Online Library: | Title | Author | California | Geology | History | Indians | Muir | Mountaineering | Nature | Management |
Yosemite > Library > Place Names of the High Sierra > T >
Next: U • Contents • Previous: S
[ A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y, & Z. ]
TABLE MOUNTAIN (13,646) | [Mount Whitney] |
“The best instance of the Summit Upland on the west side of the basin is that afforded by Table Mountain. This is clearly the remnant of a plateau which has been, and is being, reduced in area by the encroachment upon it of the steep cliffs which encircle the mountain.” (Lawson: The Geomorphogeny of the Upper Kern Basin, 1904, p. 309.)
First ascent by Paul Shoup, Fred Shoup, Gilbert Hassell, August 25, 1908— (S.C.B., 1909, VII:1, p. 72; and Paul Shoup.)
“Here we found a summit different from any high mountain any of us had ever known in that it was comparatively flat, sloping, as I remember, gently to the south, with a very considerable body of snow and ice a little north of the center. Roughly we estimated the area as from seventy to eighty acres in extent. Such loose rock as there was on top was in thin slab-like form, due, of course, to the erosion of wind and water. We found no evidence of anyone else having visited the mountain.” (Letter from Paul Shoup, vice-president, Southern Pacific Company, March 29, 1925.)
TABOOSE PASS | [Mount Whitney] |
TAFT POINT | [Yosemite] |
TAMARACK FLAT | [Yosemite] |
Collected by John Jeffrey, of the Oregon Botanical Association, of Edinburgh, in the Siskiyou mountains in 1852 and again near Walker’s Pass in the Sierra Nevada in 1853; named for Andrew Murray, of Edinburgh. Also called Murray Pine, Pitch Pine, Red Pine. “In the Rocky Mountains it is universally known as Lodgepole Pine, a name far preferable to the unfortunate folk-name, ‘Tamrac,’ accepted in California, since the latter suffers confusion with the true Tamarack or eastern Larch.” (Jepson: Silva of California, 1910, pp. 81-82.)
“We came to what I finally called ‘Tamarack Flat,’ although the appealing looks of the grizzlies we met on their way through this pass to the Tuolumne caused me to hesitate before deciding upon the final baptism; the grizzlies did not stay to urge any claim, and being affectionately drawn to the trees, we named the camp ‘Tamarack Flat’.” (Bunnell: Discovery of the Yosemite, 1880, p. 316.)
TEHIPITE DOME, VALLEY | [Tehipite] |
The valley was discovered by Frank Dusy in 1869. After several visits in the next few years, he succeeded, 1879, in breaking a trail and getting animals down. On this occasion he took the first photograph ever made of the dome. (L. A. Winchell.) Other accounts say that Dusy found evidence of former visitors. (Elliott: Guide to the Grand and Sublime Scenery of the Sierra Nevada, 1883, pp. 15-16.)
For early visits and descriptions, see: John Muir, in Century, November, 1891, pp. 95-97; T. S. Solomons, in Overland, August, 1897, pp. 130-141; J. M. Stillman, in S.C.B., 1897, II:1, pp. 44-49; notes in S.C.B., 1897, II:2, pp. 106-110; Elesa M. Gremke, in Sunset, March, 1901, pp. 135-141; Ernestine Winchell, in Out West, April, 1911, pp. 297-304.
TEMPLETON MEADOWS, MOUNTAIN (9948) | [Olancha] |
TENAYA CREEK, LAKE | [Mount Lyell] |
TEN LAKES | [Yosemite] |
“In Lake Hollow, on the north side of the Hoffmann spur, immediately above the great Tuolumne cañon, there are ten lovely lakelets lying near together in one general hollow like eggs in a nest.” (Muir: The Mountain Lakes of California, in Scribners Monthly, January, 1879, p. 412; also, Muir: The Mountains of California,; 1894, p. 100.)
TENT MEADOW | [Tehipite] |
THARPS ROCK (10,654) | [Tehipite] |
THOMPSON, MOUNT (13,494) | [Mount Goddard] |
First ascent, 1909, by Clarence H. Rhudy and H. F. Katzenbach. (S.C.B., 1919, X:4, p. 440.)
