Discovery of the Yosemite

Book excerpt

By: Lafayette H. Bunnell

Date: 1880

Source: Bunnell, Lafayette H. Discovery of the Yosemite and the Indian War of 1851 Which Let to That Event. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1880.

About the Author: American medical doctor Lafayette H. Bunnell was assigned to the Mariposa Battalion, which discovered Yosemite Valley during the Indian War of 1851. His party is generally understood to have been the first group of non-natives to enter the valley. Bunnell described his military experience in California in the book Discovery of the Yosemite and the Indian War of 1851, which Led to that Event.

INTRODUCTION

The Yosemite region is part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California, and much of the area lies within the present-day Yosemite National Park. Although Native Americans had no doubt visited the area for centuries, it was not known among non-natives until Bunnell and his voluntary military party, the Mariposa Battalion, entered the Yosemite Valley while pursuing Native Americans in 1851.

Bunnell and his compatriots found themselves in Yosemite as a direct consequence of the California Gold Rush of 1849, which began when John Sutter discovered gold near his sawmill in the small town of Coloma, along the South Fork of the American River east of Sacramento. Although Sutter discovered gold in 1848, it was a year before the fortune seekers known as Forty-Niners descended upon the area. The total amount of gold removed during the rush is unknown, but the influx of people and capital and extraction of wealth helped California to achieve statehood. One of the people drawn to California was the Bavarian immigrant and dry goods merchant Levi Strauss (1829–1902), who manufactured sturdy denim pants reinforced with rivets. Popular among miners and originally known as waist overalls, his pants evolved into the American icons now known simply as Levis.

The California Gold Rush of 1849 was a consequence of geology. The high Sierra Nevada consists of granite and compositionally similar rocks formed by the slow cooling of molten magma at great depths. Individual bodies of granite known as plutons and stocks coalesced to form a composite body known to geologists as the Sierra Nevada batholith (from the Greek words bathos, meaning depth, and lithos, meaning rock). The magma was generated from tectonic plates subducted and melted along the western edge of North America. At the same time, gold-bearing marine sediments were being scraped, or accreted, from the top of the plate being subducted. Gold, which is thought to have originated around submarine hydrothermal vents, was concentrated as the sediments were buried and heated (a process known as metamorphosis), and settled as veins within the Sierra Nevada foothills. The greatest concentration of gold is known as the Mother Lode. Much of the gold removed by the Forty-Niners, however, was eroded, transported, and deposited in gravel beds along rivers draining the foothills. These gold-bearing gravels are known as placer deposits.

The snow-free foothills of the Sierra Nevada between Sacramento and Yosemite were rich in game and nuts, and were densely inhabited by Native Americans who initially welcomed the opportunity for trade. Tensions grew as the non-native population increased, however, and led to a Native American uprising. The first attack, which occurred in late 1850, was against a trading post owned by James Savage. He was a flamboyant character that had taken several Native American wives from different tribes. Continuing battles led to the formation of the Mariposa Battalion and negotiations with the Native Americans. Six tribes signed a treaty with the United States but two, the Yosemites and the Chowchillas, refused and were pursued into the Sierra Nevada during the early months of 1851. It was during the pursuit that the Mariposa Battalion, including Bunnell, entered Yosemite Valley for the first time.

In response to rapid development of the newly discovered valley, in 1864 President Abraham Lincoln ceded it to the State of California with the intention that it be preserved for public enjoyment. This was the first time that land had been reserved as a park by a national government but, because the land was given to California, it was not the first national park. (That honor belongs to Yellowstone National Park, which was created as the world's first national park in 1872.) Yosemite was not declared a national park until 1890 and remained under joint state and federal control until 1906, when ownership reverted solely to the federal government.

A combination of glacial ice and the granitic rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith created the scenery of the Yosemite Valley. The polished granite surfaces and sheer rock walls exemplified by Half Dome and El Capitan, which have made Yosemite a mecca for rock climbers, were created in part by glaciers moving over fractured granite. Although the glacial origin of Yosemite Valley was recognized by the American naturalist and writer John Muir (1883–1914), he was challenged by geologists who inferred the steep-sided valley to be a result of vertical movement along faults. The controversy was not settled until 1930, when a definitive U.S. Geological Survey report showed that Yosemite Valley was created by a combination of glacial and river erosion.

Yosemite Valley was the focal point for one of the early battles in the American conservation movement. Increasing water demand in San Francisco led to plans to dam equally scenic Hetch Hetchy Valley, which lies just north of Yosemite Valley and within the present-day national park. Dam construction, which would drown the valley in order to create a water storage reservoir, was strongly opposed by John Muir, the Sierra Club, and even The New York Times editorial page. The dam, however, was eventually constructed during the early years of the twentieth century, and its reservoir continues to supply water to San Francisco.

PRIMARY SOURCE

The date of our discovery into the Yosemite was about the 21st of March, 1851. We were afterward assured by Ten-ie-ya and others of his band, that this was the first visit ever made to this valley by white men. Ten-ie-ya said that a small party of white men once crossed the mountains at the north side, but were so guided as not to see it….

It was to prevent the occurrence of such an event, that Ten-ie-ya had consented to go to the commissioner's camp and make peace, intending to return to his mountain home as soon as the excitement form the recent outbreak had subsided. The entrance to the Valley had ever been carefully guarded by the old chief, and the people of his band. As part of it's traditionary history, it was stated: "That when Ten-ie-ya left the tribe of his mother and went to live in Ah-wah-ne, he was accompanied by a very old Ah-wah-ne-chee, who had been the great 'medicine man' of his tribe."

… The old "medicine man" was the counselor of the young chief. Not long before the death of this patriarch, as if endowed with prophetic wisdom, he assured Ten-ie-ya that while he retained possession of Ah-wah-ne his band would increase in numbers and become powerful. That if he befriended those who sought his protection, no other tribe would come to the valley to make war upon him, or attempt to drive him from it, and if he obeyed his counsels he would put a spell upon it that would hold it sacred for him and his people alone: none other would ever dare to make it their home….

For this reason, Ten-ie-ya declared, had he so rigidly guarded his valley home, and all who sought his protection. No one ventured to enter it, except by his permission …

The ford was found to be rocky, but we passed over it without serious difficulty, although several repeated their morning ablutions while stumbling over the boulders.

The open ground on the north side was found free from snow. The trail led toward "El Capitan," which had from the first, been the particular object of my admiration.

At this time no distinctive names were known by which to designate the cliff, waterfalls, or any of the especial objects of interest, and the imaginations of some ran wild in search of appropriate ones. None had any but a limited idea of the height of this cliff, and but a few appeared conscious of the vastness of the granite wall before us; although an occasional ejaculation betrayed the feelings which the imperfect comprehension of the grand and wonderful excited. A few of us remarked upon the great length of time required to pass it, and by so doing, probably arrived at more or less correct conclusions regarding its size.

SIGNIFICANCE

Yosemite Valley and the surrounding high country, much of which has been preserved in Yosemite National Park, is recognized for its scenic beauty and geologic features. The California Gold Rush of 1849, which precipitated the discovery of Yosemite by the Mariposa Battalion and its physician, Lafayette Bunnell, was also a pivotal event in the history of both California and the United States. The influx of people and accumulation of wealth associated with the gold rush accelerated the establishment of the State of California, which has since grown into one of the world's largest economies.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Books

Harden, Deborah. California Geology (2nd Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Matthes, Francois E. Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1930.

Periodicals

Bunnell, Lafayette H. "The Date of Discovery of the Yosemite." Century (September 1890).