FOUNTAINS AND STREAMS 217 



heaps on or near the axis of the range. It flows 

 first in flat sheets over coarse sand or shingle 

 derived from a granite ridge and the metamor- 

 phic slates of Red Mountain. Then, gathering 

 its many small branches, it runs through beds of 

 moraine material, and a series of lakelets and 

 meadows and frosty juicy bogs bordered with 

 heathworts and linked together by short bould- 

 ery reaches. Below these, growing strong with 

 tribute drawn from many a snowy fountain on 

 either side, the glad stream goes dashing and 

 swirling through clumps of the white-barked 

 pine, and tangled willow and alder thickets en- 

 riched by the fragrant herbaceous vegetation 

 usually found about them. And just above the 

 level camp meadow it is chafed and churned and 

 beaten white over and over again in crossing a 

 talus of big earthquake boulders, giving it a 

 very thorough airing. But to what the peculiar 

 indefinable excellence of this water is due I don't 

 know ; for other streams in adjacent canons are 

 aired in about the same way, and draw traces of 

 minerals and plant essences from similar sources. 

 The best mineral water yet discovered in the 

 Park flows from the Tuolumne soda springs, 

 on the north side of the Big Meadow. Moun- 

 taineers like it and ascribe every healing virtue 

 to it, but in no way can any of these waters be 

 compared with the Owens River champagne. 

 It is a curious fact that the waters of some 



