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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



in an article published in the Century Magazine for November, 

 1891, (Vol. XXI, page 78,) points out many of the striking 

 resemblances. Professor Joseph Le Conte, in an article which 

 appeared in Sunset for October, 1900, says : "There can be no 

 doubt that King's River Canon belongs to the same type as 

 Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy. They are all Yosemites, — i. e. 

 valleys with vertical walls and flat floors, as contrasted with 

 the usual V-shaped valleys of mountains generally. In King's 

 River the walls are equally high and equally vertical, and the 

 floor similarly, although not equally, flat." 



To compare these two wonderful valleys except in a most 

 general way is as difficult as to compare two great epics, and 

 after all the result would be most unsatisfying. To use Professor 

 Joseph Le Conte's words, "Doubtless, for aggregation of striking 

 features within a limited area, and especially for the splendor of 

 its many waterfalls, Yosemite stands unrivaled, not only in Cali- 

 fornia, but in the world. But there is a peculiar, though gentler, 

 charm also in the foaming rapids so characteristic of King's 

 River and its branches. If Yosemite is far superior in its falls, 

 and also in its extensive meadows and the variety of its foliage, 

 King's River is far superior in its surrounding mountain scenery. 

 King's River Cafion branches and rebranches, becoming deeper 

 and wider and grander until it deploys and loses itself among 

 the highest peaks and grandest scenery of the Sierra." 



It is difficult to improve on this brief comparison. One has 

 but to examine the "Yosemite" and "Tehipite" quadrangles (maps 

 issued by the U. S. Geological Survey), in which the respective 

 valleys He, to appreciate the truth of Professor Le Conte's state- 

 ment that it is in its surrounding mountain scenery that King's 

 River Cafion is far superior to Yosemite and not in the features 

 of the immediate canon itself. 



The floor of Yosemite is about 4,000 feet in elevation, while that 

 of King's River Canon is about 4,500 feet. The divide immedi- 

 ately north of Yosemite, which separates the Merced drainage 

 basin from that of the Tuolumne, is composed of rolling granite 

 ridges, for the most part forest covered, and with insignificant 

 points jutting out here and there, none of which much exceed 

 9,000 feet in altitude. On the other hand, the stupendous Monarch 

 Divide, which towers to the north of the King's River Canon 

 and shuts it off from the Middle Fork and Tehipite Valley, rises 

 far above the timber-line in a jagged crest varying from 11,000 

 to 11,500 feet in height, and culminates in Goat Mountain, whose 

 summit is 12,203 feet above sea-level, or more than 7,500 feet 

 above the floor of the cafion. Directly to the south of Yosemite 

 the highest points on the divide do not rise much above 9,000 



