The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 26, 1906, Page 2

By Harold French. ,m'\ the & headlands sre \X green, whit Is and sails en- liven the shores. Grace- r white wings to sheltered anchorages at edere for the upper Palbo and Sulsun. On between the outstretching San Quentin and Point Rich- Vell known is this Red Rock Francisco Yacht clubs. khese nautical gentiemen tell many a g tele of adventure and timely e ‘waters are reezes and speed away rse they pass a weird, sallormen of the Corine roundabout thet ned smen on their maiden ift out of Raccoon & flood time, be- apparently quite near, ver the glassy waters ng. Underestimat- insurging cur- northward, they n the with spending the midday »f inviting my nandez of Sen Fran- shore slar The believe it will be s rift back with the gh its iron-im- indeed a lode- whitehail voy- its rocky cliffs. r beact ssive biuffs, end 1 iing where sport explore its kelp-car- hannel-cut reefs that K ng its sou n the jagged eslope, ve bay, they look se and note with some gulf of water between dotted Marin shore. x ez tling the shrubby the island suddenly rip- stretching inland the reg- from the bols- hovices n to mble rising waves en- and, t, the bble have red r an It's high time we're k to Tiburo few boa ck when some one ngths are bare- white- the can only the Then . e swell fr keep head-on to the & whitecaps. Some stouter- ones grit their teeth and suc- ng their way to the stilly by the folded hills of late in the night anxious keeper of nd back to the e b Frequently home-re- g me to the rescue of wt g wit e wind and es w eir upants to s s give up the un- e st & flee with the wind ? ee shore of Contra Costa e disgust of the w pleasure craft. All too fe ews columns filled with ats and the sad t have occurred of the Red Rock s, and 2 great cast ashore, ned in sight of rrents lone , most de- ed Rock. The winds have rowns the a. In the glassy > running rocky over- le the fore- msen ore e to the the THE SAN nine fathoms lies beneath the keel. Except in that portion of the Golden Gate north of Fort Point, where sixty- three fathoms is reached, there is no greater depression In the entire bay than in this submarine canyon of Raec- coon Straits, noted for the boiling tidés that surge through its narrows, curling into angry whitecaps as the ebbing waters battle with the brisk bay breezes. If The Call bullding wero placed in its deep channel the tower alone Would rise above the water. Raccoon Straits ewes its n = not to the noc marauder d to the hearts ¢ but to the his British King George IIl. During the war of this commerce-destroyer lay in ambush in these waters await- ing wunsuspecting Yankee merchant- Skirting 't ee-fringed shores of Angel one gazes on the placld beauty of ‘Hospital Cove, where the United States quarantine station is lo- cated cottages and barracks k from the clean- painted ppears erl prepa se ting pest-house. Opposite this grim vessel lies PeSadise Cove, & charming and happily-named indentation of the Marin coastlire. It is well to take aboard a supply of fresh water gush- {ng from a pure spring on its shaded slope, for there is no dependa d Rock is situated e water hole on all The rock the north of San Franc! from San Quentin and about two from Point Richmond. Six miles of direét rowing from Tiburon will: bring one to its shores. A couple 6f miles northward lie the lighthouse-studded Islets of the Brothers and Sisters. Until late years these picturesque.groups of rocks were known as Dos Hermanos and Dos Her- ten co, three miles to manas, but, ortunately, the more prosaic English equivalent has ken the place of liquid Spanish names, just as Yerba Buena has been dubbed "G Island.” Red Rock is a fair-sized island, more than half a mile in cir- cumference, rising 150 feet above the bay. Its southern flank is shielded by a score of jagged pinnacles, reefs of red jasper rock rising picturesque confusion. Tunnels plerce its west- ward clifts, while other cavities chis- ecled by the erosive waves lead back into caverns peted with seaweed. Since American occupation Red Rock has been an insular possession of Uncle Sam. Years ago @ mining company, realizing the value of the deposit of manganese ore traversing its western side, undertook to extract this mineral for private profit apped the ledges with tunnels a great open cut diagonally up th ce of the island. Thousands of ton ore were dropped upon lighters and sorted and shipped to far-off England, the nearest market at that time. Then the Fed- eral authorities caused the suspension of mining operations &nd the island was reserved for militc purposes. To this day horizontal stulls that propped the strata apart are plainly risible from passing ves s. There is ever a sense of mystery about an aban- doned mine. Stevenson has immortal- ized the deserted mining camp and ledges of Sllverado, where he spent his honeymoon in 1880. The romance of this forgotjen manganese mine is SAUNT, . TREELETS ELED oK IV SAN FRELo 7 'FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL il A MVL' W/{EEL' o/ EA IO, WHERE THE STEATYM ik JT.E»;IGH?