The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-11
Special CORRESPONDENCE of the Globe.

Special Correspondence of the Globe.
YOSEMITE VALLEY, Cal, Oct. T.
God never made another stretch Of
coast like this" said a well-known
preacher of Boston, speaking Of the
north shore of Massachusetts, and I'm
going to invest right here
He did so and became enormously
rich from the rise in real estate.
God never made but one Yosemite,
but you can't buy any of 1t and so
speculate on the bounties of Provi-
dence, like the reverend gentleman of
Boston. Some people aren't satisfied
with corner lot in heaven; they want
to corral everything beautiful in sight
before they get there. But they can't
corner a single rod of this valley, for
the wisdom Of our national legislators
once rose to the greatness of an occa-
sion and decided it in trust to the state
of California for a perpetual park and
pleasure ground everlastingly for the
use and benefit of the people. This
was done by an act of the Goth of June.
1854. The state accepted the trust, and
this is how for the past thirtythree
years this wondrous work of nature
has become part and parcel of our ma
tional recreation grounds.
I do not think that the state of Cali
fornia has risen to the occasion as it
should have done and made this spot so
accessible or so habitable as it could.
Years ago it was estimated that the
state derived, directly and indirectly,
an income from visitors to the Yo-
semitic of not less than $500000. And
yet there is no steam or electric road
nearer than sixty miles away, no first
class and fire-proof hotel-nothing, in
fact, to indicate an outlay of more
than few thousands yearly. 1t keeps
a commissioner there to answer ques-
lions and prevent the destruction Of
the forests and it allows perfect free
dom within reasonable restraint to all
visitors.
You can go there and camp all sum-
mer through; you can have use of wood
and water, trails ana paths without
any outlay whatever, but the getting
there is altogether another matter.
Still there are some advantages in
staging it, even though the roads be
narrow, dusty and wholly inadequate.
Some time, perhaps, there will be an
electric road as far anyway as Wa
wona, and electric plants, worked by
the immeasurable water-power now
running to waste, will light the valley
throughout it's length and breadth.
With granite enough lying around loose
sufficient to build a city, the few
buildings here are entirely of wood,
mean and despicable.
Now, having paid my compliments
to the miS)management of this nation
al gift to California, perhaps it may be
expected that 1 shall find fault with
the valley itself Oh, dear, no! The
trouble is that 1 cannot find words in
which to express my delight at its
beauties, my admiration Of its gran
deur. 1t seems perfectly absurd for
mere man to come here and even at
tempt to describe the glories, the sub
limities, of this gift of God to mortals.
I cannot more than enumerate its at
fractions, but that will be sufficient to
show that they are peerless; that, were
the difficulties of reaching the Yosem-
lite increased a thousandfold, yet would
it be worth the greatest effort to reach
and look upon them. In a short letter
one must descend to plain statistics
and leave to the Imagination the eX-
carnations of admiration, the eleva-
ton of the soul, the awe and the rap
ture After a week Of wandering hith-
er and thither, after scaling cliffs, wad-
ing streams, gazing upon waterfalls
that seem to drop out of the sky and
into lakes that mirror majestic noun
tains in their bosoms, would that
could stop yet another week, a month,