The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-10-03
THE YOSEMITE.
The Famous Valley in the
Haze Of September.
A STORE HOUSE OF sUBLIMITY.
81 Oapitan-The CathedraI-GIaCfeF
POint-The DOmes-Tissaack
AVenue-1he Water Falls
To the Editor Of TIE HERALD.

To the Editor of The HERALD.
AS well try to follow on clutches 6
channels hunter who has free use of his
limbs as to try and follow with rule and
measure one who has the free use OF
his imagination. Words, or words to
that effect, are said by Ruskin
and they make me feel how
useless, with my cramped, hating
style and poor stock of words, will DE
my attempt to do something like justice
to the many subIimities of the Yosemite
Valley. Do not fear from this that
intend to wear out the patience of your
readers with q lot of magniloquent
words picked out of my Thesaurus. To
tell you the exact truth, do not feel to
gush over the scenes, grand as they are
! Ghat L a u about 20 describe. The Yo-
semitic did not affect me in that way.
| There is something so severe in the
style of its Stupendous architecture, as
&c silence all nonsense we might be
| tempted TO say about 1t. By this / do
not mean to say that there are not also
| beauties that is the wonder of the YC-
semitic. its perfect blending of the beau
tiful and grand elements of land.
| scape. What those elements are
L viii tell you, SO you can judge
| for yourself what combination it must
make for the eye. Imagine a valley,
say from six TO seven miles long, and
from half to three-quarters OF a mile
| wide; LET its level floor be covered with q
! growth Of pine, balSam and oak; through
| this forest wind clear stream OF water
| then on either side of this valley, pile up
walls of granite to an average height OF
800 feet; let them in some places pe
smooth, perpendicular, unbroken; at
others spliRtered into Crags or rounded
into massive domes; over the edge of
| some OF these walls, let torrents come
pouring down; reflect all of this in the
sleeping pools of the river; enrich your
| fOl egrOUnds, with masses of tangled
fern; let the blue smoke from
Indian camp-fres rise up through the
| trees, and you have those combinations
of line and color which have tried the
skill of America s best artists.
One thing against the Yosemite is,
that it contains no surprises. So well
do we know it, so familiar are we be-
come with its leading features from
paintings, photographs and engravings,
| that We recognize each rock and cliff as
| though we had been among them for
| years. Like certain individuals. it suf-
| fers from the greatness of its fame. We
ind it impossible TO be surprised by any
| thing we may see, being prepared for IL
| beforehand. As a set-Off to this, there
are few diSappointments; 1t is all
you could expect. Had not
received a good schooling in gran
tie scenery from some of the fine
precipices between the Big and Little
COLtonWoOds, my astOniShment would
have been greater. As it was, Mirror
LAKE was my only Disappointment. It
Is not near so beautiful as our own Lake
Mary in the WaSatch. Primitive rock,
primitive trees, almost primitive man,
make up the Yosemite and its native
inhabitants. The Digger Indians are,
believe, the lowest IN the scale of all our
aborigines. TIE older members of the
tribe are quite Tepulsive looking. Mr..
Fiske, a resident of the valley, told me.
however, that they made very faithful
servants. ACorns form the chief staple
of their winter food; their manner of
caching these is peculiar. a pole is
erected, or 8 tree cut off at u proper
height; around this is built a cylinder
shaped apartment constructed OF
pine branches; roof Of pine bark pro-
tects il from above, and openings at
different levels are lett Tor the Inserting
of the hand. This is the cOmmIssary
through the long winter months.
What is the senation on first behold
ing the Yosemite? Well, that is hard
to say. 1t depends much upon the in
diYidusl. Ny impression (pardon the
SAVIOR of the shop was that of looking
upon a magnificent painting, so COM
plete, so perfect is the view arranged by
nature for pictorial effect. The place
where the valley first opens to the sight
has been well named
INSPIRATION POINT.
The view includes the principal features
OF the valley, but dwarfed by the masses
of the huge Ell Captain on the
left hand, and the Three Graces on the
right; the Bridal Veil Fall, with its 900
feet of gauze htly adorns the Graces;
the North and nth Domes loom uD
at the background. while Clouds Rest
closes the extreme distance. The coach
driver had been repeatedly asked.
''Shall VS. see the valley before sunset"
and as repeatedly he had answered in
the affirmative. Experience makes
them able to time themselves to the
minute in reaching any given poii on
the road; so close are the possibilities
Of the horses, and the road gagged, that
a delay of ten or fifteen minutes IL
starting IS hard to make up in dis
lance OF thirty miles or more.
This is depression, though; /
was going to tell more about the
first view. but a few words will
do. All suffused atop with the last rays
of sunset, and mantIed ID shadow be
low, and all dim through the haze of
early autumn, it ma picture OF the
utmost beauty,
Crack goes the whip, down the grade
we fly, leaving a trail OF dust behi1d.
Pne valley seems 70 be rising TO meet
u and the mountains growing up
wards. Rattle te-hang, across dry tor