There is a dramatic quality about the story of Yosemite which is quite in keeping with its setting. The drama of its amazing creation, its first occupancy by the Indians, its discovery by the white men, its pioneer days and ways, and its rugged Old-Timers, all make it a colossal American pageant.

The setting remains the same, but the scene is ever varied by the shifting lights and shadows. These set the tempo, and whether it is the red man, the pioneer, or the knicker-clad tourist of today who occupies the stage, the picture that lingers in the mind of the lover of Yosemite is the massing of clouds about Half Dome, or the mile-long shadow of El Capitan flung across azalea-scented meadows, or the changing colors on the walls beside Yosemite Falls or other towering cliffs.

The purpose of this book is to quicken again emotions that were stirred by such pictures in the heart of every visitor, by presentation of the outstanding views of Yosemite; since, without an occasional jogging, memory pictures alone blur and become indistinct with time. And just as so many people who make a tour of the Valley elect to have a guide to furnish the facts and the fancies, so is a text appended to the illustrations.

If this book serves, then, to recapture even for a moment the sparkle of the sun-sifted spray of the Bridal Veil, or the evening shadows and tints on Half Dome, or if it re-creates for a moment the tourist days of the Yosemite of our mothers, in the era of the stage coach, as contrasted with the present, with its automobile roads to the very feet of the glaciers, it will have fulfilled its mission.

—The Author