94 * * OA, Ranger!" 



thrived. The dividing line between their territory and that of the next 

 tribe, the Watchumna, was at Lime Kiln Hill near Lemon Cove. The 

 earliest visitor to the region that is now Sequoia Park was Hale D. 

 Tharp, who came into that country in 1856. He told Judge Fry, who 

 was for years ranger and superintendent of the park, that when he first 

 entered the valley of the Kaweah River there were two thousand Indians 

 along the main river and its branches above Lemon Cove. 



In Yosemite Valley, there lived an outstanding and remarkable band 

 of Indians, a branch of the Miwok tribe. They called themselves the 

 Yosemites, after the grizzly, a name chosen after a battle in which one 

 of their braves overcame a great bear. The Yosemites found in the 

 valley of Ahwahnee, "peaceful, grassy vale," as they called Yosemite 

 Valley, all that an Indian tribe could ask of its gods. It was a good 

 hunting ground. It was plentiful in acorns, from which the Yosemites 

 made a meal. It enjoyed a fine climate, and best of all it was so 

 secluded that the Indians were sure it would never be reached by the 

 white man. 



Under the direction of an able chief, Tenaya, the Yosemites de 

 veloped into a warlike nation. They accepted into their tribe the refugees 

 from other California tribes, many of them wanted for depredations 

 on the white settlers below. In this manner Tenaya built up the strength 

 of his fighting force, and he also became responsible for the acts of 

 Indians whom he could not control. When the gold miners began push 

 ing up the Merced River until they were dangerously near the stronghold 

 of the Yosemites, some of Tenaya's braves went on the warpath, killed 

 miners, raided and burned stores, and raised havoc until the whites, in 

 retaliation, sent various expeditions to punish the Indians. On one such 

 occasion Tenaya and his braves, with wives and children, fled up over 

 the mountains to the land of the Monos, a tribe of Nevada Indians with 

 whom the Yosemites traded acorn meal for pine nuts and the obsidian 

 with which they made arrowheads. The Monos were related to the 

 Piutes. From the desert tribes farther east they had acquired horses 

 and had learned to ride them skilfully. The Monos were proud of 

 their horses. 



In the hour of need, the Monos gave the Yosemites shelter and 

 food. Tenaya accepted it gratefully. He stayed with the Mohos until 

 the white men departed from his stronghold, then he led his people 

 back to Yosemite Valley. The Yosemites repaid the hospitality of the 

 Monos by stealing some of their horses. Not being riding Indians, the 

 Yosemites valued the horses only as food. When the angry Monos over 

 took the Yosemites, the latter were gorging themselves on horseflesh. 

 In the battle which followed, they were no match for the Monos, who 

 practically wiped out the Yosemite tribe, including Tenaya himself. 



