This book-collection file includes: The Grand Canon of the Colorado (article), The Mountains of California, Steep Trails, Stickeen (article), The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, Travels in Alaska, Yosemite, My First Summer in the Sierras, and Alaska Days with John Muir (by S. Hall Young). According to Wikipedia: 'John Muir (April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of conservation of U.S. wilderness. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, and wildlife, especially in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, have been read by millions and are still popular today. His direct activism helped to save the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. His writings and philosophy strongly influenced the formation of the modern environmental movement.'
1894
I THE SIERRA NEVADA
II THE GLACIERS
III THE SNOW
IV A NEAR VIEW OF THE HIGH SIERRA
V THE PASSES
VI THE GLACIER LAKES
VII THE GLACIER MEADOWS
VIII THE FORESTS
IX THE DOUGLAS SQUIRREL
X A WIND-STORM IN THE FORESTS
XI THE RIVER FLOODS
XII SIERRA THUNDER-STORMS
XIII THE WATER-OUZEL
XIV THE WILD SHEEP
XV IN THE SIERRA FOOT-HILLS
XVI THE BEE-PASTURES
Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. Yet so simple and massive is the topography of the State in general views, that the main central portion displays only one valley, and two chains of mountains which seem almost perfectly regular in trend and height: the Coast Range on the west side, the Sierra Nevada on the east. These two ranges coming together in curves on the north and south inclose a magnificent basin, with a level floor more than 400 miles long, and from 35 to 60 miles wide. This is the grand Central Valley of California, the waters of which have only one outlet to the sea through the Golden Gate. But with this general simplicity of features there is great complexity of hidden detail. The Coast Range, rising as a grand green barrier against the ocean, from 2000 to 8000 feet high, is composed of innumerable forest-crowned spurs, ridges, and rolling hill-waves which inclose a multitude of smaller valleys; some looking out through long, forest-lined vistas to the sea; others, with but few trees, to the Central Valley; while a thousand others yet smaller are embosomed and concealed in mild, round-browed hills, each, with its own climate, soil, and productions.
Making your way through the mazes of the Coast Range to the summit of any of the inner peaks or passes opposite San Francisco, in the clear springtime, the grandest and most telling of all California landscapes is outspread before you. At your feet lies the great Central Valley glowing golden in the sunshine, extending north and south farther than the eye can reach, one smooth, flowery, lake-like bed of fertile soil. Along its eastern margin rises the mighty
