Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-08-20
THE CASCADE OF THE RAINBOW.

THE CASCADE OF THE RAINBOW.
Il is from this point that we obtained our frat
view Of the Yosemity Valley, and the scene pro-
duces impression never to be forgotten. As
pass up the valley the first Object that attracts
the attention is the "Cascade OF the Rainbow,
already referred to. 1t descends into the valley
on cur right, at one fall nine hundred and TWEEN
ty-eight feetl The water mes over the gran
tie edge of the precipice, then descending, Is bro
ken into heecy forms, sometimes sWayed hither
aud thither by the Maynard winds. at other
times the sun umines its spray into rainbow
hues and the whole hangs from the cliff in thin
veil of pink white and blue mist. Here it has
dashed and foamed from its tizzy height since the
creation, with none but savage and unappreciating
eyes to behold it. The surrounding peaks
are Iiyen into varied forms, most picturesque in
their outlines, contrasting beautifully with the en-
erald meadows and masses OF pines, cedars and
oaks at their base. The stream carries large body
Of water aud has its source far away to the south
towards the divide of the San Joaquin river. Here
is a river rising in the snowy peaks Of the Sierra
Nevada, flowing along the mountain ridges until it
leaps precipce more than eight times as high as
Niagara! But must not begin to exclaim this
point or shall exhaust my store of Cxpletives be-
fore reach the great wonder of the valley.
THE FALLS or cHoLooK.
AS we proceeded onward held in awe
by the sublime proportions of 'El Captain" or
the "Chieftain OF the Yosemiy"-a cliff of gran
hitting It's giant form Oh the ISJ 10 tue nelgnL
of more than three thousand feet-a sheer preci-
pice jutting into tue valley. Upon the opposite
SIDE of the valley, (which is here only three fourths
of a mile wide) immense cliffs also occur, their
serrated pinnscles piercing the very Skies and
forming with Ell Captain the gateway OF the Mer
ced.
We rode slowly and almost reverentally al6p Q
the base of Ell Captain and fordng the river be
yOnd, reached the camp of Judge WalwOrth, d.
rectly opposite the 'high fall" where we remain
ed during sojourn in the valley.
From the edge of the grove in the rear of the
house we obtained full view of the great falls
where the precipitates itself into the valley
in three awful ieaps, successfully of fifteen hun
dred four hundred, and six hundred feet Think
of a river plunging a precipice twenty-five
hundred feet high, and with the two exceptions OF
inequalities in the surface of the cliff which partly
breaks its descent, falling from its dizzy height into
the valley below without impeachment! It should
be remembered that this body of water is trick
ling stream, (though viewed from a distance, such
is the great height of its descent that it resemble
q silver thread hanging from the cliff but a river
often sWeed into formidable dimensions by the
melting of the SHOWS in the Sierra Nevada. Com
pared this, all other known falls the globe fade
into insgnifcance, and your Niagacas Gene5ees,
TT, ntons, &c g. are but aqueous pigDtieS Mag
ara, it is true discharges a greater volume of VIA
ter, but with all its grandeur aud sublmty il fails
to produce the effect upon the beholder caused by
first view of the great falls of the Yosemity. thus
you see OallioTna, lhuepehueht OF neF ROId mines,
gigantic trees, higher than the of Trinity
Church steeple, mammoth vegetables and Brobdig-
naian fruit, filings down the gauntlet to the world
on the waterfall question, and challenges equal
to the smallest falls Of this wonderful valley ;
for there five of them here, aud the Lesser
one is TWO hundred feet high. The difficulty with
Us is that we have no fashionables among these
lonely mountain businesses to sing the praises OF
the CholOok, and the white vest poets wi o < Q
the semLannual panegyrc OF Niagara not only new
er heard Of Cholook but would scarcely venture to
soil their Kids by scrambng up into the Sierra to
view them. The travelling public are already be-
coming wearied OF the mOnotony of the same old
summer resorts of the Atlantic States and are fly
Ing to Europe for relief. 1t will soon be a common
thing for the New Yorker troubled with ennasi TO
pass the summer in California, where the sublime
scenery and exhlarating air are unsurpassed. Then
We shall begin to read in the papers accounts Ol
tie fosemiy Valley and the wonderful Falls O
Cholook.