‘ vr 5 o vet to be told. The workmen and pro- moters who labored here have nearly all joined the final stampede across the great divide. For a number of years a hermit naméd Woodworth, a cousin of the nulhDr of - “The Old Oaken Bucket,” occupied a shack on the slope facing the sunrise. He subsisted on fish and sea fowl, and enjoyed an abundance of fuel strewn opon his rocky beach. An interesting character was this Robinson Crusoe of San Fran- cisco Bay. ¥ Thoee who delight in long, steady exercise with oars will ind this rock an objective point which will repay them for their labor. By taking advan- tage of the wind and tide, the voyage from Ti on may be made with but slight fatigme. Others who travel be- neath white wings or are nropelled by launches reach the rock with a minimum effort. Anchored off the bristling reefs encircling the southérn side great sport with hook and line may be had at certain seasons, and rockcod are often caught in great num- ber. While mosquito fleets erowd one her of the shores of Raccoon ts, the few vyenturesome fisher- men who have reached this Temote place are recejving finny rewards of virtue. The yachting people find this rock of special interest, and ny a Jolly landing purty of Corinthians hnve held high jinks upon its shore, where jests and song, gond fellows and good things to eat and drink have made Red Rock a monument to happy memories. Red Rock is a most fascinating place to study nature in her various forms. The geologist finds perennial interest in its contorted strata, mineralized Tibbons of bedded jaspers and radio- lurfan - chert, vermilion-hued with hematite, the oxide of iron that stains this rock pile with -its ruddy tints. The collector of mineral specimgnts discovers outcropping ledges “of man- ganese ore, black as coke, yet the mass is enlivened with brilliant specks of orange-colored moss which clings tenaciously to its surface as though it were a metallic incrustation. In meany places the strata is exposed in.vertical layers, showing much folding and dis- location. Caviwes chiseled by the waves lead backward into caverns carpeted with seaweed and inlaid with mussels. Va- riegated starfish add to the gayety of incrusted mdrine life. These caves, though small, are ag full of interest as 2 curio-collection of Neptune. Once, as"I lifted a starfish from the VRN RN, TS pebbly rocks, I observed that this strange moliusk clung tenaclously to a fragment of a mirror with the per- tinacity peculiar only to the female Sex of the human species. The analogous conduct displayed by this lower form of life would have delighted. Darwin. He would have found in this mitror- wors.iping stat another irrefutable proof of his thedry of evolution. On another visit to this kelp-tapestried cave I surprised a sealion on a tour of exploration. He stared at me with bristling whiskers, lixe an angry dog: faced old man, then dived beneath the boat and disappeared. Chinese shrimp-fishers form 4n inter- esting side attraction at Red Rock. Twice each day, shortly before the tide begins to ebb, several piratical looking junks sweep out from the Contra Costa. shore, where their shanties squat peside a beach reekifg with decaying fish. Reaching a point a quarter of a mile northwerd from the island they drop anchors and satls, and, as the ebbing tide disgorges armies of shrimps from San Pablo Bay, whither they have crav- eled along the oozy bottom with the flood stream, the bag nets of the Chi- nese ape filled. For.a few minutes these yellow fishermen work like madmen, their momosyllabic jabbering floating clearly over the water,' Birds gather from every direction to feast upon the smaller fish which are thrown back into the water. Emboldened by hun- @er and the certaln prospect of its be- ing satisfied, they hover in flocks above the fishing junks, their raucous cries drowning the singsong of their Celed tial prototypes. When the catch is all stowed away the Mongolian mariners hoist their drab square sails and speed back to the Contra Costa shore. Italian and Greek fishermen frequent Reéd Rock to rest from their labors or await favorable winds. Picturesque fel- lows are these wanderers from the Mediterranean, and every one has Had some interesting adventure upon or near Red Rock. Here on any working day one may meet some of _ae original characters who supplied Jack London with material for his thrilling, albeit Juvenile, “Tales of the Fish Patrol.” The view from the apex of this islet is one of the most beautiful and sweep- ing of the bay. The helght of 180 feet above the water seems doubled, while Tamaipals seems to have raised his purple ridge another half mile sky- ward. 8an Quentin frowns from its rocky point three miles away. Far to R FEAY 7 / the south the city broods upon its checkered hills like a mirage. The oak kpolls of El Campo rise to a wooded crest 700 fect above the green waters of the bay. On-the wings of the west wind snatches of music float over the waves.. ‘“The grapd social dance” of 3 ‘s _Pienic" 18 on full blast, for of the "Fenian Gua: * is blaring out the twirling meas of “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree.” Before the strong head wind roars out of the valley of San Rafacl it is well to be headed for the shore, other- wise danger lles ahead. Once it was my misfortune to linger too late in an attempt to snapshoot the unwilling Chinese shrimp-fiehers. Suddenly the whitecaps began to rise; a roaring gale dashed salt spray Into our faces. With great difficulty were we holding our