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The Mountains of California by John Muir, The Sierra Nevada. Chapter I, Part 2

The Sierra Nevada. Chapter I, Part 2

The north half of the range is mostly covered with floods of lava, and dotted with volcanoes and craters, some of them recent and perfect in form, others in various stages of decay. The south half is composed of granite nearly from base to summit, while a considerable number of peaks, in the middle of the range, are capped with metamorphic slates, among which are Mounts Dana and Gibbs to the east of Yosemite Valley. Mount Whitney, the culminating point of the range near its southern extremity, lifts its helmet-shaped crest to a height of nearly 14,700 feet. Mount Shasta, a colossal volcanic cone, rises to a height of 14,440 feet at the northern extremity, and forms a noble landmark for all the surrounding region within a radius of a hundred miles. Residual masses of volcanic rocks occur throughout most of the granitic southern portion also, and a considerable number of old volcanoes on the flanks, especially along the eastern base of the range near Mono Lake and southward. But it is only to the northward that the entire range, from base to summit, is covered with lava.

From the summit of Mount Whitney only granite is seen. Innumerable peaks and spires but little lower than its own storm-beaten crags rise in groups like forest-trees, in full view, segregated by cañons of tremendous depth and ruggedness. On Shasta nearly every feature in the vast view speaks of the old volcanic fires. Far to the northward, in Oregon, the icy volcanoes of Mount Pitt and the Three Sisters rise above the dark evergreen woods. Southward innumerable smaller craters and cones are distributed along the axis of the range and on each flank. Of these, Lassen's Butte is the highest, being nearly 11,000 feet above sea-level. Miles of its flanks are reeking and bubbling with hot springs, many of them so boisterous and sulphurous they seem over ready to become spouting geysers like those of the Yellowstone.

The Cinder Cone near marks the most recent volcanic eruption in the Sierra. It is a symmetrical truncated cone about 700 feet high, covered with gray cinders and ashes, and has a regular unchanged crater on its summit, in which a few small Two-leaved Pines are growing. These show that the age of the cone is not less than eighty years. It stands between two lakes, which a short time ago were one. Before the cone was built, a flood of rough vesicular lava was poured into the lake, cutting it in two, and, overflowing its banks, the fiery flood advanced into the pine-woods, overwhelming the trees in its way, the charred ends of some of which may still be seen projecting from beneath the snout of the lava-stream where it came to rest. Later still there was an eruption of ashes and loose obsidian cinders, probably from the same vent, which, besides forming the Cinder Cone, scattered a heavy shower over the surrounding woods for miles to a depth of from six inches to several feet.

The history of this last Sierra eruption is also preserved in the traditions of the Pitt River Indians. They tell of a fearful time of darkness, when the sky was black with ashes and smoke that threatened every living thing with death, and that when at length the sun appeared once more it was red like blood.

Less recent craters in great numbers roughen the adjacent region; some of them with lakes in their throats, others overgrown with trees and flowers, Nature in these old hearths and firesides having literally given beauty for ashes. On the northwest side of Mount Shasta there is a subordinate cone about 3000 feet below the summit, which, has been active subsequent to the breaking up of the main ice-cap that once covered the mountain, as is shown by its comparatively unwasted crater and the streams of unglaciated lava radiating from it. The main summit is about a mile and a half in diameter, bounded by small crumbling peaks and ridges, among which we seek in vain for the outlines of the ancient crater.

These ruinous masses, and the deep glacial grooves that flute the sides of the mountain, show that it has been considerably lowered and wasted by ice; how much we have no sure means of knowing. Just below the extreme summit hot sulphurous gases and vapor issue from irregular fissures, mixed with spray derived from melting snow, the last feeble expression of the mighty force that built the mountain. Not in one great convulsion was Shasta given birth. The crags of the summit and the sections exposed by the glaciers down the sides display enough of its internal framework to prove that comparatively long periods of quiescence intervened between many distinct eruptions, during which the cooling lavas ceased to flow, and became permanent additions to the bulk of the growing mountain. With alternate haste and deliberation eruption succeeded eruption till the old volcano surpassed even its present sublime height.

[Illustration: MOUNT SHASTA, LOOKING SOUTHWEST.]

Standing on the icy top of this, the grandest of all the fire-mountains of the Sierra, we can hardly fail to look forward to its next eruption. Gardens, vineyards, homes have been planted confidingly on the flanks of volcanoes which, after remaining steadfast for ages, have suddenly blazed into violent action, and poured forth overwhelming floods of fire. It is known that more than a thousand years of cool calm have intervened between violent eruptions. Like gigantic geysers spouting molten rock instead of water, volcanoes work and rest, and we have no sure means of knowing whether they are dead when still, or only sleeping.

