Milford chronicle., 1924-08-15

night, we slept under many blankets
it was so cold. After lunch, we EN-
barked again for Mariposa Grove OF
the Big Trees. thought 1 saw BIC
TREES at Muir Wood but never in
my life did 1 ever imagine trees
grew to such size. There are six
hundred of the largest trees and the
grove covers 725 square miles. The
largest tree there is the Grizzly
Giant" which is estimated by sci
entists to be the oldest tree in the
world; it being between five and
eight thousand years old. 1t meas
ures twenty-nine feet and six inches
in diameter and is two hundred and
four feet in height. 1t is the third
largest tree in the world. The larg-
est is General Grant" in Grant Ma
tiOnal Park, Calf, which measures
SO feet in diameter and is two hun
dred and six feet high. The second
largest is General Sherman" in Sc
quota Park, Calf, and it measures
thirty-five feet, six inches in diam
eter and around two hundred feet in
height. In our drive, we came to the
Tunnel Tree or WaWona Tree,
which is twenty-seven feet in dame
ter. The cars pass right through this
tree and a photographer is there to
take your picture. These are only n
few 1 have mentioned and it would
be hard to picture a grove of six
hundred of such enormous trees un-
less you could see them. In the
midst of this grove is a little log
cabin built in 1857 by Galen Clark,
who first discovered the grove. In
winter, snow is fifteen feet deep
there and this part of the forest is
closed to tourists.
The next morning, we were up
bright and early and left for the val
ley at seven. 1t was very cool and
pleasant but as we jOurneyed on, it
started to get hot again. Our first
stop was Glacier Point which is
1854 feet above the valley and from
there we got a splendid view of the
valley below. From the porch of the
hotel, we could see Nevada and Yer
nal Falls which had quite a bit of
water in them. Out on the point, we
looked directly across to where the
Yosemite Falls should have been but
they were as dry as bone and had
been for some time. After an hours
rest here, we loaded up and journey
ed to Inspiration Point where we got
our first view of Ell Captain, that
grand and noble rock. Just across
from the rock is Bridal Veil Falls
and 1 imagine when there is plenty of
water it is very beautiful, but at this
time the water only came over at
intervals. This dryness is due to lack
of snow last winter and not the rain
fall. We were just an hours ride
from the valley and were glad to
reach there and get cleaned up.
Of course, it is some trip down in
the valley and it is necessary for the
hotels to offer plenty of amusements
one of which was the Fire Falls.
AT $40 in the evening, you are driv-
en- to the foot of Glacier Point on
the banks of the Merced Ricer. Upon
the point, each night, a fire is built
by man employed by the govern
ment for that purpose and at a sig
nal given below, he starts pushing
the embers over the side of the cliff |
From below, it looks exactly like a
water fall and as you sit there by |
that river, looking up 1854 feet with |
the sky above you dotted with mil
lions of stars, you cannot imagine a
more perfect moment. The only way |
you can see the sky while you are in
the valley is to put your head right |
back and look straight up.
After the Fire Falls, we went to
see the bears. These bears come
down from the mountains each night
to eat the food that the hotel places
in a certain spot for them. For sew
en,~weeks this summer they did not
come as some people disobeyed the
request of the management and
drove around where the bears eat
and frightened them away. They,
then had to start all over again by
going into the forest and making
rails of honey from there down to
he feeding grounds. It took seven
weeks of this before they finally
started in again. We were fortunate
n seeing seven large brown bears
GGulLSs i uG ldl SGDI lluLlDCl N44eAb |
lad ever been down. There was one
luge black bear that simply monop-
1lized everything and the others
lidn't have a show until he had eat
IN all he wanted.
Our trip out of the valley was
1ery interesting also. We drove from
he lodge to Ell Portal where we took
he train to Merced. The entire route
vas along the Merced River. 1t was
lere that the pioneers made their
Wild dash for gold in 1849. All up
md down the mountain side, you
an see the ruins of their rude stone
luts. Some places, there will be part
f a chimney standing and in others
part of a wall. We also saw the ]
cry first bank of California. All
our walls are standing with the iron
hutters and door still intact. Only
he roof is off. 1t was all very, very i
and I am so glad we had t
he opportunity to see it. These pio-
eers must have suffered many hard \
hips in those early days for it was I
most barren section where they {
ettled and still is. In one place,
lere was one lonely grave of a {
Outh by the name of Charles Hall, l
no had died in 1850 at the age of t
sventeen. You can see the grave
nd the stone marking very plainly I
ON the train window. fl
We were glad to reach San Fran Il
SEQ once more where it is always
,ol and pleasant. 9
In coming to Portland, we passed L
low capped Mt. Shesta enroute and
I'd a very good view of it from the n