The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-09-05
VALLEY OF THE YOSEMITE.
APLACE WHERE NATURES GRAND
EST SCENES ARE UNVEILED.
Guarded by Lofty Granite walls and
Gemmed with Sparkling Water
faIIs-A Californian aradise.

1emmeu Win Sparkling water
fal1s-A Californian \ aradise.
When Doctor johnson wrote of that
Happy Valley of Amhara, in which Ras-
selas, the Prince of Abyssinia, and his
sister, Nekayah "lived only to know the
soft viCissitudes of pleasure and repose, 3"
he must have been granted mental WIS.,
ion of the great Yosemite of California.
The pellucid lake. teeming with aquatic
life, and the silvery stream which
coursed through the valley, could not
have been more enchanting than the
watery mirror which mingles the re-
Elected pictures of the heecy clouds
floating above and the towering rocky
domes about which they hover, or the
dashing MERGED, bearing to the ocean
the icy waters from the eternal glaciers
of the mountain SUBMITS; nor did they,
in their efforts to escape from this pleas
ure prison to search the world for the
true source of happiness, encounter more
unscaleable cliffs or loftier walls of rock
than those which encircle this valley in
the heart of the Sierras. The Indians,
whose depredations upon the miners in
1860 led to the discovery of the valley,
whittier they had fled from the wrath
OF the avenging Americans, called them
selves yosemite, and this name was
bestowed upon the valley, though it was
afterward learned that the proper In
dian name was "Ah-wa-ne. As the
natives speak the word it is "Yo- ham-i-
te," but the accepted pronunciation
among the people of California is Yo-
semitic
The Yosemite Valley lies on the head l.
waters of the MERGED river, in the very
heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains
1t is eight miles long, and varies from
one half to mile in width, containing
about $3.50 acres of ground. 1t is 3, $50
feet above the level of the sea, and is
surrounded by an almost unbroken wall
OF granite rock rising above it to a height
varying from 2, 500 to $500 feet and
overlooked by mountain peaks which
pierce the clouds 10, 900 feet above the
sea level. The scene which opens out
before the travellers eye at many points,
while descending the tortuous trail, is
one whose reflection can never grow dim
on the glass of memory. Though not as
grand a view as is offered from many
points in the valley itself, yet being the
first revelation of the wonders Nature
has hidden in those mountain wilds, the
impression made is the most vivid and
enduring. In one sweep the eye encom-
passes a large portion of the valley,
taking in the lofty granite walls, the
guardian domes of rock, and the numer-
Gus waterfalls pouring over the canyon S
edge and plunging down hundreds, and
even thousands, of feet to form the Mer-
ced river the crystal stream which mean
lers so peacefully through its entire
length. There are many scenes of beauty
and objects of wonder in Yosemite,
enough to require week of diligent ex-
ertion to see them properly, while even
months could be spent there with pleas
ure to the mind and profit to the body.
There are waterfalls to visit and many q
dome and spire to ascend before the val
ley has been seen in all its varied as
poets; and when the visitor has accom-
plishcd all the feats of climbing required,
and seen everything that challenges his
admiration, he can depart with the quiet
satisfaction of having beheld more grand
and beautiful sights than can be found
associated together in any other spot
in the universe. From tie P0rtland(Or.)
West Shore