esting places, but not so majestic
and inspiring as the Yosemite.

Nature never seems satisfied with her work. After she has created
a piece of wonderful scenery she proceeds to destroy it. The great
cliffs of the Yosemite will sometime lose their grandeur and be
replaced by gentle slopes down which the streams will flow quietly.
The mountains of the Laurentian highlands in the northeastern portion
of the continent undoubtedly were once lofty and picturesque, but
there were no people upon the earth at that time to enjoy this
scenery. Now these mountains have become old and are nearly worn
down.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--WHERE THE CANONS BEGIN UNDER PRECIPITOUS
PEAKS

The head of the King's River]

In one portion of the earth after another, Nature raises great
mountain ranges and immediately proceeds to remove them. This continent
was discovered and California was settled at the right time for
the Sierra Nevadas to be seen in all their grandeur.

When the pioneers came in sight of the Sierra Nevada (snowy range),
they little dreamed of the canons hidden among these mountains.
Gold, and not scenery, was the object of their search. The great
canons were outside of the gold regions, and so inaccessibly situated
that no one except the Indians looked upon them until 1851. In
that year a party of soldiers following the trail of some thieving
Indians discovered and entered the Yosemite Valley, but it was not
explored until 1855. For many years the valley could be reached
only by the roughest trails, but as its advantages became more
widely known roads were built, and there are now three different
wagon routes by which it may be entered.

The history of the Yosemite Valley is like that of all the other
canons of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Long ago there were no high
mountains in eastern California. If there had been explorers crossing
the plains in those days, they would have found no rugged wall
shutting them off from the Pacific. There came a time, however,
when the surface of the western portion of America was broken by
violent earthquake movements, and hundreds of fissures were formed.
Some of the earth blocks produced by these fissures were shoved
upward, while others were dropped. One enormous block, which was
to form the Sierra Nevada, was raised along its eastern edge until
it stood several thousand feet above the adjoining country. The
movement was like that of a trap-door opened slightly, so that
upon one s