The ‘Est,’ Est West

A LAND where they have the b-est, the bigg-est, the fin-est, the highest, the loveli-est of everything—so they say—the best oranges, the biggest prunes, the finest grapes, the tallest trees, the highest mountains, the loveliest weather— No, it’s not Paradise. That’s the ’est, ’est West.

California was named after an island in an old fairy-tale and in many ways the real California is a fairy-tale land. When gold was found in the rivers there, the story sounded like a fairy-tale, but it turned out to be a true tale. Many stories they tell nowadays about California still sound like fairy-tales to people in the East. Who would believe that there are trees in California so tall they seem to brush the sky—trees so big around that men have cut tunnels in them for automobiles to go through—trees so old that they were born before Christ was born! It’s true, there are. They are called Giant Redwoods. How more wonderful than a fairy-tale it would be if those trees could tell us the true story of what has happened in their long lives!

Let us see how many ’ests we can count in California.

California is the longest State in the United States. If you could take up California and put it down on the Atlantic coast it would stretch from Florida to New York. That’s one ’est.

California has the highest mountain in the United States. It is called Mount Whitney. That’s two ’ests.

California has the lowest place in America. It’s a valley, and the valley is more than two hundred feet lower than the ocean. It is so dry and so hot down in this hollow—this lowest spot—that nothing can live there, either animal or vegetable, except horned toads and lizards, both of which animals love heat—the more heat the better for them. Some people say they can even live in fire—but that’s a fairy-tale. This low hot valley is called Death Valley. People usually keep away from it, but some men have strayed into it looking for gold and have lost their way, or some who wanted to get to the other side tried to cross it and before they could get out or reach the other side they have died of heat or thirst. That’s why it is called Death Valley. That’s longest, highest, lowest—three ’ests.