Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-09-03
KINGS RIVER CANYON,
A Region that Rivals the Yosemite I'm
Natural Beauty.

Natural Beauty.
Except in the matter Of waterfalls,
Yosemite isn't in it when compared
with the great Kings river canon"
said Artist c. d. Robinson, to a San
Francisco Examiner reporter. He re-
turned recently from trip to the
great canon.
John 2. Irish said that the beauty
OF the Yosemite valley was its one
ness" resumed Mr.. Robinson. I
cannot understand what he meant by
that, II he means the oneness of the
Yosemite Ring he is just about right,
but if he means that the Yosemite
valley stands alone by itself he is
away in the background. He does not
know anything at all about the Yose-
mite, and | don't think he ever saw
| the valley until he was appointed one
of its commissioners.
John Muir can offer indisputable
| evidence that the Yosemite valley re-
peats itself time and again all through
the Sierras, with the exception of the
Hetchy-Hetchy valley inside of the
Yosemite, and there is nothing to jar
upon the scene u, harmony. But some
OF the peaks in 2e great Kings river
canon are equauy as high. You can
set the Yosemite and Hetchy-Hetchy
valleys together in the Kings river
canon, and there will be plenty of
rogm to move them up and down
| lengthwise
The canon increases in Importance
and magnitude as you &c up the val
| ley. but the broadest spaces are found
near its mouth. TIE narrowrst part
where the glaciers have worked nc +
actively, is at its upper end and there
its walls are the loftiest.
-. NJ. Hutchings, the pioneer was
the original explorer of Kings river
canon, as he was OF the Yoscm e ST.
ley. All the trails and other III. w
ments in the Yosemite valley Were O.
signel by him. aud the Yosemite COM
missionerS have simply reharrowed
his ground"
Mr. Robinson was loud in his prs,
OF the scenic beauty of the Kings river
canon. He exhibited several oil
sketches in proof of hi -'"rnmant, and
emerald meadows, the lo1., ,&@ IS and
the deep blue skies they portray.
In fact this deep blueness, verging on
indigo, seems to be an exaggeration,
but Mr.. Robinson declares that his
| sky tint is as true to nature as his art
could make it.
One OF these sketches portrays Mount
Hutchings a bold peak rising between
4, 900 and 5, 900 feet above the floor OF
the valley, through which flows the
| picturesque stream known as the south
fork of the Kings river The only
waterfall of any great magnitude is the
Roaring River Falls 1t appears to be
not more than twenty-five feet wide
and fifty feet high, but by measure
ments made by surveyors it is fifty feet
wide by 100 feet high.
Its appearance is deceptive because
of TIE lofty cliffs that close in on it on
the sides and in the rear. The water
falls over a precipice, making beau
tiful fan of foam, and spreading out in
a turbulent eddying mass into Roaring
River. The wall back of it stands
1000 feet above the level of the river,
and on the left-hand side rises peak
J on whose top the snow falls while It
rains on the river below.
The Muir Dome. about half way up
the valley is an imposing mountain,
and very much resembles the north
dome of the Yosemite. 1t stands
nearly >, 900 feet above the level of the
valley. 1t is really an elevated ridge,
the front face Of which bears very
strong resemblance to Ell Captain in
the Yosemi Valley.
Another sketch in oil portrays q
sombre, towering wall of blue granite,
roughly furrowed by the storms of CEN
turtles.
Mr.. Muir has named it the Seven
Gables, on account of it's remarkable
resemblance to the gables of all i'm
mense building. At the foot OF this
mountain is beautiful emerald
meadow whose sides are studded with
giant sequoias.
The highest summit crossed by
Messrs. Robinson an Muir stands s, 500
feet above sea-level. 1t has been
named the Great Summit
In the canon are five great groves of
sequoias, one Of the trees named Gen.
Grant measuring thir%y-nine feet in
diameter at the base The trunk has
/ been burned from a circular form into
that of an ellip5e and its original
diamete- must have been more than
forty feet. The valley is from Is to
100 miles east of Fresno City and is
uninhabited save by q few jewellers in