shelf of rock, or a green valley with canals running through farms. The water had been brought down from the mountains to make the desert bloom. In the very dryest part of the desert they found Salt Lake City, with sixty thousand people, in a big valley between mountains. The valley was all farms and orchards. The city streets were shaded by great trees, the houses set in green lawns. The train ran right across Great Salt Lake, twenty-five miles. Bathers were in the lake. They bobbed around like corks. The water was so salt they could not sink. The train climbed another steep mountain range, then slid down a long toboggan slope, through forests.
"Now," said grandpapa, "I know where I am. I'll show you where I helped my father wash gold out of the gravel in the river bed. It's just below in the valley."
This time he wasn't pretending. He really thought he could find the place, but the mining camp was gone. Gold mining was done up in the mountains. It was done in mills that crushed the gold-bearing rock. The river banks were lined with towns and farms and golden wheat fields. On the hill sides were flocks of sheep. The river grew wider. It met another river flowing north. They ran together and into wide water.
"Where are they going now?" asked Alice,
"Through the Golden Gate, to where the sun sets."
There was a big city built up the hill sides above the water. At its feet lay a wide harbor full of ships. Across the harbor they looked through a narrow strip of water walled with rocks. It was like a thick stone gate. Through the gate they saw the sun set in a great ocean. The city was called San Francisco. It's nickname was City of the Golden Gate. Alice wondered what lay out there over the wide water, where the sun set. She asked if they could get one of the ships and go to see.
"By and by, when we have seen the City of the Queen of the Angels."
Alice hugged herself. This was as good as a fairy story. She hadn't the least idea how it was coming out. Have you?
After they left the City of the Golden Gate they saw mountains two miles high, with lakes at the bottoms of their dark green pockets. They saw rivers sunk half a mile, and lined with steeples and towers of rock. Then they came to the Valley of Delight, Grandpapa called it Yo-sem-i-te Valley. There they left the train and got on a stage coach. One whole day Alice rode on a donkey.
