the john muir exhibit - writings - the_yosemite - chapter 15
The Yosemite
Chapter 15
Galen Clark
Galen Clark was the best mountaineer I ever met, and one of the kindest
and most amiable of all my mountain friends. I first met him at his
Wawona ranch forty-three years ago on my first visit to Yosemite. I had
entered the Valley with one companion by way of Coulterville, and
returned by what was then known as the Mariposa trail. Both trails were
buried in deep snow where the elevation was from 5000 to 7000 feet
above sea level in the sugar pine and silver fir regions. We had no
great difficulty, however, in finding our way by the trends of the
main features of the topography. Botanizing by the way, we made slow,
plodding progress, and were again about out of provisions when we
reached Clark's hospitable cabin at Wawona. He kindly furnished us with
flour and a little sugar and tea, and my companion, who complained of
the be-numbing poverty of a strictly vegetarian diet, gladly accepted
Mr. Clark's offer of a piece of a bear that had just been killed. After
a short talk about bears and the forests and the way to the Big Trees,
we pushed on up through the Wawona firs and sugar pines, and camped in
the now-famous Mariposa grove.
Later, after making my home in the Yosemite Valley, I became well
acquainted with Mr. Clark, while he was guardian. He was elected again
and again to this important office by different Boards of Commissioners
on account of his efficiency and his real love of the Valley.
Although nearly all my mountaineering has been done without companions,
I had the pleasure of having Galen Clark with me on three excursions.
About thirty-five years ago I invited him to accompany me on a trip
through the Big Tuolumne Cañon from Hetch Hetchy Valley. The cañon up
to that time had not been explored, and knowing that the difference in
the elevation of the river at the head of the cañon and in Hetch Hetchy
was about 5000 feet, we expected to find some magnificent cataracts
or falls; nor were we disappointed. When we were leaving Yosemite an
ambitious young man begged leave to join us. I strongly advised him not
to attempt such a long, hard trip, for it would undoubtedly prove very
trying to an inexperienced climber. He assured us, however, that he
was equal to anything, would gladly meet every difficulty as it came,
and cause us no hindrance or trouble of any sort. So at last, after
repeating our advice that he give up the trip, we consented to his
joining us. We entered the cañon by way of Hetch Hetchy Valley, each
carrying his own provisions, and making his own tea, porridge, bed, etc.
In the morning of the second day out from Hetch Hetchy we came to what
is now known as "Muir Gorge," and Mr. Clark without hesitation prepared
to force a way through it, wading and jumping from one submerged boulder
to another through the torrent, bracing and steadying himself with a
long pole. Though the river was then rather low, the savage, roaring,
surging song it was ringing was rather nerve-trying, especially to our
inexperienced companion. With careful assistance, however, I managed to
get him through, but this hard trial, naturally enough, proved too much
and he informed us, pale and trembling, that he could go no farther. I
gathered some wood at the upper throat of the gorge, made a fire for him
and advised him to feel at home and make himself comfortable, hoped he
would enjoy the grand scenery and the songs of the water-ouzels which
haunted the gorge, and assured him that we would return some time in the
night, though it might be late, as we wished to go on through the entire
cañon if possible. We pushed our way through the dense chaparral and
over the earthquake taluses with such speed that we reached the foot of
the upper cataract while we had still an hour or so of daylight for the
return trip. It was long after dark when we reached our adventurous, but
nerve-shaken companion who, of course, was anxious and lonely, not being
accustomed to solitude, however kindly and flowery and full of sweet
bird-song and stream-song. Being tired we simply lay down in restful
comfort on the river bank beside a good fire, instead of trying to
go down the gorge in the dark or climb over its high shoulder to our
blankets and provisions, which we had left in the morning in a tree at
the foot of the gorge. I remember Mr. Clark remarking that if he had
his choice that night between provisions and blankets he would choose
his blankets.
The next morning in about an hour we had crossed over the ridge through
which the gorge is cut, reached our provisions, made tea, and had a good
breakfast. As soon as we had returned to Yosemite I obtained fresh
provisions, pushed off alone up to the head of Yosemite Creek basin,
entered the cañon by a side cañon, and completed the exploration up to
the Tuolumne Meadows.
It was on this first trip from Hetch Hetchy to the upper cataracts that
I had convincing proofs of Mr. Clark's daring and skill as mountaineer,
particularly in fording torrents, and in forcing his way through thick
chaparral. I found it somewhat difficult to keep up with him in dense,
tangled brush, though in jumping on boulder taluses and slippery
cobble-beds I had no difficulty in leaving him behind.
