St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-09-02

Starting out from the little Yosemite
on Monday morning we went to the
South Dome, which stands between the
two valleys. 1t is the most picturesque
object in the Sierras. Imagine a cOlOs-
sal sugar loaf of granite cut down per-
pendicularly along its central axis to
a depth of some 1000 feet. Think OF
this as standing alone by itself, a halt
alone remaining, and if your imagina-
tive powers are strong enough You can
see South Dome. If not, go into the
Athenaeum, and in Bierstadt's great
painting you have its cleft side straight
before you. Ten years ago a human
foot had never rested upon it. 1t is a
smooth granite rock, with no crack or
seam up which a man could crawl, the
curved sides having a slope of from
800 to 6O0. A few years ago an old
sailor of wonderful nerve succeeded in
reaching the top. He drove some sta
pies into the rock as he went, and to
these rope has since been fastened, by
means of which venturesome tourists
draw themselves up for 900 feet over
the smooth granite side. 1t runs up
from the shoulder on the n. E. side,
where the slope is nearly 45o, and no
one without very steady nerves had
better attempt the ascent. In fact, my
hnf - sef faO1
hardy for any one to attempt it; as if
one should get faint, or giddy or lose
his hold of the rope for an instant,
nothing could save him from being
dashed down the rocks for hundreds
or perhaps thousands of feet. 1t would
matter little which. If he once got
started there would be no possible way
of stopping, until he reached the
bottom. We all set out to make the
ascent, but on reaching the foot of the
Ope, two of the party very prudently
decided to remain below. But Mr.. q,
who had scaled the Alps and the An
des, and your correspondent decided
to keep on. | never had climbed be-
fore. For an hour or more we tugged
or struggled on that rope, slowly pull
ing ourselves along, the hot sun beat
ing upon our heads all the while, not
daring to look down to the dizzy
depths below, too proud to go back,
but almost afraid to go on. You may
be sure we were thankful when we
reached the top, and stood on that bare
granite dome up in the sky. Said Mr
Q. to me, 81 got frightened on the way,
| was afraid | could not go on, and
prayed for help; then the thought came
over me, what right have | to pray,
had no business to risk my life in this
way.r 1t was an awful feeling that
came over us up there alone. The
thought of going down again was some
thing terrible, but after an hour on the
top, during which time we enjoyed a,
well as we could the superb view thai
presented itself to us, with the menta
promise that if the Lord would help Ill
down safely we would never go VI
South Dome again, we once more tool
to the rope. After the first few yards
were gone over, and we became accus
toned to "backing down." the descen
was comparatively easy. But l do no
care to try it again. The risk is Ger
tainly too great. Down past Nevada
and Vernal Falls, and along the cas-
cades, we followed the Merced wind
ings, until we came to our valley home
The friends we had left behind in CAM
were labOring under the impression
that they had been ''roughing it" al
the while, but to IFS they seemed t.
have been living at ease and in luxury
SO ended our eight days tramp owe
the Sierras, leaving us with sun burn
faces, hardened muscles, and what vii
be far more enduring, bright memorie
to cheer the months and years of worl
to come.
| BERKLEY, Cal, Aug. 1881.