"The name is from a tribe of Indians that lived on the banks of the lower
Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers, in the vicinity of Knights Ferry. (Kroeber, 64.)
The tribe was called Taulamne -- and also Tahualamne -- by
Padre Munoz. (Arch. MSB, vol. 4, Oct. 3, 1806, ff.) The Moraga-Munoz party
named the Tuolumne River the Delores, from the time of its discovery,
October 1, the 'Dolores of September,' but that name did not prevail.
Fremont and Preuss, on their 1845 map, mistakenly called the Tuolumne River the
'Rio de los Merced.' On the 1848 map, they corrected it to 'Rio de los Towalumnes.'
The modern spelling is on Derby's 1849 map. It is said that the Indians pronounced
the word Tu-ah-lum'-ne. (Sanchez, 222.)
The Whitney Survey named 'Tuolumne Meadows;' it is on
Hoffmann's 1873 map, the peak on the Wheeler Survey
atlas sheet 56D, 1878-79, and the pass on the first Mt.
Lyell 30' map, 1901. The grove was not named on USGS maps until
publication of the 15-minute quad in 1956."
White Wolf
Said to have been named by John Meyer, a native of Germany, who, with his two
brothers, had a cattle ranch near Groveland. While chasing Indians who had
stolen some of their horses, they came to a temporary Indian camp in an alpine
meadow, and called it White Wolf, for the Indian chief. (Paden, 153.)
Meyer later patented the land, and soon found himself on the route of the Great
Sierra Wagon Road -- the Old Tioga Road. The place became
a summer resort, remaining in private hands until 1952. The government purchased
the land that year, and the resort is now operated by the Yosemite Park and
Curry Co. (Trexler, 42.) The name first appears on Lt. McClure's 1895 map.
Pate Valley
An old name of uncertain origin. It may possibly have been named for Francis M.
Pate, a resident of Indian Gulch in 1867. (YRL files.) Pate was a member of
Company C of the Mariposa Battalion, discoverers of Yosemite Valley in 1851.
(Ecclestion, 141.) But also: 'Pate was a sheepman from Merced Falls who ran his
sheep in Pate Valley.' (Homer Robinson notebook, YRL files.) R. M. Price and
Theodore S. Solomons spelled the name 'Pait.' (SCB,
no. 6, May 1895: 207-8.) Lt. McClure had 'Pait' on his 1895 map, and the present
name of his 1896 map.
Muir Gorge
The gorge, in the canyon of the Tuolumne River, was named in 1894. 'We named this
gorge Muir Gorge, after Mr. John Muir, the first man to go
through the canyon.' (R. M. Price in SCB 1, no. 6, May 1895: 206.)
Waterwheel Falls
'The lowest set of cascades in this group we called the "Rocket Cascades," because
the water, striking the edges of the great plates of granite ... was continually
thrown off in great arches. ...' (Whitney, The Yosemite
Guide-Book, pocket edition, 1874: 155-56.) This name did not appear on any map.
'The water dashes 600 or 700 feet down a surface inclined at an angle of 50 to 55
degrees, a mass of foam and spray. At intervals ... the water is thrown out in
columns fifteen to twenty feet high, and in huge waterwheels of fantastic forms.'
(R. M. Price, 'Through the Tuolumne Canyon,' SCB 1, no. 6, May 1895: 204.) But
Price named it 'LeConte Falls,' the name now applied to the group of cascades above
Waterwheel Falls.
In 1904 William F. Bade suggested the name 'Fountain Cascade' for this spectacular
granite slope down which the Tuolumne River runs. But at the same time he came close
to giving it its present name. '... a pall of misty smoke through which bombs of
spray and fantastic water-wheels are hurled with titantic energy.'(SCB 5, no. 4,
June 1905:292.) The name 'Waterwheel Falls' was in use in 1911. (SCB 8, no. 3,
Jan. 1912: opp. 224.) It was not on the first two editions of the Mt.
Lyell 30' map, 1901 and 1905; it appears on the
edition of 1910.
LeConte Falls
Joseph LeConte (1823-1901), professor of geology and natural
history at the University of California at Berkeley, 1869-1901.
The falls was named in 1894. 'Cross this ledge well to the right and gradually approach
the river, which can be followed to the head of what is in many respects the most
majestic cascade in the whole canyon, the LeConte Cascade, so named by us in honor of
our most esteemed Professor, Joseph LeConte.' (R. M. Price, 'Through the Tuolumne
Canyon,' SCB 1, no. 6, May 1895: 204.)
Somehow, a confusion occurred among the namer of the falls and the map-makers who used
his information. What Price named 'Le Conte Cascade' is indeed the most majestic one in
the canyon -- but it's the one that is now named 'Waterwheel Falls.' The present LeConte
Falls is the one originally named 'California Falls,' which is the way it appeared on
McClure's maps of 1895 and 1896 and on LeConte's map of 1900. It was unnamed on the first
two editions of the Mt. Lyell 30' map, 1901 and 1905, and
had its present name beginning with the edition of 1910.
California Falls
Named in July 1892. '... then follow the river closely to the head of a cascade of unrivaled
beauty and grandeur. We named it the California Cascade.' (R. M. Price, 'Through the
Tuolumne Canyon,' SCB 1, no. 6, May 1895:203.) Through confusion between Price and
those who put his names on their maps, what he named 'California Cascade' is the present
LeConte Falls. California Falls was called 'Stella Falls' on LeConte's 1900 map.
It was unnamed on the first two editions of the Mt. Lyell 30' map, 1901 and 1905, and
had its present name beginning with the edition of 1910.
Glen Aulin
James McCormick, later the executive secretary of the US Board on Geographic Names, said
that R. B. Marshall of the USGS asked him to suggest a name for a beautiful little valley.
'I at once suggested Glen Aulin, 'beautiful valley or glen,' and wrote it for him in this way,
that it might be correctly pronounced -- the 'au' as in author. The correct
Gaelic (Irish) orthography is Gleann Alainn.' (Letter, McCormick to
Farquhar, Feb. 11, 1926.) The name appeared on the fourth edition
of the Mt. Lyell 30' map, 1914. Aulin is the location of one of the the High Sierra
Camps, opened in 1924.
White Cascade
Named by the Whitney Survey in 1866. 'Just at the crossing is a charming group of shelving
rapids, in which the Tuolumne River falls about 80 feet perpendicular, in a mass of white
foam; to this we gave the name of "White Cascades."' (Whitney, The Yosemite Guide-book,
1874: 155.) The name first appeared on the Wheeler Survey atlas
sheet 56D, 1878-79, and was on LeConte's maps of 1893 and 1900, but not on Lt. McClure's
maps. It showed up again on the third edition of the Mt. Lyell 30' map, 1910.
- Peter Browning, Yosemite Place Names
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