(#166286) A way across the mountain Joseph Walker's 1833 trans-Sierran passage and the myth of Yosemite's discovery by Scott Stine. SCOTT STINE.

A way across the mountain Joseph Walker's 1833 trans-Sierran passage and the myth of Yosemite's discovery by Scott Stine. Norman, Oklahoma: The Arthur H. Clark Company An imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. 25.3x17.5 cm, pp. [1-8] 9-13 [14] 15-317 [318-320: blank], 45 illustrations and maps, original light gray cloth, spine panel stamped in black. First edition. A revisionist history combining field work and an analysis of the detailed travel narrative of Zenas Leonard, the Walker brigade's field clerk, that reconstructs Walker's October 1833 route over the Sierra. Stine concludes that the trans-Sierra crossing (near today's Ebbetts Pass, well north of Yosemite Valley) was through the watersheds of the upper Carson, the Mokelumne, and the Stanislaus rivers -- ascending by way of the Hawkins-Markleeville Gap on the south side of Hawkins Peak, then south along the western side of the first crest of the double-crested high Carson country to Deadwood Highland on the second crest, and descending to California's Central Valley by way of Deadwood Spur, Sleeping Indian Ridge (a divide that separates the Mokelumne and Stanislaus watersheds) to Bear Valley, then down to the foothills by way of the north fork of the Stanislaus River where the brigade saw the Big Trees of North Calaveras Grove. From the North Calaveras Grove Walker's probable route to the "base of the mountain" ended near Angels Camp. From there the party traveled across the Sierran foothills to the "margin of the woods" on the Stanislaus River in the vicinity of Knight's Ferry. This, of course, is the possible route of the first east to west trans-Sierran crossing by Americans. Ironically, the first trans-Sierran crossing by Americans (which was west to east), made by Jedediah Smith in 1827, followed roughly the same route. Today this Sierra crossing is partially followed by California State Route 4. A useful review of Stine's book is A Way Across the Mountain: Joseph Walker's 1833 Trans-Sierran Passage and the Myth of Yosemite's Discovery. Reviewed by Thomas Frederick Howard. The AAG Review of Books (2018) 6:1, 37-39. A fine copy in fine dust jacket. (#166286).

Printing identification statement for this book:
First printing has code "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" on copyright page.