BOY BLUE JACKETS OF YERBA BUENA water of the bay. To these the lads are given access every morning, backed by strict bathing regulations. While severity is not practiced by officers or instructors, rigid discipline is enforced, and above all the youngster is taught to be a man, and to depend upon himself. There is granted ample time for play, shore liberty coming at stated intervals to those whose behavior entitles them to a holiday. Six months of the apprentice's life is put in at hard study, and preliminary work at the station. He is then tested for fitness and if found sufficiently ad 525 that of a commissioned officer, and a commission itself after ten years of service in the grade of warrant officer. All this may be gained by lads who enter the service with a decided intention to advance. It means a lot of study and a lot of work, but the rewards are there waiting for those who are energetic and ambitious. No wonder that extreme care is used in the selection of the officers who are to govern an institution such as this. They must be possessed of a patience and perseverance not possessed by the average man, and besides, they must building up of the navy. vanced is assigned for six months of be heart and soul in accord with the duty at sea, aboard the training ship. This tour of sea duty over, he is transferred to a regular war ship for a cruise which may take him to many corners of the world. The lad who studies faithfully and works diligently is not forced to stop at the rating of a "jackie." There is a ladder to climb and honors to gain. First, there are the positions as petty officers, with pay ranging from thirty to sixty dollars per month and consequent advancement in dignity and privileges. Higher up still is the position of warrant officer, with pay parallel to In this regard Yerba Buena has been especially fortunate. The first admiral of the station was not alone weighted with the responsibility of its maintenance and the successful carrying out of a prescribed routine but in addition was forced to construct and develop the station while it was in active operation. The work begun by Admiral Glass has been ably carried on by his successors, Captains McCalla and Whiting, until today the station ranks high among the naval schools of the world. The Story of Yerba Buena By R. A. WEISS, Keeper at Yerba Buena, United States Light House Service. ERBA BUENA island of San Y Francisco bay was given its name by the Spanish, and means good herbs. It is not supposed that it was named after one particular plant, because many varieties of fragrant, healing herbs are growing on this island. Spanish mint, elder and sweet woodruff (asperula odorata)-which is perhaps the genuine yerba buena-are highly fragrant when dried and possess many medicinal properties. Of flowers, the golden poppy (Eschscholtzia) is perhaps the most interesting to all Californians, as it was designated by the last state legislature the official state flower. It may be interesting to know how the flower was thus named. The story is that Captain Otto von Kotzebue, leader of the Russian expedition of discovery around the world, mainly for the study of fauna and flora, accompanied by the poet, Adelbert von Chamisso as naturalist, and Dr. John F. Eschscholtz as botanist and physician, landed at the Presidio from the Russian brig Rurick, October 2d, 1816, and remained in the bay of San Francisco until November 1st. One day a trip was proposed to Yerba Buena island, and here the poppy was found and named by Chamisso, eschscholtzia, in honor of his friend. It is known that the party of botanists landed on the west side of the island where this flower grows in profusion almost the entire year. The south and east sides of the island were not always so barren of trees as at present; in the recollection of pioneers the island was densely wooded to the water's edge. In pioneer days the island was squatted on by people who cut timber to supply San Francisco and the shipping in the bay with firewood, and many thousands of cords of wood were cut. About eighteen years ago, Joaquin Miller, the poet, supervised the planting THE STORY OF YERBA BUENA 527 here of many trees by several hundred school children, but none of these trees can be seen today. Those that did not die the first season perished in the fire of the next year, grass fires occurring regularly and destroying almost everything. Among the early settlers on the island was Thomas Dowling, who developed a quarry of good building stone, but he was ejected from the island by the government. William Barnard, known as "Barnacle Bill," was also an old settler. He is known to have brought the first goats to the island, raised many of them and sold them to captains of vessels in early days. Barnard died nine years ago blind and forsaken in the San Francisco alms house, but one of his old goat friends, Lonesome Billy, remains on the island, the last of his flock. Only one horn is left him for defense; he is thin and hardly able to walk, and is over thirty years old. Navy men hope that with the passing of this last goat the name "Goat" island will pass forever from Yerba Buena. Many stories have been told about buried treasure on this island. Nearly seven years previous to the location of the training station, men came regularly from Oakland at night to dig in certain places. One treasure story, as it was told to the writer in the year 1873 by Charles Stewart, an aged West Indian, living in Napa, California, is about as follows: In 1837 Stewart was employed on an American whaler, and called at Callao, Peru, for water and fresh provisions. While there a revolution was in progress and the wealthy class, to savc their valuables, church treasure and jewels, implored the captain to keep this treasure aboard, until quiet had been restored. This treasure consisted of two barrels of coin and a large jewel casket. The captain getting