Along the western base of the range a telling series of sedimentary rocks containing the early history of the Sierra are now being studied. But leaving for the present these first chapters, we see that only a very short geological time ago, just before the coming on of that winter of winters called the glacial period, a vast deluge of molten rocks poured from many a chasm and crater on the flanks and summit of the range, filling lake basins and river channels, and obliterating nearly every existing feature on the northern portion. At length these all-destroying floods ceased to flow. But while the great volcanic cones built up along the axis still burned and smoked, the whole Sierra passed under the domain of ice and snow. Then over the bald, featureless, fire-blackened mountains, glaciers began to crawl, covering them from the summits to the sea with a mantle of ice; and then with infinite deliberation the work went on of sculpturing the range anew. These mighty agents of erosion, halting never through unnumbered centuries, crushed and ground the flinty lavas and granites beneath their crystal folds, wasting and building until in the fullness of time the Sierra was born again, brought to light nearly as we behold it today, with glaciers and snow-crushed pines at the top of the range, wheat-fields and orange-groves at the foot of it.

This change from icy darkness and death to life and beauty was slow, as we count time, and is still going on, north and south, over all the world wherever glaciers exist, whether in the form of distinct rivers, as in Switzerland, Norway, the mountains of Asia, and the Pacific Coast; or in continuous mantling folds, as in portions of Alaska, Greenland, Franz-Joseph-Land, Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, and the lands about the South Pole. But in no country, as far as I know, may these majestic changes be studied to better advantage than in the plains and mountains of California.

Toward the close of the glacial period, when the snow-clouds became less fertile and the melting waste of sunshine became greater, the lower folds of the ice-sheet in California, discharging fleets of icebergs into the sea, began to shallow and recede from the lowlands, and then move slowly up the flanks of the Sierra in compliance with the changes of climate. The great white mantle on the mountains broke up into a series of glaciers more or less distinct and river-like, with many tributaries, and these again were melted and divided into still smaller glaciers, until now only a few of the smallest residual topmost branches of the grand system exist on the cool slopes of the summit peaks.

Plants and animals, biding their time, closely followed the retiring ice, bestowing quick and joyous animation on the new-born landscapes. Pine-trees marched up the sun-warmed moraines in long, hopeful files, taking the ground and establishing themselves as soon as it was ready for them; brown-spiked sedges fringed the shores of the newborn lakes; young rivers roared in the abandoned channels of the glaciers; flowers bloomed around the feet of the great burnished domes,--while with quick fertility mellow beds of soil, settling and warming, offered food to multitudes of Nature's waiting children, great and small, animals as well as plants; mice, squirrels, marmots, deer, bears, elephants, etc. The ground burst into bloom with magical rapidity, and the young forests into bird-song: life in every form warming and sweetening and growing richer as the years passed away over the mighty Sierra so lately suggestive of death and consummate desolation only.

It is hard without long and loving study to realize the magnitude of the work done on these mountains during the last glacial period by glaciers, which are only streams of closely compacted snow-crystals. Careful study of the phenomena presented goes to show that the pre-glacial condition of the range was comparatively simple: one vast wave of stone in which a thousand mountains, domes, cañons, ridges, etc., lay concealed. And in the development of these Nature chose for a tool not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries, the offspring of the sun and sea. Laboring harmoniously in united strength they crushed and ground and wore away the rocks in their march, making vast beds of soil, and at the same time developed and fashioned the landscapes into the delightful variety of hill and dale and lordly mountain that mortals call beauty. Perhaps more than a mile in average depth has the range been thus degraded during the last glacial period,--a quantity of mechanical work almost inconceivably great. And our admiration must be excited again and again as we toil and study and learn that this vast job of rockwork, so far-reaching in its influences, was done by agents so fragile and small as are these flowers of the mountain clouds. Strong only by force of numbers, they carried away entire mountains, particle by particle, block by block, and cast them into the sea; sculptured, fashioned, modeled all the range, and developed its predestined beauty. All these new Sierra landscapes were evidently predestined, for the physical structure of the rocks on which the features of the scenery depend was acquired while they lay at least a mile deep below the pre-glacial surface. And it was while these features were taking form in the depths of the range, the particles of the rocks marching to their appointed places in the dark with reference to the coming beauty, that the particles of icy vapor in the sky marching to the same music assembled to bring them to the light. Then, after their grand task was done, these bands of snow-flowers, these mighty glaciers, were melted and removed as if of no more importance than dew destined to last but an hour. Few, however, of Nature's agents have left monuments so noble and enduring as they. The great granite domes a mile high, the cañons as deep, the noble peaks, the Yosemite valleys, these, and indeed nearly all other features of the Sierra scenery, are glacier monuments.

