THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
buried in the treacherous snow banks. In about four hours, however, we had overcome the eight 
miles of snow, and arrived safely at the valley, and here a scene was presented to our view which 
never will be forgotten, and which we have endeavored to portray in the accompanying sketch. 
It is poorly done, but may give our readers, perhaps, a faint idea of the appearance of the valley. 
It is not easy to show a valley three or four thousand feet in depth. 
Now the serious part of our work commenced. We had to descend into the valley several 
thousand feet, down the sides of a mountain that seemed almost, and in some places quite, perpen¬ 
dicular, by a narrow trail often not three feet in width, and on strange horses, and some of the 
paity found it difficult to keep on a horse even on a level road. Each saddle was examined by 
the guides and the girt tightened, and then tremblingly we commenced the descent; but we had 
not gone far before most of the parly began to gain confidence, not in themselves, but their 
horses. These little Mexican mustangs are as sure-footed as goats, and know their work, and 
seem to know, too, that their riders are inexperienced in mountain traveling, and consequently 
Pay attention to what they may say or do. If they were to heed the jerking and pulling 
of some of their frightened riders they would soon land them on the rocks below. To make 
the three thousand feet of descent, we had to travel this winding mountain trail for over three 
6 
After having traveled thousands of miles to see the Yosemite, when the goal was almost 
reached, and we could imagine we almost heard the roar and rush of waters over its magnificent 
Falls, we were compelled to remain, snow-bound in June, for more than twenty-four hours. 
Almost every hour the report came that the saddle horses were in sight, but they came not and 
we remained anxiously awaiting their arrival until three o’clock of the day after our arrival. 
Then the selection of horses and mounting commenced, which was no small work, for many of 
our traveling companions were entirely unused to equestrian exercises. After some delay, how¬ 
ever, all were safely mounted on the little Mustangs, and our march commenced, in single file, 
led by a guide and several pack mules. Great care had to be exercised in following the lead of 
the guides, who seemed to be very skillful in picking out the places where the snow was packed 
the hardest, and he who ventured to stray from the line often found himself and horse almost 