tired of waiting weighed anchor and sailed away north. In San Francisco bay he concluded to hide the treasure somewhere, until after his return from the Arctic, when he would dig it up and return it to its rightful owners. The treasure was taken into a boat and buried on one of the islands in the bay, but which one Stewart would not tell, and the secret died with him. Stewart had been one of the men to help bury the treasure and said that a terrible obligation of secrecy was taken. from each of the four men. These men afterward deserted the whaler, one was killed by the captain while trying to escape. The whaler never returned from the north. Up to this day permission is asked by treasure hunters to dig at various points. But for the scientist there is plenty of treasure of other kinds. In the road building and grading workmen came to an Indian burial ground and unearthed. about one nundred and fifty skeletons, some of them well preserved. One of these was of a man fully six feet, seven inches in height. This ancient and forgotten race understood the art of trephining, as there was found one skull of which the left side had been fractured. A piece of abalone shell, fitting the exact curve of this skull, covered the fractured place and was held in place by thongs through holes in the shell. These skeletons were all found in a sitting position, knees under chin, and were embedded in ashes and shell from three to four feet thick. While a force of marines, three years ago, were engaged in building a trail around the island they came across the skeleton of a mastadon on the north side TORPEDO STATION, YERBA BUENA ISLAND embedded in yellow bedrock. The bones were the color of the rock, very smooth on the outside. The left jaw bone is in possession of a doctor of Oakland; all the rest was covered, and the target butts now mark the place where the remains of this prehistoric animal rest. A wireless telegraph station has been established in connection with the navy on the highest point of the island, 364 feet from low water, the top of the pole being an additional 130 feet. The area of this island is 140 acres, apportioned thus: Treasury department, thirty acres; War department, nine acres; balance, 101 acres, Navy department. The army is represented on the northeast end by the building which contains the submarine mines or torpedoes for the defense of San Francisco harbor; many of these were put in position during the Spanish-American war. The Treasury department is represented by the light house and fog signal station, established by the government in 1875. The light is a fixed white of the fifth order, visible twelve miles and is taken care of by two keepers. The fog signal is a ten-inch steam whistle, sounding in thick or foggy weather a blast of four seconds duration with silent intervals of sixteen seconds. Recently the Southern Pacific had installed here by the permission of the light house authorities a telephone in charge of the keeper, to report to the despatchers of the ferry boats the condition of the fog, and whether in his estimation it would be safe to run one or two boats across the bay. Connected with the light house service is the buoy and supply depot of the twelfth light house district and passengers on the ferry boats comment often on the pumpkin like buoys on the wharf. For the information of all argumentative ferry passengers I will say that the big cable sign on the south side of the island is sixty feet long and ten feet high; and letters seven feet long. M How to Climb Shasta By GEORGE HAMLIN FITCH. Illustrated from Photographs by C. R. Miller and Harold Fitch OUNT Shasta is to familiar all Californians, as it lends itself easily to photography and it rises from a plain with almost the perfection of outline of the sacred Fuji-yama of Japan; Japan; but the number of people who climb to its summit in a year is small. The ascent presents no dangers, but it is difficult and laborious, and in summer, when the climbing is easiest, the view from the summit is generally obscured by smoke from forest fires in the McCloud country and by haze that obliterates all the features of the horizon. Twelve years ago I ascended Shasta late in September, after the early rains had fallen, and though the ascent for three miles was over ice, the view from the summit repaid one for the effort, as on the west the waters of the Pacific could be seen, while the Sierra Nevada could be traced far below Tahoe. To the east the most striking feature was the lava beds of Modoc, looking like a map of the moon. Then, as now, Lassen Butte was the most conspicuous thing in the whole horizon, its steep sides heavily streaked with snow. Shasta is 14,444 feet high, being only about 200 feet less in elevation than Mt. Whitney, but it is far more difficult to climb than Whitney, because of the steepness of the ascent and the amount of snow that lingers on the mountain until very late in the season. For two thirds of the ascent of six miles, one plods over snow, much of which is piled in ridges and hummocks, making the task of the climber tedious .and exhausting. elevation also effects many climbers disastrously and not infrequently prevents them from reaching the summit. many cases the rarefied air produces genuine sea-sickness that robs one temporarily of strength and energy. To this source of weakness must be added the bitter cold wind that sweeps over these huge fields of snow. When one's strength is reduced by sickness, it takes much force of will to bear up against this icy wind and to keep the trail for the summit. In It was on a warm afternoon of August that a party of eleven started from Sisson for Mt. Shasta. The party was led by C. R. Miller, the Sisson photographer, and it included Chas. A. Stuart, W. J. Girard, Edward Tietjen, Harold Fitch and the writer, all of San Francisco; Fred B. Utley of Gloversville, New York, D. S. Merwin of Pas |