Mexico weekly ledger., 1899-09-07
YOSEMITE VALLEY.


no faiHoaoe leading into the Yosemite
valley. There are three ways 10
enter-two from the south and n
from the weet. I chose the last be-
cause there sixty miles Of stage
coaching instead OF ninety and i've
inches OF dust instead Of seven.
started from Stockton about noon
July "a and went by rail to Chinese
Camp, where l took the Yosemite
stage and drove to 4 little station
called Priest--way up In the noun
tains-seemingly 100 miles from no.
where.
AZ I took my little talIow-candie in
hand and retired to my room, for the
first time since I had left home l ex-
~perienced Q feeling Of loneliness;
Psof. Mcmillan and party had gone on
to San Francisco. l missed the ring
ing laughter Of my room-mate, "Gan-
nymede," the deep, rumbling voice Of
"Mr. Bob" singing "Who Dat Say
Chicken in Dis Crowd the motherly
c~haperonlng of "Sister Mac" and the
graceful oaggage-car cake walk Of
Prof. NJ; but l soon fell asleep and
was up bright and early snd OF for
Yosemite by sunrise. was the only
passenger in a large, four seated
stage drawn by four and sometimes
six horses. There were i've relays
and It took twenty-four hours to get
me co the valley. MY driver was a
man OF about three score years who
had been driving over this same route
since his boyhood and wa not overly
Communicative but was ready and
willing to answer any questions,
Being the only pupil Of such al ex-
perienced teacher, l learned a great
deal during the fifty-mile drive OF
that day concerning the rocks and
mountains, big trees and forests OF
Yosemite Park. The Tuolumne big
trees were, Of course, the most inter-
esting feature Of the drive. The stage
passed right through the "Dead
GIANT which must at one time have
been over forty feet in diameter;
forest fires have burned of all the bark
and much OF the tree, but it still
measures thirty-two feet In diameter
-one of the largest trees In the world.
It has the names Of thousands Of tour
lists, from all parts Of the globe,
carved upon 1t.
Beautiful wild flowers grow in
abundance; but Mr.. Basket would
notice the absence of birds and ami
mails during this journey.
We reached the valley about sun
down. The fret good view is from
Inspiration Point, where almost the
whole valley-seven miles long and
from q half mile to a mile wide-pre-
sents itseif. The valley is surrounded
by immense walls OF solid rock, the
imposing section OF which is Ell Capt.
tan mountain, over 700 feet above sea-
level.
There are several fails In the valley.
OF these the Yosemite Is, OF course,
the most fsmons-the three leaps OF It
covering 1900 feet. The vernal and
Nevada falls, though not SO high, are
really grander because of the immense
volume Of water furnished by the
MERGED river.
The little village of Yosemite lies in
the heart Of the valley and has one
large hotel and any number of camps
and cottages. In one room Of this
Sentinel Hotel an immense tree
grows straight through floor and roof.
The fret trip on the morning after
our arrival was to Mirror Lake to
see the sun rise. Calm and serene as
the ethereal blue, the reflection lie
perfect. On account OF the peculiar
situation of the lake-in the center OF
q cluster Of p~eaks-you can change
your pcsitIon on the shore and see
the sun rise thirteen different times
in hall an hour.
From the valley we took numerous
trips to the various points and peaks
of interest. The most enjoyable of
these was to Glacier Point. There
were sixty of us In the trail-on mules
AMI horses. (The COLORADO Night
ingale," or burro, lie seldom used In
Yosemite). As we wound around the
narrow and often dangerous passes
tho-a -on1d ao,.aff,.a. - -, 81
twelve turns OF our trail forming a
cascade all up the mountain side.
Twas interesting to hear the bright,
witty sayings Of those happy tourists
as We all logged along in the even
tenor of our way. II the guide got
OF to go back and explain something
to the pilgrims In the rear no amount
of punching, whipping or ponnding
could induce his mule to rove. on
until his master returned and gave
him the signal. |,
Our mothers at home would have
been shocked to have seen our cos
tunes as we ploddedup the mountain ,
side. Almost all the ladies wore
"bloomers" and everybody is obliged
to ride astride-the only safe way.
Almost all had the mountain caps, so
1t was somewhat difficult to dis- )
tinguish between male and female. ,
We rode twenty-five miles without
scarcely knowing it-everybody jolly :
and happy-forming n big family,
with Representatives from New York
City to Klondyke. We were glad to :
get back to camp that night. Too :
tired to do anything. else, we sat
around the huge campfire and all
Joined in singing "Dixie Land" and r
"Yankee Doodle" pulling candy and !
N- N-1 Q