Sierra Madre

“ Far over in the east, and apparently no nearer than ever, rose the blue, cloud-like mountains of the Sierra Madre, now showing like a wall, which indeed they are, and one which no man has so far succeeded in scaling. ”

“ It is a matter of intense surprise to me, and almost disgust, that so few of our own people right here in sight of our beautiful Sierra Madre, have availed themselves of the opportunities which he has opened for studying their more than Alpine beauties, their inexhaustible and intensely interesting geological and botanical resources, to say nothing of the benefits to be derived from the delicious mountain air, freighted as it is with sweet odors and buoyant exhilaration. ”

“ About a day's journey from the capital, rises that mighty chain of mountains called the Sierra Madre, which, after connecting the volcanoes of Mexico with those of Puebla, takes an inland and northerly direction, hiding within its bowels, near Monte Real and Guanaxato, that boundless mineral wealth which excites so strongly the wonder of the naturalist. ”

“ It may be that the immense vitality of the land, its abundance, the bursting orchards, the rich variety of native growth, somehow dwarfs the earliest impression of the Sierra Madre, since few, if any, gather at first an adequate idea of the actual mass and height it represents. ”

“ The great mountain chain of Mexico, which is the connecting link between the Rocky Mountains of the north and the Andes of the south, is here known as the Sierra Madre, and occupies chiefly the western part of the State, where its elevations attain a vast height, and at length, descend abruptly, cut by deep barrancas or ravines, until they are lost in the plains of Sonora and Sinaloa. Mexican authorities state the highest point of the Sierra Madre, at the Peaks of Jesus Maria, to be 8,441 feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ One cannot take anywhere else a more exhilarating, delightful drive than about the rolling, highly cultivated, many-villaed Pasadena, and out to the foot-hills and the Sierra Madre Villa. He is constantly exclaiming at the varied loveliness of the scene—oranges, palms, formal gardens, hedges of Monterey cypress. It is very Italy-like. The Sierra Madre furnishes abundant water for all the valley, and the swift irrigating stream from Eaton Cañon waters the Sierra Madre Villa. Among the peaks above it rises Mt. ”

“ The Sierra Madre Range has long been regarded as the most beautiful location in which to escape from the heat of midsummer, or to make the change of climate and scenery. Heretofore the seashore has been more largely patronized on account of its ease of access, but many hundreds of people have annually made pilgrimages to remote mountain resorts because of the pure air and healthful surroundings there to be found. ”

“ On the eastern boundary of the State, the ridges of the Cordillera begin to rise, until they tower into the massive mountains which form the Sierra Madre, among the spurs of which many valuable metallic deposits have been discovered. The fine and productive vallies of Bavispe, Oposura, Sonora and Dolores are found in the neighborhood of this mountain country. ”

“ In a general sense these ranges may be considered part of the eastern branch of the Sierra Madre Occidental, which turns eastward on the 20th parallel and crosses the plateau in a south by east direction. Southward the plateau is traversed by many low ranges and breaks down in terraces, forming one of the most fertile and attractive parts of the republic. Close to the capital are the Sierra de Ajusco, whose highest point is 13,078 ft. ”

“ Freetown (q. v.) is the capital. The executive power is exercised by a governor and council of five.
Sierra Madre, the main cordillera system of Mexico, extending in a northerly direction to Arizona, and forming the western buttress of a fertile plateau stretching eastwards; to the W. the States of Sinaloa and Sonora slope downwards to the sea.
Sierra Morena, a mountain chain in South Spain, forming the watershed between the valleys of the Gaudiana (N.) and Guadalquivir (S.) ; has valuable deposits of lead, silver, quicksilver, and other metals. ”

“ On the Western declivity of the Sierra Madre, and in nearly the same parallel of latitude as the Părrāl, are the famous mines of Bătŏpīlăs. To enter into a minute description of this extraordinary district would exceed the limits of this work. I shall, therefore, only subjoin a few remarks upon its situation and produce. Its distance from Părrāl is about eighty leagues, nearly due West, and it is situated in a very deep ravine, similar to that of Gūārĭsămĕy. The climate is warm, yet healthy. ”

