Over The Bret Harte Trail to Calayeras Big Trees

More than 100 members of the Central California Lumbermen's Club, including their families and guests, assembled at Stockton and Modesto on Friday evening, May 14, to begin the following morning a 200-mile automobile tour around the Bret Harte Trail through the famous Mother Lode Country, the land immdrtalized by Bret Harte and Mark Twain.

Many of the visitors who gathered at Stockton listened to an excellent address on Friday evening in the Auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce, when G. McM. Ross, the well known Mother Lode mining engineer, talked on the gold production of the Mother Lode district, which is rvithin the boundaries of the following counties: El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa. Mr. Ross stressed sn the vast wealth that has been taken from'this district, stating that "wagon loads of gold" were taken from the Mother Lode in the days of '50 and '51. The total gold production of the Mother Lode has been $50O,000,000, he said. Compared to the early days, he stated that mining operations in the Mother Lode are now at a low ebb, there being only a few deep gold mines operating at the present tim€. According to Mr. Ross, it is possible, but doubtful, that a great organizatio,n could be formed to resume deep mining on a large scale in the Mother Lode. He illustrated his talk with references to the Bret Harte-Mark Twain vignette map on the auditorium wall.

A spleadid descriptive booklet covering the many points of interest on the trip, headed "Over the Bret Harte Trail, the Land of Romance" and arranged by Chas. G. Bird of the Stockton Lumber Co., was distributed to those making the trip. This attractive syllabus consisted of 32 pages of letter sized paper and neatly bound in a stout cover. The booklet showed a map of the Mother Lode trip; a descriptive cartoon by Ralph O. Yardley shorving the Amador, provided *itn *i,laXtff"dri1#fJ'Jt'"0 numbers for the various machines, the Stockton contingent left at 7:30 A.M. Saturday morning from the Stockton Hotel. The members of the party who assembled at Modesto, left at 8:30 A.M., where they met the Stockton party at Oakdale at 8:45 A.M. Leaving Oakdale and following the Stanislaus River, the party proceeded into the "Playground of the Bret Harte

"We are going to see the land immortalized by Bret Harte and Mark Twain, to look upon the present importance of the Mother Lode Countrv and recall the memorable days of.'49. Bear in mind as y6u go along, that in these hills and valleys nestling in the high Sierras, you are in the real California, the California that first attracted the attention of the world, the California of romance, of song and story.

"Still here, and unchanged, are the old mining towns where Colonel Starbottle, Jack Hamlin, Truthful James and other interesting characters used to congregate. So are the solidly built box-like structures with heavy iron doors where the Adams Express Company and Wells-Fargo Express Company kept the treasure for shipment; and the archaic stage offices where Yuba Bill pulled up and discharged his cargo. Some of the mining camps described by Bret Harte have disappeared, but the locations, in most cases, are known and can be pointed out. Now and then you meet an 'old-timer' who was there when Bret Harte, himself, traipsed'over the trail'.

"We are taking you now on a journey through the wonderland of Bret Harte's stories, arid will salute Mark Twain as we approach his old haunts where 'we wandered on foot among the mountains, sleeping under the trees at night. Our doors had always stood open and our board welcome to tramping miners-and now on our own tramp we never found cold hospitality."-(Mar!_Tw1i-n in "Roughing It.")

A Pafi of the Pattg Calaveras and Tuolumne Bret Harte country as a background to the city of Stockton; a page showing the total mining production of the Mother Lode Country, prepared by G. McIVI. Ross; a second full page cartoon by Mr. Yardley, showing the mining yield by counties of the Mother Lode, while the succeeding sheets gave a short description of the many things of interest to be seen going over the Bret Harte Trail, the historical facts being delightfully interspersed with excerpts from the writings of-Bret Hart and Mark Twain.

In the introductory remarks of his interesting booklet, Mr. Bird says:

Country". From the road can be seen the old historic town of Knights Ferry. General Grant was here in his younger days when he was Captain Grant. Knights Ferry is the ancient county seat of Stanislaus County, and was located in 1855 and named for William Knight, a tr4pper and guide, u'ho opened a ferry in 18,18. Losing sight of the river, presently are seen the lava beds on both sides of the road, which at a higher elevation forms Table Mountain. Continuing on, the party next passed through Jamestown, often referred to by Bret Harte as Jimtown, which was settled in