THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 301, 27 August 1908, Page 5

THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.

Forest fires, as we know only toO well in New Zealand, are relentless destroyers of national beauties that can never be restored. The one reported from California by cable however, is so exceptional (says the u Evening Post ) as to threaten little less than a national disaster — and from another aspect a loss to mankind in general, for the Yosemite Valley, through which the fire is

now raging, is one of the outstanding wonders of the world. First discovered in 1851, it was set aside in 1864 by Act of Congress as “ a place of public use, resort, and recreation inalienable for all time.” Unlike the greater canons of the streams from the Sierra Nevada —some hundreds of miles in length—the Y r osemite is only seven miles long, by half-a-mile to a mile wide at the bottom, but within that comparatively small compass is found a natural park, including’ some of the most tremendous scenery in the world. Its almost vertical walls, of hardest granite, rise in parts to close on a mile in height, and their imposing grandeur is diversified with magnificent waterfalls. But the glory of the valley is its natural vegetation. The soil is level and fertile —an old lake bottom. Well watered and effectually sheltered, its climate, mild though m the midst of snowy peaks, and with a sunlight that even its mighty walls cannot shut out, its luxuriance and profuse variety of forest growth have charms alike for the botanist and the lover of natural beauty. Some of its pines exceed two hundred feet in height, and its ancient oaks reach eight feet m diameter, while the valley itself is a paradise of native ferns and flowers. Even should the giant redwoods escape, the destruction of primeval forest will be irreparable.