Contemplating the works of these flowers of the sky, one may easily fancy them endowed with life: messengers sent down to work in the mountain mines on errands of divine love. Silently flying through the darkened air, swirling, glinting, to their appointed places, they seem to have taken counsel together, saying, "Come, we are feeble; let us help one another. We are many, and together we will be strong. Marching in close, deep ranks, let us roll away the stones from these mountain sepulchers, and set the landscapes free. Let us uncover these clustering domes. Here let us carve a lake basin; there, a Yosemite Valley; here, a channel for a river with fluted steps and brows for the plunge of songful cataracts. Yonder let us spread broad sheets of soil, that man and beast may be fed; and here pile trains of boulders for pines and giant Sequoias. Here make ground for a meadow; there, for a garden and grove, making it smooth and fine for small daisies and violets and beds of heathy bryanthus, spicing it well with crystals, garnet feldspar, and zircon." Thus and so on it has oftentimes seemed to me sang and planned and labored the hearty snow-flower crusaders; and nothing that I can write can possibly exaggerate the grandeur and beauty of their work. Like morning mist they have vanished in sunshine, all save the few small companies that still linger on the coolest mountainsides, and, as residual glaciers, are still busily at work completing the last of the lake basins, the last beds of soil, and the sculpture of some of the highest peaks.

The Sierra Nevada. Die Sierra Nevada. Kapitel I, Teil 2 Η Σιέρα Νεβάδα. Κεφάλαιο Ι, Μέρος 2 Sierra Nevada. Capítulo I, Parte 2 La Sierra Nevada. Chapitre I, partie 2 La Sierra Nevada. Capitolo I, Parte 2 シエラネバダ第1章 第2部 시에라 네바다. 1장, 2부 Sierra Nevada. Rozdział I, część 2 A Serra Nevada. Capítulo I, Parte 2 Сьерра-Невада. Глава I, часть 2 Sierra Nevada. Bölüm I, Kısım 2 Сьєрра-Невада. Розділ І, частина 2 内华达山脉。第一章，第 2 部分 內華達山脈。第一章，第二部分 Chapter I, Part 2

The north half of the range is mostly covered with floods of lava, and dotted with volcanoes and craters, some of them recent and perfect in form, others in various stages of decay. La moitié nord de la chaîne est principalement couverte d'inondations de lave et parsemée de volcans et de cratères, certains d'entre eux récents et de forme parfaite, d'autres à divers stades de décomposition. A metade norte da cordilheira está maioritariamente coberta por inundações de lava e salpicada de vulcões e crateras, alguns deles recentes e de forma perfeita, outros em vários estádios de degradação. 山脈的北半部大部分覆蓋著大量的熔岩，點綴著火山和火山口，其中一些是新近形成的，形態完美，另一些則處於不同的腐爛階段。 The south half is composed of granite nearly from base to summit, while a considerable number of peaks, in the middle of the range, are capped with metamorphic slates, among which are Mounts Dana and Gibbs to the east of Yosemite Valley. La moitié sud est composée de granit presque de la base au sommet, tandis qu'un nombre considérable de sommets, au milieu de la chaîne, sont coiffés d'ardoises métamorphiques, parmi lesquels les monts Dana et Gibbs à l'est de la vallée de Yosemite. A metade sul é composta por granito quase desde a base até ao cume, enquanto um número considerável de picos, no meio da cordilheira, são cobertos por ardósias metamórficas, entre as quais os montes Dana e Gibbs, a leste do vale de Yosemite. Mount Whitney, the culminating point of the range near its southern extremity, lifts its helmet-shaped crest to a height of nearly 14,700 feet. Le mont Whitney, le point culminant de la chaîne près de son extrémité sud, élève sa crête en forme de casque à une hauteur de près de 14 700 pieds. O Monte Whitney, o ponto culminante da cordilheira, perto da sua extremidade sul, eleva a sua crista em forma de capacete a uma altura de cerca de 14.700 pés. Mount Shasta, a colossal volcanic cone, rises to a height of 14,440 feet at the northern extremity, and forms a noble landmark for all the surrounding region within a radius of a hundred miles. Le mont Shasta, un cône volcanique colossal, culmine à 14 440 pieds à l'extrémité nord et forme un noble point de repère pour toute la région environnante dans un rayon de cent milles. O Monte Shasta, um cone vulcânico colossal, eleva-se a uma altura de 14.440 pés na extremidade norte e constitui um marco nobre para toda a região circundante num raio de cem milhas. Residual masses of volcanic rocks occur throughout most of the granitic southern portion also, and a considerable number of old volcanoes on the flanks, especially along the eastern base of the range near Mono Lake and southward. Des masses résiduelles de roches volcaniques se trouvent également dans la majeure partie de la partie sud granitique, et un nombre considérable d'anciens volcans sur les flancs, en particulier le long de la base orientale de la chaîne près du lac Mono et vers le sud. Massas residuais de rochas vulcânicas ocorrem também na maior parte da porção sul granítica e um número considerável de antigos vulcões nos flancos, especialmente ao longo da base oriental da cordilheira, perto do Lago Mono e em direção ao sul. But it is only to the northward that the entire range, from base to summit, is covered with lava.

