Show THE 1 YOSEMITE The Famous Yalley in tile Haze of September A STORE HOUSE OF SUBLIMITY I f El Capitan The Cathedral Glacier Point The Domea Tlssaack Avoaue llie Water Falls To the Editor of Tug HERALD As well try ito follow on crutches a chamois hunter who has free use of his limbs as to try and follow with rule and measure one who has the free use of his imagination Words or words to that effect are said by Ruskin and they make me feel how useless with my cramped halting style and poor stock of words will oe my attempt to do something like justice to the many sublimities of the Yosemite Valley Do not fear from this that I intend to wear out the patience of your readers with a lot of magniloquent words picked out of my Thesaurus To tell vou the exact trutn I do not feel to gush over the scenes grand as they are coati a01 about to describe The Yosemite Yo-semite did not affect me in that way There is something so severe in the style of its stupendous architecture as to silence all nonsense we might be tempted today about it By this 1 do not mean to say that there are not also beauties that is the wonder of the Yosemite Yo-semite its perfect blending of the beautiful beau-tiful and grand elements of landscape land-scape What those elements are I wLl tell you so you can judge for yourself what combination it must make for the eye Imagine a valley say from six to seven miles long and rom half to threequarters 01 a mile wide let its level floor be covered with a growth of pinebalsam and oak through this forest wind a clear stream of water then on either side of this valley pile up wails of granite to an average height ol 4500 feet let them iu some places ne smooth perpendicular unbroken at others splintered into crags or rounded into massive domes over the edgo of some of these walls let torrents come pouring down reflect all of this in the sleeping pools of the river enrich your foregrounds with masses of tangled fern let the blue smoke from Indian campfires rise up through the trees and you have those combinations of line and color which have tried the skill of Americas best artists One thing against the Yosemite is that it contains no surprises So well do we know it so familiar are we become be-come with its leading features from paintings photographs and engravings that we recognize each rock and cliff as though we had been among them for years Like certain individuals it suffers suf-fers from the greatness of its fame We findit impossible to be surprised by anything any-thing we may see being prepared for it beforehand As a setoff to this there are few disappointments it is all you could expect Had I not received a good schooling in granite gran-ite scenery from some of the fine precipices between the Big apd Little Cottonwoods my astonishment would have been greater As it was Mirror LaKe was my only dissapointment It is not near ao beautiful our own Lake Mare in the Wasatch Primitive rock primitive trees almost primitive man make up the Yosemite and its native inhabitants The Digger Indians are I believe the lowest in the scale of all our aborigines Tee older members of the tribe are quite repulsive looking Mr Make a resident of the valley told me However that they made very faithful servants Acorns form the chief staple of their winter food their manner of caching these is peculiar A pole is erected or a tree cut off at a proper height around this is built a cylinuer shaped apartment constructed of pine branches a roof of pine bark protects I pro-tects it from above and qpenings at different levels are left ior the In eriing I of the hand fhis is the commissary through the long winter months What is the venation on first beholding behold-ing the Yosemite Weil that is hard to say It depends much upon the individual in-dividual My impression pardon the i savor of the shop was that of looking upon a magnificient painting so complete com-plete so perfect is the view arranged by nature for pictorial effect The place where the vafly first opens to the sight has been well named INSPIRATION POINT The view includes the principal features of the valley but dwarfed by the masses of the huge El Capitan on the left hand and the Three Graces on the right the Bridal Veil Fall with its 900 feet of gauze fitly adorns the Grace the North and S uth Domes loom up at the background while Clouds Rest closes the extreme distance The coach driver had been repeatedly asked Shall we see the valley before sunset and as repeatedly he had answered in the affirmative Experience makes them able to time themselves to the minute in reaching any given pail t on I the road so close are the possibilities of the horses and the road ganged that a delay of ten or fifteen minutes in starting is hard to make up in a distance dis-tance of thirty miles or more This is a digression though I was going to tell more about the first view but a few words will do All suffused atop with the last rays of sunset and mantled in shadow below be-low and all dim through the haze of early autumn it ma o a picture of the utmost beauty Crack goes the whip down the grade we fly leaving a trail of dust behind one valley tetra ro be rising to meet Uu and the mountains growing upwards