own with the waves that measured our gunwales. The three miles over to San Quentin_seemed- interminable, and we were ofi the verge of seeking the shelter of Red Rock, there to linger until sundown and winddown, when e great white yacht, the Truant. bore down upon us. A white-bearded Nep- tune ‘called to,us, but his voice was carried away by the wind. However, sign language served to express our ®lad acceptance of an offered tow line, and over the crests of the squall waves we flew as though our cumbersome craft were transformed into a flying fish, When we finally reached the stilly waters of Paradise Cove we fully appreciated its well-chosen name. Lovers of the picturesque and unique will find Red Rock a romantic camping place to satisfy their tastes. All the delectable charms of a desert island are to be found here. The only draw- back is that water in sufficient quantity must be carried from the mainland. By day gay yachts, puffing launches, fishing smacks and Chinese junks, churning stern-wheel river boats, deep- laden graln ships and colliers enliven the waterways. At night, lying beside a roaring fire of driftwood, you may listen to strange volces of the night, the whistling of locomotives on the land contrasting with the rustling of a gentle surf on the rubble. Afar oft sounds the sobbing of fog sirens. At intervals brilliantly lighted river boats chug past the islet, the radiance of their windows reflecting on the ruddy rocks of your island. Then night sproads her fog blankets about you as you flout away to dreamland. ED ROCK. S/ PARKLING ~ ~ ~ 7 MINERALS AND , 4 MYTTERIOUS CAVE/S OFA ~ ~ N CEIMSON = - LSLTAND ”7 ) VPPER /AN ANCL/CO BAY “WHICH HAS DRAWN MANY | | o ANCANETE WAS MINED For AU{IZ?—/?.Z}O”DON TIARAHEZ BOATFMEN INTO ANCGER v o v v —- THE VALUE OF GEM STONES HE qualities for which precious stones are mostly prized are luster, transparency, refraction and dispersion of light; al- though, of course, scarcity and demand are the principal factors in determining the market prices; for instance, the emerald today 1s treble the value it was only a few years ago. This s part- 1y caused by the greater demand, but more on account of the state of wdr in the country—viz., Colombia—from which they principally come is now en- gaged, thereby rendering it most diffi- cult for those engaged in the industry to procure them. The emerald mines of Colombia, at Muzo and Coscuoz, near Bogota, have been worked almost continuously since 1568, and have been the means of sup- plying the world with most of the em- eralds in modern times. There were mines in upper Egypt which yielded this gem to the nations of antiquity, but were lost sight of from the time of the Mohammedan conquest until quite recently, when some attempts at working them were made. The emerald mines in the Urals were not known until the eighteenth cen- tury, and thouygh they yielded fairly good material for a time, their im- portance is not great, as the stones WHEN m Front P: found are not of good enough quality to pay the rate demanded by the gove ernment from the lessees, but they were reopened in 1900 by a syndicate with little success, as far as can be learned. There are many stones holding the qualities first mentioned in a high de- gree, but they are little known bee cause, in the first place, they are to be obtained in larger quantities, and the people engaged in the stone trade can- not therefore make the profits they ars able to do with the scarcer gems, while because of their abundance and pre- sumably lesser value they have been given to the native cutters, who do not understand the laws of refraction and reflection, to operate on, with the result that they are put on the mar- ket and eventually mounted in jewel- ry, looking like vario colored acid drops, and entirely lacking brilllaney and those sharply defined facets. The last few years have witnesSed the great strides which the various fancy gems have made in the public favor, notably when used In the neck chain; at present these are being made up with all manner of colored stones and if the manufacturer gives as much attention to the cltting of the stones as he does to the making of the set- tings, he can produce a really delight- ful ornament. THE FRESHMAN COMES TO BERKELEY A sadder and a wiser man he rose the morrow morn. Each member of the sub-committee was to take anothcr ge.) ssed He must answer the car fares, run errands, ir re varied according to the vears the eucalyptus grove 1s has been the scene There is one order It is composed of prominent men ut the membership list is unknown except t fratern ach season it changes r it was \‘\' Kappa Pi. The /mem- rush the incoming fresh- schools, cercmonies e; last yea with great choosing fellows from the larger city caution, vs boys who are “wise” and conspicuons. The s r are made to pay their initiation fee, in t case about a couple of dollars, and are then i to the banquet. The babies, muchly swelled B t the heads, don their best togs, journey forth 16 the feast, where they are put through all kinds of iwceivable stunts. The spread proceeds with due s, the freshmen greatly impressed with the w social distinction wihch is soon to shine upon them—and their heads swell some more. Then the 1 e bursts! They have been sold! No such rat exists. From start to finish