Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1877-06-30
THE VALLEY OF THE YOSEMITE.
4 CaitfsrniR stage Drivers Ymrus-Th
Gi0ri0us Valley Described.

York paper writes IN follows from the
valley Of the Yosemite:
From Big Tree Station (Mariposa
Grove) We staged II thirteen miles up .
rocky mountain road, no steep that six
horses could scarcely walk with the
stage, and then pell nell We few thir-
teen niles down again into the Yosemite
valley.
Delaney Kane is good coacher, but
il Mr.. Kane could SGT one day on the box
with George Monroe and see those six
horses 60 galloping down narrow-ter-
raced roads, hanging over rocky cayons
could see George handle tho ribbons
around curves where the deviation OF
six inches by the leaders would have sent
the coach whirling into the top Of pine
trees, running up like mammoth blades OF
grass from u fathomless abyss-if he
could zee George lean his body like u
circus rider and fetch the leaders aud
middles and whcelers into q graceful
curve. while the passengers look pale
and gasp for breath-why, Delaney
would quietly return 10 New York, trade
of his Pelham coach with its tin bugles
and yellow wheels for n genuine Concord
and 60 to racing with six horses along
the curved edges of the Palisades.
Now and then n jack rabbit or
gray squirrel would jump in front Of the
leaders, or II rattlesnake would strike
forward ut the wheels from the bushes.
"Many snakes around the Yosemite,
George ?" asked, ms we passed Inspira-
ton point, and the whole valley and
Bierstadt's picture broke into view.
"Snakes Many snakes round the
Yosem'P should say so. Do you see
the Bridal Veil fall there to the right,
looking as if the mother of oil the wash.
erwomen was pourin' II lake full Of suds
and clothes $40 feet over the rocks ?"
asked George, pointing up the valley
with his long whip.
"Yes, see it,"
"Well, right in among them rocks
and trees, where the water strikes the
bottom of the valley, and where the
young ladies ride up from the hotel on
horseback to zee the falls, theirs snakes
on snakes. Rattlesnakes, tool"
odd they ever bite any one,
George?"
"Bite any one! Why I've seen 'em
come out and chew tourist to pieces
and swallow him in three minutes,
and"
ooh, MY" exclaimed two Young
ladies, throwing up their hands.
eyes, sir" continued the driver.
"One day man was holm corn down
there" -
"What! hoeing corn among these
rocks, George ?" interrupted.
"Now don't interrupt me" continued
the driver. eff you want information
about this valley just keep quiet. Well,
the man was holm corn, and along came
rattlesnake and snapped that hoe han
die in two in a jiffy, and"
"Did it kill the man? ?" interrupted
passenger.
"No, not exactly but that hoe handle
began to swell and the hoe began to
turn spotted, and the eye of the hoe got
bloodshot and" -
And that, reader, is just the way those
Californians continually try to impose on
us innocent Eastern tourists. If fall
is 400 feet high they call it l, 400; if they
shoot squirrel they call it a coon if
they see il polecat they swear they have
been attacked by grizzly. In fact, one
poor English lord has grown demented
by listening to these lying Yosemite
stage drivers and guides, and has been
wandering around the valley for six
months with an opera glass and bundle
of umbrellas and canes to shoot grizzly
bear when the first drove comes tearing
down the North Dome to Mirror lake.
But really, the Yosemite is magnih-
cent. Picture to yourself sweet Gar
den OF Eden, about four miles long and
one mile wide, with clear, rapid trout
stream cascading through it. Stand on
the California end of this Eden and look
up the crystal MERGED toward New York.
On your right the Bridal Veil fall, with
it's rainbow hues, comes foaming thou
sand feet over perpendicular rocks. On
the left is Ell Captain, a majestic stone
mountain, lifting itself $500 feet into
the air. Further to the left are the falls
of the Yosemite, where river breaks
and Kisses and groans 2,634 feet over the
precipice. See it crash and spatter, and
burst into cloud OF mist, and then float
maiestically away in cloud. In front
are the North and South Domes, sublime
old rocky, snow-capped sentinels, look
ing down on Mirror lake from Il dizzy
height of 5000 feet. 1t was here before
the great North and South Bones that
Horace Greeley stood when he wrote that
moonlight description:
"That first full, deliberate gaze up the
opposite height can ever forget it
The valley is here scarcely half mile
wide, while its northern wall of mainly
naked, perpendicular granite, is at least
1000 feet high. But the modicum of
that fell into this awful gorge
gave to that precipice a vagueness of
outline, al indefinite vastness, ghostly
and weird spirituality. Had the moun-
tain spoken to me in audible voice, or
began to lean over with the purpose of
burying me beneath its crushing mass,
should hardly have been surprised.
Now, whirl completely around, and to
your right you will see the original of
Bierstadt's great picture, the falls of the
Yosemite. The MERGED river, overflow
ing its banks, makes the seeming lake.
Some Yosemite Indians have come in
with strings of speckled trout, and stand
in front of the fall, to add the picturesque
L.. IL IL