The Yosemite valley was granted by congress to the state of Calif .orn.a, conditionally on the district being forever set aside as a place of public resort and recreation. It is in Mariposa co., California, about 153 m. from San Francisco, nearly in the center of the state. It is nearly level, and is 6 in. long, and varying between one-half a mile and a mile in width; and its perpendicular depth below the surrounding level is about one mile, although it is elevated above the sea level almost 4,000 feet. Its walls arc nearly vertical, and through it winds the Merced river, its general direction being n.e. by e., and c. w. by w., nearly at right angles with the genera] direction of the mountain ranges. The valley is accessible by stage and saddle-horse from points on the Central Pacific railroad, about 90 in. distant., but only in summer: in winter it can only he reached on snow shoes. There, are hotels for the accommodation of tourists, and these are comfort able and well supplied. • Numerous objects of interest occur in proceeding up the valley, the first being the Bridal Veil fall, which is formed Ity the precipitous leap of a creek of the same Millie over a descent of 680 ft., to a slope below, from which point a series of cascades extend to the valley, the entire fall being more than 900 feet. Cathedral rock, a massive granite formation, 2,660 ft. in height, is met a little above the fall; and a short distance beyond this, the "Spires," single columns of granite, 300 ft. in height, stand out from the main walls of the valley. Sentinel rock is 3,043 ft. high, its termina tion being a slender obelisk 1000 ft. in height. Sentinel dome and the Virgin's Tears
fall are the next important features; the latter being a cataract falling more than 1000 feet. El Capitan and the Three Brothers are monster masses of rock; and, above the latter, is the great Yosemite fall, which has first a vertical descent of 1500 ft., then a series of cascades falling 626 ft., and a final plunge of 400 ft.—the whole appearing to the observer to be a continuous fall, whose effect is grand and imposing in the extreme. During Aug. and Sept. the Yosemite and Bridal Veil falls nearly disappear, the best time for seeing them being in May, June, or July, before the creeks which form them are dried up. Other smaller falls and innumerable eccentricities of the rocky walls of the valley occur points; while the general effect is a combination of the sublime and beautiful in nature, not known to exist elsewhere to a similar extent.
About 16 in. s. of the Yosemite valley are the Mariposa groves of "big trees," one of a number of groups or collections of the sequoia gigantea, only found in California; and the sequoia sent per or red wood. Three of these groves are in Mariposa co., and include 134 trees more than 13 ft. in diameter, and 300 ofsmaller size. In all the groups there are trees from 275 to 875 ft. in height, and 23 to 35 ft. la diameter, well proportioned; the age of some that have been cut down have been estimated, by the usual methods, at from 2,000 to 2,030 years. The Yosemite valley was unknown to white men until 1851, and was first visited by tourists four years later.