16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 28-OCTOBER 4, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com the wide valley, brown and dry, the green belt of timber winding through it, like a green ribbon, the mountains beyond, dried and gray at the base, and deep green with chaparral on their sides and summits, with ridge after ridge stretching away beyond in the blue distance. Then to the north, a landscape I had not seen before, with the whole Bay of Monterey in the northwest. To the west and south of me was the very rugged and forbidding chain of mountains that extends from Monterey along the coast to San Luis Obispo and there trends more easterly—the Sierra Santa Lucia. I have found much of intense geological interest during the last two weeks. I had intended to spend at least two weeks more in this valley had we found water or feed as we expected. Not finding it, and having four weeks on our hands before the rendezvous with Professor Whitney at San Juan, I decided to push on to Monterey, which I had not intended to visit. We are now within eight or 10 leagues of there— will be there in a few days. I feel now that we are indeed working north and I long to be in San Francisco again. It is now over five months since I have attended church (Protestant) and have only had that privilege three times since I left New York. Sunday Evening. Today has been a windier day on the plain than any other day we were on it. I am glad enough we are sheltered here in camp. Clouds of gray dust, rising to the height of 5,000 or 6,000 feet have shut out the view in the north all the afternoon, and even the hills opposite could not be seen at times, and all day they have been obscurely seen through this veil. If it is thus in May, what must it be here in July or August, as no rain will fall for at least four months yet! It was interesting yesterday, while on the peaks above, to watch the great current of air up the valley, increasing with the day until at last the valley seemed filled with gray smoke. While speaking of the plain, I forgot to mention the mirage that we had. The sun on the hot waste produced precisely the effect of water in the distance; we would see a clear lake ahead, in which would be reflected the objects on the plain. This was most marked on the dry sands near Soledad—we could see the trees at the Mission mirrored in the clear surface—but it kept retreating as we advanced. The illusion was perfect. At times the atmospheric aberration would only cause objects to be distorted—wagons and cattle would appear much higher than they really were, as if seen through poor glass. I had intended to spend at least two weeks more in this valley had we found water or feed as we expected. The Weekly will continue to publish Brewer’s letters from Monterey County. The next installment of Brewer’s letters will take us into Monterey, circa 1861, and then on to Pebble Beach—at the time, called Pescadero Ranch—where Brewer marvels at the marine life he sees in the tidal zone. One piece of that section that haunts the reader, and reflects the cyclical nature of history, is when Brewer gets his hands on a newspaper from New York, which had arrived to Monterey from New York in just 11 days via the Pony Express: “I cannot write how heavily the national troubles bear upon my mind, they are in my mind by night and by day,” he writes. “God grant that we may yet save the United States.” See mcweekly.com/letters1861 or scan the QR code below for the whole package of historical writings, including earlier letters by Brewer as well as an essay by Robert Louis Stevenson. PRESENTED BY
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