From the summit of Mount Whitney only granite is seen. Du sommet du mont Whitney, on ne voit que du granit. Innumerable peaks and spires but little lower than its own storm-beaten crags rise in groups like forest-trees, in full view, segregated by cañons of tremendous depth and ruggedness. D'innombrables pics et flèches, mais un peu plus bas que ses propres rochers battus par les tempêtes, s'élèvent en groupes comme des arbres forestiers, bien en vue, séparés par des cañons d'une profondeur et d'une rugosité énormes. Inúmeros picos e pináculos, pouco mais baixos do que os seus próprios penhascos castigados pela tempestade, erguem-se em grupos, como árvores de floresta, à vista de todos, separados por desfiladeiros de tremenda profundidade e escarpado. On Shasta nearly every feature in the vast view speaks of the old volcanic fires. Sur Shasta, presque toutes les caractéristiques de la vaste vue parlent des anciens feux volcaniques. No Shasta, quase todas as características da vasta vista falam dos antigos fogos vulcânicos. Far to the northward, in Oregon, the icy volcanoes of Mount Pitt and the Three Sisters rise above the dark evergreen woods. Loin au nord, dans l'Oregon, les volcans glacés du mont Pitt et des Trois Sœurs s'élèvent au-dessus des bois sombres à feuilles persistantes. Southward innumerable smaller craters and cones are distributed along the axis of the range and on each flank. Vers le sud, d'innombrables petits cratères et cônes sont répartis le long de l'axe de la chaîne et sur chaque flanc. Of these, Lassen's Butte is the highest, being nearly 11,000 feet above sea-level. Miles of its flanks are reeking and bubbling with hot springs, many of them so boisterous and sulphurous they seem over ready to become spouting geysers like those of the Yellowstone. Des kilomètres de ses flancs puent et bouillonnent de sources chaudes, dont beaucoup sont si bruyantes et sulfureuses qu'elles semblent prêtes à devenir des geysers jaillissants comme ceux de Yellowstone. Quilómetros dos seus flancos fervilham e borbulham de fontes termais, muitas delas tão turbulentas e sulfurosas que parecem estar prontas a transformar-se em géiseres jorrantes como os de Yellowstone.

The Cinder Cone near marks the most recent volcanic eruption in the Sierra. Le Cinder Cone près marque l'éruption volcanique la plus récente de la Sierra. It is a symmetrical truncated cone about 700 feet high, covered with gray cinders and ashes, and has a regular unchanged crater on its summit, in which a few small Two-leaved Pines are growing. C'est un cône tronqué symétrique d'environ 700 pieds de haut, couvert de cendres grises et de cendres, et a un cratère régulier inchangé sur son sommet, dans lequel poussent quelques petits pins à deux feuilles. É um cone truncado simétrico com cerca de 700 pés de altura, coberto de cinzas e cinzas cinzentas, e tem uma cratera regular e inalterada no seu cume, na qual crescem alguns pequenos pinheiros de duas folhas. These show that the age of the cone is not less than eighty years. Ceux-ci montrent que l'âge du cône n'est pas inférieur à quatre-vingts ans. It stands between two lakes, which a short time ago were one. Before the cone was built, a flood of rough vesicular lava was poured into the lake, cutting it in two, and, overflowing its banks, the fiery flood advanced into the pine-woods, overwhelming the trees in its way, the charred ends of some of which may still be seen projecting from beneath the snout of the lava-stream where it came to rest. Avant la construction du cône, un flot de lave vésiculaire grossière se déversa dans le lac, le coupant en deux, et, débordant de ses rives, le flot ardent s'avança dans les pinèdes, écrasant les arbres sur son passage, les extrémités carbonisées des dont certains peuvent encore être vus se projetant sous le museau du ruisseau de lave où il s'est arrêté. Later still there was an eruption of ashes and loose obsidian cinders, probably from the same vent, which, besides forming the Cinder Cone, scattered a heavy shower over the surrounding woods for miles to a depth of from six inches to several feet. Plus tard encore, il y a eu une éruption de cendres et de cendres d'obsidienne en vrac, probablement du même évent, qui, en plus de former le Cinder Cone, a dispersé une forte pluie sur les bois environnants sur des kilomètres jusqu'à une profondeur de six pouces à plusieurs pieds. Mais tarde, houve uma erupção de cinzas e cinzas de obsidiana soltas, provavelmente da mesma fonte, que, além de formar o Cone de Cinzas, espalhou uma chuva pesada sobre os bosques circundantes durante quilómetros, a uma profundidade de seis polegadas a vários pés.

