------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: VIEW OF MOUNT SHASTA FROM SISSONS, CAL.—This view from Sissons is said to be the best obtainable of Mount Shasta. From this point it presents the appearance of a broad triple mountain, the central summit being flanked on the west by a large crater, whose rim is 12,000 feet high. The highest point in the centre is 14,442 feet. Shasta, as a whole, is the cone of an immense extinct volcano, rising with a single sweep from the base to a height of 11,000 feet. It is 338 miles north of San Francisco, and is visible for more than one hundred miles. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: SACRAMENTO CAÑON, CALIFORNIA.] Another particularly wonderful natural attraction on the line of this road are the Chalybeate Soda Springs, which furnish an unfailing supply of mineral water, equal to the best that is bottled for the bar and picnic trade. When taken fresh from the spring, it has the appearance of champagne, which, indeed, it resembles in taste; and so strongly charged is the water with carbonic acid gas, that it will hold its flavor as long as any extra-dry wine. Near these remarkable springs are the Mossbrae Falls, which come sliding over the lofty banks of the Sacramento in sheets of limpid water that look like glass, and have a spread of nearly half a mile. The fall varies in height from fifty to one hundred feet, but is surprisingly beautiful at every point. After crossing Siskiyou Mountains, the road descends by a spiral way until it strikes Rogue Valley, thence through Grant’s Pass and gains the Willamette Valley, which is a level expanse of exceedingly great fertility. The ride to Portland over the rest of the way is interesting, not so much for the diversity of scenery, as for the scenes of thrift and prosperity which lie on both sides, for the country is a very Eden of productiveness.