Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Vol. VIL San Francisco, June, 1910. No. 4 



GALEN CLARK* 

 By John Muir. 



Galen Clark was the best mountaineer I ever met in the 

 Sierra, and one of the kindest and most amiable. I first 

 met him at his Wawona ranch forty-two years ago on my 

 first visit to Yosemite Valley. I had entered the valley 

 with one companion by way of Coulterville and was 

 returning by what was then known as the Mariposa Trail. 

 The snow was still deep in the sugar-pine and silver-fir 

 regions, obliterating not only the trails but. the blazes on 

 the trees. We had no great difficulty, however, in finding 

 our way by the trends of the main features of the topog- 

 raphy. Botanizing by the way, we made slow plodding 

 progress and were again about out of provisions when we 

 reached Clark's hospitable cabin at Wawona. He kindly 

 furnished us with flour and a little sugar and tea, and my 

 companion, who complained of the benumbing poverty of 

 a strictly vegetarian diet, gladly accepted Mr. Clark's offer 

 of a piece of a bear that had just been killed. After a short 

 talk about bears and the forests we inquired the way to 

 the Big Trees, pushed on up through the Wawona silver- 

 firs and sugar-pines, and camped in the now famous 

 Mariposa Grove. Later on, after making my home in the 

 Yosemite Valley, I became well acquainted with Mr. 

 Clark while he was Guardian. He was elected again and 



*Galen Clark was born in the town of Dublin, Cheshire County, New 

 Hampshire, March 28, 1814. He died March 24th of this year, thus having 

 reached the great age of 96. He was buried in Yosemite Valley in a grave 

 prepared by himself. 



Copyright, June, 1910, by John Muir. 