THREE BROTHERS | [Yosemite] |
“Three points which the Indians know as ‘Eleacha,’ named after a plant much used for food, but which some lackadaisical person has given the commonplace name of ‘The Three Brothers’!” (Hutchings: Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity in California, 1860, p. 94. See, also, Hutchings: In the Heart of the Sierras, 1886, pp. 67, 395.)
“Wawhawke. The Three Brothers; said to mean ‘falling rocks.’ The usual name given as that of the Three Brothers is ‘Pompomposus,’ equivalent to ‘Kompopaise’ given by our interpreter as the name of the small rock a little to the west of the Three Brothers. It was said to mean ‘Leaping Frog Rock.’ . . . The common idea is that the Indians imagined the mountains to be playing ‘Leap Frog.’ It would remain, in that case, to show that the Indians practice that, to us, familiar game; we have never caught them at it.” (Whitney Survey: The Yosemite Book, 1868, pp. 16-17.)
“Kom-pom-pe'sa, a low rock next west of Three Brothers. This is erroneously spelled ‘Pompompasus,’ applied to Three Brothers, and interpreted ‘Mountains playing leap-frog.’ The Indians know neither the word nor the game.” (Powers: Tribes of California, in Contributions to North American Ethnology, III, 1877, p. 363.)
[Web editor’s note: the correct translation is “a couple copulating”—dea. ]
THUMB, THE (13,885) | [Bishop] |
THUNDER MOUNTAIN (13,578) | [Mount Whitney] |
TILDEN LAKE | [Dardanelles] |
TIOGA PASS, ROAD, LAKE | [Mount Lyell] |
The mines of the Tioga District were discovered about 1878, although some claims existed earlier. In 1881 the Great Sierra Consolidated Silver Mining Company was incorporated by eastern capitalists. A post-office and town, called Bennettville for the president of the company, were established. Supplies were hauled from Lundy. Operations were suspended in July, 1884, because of financial failure. (Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, 1888, pp. 371-373.)
The road was built by the Great Sierra Consolidated Silver Mining Company in 1882 and 1883 at a cost of about $61,000; properly called “The Great Sierra Wagon Road”; abandoned soon after completion on account of closing down of mines. (Report of the Commission on Roads in Yosemite National Park, California, dated December 4, 1899, Senate Document 155, 56th Congress, 1st Session, 1900.) The road was purchased from successors of mining company by private subscription in 1915 and donated to Federal Government.
“There is also another gap on the north side of Mount Dana, which is called MacLane’s Pass; it is about 600 feet lower than the Mono Pass, and has been examined, in behalf of the county, by a committee appointed to search out a better route than the present one across the mountains, in this vicinity; what conclusion was arrived at we have not ascertained.” (Whitney Survey: Geology, 1865, p. 434.)
Tioga Lake was formerly known as Lake Jessie Montrose. (Lieutenant H. C. Benson’s map, 1896.)
TOKOPAH VALLEY | [Tehipite] |
TOM, MOUNT (13,649) | [Mount Goddard] |
TOWER PEAK (11,704) | [Dardanelles] |
“Messrs. King and Gardner made several attempts to climb Castle Peak [Tower Peak]; but did not succeed in getting to the top, although Mr. Goddard thinks it can easily be reached from the north.” (Whitney Survey: The Yosemite Book, 1868, p. 85.)
“During the summer of 1870, however, this peak was reached and ascended from the north without any difficulty.” (Whitney: Yosemite Guide Book, pocket edition, 1871, p. 86—See, also, S.C.B., 1899, II:5, p. 282.)
The members of the Whitney Survey party who made the first ascent were Charles F. Hoffmann, Alfred Craven, W. A. Goodyear. (Information from Alfred Craven, Pleasantville, N. Y., February, 1926.)
TULAINYO LAKE | [Mount Whitney] |
TULARE COUNTY |
“It is recorded that some time during 1773 Commandante Fages, while out in search of deserters, crossed the sierra [Coast Range] eastward and saw an immense plain covered with tulares and a great lake. . . . This may be regarded as the discovery of Tulare Valley.” (Bancroft: History of California, I, 1884, p. 197.)
Francisco Garcés was the first to explore the region of the tulares, 1776. (Coues: On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer, 1900, I, pp. 251-252, 265-312.)
