In the heart of the Sierras : the Yo Semite Valley, both historical and descriptive : and scenes by the way : big tree groves ... and other objects of interest : with tables of distances and altitudes, maps, etc.

Front matter

Photo-typo by Britton rey, S. F.

IN THE

THE

Contents

CHAPTER VII. The First Tourist Visitors to Yo Semite; Difficulties to be Surmounted; Old-time Mining Scenes; IndianGuides SecuredforYo Semite; Origin of the Nomenclature “Bridal Veil Fall;” Discovery of Vernal and Nevada Falls; The First View Ever Published of Yo Semite 79

CHAPTER VIII. Early Development and Progress at Yo Semite. Construction of Trails; Pioneer Hotel Building, and Hotel Keepers; The Old Hutchings House; The Pioneer Photographer of Yo Semite. 98

CHAPTER IX. Its First Winter Visitor. Rumors of Snow-drifts Half Filling It; Exploratory Excursion There; Storm Bound; Voyage Down the Flooded Merced River; Two Shipwrecks; Hotel on a Cruise; Unsuccessful Return; Second Attempt to Visit It; A Perilous Journey of Eleven Days Alone; Six Days Wallowing through Snow; A Look into Paradise; Antics of a Grizzly Bear; Successful Termination of the Journey 103

Chapter I. As Others See It

Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality.

— Wordsworth’s Sonnet.

To him who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language.

• — Bryant’s Thanatopsis.

The roaring cataract, the snow topt hill.

Inspiring awe, till breath itself stands still.

—Bloomfield’s Farmer s Boy .

Voiced impressions of Horace Greeley Rev. Thomas Starr King, Prof. J. D. Whitney, Samuel B. Bowles, John S. Hittell, Prof. O. S. Fowler, Hon. Robt. Marsham, Prof. Wm. H. Brewer, James Vick, Rev. W. P. Abbott, Benjamin F. Taylor, James A. Garfield (President of the U. S.), Mrs. C. A. Chamberlain, Hon. Thomas Scott, Hon. Therese Yelverton, Helen Hunt Jackson, His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, Albert D. Richardson, Sidney Andrews, Mrs. Jean Bruce Washburn, Charles L. Brace, Mary E. Blake, and others. It is with reluctance and sincere regret that the recorded sentiments of many other distinguished visitors to Yo Semite are necessarily omitted from this representative galaxy.

Of the grandest sights I have enjoyed — Rome from the dome of St. Peter’s, the Alps from the valley of Lake Como, Mount

IN TIIE HEART OF THE SIERRAS .

Blanc and her glaciers from Chamouni, Niagara, and the Yo Semite, — 1 judge the last named the most unique and stupendous. It is a partially wooded gorge, 100 to 300 rods wide, and 3,000 to 4,000 feet deep, between almost perpendicular walls of gray granite, and here and there a dark yellow pine, rooted in a crevice of either wall, and clinging with desperate tenacity to its dizzy elevation. The isolation of the Yo Semite, the absolute wilderness of its sylvan solitudes, many miles from human settlement or cultivation, its cascade 2,000 feet high, though the stream which makes this leap has worn a channel in the hard bed-rock to a depth of 1,000 feet, renders it the grandest marvel that ever met my gaze. — Horace Greeley, N. Y. Independent of March , 1860.

Nowhere among the Alps, in no pass of the Andes, and in no cafion of the mighty Oregon Range, is there such stupendous rock scenery as the traveler here lifts his eyes to. — Rev. Thomas Starr King, San Francisco.

The peculiar features of the Yosemite are: First, the near approach to verticality of its walls; next, their great height, not only absolutely, but as compared to the width of the valley itself; and finally, the very small amount of debris or talus , at the bottom of these gigantic cliffs. These are the great characteristics of the valley throughout its whole length; but besides these, there are many other striking peculiarities and features, both of sublimity and beauty, which can hardly be surpassed, if equaled, by those of any other mountain scenery in the world. — Prof. J. D. Whitney, State Geologist of California.

The overpowering sense of the sublime, of awful desolation, of transcendent marvelousness and unexpectedness, that swept over us, as we reined our horses sharply out of green forests, and stood upon a high jutting rock that over-looked this rolling, upheaving sea of granite mountains, holding, far down in its rough lap, the vale of meadow and grove and river — such a tide of feeling, such stoppage of ordinary emotions, comes at rare intervals in any life. It was the confrontal of God face to face, as in great danger, or sudden death. It was Niagara magnified. All that was mortal shrank back; alt that was immortal swept to the front, and bowed down in awe. — Samuel B. Bowles, Springfield Republican.

