Both of the illustrations on this page belong to Yosemite Park scenery. The one on the right, representing Sentinel Rock wrapped in a cloud, is specially beautiful and interesting. Our photographers were fortunate in having so good an opportunity for reproducing a scene that occurs only at rare intervals, and they have done the work so well that every one will be delighted with the results.
THE TURN, IN CHILNUALNU FALLS, YOSEMITE.
There are several great falls in this wonderful reservation, which, in point of beauty, exceed those in any other part of the world. Yosemite Falls is incomparably the greatest in height, and in the months of May, June and July, the volume of water which it pours down is second only to Niagara and Shoshone. Its first vertical leap is 1,500 feet, where it strikes a series of ledges which break the water into cascades for another fall of 626 feet, after which it takes a sheer plunge of 400 feet, and flows away into the Merced, making a roaring noise in its impetuous descent that can be heard for miles.
Bridal Veil Fall is the termination of a creek bearing the same name, where it plunges over a precipice 900 feet high, and the stream is so thin that it becomes a very mist before reaching the valley. Directly opposite is Virgin Tears Creek, which likewise dashes over a lofty ledge through a notch in El Capitan, 1,000 feet high, and falls in a spray, though during a greater part of the year the creek is nearly dry.
The first fall reached in ascending the cañon of the Merced is Vernal Fall, which has a vertical height of 400 feet and a very considerable volume. But as we proceed further up the cañon, passing a number of cascades, the eye suddenly catches what the ear has anticipated, and rapture succeeds expectation, for there bursts into view Nevada Falls, which, as Professor Whitney says, “is in every respect one of the grandest waterfalls in the world, whether we consider its vertical height, the purity and volume of the river which forms it, or the stupendous scenery by which it is environed. The fall is not quite perpendicular, as there is near the summit a ledge of rock which receives a portion of the water and throws it off with a peculiar twist, adding considerably to the general picturesque effect.”
YOSEMITE VALLEY AS SEEN FROM ARTIST’S POINT.—This is an exceedingly fine view of Yosemite Valley with its surrounding mountains and a glimpse of the falls on the right. The photograph was taken at Artist’s Point, so named for its favorable location in viewing the valley and the majestic scenery by which it is surrounded. No painter could imagine a grander scene, and nothing but the camera could transfer it so accurately to the printed page.