America's wonderlands : a pictorial and descriptive history of our country's scenic marvels as delineated by pen and camera

Front matter

A. Dean and Jean M. Larsen Yellowstone Park Collection

Quarto

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Contents

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The Sublimely Grand and Incomparable Scenery of America. — Picturesque lauds aud places of other countries — Engagement of a corps of Photographers — Equipment of our Camera car — A trip to the Rocky Mountains — Hasty resume of the pictorial districts visited — From summer climes to Alaska's glacial shores — Excursions by car, stage, donkey and foot — Educational benefits of the tour — The work one of patriotic incitement, 6—16

Chapter I

Among the Wild Scenes op Colorado. — Through the Gateway of the Rockies — Wondrous visions — In the canons of Bear Creek — Colossal cleavage of Clear Creek — A submerged forest of petrified trees — Among the clouds — Devil's Gate to Bridal Veil Falls — The Loop at Georgetown — Silver Flume — Cornucopias of silver — Over the switchback to silver lands — Between towering crags — Terrific convulsions of nature — Dome Rock — Invocation of surging waters — The highest point ever reached by rail — A marvelous tunnel — An astounding view — Through Boulder Canon and into North Park — A tour of Estes Park — Visits to Eong's Peak and Bald Mountain — Wild game in savage haunts — Climbing the American Matterhorn — Bewildering prospect from the "key-hole" — \ trip to Table Mountain and examination of the glaciers — A journey through Middle Park — A story of Grand Lake — Away up on a dizzy brink, . . . 17-40

Chapter II

Manitou the Mighty. — Twin cities that sit at the feet of Pike's Peak — A spell of wonderment wrought by the eccentricities of nature — God's acres of tumultuous stone — The story of Major Pike's discovery — The first ascent of Pike's Peak — The cog-wheel railroad to the summit — A trip to cloud-land — The wonderful panorama to be .surveyed from the peak — A battalion of mountains in review — A storm on the mountain — Ute Pass to Cascade Canon — Rainbow Falls and Grand Caverns — From the Cave-of-the- Winds down William's Canon — Garden of the Gods — Nature in wild riot page

of gruesome forms and sublime creations — Through Glen Eyrie and Monument Park — Witcheries that confound imagination — A visit to Cheyenne Canon — Seven Falls — Entrancing hymns of nature — Eegends of the Manitou, . 41-62

Chapter III

Grand Canons op Western Rivers. — A land of graceful, deep-leaping waterfalls — A park of marvelous petrifactions — Buena Vista, the beautiful view — Sportsmen's Paradise — Through Hagerman Tunnel to Mount of the Holy Cross — Grand River Canon — Sixteen miles of natural wonders — The Grand Canon of the Colorado — Major Powell's Trip from Green River to Yuma — A perilous journey richly recompensed — Flaming Gorge and Horseshoe Canons — Tossed by dangerous rapids into halls and temples carved by Titans — In a chasm 7,000 feet deep — Caverns of Enchantment and walls flecked with rainbow colors — A borderland of phantasy — Cave habitations of an extinct race — Story of the hunted refugees — Vermilion Cliffs, Temples of the Virgin and Marble Canon — Glories that thrill the heart with ecstasy, and fill the soul with reverence, .... 63-84

Chapter IV

Marvels op the Great Desert. — Magnificence of the scenery along Grand River — From mountain to plain- Beautiful Provo Falls — Our great inland sea — Fruitfulness of Salt Eake Valley — A wall of mountains around Salt Eake — Shores of ancient Lake Bonneville, now America's dead sea — Islands of Salt Eake — The Mormon City and how it was founded — Red Butte and Emigrant Canons — Garfield Beach and Giant's Cave — Echo and Weber Canons — Valleys of marvelous diversity — The Devil's Slide and the Witches' Playground — Beaver River Gulch and scenic wonders about Ogden — A trip across the creviced lava fields of Idaho — The magnitude and awfuluess of Shoshone Falls — A second Niagara in the desert — Twin, Cascade aud Bridal Veil Falls — A realistic description of this incomparable wonderland 85-112

TABLE

CHAFER V.