After I had discovered the glaciers on Mount Lyell and Mount McClure,
Mr. Clark kindly made a second excursion with me to assist in
establishing a line of stakes across the McClure glacier to measure its
rate of flow. On this trip we also climbed Mount Lyell together, when
the snow which covered the glacier was melted into upleaning, icy blades
which were extremely difficult to cross, not being strong enough to
support our weight, nor wide enough apart to enable us to stride across
each blade as it was met. Here again I, being lighter, had no difficulty
in keeping ahead of him. While resting after wearisome staggering and
falling he stared at the marvelous ranks of leaning blades, and said, "I
think I have traveled all sorts of trails and cañons, through all kinds
of brush and snow, but this gets me."
Mr. Clark at my urgent request joined my small party on a trip to the
Kings River yosemite by way of the high mountains, most of the way
without a trail. He joined us at the Mariposa Big Tree grove and
intended to go all the way, but finding that, on account of the
difficulties encountered, the time required was much greater than he
expected, he turned back near the head of the north fork of the Kings
River.
In cooking his mess of oatmeal porridge and making tea, his pot was
always the first to boil, and I used to wonder why, with all his skill
in scrambling through brush in the easiest way, and preparing his meals,
he was so utterly careless about his beds. He would lie down anywhere on
any ground, rough or smooth, without taking pains even to remove cobbles
or sharp-angled rocks protruding through the grass or gravel, saying
that his own bones were as hard as any stones and could do him no harm.
His kindness to all Yosemite visitors and mountaineers was marvelously
constant and uniform. He was not a good business man, and in building an
extensive hotel and barns at Wawona, before the travel to Yosemite had
been greatly developed, he borrowed money, mortgaged his property and
lost it all.
Though not the first to see the Mariposa Big Tree grove, he was the
first to explore it, after he had heard from a prospector, who had
passed through the grove and who gave him the indefinite information,
that there were some wonderful big trees up there on the top of the
Wawona hill and that he believed they must be of the same kind that had
become so famous and well-known in the Calaveras grove farther north.
On this information, Galen Clark told me, he went up and thoroughly
explored the grove, counting the trees and measuring the largest, and
becoming familiar with it. He stated also that he had explored the
forest to the southward and had discovered the much larger Fresno grove
of about two square miles, six or seven miles distant from the Mariposa
grove. Unfortunately most of the Fresno grove has been cut and flumed
down to the railroad near Madera.
Mr. Clark was truly and literally a gentle-man. I never heard him utter
a hasty, angry, fault-finding word. His voice was uniformly pitched at a
rather low tone, perfectly even, although lances of his eyes and slight
intonations of his voice often indicated that something funny or mildly
sarcastic was coming, but upon the whole he was serious and industrious,
and, however deep and fun-provoking a story might be, he never indulged
in boisterous laughter.
He was very fond of scenery and once told me after I became acquainted
with him that he liked "nothing in the world better than climbing to the
top of a high ridge or mountain and looking off." He preferred the
mountain ridges and domes in the Yosemite regions on account of the
wealth and beauty of the forests. Often times he would take his rifle, a
few pounds of bacon, a few pound of flour, and a single blanket and go
off hunting, for no other reason than to explore and get acquainted with
the most beautiful points of view within a journey of a week or two from
his Wawona home. On these trips he was always alone and could indulge
in tranquil enjoyment of Nature to his heart's content. He said that
on those trips, when he was a sufficient distance from home in a
neighborhood where he wished to linger, he always shot a deer, sometimes
a grouse, and occasionally a bear. After diminishing the weight of a
deer or bear by eating part of it, he carried as much as possible of the
best of the meat to Wawona, and from his hospitable well-supplied cabin
no weary wanderer ever went away hungry or unrested.
The value of the mountain air in prolonging life is well examplified in
Mr. Clark's case. While working in the mines he contracted a severe cold
that settled on his lungs and finally caused severe inflammation and
bleeding, and none of his friends thought he would ever recover. The
physicians told him he had but a short time to live. It was then that
he repaired to the beautiful sugar pine woods at Wawona and took up a
claim, including the fine meadows there, and building his cabin, began
his life of wandering and exploring in the glorious mountains about him,
usually going bare-headed. In a remarkably short time his lungs were
healed.
He was one of the most sincere tree-lovers I ever knew. About twenty
years before his death he made choice of a plot in the Yosemite cemetery
on the north side of the Valley, not far from the Yosemite Fall, and
selecting a dozen or so of seedling sequoias in the Mariposa grove he
brought them to the Valley and planted them around the spot he had
chosen for his last rest. The ground there is gravelly and dry; by
careful watering he finally nursed most of the seedlings into good,
thrifty trees, and doubtless they will long shade the grave of their
blessed lover and friend.
Writings of John Muir
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