The Yosemite | Page 8

contrast between the shaded and illumined
sections being very striking in these near views.
Under this shadow, during the cool centuries immediately following the
breaking-up of the Glacial Period, dwelt a small residual glacier, one of
the few that lingered on this sun-beaten side of the Valley after the
main trunk glacier had vanished. It sent down a long winding current
through the narrow canyon on the west side of the fall, and must have
formed a striking feature of the ancient scenery of the Valley; the lofty
fall of ice and fall of water side by side, yet separate and distinct.
The coolness of the afternoon shadow and the abundant dewy spray

make a fine climate for the plateau ferns and grasses, and for the
beautiful azalea bushes that grow here in profusion and bloom in
September, long after the warmer thickets down on the floor of the
Valley have withered and gone to seed. Even close to the fall, and
behind it at the base of the cliff, a few venturesome plants may be
found undisturbed by the rock-shaking torrent.
The basin at the foot of the fall into which the current directly pours,
when it is not swayed by the wind, is about ten feet deep and fifteen to
twenty feet in diameter. That it is not much deeper is surprising, when
the great height and force of the fall is considered. But the rock where
the water strikes probably suffers less erosion than it would were the
descent less than half as great, since the current is outspread, and much
of its force is spent ere it reaches the bottom--being received on the air
as upon an elastic cushion, and borne outward and dissipated over a
surface more than fifty yards wide.
This surface, easily examined when the water is low, is in tensely clean
and fresh looking. It is the raw, quick flesh of then mountain wholly
untouched by the weather. In summer droughts when the snowfall of
the preceding winter has been light, the fall is reduced to a mere shower
of separate drops without any obscuring spray. Then we may safely go
back of it and view the crystal shower from beneath, each drop
wavering and pulsing as it makes its way through the air, and flashing
off jets of colored light of ravishing beauty. But all this is invisible
from the bottom of the Valley, like a thousand other interesting things.
One must labor for beauty as for bread, here as elsewhere.
The Grandeur Of The Yosemite Fall
During the time of the spring floods the best near view of the fall is
obtained from Fern Ledge on the east side above the blinding spray at a
height of about 400 feet above the base of the fall. A climb of about
1400 feet from the Valley has to be made, and there is no trail, but to
any one fond of climbing this will make the ascent all the more
delightful. A narrow part of the ledge extends to the side of the fall and
back of it, enabling us to approach it as closely as we wish. When the
afternoon sunshine is streaming through the throng of comets, ever

wasting, ever renewed, fineness, firmness and variety of their forms are
beautifully revealed. At the top of the fall they seem to burst forth in
irregular spurts from some grand, throbbing mountain heart. Now and
then one mighty throb sends forth a mass of solid water into the free air
far beyond the others which rushes alone to the bottom of the fall with
long streaming tail, like combed silk, while the others, descending in
clusters, gradually mingle and lose their identity. But they all rush past
us with amazing velocity and display of power though apparently
drowsy and deliberate in their movements when observed from a
distance of a mile or two. The heads of these comet-like masses are
composed of nearly solid water, and are dense white in color like
pressed snow, from the friction they suffer in rushing through the air,
the portion worn off forming the tail between the white lustrous threads
and films of which faint, grayish pencilings appear, while the outer,
finer sprays of water-dust, whirling in sunny eddies, are pearly gray
throughout. At the bottom of the fall there is but little distinction of
form visible. It is mostly a hissing, clashing, seething, upwhirling mass
of scud and spray, through which the light sifts in gray and purple tones
while at times when the sun strikes at the required angle, the whole
wild and apparently lawless, stormy, striving mass is changed to
brilliant rainbow hues, manifesting finest harmony. The middle portion
of the fall is the most openly beautiful; lower, the various forms into
which the