2l6 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



diasas, orchids — several species of each, — iris, spraguea, 

 draperia, coUomia, collinsia, castilleia, nemophila, 

 larkspur, columbine, goldenrods, sunflowers, and mints 

 of many species, honeysuckle, etc., etc. Many fine ferns 

 dwell here, also; especially the beautiful and interesting 

 rock-ferns, — pellsea, and cheilanthes of several species, 

 — fringing and rosetting dry rock-piles and ledges; 

 woodwardia and asplenium on damp spots with fronds 

 six or seven feet high, the delicate maidenhair in mossy 

 nooks by the falls, and the sturdy broad-shouldered 

 pteris beneath the oaks and pines. 



It appears therefore that Hetch-Hetchy Valley, far 

 from being a plain common rockbound meadow, as many 

 who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand land- 

 scape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious 

 mountain mansions. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks 

 of its walls seem to the nature-lover to glow with life, 

 whether leaning back in repose or standing erect in 

 thoughtful attitudes giving welcome to storms and calms 

 alike. And how softly these mountain rocks are adorned, 

 and how fine and reassuring the company they keep — 

 their brows in the sky, their feet set in groves and gay 

 emerald meadows, a thousand flowers leaning confidingly 

 against their adamantine bosses, while birds, bees, and 

 butterflies help the river and waterfalls to stir all the air 

 into music — things frail and fleeting and types of perma- 

 nence meeting here and blending, as if into this glorious 

 mountain temple Nature had gathered her choicest 

 treasures, whether great or small, to draw her lovers 

 into close confiding communion with her. 



Strange to say, this is the mountain temple that 

 is now in danger of being dammed and made into a 

 reservoir to help supply San Francisco with water and 

 light. This use of the valley, so destructive and foreign 

 to its proper park use, has long been planned and prayed 

 for", and is still being prayed for by the San Francisco 

 board of supervisors, not because water as pure and 

 abundant cannot be got from adjacent sources outside 



