The Evolution Group of Peaks. 



229 



THE EVOLUTION GROUP OF PEAKS. 

 By J. N. Le Conte. 



Hidden away on the northern slope of the Goddard 

 Divide, and in the midst of the wild region which forms 

 the angle between that range and the Main Crest of the 

 Sierra, is an interesting group of peaks and lakes almost 

 unknown to the Sierran traveler. Except for wandering 

 sheepmen, the region wias first visited, so far as I know, 

 by Mr. Theodore S. Solomons in 1893. He was so strongly 

 impressed by the beauty and wildness of the scenery, and 

 by the unity, so to speak, of the group of Main Crest 

 peaks, that he named it the Evolution Group, giving to 

 the principal summits the names of the great evolutionists 

 of modern times. But further than a set of notes of his 

 trip left in the library of the Sierra Club he has not 

 published an account of the region, and for that reason I 

 undertake a short description myself, in the hope that 

 others may be led into a region which offers the easiest 

 approach to the giant summits of the Goddard Divide. 



The locality named is drained by what is known as 

 the Middle Branch of the South Fork of the San Joaquin 

 River, a name clumsy and objectionable to the last degree. 

 I therefore propose to reject it, the sheepmen to the con- 

 trary notwithstanding, and refer to it as Evolution Creek 

 for the present, or till a more suitable name can be decided 

 on by the Sierra Club's committee which has this matter 

 in charge. The junction of Evolution Creek and the 

 South Fork of the San Joaquin is difficult to reach from 