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Ovkr the Heights and into the Deeps of Wonderland.

— Through the portals of Black Canon — Astounding views along Gunnison River — Chippeta Falls and Currecanti Needle — A sight of Fossil Ridge and the Cone of Ouray — The trip over Marshall Pass — The terrible mightiness of the Royal Gorge — Hanging Bridge — The tempestuously craggy route between Ironton and Ouray — Marvelous engineering skill — Weirdly savage Animas Canon — A railroad balcony 1,500 feet above the river — A flight high as the eagle's — Kit Carson's Exploits in Canon de Chelle — The awesomeuessof Toltec Gorge — A parade-ground of Nature's Idols — Looking down upon the world — Blooming flowerland of San Luis Park — Down through Comanche Canon — A side trip to ruined pueblos and cliff dwellings in New Mexico — Something about an extinct race — The Grave of Kit Carson — Some history of remarkable interest — The ancient Pueblo Indians and their dwellings — Magnificent ruins of the Casa Grandes — Montezuma's Palace — Evidences of a walled and towered city — Prehistoric man in New Mexico, 113-152

Chapter VI

Across the Cactus Desert into California's Golden Land. — The Zuni plateau — Approach to the Grand Canon of the Colorado — A scene of overpowering sublimity — A Mohave Village — Death Valley — From sterility to fertility — Monterey and its attractions — A visit to the Lick Observatory and the great telescope — In and around San Francisco — The Seals' Sporting Grounds — The Mariposa grove of big trees — A trip through the wondrous valley of the Yosemite — A stage journey through a region of incomparable grandeur — Wonders and curiosities of the Yosemite — Falls of extraordinary beauty and peaks of amazing height — The Calavaras big trees — The journey from Ogden to California— Across the great American desert — Indian camps along the way — The Humboldt Palisades — Lake Tahoe — The sad story of the Donuer party — Along the loft}- crest of American Canon — Giant's Gap and Cape Horn — The beautiful Sacramento Valley 153-192

Chapter VII

Our Journey Through Picturesque Regions of the Northwest. — Winter in vernal climes — A plunge into the

CONTENTS.

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Siskiyou Range — the light that crowns Shasta's head — Soda Springs that titillate the palate like champagne — Exquisite Mossbrae Falls — A glorious sight from Portland's heights — Lofty peaks of the Cascade Range — A trip up the Columbia — Pictorial shores that lend charm to interest — Its dales, palisades and waterfalls — A panorama of extraordinary grandeur — A side trip to Crater Lake — Traditions of the Klamath Indians — The most marvelous body of water on earth — Indian legend of creation, the flood and repeopling of the world — Wondrous visions on the lake — The core of a great volcano — A Siwrash legend of the Saviour — A voyage to Alaska — First sight of the glaciers — In the land of icebergs— Description of Muir Glacier — Birth of icebergs — History of the glacial epoch — Facts and fancies about Alaskan natives — Their religion and mortuary customs — O, glorious night of the North! 193-234

Chapter VIII

Across the Mountains to Yellowstone Park. — A detour on the Canadian Pacific Railroad — Magnificent scenery along Fraser River — Green lakes on mountain brows — Canadian National Park — A glimpse of the Sandwich Islands through other eyes than ours — Down the Yakimer River — Spokane and Palouse Falls — Sights along Snake River — Pinnacle Rocks — Lost Falls — Lakes of marvelous beauty and rivers of torrential flow — A trip to the 12 falls of the Missouri — Our visit to Yellowstone Park — The wondrous gateway to Gardiner Canon — Nesting place of the sentinel eagle — Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces — Remarkable formations more beautiful than the Cave of Stalacta — Springs glowing with brilliant coloring — Terraces of petrified rainbows — Through the Golden Gate, by deep canon, lofty waterfall and far-soaring cliffs — In purgatorial regions — Growling caves and spouting Geysers — The Devil's Kitchen and his Majesty's Mush-pot — Along Firehole River and into the Lower Basin — The land of fearful surprises and volcanic energy — Yellowstone Lake and its game-abounding shores — Death Valley and Petrified Forest — Grand Canon of the Yellowstone and its flowing beauties " — Tower and Yellowstone Falls — A grave-yard of mammoth quadripeds 235-288

