When the sublime ice-floods of the glacial period poured down the flank
of the Range over what is now Yosemite Valley, they were compelled to
break through a dam of domes extending across from Mount Starr King to
North Dome; and as the period began to draw near a close the shallowing
ice-currents were divided and the South Dome was, perhaps, the first to
emerge, burnished and shining like a mirror above the surface of the icy
sea; and though it has sustained the wear and tear of the elements tens
of thousands of years, it yet remains a telling monument of the action
of the great glaciers that brought it to light. Its entire surface is
still covered with glacial hieroglyphics whose interpretation is the
reward of all who devoutly study them.
Chapter 11
The Ancient Yosemite Glaciers:
How the Valley Was Formed
All California has been glaciated, the low plains and valleys as well
as the mountains. Traces of an ice-sheet, thousands of feet in thickness,
beneath whose heavy folds the present landscapes have been molded, may
be found everywhere, though glaciers now exist only among the peaks of
the High Sierra. No other mountain chain on this or any other of the
continents that I have seen is so rich as the Sierra in bold, striking,
well-preserved glacial monuments.
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