Table Mountain Thu, Sep 23, 2010 With: Tom Becht Laura Molnar Rick Kent Darija Malinauskas		Etymology	Story	Photos / Slideshow	Maps: 1 2 3	Profile

Also Creek

In 1881 the mountain was named 'Mt. Hazen' in honor of General Hazen, Chief Signal Officer of the US Army, by Captain Michaelis, the officer in command of the signal service on the scientific expedition to Mt. Whitney. (J. A. W. Wright, Mining and Scientific Press, Nov. 3, 1883.) 'Table Mountain' and 'Table Creek' were on the first editions of the Mt. Whitney and Tehipite 30' maps, 1907 and 1905, respectively."
- Peter Browning, Place Names of the Sierra Nevada

"There are about fifty Table Mountains and Hills in the state, as well as a number of Table Bluffs and Rocks. There is also a Table Lake (Yosemite NP) near an unnamed flat-topped mountain. In southern California, the corresponding Spanish term mesa is frequently used instead. Disregarding Beechey's name, Table Hill, for Mount Tamalpais, the oldest feature so named is probably Table Bluff [Humboldt Co.], called Punta Gorda in 1793 (CHSQ 10:330). Ridge Point by the Laura Virginia party, and Brannan Bluff by Sam Brannan, but known by the present name as early as Sept. 1851. Table Mountain [Sequoia NP] and Creek [Kings Canyon NP]: The mountain is first mentioned by the Whitney Survey and recorded as 'Table' on Hoffmann's map of 1873. Table Mountain [Calaveras, Tuolumne Cos.]: 'One of the most striking features in the topography and geology of Tuolumne County is the so-called "Table Mountain," a name given, throughout the state, to the flat table-like masses of basaltic lava which have been rendered so conspicuous by the erosion of the softer strata on each side, and which now exist as elevated ridges, dominating over the surrounding country, and remarkable for their picturesque beauty, but still more so on account of the important deposits of auriferous detritus which lie beneath them' (Whitney, Geology, p. 243). The USGS made four Table Mountains out of Whitney's one in 1924 - but forgot to number them, although they are within a few miles of one another. The word is sometimes used as a generic term: Big Table and Kennedy Table northeast of Millerton Lake [Madera Co.]."
- Erwin Gudde, California Place Names