Yo Semite is the crowding of a multitude of romantic, peculiar, and grand scenes within a very small space. — John S. Hittell’s Guide Book .

The longer we look the greater the scenes appear. — Prof. O. S. Fowler, Boston , Mass.

I wish to keep the view in my mind forever. — J. A. Brillinger, Ewingsville, Pa.

I was never so near Heaven in my life. — H. Windel, San Francisco.

I have spent seventeen days in Yo Semite, and I never left a place with so much regret in my life. I have several times visited all the noted places of Europe, and many that are out of the regular tourist’s round: I have crossed the Andes in three different places, and been conducted to the sights deemed most remarkable: I have been among the charming scenery of the Sandwich Islands, the Himalayas of India, and the mountain districts of Australia, but never have I seen so much of sublime grandeur, relieved by so much beauty, as that I have witnessed in Yo Semite. — Hon. Bobt. Marsham, Maidstone , Kent , England.

As a member of the State Geological Survey I have visited the Yosemite Yalley four times — June, 1863, August, 1864, September, 1864, and April, 1875 — and the valley seems grander on this fourth visit than it did on the first. — Prof. Wm. H. Brewer, Yale College , New Haven , Conn.

The road to Yo Semite, like the way of life, is narrow and difficult, but the end, like the end of a well-spent life, is glorious beyond the highest anticipation. — James Tick, Rochester , N. Y.

Here speaks the voice of God, and here his power is seen. Let man be dumb. — Rev. W. P. Abbott, New York City.

IN THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS.

Yo Semite awaited us without warning, met us without coming. Spectral white in the glancing of the sun, the first thought was that the granite ledges of all the mountains had come to resurrection, and were standing pale and dumb before the Lord. I turned to it again, and began to see the towers, the domes, the spires, the battlements, the arches, and the white clouds of solid granite, surging up into the air and come to everlasting anchor till “the mountains shall be moved.” You hasten on; you hear the winds intoning in the choral galleries a mile above your head; you hear the crash of waters as of cataracts in the sky; 3Tou trample upon broad shadows that have fallen thousands of feet down, like the cast-otf garments of descending Night. — Benj. F. Taylor’s Between the Gates.

This is the crowning glory of all views on this continent. — Chas. Caspar, Meridian , Conn.

If my business interests lay upon this coast, I would build a railroad to this truly marvelous valley, within one year from this date. — Hon. Thomas Scott, Pennsylvania Central R. R.

I have spent the four happiest months of my life in this glorious valley. — Hon. Therese Yelverton ( Lady Avonmore).

An indescribable delight took possession of me; the silence seemed more than silence; it seemed to quiver without sound, just as the warm air shimmered without stir, along all the outlines of the rocky walls. On my left hand rose the granite watch-tower Loya (Sentinel Eock), on my right the colossal buttress Tu-tock-ah-nu-la (El Capitan). The Cathedral Spires, the Three Brothers, all were in full sight. Wherever I stood, the mountain walls seemed to shut close around me in a circle. I said to myself, again and again: “ Only between 3,000 and 4,000 feet high!” But the figures had lost their meaning. All sense of estimated distance was swallowed up, obliterated, by the feeling of what seemed to be immeasurable height. — H. H.’s Bits of Travel.

One might stay here for months and see new beauties every day. — Mrs. A. W. Gillette, Grass Lake, Mich.

No one can study this valley and its surroundings without being broader-minded thereafter. — James A. Garfield, President of the United States.

I linger’d till a shaft of fire

Shot o’er the mountains — spire by spire,

Burned in the swift and broadening flame That onward swelled, till it became A wide and mellow amber flood,

That poured o’er mountain, stream, and wood,

And lit the blue, deep dome above With Deity’s warm smile of love;

How fair that place — how radiant all The scene beneath that mountain wall !

Then suddenly awoke to me The pine wood’s varied melody; —

The murmurous music of the river,

The aspen’s knv, light, dreamy quiver,

The jay-bird’s quick, discordant cry,

The robin’s tender minstrelsy I heard — and full, and deep, and strong —

(Would I could ever keep that song!)

The pean of the w'ater-fall

Came to me ’neath that mountain wall.

