The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-08-19
The National Park.

A correspondent of the ATgOnaut
writing from the Yosemite says: Sit
ting under tho shadow of oaks and
pines. at the foot Of the great Yosemite
fall, within the voice of its tumbling
waters, surrounded by ferns, and milk
weed. and trembling poplars, and with
in the great amphitheatre of rocks,
with q decayed stump for my writing
table, ! write. A week spent in this
valley, beside the clear waters of the
MERGED. four thousand feet above the
level of the sea. and three thousand be-
low the level Of the land, with dOiues.
and peaks, and pinnacles. and precipit-
Gus walls of granite. with oaks, and
pines. and shivering poplar trees, and
ferns, and grasses. and wild flowers.
and roaring waterfalls, and grassy
meadows, ought to do one good; ought
to lift him above and out of the anx-
ieties and petty vexatiOns Of an every
day city life, with its little ambitions
and struggles. II is certainly an agree
able thing to be away from the men of
merchandise, and the men of politics.
and the men of newspapers. / have
done this. leaving my annOyances ut
home. except my wife, who sits upon
the fallen log Of which l occupy the
stump, sketching; e~ndeavOring u pOr-
tray this divine waterfall, that leaps
from its dizzy height two thousand six
hundred feet down to the chasm below;
to picture these eternal rocks, this ever
falling stream in its splendid frame
work of sky, and rock, and forest; to
reduce it to a canvas-tO a canvas thir-
ty inches square-as | am endeavoring,
in feeble words, with a Faber pencil, To
describe a phenomenon that nature
wrenchcd itself to produce; aphenOme-
nOn that no one q >explain; that
Whitney, and Clarence King, and John
| Muir love to theOriZe about, and wonder
whether it was produced by glacial
| action or subsidence; whether in some
far-Off epoch of time a cataclysm rent
the rocks asunder, or whether the bot
tom dropped out earls day in time.
l have no theory concerning the Yosc-
mite. l saw it sixteen years ago. Since
then it has not changed in its natural
features, save wagon roads instead of
trails; twelvc-seated coaches in place
of mule and horse; some more hotels,
and, ! am sorry to say hotel runners
| Trails have been made to new points of
view, and the Yosemite Park Commits
siOners have established some healthy
regulations: They would be more
healthy, no doubt, If commissioners
and guardians were chosen from those
who have no interest in the Big Oak
Flat wagon-rOad. and who have no
money.making | interest in horse Or
hotel. 1t was a grand idea to rescue
this valley from private ownership. and
preserve it for a national park. 1t
would DO still an improvement if the
commissioners would purchase the
private trails, abolish tolls, and throw
open the valley and its surroundings to
the free access Of all. 1t would be still
further improved if the area of the res
ervatiOn could be more largely ex-
tended. and the ~itinerant sheep-herder,
with his devastating woody caravan.
could be excluded from coming within
it. Sheep are utterly destructive to all
the lesser plants so curious to the bot
anist. while the shecp-herder is a per-
feet fire-fiend; he burns on every side.
that in the coming years he may find
more grass. This reservation should
become q grand game preserve and
botanical garden. where the plants and
wild animals of the Sierra might find
protection from the greed and avarice
of man.