The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record. (Butler, Mo.) 1918-1950, 1919-09-04
! a CALIFORNIA LETTER
Jno. Spesr Writes Describing puinnl
or Interest In That State.

The writer has been reading with
considerable interest the letters pub
lished in The Times, written BY my
old friend, Col. Clyde Robbins. while
on his western automobile trip thu
summer. The letters were Of peculiar
interest to me because / drove
through from Missouri to California
In an automobile last fall. Col Rob
bins has seen . great deal and has
had some interesting cxperiencesS6 ut
he has not seen it al. Here ID hop
ing that next season he and his goosl
wife will extend their travels to Cal
ifornia, where there is no end to the
interesting places and things to be
seen. California is different from the
west that he has SCENT is older and
more civilized. The late Col. R00se-
welt, speaking of California, said 1t
is west of the west"
My wife and l recently took \
IL day automobile trip seeing a. much
of the state as we could and visiting
Yosemite National Park. 1t is 4 little
east of the central part of the state
and contains II25 square miles, or
7Io,622 acres. The celebrated Yosc-
mite Valley is in this vast national
forest reservation. This valley is
comparatively small, but is one of the
most wonderful and beautiful places
that man has ever discovered. It is
seven miles long and averages one
mile in width. The floor of the val.
ley is comparatively level and the
MERGED river flows through it. The
walls of the valley are vast granite
rocks which rise perpendicularly hun
drcds of feet. The following named
monster rocks rise vertically from the
floor of the valley: Cathedral rocks.
1891 feet; Ell Captain, 1904 feet:
Sentinel Dome, 4,I57 feet; Hall
Dome, 4,8o2 feet; and Clowds Rest.
1904 feet. Here are to be seen the
highest and most spectacular water
falls in the world.
Yosemite Fails have one sheer
drop of 1890 feet and immediately
below that another drop of $50 feet,
making in all a fall eleven times
higher than Niagara Falls. May and
June is said to be the best time to
see the valley when the falls are at
their fullest from melting SHOWS in
the mountains. 1t is said that the
May rush of water over the Yosemite
is little appalling, that the ground
sometimes trembles with it one-hali
mile away. Ribbon falls has sheer
drop of 1919 feet: We thought the
celebrated Bridal Veil Falls were thu
most beautiful of all. 1t has drop
of 62o feet. AT the head of the val
ley is beautiful little lake, called
Mirror Lake. There are numerous
springs of beautiful clear water. So
cold it almost makes ones teeth ache.
There are a number of side trips from
the valley by mountain trail to places
of interest, among them being Gla-
cier Point, 5000 feet above the valley
floor, one of the worlds supremely
scenic points. A large tourist hotel
is located there, and then there is the
trip to the Mariposa grove of big
trees. Everyone has heard of the
California big trees, some of them
over 200 feet high and estimated to be
two or three thousand years old.
We found ideal camping conditions
at Yosemite. The little village sup
plies all the needs of the campers and
there is large garage and repair
shop for automobiles, and it was full
all the time with cars getting re- !
paired. Everything in the park il I'M
der government supervision and no
exorbitant prices are charged for any,
thing. In going to the park we left !
the central state paved highway at
MADEIRA and entered the park at
Wawona. After we left the paved
highway good deal of the road was
not very good-steep mountain
grades and part of it badly cut up by
so much travel. There was about five
times as much travel to the park this
year as last. On the last three miles
of the road to Yosemite valley they
only allow travel in one direction at
a time. They go in on the odd hours
and come out on the even hours.
There is forest ranger stationed at
each end Of. this section and when
they start a bunch of cars through
at one end the ranger at the other i.
end is notified by telephone of the
name and license number of each car
and he checks them off as they pass
his station. You also have to show
your permit. You have the hour to
get through in-but if for any rea-
son you cannot make it, you must !:
park your car at the edge of the
road and wait until the next hour
when travel is going in your direc-
lion. This road is very steep and ,
narrow and crooked. There are lots !.
IF places where cars could not pass
ind where/you can look over the edge
IF the grade down into the canyon
hundreds of feet straight down. If
! person that has always been used :,
o driving over the level roads of y
Missouri should suddenly come to
Dad like that it would almost give =
linn nervous prostration. One grad :
rally gets used to it. have driven :
,ver good many mountain. grades
ince / left Missouri, but l always /,
eel like giving little sigh of re- "
ief every time when ! am safely over !,
hem. ~
Automobiles do not work so well =
a these extremely high attitudes as = =
hey do nearer sea level. Water boils 8
{ 4 lower temperature in the high .
fountains and the engines al get hot
irving in intermediate eand low y