Sierra Club Bulletin 



four in width. The concentrated action of this energetic glacier, 

 combined with that of the Tenaya, accomplished the greater 

 portion of the work of the disinterment and sculpture of the 

 great Half Dome, North Dome, and the adjacent rocks. Its 

 fountains, ranged along the southern slopes of the main Hoff- 

 mann ridge, gave birth to a series of flat, wing-shaped tribu- 

 taries, separated from one another by picturesque walls built of 

 massive blocks, bedded and jointed like masonry. The story of 

 its death is not unlike that of the Yosemite Creek, though the 

 declivity of its channel and equal exposure to sun-heat prevent- 

 ed any considerable portion from passing through a torpid con- 

 dition. It was first burned off on its lower course ; then, creep- 

 ing slowly back, lingered a while at the base of its mountains to 

 finish their sculpture, and encircle them with a zone of moraine 

 soil for gardens and forests. 



The gray slopes of Mount Hoffmann are singularly barren in 

 aspect, yet the traveler who is so fortunate as to ascend them 

 will find himself in the very loveliest gardens of the Sierra. The 

 lower banks and slopes of the basin are plushed with chaparral 

 rich in berries and bloom — a favorite resort for bears; while 

 the middle region is planted with the most superb forest of sil- 

 ver-fir I ever beheld. Nowhere are the cold footsteps of ice 

 more warmly covered with light and life. 



TENAYA GLACIER 



The rugged, strong-limbed Tenaya Glacier was about twelve 

 miles long, and from half a mile to two and a half miles wide. 

 Its depth varied from near 500 to 20Cmd feet, according as its 

 current was outspread in many channels or compressed in one. 

 Instead of drawing its supplies directly from the summit foun- 

 tains, it formed one of the principal outlets of the Tuolumne 

 mer de glace, issuing at once from this noble source, a full- 

 grown glacier two miles wide and more than a thousand feet 

 deep. It flowed in a general southwesterly direction, entering 

 Yosemite at the head, between Half and North domes. In set- 

 ting out on its life-work it moved slowly, spending its strength 

 in ascending the Tuolumne divide, and in eroding a series of 

 parallel sub-channels leading over into the broad, shallow basin 

 of Lake Tenaya. Hence, after uniting its main current, which 



