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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1884)
4 238 THE WEST SHORE. YOSEMITB VALLEY AND THE BIO TREES. IJJHEN Dr. Johnson wrote of that Happy Valley of H Amhara, in which ltassolas, the 1'rince of Abys Hinia, and his Bister Nekayah "lived only to know the Hoft vicissitudes of. ploaHure and ropoHO," he must have lMion granted a mental vision of the great YoHomite of California. The pellucid lake, teeming with aquatic life, and the Bilvory stream which coursed through the valley, could not have been more enchanting than the watery mirror which mingles the reflected pictures of the fleecy clouds floating aljovo and the towering rocky domes alout which they hover, or the dashing Merced, hearing to the ocean tho icy watorB from the eternal glaciers of the fountain summits; nor did they, in their efforts to escape from this pleasure prison to search tho world for tho truo source of happiness, encounter more unscaleahle cliffs or loftier walk of rock than thoso which encircle tli is valley in tho heart of the Sier ras. Tho fame of YosomiUj has Imhmhiio co-oxtensivo with the limits of civilization; yet the time was, and not many yours ago, when ro- ports or. tho grandeur or lto canyon J walls, 'its crystal lake and wonder- $ ful waterfalls, and of the giant trees of CalavoroB, wore classed as " Cal ifornia yarns," nlong witli stories of enormous nuggoto, inarvelously rich quartz ledges, wonderful road age bloody fights. It took thou sands of visiU by travelers, hundreds of written dscri tions and illustra tions, to convince the world that the YoHcmito ami Uiifrwv Trees actually cx-MiAvr isUs I as they are re- n' voalod iu tho follow- fir -&fn ing pages. Tiik bkntinklh, calavkiiamiiovk. In Novemlwr, 1850, tho Indians living on tho head waters of tho Merml, San Joaquin, Fresno and Chow chilla rivers, combined for the purpose of driving tl e white intruders from theii country, emUiMiMHMl by their exemption from punishment for frequent outrages previ ously conunitUL A number of trading .sts and small aiming cam, were atkokod, their occupants killed or driven away, and tho property destroyed, A bullion of jroluuUrs was raised to chastise then,. A battle Mas fought, and tho Iudmns were defeated with much losa To all request to surrender and end tho war thev returned a contemptuous refus.il, asserting that thev hiul secure MrtmU whither they could lie, nnil jj Q plaoo ,,, jHU-tieuW was such that, should tho America s eutor m they would U caught iu a trap from which U ey i.- V;. ": I i; 7$ fit v) could not escape. This only whetted the curioBity of the volunteers, and in January, 1851, two companies of the buttulion started upon an expedition iu search of this aboriginal stronghold. In March, after many Indians had been cap tured, the com mand entered this wonderful ' mountain lock ed valloy and captured all its human occu pants, the last to succumb be ing the inhabi tants of a rnn cheria on the shore of the now famou's Mirror Lake. taken to Fresno Wrffc-J and soon after libkkty. (ap. liberated upon a promise of future good conduct In the spring of 1852 they attacked a small party which was visiting that region, and killed two of them and wounded a third. A company of United States troops entered the valley and captured five braves wearing portions of the clothing taken from the murdered men. These were summarily hanged. Ten-ie-ya,the chief, and many of his braves lied, across the mountains to the Monos; linf it 4a ciiinwnv rt 1 Aaam. Dana oi DorseB from their hospita ble friends and drove them to their stronghold. . One night the venge ful Monos swooped down upon their rancheria and blotted out the frilm L illinfY oil Vnt oirrVit lirnveB land a few old men, and carrying mm w&?A few tefc; rr . $ 1 : o .:.. W v 1 l" ' 1 I - aim it r "r. 1m off the women as the spoils of war. These turbulent Indians were ren egades from the various tribes from the Tuol- unino to King's , ii. l" Kiver, anti canw "a themselves " Yo- tSA Semite" (Great flri t : 1 v Bear). TwLm This name, at the .ntLMK . wivw) mm m T iahi hut in maiui08a uiiovf. suggestion OI VI L. H. Bunnell, who accompanied all these expeditions and subsoquenBly assisted in the survey made by George II. Peterson as engineer for General Fremont, was be stowed upon the valley by a vote of the volunteers who