The mountains of California . thplace among the yellow leaves of an aspen day I discovered yet grander landscapes andgrander life. Following the river over huge, swell-ing rock-bosses through a majestic canon, and pastinnumerable cascades, the scenery in general be-came gradually wilder and more alpine. The Su-gar Pine and Silver Firs gave place to the hardierCedar and Hemlock Spruce. The canon walls be-came more rugged and bare, and gentians and arc-tic daisies became more abundant in the gardensand strips of meadow along the streams. Towardthe middle of the afternoon I came to ano
The mountains of California . thplace among the yellow leaves of an aspen day I discovered yet grander landscapes andgrander life. Following the river over huge, swell-ing rock-bosses through a majestic canon, and pastinnumerable cascades, the scenery in general be-came gradually wilder and more alpine. The Su-gar Pine and Silver Firs gave place to the hardierCedar and Hemlock Spruce. The canon walls be-came more rugged and bare, and gentians and arc-tic daisies became more abundant in the gardensand strips of meadow along the streams. Towardthe middle of the afternoon I came to another val-ley, strikingly wild and original in all its features,and perhaps never before touched by human regards area of level bottom-land, it is one of THE WILD SHEEP 311 the very smallest of the Yosemite type, but its wallsare sublime, rising to a height of from 2000 to 4000feet above the river. At the head of the vaUeythe main canon forks, as is found to be the case inall yosemites. The formation of this one is due. HEAD OF liOCKY MOUNTAIN WILD SHEEl, chiefly to the action of two great glaciers, whosefountains lay to the eastward, on the flanks ofMounts Humphrey and Emerson and a cluster ofnameless peaks farther south. 312 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA The gray, boulder-chafed river was singing loudly-through the valley, but above its massy roar Iheard the booming of a waterfall, which drew meeagerly on; and just as I emerged from the tangledgroves and brier-thickets at the head of the valley,the main fork of the river came in sight, fallingfresh from its glacier fountains in a snowy cas-cade, between granite walls 2000 feet high. Thesteep incline down which the glad waters thunderedseemed to bar all farther progress. It was notlong, however, before I discovered a crooked seamin the rock, by which I was enabled to climb tothe edge of a terrace that crosses the canon, anddivides the cataract nearly in the middle. HereI sat down to take breath and make some entriesin my
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
