The New Student's Reference Work/Yosemite

Yosemite, a valley in Mariposa County, Cal., on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, about 150 miles from San Francisco, unequaled for grandeur and magnificence of scenery. It is seven or eight miles long and about a mile wide, and is about a mile below the level of the surrounding region. Of its various waterfalls the Bridal Veil is particularly noted for beauty and also for its height, which is nearly 1,000 feet. This valley, which was first entered by white men in 1855, attracts visitors every year from all parts of the world. Perhaps nowhere else on earth is there so remarkable a combination of beauty and sublimity.