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Sierra Nevada &
Owens Valley Place Names: A - F
The Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley are full of fascinating names
garnished over the centuries from Native Americans, trappers,
explorers, surveyors, geologists, packers, fisherman, frontiersman,
and settlers. These pages represent but a few of those names
and their origin. These are some of my favorite gathered from
my packing days with Mt. Whitney Pack Trains. These are names
which, for me personally, evoke wonderful Sierra and Owens Valley
memories - packers, camp fires, Sierra Club girls, nick names
such as Veggie, Manure Man, and Peek-a-Boo, mules with personality,
biting horses, Trail Riders of the Wilderness, countless trips
to the summit of Mt. Whitney, pack train wrecks, bronc shoeing
in the backcountry, rain at night in the Sierra, frozen tie lines,
loves lost and loves gained, and a host of majestic wilderness
scenes painted for all of us by the One Who seeks but to have
our hearts focused on Him.
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The Alabama Hills, Lone Pine Peak (left) and Mt. Whitney (center background) from off of Movie Road in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA.
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
"In
the early 1860's the Hitchcock boys discovered a mine in these
hills which they called the 'Old Abe' mine, and they called their
district the 'Alabama District.' They were Rebels and in those
days 'Old Abe' was a term of ridicule. But they named the district
in honor of the Confederate Cruiser 'Alabama.' These hills are
now called the 'Alabama Hills.'"
The CSS Alabama was a British-built ship, with Southern
officers and a British crew, that destroyed a total of 64 American
merchant ships in the Atlantic and Indian oceans during the Civil
War. She was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the port of
Cherbourg, France, in June 1864.
[Thomas
Keough, "Over Kearsarge Pass in 1864"] |
The Alabama Hills and the Sierra Nevada - Lone Pine, CA.
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter in the Alabama Hills during the
filming of Yellow Sky
(Photo - Unknown) |
The Alabama Hills - Lone Pine, CA.
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
Army Pass was a route originally used by sheepmen. The trail was built in 1892, at a time when the U.S. Army was patrolling Sequoia National Park, by black soldiers from Georgia - Troop K of the Fourth Cavalry. The name first a ppeard on the 1907 Olancha 30' map.
New Army Pass was constructed in 1955 because the original east facing Old Army Pass was usually snow-clogged until late summer. The two passes are only about 1/4 mile apart
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View down to Cottonwood Lakes from Old Army Pass
(Photo by moosewilliams) |
View southeast from New Army Pass: Long Lake and Upper and Lower Southfork Lakes
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
The namer and the origin of the name are not known. Bolton Coit Brown and his wife Lucy climbed the peak in July 1896, as did J. N. LeConte and W. S. Gould. Brown described it as "the red peak south of the lake." Bolton and Lucy climbed the peak during a thunderstorm and an invisible something passed with tingling prickles and a thin, squeaky, crackling sound through their outstretched fingertips. Lucy's front hair streamed out towards the storm. |
Mount Bago and Bullfrog Lake
(Photo unknown) |
Mount Baxter
(Photo unknown) |
John Baxter was an Owens Valley rancher. J. N. LeConte and party stopped at Baxter's on their 1890 trip. "Baxter cordially invited us in, showed us the best place to camp, told us to help ourselves to fruit and honey, and did everything in his power to make us comfortable. We were somewhat astonished that a perfect stranger should take such an interest in us dirty tramps, but Mr. Baxter said he had spend many a week in the mountains, and was thoroughly in sympathy with the genus camper." Mt. Baxter was named by George R. Davis of the USGS in 1905. |
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Bear Creek Spire was named by J. N. LeConte, James Hutchinson, and Duncan McDuffie in 1908
because it was at the head of the Hilgard Branch of Bear Creek. |
Bighorn Plateau looking south west towards the Great Western Divide
(Photo Michele D'Amico) |
The Bighorn Plateau was named for the mountain sheep seein in the area. The name applies to an area and to a specific point, where there is a Verticle Angle Benchmark (VABM) - which makes one suspect that the name was given by the U.S.G.S. The plateau was called "Sandy Plateau" on Mt. Whitney 30' maps from 1907 through 1927. It was changed to the Bighorn Plateau in 1933. |
Bighorn Plateau looking south west towards the Great Western Divide
(Photo Peter Burke) |
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"After
crossing Mono Pass, the trail leads down Bloody Canyon - a terrible
trail. You would all pronounce it utterly inaccessible to horses,
yet pack trains come down, but the bones of several horses or
mules and the stench of another told that all had not passed
safely.... It was a bold man who first took a horse up there.
The horses were so cut by sharp rocks that they named it 'Bloody
Canyon,' and it has held the name - and it is appropriate - part
of the way the rocks in the trail are literally sprinkled with
blood from the animals."
[William
Henry Brewer, Up and Down California in 1860-1864] |
Mt. Lewis, Bloody Canyon, Mammoth Peak, Mt. Gibbs
[photo courtesy Gary
Heisinger] |
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Bubbs Creek was named for John Bubbs who was part of the Whitney survey party led by William H. Brewer. Brewer met this group of prospectors on the trail between Big Meadows and Kings Canyon in 1864. |
Bullfrog Lake was called "Bryanthus Lake" by John Muir, a name that was used as late as 1902. However, J. N. LeConte referred to it as "Bullfrog Lake" in 1890 and made no mention of the earlier name. |
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In the Yosemite Research Library files is a copy of a handwritten
note from Doug Hubbard about an Indian who gave him a piece of
root to chew; it tasted like ginseng. The Indian said that when
he was young he gathered large quantities of the root and took
them to the Sioux country to trade for buffalo robes. "He
told me his name was Cloudy Camiaca.... Later... I applied it
to rather a fine peak. I thought I was playing quite a joke on
Californians and at the same time giving Camiaca a final trip."
