The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-11
YOSEMITE WONDERS.
sk X X X
*
= Within the Granite Walls of Ma
K tional Park

year. and possess this beautiful val
ley through the varying seasons of a
tWelVemOnth.
1t is seven miles long, with a breadth
of from half mile to mile sunk be-
tween towering cliffs and granite walls
from 5000 to 5000 feet in height.
AS you gaze, Spellbound, from Art
lists or Inspiration point, before the
stage descends to the valley floor 5000
feet below, you realize that life holds
many things in store worth living for
1t is difficult to believe that this divine
| view never became within the range of
| white mans vision until less than fifty
years ago; that until the year 1851 the
| Indian possessed this valley unmolest-
| ed except by others of his kind and
| civilization knew 1t not.
Descending by narrow and Zigzag
! carriage road, you reach the bottom of
! the valley, level as a floor, through it's
center running a swift flowing river,
! the MERGED. and between the high, per-
| pendicular cliffs spreads diversity of
| forest, composed of majestic trees and
| fragrant shrubs and green meadow
| lands embossed with bright colored
| flowers
AT your right, before you and above
| you, rise the cathedral rocks, their
| SUBMITS $500 feet above level and over
| their breaStWorkS pouring the f1eecy
waters of the Bridal Veil. This water
| fall is $50 feet in height, and the vol
ume of water that pours over the rocks
| is tremendous, yet it appears as tenu-
| Gus and f1lmy as a bit OF lace. Come
| back some time between 4 and in the
afternoon and watch the changing col
| ors of the rainbow which at that time
| spans the lower fall Over opposite,
forming the massive buttress of the
| western portal, rises Ell Captain, that
| sheer precipice of granite, pearly pink
| and gray in color and with an almost
| perpendicular face $500 feet in height
The valley floor itself is 1900 feet above
| sea level, and thus Ell Captains bald
head is thrust over 1000 feet up into
| the clouds
The stage bowls over the soft sandy
read, through forest of oak and pine
| the river and Ell Captain on its left
| and, having rounded the bold shoulder
| Of the Cathedral group, you see shoot
| ing up the tall cathedral spires, two of
| them, with an average height of $500
| feet above the valley. Then the triple
| profile of Fissure mountain is outlined
against the sky, recalling the Old Man
Of Profile Notch, New Hampshire, only
| here there are three faces Across the
| river again rise the Three Brothers, the
| highest $500 feet, croWding upon each
| other like boys at a game of leapfrog
| On the right as we progress the iso-
| lated monolith known as the Sentinel.
a combined castle and cathedral tower,
rises 800 feet.
Over behind Ell Captain trickles a thread
of water over 2,G00 feet in length, known as
the Ribbon fall noiselessly descending but
we near the Sentinel hotel on the bank of
the MERGED we are Saluted by the roar Of the
mighty Yosemite, a triple cascade, shoot ng
over mountain wall of dark gray granite
1900 feet from the hollow in the c.oud seek
ing cliff to the emerald pool at its base. From
the back or river veranda of the Sentinel you
can watch the play of the slvery, aqueous
rockets as they dart downward and at night
be lulled to sleep by the roaring of its waters.
There was two hotels in the valley until
August Of last year, but the larger of the
the Sentinel has to harbor all who come
The commissioners fixed the highest hotel
rate at So per day, but this does not prevent
your paying 81 If a better room is desired
than goes with the regular price. There are
more ways of killing a cat, you know, than
by dashing out its brains. But still 1t costs
something to get provisions into the valley, and
one feels that rates ought to be little higher
than outside; they are, at any rate, reports
to the contrary notwithstanding.
But who can bubble about hotel and trans
portation bills when all around are beauties
beyond estimate and scenes beyond all price?
In the morning, before the sun rises, say at
z o'clock you form one of the ;nnumeraple
caravans which wends its way to Mirror
Mount Watkins, 1920 feet high; Clouds
Rest, 5000 and the Half Dome, 5000 feet,
in It's bosom. as the sun climbs above the
notch and on horseback or mulebacA You
climb the trails to the Vernal falls. S26 feet
high, and still beyond to Nevada falls. GIT