314 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



Vm. SPLIT MOUNTAIN (14,051 TEET) 



Ansel F. Hall climbed Split Mountain, sometimes known as the South Palisade, 

 on August 28, 192 1, He found no records of ascents between 19 lo and 192 1, 

 when the mountain was also ascended by H. M. Ellis, L. T. Thornsen, and 

 S. M. Fitton on July 31st, and by Clifton Hildebrand on August 5th. 



The first ascent of Split Mountain was made by J. N. Le Conte, Helen M. 

 Le Conte, and Curtis M. Lindley on July 23, 1902. They were followed in 

 1904, and again in 1905 and 1907, by parties of the United States Geological 

 Survey, who occupied this summit as a triangulation station. On July 31, 19 10, 

 J. N. Le Conte revisited the peak with R. M. Price and R. G. Marx. These' 

 are all the ascents recorded. 



Through Roaring River Gorge 

 By J. B. Agnew 



The public demand of the day is highways, roads, and trails, and there is 

 great need of a trail up Roaring River to open up Sugar-Loaf Valley, the 

 Giant Forest, the Kern-Kaweah, etc. 



There were four trails entering Kings River Canon from the south and as 

 many leaving it to the north and east. The old Shipe Trail, long abandoned, 

 dropped into the canon some four miles below Cedar Grove. This trail was 

 named for an old miner who came to town periodically with bags of gold-dust. 

 On Christmas Eve, 1872, Shipe v/as shot by McCrury, who was promptly 

 hanged by a vigilance committee, and people are still looking for the lost 

 Shipe mine. 



The lower trail, made by Poly Kanawyer and Jim Clay for early spring 

 travel, enters the canon about two miles below Cedar Grove, but is never much 

 used. 



The main trail, built by Sam L. N. Ellis down the long hill from Summit 

 Meadow, has taken most of the travel for the past twenty-five years. Anyone 

 going into the canon will never forget this drop of three to four thousand feet 

 in three to four miles. 



The fourth trail, known as the Old Independence Trail when I first traveled 

 it thirty-seven years ago, was used by the Piutes of Owens Valley for trading 

 or fighting with the Diggers of the San Joaquin Valley long before the white 

 man's day. This trail comes down the east side of Fox Creek, reaching the 

 canon a short distance east of Cedar Grove. 



During September, this year, in company with a hunting party of eight, we 

 picked up a few broken fragments of this old abandoned trail and followed it 

 up to where it crosses the east branch of Fox Creek ; here we took up the steep 

 mountain to the east and camped for several days at a little meadow on the 

 north side of Sentinel Ridge. We prospected the south wall of Kings River 

 Canon and the country along the west of Roaring River to see if it would be 

 possible to build a trail down through Roaring River Gorge. 



I was not fully satisfied with just looking do^vn this wonderful gorge, so a 

 little later I took three of our party and six horses from our central camp at 

 Horse Corral, rode up to Mount Mitchell (10,375 ft.), thence along the top of 



