Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1865-10-13
The Y. Semitic y.liey.H

space in all the known world offers such ma
jestic and impressive beauty. Niagara only
divides honors with it in America. Only the
whole of Switzerland can surpass it-no one
scene in all the Alps can match the scene now
before me in the things that mark the mem
ory and impress all the senses for beauty and
sublImity.
The one Distinguishing feature is double
wall of perpendicular granite, rising from
half mile to a mile in height. and inclos-
ing a valley not more than half mile IN
width on the average, and from 10 to 10
miles in length. 1t is a fssure-a chasm,
rath-r than valley in solid rock mountains
there is not breadth enough in it for one of
lis walls to lie down-snd yet it offers all the
beauties Of rich valley. TbeIe is meadow
with thick grass; there are groves Of pine
and oak, the former exquisite in form and
majestic in size, rising often to 200 and $50
feet; there are thickets OF willow and birch,
bay-trees and lockwood, and various flower
shrubs; primrose and cowslip and golden
rod and VIDE: and painted-cup, more delicate
than eastern skies can welcome, make gay
garden OF all the vacant fields now in August:
the aroma OF mint. OF pine and FIR. of flower
loads the air: the fern family find familiar
home every where and winding in and out
among all flows the MERGED river, so pure and
transparent that you can hardly tell where
the air leaves off and the water begins. iOll-
ing rapid over polished stones or sOit sands,
or staying IN wide, deep pools that invite the
bat lur and the boat. aud hol ling trout only
less rich and dainty than the brook trout OF
New England The roll, the trees, the
shrubs, the grasses and the flowers Of this
L.. llo,, ,.pah tho m general
character and variety as those of your Con-
nectcut river valleys; but they are richer in
d, vclopment and greater in number They
borrow of the mountain iecundity and sweet
mss; and they are fed by summer rains as
other California valleys rarely are.
Now imagine-can you ?? rising up sheer
ard sharp on each side of this line OF fertile
beauty, irregularly flowing and variously
crowned. walls of granite rock thrice as high
as your Mounts Tom and Holyoke, twice as
nigh as Berkshire's Graylock. The color OF
the rock is most varied. a grayish drab it
yellow is the dominant shade, warm and soft
In large spots 1t whItens out; and again
is dark and discolored AS if by long exposure
To- rain and snow and wind. Sometimes the
light and daI K shades are thrown into quick
Contrast on single wall, and you know
where the zebra and Dr. Bellows church were
borrowed from More varied and exquisite
still are the shapes into which the rocks are
thrown. The one great conspicuous object
of the valley is a massive two sided wall
standing out into and over the meadow, vel
lowish gray in color. and rising up into the
air unbroken, square e. perpendicular. for fuE
three quarters Of a mile. 1t bears IN Spanish
and Indian the name of the Great Jehovah
and it il easy to believe that it was an object
of worship by the barbarians. as it is not diff
cult for civilization to recognize the Infinite
in it, and impossible not to feel awed and
BUNDLED in its presence.
In other places these mountain walls oil
rock take similar and only less majestic
shape while as frequently they assume
more roetical and fantastical forms Here
ard there are grand massive domes, as per
fee, in share MS your state house dome and
bigger than the entire OF dozen state
iuuscs. The highest rock OF the valley a
p,ricct haii-dome. sIlit sharp and square in
tie middle, and rising more than mile or
near COCO ieet.-as high as Mount Washing
ton Is above the level OF the sea,-over the
httlr lake which perfectly mirrors Its ma les
tic form at its loot. Perfect pyramids take
theIr places in the wall then these pyram-
ids come in families, and mount away one
alter and above the other. ~ - The Three
Brnther-." Tie Cathedral Rocks and the
Cathedral Spires unite the great uEpressiye-
mess. the beauty and fantastic firms OF the
Gothic archlt,c ture From THEN shafts and
c.or alike II Is difficult nut u think. in
looking upon them. that Won are under
the rams of an old Gothic cathedral. 10
witch those oi Cologne and Milan are hat
hlh,-Y.Us-s. Tie uiost couiL a. IuIH. "a t.it
rocks l. siigh,iy si'Ilu- hsre wal. lying
IN ~. dizzy swo' T.. sometimes 'iJl II ht'ii,
sometime jerl ca Icaiar. ANA -Jrtc.iig ~
ANA ~ - :.igii :Is - cheat the valley "ut o
huu-s uf sunsi.,u, eycr- iav. II, r. l.u-e Jr-
ches are carved on re iece t.r;e ing
mar shelves ran midway, along witch
ana IN every available virc. -rr-a: pm,
spr54t and grow, yes appearing lik, s!.rah,
az Hist tie broad EIsht 81 tic wall I; again,
tn, rock lies in thick folds, ore upon uno-
tier, like the hide OF a rhinocerOs /; OCCASION
al columns stand out as if sculpturtd upoI,
the surface ; sometimes il juts out at tie
top over the valley like the brim Of i beaver;
and then 1t rccedes and sharpens to a cone
Many of the various shapes and shades OF
color in the surface Of these massive walls of
rock come from the peeling off of great mas
tie weak cr,vices. and blast out huge slices
or fragments. that tail in boulders, IRON the
size of great house down TO that OF an aI-
pie, into the valley below. Over the sides of
tie walls pour streams of water out of mar
tower valleys still ah1ve, and vet higher and
far away, rise to 1900 and $4,000 feet the
eliminating peaks of tie Sierra Nevada, with
still visible fields of melting SHOWS. All
nd bay nd .alnr. 81, anl
beauty cluster around this narrow spot 1t
seems created the home of all that is richest
In inspiration for the heroic in life, for poe
try, for painting, for imaginative religion.
The water falls Of the valley, though
lesser incident in all its attractions, cffer
much that is marvellousa and beautiful This,
however, is the season OF their feeblest pow
CT. 1t is in May and June, when their
fountains are freshest, that they appear at
their best, and assume their proper place in
the grand panorama of beauty and subllmi-
ty. In the nam portion of the valley, the
Bridal Vail Is the first conspicuous fall-now
dainty rivulet starting over precipice 900
feet high, but nearly all lost at once in deli
cate spray that sways and scattcrs in the
light breeze, and fastens upon the wall, ss
sign OF its being and its beauty. the tabled
rainbow of promise. The name of this fall
IL well chosen it is type OF the delicate
gauzc. foaring and iIlusory, by which brides
delight TO hide their bushes and give mystic
~ to their charms. Farther up. before the
hotel, you see the Yo Semitic Fall, perhaps
twice the size in volume of the Bridal Vail,
but distinguished for its hight-the greatest
of any water fall yet discovered in the world.
1t is broken about two-tbirds the way down
Its high wall Of rock by projecting masses of
the mountain, giving it several hundred feet
of cataract passage; but cosnting its whole
fall from top to DO tom, it is $500 feet in
hight, which is only Is times as high as
Niagara Falls Now, it is a mere silvery
ribbon of spray, shooting down It's long pas
sage in delicate rockets of whitened foam.
Earlier in the season, when ten tunes the |
Hnl q Tar