up-wards Rattle tehan across dry torrent tor-rent beds and over bridges spinning under archways of trees and out again with a gusto so wo descend down into the narrow valley whilst its granite walls seem to crow to an unearthly stature in the dull gray of the fastgath ering twilight The hotels are centrally located so that our first emergence in the morning morn-ing discloses to our vearmost of Ihi leading heights Looking down the valley val-ley we see the well known forms of Ei Capitan and Cathedral Rocks the last named are the most nobly outlined groupin the valley the eye continually turns towards them to rest with delight de-light on the massive forms El Capitan isone sheer precipice of barefaced rock from top to base The pine forest on its crest shows no taller than a gras yIn y-In wn and yet those pines would overtop over-top our highest building An excellent place is the Yosemite for studying out the vexed problem is there any majesty in mere greatness of size is the sweeping sweep-ing orbit of Neptune any greater than the same line of eternity as shown in the smallest finger ring Let the philosophers phil-osophers settle it as they please i believe be-lieve the old Wiltshire farmer hit the matter pretty close Good be good ana bad be bad a good big cheese be worth more than a little un any way you can put it PO a big granite cliff is more sublime than a little dne any way we can put it El Capitan with its thrice a thousand and a hundred feet is certainly cer-tainly an imposing object to look upon One ot my precious because few days in the valley I devoted to climbing OLACIE2 POINT Zigzag goes the trail up the ountain ide until the head is quite turned it takes four miles of steep grade to reach the top and for the sake of economy I patronized the popular shanks pony route and felt myself somewhat short of breath when the summit was Rained If the paltry height ol Dover Cliff inspired Snakspeare with such vivid images how must he have been affected could he have gazed from such an eminence as this I I confess that when I looked over the edge my knees fairly smote together If How fearful and dizzy tis to cast ones eyes so low I THe iron rail placed for safety between two rocks seemed to me no stronger than a thread I teased my touch would break it away But my discomfiture more complete and I was thoroughly ashamed of my weak head when half an hour later a party on mule back came jogging up the trail and a little girl quick as she was dismounted ran fearlessly down to the rail leaned over and clapped her hands for joy My only joy was that no one had witnessed my snaky cautious approach There is a good story in Hatchings book of the Mark Twain type telling how a pioneer who lives near by used to throw an old hen over the rail for the edification of tourists The old hen would flutter and cry out most dolefully dole-fully sending up her angry protest until she vanished trom sight When the tourists would expostulate with the old gentleman on his cruelty he only smiled wisely and answered 0 she dont mind it she is used to that sort lof thing And sure enough as the tourists would be descending the trail here they would meet the old hen a little lit-tle ruffled perhaps coming quietly up again for the next days dose Leaving joking aside it is a very trying ordeal J to some the looking down these thousands thous-ands of feet but when you have once conquered the sickly sensation the view is a glorious one The valley appears level as a floor the Merced River like a line drawn with the finger the oars and pines like round dotsbut what is the use 1 The whole scene is too stupendous to be brought up by any imagery of mine it was several sev-eral hours before I could realize what a space it meant Yosemite Tenaya Canyon the South Fork Little Yote niite there they lay all dreamlike and I vague in the autumn hazeOn a level with my eye the top of the great domes only Tissaach Goddess of the Valley and that wilderness of granite Clouds Rest with one or two other needle points of rock rising above When we are down in the valley we favor the theory the-ory that it was formed by a sudden dropping during some earthquake shock but from above we incline in-cline to believe the other theory that it was cut by ancient glaciers Which of these two theories is the true one will of course be always a matter of dispute The roadways or avenues have been judiciously named so that we can easily find our way unattended to any point They are called Pohono Avenue Cathedral Avenue etc One of the most attractive of them all is TISA VCK AVENUE Many quietminded persons who prefer pre-fer the seclusion of nooks and brooks to more extended scenes think this the best of all no shame to them it is a pleasant place to rest our jaded limb and recuperate our wearied thoughts for it is a strain on both to keep pace with the claims upon them Nothing more quietly beautful than this overarching over-arching avenue of trees Look how mellowed the sunlight steals in between the leaves DOW gracefully tho boughs rise and fall on the gentle Iraath I of wind What could be lovelier than those matted ferns touched with crimson crim-son from the early frosts or that big round glassy pool edged