The Book Count 2021

[Greg]

The full title for the book is The Yosemite Guide Book: A Description of the Yosemite Valley and the Adjacent Region of the Sierra Nevada, and of the Big Trees of California...Published by Authority of the Legislature. The book was published in 1871 based on a survey done in the summer and fall of 1866. It was six month backpacking trip. The trip was taken before the stage coach roads were built so they had to follow some hiking trails in. The guide did give some helpful information on how long the trip took from Sacramento depending on which route you chose. Some of the information was pretty funny. Some of the information was downright wrong based on subsequent information. I think the biggest bit of misinformation was the passage on how it was impossible for Glaciers to have formed Yosemite Valley. It was interesting to find out that most of the names we know today were fully realized in 1866. There were one or two I didn't recognize, but most of them are the names we know today.

The author used latitude and longitude to describe exactly where Yosemite was located. He did use the latin names for all the flora and fauna he saw. The whole book was quite draw, but it was a good exercise in compare and contrast.

I read a reprint of the original manuscript made by University of Michigan press. What the UM Press did was xerox the old book and put it out. So the type for the book was incredibly tiny. I wish they had just typed it out fresh in a normal font.

This book is only recommended if you are doing a deep, deep dive into the history of Yosemite.