The Creating of Game Refuges 



which we had before us. California has long 

 since ceased to be a country where the use of the 

 pack train is a customary means of travel. It is 

 now an old and long settled region where the 

 frontier lies neither to the east nor to the west, 

 but has escaped to the vicinity of timber line, 

 nearly two miles straight up in the air. Com- 

 paratively few people outside of the Sierra Club, 

 that admirable open-air organization of "the 

 Coast," have occasion to visit it, and such trips 

 as they make are of brief duration. 



Since it is not desirable to visit the high Sierras 

 before the first of July, three full months were at 

 my disposal for the study of the reserves of 

 southern California, a section of great interest, 

 and of the utmost importance to the State. In 

 southern California one hears frequent mention 

 of the Pass of Tehachapi ; it is the line of demarca- 

 tion between the great valley of central Cali- 

 fornia, drained by the San Joaquin River on the 

 north, and of southern California proper, which 

 lies to the south. These two regions are of very 

 different nature. In the San Joaquin Valley lie the 

 great wheat fields of California. South of the 

 Pass of Tehachapi, people are dependent upon 

 irrigation. Here, too, lie wheat fields and also 

 rich vineyards, and the precious orchards of 



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