My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org
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My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

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12.07.2015 Views

—2/8 MY LIFEburnt till sufficiently weakened to fall, and this particulartree had been so burnt about forty yearsbefore.While staying with my brother inStockton, Cal.,I went with him and his daughter to spend a fewdays in the Yosemite Valley. The journey theretwo hours by rail and two days by coach—was veryinteresting, but often terribly dusty. The first daywe were driving for nine hours in the foothills, amongold mining camps with their ruined sheds andreservoirs and great gravel-heaps, now being graduallyovergrown by young pines and shrubs. Here andthere we passed through bits of forest with tall pinesand shrubby undergrowth, but generally the countrywas bare of fine trees, scraggy, but burnt up, and theroads insufferably dusty. At 9 p.m. we reachedPriest's (two thousand five hundred feet elevation),where we had supper, bed, and breakfast.Next day was much more enjoyable. The roadwas wonderfully varied, always going up or down,diving into deep wooded valleys with clear and rapidstreams, then up the slope, winding round spurs,crossing ridges, and down again into valleys, butalways mounting higher and higher. And as we gotdeeper into the sierra, the vegetation continuallychanged, the pines became finer both in form, size,and beauty. At about three thousand feet we firstsaw the beautiful Douglas fir, and the cedar {Libocedrtisdecurrens), both common in our gardens ; then stillhigher there were silver firs and the fine Picea nobilis,as well as a few of the Big Trees {Sequoia gigantea),the road being cut right through the middle of one ofthese (at about five thousand eight hundred feet).From the summit we descended towards the valley,and then down a steep zigzag road, with the beautiful

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 279Bridal Veil Fall opposite, and the grand precipice ofEl Capitan before us, then into the valley itself withits rushing river, to the hotel in the dusk.As both hotel and excursions were here verycostly,we only stayed two clear days, and went one"excursion " to the Nevada Fall, the grandest, if notthe most beautiful, in the valley. My brother andniece rode up, but I walked to enjoy the scenery, andespecially the flowers and ferns and the fine glaciatedrocks of the higher valley. The rest of my time Ispent roaming about the valley itself and some of itslower precipices, looking after its flowers, and ponderingover its strange, wild, majestic beauty and themode of its formation. On the latter point I havegiven my views in an article on " Inaccessible Valleys,"reprinted in my " Studies." The hotel dining-roomlooks out upon the Yosemite Falls, which, seen onebehind the other, have the appearance of a singlebroken cascade of more than two thousand fivehundred feet. I walked up about a thousand feet toget a nearer view of the upper fall, which, in its everchangingvapour-streams and water-rockets, is wonderfullybeautiful. To enjoy this valley and itssurroundings in perfection, a small party should comewith baggage-mules and tents, as early in the seasonas possible, when the falls are at their grandest andthe flowers in their spring beauty, and when, bycamping at different stations in the valley and in themountains and valleys around it, all its wonderfulscenes of grandeur and beauty could be explored andenjoyed. It is one of the regrets of my Americantour that I was unable to do this.On our way back I turned off at the foot of thehills to visit the Calaveras Grove of big trees whichmy brother and niece had seen before, and I had to

A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 279Bridal Veil Fall opposite, <strong>and</strong> the gr<strong>and</strong> precipice <strong>of</strong>El Capitan before us, then into the valley itself withits rushing river, to the hotel in the dusk.As both hotel <strong>and</strong> excursions were here verycostly,we only stayed two clear days, <strong>and</strong> went one"excursion " to the Nevada Fall, the gr<strong>and</strong>est, if notthe most beautiful, in the valley. <strong>My</strong> brother <strong>and</strong>niece rode up, but I walked to enjoy the scenery, <strong>and</strong>especially the flowers <strong>and</strong> ferns <strong>and</strong> the fine glaciatedrocks <strong>of</strong> the higher valley. The rest <strong>of</strong> my time Ispent roaming about the valley itself <strong>and</strong> some <strong>of</strong> itslower precipices, looking after its flowers, <strong>and</strong> ponderingover its strange, wild, majestic beauty <strong>and</strong> themode <strong>of</strong> its formation. On the latter point I havegiven my views in an article on " Inaccessible Valleys,"reprinted in my " Studies." The hotel dining-roomlooks out upon the Yosemite Falls, which, seen onebehind the other, have the appearance <strong>of</strong> a singlebroken cascade <strong>of</strong> more than two thous<strong>and</strong> fivehundred feet. I walked up about a thous<strong>and</strong> feet toget a nearer view <strong>of</strong> the upper fall, which, in its everchangingvapour-streams <strong>and</strong> water-rockets, is wonderfullybeautiful. To enjoy this valley <strong>and</strong> itssurroundings in perfection, a small party should comewith baggage-mules <strong>and</strong> tents, as early in the seasonas possible, when the falls are at their gr<strong>and</strong>est <strong>and</strong>the flowers in their spring beauty, <strong>and</strong> when, bycamping at different stations in the valley <strong>and</strong> in themountains <strong>and</strong> valleys around it, all its wonderfulscenes <strong>of</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>eur <strong>and</strong> beauty could be explored <strong>and</strong>enjoyed. It is one <strong>of</strong> the regrets <strong>of</strong> my Americantour that I was unable to do this.On our way back I turned <strong>of</strong>f at the foot <strong>of</strong> thehills to visit the Calaveras Grove <strong>of</strong> big trees whichmy brother <strong>and</strong> niece had seen before, <strong>and</strong> I had to

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