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A Sierra Nevada Anthology Edited by Gary Noy and Rick Heide Foreword by Robert Hanna Illustrations by Joe Medeiros Sierra College Press, Rocklin, California Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California Heyday Books, Berkeley, California © 2010 by Sierra College Press All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Heyday Books. “American Woman” by Jordan Fisher Smith is a work of nonfiction based on the experiences of the author. However, names, places, physical descriptions, and other particulars have been changed. For that reason, readers are cautioned that details in the text do not correspond to real people, places, or events, and any resemblance to real people is coincidental. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The illuminated landscape : a Sierra Nevada anthology / edited by Gary Noy and Rick Heide ; foreword by Robert Hanna ; illustrations by Joe Medeiros. p. cm. -- (A California legacy book) ISBN 978-1-59714-128-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.)--Description and travel. 2. Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.)--History--Anecdotes. 3. Travelers’ writings, American--Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) I. Noy, Gary, 1951- II. Heide, Rick, 1943 F868.S5I55 2010 917.94’4--dc22 2010000435 Cover Photograph: Lone Pine Peak, Duane Shoffner Book Design: Lorraine Rath Printing and Binding: Thomson-Shore, Dexter, MI This California Legacy book was copublished by Santa Clara University, Heyday Books, and Sierra College Press. Heyday Books is committed to preserving ancient forests and natural resources. We elected to print this title on 30% post Orders, inquiries, and correspondence consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free. As a result, for this printing, we have saved: should be addressed to: 26 Trees (40' tall and 6-8" diameter) Heyday Books 8 Million BTUs of Total Energy P. O. Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709 2,457 Pounds of Greenhouse Gases 11,834 Gallons of Wastewater (510) 549-3564, Fax (510) 549-1889 718 Pounds of Solid Waste www.heydaybooks.com Heyday Books made this paper choice because our printer, Thomson-Shore, Inc., is a member of Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting authors, publish- ers, and suppliers in their efforts to reduce their use of fiber Printed in the United States of America obtained from endangered forests. For more information, visit www.greenpressinitiative.org Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paper Calculator. For more information visit: www.papercalculator.org. Foreword by Robert Hanna ...................................................................................... ix Preface ..................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1: Golden Misty Dawn—To 1840 The Yokuts, “The Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range” .............................. 3 The Yokuts, “Prayer for Good Fortune” ..................................................................... 5 The Washo, “Weh Hai Ge Ge A” ................................................................................ 6 The Konkow, “Old Gambler’s Song” ........................................................................... 7 William Joseph, “Football Big-Time”.......................................................................... 8 Jack Stewart, “My Mountain”................................................................................... 10 The Maidu, “Mountain Lion and His Children” ....................................................... 13 Pedro Font, “Tuesday, April 2, 1776,” from Font’s Complete Diary ............................ 22 Chapter 2: The Opening Eyelids of Dawn—1841–1859 Chief Winnemucca, Peter Burnett, and John Bigler .................................................. 27 John C. Frémont, from Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842, and to Oregon and California in the years 1843–’44 ........................................................................................... 29 James D. Houston, from Snow Mountain Passage ...................................................... 36 Edwin Bryant, from What I Saw in California ............................................................ 45 Sarah Eleanor Royce, from A Frontier Lady .............................................................. 50 Bayard Taylor, from Eldorado ................................................................................... 56 Lafayette Bunnell, from Discovery of the Yosemite and the Indian War of 1851 Which Led to That Event ................................................................... 60 Hubert Howe Bancroft, from California Inter Pocula ................................................. 65 Henry David Thoreau, from The Journal of Henry David Thoreau .............................. 69 Olive Burt, from Jim Beckwourth, Crow Chief ........................................................... 71 Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp” ................................................................. 74 Mark Twain, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” ......................... 85 Ramón Gil Navarro, from Los Chilenos en California ................................................. 91 Isabel Allende, from Daughter of Fortune .................................................................. 97 John Rollin Ridge, from The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, the Celebrated California Bandit ............................................................ 102 Jessie Benton Frémont, “My Grizzly Bear” ............................................................. 107 Dame Shirley (Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe), “Letter of January 27, 1852” ............................................................................................ 112 Mary Ballou, from I Hear the Hogs in My Kitchen .................................................... 116 G. Ezra Dane, from Ghost Town .............................................................................. 119 James M. Hutchings, from Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity in California ....................... 122 Horace Greeley, from An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco, in the Summer of 1859 ................................................................. 125 Chapter 3: Always Afternoon—1860–1899 Mark Twain, from Roughing It ................................................................................ 135 William Brewer, from Up and Down California in 1860–1864 .................................. 142 Clarence King, from Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada ........................................ 145 Maxine Hong Kingston, from China Men ............................................................... 150 Walt Whitman, from “Passage to India” ................................................................. 155 Robert Louis Stevenson, from Across the Plains ....................................................... 157 Grace Greenwood, “Eight Days in the Yosemite” .................................................... 159 Joseph LeConte, from A Journal of Ramblings through the High Sierra of California .................................................................................... 163 John Muir, “A Wind Storm in the Forests of the Yuba” .......................................... 165 Kevin Starr, from Americans and the California Dream, 1850–1915 .......................... 171 Ella Sterling Cummins Mighels, “Portrait of a California Girl” ............................... 179 Mary Hallock Foote, from A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West ........................ 183 Frank Norris, from McTeague ................................................................................. 186 Jack London, “All Gold Cañon” ............................................................................. 193 Chapter 4: Shadows in the Alpenglow—1900–1950 Mary Austin, from The Land of Little Rain ............................................................... 213 Marie Potts, from The Northern Maidu .................................................................... 219 Joaquin Miller, “Yosemite” ..................................................................................... 221 Marc Reisner, from A Dangerous Place .................................................................... 223 John Muir, from The Yosemite ................................................................................. 228 Chiura Obata, newspaper series, 1928 .................................................................. 236 Ansel Adams, from Sierra Club Bulletin, February 1932.......................................... 238 Kenneth Rexroth, “Blues” ...................................................................................... 240 Sally Carrighar, from One Day on Beetle Rock .......................................................... 242 Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, from Farewell to Manzanar ................................................................................ 246 i Chapter 5: Twilight of the Dawn—1951–1990 Jack Kerouac, from The Dharma Bums.................................................................... 255 Gary Snyder, “What Happened Here Before” ......................................................... 260 William Everson, “Bride of the Bear”