The history of this last Sierra eruption is also preserved in the traditions of the Pitt River Indians. They tell of a fearful time of darkness, when the sky was black with ashes and smoke that threatened every living thing with death, and that when at length the sun appeared once more it was red like blood.

Less recent craters in great numbers roughen the adjacent region; some of them with lakes in their throats, others overgrown with trees and flowers, Nature in these old hearths and firesides having literally given beauty for ashes. Des cratères moins récents en grand nombre rendent la région adjacente rugueuse ; certains avec des lacs dans la gorge, d'autres envahis d'arbres et de fleurs, la nature dans ces vieux foyers et cheminées ayant littéralement donné de la beauté pour des cendres. Crateras menos recentes, em grande número, agitam a região adjacente; alguns deles com lagos na garganta, outros cobertos de árvores e flores; a natureza nessas antigas lareiras e lareiras literalmente deu beleza às cinzas. On the northwest side of Mount Shasta there is a subordinate cone about 3000 feet below the summit, which, has been active subsequent to the breaking up of the main ice-cap that once covered the mountain, as is shown by its comparatively unwasted crater and the streams of unglaciated lava radiating from it. Sur le côté nord-ouest du mont Shasta, il y a un cône subordonné à environ 3000 pieds au-dessous du sommet, qui, a été actif après la rupture de la calotte glaciaire principale qui couvrait autrefois la montagne, comme le montre son cratère comparativement non gaspillé et les ruisseaux de lave non glaciaire qui en irradient. No lado noroeste do Monte Shasta há um cone subordinado, a cerca de 3000 pés abaixo do cume, que esteve ativo após a rutura da principal calota de gelo que outrora cobria a montanha, como é demonstrado pela sua cratera comparativamente não gasta e pelos fluxos de lava não glaciada que dela irradiam. The main summit is about a mile and a half in diameter, bounded by small crumbling peaks and ridges, among which we seek in vain for the outlines of the ancient crater. Le sommet principal a environ un mille et demi de diamètre, délimité par de petits pics et des arêtes croulantes, parmi lesquels on cherche en vain les contours de l'ancien cratère. O cume principal tem cerca de um quilómetro e meio de diâmetro, delimitado por pequenos picos e cumes em ruínas, entre os quais procuramos em vão os contornos da antiga cratera.

These ruinous masses, and the deep glacial grooves that flute the sides of the mountain, show that it has been considerably lowered and wasted by ice; how much we have no sure means of knowing. Ces masses ruineuses, et les profondes rainures glaciaires qui sillonnent les flancs de la montagne, montrent qu'elle a été considérablement abaissée et gaspillée par la glace ; combien nous n'avons aucun moyen sûr de savoir. Estas massas em ruínas e as profundas ranhuras glaciares que ladeiam as encostas da montanha mostram que esta foi consideravelmente rebaixada e desgastada pelo gelo; quanto é que não temos forma segura de saber. Just below the extreme summit hot sulphurous gases and vapor issue from irregular fissures, mixed with spray derived from melting snow, the last feeble expression of the mighty force that built the mountain. Juste en dessous du sommet extrême, des gaz sulfureux chauds et des vapeurs s'échappent de fissures irrégulières, mélangées à des embruns provenant de la fonte des neiges, la dernière faible expression de la force puissante qui a construit la montagne. Logo abaixo do cume extremo, gases e vapores sulfurosos quentes saem de fissuras irregulares, misturados com o spray derivado da neve derretida, a última expressão débil da poderosa força que construiu a montanha. Not in one great convulsion was Shasta given birth. The crags of the summit and the sections exposed by the glaciers down the sides display enough of its internal framework to prove that comparatively long periods of quiescence intervened between many distinct eruptions, during which the cooling lavas ceased to flow, and became permanent additions to the bulk of the growing mountain. Os penhascos do cume e as secções expostas pelos glaciares ao longo dos lados mostram o suficiente da sua estrutura interna para provar que períodos comparativamente longos de quiescência intervieram entre muitas erupções distintas, durante as quais as lavas arrefecidas deixaram de fluir e se tornaram adições permanentes ao volume da montanha em crescimento. With alternate haste and deliberation eruption succeeded eruption till the old volcano surpassed even its present sublime height. Com pressa e deliberação alternadas, as erupções sucederam-se até que o velho vulcão ultrapassou mesmo a sua atual altura sublime.

