Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1911-08-09

ow, through which runs the MERGED
river, while on either side the noun
tains rise steep and precipitous to a
height of 1000 feet above the floor of
tie valley.
Numerous streams drop from the
edge of the cliff to the valley below.
The first of these as the tourist en-
tiers the valley is the Bridal Veil Falls.
A stream fully thirty feet wide falls
a distance of 600 feet, then rushes
over sloping pile of debris, and then
drops perpendicularly 800 feet more.
The great waterfall in this park,
however, is the Yosemite Falls. This
is a stream thirty-f1ve feet wide, and
in the spring and early summer when
the snow is melting upon the high
Sierra it's roar can be heard all over
the valley, and the shock of the de-
scent rattles the windows a mile away.
This fall is conceded by all critics
to be one of the most wonderful and
beautiful cascades in the world. It's
first fall is about 1000 feet sheer
drop, then come series of cascades
partly hidden in which the fall is over
600 feet, and finally vertical drop
of 400 feet
From the cliffs surrounding the val-
ley the scene is one of remarkable
inspiration and beauty. At the foot
fthe traveller lies the valley floor
the green trees and meadows and the
winding river giving the effect of
rich velvet carpet over which line
of silver has been drawn; here and
there one gets glimpses of the foam
ing white waters hurting themselves
to the valley below; on both sides of
the valley rise the great walls of
rock, sculptured by the elements into
various fantastic shapes and figures.
Trees Twenty Centuries Old.
In the Yosemite the Sequoia and the
General Grant National parks are
found the groves of big trees the like
of which are seen nowhere else in the
world. These trees grow to height
of $40 feet and have circumference
of over 100 feet at the base, the bark
sometimes exceeding 40 inches in
thickness.
The rings in the trunks of these
trees show that many of them are
over 1000 years old. Cathedrals and
castles have been built and fallen into
decay, empires have come and gone,
but these grizzly giants of the western
slopes still raise their hoary heads and
spread their grateful shade as they
did in the days of the Caesars.
The largest glacial system in the
world radiating from any single peak
is situated on Mount Rainier in west
ern Washington. The Mount Rainier
National Park includes the mass of
this great mountain and all the ap-
proaches to it.
The Crater Lake National Park in
Oregon has within it's borders a lake
that is unique among the natural
wonders of the world. This lake, into
which no streams flow and which has
no visible outlet, lies in what is left
to the caldera of a great mountain
that rose to an elevation of over A.
900 feet above the sea.
1t is almost forty years since con-
gress laid the beginning of the great
national park system by passing the
act creating the Yellowstone National
Park, approved March 1, 1872. Other
parks have been created since, until
at present the area embraced in these
pleasure grounds of the people
amounts to over 100000 acres.
The policy of establishing national
parks has resulted in preserving from
private exploitation and gain great
areas which are characterized by mag
nificent scenery and which are used
as vacation resorts by thousands of
people.