100 AMERICAN HOMES. AND “GARDENS 
February, 1906 
‘“Myntoon,’ a Mediaeval Castle in Shasta, California 
By Enos Brown 
4. N THE far northern part of the State of 
¥ California, the most magnificent natural 
object in the United States lifts its white, 
snow-clad summit nearly 15,000 feet above 
sea level. The base of Mt. Shasta is three 
hundred miles in diameter, and within this 
circle lies a country covered for the most part with primeval 
forests and broken up into valleys and elevations, through 
which hundreds of rivulets, howing.from never disappearing 
banks of snow, seek a 
lower level, finally to be 
lost in the larger vol- 
umes of the Pit and 
McCloud rivers. Of all 
California 
McCloud is the most 
limpid, clear and im- 
rivers the 
pressive. Its flow is in- 
cessant and rapid. From 
its source in the crest of 
Mt. Shasta to its junc- 
tion with the Pit it falls 
14,000 feet. Its course 
is a succession of water- 
falls and its long mean- 
derings havenevera rest- 
ful moment. Its banks, 
up to the timber line, 
pass through a region of 
pine forests, many of the 
trees of a size which 
excites amazement. A 
series of mountain lakes 
spread over the country 
and with the streams are 
alive with trout. The 
woods also abound in 
game, the very largest 
carnivora of the Conti- 
nent finding in their vast 
and thinly populated re- 
gion a congenial home. 
The entire. siecle ron 
is a Western Adiron- 
dack—infinitely greater 
than the original. To its 
other delights, hundreds 
of healing springs 
abound, hot and cold, 
and to these attractions 
add that of a pure, 
stimulating atmosphere, heavy with the odors of piny woods, 
and it will be well understood why citizens from other parts 
of the State are more and more seeking this healthful and 
secluded region to regain lost health and recuperate from 
the fatigue of too strenuous careers of society or business. 
At an elevation of 3,000 feet, on a site close to the banks 
of the McCloud River, selected for the inspiring view of Mt. 
Shasta which it affords, as well as the magnificent prospect 
visible in every other direction, Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst 
has built a summer home—‘‘Myntoon,”’ it has been named— 
which for originality of design, massive, picturesque and 
The Structure Stands on an Elevation of 3,000 Feet, not far from the Banks 
of the McCloud River 
attractive, it would be difficult to surpass. Here on the 
slopes of the great Western mountain has been reproduced, 
in every minute particular, a feudal castle of medieval times, 
as perfect in architecture and interior furnishings as those 
structures which were the pride of overlords of Germany 
centuries ago, modified only to meet the exigencies of modern 
habits and life. Fortunately the architects were not limited 
in the construction, motive, material, color and form by 
economic considerations, and were enabled to develop the 
ideas of the owner and 
produce a structure cor- 
rect as to historical tra- 
dition as well as to em- 
body a true idea Wom 
baronial life on Euro- 
pean frontiers toward 
the end of the Gothic 
period, and to harmo- 
nize it with the great 
trees which surround 
the castle, the beautiful 
river rushing by, and in 
the seclusion from the 
outside world maintain 
the inspiration which 
the unequaled and 
splendid environment of 
the situation affords. 
The plan of Sam 
castle was made to con- 
form to the original 
character and slope of 
the ground and to fit 
into a cluster of enor- 
mous trees which grew 
upon it. Considerations 
of sunlight and prospect 
also influenced the form 
adopted. [he dimen- 
sions of the structure 
are great enough to 
admit the introduction 
of all the necessary de- 
tail which it was de- 
cided to incorporate into 
it. From east to west, 
the length of the castle 
proper is 120 feet, the 
greatest width, from 
north to south, being 56 
feet. A great cellar ag 
feet in depth, extends below the entire structure. The 
foundation walls are 6 feet thick. 
The axis of the castle is the central tower, 75 feet in ex- 
treme height and built of stone throughout. Halls, being 
a modern innovation, were discarded, the ene referred to in 
the plan representing the piscatoribus or lavatory, where the 
spoils of the chase were displayed and the hunters cleaned 
up their arms and washed away the evidences of the conflict. 
In the chamber below is the wine cellar. ‘There are six stories 
of sleeping-rooms, entered from the tower through doors 
placed at each half revolution of the stone stairway. 
