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News
October
2000.
November
2000
December
2000
January
2001
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From
a great distance you can see it- a rugged brush stroke of
gleaming snow towering in what seems to be mid-air, incessantly
vaulting the horizon. This is the exalted Sierra Nevada,
the enchanting mountains of the Far West. They have worked
spells over many human beings and can work them on you likewise.
The
role of the Sierra Nevada in California history was emphasized
during the Gold Rush, for in addition to being the source
of gold, the range stood as a formidable barrier between
lands to the east and the gold-bearing valleys on the west.
The Sierra Nevada sprung our Nation's dormant energies and
imagination, started the greatest continental migration
in history, and rolled melodious "California" on the tongues
of the world's
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adventurers.
Forty thousand emigrants are believed to have reached California
in 1849, not including some 5,000 who perished on the way.
The hazards of mountain crossing are exemplified by the
fate of the Donner party, most of whom lost their lives
in a blizzard in Donner Pass in 1846.
Mark
Twain, Bret Harte, and John Muir became famous with their
Sierra classics-the extravagant tall tales the toughness
of life in the gold fields, and the rugged individualism
of the lone mountaineer. The comforts and diversions of
civilizations at hand, men are still impelled toward these
glittering mountains with an unceasing passion. The mountains
provide many recreational facilities which range from summer
fishing to winter skiing and include those available at
the national parks.
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