GLACIER FALL.
(550 feet in height.)
The duties of the day had been severe on men and horses, for beside fording the Merced several times, the numerous branches pouring over cliffs and down ravines from the melting snow, rendered the overflow of the bottom lands so constant that we were often compelled to splash through the water-courses that later would be dry. These torrents of cold water, commanded more especial attention, and excited more comment than did the grandeur of the cliffs and water-falls. We were not a party of tourists, seeking recreation, nor philosophers investigating the operations of nature. Our business there was to find Indians who were endeavoring to escape from our charitable intentions toward them. But very few of the volunteers seemed to have any appreciation of the wonderful proportions of the enclosing granite rocks; their curiosity had been to see the stronghold of the enemy, and the general verdict was that it was gloomy enough.
Tired and wet, the independent scouts sought the camp and reported their failures. Gilbert and Chandler came in with their detachments just at dark, from their tiresome explorations of the southern branches. Only a small squad of their commands climbed above the Vernal and Nevada falls; and seeing the clouds resting upon the mountains above the Nevada Fall, they retraced their steps through the showering mist of the Vernal, and joined their comrades, who had already started down its rocky gorge. These men found no Indians, but they were the first discoverers of the Vernal and Nevada Falls, and the Little Yosemite. They reported what they had seen to their assembled comrades at the evening camp-fires. Their names have now passed from my memory—not having had an intimate personal acquaintance with them—for according to my recollection they belonged to the company of Capt. Dill.
While on our way down to camp we met Major Savage with a detachment who had been burning a large caché located in the fork, and another small one below the mouth of the Ten-ie-ya branch. This had been held in reserve for possible use, but the Major had now fired it, and the flames were leaping high. Observing his movements for a few moments we rode up and made report of our unsuccessful efforts. I briefly, but with some enthusiasm, described my view from the cliff up the North Cañon, the Mirror Lake view of the Half Dome, the Fall of the South Cañon and the view of the distant South Dome. I volunteered a suggestion that some new tactics would have to be devised before we should be able to corral the “Grizzlies” or “smoke them out.” The Major looked up from the charred mass of burning acorns, and as he glanced down the smoky valley, said: “This affords us the best prospect of any yet discovered; just look!” “Splendid!” I promptly replied, “Yo-sem-i-te must be beautifully grand a few weeks later, when the foliage and flowers are at their prime, and the rush of water has somewhat subsided. Such cliffs and water-falls I never saw before, and I doubt if they exist in any other place.”
VERNAL FALL.
(350 feet in height.)
I was surprised and somewhat irritated by the hearty laugh with which my reply was greeted. The Major caught the expression of my eye and shrugged his shoulders as he hastily said: “I suppose that is all right, Doctor, about the water-falls, &c., for there are enough of them here for one locality, as we have all discovered; but my remark was not in reference to the scenery, but the prospect of the Indians being starved out, and of their coming in to sue for peace. We have all been more or less wet since we rolled up our blankets this morning, and this fire is very enjoyable, but the prospect that it offers to my mind of smoking out the Indians, is more agreeable to me than its warmth or all the scenery in creation. I know, Doc., that there is a good deal of iron in you, but there is also considerable sentiment, and I am not in a very sentimental mood.” I replied that I did not think that any of us felt very much like making love or writing poetry, but that Ten-ie-ya’s remark to him about the “Great Spirit” providing so bountifully for his people, had several times occurred to me since entering here, and that no doubt to Ten-ie-ya, this was a veritable Indian paradise. “Well,” said the Major, “as far as that is concerned, although I have not carried a Bible with me since I became a mountain-man, I remember well enough that Satan entered paradise and did all the mischief he could, but I intend to be a bigger devil in this Indian paradise than old Satan ever was; and when I leave, I don’t intend to crawl out, either. Now Doc. we will go to camp but let me say while upon the subject, that we are in no condition to judge fairly of this valley. The annoyances and disappointments of a fruitless search, together with the certainty of a snow-storm approaching, makes all this beautiful scenery appear to me gloomy enough. In a word, it is what we supposed it to be before seeing it, a h—— of a place. The valley, no doubt, will always be a wonder for its grouping of cliffs and water-falls, but hemmed in by walls of rock, your vision turned in, as it were, upon yourself—a residence here would be anything but desirable for me. Any one of the Rocky Mountain parks would be preferable, while the ease with which buffalo, black-tail and big-horn could be provided in the “Rockies” would, in comparison, make your Indian paradise anything but desirable, even for these Indians.”