Yosemite
The Embattled Wilderness
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I. Incomparable Yosemite
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1. Half Dome, at 8,842 feet elevation,
rises nearly a mile above the floor of Yosemite Valley, elevation 4,000
feet. The grandeur of Yosemite has long overshadowed its biological
heritage, such as the black-tailed deer momentarily distracted in the
foreground. Photograph by Ralph H. Anderson, courtesy of the National
Park Service.
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2. The first published view of Yosemite
Valley, in October 1855, was this striking lithograph, Yo Hamite
Falls, from a sketch by Thomas A. Ayres. Note the spacing between
the trees and extensive meadows clear across the valley floor,
confirming pioneers' accounts that Native Americans periodically burned
Yosemite Valley to remove undergrowth and retard advancing forests.
Courtesy of the Yosemite National Park Research Library.
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3. Ayres's view contrasts sharply with
this modern photograph of Yosemite Falls. At 2,425 feet, it is actually
three separate cascades. Here only the upper fall, dropping 1,430 feet,
is clearly visible above the trees and intervening rocks. Photograph
by Richard Frear, courtesy of the National Park Service.
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