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National Geographic : 1936 Mar
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AT WORK CLOUDBURSTS UNDERMINED A GLACIER ON MOUNT SHASTA AND SENT ROCKS AND MUD DOWN THE SLOPES TO BLOCK A HIGHWAY Icy chunks of the glacier itself broke off and joined the avalanche, which occurred in August, 1935. Passengers in the abandoned car saw the mud flow coming in time to jump out and climb to safety. way where trees were thickest some were felled, or their sides sliced away that wheels might turn. Here man's puny paths around their feet shrink to insignificance, like run ways of short-tailed field mice under an oak. One grove is named for Stephen T. Mather, in his life a Trustee of the Na tional Geographic Society. Another honors Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior in President Wilson's Cabinet, and trustee of the National Geographic Society. Fossils prove the Redwood's great age. When tropic forests covered California this mighty tree ranged from here to Europe. On St. Lawrence Island, in Bering Sea, its remains are found. Across that sea the Redwood moved from continent to conti nent, says Dr. Ralph Chaney of the Uni versity of California, along with the dino saur and other animals of the prehistoric past. Even that hideous, long-jawed flying reptile, the pterodactyl, may once have flapped his clumsy wings about the Red wood treetops. So indestructible is this wood that dead trunks, scattered through these groves, are centuries older than the 2,000- and 3,000 year-old living trees. You see a good ex ample of how this wood endures at Men docino, on the coast south of Fort Bragg, settled by Russians in the 18th century. There is an old Masonic Hall, built by early Americans, whose odd cupola is carved from Redwood. Its mystic emblem, show ing a maid beside a broken pillar, her tresses being fondled by Father Time, is sound and well-preserved after decades of fog, sun, and storm. EUREKA, WHERE GRANT BUILT AN INDIAN FORT Industrious Eureka is like some town on the gray, wind-swept coasts of Scotland, even if fog is euphemistically known here as "summer sea mist." Its dairy herds and neat farm homes add to its Scottish aspect. Two small girls, who had just crossed the continent by bus, all by themselves, showed me about the place. Here the Redwood Highway touches the Pacific; sawmills whine and the scent of fresh-cut lumber fills the damp air. Wild, rugged coasts, fish-filled waters, and inland 343
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