CLARENCE KING. 



trating the great mountain regions of the far west and had 

 brought back vivid accounts of the phenomena observed at various 

 points, the great region beyond the Mississippi Eiver was still 

 geologically a terra incognita, when in 1861 the legislature of 

 California had appropriated a generous sum for a geological 

 survey of that State and made Prof. J. D. Whitney its director. 



No more attractive field for geological exploration and study 

 could be found than that of the great Sierra Nevada, from which 

 had already come a stream of gold whose volume had disturbed 

 the monetary systems of the world. The problems presented in 

 its structure were in many respects new in the experience of the 

 American geologist, especially in the field of vulcanism, whose 

 manifestations in the eastern part of the continent, where stu- 

 dents of geology had hitherto been mainly occupied, are com- 

 paratively insignificant. To King, full as he was of youthful 

 energy and enthusiasm, the prospect of exploring the summits 

 of this great range and repeating in the Alps of America the ex- 

 periences of Tyndall and Buskin in those of Europe was indeed 

 a powerful inducement for joining the Survey, and how abun- 

 dantly and fruitfully he embraced the opportunities is well 

 shown in his delightful book on "Mountaineering in the Sierra 

 Nevada." 



His first experience was as an assistant to Professor Brewer, 

 when, in September, 1863, they explored the regions in northern 

 California, where the granite crest of the Sierra Nevada suddenly 

 breaks down and is succeeded by broken hills and lava-capped 

 plains out of which rise the imposing volcanic cones of Lassens 

 Peak and Mt. Shasta. Here he had his first opportunity for a 

 field study of volcanic rocks— a study in which, aided by the 

 teaching of his great friend, the German geologist Von Eicht- 

 hofen, he afterward became so proficient that for many years he 

 was recognized as the highest American authority upon the 

 subject. 



A large portion of the summer of 1864 was spent in exploring 

 the southern part of the Sierra Nevada around the Yosemite 

 Valley and the high peaks to the eastward at the headwaters of 

 the King and Kern rivers. In climbing one of the highest peaks 

 of this group, which they had called Mt. Tyndall, two still higher 

 ones were discovered, to the loftier of which, evidently the cul- 



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