406 Adventures in Scenery 



The long narrow strip of lava which flowed as a long tongue 

 down the Sacramento Valley forms the bed of the river at 

 Castella, and lava terraces are on either side. Where the river 

 has yet to cut down through the lava the floor or bottom of 

 the river is the lava rock. 



Columnar Basaltic Lava near Dunsmuir 



Near Dunsmuir on the left (west) a good example may be 

 seen of the columnar jointing (shrinkage joints formed in the 

 cooling lava) such as is seen in many places in basaltic lava 

 beds. (The Devil's Post Pile, south of Yosemite National Park, 

 is a monumental example) . South of Dunsmuir, on the left 

 (west) , are the rugged pinnacles of Castle Rock. Here are 

 effervescent (carbonic acid) springs, and water is commercially 

 bottled at the mouth of appropriately named Soda Creek. This 

 was a noted station on the old Oregon-California stage line. 

 Fine summer resorts are here now. Whether the effervescent 

 soda water was the chief means of entertainment in the old 

 days is not recorded. There are well kept hotels now and 

 everything! 



Shasta Springs, town and hotel, are on a terrace 300 feet 

 above the contact of the horizontal lava beds with the rocks 

 below. The springs issue forth at the juncture of the v lava with 

 the rocks below. A short distance below Shasta Springs the lava 

 which once filled the valley forms walls on both sides of the 

 canyon cut by the river. 



Great Engineering Feat in Deep 

 Lava Canyon 



To construct a highway or build a railroad through a gorge 

 that falls more than 1,000 feet in 10 miles is a feat calling for 

 engineering skill beyond that of common mortal understand- 

 ing. The hairpin turning and doubling on itself of the railroad 

 has long been one of the fascinating features of the drop down 

 to the bottom or climb up to the top of the lava canyon, 



