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Show 413 By constantly drawing t h e i r a t t e n t i o n to the waters of Yosemite, he showed how important was the whole watershed surrounding the Valley. His knowledge of Yosemite's geography could serve him admirably in "Treasures of Yosemite." He would seem to be taking the reader of the "Midsummer Holiday Number" of Century on a tour of the Valley, organized by points of i n t e r e s t. This was the sort of thing he had t r i e d with so l i t t l e success in his essay on Yosemite for Picturesque California. But everything which Muir had f a i l e d to do in Picturesque California he succeeded in doing when he wrote "Treasures." His style became sharp and p r e c i s e as he began to reveal his own baptisms in the wilderness, using near views of the f a l l s . Even though he made a clear d i s t i n c t i o n between "wild but not safe" views, and the ones he recommended for the t o u r i s t , nevertheless he returned to serious consideration of the full creative possibilities of wilderness. Because the points of i n t e r e s t to the reader were w a t e r f a l l s , and Muir's chief i n t e r e s t was the watershed, he could reconcile his own intentions with the expectations of the t o u r i s t. Muir saw through the waters. He described Yosemite's riches, her t r e a s u r e s , r e f l e c t e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y in the Merced River: . . . peacefully gliding, r e f l e c t i n g l i l i e s and trees and the onlooking rocks, things f r a i l and f l e e t i n g and types of endurance meeting here and blending in countless forms, as if into t h i s one mountain mansion Nature had gathered her choicest t r e a s u r e s , whether great or small, to draw her lovers into close and confiding |
