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Sierra Nevada &
Owens Valley Place Names: N - P
I know this looks like every other corn-plant filled meadow . . .
but according to the photographer this is Naked Lady Meadow
- even though a naked lady is nowhere to be found.
(Photo courtesy of Andrew)
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Naked
Lady Meadow is a sizable meadow with a spring-fed marshy area
supporting a grove of large aspen trees. On the trunk of one
of the aspens a sheepherder had carved the image of a "naked
lady."
[The
information was reported in a letter from N. King Huber of the
USGS who mapped the area in the late 1950s]
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Needham Mountain was named by W. F. Dean for James Carson Needham of Modesto. Needham represented California in Congress from 1899 - 1913. He also accompanied an inspection party on a trip to Mount Whitney in 1899. |
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Named for Norman Clyde, one of America's leading mountaineers. Hervey Voge first proposed the name for the peak in 1939. The name could not be made official until Clyde died in 1972. |
L/R: Middle Palisade, Norman Clyde Peak |
Norman Clyde
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A descriptive name applied by the USGS during the 1903 survey for the Tehipite 30' map.
It was called "Devils Tombstone" on Lt. Davis's map of 1896.
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Olancha Pass and Olancha Peak are said
to have derived its name from the Olanches Indians. "Olanche"
was formerly an Indian settlement south of Owens Lake. It is
thought that the word is a borrowing from a Yokuts tribe west
of the Sierra Nevada who called themselves "Yaudanchi,"
and were called by a neighboring band "Yaulanchi."
It is thought that the name "Olanches" originally meant
"sleeping beauty." From the summit of Mt. Kaweah the
reclining figure of a woman could be seen on the side of Olancha
Peak - arms across abdomen, hair flowing back of head, face and
breast clearly visible.
[Olancha
Peak from Owens Valley, Craig Adkins photo] |
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Olancha Peak
(photo unknown) |
Olancha Peak
from Templeton Meadows
(photo unknown) |
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 Ouzel
Creek was named in 1924 by David Starr Jordan for the brook which
flows from Mount Brewer into East Lake. The water-ouzel abounds
here, and it is said that John Muir's account of the water-ouzel,
one of the finest bird biographies ever written, was based largely
on observations made on this very stream. Jordan apparently went
wild naming everything ouzel - Ouzel Basin, Ouzel Pool, Ouzel
Camp etc. Fortunately it only stuck in Jordan's personal sketch
map.
[Sierra
Club Bulletin, January 1900] |
Owens
Valley looking southwest from the Inyo Mountains above Tinemaha Reservoir
[Photo - Unknown] |
Owens
Valley, Owens Lake, Owens River, and Owens Point all derive their
name from Richard Owens who was a member of John C. Fremont's
third (1845 - 1846) expedition into the area. "That Owens
was a good man it is enough to say that he and Carson were friends.
Cool, brave, and of good judgment; a good hunter and a good shot;
experienced in mountain life; he was an acquisition, and proved
valuable throughout the campaign."
The party split up at Walker Lake, Nevada. Fremont, Carson, and
Owens crossed the Sierra via Donner Pass. Walker, Kern and others
went south and crossed via Walker Pass. "To one of the lakes
along their route on the east side of the range I gave Owens'
name." The names of the valley, the peak, and the point
are all derived from the lake. The man for whom they were named
never saw any of them.
[John C. Fremont, Geographical Memoir Upon Upper California] |
Owens
Valley looking east across Owens Lake from the Horseshoe Meadows Road
[Photo courtesy of Ray DeLea] |
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In this particular Sierra Nevada basin of the Mt. Abbot quadrangle are a rash of "Indian" names. Papoose, Warrior, Chief, Squaw. The apparently derive from "Lake of the Lone Indian," a name conferred in 1902. No one has ever confessed the deed, although it is possible that "Papoose Lake" - and perhaps others - were named in 1945 by William A. Dill of the DFG. |
Papoose Lake and the Lake of the Lone Indian (L)
[Photo courtesy of Michele D'Amico] |
Pee Wee Lake was named by Art Schober when he stocked it with fish, because "it's a little tiny bit of a thing." |
Pee Wee Lake
[Photo courtesy unknown] |
Pemmican
Lake was named in August 1951 by Elden H. Vestal of the California
Department of Fish and Game in reference to the travel food of
some North American Indians.
[Heyward Moore, Fresno, Past and Present] |
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Pemmican Lake - Sierra Nevada |
Pioneer
Basin was named by R. B. Marshall of the USGS during a 1907-09
survey for the Mt. Goddard 30' map, when he also named four peaks
for the pioneer railroad builders, Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington,
and Stanford.
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Pioneer
Basin
(Christopher Ryerson photo)
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Pioneer
Basin
(Photos courtesy of Buck Forester)
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Pioneer
Basin
(Photos courtesy of Buck Forester)
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Buck's hiking companions - Heidi and Sierra
(Photos courtesy of Buck Forester) |
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Polemonium Peak is named after the Sky Pilot (Polemonium eximium)
flower. This flower typically grows only at altitudes above 12,000
feet on rocky ledges and slopes. Polemonium Peak is part of the
North Palisade complex of peaks. The picture below shows
Polemonium Peak nestled between Mt. Sill and North Palisade. |
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Pywiack Cascade
[Johnny Cheng photo]
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Pywiack Cascade and Pywiack Dome
were called "Py-we-ack" by the Native Americans. "The
north or Ten-ie-ya branch of the Merced River, which comes down
the North Canon from the glistening rocks at its source, was
called Py-we-ack, 'the river of glistening rocks,' or more literally,
perhaps, 'the river-smoothed rocks.'" Pywiack Cascade had
an earlier name of Slide Fall.
[Bunnell, Discovery, 1911] |
Sierra Nevada Thunderstorm
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