Muir.] 150 [March 6, 
north and south sides of the valley is remarkable; while on the north 
and sunny side it was spring, on the south side there were twelve 
‘inches of snow and midwinter—the two seasons separated only by 
half a mile of valley. 3 
The latter part of January there was a magnificent ice cone two hun- 
dred feet high at the base of the upper Yosemite fall. This cone was 
about six hundred feet in diameter at the base, truncated, with the side 
next the wall deeply flattened; into its tolerably regular mouth, as 
into the crater of a volcano, poured whole columns of water which 
escaped by several irregular openings at the base. The rock be- 
hind the fall is dark-colored, but on both sides it is covered during 
frosty nights by frozen spray to a depth of from two inches to several 
feet; the width of this silvery edging of ice varies with the height, 
being greatest at the bottom and tapering to the top, like the fall 
to which it belongs. This grand ice creation, two hundred feet wide 
at the bottom, developed in a night, dies in a day; a few minutes af- 
ter the sun falls upon it ragged blocks from a few pounds to several 
tons in weight begin to fall off, which in their fall echo through the 
valley like explosions of powder. ‘The intervals of quiet which sep- 
arate these explosions are from a few seconds to ten or twelve min- 
utes; it sometimes happens that the sun disintegrates this ice before 
noon, but usually almost all day is required. ‘The thundering and 
clattering of this falling ice are the common winter sounds, and the 
constant accompaniments of pleasant days. ‘The ice cone is thus seen 
to be simply an accumulation of spray ice, solidified by pressure; it 
frequently attains a height of four or five hundred feet. 
Tourists in California never see, and even the residents know noth- 
ing of, the magnificent vegetation of the great central plain of Cali- 
fornia; itis almost always remembered as a scorched and dust-clouded 
waste, treeless and dreary as the deserts along the Pacific Railroad. 
The foot-hills are smooth and flowing, and come down to the bot- 
tom levels in beautiful curves; their flowers do not occur singly or 
scattered about in the grass, but close together in companies, acres and 
hill-sides in extent, with their white, yellow and purple colors separate, 
yet harmoniously blending, and their fragrance is exquisite. Through- 
out the passes abound dogwood and alders, violets and ferns of great 
beauty. After passing the summit of the hills you come to the mag- 
nificent flower bed of the California plains, four hundred miles long 
and thirty miles wide, a great level ocean of flowers bounded by the 
snow-capped Sierras, watered by the San Joaquin and Sacramento 