with mossy stones when in the clear water we see a speckled trout lazily waving his delicate fins If the Yosemite had nothing of the grand and aweinspiring to show the countless pictures of this kind which make up its every rod would alone suffice to make of it as charming a place as any daydreamer could desire In mentioning tho appropriate naming nam-ing cf the various avenues I should have made it a general statement All I of the naming is singularly filicitous it helps to bring the various parts of the valley into harmonious fellowship and none ot the names are more fitting than those given to THE WATER FALLS Wishing to give the exact truth of the I trip it is necessary to state herejjthat the principal fall of all I did not seeThe see-The long drought had dried the stream supplying the Yosemite This was a disappointment of course To look up at the lofty cliff over which it comes tumbling earlier in the season was quite tantalizing Mr Cook of the hotel said You do not imagine how we miss the sound of that fall it really makes us feel desolate deso-late In the abundance of other attractions it would have been ungrateful though to complain the absence ab-sence of one and then it has qUIte worthy representatives in the Bridal Veil the Vernal and Nevada Falls all three of which are most beautiful water I falls The Vernal is called by the Tr I dians Pi waack or Cataract of Diamonds Dia-monds a name which fits it weli especially at low water The English name was suggested by the intense greenness of the mossy rocks at its base The Nevada 1 all is a beauty Yo inve or Meandering refers to the manner in which it fits itself to the rocks in falling It does not drop straight up and down but in most lovely curves Whilst I stood looking up at it 700 feet 01 dizzy motion and trying to realize its height by keeping keep-ing tnfk of one of its waterarrows sit s-it fell from top to base I got a fright A big dog had noiselessly approached ap-proached and seeing your correspondents correspon-dents hands crossed at his buck grabbed one in nis mouth If you had seen the jump and heard the yell that followed you would have thought there was an infuriated grizzly in that neighborhood neigh-borhood as someone else did Pono no Spirit of Evil Wind was the poetic appellation first given to the bridal Veil why Evil Wind dOES not readily appear But could you see how the real wind sports with that water swaying sway-ing it from side to side dissipating it sometimes ere It is half way down to make a misty cloud where the rainbows gleam and quiver you would be in a fit mood to accept any and all of the poetic little legends which the white man likes to telland make the Indian responsible for General Notes This had better come to a close Yosemite is for California what Cham ouni is for Switzerland a place to both love and be proud of Perhaps I have been too florid in my descriptions and haveoverestiniiitfed it If to I could find good company who have done the same The great registers kept in the valley contain some eloquent tributes to its grandeur and beauty Ralph Waldo Emerson who is apt to be cold and classical in his criticism for once lays aside his statelmess and gives a genuine Yankee remark This is the only place that comes up to the brag a remark which quite fills the bill Horace Greeleys opinion has been at length deciphered and is found to be highly complimentary compliment-ary Pictures are sold in the valley showing Mr = Lau try standing on the brink of a frightful precipice The truth of the matter is that the Jersey Lily came into the valley one day remained re-mained in her room till supper and left the next morning Some interesting facts can be obtained from the Commissioners Com-missioners report For the thirty years from 1855 to lSSS 38045 persons visited the valley England more than outnumbers all other ldreign visitors combined tor John Bull likes to know and see what there is in the world The tabular list shows the number of visitors from Utah Ito I-to be very few for 1885 two only and one each for the two preceding years This year the number I was increased to five Monterey on the contrary has been seen by a large number of Utonians There are two reasons for thisfirst the difficulty in j I reaching the valley and next because our people naturally prefer a change from mountain to ocean scenery This letter although strung out to undue 1 length does not even mention some important 1 im-portant sights Sentinel Rock Washington i Wash-ington Column and Royal Arches i should have pot a few words at least but this brings me to the original statementthe only way to know the Yosemite 13 to see it I I and go if possible in the month of June when the waterfalls ale at their I I best and the roads leading to the valley j are not so dust yet the fail I has its special attractions too when the i river creeps in a glassy stillness from I I pool to pool when the frost king begins to plant his victorious banners of crimson crim-son and gold in valley and on height and all those jagged peaks and rounded domes of granite grow even more huge and high as they loom up pale and indistinct i in-distinct through the hazy veils of the closing year I ALFRED LAMEOURXE |