Finding Frank Norris in the Santa Cruz Mountains
How the “McTeague” legend died and Robert Louis Stevenson’s widow remembered him
by Ryan Masters
A gargantuan spider web hangs across the steep dirt road.
It shimmers, translucent in the sunlight, its slack lines nearly imperceptible. I duck the web and trudge further up the road's corkscrew turn. The thick brush, thistle weeds, and poison oak part, revealing an ancient looking stone bench on the shoulder above the road.
Finally.
More than a year after I first searched for it, I have found the mysterious, nearly forgotten memorial to legendary California novelist Frank Norris in a far corner of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A simple cross and a crooked, barren flag-holder crown the semi-circular, mission-style bench. Both are encrusted in a century of rust. Constructed with river stone, chert and mortar, the memorial sits atop a 15-foot, steep-faced boulder. Steps have been carved up its right flank. The overgrowth nearly chokes it completely. Neglected and forlorn, the memorial is ready to disappear from sight.
I mount the base of the boulder, …
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