Guide to Yosemite: A handbook of the trails and roads of Yosemite valley and the adjacent regionHall, Ansel F. (Ansel Franklin)
History
Guide to Yosemite: A handbook of the trails and roads of Yosemite valley and the adjacent region
Hall, Ansel F. (Ansel Franklin)
Yosemite Valley (Calif.) -- Guidebooks
Continuing along the ~Royal Arch Road~ we soon pass the new Rangers'
Club House. Just beyond, a cross road to the right leads to the
garage. To the northward, high overhead, are the silhouettes of the
~Castle Cliffs~, and at their east the deep cleft of ~Indian Canyon~
which, to the Yosemite tribe, was "Le Hammo" because of the arrowwood
which grew there. Along the precipitous cliffs of the east wall ran
their main trail into Yosemite from the north. From the valley floor
at the base of a cliff just west of the Royal Arches they first
climbed a large oak and then made their way along narrow ledges toward
the northwest. It was at this oak that old Chief Tenaya was captured
in 1851 by Lieutenant Chandler and the scout Sandino.
At the mouth of Indian Canyon is ~Yo´-watch-ke~, the only Indian
village in the valley which is still occupied. During the July
celebrations it is picturesquely alive but at other times the few
dirty o´-chums are almost repulsive. This area on the alluvial fan of
Indian Creek is the warmest spot in the valley and botanists will here
find many plants typical of the lower altitudes.
A short distance further we pass Camp 17 at the right of the road.
About a quarter of a mile beyond and on the opposite side is Camp 20.
At a road junction is a small settlement called Kenneyville, which
occupies the site of the former Indian Camp of Wis´-kah-lah. Here the
~Le Conte Road~ turns south, leading to Camps 15 and 7, and across
Stoneman Bridge to Camp Curry on the Happy Isles Road. Doubling back
to the westward is ~Sequoia Lane~, a road leading to Camps 6 and 7,
and to Yosemite Village, one mile distant.
We continue eastward, passing Camp 8, which is above the road and just
at the west end of the ~Royal Arches~. During the spring thaw the
beautiful but ephemeral ~Royal Arch Fall~ descends over a cliff at the
left. Its Indian name, Scho-ko-ya, meant "basket fall." In the next
half mile our road is flanked by the overhanging cornices of the
colossal arches. They must be viewed from afar if we would realize how
aptly they were called by the Yosemites "Scho-ko-ni," which means "the
movable shade to a cradle basket." At the left of the road and
directly beneath the arches is Camp 9. As we continue along the road,
breaks in the forest reveal intermittent views of ~Washington Column~
towering above to the left, and of the great face of ~Half Dome~
dominating all the east.
A short subsidiary road to the left now leads to ~Indian Cave~
immediately under Washington Column. The Yosemites named this retreat
Hol´-low´, but sometimes called it Lah-koo´-hah, which means "Come
out!" It is a low, broad, deep recess under a huge rock and is said to
have been occupied as a winter shelter; also when the Yosemites were
attacked and almost exterminated by the Mono Lake Piutes. The
overhanging rock is black with the smoke of ages, and far back in the
cave large quantities of acorn shells have been found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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