Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada Clarence King Copyright, 1871, by James R. Osgood & Co. Copyright, 1902, by Charles Scribner's Sons Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada Table of Contents Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King................................................................................1 Contents...................................................................................................................................................1 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King................................................................................3 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King................................................................................4 NOTE.....................................................................................................................................................4 FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION........................................................................4 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King................................................................................6 CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................................6 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King I THE RANGE....................................................7 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King II THROUGH THE FOREST 1864................17 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King III THE ASCENT OF MOUNT TYNDALL 1864...............................................................................................................................................27 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King IV THE DESCENT OF MOUNT TYNDALL 1864...............................................................................................................................................39 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King V THE NEWTYS OF PIKE 1864....................47 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King VI KAWEAH’S RUN 1864..............................55 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King VII AROUND YOSEMITE WALLS 1864.....65 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King VIII A SIERRA STORM..................................74 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King IX MERCED RAMBLINGS 1866...................84 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King X CUT-OFF COPPLES’S 1870.......................96 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King XI SHASTA 1870............................................105 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King XII SHASTA FLANKS 1870..........................115 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King XIII MOUNT WHITNEY 1871.....................123 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King XIV THE PEOPLE.........................................139 i Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King Summary (Library of Congress) Brewer Party of 1864: James T. Gardiner, Richard Cotter, William H. Brewer, and Clarence King Clarence King (1842-1901) of Rhode Island was a Yale-educated geologist and mining engineer who rode horseback across the continent in 1863. In California, he worked as a volunteer on Whitney’s geological survey of the state, and he went on to a distinguished professional career. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (originally published 1872) begins with a summary of the geological history of the Sierras and then recounts King’s experiences in the range, both as a member of the Whitney expedition and as a mountain climber, 1864-1870. Highlights include his ascents of Mount Tyndall, Mount Shasta, and Mount Whitney; survey of Yosemite Valley; and field trips in the Merced Valley. King provides anecdotes of the mountains’ people and natural history along the way. Contents • Title Page • Note • Preface • Table of Contents 1. The Range 2. Through the Forest 3. The Ascent of Mount Tyndall 4. The Descent of Mount Tyndall 5. The Newtys of Pike 6. Kaweah’s Run 7. Around Yosemite Walls 8. A Sierra Storm 9. Merced Ramblings 10. Cut-off Copples’s 11. Shasta 12. Shasta Flanks Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King 1 Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada 13. Mount Whitney 14. The People Bibliographical Information Clarence King (1842 - 1901), Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1902). xi p., 1 l., 378 pages. 20 cm. Library of Congress Call Number F868.S5 K52. The text for Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada was acquired from the The Library of Congress under the Evolution of the Conservation Movement section of the American Memory online exhibit. It was corrected and formatted into html by Dan Anderson, 2004. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice is left intact. —Dan Anderson, www.yosemite.ca.us Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada first appeared, in part, in The Atlantic Monthly, starting with the May 1871 issue (vol. 27, issue 163), and ending with the Dec. 1871 issue (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, and 9, respectively). The Atlantic Monthly issues are available as page images from University of Michigan’s Making of America (MOA) digital library. Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada first appeared in book form in 1872, published by James Osgood & Co. of Boston (292 pages). This edition came in 2 forms, octavo in green or maroon cloth with gilt lettering and edge, and large paper copies. Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle in London also printed the same edition in 1872 (with reset type). A “fourth edition” appeared in 1874 with v + 308 pages. This edition has additional information about the Mount Whitney (namely, that Mr. King climbed the wrong Peak, and his climb, of 1873, of the real Mt. Whitney.) Note that at the 1994 Yosemite Association reprinting of Mountaineering (and perhaps others) omits this additional material and doesn’t even inform the reader that Mr. King described climbing the wrong peak. The 1874 edition also added maps of California and Southern Sierra Nevada. Reprints of this edition were called the fifth through ninth edition, with no changes. A genuinely new 1902 edition has xi+378 pages. It has minor corrections. The 1902 edition is used here. Buy this book at Amazon.com Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada (Paperback, 1997) Next: Note and Preface Contents 2 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King Index • Note and Preface MOUNTAINEERING IN THE SIERRA NEVADA BY CLARENCE KING "Altiora petimus” NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1902 Copyright, 1871, by JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. Copyright, 1902, by CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS TROW DIRECTORY PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY NEW YORK To JOSIAH DWIGHT WHITNEY AND HIS STAFF MY COMRADES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA THESE MOUNTAINEERING NOTES ARE CORDIALLY INSCRIBED Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King 3 Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King NOTE This book, originally published in 1871, has long been out of print, though in constant demand. Its publication was discontinued owing to the desire of the author to make certain emendations in the text, a work that the arduous activities of a professional scientific life left him no leisure to perform. A few changes, indicated by him, have been made. Otherwise the text of the present edition is that of the last, the revised and enlarged edition of 1874. Only the fastidiousness to which the extraordinary literary quality of the book is itself due, could suggest further modification of what is here republished with the motive of restoring to print and circulation a work too perfect in form and of too rare a quality to be allowed to lapse. It is accordingly with the view of renewing the accessibility of a genuine classic of American literature that the present edition is presented. FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION * * * * * * * Mountaineers will realize, from these descriptions of Sierra climbs, how few dangers we encountered which might not have been avoided by time and caution. Since the uncertain perils of glacier work and snow copings do not exist in California, except on the northeast flank of Mount Shasta, our climbs proved safe and easy in comparison with the more serious Alpine ascents. And now that the topography of the higher Sierra has been all explored by the Geological Survey, nearly every peak is found to have an accessible side. Our difficulties and our joys were those of the pioneer. My own share in the great work of exploring the Sierra under Professor Whitney has been small indeed beside that of the senior assistants of the Survey, Professors Brewer and Hoffmann. Theirs were the long, hard years of patient labor, theirs the real conquest of a great terra incognita; and if in these chapters I have not borne repeated witness to their skill and courage, it is not because I have failed in warm appreciation, but simply because my own mountaineering has always been held by me as of slight value, and not likely to be weighed against their long-continued service. There are turning-points in all men’s lives which must give them both pause and retrospect. In long Sierra journeys the mountaineer looks forward eagerly, gladly, till pass or ridge-crest is gained, and then, turning with a fonder interest, surveys the scene of his march; letting the eye wander over each crag and valley, every blue hollow of pine-land