The Grand Canon of the Tuolumne. 



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THE GRAND CANON OF THE TUOLUMNE 



By Herbert W. Gleason. 



I consider the Grand Canon of the Tuolumne one of 

 the finest displays of scenic grandeur within the limits of 

 the United States. I have spent a month in Alaska, twice 

 visited the Grand Canon of Arizona, twice toured Yellow- 

 stone Park, spent six summers in the Canadian Rockies, 

 and three summers on the Pacific Coast, — in fact, I have 

 seen most of the notable scenery of the American con- 

 tinent, — and I unhesitatingly affirm that the Grand Canon 

 of the Tuolumne River deserves to rank, in its sublime im- 

 pressiveness, stupendous majesty, and rugged beauty, 

 with anything that this country affords. The Grand 

 Canon of the Colorado is, of course, superior in its vast 

 extent and its brilliant coloring ; yet the Tuolumne Canon, 

 by reason of the fact that its perpendicular walls, 4,500 

 to 5,000 feet in height, are as a rule less than a mile 

 apart at their base, while the walls of the Colorado Cafion 

 are from ten to fifteen miles apart, produces a sense of 

 overwhelming grandeur which not even the great Arizona 

 Cafion can give. Through the length of the canon for 

 twenty miles flows the Tuolumne River in a constant suc- 

 cession of magnificent waterfalls and cascades, some of 

 which, though not as lofty, are more uniquely beautiful 

 than the famous falls of the Yosemite Valley. 