County created in 1852 from southern portion of Mariposa County; reduced by formation of Fresno County, 1856; contributed territory to Inyo County, 1866, and Kern County, 1866, 1868; boundaries adjusted, 1872, 1874, 1876; western portion organized as Kings County, 1893. (Coy: California County Boundaries, 1923, pp. 282-287.)
TUNEMAH PASS, PEAK (11,873) | [Tehipite] |
The pass and peak were named from the trail.
“The name is, as the ingenuous reader is presumed not to know, a Chinese ‘cuss-word’ of very vivacious connotation.” (T. S. Solomons: Unexplored Regions of the High Sierras, in Overland, November, 1896, p. 517.)
TUNNABORA PEAK (13,593) | [Mount Whitney] |
TUOLUMNE RIVER, MEADOWS, CAÑON, COUNTY |
“Below this is another grassy field, and then the river enters a cañon, which is about twenty miles long, and probably inaccessible through its entire length; at least we have never heard of its being explored, and it certainly cannot be entered from its head. Mr. King followed the cañon down as far as he could, to where the river precipitated itself down a grand fall, over a mass of rock so rounded on the edge, that it was impossible to approach near enough to look over into the chasm below, the walls on each side being too steep to be climbed. . . . Although we have not succeeded in getting into this cañon, it does not follow that it cannot be done. Adventurous climbers, desirous of signalizing themselves by new discoveries, should try to penetrate into this unknown gorge, which may perhaps admit of being entered through some of the side cañons coming in from the north, and which must exhibit stupendous scenery. (Whitney: The Yosemite Book, 1868, p. 89.—Whitney: Yosemite Guide Book, 1870, pp. 99-100.)
“Sometime in August, in the year 1869, in following the river three or four miles below the Soda Springs, I obtained a partial view of the Great Tuolumne Cañon before I heard of its existence. The following winter I read what the State Geologist wrote concerning it. . . . Since that time I have entered the Great Cañon from the north by three different side-cañons, and have passed through it from end to end. . . . without encountering any extraordinary difficulties. . . . At the head it is easily accessible on both sides.” (Muir: The Great Tuolumne Cañon, in Overland, August, 1873, p. 140.—Reprinted in part in S.C.B., 1924, XII:1, but omitting this passage.)
The Whitney Survey explored the cañon in 1873, finding it not so inaccessible as at first supposed. “It is to be regretted that it is not possible to pass through the cañon with animals. . . . This will undoubtedly be done in time, but considerable expenditure would be required to make a passable trail.” (Whitney: Yosemite Guide Book, 1874, p. 154.)
A trail, passable for horses, has now been built from Tuolumne Meadows to Pate Valley, connecting with a trail entering the cañon from the south. For other explorations of Tuolumne Cañon, see: R. M. Price, in S.C.B., 1893, I:1, pp. 9-16; R. M. Price, in S.C.B., 1895, I:6, pp. 199-208; Jennie E. Price, in S.C.B., 1898, II:3, pp. 174-184, with a note by John Muir; S. L. Foster, in S.C.B., 1906, VI:1, pp. 56-58; John Muir, in S.C.B., 1910, VII:4, pp. 216-218; T. S. Solomons, in Appalachia, November, 1896, VIII:2, pp. 164-179. Tuolumne County, organized, 1850; valley portion organized as Stanislaus County, 1854, 1855; small portion contributed to Alpine County, 1864. (Coy: California County Boundaries, 1923, pp. 288-290.)
TUTTLE CREEK | [Mount Whitney] |
TYNDALL, MOUNT (14,025) | [Mount Whitney] |
“When we reached the southwest front of the mountain we found that its general form was that of an immense horseshoe, the great eastern ridge forming one side, and the spur which descended to our camp the other, we having climbed up the outer part of the toe.” (Clarence King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, 1872, pp. 75, 81.)
John Tyndall (1820-1893); professor of natural philosophy, Royal Institution, London, from 1853; author of many publications on physical science; developed theory of fracture and regelation of glaciers; explored the Alps for many years; first ascent of the Weisshorn, 1861; author of Glaciers of the Alps, 1860, Hours of Exercise in the Alps, 1871.
Next: U • Contents • Previous: S
Online Library: | Title | Author | California | Geology | History | Indians | Muir | Mountaineering | Nature | Management |
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/place_names_of_the_high_sierra/t.html