it has been one and the freshies are told to run along mama. And they have ‘paid the bill! g josh The class of 1910 promises to be a record breaker in numbers. Over 600 applied for admission, at least fifty of whom are non-residents; two are from Siam (not twins), one from Denmark, two from Texas, several from the Orient, others from Ore- gon, Washington and Colorado, and even as far east as Ohio. The recent disaster has made abso- lutely no difference in the number of intrants, nor did it withhold students from coming from afar. Furthermore, the difficulties anticipating in finding accommodations in the college town have dimin- ished. Although this year there are seven thousand additional residents in Berkeley, new houses are being erected at the rate of one hundred a-month; and families, even to those of the professors, who never before have taken lodgers, with true Califor- nian spirit, have come forward and thrown open their doors to the students. At Stiles Hall, the home of the Christian associations, at the office of he general advisor, and a the office of the dean of the women, lists of desirable rooming places are kept on file. This year the attempt has been made to find separate lodging houses for the men and the women entering the university. There has also been inaugurated a new scheme for assisting the freshie lasses. .A committee of about twenty senior girls was appointed, each to have a sub-committee of twenty juniors and semiors charge of one freshman girl. The scheme has two special objects . in view—to inspect the rooming places and to superintend the selection of the first year's work, keeping the schedule to prescribed subjects, for freshmen invariable jump first at the elective courses. This plan means more for the freshmen than they can possible realize at this time. The recorder of faculties, the first man to whom the freshman appeals, plays a double role. To the freshman he is St. Peter, holding the keys that open or close the gates of the Land of Promise; to the upper classmen, he is the Recording Angel, in whose books are inscribed the facts for the judgment day. The system of advisors has been greatly improved, so that mow an intrant has immediate access to first-hand information, thus being spared many of the old-time jumbles and tangles. The students are in closer contact with their instructors, and per- sonalities now count for something. Friday a row of students sat in the advisor's office. When it came his turn, a strapping fellow started to introduce himself, One slance, and the advisor put out his hand and said, “Oh, I knew your bro—" “Yes” interrupted the freshie dis- coiisolately with a deep sigh, “I'm another.” Three brothers had traveled before. This one had as yet no individuality; he was just It will take many a day before the freshman now enrolled in the university has entangled the mass of intricate institutions and traditions. But woe to him if he is slow in Jearning class distinctions. He must realize the dignity that envelopes the battered black plug of the semior. He must recog- nize the sacredness of the ornate gray plug of the junior. He must never infringe on the privileges bestowed by the hat of the “measly sophomore.” His babyship is entitled only to the dinky blue skull cap topped with the gay yellow button. He dare not appear on the campus clad in corduroys, without tempting the wrath of the upper classmien, One presumptuous infant paid the penalty and now walks wide of Chemistry Pond. For these are the laws of the college; As old and as true as the sky; And the freshie that heeds them may prosper, ; But the freshie that breaks them must die. The open space around the flagpole in the central campus was the scene on freshie day of the choicest stunts. There was held the tryout for the U. C. band. Upper classmen, parading in the role of dignified university officials, unsmilingly tested the greenies for lung power and musical ability. One vouth, commanded to blow hard and kick high, broke the record in long distance tooting and dlsplaycd leg ‘gliny !hat would have put to shame the keenest orus girl. They were also examined for fitness to jcin the military. Two lads, one on each side of the fl gpole, spent a memorable hour receiving instruction the art of wig-wagging. The signal flags were handker- chiefs tied to sticks. Two students with w i“_ fore- thought'had brown beards the better to impersonate their revered professors. Another fiend in the orgy sported the title of “doctor,” and conducted the physical examination. To the rythmic Hip! Hip! Hip! more than one cold-footed freshie was made to pace the campus. The victims selected for upper- class diversion are for the most part chaps fiom city schools who should have been wise to the w: of the college. These very victims will, a year hence, with innovations g:\mcd from personal expe- rience, make splendid “professors” and “doctors™ to put through the mill the next year's freshies. “All for the sake of California.” Nineteen Ten will find the bewildered freshmen of today tried and loyal, fired with love anl reverence for their alma mater. It matters not whence they may scatter, their pulses will quicken ard their hearts will warm when they hear the g00d old yell: Ha! Ha! Ha! California! » C. Berkeley! - Zip—Boom—Ah! RUTH BERG ¥s U