“ San Bernardino and San Jacinto are as far from it as the Faubourg St. Germain from an island in the sea. Sierra Madre is of the Coast [150] Range; Shasta a fire-hole, a revolutionist; the true Sierra is the midriff of a continent. From its northern extremity one sees the sun in a circle and the Northern Lights; that portion of it we know as Sierra Nevada swings into the state above Honey Lake, and ends southward in a tumble of blunt peaks below Kern River. This is quite enough, however, for Californians to make free with, and more than they can appreciate. ”

“ The vegetation of the Sierra Madre is incomparably stronger and more luxurious than that of the cold North. The pine-trees in higher altitudes, for instance in Norway, appear miserably puny and almost stunted when compared with the giants of the South. ”

“ The men really seemed indefatigable. One of them once took upon his head a large case of honey and carried it up the ridge on a run. Strange as it may sound, on my first journey across the Sierra Madre I did not lose one animal by such accidents.
Climbing, climbing, climbing, one massive cordon after another, at the start through dense oak thickets, and over hills flattened and eroded with countless deep, precipitous gashes seaming the rock in every direction. [36] Numerous springs oozed and trickled from the stratified conglomerate along the edges, sides, and bottoms of the ravines. ”

“ It would be lovely if we could have taken horses and a pack-mule and gone down the length of the Sierra Madres—at first alone, later traveling with the arrieros up the mule trails to the snow-line, then down on the other side through giant cañons. We should have seen only the simple folk of the country. But the revolution has made that impossible. But this we can do—go to the priest and jefe of San Carlos, who are both old friends of my father’s, to be married, then ride straight out to the mountain pasture and keep house there all by ourselves till—till we feel like coming home. ”

“ Nearly parallel with the Pacific seaboard, and dividing the states of Sonora and Sinaloa from Chihuahua and Durango, runs the great central Cordillera; further to the eastward, passing through Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and San Luis Potosí, and following the shore line of the Mexican Gulf, the Sierra Madre continues in a southerly direction, until it unites with the first-named range at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All of these mountains abound in mineral wealth. ”

“ I found no settlement fortified, but places of refuge are numerous in the interior of the Sierra Madre. They are very significantly called fort-hills (Cerros de Trincheras) . They are natural heights, often very steep, along the brows of which and bending to their sinuosities rude bulwarks of stone have been raised. The hill could thus be converted in the simplest way into a fortification, and where it is conical, as at Terrenate, Ymúrez, and Toni-vavi, near Nacori, the walls naturally assume a spiral form. The Indians thus adapted their constructions to the irregularities of the slopes. ”

“ Every day is adding to our knowledge of regions, which were formerly considered as positively inaccessible. The Sierra Madre has been traversed seven times, between Ŏăxācă and Chĭhūāhuă, by one very spirited and intelligent English traveller, Mr. ”

“ The soft, plaintive notes of the night-hawk and prairie-owl mingled with the prolonged cry of the wolf in the distant foothills. The night breeze sprang up, fanning the parched desert with its cool breath. The stars came forth and the silver rim of the moon emerged above the dark towering mass of the Sierra Madres, outlining their crests in broken silvery lines as its full white disk swept into view; flooding the valley and plains with strange ethereal light. ”

“ They know that on the Pacific Coast below Guaymas there are millions of acres of country just as beautiful as Southern California, but which is now unreclaimed, where the sparkling streams from the Sierra Madres course uselessly through thickets of wild lemon trees on their way to the ocean. ”

“ This stream marks the dividing line between the mountains which descend from the north and those that extend south, which increase in altitude and extent until they culminate in the grand Sierra Madres of Mexico.
The traveler in passing through the country never gets entirely out of the sight of mountains. They rise up all about him and bound the horizon near and far in every direction. In riding along he always seems to be approaching some distant mountain barrier that ever recedes before him as he advances. ”