And flowers were there — the old dear flowers —

The first I loved in childhood’s hours;

There glowed the wildling rose, that grew Beside my home when life was new; —

O golden heart — 0 lips so red,

Naught from thy precious smile had fled Through the long years; — thy odorous breath Yet told of love that knows no death !

O life, thy stern, thy gentle call Came to me, ’neath that mountain wall !

- — Mrs. C. A. Chamberlain, Sacramento.

Keal estate is very high hereabouts ! — Derrick Dodd, S. F. Evening Post.

This spoils one for any other scenery upon earth. — His Grace, the Duke of Sutherland, England.

Nature had here lifted her curtain to reveal the vast and the infinite. It elicited no adjectives, no exclamations. With a be-

IN THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS .

wildering sense of divine power and human littleness, I could only gaze in silence till the view strained my brain and pained my eyes, compelling me to turn away and rest from its oppressive magnitude.— Albert I). Richardson’s Beyond the Mississippi.

Speech may be silver, but in this marvelous vale, where grandeur and majesty have met, “ Silence is golden.” — E. Edmonston, Santa Barbara , Cal.

Suddenly, as I rode along, I heard a shout. 1 knew the valley had revealed itself to those who were at the front of the line. I turned my head away. I couldn’t look until I had tied my horse. Then I walked down to the ledge and crawled out upon the over-hanging rocks. I believe some men walk out there — it’s a dull sort of a soul who can do that. In all my life, let it lead me where it may, I think I shall see nothing else so grand, so awful, so sublime, so beautiful — beautiful with a beauty not of this earth — as that vision of the Yalley. How long 1 sat there I never shall know. I brought the picture away with me; I have only to shut my eyes, and 1 see it as I saw it in that hour of hours. J think I shall see nothing else so sublime and beautiful, till, happily, 1 stand within the gates of the Heavenly City. — Sidney Andrews’ Letter to the Boston Advertiser .

I may as well try to measure a rainbow with a two-foot rule as to take this in. — Wm. I) arrack, New York City.

My soul bowed down in wondering, humble awe,

When first thy peaks and water-falls I saw;

And every hour but shows how vain ’twould be For my frail mind to hope to picture thee.

Thy spell shall live when those who view thee now,

Have passed with ages ’neath thy mighty brow,

And like thy mists, in gorgeous gleamings curled,

Our names have melted from this changing world.

— Mrs. Jean Bruce Washburn, San Francisco.

Erom the hotel there are excursions enough to occupy one for weeks among the beautiful scenes of the valley. One of the most enjoyable features of these excursions is simply riding up and down it, getting the new aspects which open freshly every half

THE YO SEMITE VALLEY.

mile, and are different every hour of the day. The Avonderful thing about the canon, and which will hereafter draw many an invalid here from distant lands, is its divine atmosphere. To me, just recovering from a tedious fever, it seemed the very elixir of life— cool, clear, stimulating, and filled with light and glory from the sun of the south, which here never seems in summer to have a cloud. The nights are cool, but midday would be too warm were it not for the delicious sea-breeze which every day at eleven blows in from the Golden Gate, 150 miles away. The gorge is fortunately east and west, just opposite San Francisco, and about midway between the two flanks of the Sierras — here some seventy miles in width. Were it a north and south valley, even at its altitude (4,000 feet above sea level), it would be almost intolerable. Now, nothing can surpass its mild, invigorating climate, and harmonious atmosphere. The charm of the wonderful valley is its cheerfulness and joy. Even the awe-inspiring grandeur and majesty of its features does not overwhelm the sense of its exquisite beauty, its wonderful delicacy, and color, and life, and joy.

As I recall those rides in the fresh morning, or the dreamy noon, that scene of unequaled grandeur and beauty is forever stamped on my memory, to remain when all other scenes of earth have passed from remembrance — the pearly gray and purple precipices, awful in mass, far above one, with deep shadows on their rugged surfaces, dark lines of gigantic archways or fantastic images drawn clearly upon them, the bright white water dashing over the distant gray tops seen against the dark blue of the unfathomable sky, the heavy shadows over the valley from the mighty peaks, the winding stream and peaceful green sward with gay wild flowers below, the snowy summits of the Sierras far away, the atmosphere of glory illuminating all, and the eternal voice of many waters wherever you walk or rest! This is the Yo Semite in memory. — Charles L. Brace’s The New West.

