File:The Pacific coast scenic tour, from southern California to Alaska, the Canadian Pacific railway, Yellowstone Park and the Grand Cañon (1890) (14743868096).jpg

Identifier: pacificcoastscen00finc (find matches)
Title: The Pacific coast scenic tour, from southern California to Alaska, the Canadian Pacific railway, Yellowstone Park and the Grand Cañon
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Finck, Henry Theophilus, 1854-1926
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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before coming to the Yo-semite ; yet if it were situated amid the mountains ofSwitzerland, it would be surrounded by a dozen hotelsand seen by a hundred thousand visitors every summer.Approaching it by the footpath, we are soon envelopedin a drenching spray, the haunt of a superb rainbow,which at first forms a complete circle, but as we get uphigher is gradually reduced to the semi-circular form ofordinary rainbows (another reason for taking this pathon returning, since a scenic cresceiido is preferable to adecrescetido). The last part of the ascent is made on aseries of stairs, dizzy but safe, built through a sortof cavern in the rock, where we can get a peep rightinto the home of rare ferns and mosses, kept green bythe spray, and fortunately just out of reach of amateurbotanists. At the summit, the guide steps out on thesmooth crranite to the edg-e of the fall, and holds out hishand for those wno wish to approach and see its foot.The upper part can be seen by leaning over a curious
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SANTA BARBAKA AND THE YOSEMITE. 97 granite parapet, about three feet high, looking, as Pro-fessor Whitney remarks, as if made on purpose toafford the visitor a secure position from which to enjoythe scene. It is only a foot or two wide, and looks asif it were rent off the rest of the rock to some distancebelow, and as if it might be easily kicked over; butthis feeling of insecurity, where you know you areperfectly safe, only adds to the grandeur of the scene. It would be impossible to find a more romantic andcommanding spot than this. At your feet is the VernalFall and the turbulent Merced tumbling down themammoth gorge; in the other direction, less than amile upwards, is another water-fall, world famed, — theNevada, — and between these two falls are endless com-binations of wild rocks and shooting waters. Only afew yards above the Vernal is an eddying hollow knownas the Emerald Pool; and immediately above this is theflume, where the stream glides noiselessly but withlightning spe

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