“ Neither he nor Francisco, the warrior, were the least bit excited by the sight of the Mexican soldiers. Their rifles leaned against two trees.
The Sierra Madres, with their low foothills that rose to ten-thousand-foot peaks, were known only to Apaches. Two hundred miles long by a hundred miles wide, the only human dwellings in the entire vast range were wickiups. ”

“ Its oak-clad hills wander out into the great, plain-like coast promontories, enclosing yellow or, in spring-time, green bays of prairie. The hill-forms are rounded, or stretch in long, longitudinal ridges, broken across by the river cañons. Above this zone of red earth, softly modelled undulations, and dull, grayish groves, with a chain of mining towns, dotted ranches and vineyards, rise the swelling middle heights of the Sierras, a broad, billowy plateau cut by sharp, sudden cañons, and sweeping up, with its dark, superb growth of coniferous forest to the feet of the summit-peaks. ”

“ Rare exceptions of comfort and thrift shine out sometimes, with neat dooryards, well-repaired dwellings, and civilized-looking children. In these I never saw the mother of the family sitting cross-legged, smoking a corncob pipe, nor the father loafing about with a fiddle or shot-gun.
Our backs were now turned to this farm-belt, the road leading us out upon the open plain in our first full sight of the Sierras.
Grand and cool swelled up the forest; sharp and rugged rose the wave of white peaks, their vast fields of snow rolling over the summit in broad, shining masses. ”

“ There are turning-points in all men’s lives which must give them both pause and retrospect. In long Sierra journeys the mountaineer looks forward eagerly, gladly, till pass or ridge-crest is gained, and then, turning with a fonder interest, surveys the scene of his march; letting the eye wander over each crag and valley, every blue hollow of pine-land or sunlit gem of alpine meadow ”

“ The snow on the high mountains is melting fast, and the streams are singing bank-full, swaying softly through the level meadows and bogs, quivering with sun-spangles, swirling in pot-holes, resting in deep pools, leaping, shouting in wild, exulting energy over rough boulder dams, joyful, beautiful in all their forms. No Sierra landscape that I have seen holds anything truly dead or dull, or any trace of what in manufactories is called rubbish or waste; everything is perfectly clean and pure and full of divine lessons. ”

“ Green valleys and cultivated farms margin the Carson and Walker rivers. Sierras are not lofty enough to be grand, desert too gentle and overspread with sage to be terrible; yet the pale, high key of all its colors, and singular aërial brilliancy lend an otherwise dreary enough picture the charm,—as I once before said,—of water-color drawings. There is no perspective under this fierce white light; in midday intensely sharp reflections glare from hill and valley, except where the shadow of passing cloud spreads cool and blue over olive slopes. ”

“ Thirstily, after the long drought, the Darro, the Arab stream which ran scarlet with the blood of Moorish strife, wound its way over its stony bed among the hills; and beyond, in strange contrast with all the fertility, was the grey and silent grandeur of the Sierra Nevada. Few places can be more charming than the green wood in which stands the stronghold of the Moorish kings; the wind sighs among the topmost branches and all about is the sweet sound of running water; in spring the ground is carpeted with violets, and the heavy foliage gives an enchanting coldness. ”

“ It is not the giant monoliths that establish the incomparable Valley's world supremacy; Hetch Hetchy, Tehipite, Kings, and others have their giants, too. It is not its towering, perpendicular, serrated walls; the Sierra has elsewhere, too, an overwhelming exhibit of titanic granite carvings. It is not its waterfalls, though these are the highest, by far, in the world, nor its broad, peaceful bottoms, nor its dramatic vistas, nor the cavernous depths of its tortuous tributary canyons. ”

“ Into the north rolled away, like a gray sea of mist, the massive ramifying Sierra Morena. To the south and ahead bulked up, even more imposing of port, the lofty altitudes of the Sierra Nevada. It was like some long and magnificent staircase, its lower steps of mica schist overgrown with gum cistus, rhododendron, and broom, its top a dazzling flow of snow. Crags and peaks, jungled windy cuts, rock-bound alpine lakes, creamy knobs, and sharp obelisks saw-edged the sublime blue like the teeth of some titanic rake. ”