HIGH SIERRA COUNTRY

A fairly lively documentation of the early west chips away at a familiar lode (Sea Routes to the Gold Fields. Silver Kings, Sagebrush Casinos, etc.), and with a bow to the immensity and grandeur of this part of the world, is concerned largely with its historic past rather than picturesque present. The early trail breakers, Jedediah Smith, Fremont, and the Donner Party's ""ordeal by hunger"" open up the vista of an untouched world; Yosemite was discovered- and later Hutchings offered tourists some ""luxurious scenic banqueting"" while John Muir collaborated with him and made his scientific contribution; transmountain traffic expanded- and along with it the stage lines; the promise of gold sparked the activities of many hopefuls- led to vain chimera, among them the Gold Lake fiasco and the Lost Cement Mine; its highest peaks and their ascent, its mighty sequoias, its flagrant and flourishing outlaws, its literary output- all vary a regional commentary which draws from early records and thrives on the roughhewn features of the country and its characters.