Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-10-20

frcshot and keep them for times Of drought
Tho irrigating process by which ali tho
arid lands between the Atlantic and Pa
ciilc oceans are To DO fertilized Is no new
experiment.
JchovPh's Throne.
1t has been going on successfully hun
dreds of years in Spain, in China, in In.
din, in Russia, in Egypt. About 500, 000,-
600 of people of the earth today are kept
alive by food raised on irrigated land,
And here we have allowed to lie waste,
given up to rattlesnakc and bat and
prairie dog, lands enough to support whole
nations of industrious population. The
work begun will he contaminated. Here
and there exceptional lands may be stub
born and refuse to yield any wheat or
corn from their hard fists, but II tho hoo
fail to mako an impression the miners
pickay will discover the reason for 1t and
hiring up from beneath those unproduc.
tive surfaces coal and iron and load and
copper and silver and gold. Godspeed tho
biologists and the surveyors, the engi'
ncers and the senatorial commissions, and
the capitalists, and the new settlers, and
the hushandrnon, who put their brain and
hand aud heart to this TRANSPORTATION of
the American continent STREAMS In tho
descrt,'
But while speak OF the immensely of
tho continent l must remark IL is not an
immensely of monotone or tameness. Tho
larger some countries are tho worse for
tho world. This continent is not moro re-
markablc for its magnitude than for its
wonders of construction. Yosemite and
the adjoining California regionsl Who
that has seen them can think of them
without having his blood tingloa Trees
now standing there that were old when
Christ lived These monaTchs of foliage
rcigncd before Caesar or Alexander, and
tho next 1000 years will not shatter their
sccptcr. They are the masts of the con-
tincrt their canvas spread on the winds,
while the old ship bears on its way
through the ages.
That valley of the Yosemite Ia eight
miles long and half mile wide and 1900
feet dccp. 1t seems ms If it had been the
meaning of Omnipotcnce to crowd into as
small place rs possible some of the most
stupcndous scenery of the world. Some
of the cliffs you do not stop to measure by
feet, for they are literally mile high.
steep so that neither foot of man nor beast
ever scaled them, they stand in cverlast-
ing defiance. If Jehovah has throne on
earth, these are its white pillars. Stand
ing down in this great chasm of the val
ley, you look up, and yondcr is Cathedral
rock, vast, gloomy minister built for the
silent worship of the mountains, Yondcr
is Sentinel rock, 3, 270 feet high, bold, soli-
tary, standing guard among the ages, its
top seldom touched until bride one
Fourth OF July mounted it and planted
the national standards, and the people
down in the valley looked up and saw tho
head of the mountain turbancd with stars
and stripes. Yonder are the Three broth
crs, 1000 feet high; Clouds rest, North
and South dome, and the heights never
captured save by the fiery bayonets Of the
thunderstorm.
lie Touchcth the Hills.
No pause for the eye, no stopping place
for the mind. Mountains hurled on
mountains Mountains in the wake of
mountains. Mountains thanked by noun
tains. Mountains split Mountains
ground. Mountains fallen. Mountains
triumphant. AS though Mont Blanc and
the Adirondacks and Mount Washington
were here uttcring themselves in one
magnificent chorus of rock and prccipicc
and waterfall. Sitting and dashing
through the rocks the water comes down.
Tho Bridal Veil falls so thin You can sec
the face of tho mountain behind it. Ion-
der is Yosemite falls, dropping 1854 feet,
Ii times greater descent than that OF Nj
agara These waters dashed to death on
the rocks, so that the white spirit Of these
slain waters ascending in robe of mist
seeks the heavens. Iondcr is Nevada
falls, plunging 700 feet, the water in ar
rows, the water in rocks, the water in
pearls, tho water in amcthysts, the water
in diamonds. That cascade filings down
the rocks enough jewels to array all the
earth in beauty and PUSHES on until IL
drops into n very hell of waters tho smoke
Of thcir torment ascending forever and
ever.
But the most wonderful part of this
American continent ia the Yellowstone
park. My two visits there made upon me
an impression that will last forever. &c
! in by the Moneida route as we did this
summer and save $50 miles of railroading
your stagecoach taking you through d
day of scenery rs captivating and sublime
as the Yellowstone park itself After al
poetry has exhausted itself concerning
I Yellowstone park, and all the Morans and
/ Bicrstadts and the other enchanting artist.
have completed their canvas, there will be
other revelations to make and other storie.
Of it's beauty and wrath, splcndor ant
agony, to be rccitcd The Yellowston,
park is TIE gcoiogist's paradise. BY cheap
ening Of travel may it become the nation I
playground In some portions of it thcr,
seems to be the anarchy Of the elements
Fire and water, and the vapor born o
that marriage, terrific Geyser cones OF
hills of crystal that have been over 800
years growing! In places the earth, throb
bling, sobbing groaning, quaking will
aqueous paroxysm. At the expiration o
every Ga minutes one of the gcyscrs toss
ing its boiling water lS5 feet in the al
and then descending into swinging rain
bows. "Hc touchcth the hills and the,
smoke" Cayerns of pictured walls larg
enough for the sepulcher OF the human
race Formations of stone in shape an,
color Of Gala lily, of heliotrope of rose, o
cowslip, of sunflower and of gladiolus
sulphur and arsenic and oxide of iron
with their delicate pencils, turning TIN
hills into Luxembourg or "a Vatican pic
ture gallery. The so called Thanatopsi
geyser, exquisite as the Bryant poem !
was named after. and Evangcline geyser
lovely as tho Longfellow heroine it com
mcmoratos
Sunrise and Sunset.
Wide reaches of stone Of intermingle
colors, blue as the sky, green AS the foliage
crimson MS the dahlia, white as the snow
spotted as tho leopard, tawny as the lion
grizzly as the bear, in circles in angle
In stnrs, in coronets, in stalaotitcs, i
stalagmitcs. Here and there are petriiio
grcwths, OF the dead trees and vogetabl,
OF othor ages, kept through process
natural embalmment. In some places W,
tiers as innocent and smiling rs chill