VISTABOOKS PUBLISHING: Yosemite

Do you remember Dr. Carl W. Sharsmith (1903-1994)? (Carl was a Yosemite ranger-naturalist and San Jose State College/University botany professor with over 60 summers at Tuolumne Meadows and a herbarium in his name at San Jose State College/University.) A proposal has been made to name a Yosemite mountain peak for him, with the Name4Carl Committee taking the lead. These are National Park Service people who have had tours of duty  at Yosemite that have touched Carl's. William R. "Bill" Jones, principal of VistaBooks and author of this VistaBooks website is the Lead Member of the Name4Carl Committee. To support formally naming a peak for Carl, testimonials to the federal Board on Geographic Names are being solicited. A mountain already informally called Sharsmith Peak has been selected for this naming effort. Interested? View the Name4Carl website at www.name4carl.org: (exits this vistabooks website). (See there how to get a free copy of Hello World, pictorial story of a nature walk led by Carl and see the paragraph below for a free copy of Oh, Ranger!) . And/or send your e-mail address now to email@name4carl.org to get on the name4carl contact list and stay informed. Your information will only be used in connection with the proposal.

To support the Sharsmith naming effort, VistaBooks is giving away free copies of Oh, Ranger! a Book About the National Parks. Published in 1928 by Stanford University Press and reprinted in its 16th edition by VistaBooks, Oh, Ranger! recalls the fledgling National Park Service just prior to Carl's 1931 entry into the organization. When you send in your e-mail address to email@name4carl.org to put your name on that contact list, send a separate e-mail to email@vistabooks.com and ask for your copy of Oh, Ranger!; VistaBooks will send you one free and postpaid if you are among the first 100 who do these two things. Do you already have Oh, Ranger!? Then, for the same deal, pick another one of these other Yosemite titles (described below on this page): Discovery of the Yosemite in 1851, Our Yosemite National Park, The Proposed Yosemite National Park, or The Yosemite in Winter. Or, select one book from those on our John Muir page. VistaBooks hopes you will join it in supporting this peak-naming effort for Carl, who did so much for Yosemite.

DISCOVERY OF THE YOSEMITE IN 1851.
by Lafayette Houghton Bunnell, M.D., one of the Discoverers, of the Mariposa Battalion,

First published in 1880, this is the primary account of how Yosemite Valley came to be "discovered" by the white race. Of course, the Indians knew it was there; they were living in it when the battalion came to roust them out. The valley had been seen from its rims and from afar before this trip, but this was the first recorded entry and exploration. Bunnell proposed the name of the Indian tribe for the valley, "as it was suggestive, euphonious, and certainly American; that by so doing, the name of the tribe of Indians which we met leaving their homes in this valley, perhaps never to return, would be perpetuated." Foreword by former chief park naturalist.

Period engravings. 184pages. ISBN-10: 0-89646-021-5. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-021-8. VIST0021 paper$6.95

OUR YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.
by John Muir.

Among its forests and wild gardens, animals and birds, fountains and streams. At the turn of the century, John Muir described Yosemite National Park to readers of The Atlantic Monthly in the articles here reprinted. Just a decade before he had been so involved with the park idea that he became known as the "father of Yosemite National Park". Muir knew the park better than anyone else, and he had a gift for expression that keeps his fame and his works alive yet. The writing here is perhaps the best blend Muir gave of the Yosemite as a wild nature preserve. The ecological account is full, and we learn much of Muir's observations of the Yosemite birds, bears, and blossoms as well as its winters, earthquakes, glaciers, and forests.

Period illustrations. 96 pages. ISBN-10: 0-89646-061-4. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-061-4. Order #VIST0061 paper$6.95

TEN TRAIL TRIPS IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.  Out of print.
by William R. Jones, former Chief Park Naturalist.

Guide to ten trails selected to best portray the park's story--waterfalls, wilderness, winter, geology, forest trees, history.

Photos and maps. 78 pages. . Temporarily out of print. ISBN-10: 0-89646-064-9. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-064-5.Order #VIST0064 paper$7.95

THE PROPOSED YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK--Treasures & Features, 1890.
by John Muir.

