The Yosemite guide-book : a description of the Yosemite Valley and the adjacent region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the big trees of California . mit. Most of the great canons and valleys of the Sierra Nevada have resultedfrom aqueous denudation, and in no part of the world has this kind of workbeen done on a larger scale. The long-continued action of tremendoustorrents of water, rushing with impetuous velocity down the slopes of themountains, has excavated those immense gorges by which the chain ofthe Sierra Nevada is furrowed, on its western slope, to the depth of thousandsof feet. This eros
The Yosemite guide-book : a description of the Yosemite Valley and the adjacent region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the big trees of California . mit. Most of the great canons and valleys of the Sierra Nevada have resultedfrom aqueous denudation, and in no part of the world has this kind of workbeen done on a larger scale. The long-continued action of tremendoustorrents of water, rushing with impetuous velocity down the slopes of themountains, has excavated those immense gorges by which the chain ofthe Sierra Nevada is furrowed, on its western slope, to the depth of thousandsof feet. This erosion, great as it is, has been done within a comparativelyrecent period, geologically speaking, as is conclusively demonstrated in numerouslocalities. At the Abbeys Ferry crossing of the Stanislaus, for instance,a portion of the mass of Table ]\Iountain is seen on each side of the river,in such a position as to demonstrate that the current of the lava whichforms the summit of this mountain once flowed continuously across what isnow a caiion over 2,000 feet deep, showing that the erosion of that innuense11 82 THE YOSEMITE GUIDE-BOOK. Fig. DISTANT VIEW OF TABLE MOUNTAIN. gorge has all been effected since the lava flowed down from the higherportion of the Sierra. This event took place, as we know from the fossilhones and jjlants embedded nnder the volcanic mass, at a very recentgeological period, or in the latter part of the Tertiary epoch. Some evenclaim that it happened since the appearance of man on the earth ; but this,although not impossible, remains yet to be proved. Figiires 7 and 8 and PlateIII. show the varying forms and picturesque character of some of theseoutliers of volcanic materials. Fig. 7 represents Table Moiuitain in Tuo-lumne County, as seen from a point distant about twelve miles in a south-easterly direction. The long straight line of its upper edge, destitute ofvegetation and dark colored, will easily be recognized. Fig. 8 represents apicturesque outlier o
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