Читать книгу The Mentor: The Yosemite Valley, Vol 4, Num. 16, Serial No. 116, October 2, 1916 - Elmendorf Dwight Lathrop - Страница 3

TWO

The finest photograph is inadequate to convey to the mind a satisfactory impression of the Yosemite Falls. The Yosemite Creek descends to the valley floor in three leaps, with a total height of about 2,500 feet. It is the highest known cataract in the world. The upper fall has a vertical descent of 1,430 feet; the middle fall consists of a series of cascades, with a total descent of 626 feet; while the lower fall is 320 feet high. At the top the Yosemite Falls is about 35 feet wide. As the season advances and the volume of water decreases, the fall dwindles considerably. At its best, however, it is one of the grandest features of the Valley. In winter a splendid ice cone, 500 feet high, forms at the foot of the upper fall.

Near Cathedral Spires, the Bridal Veil Fall pours down. People love it for its delicate, spirit-like beauty. It has a clear vertical fall of about 630 feet, with a width of 50 to 70 feet. The name is derived from the effect on it of the wind, which makes it flutter like a white veil.

The Bridal Veil shoots from the upper ledge of the cliff by the velocity the stream has acquired in descending a long slope above the head of the fall. Usually the fall strikes on flat topped slabs, which form a kind of ledge about two-thirds of the way down. Between four and five o’clock in the afternoon beautiful rainbows may be seen in this fall.

The Nevada Falls, 594 feet high, is generally ranked next to the Yosemite in interest. It is a heavy, turbulent cataract. Before reaching the bottom of its plunge the fall is broken and scattered by a sloping portion of the cliff about half-way down. It is the stormiest and whitest of all the falls in the Valley.

The Vernal Falls has a vertical descent of 317 feet and varies in width from 70 to 80 feet. This fall is an orderly, graceful, easy-going one. It may be more closely approached than any other. Just above it is the beautiful Emerald Pool.

The Illilouette Falls has a total height of about 370 feet. It is not so impressive as the upper Yosemite, nor so symmetrical as the Vernal, nor so graceful as Bridal Veil, nor so stormy a gush as Nevada; but, as John Muir says, “In the exquisite fineness and richness of texture of its flowing folds, it surpasses them all.”

There are many other small falls and cascades in the Yosemite Valley, among them being the Yosemite Gorge Fall and Cascades, the Royal Arch Falls, the Two Sentinel Cascades, and the falls of Cascade and Tamarack Creeks. The Royal Arch Fall in time of high water is beautiful; and the Two Sentinel Cascades, 3,000 feet high, are also wonderful spectacles. By the middle of summer, however, these have diminished so greatly that they are hardly noticeable.

The volume of water in the falls of the Valley varies greatly at different times – and so do the accounts of the altitude of the cataracts. You may have Illilouette Falls anywhere from 370 to 600 feet high, and the Upper Yosemite Falls anywhere from 1,400 to 1,600 feet high – just according to whom you ask. There is a like variation in the statements of the altitude of summits, and the size and age of the giant trees. Our figures are taken from the documents issued by the Department of the Interior of the United States Government.