The Yosemite | Page 5

meadows
occurs in filled-up lake basins among the rock-waves in the bottom of
the canyon, and everywhere the surface of the granite has a
smooth-wiped appearance, and in many places reflects the sunbeams
like glass, a phenomenon due to glacial action, the canyon having been
the channel of one of the main tributaries of the ancient Yosemite
Glacier.
About ten miles above the Valley we come to the beautiful Tenaya
Lake, and here the canyon terminates. A mile or two above the lake
stands the grand Sierra Cathedral, a building of one stone, sewn from
the living rock, with sides, roof, gable, spire and ornamental pinnacles,

fashioned and finished symmetrically like a work of art, and set on a
well-graded plateau about 9000 feet high, as if Nature in making so fine
a building had also been careful that it should be finely seen. From
every direction its peculiar form and graceful, majestic beauty of
expression never fail to charm. It height from its base to the ridge of the
roof is about 2500 feet, and among the pinnacles that adorn the front
grand views may be gained of the upper basins of the Merced and
Tuolumne Rivers.
Passing the Cathedral we descend into the delightful, spacious
Tuolumne Valley, from which excursions may be made to Mounts
Dana, Lyell, Ritter, Conness, and Mono Lake, and to the many curious
peaks that rise above the meadows on the south, and to the Big
Tuolumne Canyon, with its glorious abundance of rock and falling,
gliding, tossing water. For all these the beautiful meadows near the
Soda Springs form a delightful center.
Natural Features Near The Valley
Returning now to Yosemite and ascending the middle or Nevada
branch of the Valley, occupied by the main Merced River, we come
within a few miles to the Vernal and Nevada Falls, 400 and 600 feet
high, pouring their white, rejoicing waters in the midst of the most
novel and sublime rock scenery to be found in all the World. Tracing
the river beyond the head of the Nevada Fall we are lead into the Little
Yosemite, a valley like the great Yosemite in form, sculpture and
vegetation. It is about three miles long, with walls 1500 to 2000 feet
high, cascades coming over them, and the ever flowing through the
meadows and groves of the level bottom in tranquil, richly-embowered
reaches.
Beyond this Little Yosemite in the main canyon, there are three other
little yosemites, the highest situated a few miles below the base of
Mount Lyell, at an elevation of about 7800 feet above the sea. To
describe these, with all their wealth of Yosemite furniture, and the
wilderness of lofty peaks above them, the home of the avalanche and
treasury of the fountain snow, would take us far beyond the bounds of a
single book. Nor can we here consider the formation of these mountain

landscapes--how the crystal rock were brought to light by glaciers
made up of crystal snow, making beauty whose influence is so
mysterious on every one who sees it.
Of the small glacier lakes so characteristic of these upper regions, there
are no fewer than sixty-seven in the basin of the main middle branch,
besides countless smaller pools. In the basin of the Illilouette there are
sixteen, in the Tenaya basin and its branches thirteen, in the Yosemite
Creek basin fourteen, and in the Pohono or Bridal Veil one, making a
grand total of one hundred and eleven lakes whose waters come to sing
at Yosemite. So glorious is the background of the great Valley, so
harmonious its relations to its widespreading fountains.
The same harmony prevails in all the other features of the adjacent
landscapes. Climbing out of the Valley by the subordinate canyons, we
find the ground rising from the brink of the walls: on the south side to
the fountains of the Bridal Veil Creek, the basin of which is noted for
the beauty of its meadows and its superb forests of silver fir; on the
north side through the basin of the Yosemite Creek to the dividing
ridge along the Tuolumne Canyon and the fountains of the Hoffman
Range.
Down The Yosemite Creek
In general views the Yosemite Creek basin seems to be paved with
domes and smooth, whaleback masses of granite in every stage of
development--some showing only their crowns; others rising high and
free above the girdling forests, singly or in groups. Others are
developed only on one side, forming bold outstanding bosses usually
well fringed with shrubs and trees, and presenting the polished surfaces
given them by the glacier that brought them into relief. On the upper
portion of the basin broad moraine beds have been deposited and on
these fine, thrifty forests are growing. Lakes and meadows and small
spongy bogs may be