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Show WMC!LE Si in rat ip lf Propsidfoir ,,,, a; - -v i 1 - - - , - -r- I f i Vv. - r x i. Vi V . Vvi . 1" Ji v - zC'"'k-" ;s.N . , , , " . iif3. : : TJ V.N'CLE SAM is the greatest sum-,j sum-,j I mer resort proprietor in the '5 jj world. The national parks that belong to the United States and are for the enjoyment of the people have a combined area almost al-most half as great as that of Switzerland. Switzer-land. Within their boundaries may be found every attraction that Switzerland Switzer-land has to offer and many other scenic marvels such as no other country coun-try in the world affords. There are giant glaciers, snow-capped mountains that are as hard to climb as Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn, great forests, for-ests, lakes and mighty rivers, waterfalls water-falls more than twice as high as the Metropolitan tower, geysers that spout a thousand feet in air, huge caverns in which a city might be hid, big trees that were forest monprchs before the Pyramids wore planned, titanic chasms the list of attractions in Uncle Un-cle Sam's summer resorts is endless. Many of them are unique. Many of these national playgrounds are in the empire of the west. The greatest of them are easy of access Year by year the number of those that can be reached by the railway or by the trolley Is growing. A generation or so from now, when the United States west of the Missouri is more thickly populated, these breathing spots will occupy the same relation to the country at large that Central, Bronx and Van Cortland parks and the other open spaces in New York bear to the metropolis. They will be summer sum-mer recreation grounds to which millions mill-ions will flock. They are so large that for centuries to come they are not likely to be overcrowded. The Yosemite National park, In California, is 150 miles from San Francisco Fran-cisco as the crow flies. It is not possible pos-sible as yet to trolley thither from the Golden Gate, but it may be within the ' next few years. Already a stage line leading to its boundary has been paralleled paral-leled by an electric railroad. The Yosemite park is in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Originally It was fifteen miles in length and "one mile back from the main edge of the precipice on each side of the valley." but the park in its entirety now covers cov-ers a domain thirty-six by forty-eight I miles. Crossing the threshold of the great valley of the Yosemite is like stepping into some vast house or hall carved out of the mountain, One passes suddenly sud-denly into a tranquil, restful region that Is enhanced by the power and grandeur that encompasses it- The picture, of sunny glades and falls of lucid water is set in an enormous granite frame three or four thousand feet high, ornamented with domes and spires and peaks that are still higher. The Grand Canyon of the Yosemite is a sublimity of a different order. Coming Com-ing from the petrified forest with its trunks of thousands of gigantic trees or tree ferns that grew millions of years ago, one gazes down upon something some-thing that is unlike anything ever known upon the earth. It seems like a vision of some strange, colossal city carved out of granite that has been uncovered from the depth of geologic time. There is a wildernessof temple-like temple-like forms and monumental remains, alcoves and amphitheaters and noble architectural profiles that delight while. they bewilder the eye. Countless Count-less waterfalls flutter like lace against the granite walls. The first leap of the falls of the Yosemite Is 1,600 feet, more than twice the distance of the gilded dome of the Metropolitan tower from the earth below. The next leap is 400 feet and the last 600. At the bottom the water falls in spray like an endless summer shower. Imagine the Hudson river emptied of its water for seven or eight miles from its mouth and deepened deep-ened 3,000 feet or more. Then fancy the sides nearly vertical, with snow-white snow-white waterfalls fluttering against them here and there, granite rocks In spires and domes planted along the rim, and a landscape of groves and glades with still, clear winding water at the bottom and you will have as adequate a conception of the Yosemite as it Is possible to get without seeing it. Several thousand persons camp in this enchanted valley every summer. Its floor is nearly level not a chaos of fallen rocks. More than 3,000 acres are meadows and pasture. Trees and groves make it a natural park. Stage lines and an electric line run from the terminus of the railroad and there are stage lines through the park ( tourist Eeason Is from May l to N vember 1, but the park is accessit and hotels are open throughout year. . "8 There Is an electric road which leads to the Sequoia National par! near Yosemite. Here is the home 0f the big trees, although they are found in a continuous belt nearly 300 tri long, from Placer county to Kern co-un ty in California. These big trees ar the greatest of living things and dat" back to the youth of the world. Soa' of them are believed to be 8,000 year! old. They antedate the oldest civiljza. tlon of which the archaeologist tail any trace. They were forest giants be. fore Moses or Confucius or Buddha were born. Barring accident and catastrophe, they appear to be immortal. immor-tal. There is no evidence that tkey ever die of disease, decay or old ag Some of them are dead at the top b t they were blasted by lightning ' the trunks are still as sound as eyl Rainier. Central Gem. Rainier National park, of which Mount Tacoma is the central gem, 1M about seventy miles southeast of Tacoma, Ta-coma, and contains nearly 400 square miles. It was Bet apart by the g0T. ernment on account of Its marvelou scenery and magnificent forests. Other world-famed mountains must t viewed from afar as cold, inaccessible peaks, but the traveler may eiplo-e every part of Mount Tacoma with coa. parative comfort and ease. Wherever he goes its snow-crowned head, towering tow-ering nearly 15,000 feet above es level, stands before him. It may be ascended to its very crater, Into which the climber may retreat from chilly winds and have the exciting experience experi-ence of comfortably sleeping on warm lava bed in the mouth of a slumbering volcano. The journey from Tacoma may te made for a few dollars, and with to extra preparation. It Is only a day's" trip to go, see the sights and retun: An automobile line runs from Tacorr.a to the park during the summer. Tie tourist season Is from the middle o! June to the middle of Setpember. !: the autumn the splendid snows tht cover the summit of Mount Rainier descend lower and lower until tLc-v cover the foothills at its base. -x Fujiyama is to the Japanese, llo-jn: Rainier is to the people of the far northwest. Its giant mountain dore of snow seems suspended In the s'-:r and dominates the region for miles about. The Yellowstone National park Is the largest of all these playgrounds of the people. It Is nearly Z,Zn0 sjuve miles in area, and is In Wyorrlrg, Montana and Idaho. Around it are mountain ranges with peaks H,ll) feet high, and within It are exhibiticr.s of nature's freaks and moods such as no other land contains. They are absolutely ab-solutely Indescribable. The other national parks are th; General Grant, in California, near tie big trees; Wind Cave National p.irk in South Dakota, which may be reached by private conveyances fro 3 Hot Springs, or from Custer; Sully's Hill park, North Dakota, on the shore of Devil's lake: Piatt National park, at Sulphur, Okla., and the Hot Sprites reservation in Arkansas, which is in the town of the same name. |