File:Hittell's hand-book of Pacific Coast travel (1885) (14779490554).jpg

Identifier: hittellshandbook00hitt (find matches)
Title: Hittell's hand-book of Pacific Coast travel
Year: 1885 (1880s)
Authors: Hittell, John S. (John Shertzer), 1825-1901 Hittell, John S. (John Shertzer), 1825-1901. Bancroft's Pacific Coast guide book
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Publisher: San Francisco : Bancroft Co.
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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ner of an immense castle. North Dome.—Half a mile northward from the WashingtonColumn is the North Dome, the summit of which, 3,5GS feet abovethe valley, can be reached on horseback from the north. The viewis considered inferior to that from many other points in the vicinity. Mirror Lake.—About half a mile eastward from the Washing-ton Column is Mirror Lake, an enlargement of Tenaya Creek, withan area of 8 acres and a depth at the deepest place of 20 feet. Thewater is remarkably clear, and before the winds rise in the morning,so placid, that reflections of the Half Dome and the WashingtonColumn are wonderfully like the direct view of those objects. Vernal Fall.—The Merced Paver enters the Yosemite Valleyfrom the southeastward, and shortly before reaching it, makes theNevada and Vernal Falls, the latter the lower of the two. TheVernal Fall, 2^ miles in a direct line from the village, is 475 feethigh, and because less in height than the other falls, while the quan- THE SIERRA. 167
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VERNAL FALL. 1G8 TIIE SIERRA. tity of water is greater than in any save the Nevada, it is distin-guished by the greenness of its color, and from that circumstance ob-tained its name. A natural battlement of rock at the top, just highenough to lean upon and look over, offers a convenient place for see-ing the cataract from above. The narrowness and roughness of thecanyon below, limits the views from that direction. In the distanceof a mile, between the Nevada and Vernal Falls, the river makes adescent of 275 feet, with numerous beautiful rapids, and little cas-cades, the largest of which, the Wild Cat Fall, is 30 feet high. The Nevada Fall.—The Nevada Fall is 639 feet high, and it israther a slide or chute than a fall, for the water runs down a rockwhich has a slope of 85° for about half its height, and 75° the otherhalf. The friction of the rock breaks the stream into a white froth,and hence the name of Nevada or snowy. For ages and until some-time in this century, the river made

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