Although the story is not true it makes for interesting reading. |
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George R. Davis of the USGS named Cardinal Mountain because of the brilliant coloring of its summit - like the red cap of a cardinal. The lake was named from the mountain. Both names appear in the first edition of the Mt. Whitney 30' map. |
L/R: Cardinal Mountain, Split Mountain
(Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea) |
The
former town of Cartago was created as a steamer landing on the
southwest shore of Owens Lake to handle shipments of silver bullion
from Cerro Gordo. John Baptiste Daneri, native
of Sardinia and a Lone Pine merchant, built the landing, a large
warehouse, and a store, in 1872. For six months the place didn't
have a name, and was referred to as "Lakeville" and
"Danerisburg." On November 1, 1872, Daneri named it
"Cartago," perhaps - as Lingenfelter suggested - in
the hope that he was creating "the Carthage of the West."
The creek was also called "Carthage Creek" originally
before it was renamed to"Cartago Creek."
[Richard
E. Lingenfelter, "The Desert Steamers"] |
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In 1903, John Lacey, then reunning cattle in the Monache country, said the name Casa Vieja was given for an old house or cabin in that locality. |
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Casa Vieja corral and meadow
(Photo by Patrick Maloney) |
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"Chagoopa
Creek" and "Chagoopa Falls" were named by W. B.
Wallace, J. W. A. Wright, and F. H. Wales in 1881. "We named
the highest of the falls Sha-goo-pah Falls, after an old Pi Ute
chief." "Chagoopa Plateau" was named by William
R. Dudley and party in July 1897 after the falls which bears
the same name.
[Mount
Whitney Club Journal, May 1902]
[Sierra Club Bulletin, January 1898] |
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Chagoopa Plateau, Kern River gorge, and Moraine Lake (R)
(Photo by Chris Ryerson) |
| Chalfant Lakes are either named for Pleasant Arthur Chalfant, editor of the Inyo Independent and Inyo Register or his son Willie Arthur Chalfant. |
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Chalfant Lakes
(Photo by unknown) |
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Cloud Canyon and Cloud Creek were named
after William B. Wallace's mine which bears the same name, The
Cloud Mine, in 1924. William often referred to his mine as being
"up in the clouds." For a while, on some pre 1924 maps,
Cloud Canyon was mistakenly name Deadman Canyon which actually
was a few miles to the west.
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Twenty-nine convicts escaped from prison at Carson City, Nevada, on September 17, 1871. Six of them headed south, and murdered a mail rider from Aurora. Posses from Aurora and Benton caught up to the convicts near "Monte Diablo Creek" - now Convict Creek. Robert Morrison (for whom Mt. Morrison is namet), a Benton merchant and leader of the posse, was killed in the encounter. The convicts escaped, but three of them were captured a few days later. Two of those were lynched while being returned to the jail at Carson City.
Mrs. A. A. Forbes, of Bishop, said that the Indian name for Convict Lake
was "Wit-sa-nap." |
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These are old names. Undoubtedly the creeks were named first. Their names were derived in 1890 from cottonwood trees which grew along the lower reaches. |
Looking east from Old Army Pass at Cottonwood Lakes
[Photo unknown] |
Mount Dana and it's associated lakes were named in 1863 by the Whitney Survey for James Dwight Dana, professor of natural history and geology at Yale, 1849 - 1890. Dana was considered the foremost geologist of his time. He provided the first comprehensive summary of North American geology. |
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Dragon
Peak was named because its outline as seen from Rae Lakes resembles
a dragon. The Dragon Lake was named from the peak. |
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Dragon Lake and Dragon Peak.
[Photo courtesy of Dave Coppedge] |
Dragon Lake and Dragon Peak.
[Photo unknown] |
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Duck Pass and Duck Lake were named by Rae Crabtree and Bill White sometime in the 1940s because they saw a duck on the lake. |
Dunderberg Peak, locally called Castle Peak, but which was named in 1878 after Dunderberg mines on its northerly slope. The mine was probably named after the Union man-of-war Dunderberg, launched in 1865, which had probably been named after Dunderberg Mountain in New York state. |
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First it was over hard-frozen snowfields, and then over huge granite fragments to the margin of a lonely lake. This, from its shape, we called Dumbell Lake. The lakes were thus named by J. N. LeConte in January of 1904. |
Dumbell Lakes
[Photo unknown] |
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This name, Enchanted Gorge, was given in July 1895 by Theodore
S. Solomons to the gorge on Disappearing Creek, with its head
between Scylla and Charybdis. The Enchanted Gorge was so named
because of the many remarkable features it possesses, and the
weirdness of its scenery.
Scylla (left)
and Charybdis (right) guarding the upper entrance to the Enchanted Gorge
[Photo courtesy of Joel Guenther) |
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Fin Dome was named by Bolton C. Brown in 1899. On a sketch map he depicted the features between Rae Lakes and Sixty Lake Basin as a south-facing monster. "The Sea Serpent." Of the names of the serpent's parts. "The Fin" is the only one that stuck. The serpent's head is to the left in the photo and the serpent's tail is the long ridge to the right of the fin. |
Fin Dome
[photo by Dave Coppedge] |
So named because
it is out of the way and "forgotten" by most backpackers.
It is located in the lower Rock Creek drainage between Funston
Lake and Mt. Guyot.
[photo
courtesy Yosemite Steve]
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