TABLE OF

Chapter IX. Tage

Among the Wonders of the Black Hills. — Beautiful Dells of the St. Croix — Scenes of the last Indian uprising — The scenery about Deadwood — Tumultuous wonders of Custer Park — Marvels of Elk Creek Canon — Harney's Peak and Wedge Rock — Horseshoe Curve — Keith's Crystal Cave — A trip to the Belle Fourche — Astounding wonder of the Devil's Tower — A basaltic column higher than the Eiffel Tower — Speculations concerning its formation — Crow Butte and Signal Rock — A story of Indian heroism — St. Anthony's Falls — Charming beauty of Minnehaha — Dells of the St.

Croix — The Devil's Fishing Place — Customs of the Wisconsin Indians — Making a Medicine Man — Witchery of the Wisconsin Dells — Cleavages of extraordinary curiosity — Funeral ceremonies of the Ojibways — Wonders of Devil's Lake and Camp Douglas — Through the Straits of Mackinaw— Picturesqueness of Superior's Shores — Pictured palisades and frozen waterfalls — Scenery along the north shore — A trip down the Mississippi, 289-344

Chapter X

Scenic Marvels of the Great Northeast. — Mountain scenes in the vicinity of Eureka Springs — Legend of the Starved Rock in Illinois — Sublime glories and immensity of Niagara Falls — Utilization of the waters — Some interesting scientific facts — The Mohawk Valley and Leather Stocking Stories — Magnificence of Watkin's and Havana Glens — The poetry of idyllic retreats — Down through the Thousand Islands — Chatauguay Chasm — Canons of the Ausable and bewildering glories of the Adirondacks — Hunting grounds of the great North wilderness — Scenes of incomparable grandeur — Story of our tramp through the Catskills — A trip down the Hudson — Places famous in American history — West Point and its noted surroundings, 345-382

Chapter XI

A Pictorial Tour of the Eastern States. — A trip through the scenic regions of Canada — Torrential mightiness of Chaudiere Falls — The falls of Montreal River — A trip through Lachiue Rapids — Something about the early history of Quebec — Winter sports in Montreal — The home of Queen Victoria's father — Beautiful scenery in the vicinity of Quebec — A journey through the New England States — The Green Mountains of Vermont — Description of the White Mount-

CONTENTS. 3

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ains — Singular examples of nature sculpturing — Ascension of the highest peaks and bewildering views therefrom — The cog-wheel railroad up Mount Washington — Sensations and charms of the ascent — A typical village in a New Hampshire valley — Vagaries and reveries of a poetaster — Wild grandeur of Wild-Cat River — Afloat on the pretty lakes of New Hampshire — From Maine to Boston — Historic places of Massachusetts, and the stories connected with them — Curiosities around Pittsfield and description of the Shaker settlement, 383-414

Chapter XII

On Historic Fields of Virginia and Pennsylvania. — From the Blue Grass Regions to the Shenandoah — Scenery of the Kanawha River and Blue Ridge Mountains — Marvelous Natural Bridge of Virginia — Some remarkable scenes in East Tennessee — Pen-pictures of some of the mountaineers — War memories that are fast fading — The Great Smoky Mountains — Portraitures of North Carolinians, and some typical farm scenes — Scenery about Asheville — A tragic story of the ascent of Mount Mitchell — A visit to Luray Caverns — Beauties of the Under-world that dazzle with their splendor — Descriptions of the subterranean chambers — Valley of the Shenandoah — Memorable battle-fields— Down the Juniata — Scenery of the Susquehanna — Visit to a land of waterfalls beyond the Water Gap, . 415-448