File:Breeder and sportsman (1892) (20400618222).jpg

Title: Breeder and sportsman
Identifier: breedersportsma211892sanf (find matches)
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: Horses
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: San Francisco Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: California State Library Califa/LSTA Grant

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July 0, 1892) ©ijc Qxsebsv auir grpuvtsnmn. 3 J lighted by our guide, the better to obtain the best effect, which resembled the harmonious scintillations of prismatic colors. Leaving Murphy's on Sunday morning we set out for the Yo Semite. The day was one of California's most delightful beads found on the entire rosemary of her year. The drive was pleasing ; to The eye, the landscapes, through which we passed, presented but little, though clothed with robes of sum- mer and smiles of June, that could be called beautiful until we reached the Stanislaus river. However, before reaching this point we turned aside from the roadway and walked down a winding footway to the "Natural Bridge" across Coyote Creek. Here lives "Old Batch " a genuinely interesting char- acter, who, as one of the pioneer gold seekers, has fallen in love with the hills and remains with them, though the search for gold has by him been long since abandoned. Here at the "Natural" Bridge," a curious and very interesting freak of Nature, he has made his home for nearly forty years. _ The I Bridge" is a bit over seven miles from Murphy's and is, in fact, a great cavern through which the waters rush with great force. The length of this curious natural formation is about two hundred and fifty feet and varies in width from twelve to fifty feet, and about the same in height as in width. Coyote Creek comes down from Table Mountain and passing through Douglas Flats receiving the debris from the mines of that still active camp, which renders them highly discolored. After spending an hour listening to the stories of old times iu the California mining district* fmm " Old Batch " and in admiring the many curious and wonderful formations depending from the walls and ceiling of the "bridge" we renewed our journey. The way down to the ferry across the raging Stanislaus was one full of in- terest. The wild and precipitous na- ture of the canon through which this river beats its waves to snowy foam against the great rocks and boulders in its bed, as it rushes with all the haste of a messenger of the King, gives to the scene a peculiar charm. Winding along the serpentine road which leads up the face of the abrupt mountain at the south of the river's course we find scene after scene of startling in- terest laid out to view- The rough and precipitous nature of the man- zanita and chaparel-clothed moun- tains with the foaming outline of the distant river a thousands of feet below us, shining like a silver ribbon, be- neath the bright sunshine, with the blue canopy of June overhead, flecked, here and there with soft, white, feath- ery clouds, completed a scenenot soon to be forgotten. The mountain road, wound about through a wealth of bloom. No where else, during our entire journey did we observe half the wealth of the floral kingdom, found here. The day's journey, passing through Spring- field, Jimtown, Columbia, Chinese Camp and many less notable mining camps, now all but abandoned, was about as dreary and devoid of interest as one could well imagine. On every hand were evidences of desolation. The gold fever of the "days of forty-nine" and the subse- quent period of activity seems to have left the country devoid of attractive features. Every where the barren rocks thatwere overturned and heaped, in the mad rush of human passion for gold, lie glinting, in all their weari- some suggestioii of poverty and bar- renness beneath the scorching rays of the summer sun. The lower portion of an elevated valley, which runs from Columbia at the north, to a point near the Tuolumne river on the south, and of oval form, is, however, very interest- ing to sportsmen from the fact that it is literally alive with quail. We ob- served hundreds of them running about in pairs. A ranchman near the Tuolumne, said that he would gladly furnish freeboard, care of teams and other accommodations to any party of sportsmen who would come upon his ranch and kill off the quail, which he avers are so numerous as to become veritable pests. He reported that it was impossible to raise grapes, straw- berries and other small fruits on ac- count of the destructive nature of the birds. The Tuolumne is a very swift torrent, and comes around a curve, just above the bridge over which we crossed, with a majestic sweep and foams and dashes away amid the boulders which lie in its bed between the mountain sides. Following up the course of the