Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-02-28
Yosemite, the Valley Of Waterfalls

If you should start from San Fran
cisco in an airplane and fly due east,
you would first cross the wooded
crests of the coast ranges, next the
broad, level eXpanse of the Great val
ley of California, checkered with irri-
gated fields and orchards, and then
you would come to a huge mountain
barrier, rising in a long gradual slope
and eliminating in a Respondent row
of snow-f1ecked peaks. This is the
Sierra Nevada, the longest, highest
and grandest mountain range in the
United States.
Deeply carved in rs western flank.
about midway between the torrid foo
/ hills and the wintry summit peaks
you discover Yosemite valley, re-
moved the world over for its tower
| ing cliffs, stately trees and delightful
climate, but, above all, for its water
falls. If yellowstone" spells "gey-
sers," yosemite" spells waterfalls"
AS you fly over the valley you may
! be surprised that it is no larger. Ii
measures only seven miles in length
and one mile in width and is really
but widened part Of canyon that
! burrows the range from crest to base,
the canyon of the MERGED river. The
valley is only one of great many
| features-though by far the most Won
| derful-Of the Yosemite National park
which embraces a part of the western
! flank of the Sierra Nevada almost as
large as Rhode Island.
When YOU descend into the Yosemite
you perceive the reason for its world
wide fame. No other valley is so re-
markably fashioned; no other valley
holds within so small a compass so
astounding a wealth of striking and
distinctive scenic features The leve.
| floor whose groves and meadows af-
ford ideal places for camping and
other forms of recreation, lies 1000
feet above the sea, and the fOrested
uplands on either side rise 5000 to
1000 feet higher.
Your eye is at once attracted by the
sheer profile of Ell Captain, most ma
| jestic cliff in the Yosemite and per-
haps in the world. 1t projects from
the north wall, its top fully 5000 feet
above the valley floor. Directly oppo-
| site stand the three Cathedral rocks,
which form promOntory OF nearly
equal height. From it's end leaps the
Bridal Veil fall, $40 feet in height, its
spray suffused with the glory of the
rainbow.
Beyond Ell Captain and the Cathe
dral rocks the valley abruptly regains
! it's full width, and you behold the
! Three Brothers, whose gabled sum-
mits rise one above another, all on
the same angle, as if designed by an
architect. The highest, known as
Eagle peak, stands $500 feet above
/ the valley. Opposite them rises SEN
tinel rock, finely modelled obelisk
with pointed top.
A mile beyond nestles Yosemite vii
lage, the tourist center of the park;
and just across the valley, booming
amid clouds of nearly mist, are the
Yosemite falls, most glorious of all the
cataracts in the valley The upper
! fall, 1,430 feet high, would alone make
any valley famous-it is the highest
unbroken plunge of water on the con-
tinent, perhaps the highest in the
world. The lower fall, which descends
800 feet, seems insignificant in COM
parison, yet it is twice as high as
Niagara. The entire chain of falls
and cascades measures, 1855 feet.
Farther up, on the north side, are
the Royal arches, sculptured in an in
!
of 1900 feet An enormous natural
pillar the Washington Column, tanks
them on the right, and above them
rises a smoothly curving, helmet
shaped boss of granite, the North
Dome.
Facing the Rayol arches, on the
south side, is Glacier point, a high
promontory that has become verita-
Bile Mecca for tourists, by reason of
! its matchIess view and its unique
overhanging rock, below which the
cliffs fall off sheer 5000 feet.
The head of the valley is squared
off by another rock wall, and above
that wall, planted as on pedestal,
stands Half dome, the most colossal
and most strangely modelled rock
monument in the Sierra, smoothly
rounded on three sides and cut down
sheer on Their fourth, like an apple
cleft in two. Though it has been in
accessible heretofore, owing to the
/ SmOOthness of its Sides it NAV now