Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-10
TAFT RETURNS
FROM FORESTS
TO FL PORTAL
PRESIDENT TO ARRIVE HERE
TOMORROW
HAS STRENUOUS DAY IN GREAT
NORTHERN PARK
Chief Executive Has to Go to Bed
While His Clothing Is Hung
Out to Dry in the
Sun
tBy Associated Press. ]

~ L PORTAL, Cal, oct. 9.-After
| H. having Travelled nearly 100 miles
\ by stage and on foot in and
around the Yosemite valley, President
Taft returned here tonight and will
resume his journey to the southwest
tomorrow morning.
He will stop during the day at Mer-
ced, Fresno and Bakersfield. and Will
reach Los Angeles early Monday morn
ing.
The president was wringing wet with
perspiration when he reached the foot
of the trail today and had to go to
bed in the Sentinel hotel while his
clothing was hung out in the sun to
dry.
Even the presidents outer garments
were wet and he had only the one
grav Norfolk Jacket suit with him in
the park, and he had no alternative
but to follow in the footsteps of the
| tabled man who owned by one shirt.
MIR. Taft took luncheon with Maj.
Forsythe of the army. The president $
last day in the Yosemite park was
probably his most enjoyable one. He
began it by looking at the sunrise over
the eastern granite walls of the valley,
his vantage point being the veranda
of the little Glacier Point hotel. set
right at the very edge of a 3000-foot
drop into the flor of the valley.
In Scant Attire
The surroundings were rough and
secluded, and the president appeared
in scant attire.
Having seen the sun properly up and
at it's duty, Mr. Taft retired again and
slept until o'clock.
The 74O0 feet altitude dit not seem to
affect him in the least In fact, the
president has stood the long rides and
early hours of the Yosemite trip bet
ter than most of the other members in
his party.
After fifty miles of staging it yes
terday he sat up until 1O:90 p. m.
playing friendly game of bridge with
Governor Gillett of California, Repre-
sentative Mckinley and Capt. A. w.
Butt.
Today the president set such pace
down the four miles of the short trail
which brought him from Glacier Point
| to Yosemite that he had two OF his
| congressional escort, Representatives
Mckinley and Needham, calling for
| help.
The trip down the trail was filed
with interest. At Union point, one
third of the way from the top, the
president went to the very edge of the
cliff and waved a handkerchief in
greeting to some mere specks of hu-
pCCAA
about the floor. In a little while he
caught the sound of three cheers sent
up in his honor.
Muir Explains
John Muir, the naturalist, explained
every view, every tree and flower on
the way down and dwelt time and
again upon the glacier theory of the
formation of the valley. The presi-
dent was told that the short trail
down which he was passing was first
''blazed" by an old settler who lived
in the hills His wife would not let
him have any whisky in the house, so
he had to walk daily down into the
valley to get a drink.
Representative Mckinley also told a
story anent the presidents early ris-
ing in the Yosemite. AS a boy he had
gone to work for a farmer and had
been assigned the task of milking the
cows. The first morning he arose at
o'clock and went down to the barns.
He found the boss already at work
currying the horses.
"When I got there" said Mr.. Nc
Kinley. 1.-THE old fellow looked up at
me and said: We'll, son, where the
devil have you been all the forenoon% -
The presidential party during the
stay in the Yosemite have been Cover
nor Gillett, Senator Flint, Representa-
tives Englebright, Mckinley, Needham,
Major ForsYthe, the army custodian of
the park, John Muir and Capt. A. w.
Butt.
The president has evinced lively in
terest in the proposition in San Fran
cisco to throw dam across the Hetch
Hetchy valley of the Yosemite park
and create a lake there to give the
city supply of water
Plan sacriIeee
Mr.. Muir, who has spent much of his
life in the Yosemite and knows all the
trees and rocks by name, has declared
to the president with al of the en-
thusiasm of the real lover of nature
that the plan is a sacrilege.
His frankly expressed opinions have
brought about several lively discus
sions among those in the president 5
party who are inclined to favor the
project and Mr.. Taft has looked on at
many of these in amused interest.
Once today, coming down the trail,
Mr.. Muir became exasperated and eX-
claimed:
"Oh, I guess the rascals will get ii
in the end"
He added that the Yosemite was a
place in which to say ones prayers
and never should be used for CONNER
cial purposes.
President Taft has been deeply I'M
pressed with the beauty, not only of the
valley itself, but the entire Yosemite
park, and declared that he thought the
park had been neglected as compared
with the Yellowstone.
Mr.. Taft is anxious that some definite
plan of improvement shall be agreed
upon in order that the progress may
be made year by year. Road building
is the first great need, as the presi-
dent himself has suggested, and he
probably will make some recommen-
dation on the subject in his forthcom-
ing message to congress.
Meets Aged Pioneer
Arriving at the floor of the valley
today, the president was greeted by
Galen Clark, 81 years old, who was the
first white man to make known the
existence of the giant Sequoia trees
of the Mariposa groves.
Mr.. Clark does not claira to have
been the first man to see the mammoth
forest, for he found prospector's out
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