river for a short distance, the road leads up a gulch through which flows the waters of Moccasin Creek. A short drive brings us to a bridge spanning this stream and we find ourselves at the foot of two miles of the steepest mountain wagon road to be found in the entire country. At the crest of these two miles of Alpine climbing a verit- able oasis is found known as "Priest's Hotel." Here we rested and lunched, though Old Sol had but passed the first quarter post in his daily race against Old Father Time. But some- body has most "fitly said that "life is measured by deeds," and taking this suggestion as a rule of measurement, one who has climbed this, or a similar hill, should count it a full day's labor and eat instanter, not only one, but three meals and rest indefinitelvâuntil rested. Travelers will find tins an interesting point and a fund of information may be derived from the genial landlord and courteous landlady who are each very attentive and obliging to all tourists who pause here on their journey to the Mecca of tl e hills. As we journeyed on through the pine-clad hills, the tossing of the winds amid their cone-like points, sounded like the low refrain of a distant storm-cloud which hung with threatening countenance over the distant peaks toward which we were wending our way. During the afternoon we reached and traveled along the south fork of the Tuolumne near its junc- tion with the main body of this beautiful river. At an early hour we struck camp at Colfax Springs, and here found am- ple accommodations and a fund of valuable information re- garding the country and the nature of the forty-three town- ships which rompose the Yo Semite reservation from Mr. Klwell, llu courteous toll man at this, the entrance proper to the Yo Semite National I'ark. At this point, looking west- ward, the setting sun outlined the towering shrub-clothed crests of the precipitous mountains which form the striking gorges of the main body and south fork of the Tuolumne river. Beyond, in the vista, gleamed, in beauty, the snowy peaks of the more elevated mountains, while from below some 2,000 feet, come from out the gloom of the gorge the distance- mutfled music of the gleaming cascades of the mountain stream. It is the most striking scene to be found on the road to the valley. The winding mountain stairway leading up to Crocker's, some nine miles further on, is one succession of beautifully wooded peaks and wild, deep gorges, lined with silver firs, whose palm-shaped branches in regular and even whorls about the straight, smooth bodies of the trees, mount in regu- lar and diminishing successions to the needle-like points. Douglas spruce, yellow and sugar pines, the brown-barked
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oaa'i otiifd KB *:- 8& â b;ro rip* ;. - GENERAL VIEW OF THE VALLEY. libocedruSjWith plumes of green and gold, and here and there, further on, some very fine specimens of the Sequoias. At high noon we stopped and lunched at Crane Flats, an old, deserted way-station, some sixteen miles from the Valley, and about five miles from the crest of the intervening range. About the " crest" are piled, in the peculiar charm of the harmony of wild disorder, a wealth of mammoth gray-granite boulders* among which are found patches of snow. Here a I coyote trotted into view and loitered along with shambling ' gait until, in crossing an opening at about seventy yards, he halted, and we drew what we thought a deadly bead with our 44 Smith & Wesson, but the leaden messenger proved harm- less, as far as we could observe, to the sneaking scavenger of the hills, and he dashed away to pursue his life of destruction to the weak lambs of any unguarded fold. We had intended to record of this incident'a splendid kill, and swore Smith to eternal silence on the matter of the clean miss, but just at this I moment a tidal wave of moral sentiment is sweeping over us, and in humiliation we record the truth. We missed him! i Now we start down the incline and realize that an hour or two at most will land us in the Valley. Every heart beat thrills us with the weight of pleasurable anticipations. Small, dark clouds drift over us with frequent reminders of the Me- thodistic mode of baptism. The wind, in fitful gusts, sweeps through the great pines with sob and moan, while the mists cover the gorges through which the mountain streams in roar- ing cascades dash on their way,surging,struggling and foaming amid the rocks and boulders which impede their course. The mists became more dense and the rain, but a degree or so more pronounced, became more steady; a turn around a point of mountain and there before us lies the Valley, veiled as with a film of cloud, which serves to soften, and in reality reveals more of beauty than it conceals. Instinctively the driver checks his steeds