The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-09-04
The Treasures of the Yosemite.

From The Treasures of the Yose
mite" an illustrated article by Johr
Muir in the Century. we quote as fol-
lows: THE Yosemite Valley, in the
heart of the Sierra Nevada is a noble
mark for the traveller. whether tourist.
botanist, geologist or lover of wilder
ness pure and simple. But those who
are free may lind the journey long
one; not because of the miles, for they
are not so many,-only about two hun
dred and fifty from San Francisco. and
passed over by rail and carriage road:
in day or two,-but the way is sc
beautiful that one is beguiled at every
step. and the great golden days anC
weeks and months 90 by uncounted
How wildly my own first journey to
Yosemite comes to mind, though made
more than a score of years ago. l sci
out afoot from Oakland on the bay OF
San Francisco. i'll April. 1t was the
bloom-time of the year over all the
lowlands and ranges of the coast; the
landscape was fairly drenched with
sunshine, the larkS were singing. and
the hills were SO covered with flowers
that they seemed to be painted. Slow
indeed was my progress through these
glorious gardens. the first of the Cali
fornia flora | had seen. Cattle anc
cultivation were making a few sears as
yet, aud | wandered enchanted in
long wavering curves, aware now and
then that Yosemite lay to the eastward
and that. sometime. | should find it.
Zone shining morning, ut the head
of the Pacheco Pass, Il landscape was
displayed that after all M wanderings
still appears as the most divinely
beautiful and sublime | have ever be.
held. There at my feet lay the great
central plain of California, level as p
lake, thirty or forty miles wide, -four
hundred long, one rich furred bed OF
golden Composite. And along the
eastern shore of this lake of gold rose
the mighty Sierra, miles in height. in
massive, tranquil grandeur, SO glorious
ly colored and so radiant that it seemed
not clothed with light, but wholly com.
posed of it like the wall of some
celestial city. Along the top and cx-
tending good way down, was rict
pearl-gray belt of snow; then belt OF
blue and dark purple, marking the ex-
tension of the forests; and stretching
along the base of the range 4 broad
belt of rose-purple, where lay the
miners gold and the open foothill
gardens-ali the colors smoothly blend
ing, making a wall of light clear
as crystal and ineffably fine, yet
firm as adamant. Then it seemed to
me the Sierra should be called, not
the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the
Range of Light. And after ten years
in the midst of it, rejoicing and won
dering, seeing the glorious floods of
light that fill 1.-THE sunbursts of
morning among the mountain-peaks
the broad MONDAY radiance on the
| crystal rocks, the flush of the alpen-
glow, and the thousand dashing water
falls with their marvellous abundance
| of irised spray,-it still seems to me a
range of light. But no terrestrial
beauty may endure forever. The glory
of wildness has already departed from
the great central plain. Its bloom is
shed. and so in part is the bloom of the
mountains. In Yosemite, even under
the protection of the government all
that is perishable is vanishing apace.