Perhaps the most important writing Muir ever did, for here he proposed a national park, which was soon established. He and his editor had hatched the scheme around a Tuolumne Meadows campfire, and so Muir became known as the "Father of Yosemite National Park." The writing is mostly descriptive, in Muir's magnificent style, covering the grand scenes, waterfall explorations, storm flooding, sequoias, glaciers, Hetch Hetchy Valley, and more. An included map shows Muir's proposed park boundaries, larger than today's, as one might imagine, for there was controversy about taking too much mineral land from potential production. Also shown is the watershed of the Yosemite Valley, as a major purpose of the new park was to protect the waterfalls of Yosemite Valley from upstream lumbering and sheep-grazing. At that time, Yosemite Valley was under state operation and the new park would not affect that; later, however, the valley was returned to federal management and the present park achieved its wholeness. Foreword by former Yosemite Chief Park Naturalist.

Reprinted from 1890, with period engravings. 32 pages. ISBN-10: 0-89646-003-7. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-003-4. Order #VIST0003 paper$3.95

THE YOSEMITE IN WINTER: an 1892 account.
by James M. Carson, with extracts from John Muir's writings.

An appreciation of Yosemite Valley's winter character and an early history of the first winter residents, with plenty of quoted passages from John Muir, who also was a year-round valley resident in the early days. Reports of floods, in which trees were swept over the waterfalls, of the ice-cone at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall, snow-banners flying off rangecrest peaks, use of "snowshoes" (skis, today) to bring in the mail, winter-time climatic differences between north and south sides of this deep east-west trending valley due to shadows. Foreword by former Yosemite Chief Park Naturalist.

Period engravings. 16 pages. ISBN-10: 0-89646-053-3. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-053-9. Order #VIST0053 paper$3.95

YOSEMITE: The Story Behind the Scenery.
by William R. Jones, former Chief Naturalist of Yosemite National Park

Presents all aspects of the Yosemite story--geologic origin of the principal features, Indian history and "discovery" by early explorers plus role in conservation history as what has been called America's first national park (set aside in 1864 and before Yellowstone of 1872 but without the term "national park" in its formal establishment), scenery of the High Sierra, and ecology of the park's three giant sequoia groves. Revised in several new editions since release in 1971, now with over 860,000 copies in print. Color photos,  #KCPU738 paper$9.95

This title is available from VistaBooks to individuals and libraries only, as the author is a principal of VistaBooks, LLC. Resellers may order directly from KC. Publications, 3245 E. Patrick Lane, Las Vegas, Nevada 89120.

DOMES, CLIFFS, WATERFALLS: a brief geology of Yosemite Valley.
by William R. Jones, former Chief Naturalist of Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite has the roundest domes, the sheerest cliffs, the highest waterfalls. Why?
This book gives the answers from geology. Published by Yosemite Association.

Many photos and drawings, 21 pages. Order #YOSA1858 paper$1.95

YOSEMITE-RELATED TITLES ON OTHER PAGES

THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS & BIGTREES of the Sierra Nevada. Temporarily out of print.
THE HUMMINGBIRD OF THE CALIFORNIA WATERFALLS.
IN THE HEART OF THE CALIFORNIA ALPS: a near view of the High Sierra in 1872.
A RIVAL OF THE YOSEMITE: The Canon of the South Fork of King's River, California.
SIERRA BIG TREES.
THE WILD SHEEP.
click here to view above VistaBooks titles on JohnMuir page.

OTHER YOSEMITE TITLES
click here to view publications on Other Pulisher--Yosemite Association page

SIERRA NEVADA WILDFLOWERS
FIRE IN SIERRA NEVADA FORESTS: A Photographic Interpretation of Ecological Change Since 1849
FIRE MOUNTAINS OF THE WEST: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes
click here to view above titles on Other Publisher--Mountain Press page

This "Yosemite" page was last modified 05/14/2008: \vistabooks\vistyose.htm. Copyright © 2008 William R Jones.