

 built, the overland journey between these 

 States across the Siskiyou Mountains in the 

 old-fashioned emigrant wagon was a long and 

 tedious one. Nevertheless, every season dis- 

 satisfied climate-seekers, too wet and too dry, 

 might be seen plodding along through the dust 

 in the old " '49 style," making their way one 

 half of them from California to Oregon, the 

 other half from Oregon to California. The 

 beautiful Sisson meadows at the base of Mount 

 Shasta were a favorite halfway resting-place, 

 where the weary cattle were turned out for a 

 few days to gather strength for better climates, 



280 