[Illustration: MOUNT SHASTA, LOOKING SOUTHWEST.]

Standing on the icy top of this, the grandest of all the fire-mountains of the Sierra, we can hardly fail to look forward to its next eruption. Gardens, vineyards, homes have been planted confidingly on the flanks of volcanoes which, after remaining steadfast for ages, have suddenly blazed into violent action, and poured forth overwhelming floods of fire. Jardins, vinhas, casas foram plantados com confiança nos flancos de vulcões que, depois de permanecerem firmes durante séculos, subitamente entraram em ação violenta e derramaram inundações de fogo avassaladoras. It is known that more than a thousand years of cool calm have intervened between violent eruptions. Like gigantic geysers spouting molten rock instead of water, volcanoes work and rest, and we have no sure means of knowing whether they are dead when still, or only sleeping. Como gigantescos géiseres que expelem rocha derretida em vez de água, os vulcões trabalham e descansam, e não temos meios seguros de saber se estão mortos quando parados, ou apenas a dormir.

Along the western base of the range a telling series of sedimentary rocks containing the early history of the Sierra are now being studied. But leaving for the present these first chapters, we see that only a very short geological time ago, just before the coming on of that winter of winters called the glacial period, a vast deluge of molten rocks poured from many a chasm and crater on the flanks and summit of the range, filling lake basins and river channels, and obliterating nearly every existing feature on the northern portion. Mas, deixando para o presente estes primeiros capítulos, vemos que apenas há muito pouco tempo geológico, mesmo antes da chegada daquele inverno dos Invernos chamado período glaciar, um vasto dilúvio de rochas derretidas foi derramado de muitos abismos e crateras nos flancos e no cume da cordilheira, enchendo bacias de lagos e canais de rios e obliterando quase todas as características existentes na parte norte. At length these all-destroying floods ceased to flow. But while the great volcanic cones built up along the axis still burned and smoked, the whole Sierra passed under the domain of ice and snow. Then over the bald, featureless, fire-blackened mountains, glaciers began to crawl, covering them from the summits to the sea with a mantle of ice; and then with infinite deliberation the work went on of sculpturing the range anew. Depois, sobre as montanhas calvas, descaracterizadas e enegrecidas pelo fogo, os glaciares começaram a rastejar, cobrindo-as desde os cumes até ao mar com um manto de gelo; e depois, com uma deliberação infinita, prosseguiu o trabalho de esculpir de novo a cordilheira. These mighty agents of erosion, halting never through unnumbered centuries, crushed and ground the flinty lavas and granites beneath their crystal folds, wasting and building until in the fullness of time the Sierra was born again, brought to light nearly as we behold it today, with glaciers and snow-crushed pines at the top of the range, wheat-fields and orange-groves at the foot of it.

This change from icy darkness and death to life and beauty was slow, as we count time, and is still going on, north and south, over all the world wherever glaciers exist, whether in the form of distinct rivers, as in Switzerland, Norway, the mountains of Asia, and the Pacific Coast; or in continuous mantling folds, as in portions of Alaska, Greenland, Franz-Joseph-Land, Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, and the lands about the South Pole. Esta mudança da escuridão gelada e da morte para a vida e a beleza foi lenta, na medida em que contamos o tempo, e ainda está a acontecer, a norte e a sul, em todo o mundo, onde quer que existam glaciares, quer sob a forma de rios distintos, como na Suíça, na Noruega, nas montanhas da Ásia e na costa do Pacífico, quer em dobras contínuas, como em partes do Alasca, da Gronelândia, da Terra de Franz-Joseph, de Nova Zembla, de Spitzbergen e das terras em redor do Pólo Sul. But in no country, as far as I know, may these majestic changes be studied to better advantage than in the plains and mountains of California.

