" Yes. " " A mile.." 

California Coast Trails

Here we find Chase in Jolon, where he sadly

has to part with Chino. I recently visited what

is left at this now, still, remote location.

___________

" A mile beyond the river I saw a ranch house in the distance,

and knew by a flutter of linen it was inhabited. A young woman

answered my hail by opening a window 6 inches. To my inquiry

whether I was on the road to Jolon, she replied curtly. " Yes. "

" And the distance? " " A mile. " With that the window was

slammed down and she vanished. This was somewhat chilling

demeanor from the first human being I had seen in nearly a

fortnight; but the news of my whereabouts was welcome enough.

We were soon on the main road, and by evening entered the village

and put up at a rustic inn where Chino tasted once again the

comforts of a stable and I of feminine cookery and housekeeping.

Jolon is a primitive place, though not an old one. It lies twenty miles

from the railway, but on a road which has fair amount of travel. A

dozen times a day an automobile charges through, with passengers

goggling through clouds of dust to catch those flying glimpses which

seem to satisfy the people who like that way of seeing the country.

The village consists of two store-and-hotel combinations, a church

seldom used, a school, three saloons, and about as many small

residences. A little creek, a branch of the San Antonio, runs through

the village, and is vocal all day with plovers; while trios and

quartettes of coyotes, wise beyond the range of poison or rifle,

perform in the dusk of dawn and evening. For the rest, I noted that

the dialect of Jolon is rather above than below the Western 

standard in amount and quality of profanity; and that days when

the thermometer registers a hundred odd degrees are pronounced

by Jolonians to be agreable.

What remains of the Dutton Hotel complex,

June 2024.

______________

( Story to be continued in the next post )

" ... left him munching my valedictory apples. "

California Coast Trails 

( Jolon, continued )

Likely Chase's mount Chino, taken previously

in the California desert.

Chase's mount Anton, in

the Santa Lucia, just

north of Jolon.

______________

" My only regret in leaving Jolon was that there I said farewell to my good

Chino. The roughness and heat of the journey...has resulted in the in-

flaming his withers again, and so badly that it would at least be two weeks

before he could be fit. I had noticed in the hotel stable a well-built 

saddle-horse, a little heavier than Chino, of a color between buckskin and

sorrel, and showing a dark stripe along the back which is recognized

by experts in horseflesh as a mark of superior toughness. I decided on

the change.

It went much against the grain to part with the loyal companion of

several expeditions by California shore, desert, and mountain. But the

summer was getting late and I was only about halfway to my goal, so

that I must not lose more time if I was to finish the trip before the rainy

season set in.

I filled my pockets with Chino's preferred dainties, payed him a final

visit, and left him munching my valedictory apples with so much

indifference that poignant regret on my own side seemed superfluous.

It was mid-afternoon when I started with my new acquisition ( whom

I named Anton, by way of reference to the San Antonio Valley, in which

Jolon is situated ) for the Mission of San Antonio. "

___________________________

Link: National Registry, Dutton Hotel.

* https://noehill.com/monterey/nat1971000166.asp *

****

( click for larger image )

Photograph of letter Chase wrote and mailed

from Jolon, to Pasadena Librarian, Miss Russ,

at the time of the above passage. Chase tells

Miss Russ, " I am on a long horseback trip

three months already, all up the coast with a

view to a volume on The Coast of California. "

( author's collection )

_________

*** ( Please see next post, 3 of 3, for more photographs! ) ***

" ..and put up in a rustic inn. "

California Coast Trails

( Jolon, part 3 of 3 - photographs ) 

* ( click for larger images ) *

"..a church seldom used. "

Jolon, June 2024

photo by j, develyn

** Link: Church is active today in this remote area.

* https://www.facebook.com/p/St-Lukes-Church-Episcopal-Jolon-CA-100064803453167/ *

___________

Ruins Dutton Hotel - June 2024

Close up, Ruins Dutton Hotel June 2024

View from ruins looking south towards

Church and cemetery behind oak grove

Little left of the Dutton Hotel, June 2024

Yours truly, June 2024.

______________________________

" the old regrets...that hold no sorrow."

Yosemite Trails

___

Here to our edification, Chase takes the pulpit within the

Great Sierra Cathedral and gives us his Litany of that which

we may be acquainted with while inhabiting the

" blessed quietude. "

_____

______________________

" O the delight of those Sierra evenings! The blessed quietude, that

lies on you like a soft pressure and cools like a woman's hand; 

the hushed talking of the stream as it runs around the bend, or laps

and drains under sodden eaves of moss; the delicious rose of

sunset-lighted snow-peaks; the always friendly companionship

of trees; the purling soliloquy of the fire; the surprise of the first

star, and the wistful magic of the moonlight; the pleasant

ghosts that sit with you around the fire and call you by forgotten

nicknames; the old regrets that hold no sorrow; the old joys

that do; the good snow-chill of the wind drawing steadily down

the canyon; the quick undressing and turning in, and the

instant oblivion. "

_________

            

______________________________________________

            

                  

" ... and beheld Teddy racing along toward us... "

Yosemite Trails

_____________

The endearment and devotion Chase exhibited towards

his companions, equine or human, was unmistakable.

His ' Trails ' books are rich in examples. For Chase

Nature is a veritable pageant, a parade, nothing

is to be overlooked; every presentation has its

purpose and is to be appreciated. As well for Chase,

 here is where joy is found! The scene

here is wonderfully drawn; Chase misses no detail,

and nothing is wanting. Chase knows his companions

and he brings them alive for us to see in all

their personality. One can virtually imagine this

as a scene from an early Disney classic. Read it

twice and enjoy it even more!

_________

______
______________

"  When looking for a camp-site I usually go ahead of the animals, leading Adam by the halter-rope. This is the signal for Teddy to fall behind and hunt out titbits undisturbed, but he has a youthful horror of being left behind and lost, and generally keeps a sharp lookout to hold us in view. On this occasion he was betrayed by some agreeable morsel into allowing us to get out of his sight, and while I was tying Adam preparatory to unloading, I heard a weird, multitudinous kind of sound, and beheld Teddy racing along toward us at a swinging canter, his packs jouncing rhythmically as he came. His ears were rigid, and his excited eyes gleamed wildly about with an expression of ludicrous anxiety. The sound I heard was compounded of rattling cans, creaking harness, and the attrition of the heterogeneous articles comprised in his pack; among them, I reflected, certain liquids and semi-liquids that were not arranged for such rapid transportation. He had made half the circuit of the meadow, careening over at a fine, cutting angle as he bowled along, before he espied us, when he bore down upon us, still at a canter, came to anchor handsomely, and in a moment was chousing his consort out of the best of the pasturage. "

________________________

**Definition for the curious!**
Chousing: to beat out; cheat; vanquish.

___________

This is a British edition of Yosemite Trails.

The only British edition of any of Chase's

books I have located.