Dropped at our very feet, and clothed in such fair proportions of majesty and beauty as made it more a spiritual joy than an earthly loveliness. The valley rested, silent and set apart, as if human eyes for the first time beheld it, wrapped in a veil of soft, purple mist, that made it seem, in spite of its nearness, like a vis-

IN' THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS.

ion that would fade while we gazed. In front, El Capitan, erect and fearless, as became the warden of the magic world beyond, lifting its bare white front 3,300 feet in one superb perpendicular line from base to summit; opposite, the soft-falling, swaying foam of the falls bounding nearly 1,000 feet through the air before it struck the broken rocks below; beyond, the rounding curves of the Three Graces, the sweeping line of the South Dome, and far away the veiled summit of Cloud’s Rest, piled with soft, gray shadows. A broken line of shining water came like a silver thread, showing here and there in the depths of the lovely valley, and broadened into a small mirrored lake almost at our feet below. It was beyond conception and utterance. The sense of solitude, of peace, and of an inspiration which sprang from both was so profound as to be oppressive. Even the most frivolous spirits among us were struck with sudden calm, as if they stood at the portals of some divine mystery, and it was with a feeling almost of relief that we turned away at last, and went down the slope of the dizzy mountain to enter in at the gates below. — Mary E. Blake’s On the Wing.

The only spot that I have ever found that came up to the brag. — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

After such strikingly graphic, word-clothed impressions and confessions as those above presented, a more detailed descriptive picture of this marvelous locality, and its matchless surroundings, would seem to be suggestive of an attempt to compass the impossible. Even a residence within its sublime environments of nearly a quarter of a century, in winter as well as in summer, while making me lovingly familiar with its many {esthetic charms, and amazing natural phenomena, only convinces that approximate justice in delineation is simply unattainable. One may tell of its vertical or tree-studded walls, and their relative heights; of the hoary-headed and dome-crowned summits around it; of its lofty and picturesque waterfalls, feathered, it may be, with vapory rockets; of its deep and bo wider- strewn tributary canons; of its defiant and cloud-draped crags and peaks; of its beautiful and tree-margined river; of its flower-carpeted and shrub-framed

THE TO SEMITE VALLEY.

meadows; or press into valuable service the figures and comparisons of experienced scientists, and determine the diameter, and angle, and altitude of every cliff, or rock, and forest tree ; but these are only facts. And one may explain the interesting incidents of its discovery; the geological theories of its formation; its many explicit lessons in botanical science; the habits, customs, life and legends of its Indians; and present the many characteristic phases of tourist experiences; but these, with hundreds of other kindred themes, are, after all, nothing but hard and unfeeling facts; whereas Yo Semite, to the poet, is the grandest of lyrics; to the artist, Nature’s ever-captivating picture gallery; to the preacher, the most suggestively eloquent of sermons ; and to the worshiper, the sublimest of temples — where God is always within. Who, then, can enter into the holy of holies of all of these ? He who might attempt it should not be unmindful of the divine command to Moses: “Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy

Then who may fully apprehend the law by which the manyvoiced choral symphonies of the wund-swept trees, or leaping ■water-falls, or bounding cataracts, or “ babbling brooks,” may be set to music? Or conceive how the blessed sunlight, as it plays hide and seek among the shadows, or maps surrounding forms upon our path, or gilds the mossy trunks of stately trees, can be painted? And supposing it more than possible that the height, and depth, and breadth of the many time-cut furrows upon and in the grand old face of one of these mountain walls were accurately determined, could the exact shade of purple, or gray, or golden, or roseate haze, that is ever sleeping among its wrinkles, or burnishing up its ridges, be faithfully portrayed? No, Mr. Gradgrind, you are, at best, compelled to “stick to facts,” and leave individual apprehension, good taste, and imagination to supply the rest. To present such facts concerning Yo Semite, and other sublime fastnesses of the High Sierra, as it is hoped will be welcome to the reader, will be the devoted purpose of each subsequent chapter of this book.

Chapter II. Causes Leading To Its Discovery

I am not covetous for gold;

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires;

But if it be a sin to covet honor

I am the most offending soul alive.

— Shakespear’s Henry V., Act IV.

Tender-handed stroke a nettle,

And it stings you for your pains;

Grasp it like a man of mettle,

And it soft as silk remains.

— Aaron Hill, written upon a window in Scotland.

