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, supporting statements to the federal Board on Geographic Names were 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).

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 William R. Jones.

Period engravings. 184pages, slightly abridged from the original. 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

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. Temporarily out of print.
THE WILD SHEEP.
click here to view above VistaBooks titles on JohnMuir page.

OTHER YOSEMITE TITLES
click here to view publications on Other Publisher--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

MORE ABOUT YOSEMITE:

Follow this link to Undiscovered-Yosemite.com for insights on the park and its history by a park insider--Dave Hubbard, son of long-time chief park naturalist Douglass Hubbard. Dave grew up in the park and has put together a refreshingly different park guide some 40 years afterwards.

This "Yosemite" page was last modified 01/31/2012. Did you come here from a link on another website? For latest version of this page, copy to your browser: www.vistabooks.com\\vistyose.htm. Copyright © 2012 VistaBooks LLC.