CARRIAGE ROAD THROUGH THE HEART OF MARIPOSA’S BIG TREE.—This splendid photograph will give a better idea of the immense size of California’s big trees than any other comparison or illustration could. After cutting a roadway through the tree large enough to admit of the passage of a carriage or an omnibus, it still has left sufficient strength of root to support its trunk and branches and stand firm against the assaults of the storms and earthquakes which frequently bring down other monarchs of the forest less firmly anchored in the heart of the earth. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: ICE FORMATION AT FOOT OF BRIDAL VEIL FALLS.] [Illustration: NEVADA FALLS, YOSEMITE.] Yosemite is beautiful and grand in all seasons of the year, in winter as well as in the summer-time. But it is not often visited by tourists except in the balmy season of summer, and thus some of its greatest wonders would go unobserved except for the efforts of the energetic photographer. On this page we have a combination of winter and summer views, and are thereby enabled to enjoy both seasons at the same time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: DONNER LAKE, NEAR TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA.] A little way west of Truckee, and three miles from the road, is Donner Lake, a beautiful body, but chiefly famous for the tragic history which is connected with it. The story, in brief, is this: In the winter of 1846-47, a party of eighty-two emigrants, while on their way to California, were overtaken by a snow-storm while encamped on the shore of the lake, and of the number thirty-six perished of starvation. A ghastly tale of cannibalism is told of the survivors, and the whole tragedy is embalmed in Bret Harte’s novel of “Gabriel Conroy.” Besides these two more celebrated bodies of water near Truckee, there are Pyramid, Angeline, Silver, and Palisade lakes, all near by, and are more or less popular resorts, particularly with fishing parties. As we proceed up the Sierras the cold increases, until when the town of Summit is reached snow lies upon the ground throughout the year, and it is perpetual winter there, 7,000 feet above the sea. The route is for many miles enclosed by snow-sheds, but the snow-plow has plenty of work to do in keeping the intervals clear. Formerly this work was performed by three or four engines pushing a big machine, somewhat resembling a shovel-board plow, through the heavy banks of snow, but it is now more speedily and effectively accomplished by a rotary snow-plow, as shown in one of our illustrations. The machine is, in fact, a giant auger, which is run by steam supplied by the engines behind it, and being set in motion, rapidly bores its way through the drifts, throwing the snow at an angle of forty-five degrees, and with a force sufficient to deposit it fifty feet from the track.