After the discovery of gold at Sutter’s saw-mill, Coloma,. California, January 19, 1848, by James W. Marshall — who died, poor, August 10th, 1885, at the age of 73 years — and the news of that auspicious event had winged its electrifying flight to the farthest corner of the civilized world, men, filled witli ambitious hopes and yearnings, began to flock towards the new El Dorado from every clime and country. The beautiful and land-locked Bay of San F rancisco was soon plowed by the prows of vessels of every class and tonnage, and its recently uneventful calm broken by the health-giving breezes of a new and vigorous, commercial activity.

“Awake but one, and lo! what myriads rise!

Each stamps its image as the other flies! ”

The streets of the sleeping pueblo of San Francisco, filled by the in-flowing tide of humanity thus attracted, awoke it at once to a business energy that eventually grew into a habit, and laid the foundation of its present commercial prosperity.

THE TO SEMITE VALLEY.

Feverish with enlarged expectations, and eager to realize the day-dreams of their susceptible imaginations, any and every kind of conveyance, by water or by land, was pressed into immediate service, for speeding them to the gold mines. Discomfort, exposure, pleasure postponed, disappointment, suffering, danger, and possible sickness or prospective death, held them in no restraint; like the proverbial youth who had heard in his native village that the streets of a certain city were paved with gold, would give himself no rest, either day or night, until it could be reached, and “a hat full of it ” obtained.

Beguiled by this fascination, that became almost an infatuation, side-hills and flats, ravines and gulches, canons and rivers, threading far among the spurs of the Sierras, became familiar to the footsteps of the dauntless prospector. Unbroken solitudes, untrodden fastnesses, far from civilized habitation or human succor, created in him no sense of fear, or thought of peril. The occasional sight of Indians, whether singly or in groups, evoked no surprise, invited no uneasiness, and elicited no suspicion. A casual, perhaps an inquisitive glance, might occasionally be thrown over the shoulder of the one to the other in indifferent recognition as they passed ; but that was in no way to be interpreted as unfriendly. In time, presents of food and cast-off garments apparently became

CONNECTING LINKS OF KINDNESS

Between civilized and savage, and seemingly bound their common interests closer together. The absence even of grunted gratitude for favors received, excited no comment, and quickened no resentment. Civilities and gratuities imperceptibly indicated the opening of a broader pathway to mutual confidences and concessions between whites and Indians, that left no doubt of ultimate harmonious concert of action. Meanwhile,

“ The greatest of the angels of men — Success” —

Had crowned the gold miner’s efforts in unearthing the precious metal. This attracted a rapidly increasing multitude of devotees

IJV THE HEART OF THE SIERRAS.

to its captivating standard; and men poured in from every quarter, to enlist under its enchanting banner, and in full chorus to sing around their camp-fires: —

“ ’Tis time the pick-axe and the spade,

Against the rocks were ringing, '

And with ourselves the golden stream A song of labor singing;

The mountain sod our couch at night;

The stars keep watch above us;

We think of home, and fall asleep —

To dream of those who love us.”

The good fortune and wants of the miner developed the necessity for the packer and trader, with their assistants ; and, as a sequence, kept constantly swelling the army of occupation in the very haunts and homes of the Indian; and without invitation divided with him his hunting and fishing grounds. Tents pitched and cabins erected, became sufficient foundation for the impression that the new-comers were intending permanently to stay. There seems to have been no expressed or implied objections to this. The Indian men, moreover, had been pressed into willing service as miners and laborers, and the women to laundry work — for which, in many instances, they were liberally paid. All of these very naturally gave color to the assurance that a mutually advantageous community of interests had sprung up that was as gratifying as it was profitable. But these eventuall}7 proved to be

THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM.

The rapid increase of horses, mules, and cattle — as well as men — presented visible evidences of accumulating prosperity and wealth among the whites, that were unshared by the Indian. This soon bore the poisonous fruit of jealousy. Germs of unrest and discontent quickly ripened into resentment; and, with stealthy growth, hatred for the whites and cupidity for their possessions began, irrepressibly, to extend to every mountain tribe throughout the State, and prepare the way for openly hostile demonstrations. It is however but

THE TO SEMITE VALLEY.

