Early Exploration in the Sierra Nevada
Compiled and edited by Peter Browning
“. . . all the splendid mountains away off north and east of Paradise Valley,
where the map shows nothing, were beautiful exceedingly. . .”
So wrote Bolton Coit Brown in 1895, from near the summit of Mount Clarence King.Most of the early explorers of the Sierra Nevada were private individuals, rather than members of government expeditions. The more literate ones had accounts of their achievements, adventures, and mishaps published in newspapers and journals, often accompanying them with photographs, drawings, and hand-drawn maps. Most of these wilderness travelers have been immortalized by having their names placed on mountains, lakes, and streams. Foremost among them are:
Frank Dusy, discoverer of Tehipite Valley, and an early trip to the Palisades.
Wallace, Wales, and Wright, a night on Mt. Whitney in 1881.
Theodore S. Solomons, pioneer of the northern half of the John Muir Trail.
Bolton Coit Brown, explorer and artist, first ascent of Arrow Peak.
Joseph N. LeConte, map-maker, first ascent of the North Palisade.
Trade paperback,
272 pages,
6 x 9, 16 color photographs,
34 black & white photos and drawings,
8 early maps.
ISBN: 0-944220-22-3 $21.95