The mountains of California . ring domes. Here let us carve a lake basin;there, a Yosemite Valley; here, a channel for a riverwith fluted steps and brows for the plunge of song-ful cataracts. Yonder let us spread broad sheetsof soil, that man and beast may be fed; and herepile trains of boulders for pines and giant make ground for a meadow; there, for a gardenand grove, making it smooth and fine for smalldaisies and violets and beds of heathy bryanthus,spicing it well with crystals, garnet feldspar, andzircon. Thus and so on it has oftentimes seemedto me sang and planned and labo
The mountains of California . ring domes. Here let us carve a lake basin;there, a Yosemite Valley; here, a channel for a riverwith fluted steps and brows for the plunge of song-ful cataracts. Yonder let us spread broad sheetsof soil, that man and beast may be fed; and herepile trains of boulders for pines and giant make ground for a meadow; there, for a gardenand grove, making it smooth and fine for smalldaisies and violets and beds of heathy bryanthus,spicing it well with crystals, garnet feldspar, andzircon. Thus and so on it has oftentimes seemedto me sang and planned and labored the heartysnow-flower crusaders; and nothing that I can ^\Titecan x^ossibly exaggerate the grandeur and beautyof their work. Like morning mist they havevanished in sunshine, all save the few small com-panies that still linger on the coolest mountain-sides, and, as residual glaciers, are still busily at workcompleting the last of the lake basins, the last beds ofsoil, and the sculpture of some of the highest peaks. on aooo. CHAPTER II THE GLACIEKS OF the small residual glaciers mentioned in thepreceding chapter, I have found sixty-five inthat portion of the range lying between latitude36° 30 and 39°. They occur singly or in smallgioups on the north sides of the peaks of the HighSierra, sheltered beneath l)road frosty shadows, inamphitheaters of their oAvn making, where thesnow, shooting down from the surrounding heightsin avalanches, is most almndant. Over two thirdsof the entire number lie between latitude 37° and38°, and form the highest fountains of the SanJoaquin, Merced, Tuolumne, and Owens rivers. The glaciers of Switzerland, like those of theSierra, are mere wasting remnants of mighty ice-floods that once filled the great valleys and pouredinto the sea. So, also, are those of Norway, Asia,and South America. Even the grand continuousmantles of ice that still cover Greenland, 8i)itz-bergen. Nova Zeml)la, Franz-Joseph-Land, parts ofAlaska, and tlie south polar region
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
