Yosemite National Park T HE Yosemite National Park lies west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in middle eastern California. 7 or 8 miles long by less than 1 mile wide in over a thousand square miles of beautiful and varied scenic wilderness. The irregular eastern boundary is the crest of the Sierra, a rampart of tremendous granite peaks buttressed by pinnacled spurs of nature's noblest gothic, spattered by snow fields and mimic glaciers, a mountain barrier uncrossable by road except at one point, lofty Tioga Pass. Westward from the perpetual snows of this stupendous wall flow innumerable streams, which converge in two river systems watering and beautifying the inimitable pleasure ground. This land of enchantments is a land of delightful climate.
Most visitors know only the Yosemite Valley.
And, indeed, were there nothing else, the valley itself would stand in the first rank of national parks. It was discovered in 1851 by mounted volunteers pursuing Indians into their fastnesses. Until then it had been approached only by trail. No matter what their expectation, most visitors are happily astonished upon entering the Yosemite Valley. It will not lessen wonder to learn that it was through the slow, persistent wear of running water and glacier ice that the chasm was formed.