The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-07-11
Snow Hammers of the CaIifornian
Alps.

ulpSL SuDitIItC SIOIll CNCA |
witnessed in the Alps, far surprising in
plain, downright grandeur all the most
imposing effects of clouds, floods, and
avalanches.
The snow out of which these banners
are formed is heaped mosi beautifully
upon the Alps, winter after winter, some
times to a depth of twenty or thirty feet;
but it does not come from the sky in the
form of big feathery flakes, such as one
sees in calmer weather and more tenn
perate regions, seldom even i'll the form
of complete crystals For many of these
starry blossoms fall before they are ripe, |
while most of those that do attain per-
feet development rs six-petaled flowers
CLINT againt one another in their fall, aud
are broken into irregular fragments.
This dry, mealy, fragmentary snow is
still farther prepared for the formation
OF banners by the action OF the wind. |
for instead Of at once finding rest, like |
that which falls into the tranquil depths |
of the forest zones, it Is rolled over and |
and over, beaten against bare, jagged |
rocks, and twirled in pits and hollows, |
| like sand in the pot-holes of a river, un- |
til finally the keen crytal angles Of the |
| fragments are worn Oft, and the whole is |
reduced to dust.
! Wherever strong storm winds find this
! light, background snow dust in a loose
condition, upon exposed slopes where
there is free upward sweep, 1t is tossed
back into the sky, and borne onward
from peak to peak in the form of banners
or cloud-shaped drifts, according to the
velocity of the winds and conformation
of the slopes upon which they are deflec-
ted,
While thus flying through the dry,
frosty air, Il small portion makes good Its
escape, and remains in the sky as vapor,
for evaporation never wholly ceases even
in the most rigorous weather But by
far the greater part, after being driven
into the sky again and again, is at length
locked fast in firm, bossy drifts or i'll the
wombs of glaciers, some of it to remain
silent and rigid for many years ere it is
finally melted into music, and sent allow
: ing and singing down the mountain side
to the sea.
Yet, notwithstanding the abundance
? of winter snow dust in the Alps, and the
| frequency of comparatively htgh winds,
and the length of time that the dust re.
mains loose and fully exposed to their
r action, the production of well-formed
e banners is, for causes we shall hereafter
see, of quite rare occurrence. Indeed
, during five winters spent in the Sierra, |
: have observed only one display of this
t kind that seemed in every way perfect.
This was in 1878, when the snow laden
Alps were swept lengthwise by power
S full norther. happened to be wintering
in Yosemite Vallay at the time, that sub
| lime Sierra stronghold, in which one may
e witness the creation of those forms OF
q storm grandeur that are termed wonder
!, ful, almost every day-storms Of sun
shine, storms of snow, floods, avalanches
+ changing waterfalls, changing clouds
: Yet even here the grand gala day of the
+ north wind seemed surprisingly glori-
: Gus.
J. / was awakened in the early morning
l. by the rocking of my cabin and the beat
!. ing of pine burs on the roof. Detached
L torrents and avalanches from the main
s wind food overhead were rushing wildly
: adOWn the narrow side canons and over
n the rugged edges Of the walls with loud
e resounding roar, arousing the giant pine:
e to magnificent activity, and making the
e entire granite valley throb and trem blt
n like an instrument that has been played.
l. But afar on on the lofty a ps the
n storm was expressing itself in still grand
n er characters, which | soon was to see il
e all their glory.
IS / had long been anxious to study some
l. points in the structure of the ice cone
n that is formed every winter at the foot
it of the main Yosemite Falls, but thu
IS binding spray by which it is invested
l. had prevented me from making a suffi
IF GENTLY near approach. This morning
e however, the entire body of the fall wa
a torn into gauzy strips, and blown horizon
l., ~ along the face of the cliff, leaving the
S cone entirely dry. And while maxim!
If my way to the top of an overlooking
1t ledge to seize SO favorable an opportunity
e of examining the interior structure 0
t, the cone, the peaks of the MERGED grOul
E. showed themselves over the shoulder 0
lie the South Dome, each waving a resplen
s. dent banner against the blue sky, as reg
er ular in form and as firm in texture as
is woven of fine silk. So perfectly glori
er Gus phenomenon of course overbore al
IN other considerations, and [ at once begal
~ to force my way out of the valley to som
j. dome or ridge sufficiently lofty to com
ly maud general view of the main Alpin
ID SUBMITS, feeling assured | should fin
Il
es was | in the least disappointed,
is The side canon by which assemble,
its was choked with snow that had been sho
Ill down in avalanches from the shelving
walls on either side, rendering the climb
he ing exceedingly difficult. But, inspire
Mt by the grand vision atop, the most tedi
es Gus scrambIing brought no fatigue, am
lis in four or five hours | stood beyond tn
ne walls, upon ridge eight thousand fec
-e- high.
d. And there, in bold relief, like clea
re painting on the sky, appeared one of tn
ge most imposing spectacles the eye of ma
a ever beheld. Alps innumerable, blac
as and jagged, rising sharply into the azur
as their bases set in solid white, their side
ire streaked with snow, like an ocean roc
he with foam and from every summit, a
,e- free and unconfused, a streaming banner
til from two to six hundred feet 10 length
tic slender at the point of attachment, the
as widing gradually as it extended from til
on peak, until about a thousand or fftee
hundred feet in breadth. The colossi
he cluster of peaks called The Crown
ed the Sierra" and the majestic ranks ma
ne shalled along the axis to the north an
nd south, Mounts Ritter, Lyell, Mcclure
he the Matterhorn, with their nameless con
he peers, each with its own refulgent bannt
is waving with a clearly visible motion
let the sunglow, with not a single lightning
err bolt to mar the sublime simplicity of II
d. wind tones, not a single cloud in the sk
n to mar the simple grandeur of the bal
ners.-Harper's Magazine for July.
in Parson Newman lectured at Washing