and the declivity of their channels, the grand trunk
flowed on through and out of the Valley. In effecting
its exit a considerable ascent was made, traces of
which may still be seen on the abraded rocks at the
lower end of the Valley, while the direction pursued
after leaving the Valley is surely indicated by the
immense lateral moraines extending from the ends of
the walls at an elevation of from 1500 to 1800 feet.
The right lateral moraine was disturbed by a large
tributary glacier that occupied the basin of Cascade
Creek, causing considerable complication in its structure.
The left is simple in form for several miles of its
length, or to the point where a tributary came in
from the southeast. But both are greatly obscured
by the forests and underbrush growing upon them, and
by the denuding action of rains and melting snows,
etc. It is, therefore, the less to be wondered
at that these moraines, made up of material derived
from the distant fountain-mountains, and from the
Valley itself, were not sooner recognized.
The ancient glacier systems of the Tuolumne, San Joaquin,
Kern, and Kings River Basins were developed on a still
grander scale and are so replete with interest that
the most sketchy outline descriptions of each, with
the works they have accomplished would fill many a
volume. Therefore I can do but little more than
invite everybody who is free to go and see for himself.
The action of flowing ice, whether in the form of
river-like glaciers or broad mantles, especially the
part it played in sculpturing the earth, is as yet
but little understood. Water rivers work openly
where people dwell, and so does the rain, and the
sea, thundering on all the shores of the world; and
the universal ocean of air, though invisible, speaks
aloud in a thousand voices, and explains its modes
of working and its power. But glaciers, back
in their white solitudes, work apart from men, exerting
their tremendous energies in silence and darkness.
Outspread, spirit-like, they brood above the predestined
landscapes, work on unwearied through immeasurable
ages, until, in the fullness of time, the mountains
and valleys are brought forth, channels furrowed for
rivers, basins made for lakes and meadows, and arms
of the sea, soils spread for forests and fields; then
they shrink and vanish like summer clouds.
Chapter 12
How Best to Spend One’s Yosemite Time
One-Day Excursions
No. 1.
If I were so time-poor as to have only one day to
spend in Yosemite I should start at daybreak, say
at three o’clock in midsummer, with a pocketful
of any sort of dry breakfast stuff, for Glacier Point,
Sentinel Dome, the head of Illilouette Fall, Nevada
Fall, the top of Liberty Cap, Vernal Fall and the
wild boulder-choked River Canyon. The trail leaves
the Valley at the base of the Sentinel Rock, and as
Copyrights
The Yosemite from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
