OCR Text |
Show .' A Short Sketch of This Beautiful National Na-tional Playground I of the Sierras. Copyright. 1915. bv Tbo International T Syndicate. i VW places In the world present t Ws within such a narrow compass n so much natural beauty as the 5 JF YoBemlto Valley so much so -I that ono hardly knows where to begin or what to say or when to stop rcvol-'I. rcvol-'I. ing about its charm. .1 The Yosemito was disebvered and ,T named by the Indians, Its name slgnl-I slgnl-I fylng "Big Grizzly Bear." The Red r Men were awed at tho sight of its T glacier marked battlements. Its sheer 1 precipices and Its mighty waterfalls, - and they looked upon it with a sort i of reverence. Probably the llrst white ; man who saw tho wonderful canyon i, was Dr. Bunnell, In the Winter of . 1849. Ho was ascending the old Bear Valley trail from Rodloy's. Ferry on ', tho Merced River when "an Immense V cliff loomed up apparently to tho summit sum-mit of the mountains." This was the mighty El Capltan, one of the great peaks of the,Yoscmlto. 1 Mndo A National Park. I In 1890 tho YoHemlto and surround- v. Ing forests a total area of thlrty-stx miles in length by forty-eight In breadth was granted by Congress to the Stato of California as a reserva-t reserva-t tlon, and in 1905 It was ro-cedod to tho Federal Government by that State i and bocamo known as The Yosemito National Park. The climb Is made by easy stages to the tloor of tho valley four thousand thou-sand feet above tho level of tho 6ea. ; Then all at once tho grim sentinels ""which stand like guardians at the , entrance como Into view and at least 1 four mighty waterfalls arc visiblo through the shadows of tho pines. All Naturo is alive and tho twlttorlng of birds and tho odor of flowers soon j reach the ears and nostrils of tho traveler Then tho Bridal Veil Full Is ) reached. This stream is fully thirty . fe6t wide and falls a distance of six f hundted foot, then rushes over a pile $ of rocks and makes a leap of three hundred feot more. Fro7ii ono point f of view tho break in tho stream Is K not visible and It appears as an unbroken un-broken fall of nine hundred feet, Llko R Niagara It has Its moods, and In order or-der to seo Its real beauty It must be k visited many limes -not a dltllcult ( thing to do for it Is not ovor a mile - from tho holol. It derives Its numu j from the lllmy, laco-llke effect of tho water as It Is swayed by tho wind rp which at times makes It icaemblo a j huge lace bridal veil, while at other I times It waves backward and forward I; in I alii |