AN ACT OF SIMPLE JUSTICE

To the Indian, here to record — without in any measure attempting to apologize for, or condone, his misdeeds — that the spirit of reciprocal fairness was not an invariable characteristic of the whites, in their dealings and conduct with the inferior race. Every old Californian can bear blushing testimony to the truthfulness of this too self-evident admission. This will be more than manifest from the official report of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Green, to Gov. Peter H. Burnett, dated May 25, 1850,* as follows: “ Heretofore a few persons have monopolized much of their labor, by giving them a calico shirt per week, and the most indifferent of food.” Brig. Gen. Thomas B. Eastland, in his report to his excellency Governor Burnett, dated June 15, 1850,-f* thus continues: “ It is a well-known fact that among our white population there are men who boast of the number of the Indians they have killed, and that not one shall escape.” If, therefore,

‘ ‘ In men we various Ruling Passions find,

And Ruling Passion conquers Reason still,”

No spirit of prophetic divination need be evoked, to foretell the ultimate results of such aggressive wrong-doing. Before pouring unmixed anathemas, therefore, upon the Indian’s head, will not an intuitive sense of right first prompt us to

“ Find out the cause of this effect;

Or, rather say, the cause of this defect;

For this effect defective comes by cause. ”

TELEGRAPHING BY FIRE AND SMOKE.

In the days of their numerical prosperity, moreover, it should be remembered that the Indians thoroughly understood and practiced a primitive method of telegraphing by fire and smoke, by which the fitful flashes of the one, and the gusty clouds of the other, | according to the number or intensity of the signals

*See page 769 of Journals of the Legislature of California, for 1S51.

fPage 770, Ibid.

JThis was done by covering a large fire with a wet hide, and lifting it at intervals.

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given, would readily communicate the kind of trouble they were in, and the nature of the assistance they required. All prominent peaks, and favorable points of bluffs on the margin of valleys, were signal stations; and there was always a signal watcher on duty, both by day and by night. To this was supplemented a very

EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF RUNNERS,

Composed of their best-trained, swiftest-footed, and strongestlunged young men, who would run at the height of their speed from one village to the other. These advantages naturally and effectively supplied speedy tribal communication, and enabled them not only to discuss with each other the social or political significance of such an unparalleled influx of strangers amongst them, but to report every overt act or aggressive movement of the whites, from San Diego to Siskiyou.

ISOLATED INSTANCES OF INDIAN VIOLENCE

Had been early reported from central portions of the State, but as these had been visited by swift retaliation, the impetuously turbulent were, for the time being at least, checked in their marauding and murderous career. Meanwhile the forces of their enmity were silently cumulating, like a storm over an almost cloudless sky, in the more southerly sections of California; eventually to culminate and break among the gold mines of Mariposa County — then very large, and embracing the counties now known as Mariposa, Merced, Fresno, Tulare, Mono, and Inyo.

THE FIRST OPENLY HOSTILE DEMONSTRATION

Was led by the Yo Semites, in May, 1850, when an attack was made upon the trading-post of Mr. James D. Savage, located on the Merced River, about twenty -five miles below the Yo Semite Valley, under the pretense of claiming all the country in that vicinity ; but in reality in the expectation and hope of plunder. By the personal pluck and energy of Savage, assisted by his Indian miners, the attack was successfully repulsed.

The isolation of that station, and the known murderous

Photo, by Geo. Fiske. Photo-typo by Britton, & Rey, S. F..

El Capitan, Half Dome and Valley.

From Big Oak Flat Road.

t

THE TO SEMITE VALLEY.

tendencies of the Yo Semites, induced Savage to remove his store to Mariposa Creek, near Agua Fria, some six miles westerly of the village, now the prosperous town and county seat, of Mariposa. His unexampled success in this new location tempted him to established a branch post on the Fresno River, which also gave abundant promise of similar results. “ In the midst of renewed prosperity ” — -says Dr. L. H. Bunnell, in his interesting narrative of “The Discovery of the Yosemite,” from which I shall frequently quote in introductory chapters, and to which I heartily refer the reader — “he learned that

ANOTHER CLOUD WAS GATHERING.

“ To strengthen his influence over the principal tribes, Savage had, according to the custom of many mountain men at that time, taken wives from among the Indians, supposing that his personal safety would be somewhat improved by so doing. This is the old story of the prosperous Indian trader. One of his squaws assured him that a combination was maturing among the mountain Indians to kill or drive all the white men from the country, and plunder them of their property.” These unmistakable evidences of threatened hostilities suggested the adoption of precautionary measures, and preparation for warlike surprises, without exciting suspicion or alarm. In the hope of averting impending danger,