No bird sang its cheering song, or delighted the eye with its gorgeous plumage; not even a frog croaked, a cicada rattled, or a serpent hissed.

All was barren desolation, fearful silence and ghastly newness.
What were the forces that produced so marvelous a change?
Snowflakes,--"flowers of the air",--as John Muir so poetically calls them.

They accomplished the work.

Falling alone they could have done nothing, but coming down in vast numbers, day after day, they piled up and became a power.

Snow forms glaciers, and glaciers are mighty forces that create things.
[Illustration: Gilmore Lake, Pyramid Peak and the Crystal Range, in winter, from summit of Mount Tallac] [Illustration: Desolation Valley, Looking Toward Mosquito Pass] [Illustration: Heather Lake, near Glen Alpine] [Illustration: Susie Lake, near Glen Alpine Springs] Let us, if possible, stand and watch the Master Workman doing the work that is to make this region our source of present day joy.