St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-08-12


eyes, we'll spend our summer vaca-
ton in the Yosemite. Wen take our
families along - those of us who are
so fortunate as to have any - and
more special friends besides, and do
the thing up brown" SO said the care
worn Divinity Doctor, and the grave
University Professor, and the young
suburban pastor. The project once
decided upon grew ill attractiveness,
and routes and plans were largely dis
cussed.
In the first place it must he a camp
ing expedition. Hotels were to be
stunned, luxuries dispensed with, fine
clothes discarded. We would spend
forty days and nights in this wilder
ness, with nothing over our heads but
tents with blankets for our beds, and
coarse camp fare to supply the waste
of muscle tissue. The average Cali
fornian understands what it is to camp
out The six months of rainless sum
mer make living out of doors among
the mountains a safe luxury, and we
need not plan beforehand about the
weather.
After a good deal of deliberation the
plans of the party were completed.
We were fourteen i'll number, besides
Annie, the cook, and Harry, the boy,
who was to ride the Doctors horse in
to the valley. The rest of us, to avoid
the long, dusty ride from the sea coast
back to the mountains, We're to take
steamer up the San Joachim river as
far as Stockton, then rail as far as
possible, and stagecOach the rest of
the way. Our baggage and camp
equipage were sent on by freight sew
go directly into camp on reaching the
valley.
| THE JOURNEY.
OF the two or three routes into the
Yosemite from San Francisco, we chose
the shortest, by Big Oak Flat Z: and in
tifty-twO hours after leaving the me
trOpOlis. we were within sound of the
stupendous waterfall. The Journey i'll
we had not anticipated, but kind ma
ture sent her last summer showers to
lay the dust before us and cool the air,
so the trip was delightful. The nine
ty-three miles of staging did not
seem short, to be sure, but there was
much of interest by the way. There
were old deserted mining camps and
tumble down villages, where the
duri SdcrG flames had crazed the brains
and chilled the hearts of so many in
days gone by. There were great hills
washed away in grooves or gulches
and seams by the hydraulic miner.
There was CopperopOlis, with copper
enough in its bosom to bronze the
world, but locked up by a persistent
lawsuit Chinese Camp, with its low
stone houses secured by iron doors
which could tell sad tales of revelry
and crime if they could only speak
Table Mountain, the silent record of Il
volcanic upheaval long ago; the yel-
low Stanislaus, sluice of miners
gOld-suds; the dashing Tuolumne
and miles after miles of gigantic for
ests of cedar and pine. One never
tires of riding through these Califor-
mia forests. Nature seems continually
trying to OutdO herself. The pines
shoot upward as straight as an arrow
for $50 to 200 feet, and so symmetrical
that you are surprised to find them six
eight and ten feet in diameter. But
the eye gets so accustomed to then
that one fails to appreciate the gigan-
tic SequOid when they come in sight
Our route took us through the smal
TuOlumne grove of Big Trees, contain
: ing several of the giants, measuring
from twenty to thirty feet in diameter
and tall enough to he symmetrical
One of them has been tunnelled, and on
f horse coach went galloping through
! it with plenty of room to spare. One
needs to walk around one of these BIZ
Trees, measure it with a string, anC
see man stand up beside it, before Ii,
, can at all appreciate its immensity.
= The height above sea level at whicl
these grand forests will thrive, i'm
pressed me greatly. remembered the
! stunted shrubs high up on Mt. Wash
> il gtOn; but here we were riding alon:
T ln the hour 2OOO feet higher up thai
New England's tOpmost peak, witt
these great pines as tall as churcl
! spires all around us.
r DOwNwARDs.
That zigZag stage road down into tn
: valley of the Yosemite was IA constan
series of revelations. From this sum
, nit, 5000 feet above, we could see tn
] green basin of the Merced, and thel
o came that awful descent. The gran
deur of that ride, once experience,
from the seat beside the driver, i
q never forgotten. The grade is gentle
i but as you wind back and forth, turn
d ing sharp elbows, looking down int
a yawning abysses below or up at tn
towering rocks overhead, the ST
horses going at an easy trot all til
k way, you feel that your life depends o.
d the steady nerves and strong arm G
: the driver. Henceforth the skillfu
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