RECORD OF AN EARLY EXPLORATION OF 

 TENAYA CANON 



Edited with Notes by J. N. Le Conte 



THE Sierra Club is fortunate in being able to secure a de- 

 scription of what was certainly the first exploration of the 

 Tenaya Canon, in the Yosemite National Park. Those of us 

 who have climbed through this rugged gorge, so near to the fa- 

 miliar Yosemite Valley yet so little known in detail, have al- 

 ways considered that John Muir's trip in the early 70's was the 

 first made by a white man. While it probably was the first 

 complete trip through from Lake Tenaya to Mirror Lake, there 

 has now come to light a partial exploration made in 1866 by 

 Mr. Joseph Ferrell. This valuable historical record has been 

 written out by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Russell Ferrell Colton, 

 whose introduction to the diary follows : 



"The following is an account, taken from an old diary, of 

 what is probably the first exploration of Tenaya Canon, made 

 by two young men from Philadelphia, my father, Mr. Joseph 

 L. Ferrell, and Mr. Alfred Jessup, in the year 1866. It will be 

 remembered that the valley had been known to the world for 

 but fifteen years previously, and up to this time had been visit- 

 ed by only six or seven hundred people, while during the year 

 in question 382 tourists came to the Yosemite.* See Bunnell, 

 L. H., The Discovery of the Yosemite, Los Angeles, 191 1. 



"This was before the days of the railroads in the Great 

 West, and my father and his companion had already crossed 

 the plains with a mule team, encountering many thrilling ad- 

 ventures along the old immigrant trail, en route to San Fran- 

 cisco and the Sandwich Islands. 



"Mary Russell Ferrell Colton, 



"Flagstaff, Arizona, September 14, 1^16!' 



The diary opens on October 15, 1866, at San Francisco, and 



* A map and description of Tenaya Canon will be found in "Scrambles About 

 the Yosemite," by Joseph Le Conte, Sierra Club Bulletin, vol. 9, no. 3, January, 

 1914. 



