II 



Although there is a waggon-road from Coulterville as far as Black's 

 seventeen miles, travellers generally start from the first-named place 

 on horseback, ride seventeen miles, and stop at Black's over night, 

 and the next day ride into the Valley, the total distance being forty- 

 nine miles, of which seventeen are made the first day and thirty-two 

 the second. The hotels in the Valley being both on the south side 

 of the Merced, travellers arriving from Coulterville, until recently, 

 had to cross by a ferry after descending into the Valley, as it is only 

 rarely, and then very late in the season, that the river can be lorded. 

 This, the ferry noticed above, is claimed by Mr. Folsom, and is situ 

 ated three-quarters of a mile below the lower hotel. It is possible, 

 however, to ride up the Valley on the north side of the river, and 

 cross at a bridge directly opposite Hutchings's hotel ; but a portion 

 of the trail is apt to be boggy and another part is very rocky, there 

 being much the best ground for a road on the other side. To avoid 

 the delay of the ferry, therefore, and to make it possible for visitors 

 to ride entirely around the Valley, the Commissioners have had a 

 substantial bridge erected at the foot of the Bridal Veil Meadow, not 

 far from the place where the trail descends from the north. This 

 will enable travellers to make the tour of the Valley, after the trail on 

 the north side has been put in good order, and early in the season, 

 when that side is boggy, to avoid inconvenience, arid also to avoid 

 the delay and expense of the ferry. 



The Commissioners have also expended a small amount on the 

 improvement of the trail from the Valley up the canon of the Mer 

 ced to the Vernal Fall, so that visitors can ride nearly to the foot of 

 this fall, thus rendering a visit to this interesting portion of the Yo- 

 semite much easier than it has formerly been. They have also 

 placed a bridge across the river above the Vernal Fall, making the trip 

 to the summit of the Nevada Fall a matter of no great difficulty, this 

 having been an extremely long and fatiguing trip before the bridge 

 was built. The same bridge gives access to new and admirable 

 views of the Nevada Fall and also to Mount Broderick, or the Cap 

 of Liberty, and is, on the whole, a quite important addition to the 

 convenience of travellers. 



The building of the bridge at the lower end of the Valley does 

 away with the necessity for a ferry, and the convenience of the public 

 requires that a set of steps, or staircase, shall be erected at the Ver 

 nal Fall, in place of the present ladders, which are awkward j and 

 perhaps even dangerous, for ladies to climb. The Commissioners 

 propose, therefore, next year, to place a convenient and commodious 