Toward the close of the glacial period, when the snow-clouds became less fertile and the melting waste of sunshine became greater, the lower folds of the ice-sheet in California, discharging fleets of icebergs into the sea, began to shallow and recede from the lowlands, and then move slowly up the flanks of the Sierra in compliance with the changes of climate. Perto do final do período glaciar, quando as nuvens de neve se tornaram menos férteis e o desperdício de sol derretido se tornou maior, as dobras inferiores do manto de gelo na Califórnia, descarregando frotas de icebergues no mar, começaram a diminuir e a recuar das terras baixas, e depois a subir lentamente os flancos da Serra, em conformidade com as alterações climáticas. The great white mantle on the mountains broke up into a series of glaciers more or less distinct and river-like, with many tributaries, and these again were melted and divided into still smaller glaciers, until now only a few of the smallest residual topmost branches of the grand system exist on the cool slopes of the summit peaks.

Plants and animals, biding their time, closely followed the retiring ice, bestowing quick and joyous animation on the new-born landscapes. As plantas e os animais, esperando o seu momento, seguiram de perto o gelo que se retirava, dando uma animação rápida e alegre às paisagens recém-nascidas. Pine-trees marched up the sun-warmed moraines in long, hopeful files, taking the ground and establishing themselves as soon as it was ready for them; brown-spiked sedges fringed the shores of the newborn lakes; young rivers roared in the abandoned channels of the glaciers; flowers bloomed around the feet of the great burnished domes,--while with quick fertility mellow beds of soil, settling and warming, offered food to multitudes of Nature's waiting children, great and small, animals as well as plants; mice, squirrels, marmots, deer, bears, elephants, etc. Os pinheiros marchavam pelas morenas aquecidas pelo sol em longas e esperançosas filas, tomando o solo e estabelecendo-se assim que este estava pronto para eles; juncos de pontas castanhas orlavam as margens dos lagos recém-nascidos; jovens rios rugiam nos canais abandonados dos glaciares; flores desabrochavam aos pés das grandes cúpulas polidas, - enquanto que, com rápida fertilidade, leitos suaves de solo, assentando e aquecendo, ofereciam alimento a multidões de filhos da Natureza que esperavam, grandes e pequenos, animais e plantas; ratos, esquilos, marmotas, veados, ursos, elefantes, etc. The ground burst into bloom with magical rapidity, and the young forests into bird-song: life in every form warming and sweetening and growing richer as the years passed away over the mighty Sierra so lately suggestive of death and consummate desolation only. O solo floresceu com uma rapidez mágica, e as jovens florestas cantaram o canto dos pássaros: a vida em todas as suas formas aquecendo, adoçando e enriquecendo-se à medida que os anos passavam sobre a poderosa Sierra, que ultimamente apenas sugeria morte e desolação consumada.

It is hard without long and loving study to realize the magnitude of the work done on these mountains during the last glacial period by glaciers, which are only streams of closely compacted snow-crystals. Careful study of the phenomena presented goes to show that the pre-glacial condition of the range was comparatively simple: one vast wave of stone in which a thousand mountains, domes, cañons, ridges, etc., lay concealed. O estudo cuidadoso dos fenómenos apresentados mostra que a condição pré-glacial da cordilheira era comparativamente simples: uma vasta onda de pedra na qual se escondiam mil montanhas, cúpulas, cañons, cumes, etc. And in the development of these Nature chose for a tool not the earthquake or lightning to rend and split asunder, not the stormy torrent or eroding rain, but the tender snow-flowers noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries, the offspring of the sun and sea. E, no desenvolvimento dessas coisas, a natureza optou por uma ferramenta, não o terremoto ou o raio que se rasgassem e se fragmentassem, nem a torrente tempestuosa ou a chuva desgastante, mas as delicadas flores da neve que caíam silenciosamente durante séculos sem número, a descendência do sol e do mar. Laboring harmoniously in united strength they crushed and ground and wore away the rocks in their march, making vast beds of soil, and at the same time developed and fashioned the landscapes into the delightful variety of hill and dale and lordly mountain that mortals call beauty. Perhaps more than a mile in average depth has the range been thus degraded during the last glacial period,--a quantity of mechanical work almost inconceivably great. And our admiration must be excited again and again as we toil and study and learn that this vast job of rockwork, so far-reaching in its influences, was done by agents so fragile and small as are these flowers of the mountain clouds. E a nossa admiração tem de ser sempre estimulada à medida que trabalhamos, estudamos e aprendemos que este vasto trabalho de rocha, tão abrangente nas suas influências, foi feito por agentes tão frágeis e pequenos como estas flores das nuvens da montanha. Strong only by force of numbers, they carried away entire mountains, particle by particle, block by block, and cast them into the sea; sculptured, fashioned, modeled all the range, and developed its predestined beauty. All these new Sierra landscapes were evidently predestined, for the physical structure of the rocks on which the features of the scenery depend was acquired while they lay at least a mile deep below the pre-glacial surface. And it was while these features were taking form in the depths of the range, the particles of the rocks marching to their appointed places in the dark with reference to the coming beauty, that the particles of icy vapor in the sky marching to the same music assembled to bring them to the light. Then, after their grand task was done, these bands of snow-flowers, these mighty glaciers, were melted and removed as if of no more importance than dew destined to last but an hour. Depois de cumprida a sua grande tarefa, estas faixas de flores de neve, estes poderosos glaciares, foram derretidos e removidos como se não tivessem mais importância do que o orvalho destinado a durar apenas uma hora. Few, however, of Nature's agents have left monuments so noble and enduring as they. The great granite domes a mile high, the cañons as deep, the noble peaks, the Yosemite valleys, these, and indeed nearly all other features of the Sierra scenery, are glacier monuments. As grandes cúpulas de granito com uma milha de altura, os cañons igualmente profundos, os picos nobres, os vales de Yosemite, estes e, na verdade, quase todos os outros aspectos da paisagem da Serra, são monumentos glaciares.

