Siskiyou Union High School - White and Gold Yearbook (Weed, CA)

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MADMAN'S GOLD First Prize Poem Out of the waste at the 1l10011'S first peep, Into the glow of my desert Ere, Strode a man with a great red beard That shone in the light like copper wire. His eyes were dark and cavernous, And they shone with an insane light 5 And the teeth he bared in a friendly snarl XVere streaked like a windy night. I smiled my greeting across the fire And bade him find a seat. But he roared at me in a mighty voice, Give me something to eat ! So I got him a meal from my slender stores And a drink from my one canteen, And he told me a tale of a mining claim And a mountain of gold he'd seen: Of a mountain of gold that seemed to rise From out of the great sand dunes And of a thousand howling, whirling demons That danced to their devilish tunes. As we made our beds in the desert sand, Sharing the blankets we had, I suddenly knew why he looked so queer. He was raving, staring mad! I watched him well 'til he went to sleep NVearing a placid smileg I meant to watch him all that night, And I did for a little while. The sun was glaring when I awoke, And my visitor was gone. My hopes were high as I followed his trail, But the tracks led on and on. I found his body at a poison spring, Half-buried in the sand, And a bag of gold, like a blasted hope, Wfas clutched in his rigid hand. All this occurred in the long ago W'hen I was young and hold. But I still can hear, in spite of the years, A nIadman's muttered Gold. JOHN SMITH '28-Fort jones. GENERAL LITERARY SECTION L23

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moved around it. The rider came so near she could have touched him with her hand. She held her breath, thinking surely the horse would shy, thus telling the Indian that some human being was near. He passed and she wilted to the ground, her limbs shaking. In a few moments she tried to stand but her knees were too weak. For a while she thought her last few days' effort to escape were in vain. She rushed down through the unsettled valley, where the grass was higher than her head. She reached Scott River and swam across. The ducks quacked and flopped, making so much noise she was afraid that they would attract the attention of her pursuer. She crossed the lower end of Oro Fino Valley, following the hill around to Quartz Valley at Beaver Dam, near the old Haward place. Here two old squaws lived, Whom she knew were her friends. They were glad to see her, and promised to save her from the Modocs even if it meant their lives. Jennie had been without food these four days. After they had made her broth from their choice meat, they hid her under deer hides and other furs. That night she left them and waded down Mill Creek homewardly, so as not to leave any tracks. She thought she heard horses walking up the creek, so she hid in the willows. She listened and waited patiently, but still she heard what she thought was horses' hoofs coming. They seemed to come no closer, so she straightened up and saw that it was not horses walking, but dog salmon going over the riffles in shallow water. Jennie crossed the flat over to the foothills and followed the curve down to the river. She swam the river and arrived home at the break of day. Jackson, the medicine man, had communicated with the spirits and knew that was the day for Jennie to come home. As she got to the door of her mother's tepee, Jackson opened it and came out to greet her. He said to his people, Keep stillg don't come out. I f'How long you been on road ? asked Jackson. Jennie answered, Four days and five nightsf' True to an old Indian custom, Jennie was obliged to stay in Jackson's tepee five days, the length of time that it took her to make the return journey. This was the way the Indians showed their respect to the Lord. It was a form of worship. He was afraid that if she did not show this respect the Modocs might come and take her again. After this obligation was fulfilled, Jennie was permitted to see her people. Her return was celebrated by a great festival and medicine dance. FRANCES NIAE BURTON ,ZS-Fort Jones High School. I 22 1 GENERTXL LITERARY SECTION

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A FAVORITE BOOK First Prize Esmy V xl HE MOUN'.l'Al.NS OF CALIFORNIA, by John Muir, is one of the most wonderful books that have ever been written about our Califor- nia mountains. Their rough, rugged beauty, he tells us, is due to the fact that they are still comparatively new. The glacial ice melted late here, and there are still a great number of smaller glaciers. There are about five thousand of them, and they melt at a higher altitude than the eleven hundred large glaciers of the Alps. Our largest ones are in the northern part of the state, but Muir found one in Merced County of which he could see the struc- ture. The snow in the mountains usually falls in large Hakes early in the Year, but when the gales are blowing, the snow is broken into a fine dust. Muir speaks of a very unusual sight he saw in the Sierras-that of fallen snow being driven so high in the air and over such a wide area, that with the sun shining on it, it resembled a huge silver banner. He said that he had never seen such a spectacle anywhere else. Our lakes are all glacial, for they were ground out of the solid rock by the slow, sure movements of the Great Glacier. Wfhen these are Hrst being formed, they are desolate rock-bound pools, whose only beauty is their deep blue and green coloring. VVhen the rock begins to change to soil, they are bordered by Bowers, trees, and many other sorts of vegetation, but all the time the hue sediment which is formed in the lakes themselves, or which is carried to them by the mountain streams, is slowly filling them up, and eventually the lake vanishes. Occasionally a small lake is completely demolished by some great avalanche, but usually, these great masses of snow, ice and rock splash harm- lessly into the larger lakes and remain as they are until spring. Our mountain forests are our pride. VVe have in them nearly every variety of coniferous tree beside oaks, a few maples, and other hard-wood trees. Among the coniferous trees are the Douglas fir, nut pine, pinus tuberculus, yellow pine, white pine, dwarf pine, sugar pine, silver fir, juniper, and most important of all, the sequoia, a tree peculiar to California. It grows to giant proportions-some are as much as three hundred feet high-and lives to a ripe old age. The mountain streams are very low in the summer, but a few hours of rain heavy enough to make a flood in itself, will melt enough snow to make another oneg so we have great Hoods during the winter, for our streams aren't large enough to carry such quantities of water. Speaking of our heavy rains, Muir wrote a description of a storm he wit- nessed from one of the taller trees, in a Way to give the most hardened excite- ment-seeker a thrill. He admitted himself that he never enjoyed anything quite so much as that storm. The rain poured down in torrents while the wind howled through the trees. Now and then the noise would be pierced by the l24l i GENERAL LITERARY SECTION