and we remain speechless with wonder and surprise. The heart labors and the breast heaves with emotion ; the mist seems to have gotten into our eyes, and I observe friend Smith using his handker- chief with unwonted frequency, ostensibly on the field glasses, but I have a well-founded suspicion that all of the moisture did not arise from the exterior. Soft, gray shadows veiling snowy heights; mist-clouds all but concealing the farther-towering walls which rise to dizzy- ing sky-distances; nearer monuments and domes revealing the granduer and majesty of Him who spake creation into form and being; silver bands which murmur Nature's sweetest notes of melody; grand rivers, leaping into space, and falling thousands of feet with voicings which would drown the great- est reports known to man's world of invented explosives; granduers so crushing, and beauties so delicate, that none, save memories' largest and most retentive urns can receive and retain aught but faint suggestions of the marvels of this, the World's Wonderland. As well attempt to lay hands on and retaint he rainbow, or scale, with other than the wings of imagination, these towering walls of granite, as to attempt to convey the impressions here received to others. Each must see for himself. We passed on down into the Valley viewing the marvelous revelations which, at each step, were brought into view, each succeeding one more grand and impressive than the former had appeared, until we reached a point opposite the incomparable Yo Semite Falls where we sought out a favorable camping place amid a leafy grove and pitched our tent. Here we spent four days, into which was crowded a wealth of experiences never before equalled, time even be- ing practically eliminated from the consideration. "We arose early, and guided by the supreme wisdom and caution of a trained mule, which was as sure-footed as a Blondin, we rode up the frightful trails to the crests of some of the highest peaks and saw the Valley lying far below us, in all the gorgeous beauty and security of its granite-guarded walls. From the dizzying heights of its more promi- nent towers, it appeared but a giant's leap across the gorge in which it lies. Its crystal lakes shone like brilliants, and its foaming rivers like silver cords lacing the emerald vesture across its bosom. We fished in the lakes and rivers; fished, practically, in vain. The surroundings seemed to have educated the trout to a point where the most gaudy "flies" were no alurement to them; silver spoons were not good enough for them and abalone lure they treated with dis- dain, but we obtained plenty of trout. How? Go ask Poor Lo. Morning rides on horseback along the smooth roads of the valley, be- neath the giant pines, oaks and ce- dars, inhaling the rich odors from the rubus tangles, dogwoods, golden rods, asters, azaleas and rhododendrons, were a most pleasurable feature of our visit. The liquid mirrors of the Valley are numerous, for every body of calm water here is a mirror which reflects, in a magnified sense, every shadow cast upon them. These effects are truly wonderful on account of the pe- cular clearness of the waters. The wild, rocky and irregular canons at the south of the Valley are all mar- vels of attraction and beauty. There are two of them, the Tenieya to the eastward, and the Illelouette to the westward, while the Merced comes in from the south, flowing through the four upper valleys. The valleys are all lesser Y'o Sem- ites. The same general features ob- tain in all of them. Similar falls of lesser magnitude, but the mountains about are still, if possible, more wild, and the snowy peaks are clustered nearer to them. The beauties of this location cannot be grasped at once. The mind is challenged by the grandeur of the more prominent points of power and force that the effect must be fully reg- istered by the mind before one can turn to examine the mar- velous beauties on every hand. These towering peaks pierce the azure and challenge the white ships of heaven in their course; the snows upon their crests, in aays when the mists en-hroud them, might well be taken for clouds. These mighty temples of stone, grand, im- posing, majestic, in their perfect expressions of power, tower on and up until the brain grows dizzy in any attempt to measuee or comprehend them. We christened our camp and kept open house. Have our card'.' Camp gkkevikvk. Jl'NE 17. 189i I Yi'Sh.MlTB V.ALLKY, CAL. j ;c. rsuith. c. \v. kvi.f_; yo SKMIIE. Grandeur enthroned upon thy peaks. with Beauty ail around he rnpoalrn. And every canted wall ben To voice the will of Majesty. ⢠mites within thy valleys imw. But seen from yonder castled brow, Thy suwlered peaks will not allow Of bloom, through all tba centuries. Call and see us there next year.

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