Identification of the Great Peaks of the Southern Sierra 245 



San Joaquin, which they crossed, and then went southward along 

 the divide between that stream and the North Fork of Kings River, 

 hoping to reach Mount Goddard. In this they were unsuccessful, 

 and were finally forced to come out by way of Clark's Station (Wa- 

 wona). Many of the great peaks of the San Joaquin, Kings, and 

 Kern rivers were named on this trip, but nearly all from a consider- 

 able distance. This is particularly true in the San Joaquin water- 

 shed, where the party kept far to the west of the Main Crest. 



The only method of identifying the peaks so named rests on Hoff- 

 mann's map of central California, made at that time. This seems to 

 have been based on a compass triangulation, with the details of the 

 river systems very imperfectly represented. Later, from 1875 to 

 1879, the U. S. Geographical Surveys west of the looth meridian, 

 under Captain George M. Wheeler, occupied many stations in the 

 desert country to the east, and fixed with great accuracy the positions 

 of some of the prominent Main Crest peaks, but their identification 

 rested of course on the old Hoffmann map. Again, in 1883, a party 

 of the U. S. Geological Survey in charge of the reconnaissance of the 

 Mono Lake region, under Israel C. Russell, with Willard D. John- 

 son, topographer, made the first accurate map of that region, fol- 

 lowed since by the regular surveying parties of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey which have completed the present quadrangles of the southern 

 Sierra. 



It will be seen therefore that the ultimate identification of the 

 principal Sierra peaks rests on the original surveys of the California 

 Geological Survey in 1863 and 1864, and, due to the imperfection 

 of its map in a region where a great many high points are of ap- 

 proximately the same elevation, such identification is in some instan- 

 ces quite difficult. It is with a view of clearing up a few of these 

 doubtful cases, and giving the records of the first ascents, that the 

 following data have been collected. No peaks are considered which 

 do not appear either singly or as a group on the old Hoffmann map. 



Starting with the northern edge of the region under consideration, 

 the first great peak of the Main Crest is Mount Conness. This was 

 named in 1863 by the California Geological Survey in honor of 

 Senator John Conness, through whose efforts largely the Yosemite 

 Valley was granted to the State of California as a park.* The first 



*Geological Survey of California. The Yosemite Guide Book. 1869. Footnote to page 

 100. 



