The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-09-09
From Hearth and Home.
The Yosemite Valley.
SoUTH BEND, IND, July 18th, 1869.

MEssRs. PETTENGIL, BATES 81 Co. Il
recollect having promised to send you, if
| could find time, some incident of travel,
or brief description of some of the at
tractlye regions had found in my wan
derIngs, foryourS eXcellent and Justly val
ueq weekly paper, Hearth and Home.
Inc thoughts OF so many are turned to-
ward the peerless valley of the Yosemite
since theopening of the Pacific Railroad
has brought it so much nearer to the At
lant1c seaboard than when visited it in
1860, that | have concluded to send you
tue accompanying sketch, and am
roo Very truly yours, a0r4 / lsc
Emo9 49, sfsers SCHUYLER. CoLFAx.
Far up in the Sierra Nevada, nearly
three hundred miles from San Francisco,
IS tae preemlnent wonder Of our continent,
the Yosemite valley, untroddens by the
foot OF the white man until 1851. and diff
ticult OF access to this day No wheels
have ever rumbled over its sod; but leay-
ing the stage at Mariposa, sure footed
horses take you by grades that seem to
the eye almost unclimable, up rugged
mountaln-ranges, down deep valleys,
through narrow rayines and narrower
gorges, amid majestic forests, over bould.
ers Of granite, skirting along hillsides for
fifty miles, until at last, from a jutting
point on the often precipitous trail, you
look down into this wonderful cleft or ifs
sure which you must wind around mile
after mile yet to enter. Anticipating
something grand, the reality,as is 50 rare
5iy the case, is, in romantic beauty and
wild sublimity, far beyond the mental
pictures drawn by the most vivid imagi-
nation. The towering Sierras, which the
Almighty has thus torn asunder, are all
around. Towns and settlements are far
behind you. 1t seems the home of the
genius of solitude. And there you look
straight down nearly a mile, into narrow
but smiling valley, eight miles long, and
averaging but half a mile in width, with
the MERGED River winding gracefully
among grassy meadows and scattered
Groves while like grim sentinels on eth
er side, the mountains rise 5000 to 5000
feet above the valley which itself is 1000
feet above the sea. 4 ~ ~ =.
These yellowish granite walls, like Tu-
toch nu=lah, or Ell Captain, as it is often
called, straight up and down. smooth,
seamless, and verdureless or s1irmounted,
like another, by a beautifully rounded
dome, greater and vaster than dome of
capitol or palace, or shooting up into an
assimilation to chathedral towers, after
which other are named, or mounting one
above another, and rolling away in close
proximity to each other, like the Three
Brothers or cut down, sharp and sheer.
in the middle, as with a mighty cleaver-
welded by power no less than infinite,
like the Half Dome; or towering above
like the Sentinel Rock ;or Slight
ly sloping from the perpendicular, but
massive and gigantic as the rest-such an
of remarkable mountains fill
the soul with the bewildering granduer,
as we'll as the solemn sublimity of the
scene. It seems as if, in the creation,
this wonderful turrow was ploughed out
of the mountain range, and the rock
thrown away, that a valley, picturesque
in its varied beauty, and smiling as you
might imagine the happy valley of Rasse-
les, shut out from all the din and. strife,
and unrest of the, world, might here be
found. And when, after gazing an hour
in silence, you leave this view to wind
around the trail by which descentto this
almost inaccessible valley is found, and,
at last ride along the rivers bank, gallop
ing over the luxriant grass swafd, for
days enjoying and drinking Units peerless
and commanding scenery, new beauties
feast your eyes att every hour. b1Sre FL
Here is the Bridal VEIL a creeka70 feet
wide, falling over its rocky wall 900 feet
at a single leap, and dissipated first into
lace-like form, and then into feecy mist
by the descent. HERE'S the Yosemite falls,
the highest in the world, at two leaps
falls twenty.six hundred feet, fifteen times
higher than Niagra, the eye firing as i it
looks almost straight upward to, where it
comes rushing. over the precipice into
view. He1e are the falls by which the Mer-
ced River tumbles from the higher ground
behind these mighty walls Of the valley
itself-at one fall, the Nevada, 1eapingi
from the top ola perpendicular cliff full
roo feet and then after dashing on rapid.
ly over a nooth and rounded granite bed
into which the water has literally worn
its channel, leaping downward again at
the Vernal Fall $50 feet, with that rare
phenomena, circular rainbow, at its base.
Though no mule or horse can reach these
most fascinating of all the wonders of the
valley, and the trail is rugged and diff
cult, and wearisome on foot and ladders
nearly 800 feet high are needed to scale
the perpendicular walls ofrock over which,.
by your side, the river sthunders at its.
second plunge, fatigue and danger are
forgotten in these awe inspiring and start
ling sublime works of the Creator around
you. The long journey from the East is,
more than repaid by such combinations of
austere, and exquisite scenery as looked
on with mingled admiration and surprise
in the Valley of the Yosemite - -
Il IA 3 s .----~e-w s--~---~--.. A 1"-tA
I Miss Ada Webb, the actress, who has