Contemplating the works of these flowers of the sky, one may easily fancy them endowed with life: messengers sent down to work in the mountain mines on errands of divine love. Contemplando as obras destas flores do céu, podemos facilmente imaginá-las dotadas de vida: mensageiros enviados para trabalhar nas minas da montanha em missões de amor divino. Silently flying through the darkened air, swirling, glinting, to their appointed places, they seem to have taken counsel together, saying, "Come, we are feeble; let us help one another. Voando silenciosamente através do ar escuro, rodopiando, brilhando, para os seus lugares designados, eles parecem ter tomado conselho juntos, dizendo: "Vamos, somos fracos; ajudemo-nos uns aos outros. We are many, and together we will be strong. Marching in close, deep ranks, let us roll away the stones from these mountain sepulchers, and set the landscapes free. Marchando em fileiras cerradas e profundas, façamos rolar as pedras destes sepulcros de montanha e libertemos as paisagens. Let us uncover these clustering domes. Vamos descobrir estas cúpulas de agrupamento. Here let us carve a lake basin; there, a Yosemite Valley; here, a channel for a river with fluted steps and brows for the plunge of songful cataracts. Aqui, esculpamos uma bacia lacustre; ali, um vale de Yosemite; aqui, um canal para um rio com degraus canelados e sobrancelhas para o mergulho de cataratas sonoras. Yonder let us spread broad sheets of soil, that man and beast may be fed; and here pile trains of boulders for pines and giant Sequoias. Lá, espalhemos largos lençóis de terra, para que os homens e os animais possam ser alimentados; e aqui, empilhemos trens de pedras para pinheiros e Sequóias gigantes. Here make ground for a meadow; there, for a garden and grove, making it smooth and fine for small daisies and violets and beds of heathy bryanthus, spicing it well with crystals, garnet feldspar, and zircon." Aqui, fazei um terreno para um prado; ali, para um jardim e um bosque, tornando-o liso e fino para pequenas margaridas e violetas e canteiros de bryanthus saudáveis, temperando-o bem com cristais, feldspato granada e zircão." Thus and so on it has oftentimes seemed to me sang and planned and labored the hearty snow-flower crusaders; and nothing that I can write can possibly exaggerate the grandeur and beauty of their work. Foi assim e assim que muitas vezes me pareceu que cantaram, planearam e trabalharam os corajosos cruzados das flores da neve; e nada do que eu possa escrever pode exagerar a grandeza e a beleza do seu trabalho. Like morning mist they have vanished in sunshine, all save the few small companies that still linger on the coolest mountainsides, and, as residual glaciers, are still busily at work completing the last of the lake basins, the last beds of soil, and the sculpture of some of the highest peaks. Como a névoa da manhã, desapareceram ao sol, à exceção de algumas pequenas empresas que ainda permanecem nas encostas mais frescas das montanhas e que, tal como os glaciares residuais, continuam a trabalhar ativamente para completar as últimas bacias lacustres, os últimos leitos de terra e a escultura de alguns dos picos mais altos.