trace ihe fortunes of the great river and how much more comes to mind as the national park we overlook this wonderful wilderness i fountains of the and lie before with those of the and and fine it would be to go with them to the pacific but the sun is already in the west and soon our day will be done yonder is mountain and other mountains hardly less rich in old forests which now seem to spring up again in their glory and you see the storms that buried them � the ashes and torrents laden with and mud the centuries of sunshine and the dark lurid nights you see again the vast floods of red hot and white out from the of lakes and streams absorbing or driving away their hissing screaming waters flowing around hills and every subordinate feature then you see the snow and taking possession of the land making new how admirable it is that after passing through so many of frost and fire and flood the and even the complexion of the landscape should still be so fine i thus the past we see nature working with enthusiasm like a man blowing her a blacksmith blowing his fires over the our national and like a farmer and gardener doing rough work and fine work planting and pines and working in gems filling every crack and hollow with them fine painting plants and shells clouds mountains all the earth and heavens like an artist � ever working toward higher and higher where may the mind find more a thousand wonders are calling look up and down and round about you and a multitude of still small voices may be heard directing you to look through all this transient shifting show of things called substantial into the truly substantial spiritual world whose forms flesh and wood rock and water and sunshine only veil and conceal and to learn that here is heaven and the dwelling place of the angels the sun is setting long violet shadows are growing out over the woods from the mountains along the western rim of the park the range is in the divine i of the and its rocks and trees are next to the light of the dawn on high mountain tops the is the most impressive of all the of god now comes the the is fading into gloom but do not let your town habits draw you away to the hotel the national park stay on this good fire mountain and spend the night among the stars watch their glorious bloom until the dawn and get one more of light then with fresh heart go down to your work and whatever your fate under whatever ignorance or knowledge you may afterward chance to suffer you will remember these fine wild views and look back with joy to your wanderings in the blessed old chapter m thb of all the mountain i have i like the the best though extremely rugged with its main features on the scale in height and depth it is nevertheless easy of access and hospitable and its beauty displayed in and forms w � e wanderer on and on higher and higher charmed and enchanted benevolent solemn pervaded with divine every landscape like a countenance in eternal repose and every one of its living creatures clad in flesh and leaves and every crystal of its rocks whether deep in what we call darkness is throbbing and with the of god au the world lies warm in one heart yet the seems to get more light than other mountains the weather is mostly sunshine with magnificent storms and nearly everything shines from base to summit � the rocks streams lakes falls and the forests of silver fir � the national park and silver pine and how bright is the shining after summer showers and nights and after frosty nights in spring and autumn when the morning are pouring through the on the bushes and grass and in winter through the snow laden trees i the average for the whole year is perhaps less than ten scarcely a day of all the summer is dark though there is no lack of magnificent thundering they rise in the warm midday hours mostly over the middle region in june a d like new higher the grandeur of the scenery while giving rain to the forests and gardens and bringing forth their fragrance the wonderful weather and beauty inspire everybody to be up and doing every summer day is a to be confidently counted on the short of rain forming not but rests the big blessed storm days of winter when the whole range stands white are not a whit less inspiring and kind well may the be called the range of light not the snowy range for only in winter is it white while the year it is bright of this glorious range the national park is a central section thirty six miles in length and forty eight miles in breadth the valley lies in the heart of it and it the head waters of the our national and rivers two of the most streams in the world innumerable lakes and and smooth the noblest forests the granite the deepest ice the brightest and snowy mountains soaring into the twelve and thirteen thousand feet arrayed in open ranks and groups partially separated by tremendous and gardens on their sunny brows thundering down their long white slopes roaring gray and foaming in the crooked rugged and in their shadowy recesses working in silence slowly their new bom lakes at their feet blue and green free or with drifting like miniature as stars nowhere will you see the majestic operations of nature more clearly revealed beside the most gentle and peaceful things nearly all the park is a profound solitude it is full of charming company fuu of god s thoughts a place of peace and safety amid the 