The work will consist of text, maps, and photographic and other illustrations, and two editions will be issued-one without photographs, the other with them. One will be called the "Yosemite Guide Book," the other the "Yosemite Gift Book." The Guide Book will contain the text of the Gift Book, and the same maps; but the photographic illustrations will be omitted. The text will be such as will be suitable for a complete and thorough guide or hand-book to the valley and its surroundings, includ ing the High Sierra, and, in general, the region between Mariposa and Big Oak Flat on the west, and the head of the San Joaquin and Mono Lake on the east. The map of the region thus designated is drawn on a scale of two miles to an inch, and is thirty inches by twenty in size. It contains all the minute details of the topography of one of the most elevated and roughest portions of the State, and is the first accurate map of any high mountain region ever prepared in the United States.

The surveys for the completion of this map were continued during the months of August and September of the present year, by a party of the Geological Survey, in charge of C. F Hoffmann, and the work is now complete, and the map ready for the engravers. The photographic illustrations, twenty-four in number, made by C. E. Watkins, with the Dallmeyer lens of the survey, are also all printed and delivered, and the work can be put to press as soon as the State Geologist has time to attend to it. It is believed that it will be one of the most elegant books ever issued from an American press, and that it will have no little influence in drawing attention to the stupendous scenery of the Yosemite and its vicinity.

Mr. Hoffmann and party also made a careful survey of the bottom of the valley, including all the land within the talus or debris fallen from the walls. This work has been plotted on a scale of ten chains to one inch, making a map fifty inches by thirty in size, with the number of acres in each tract of meadow, timber, and fern land designated upon it, and also the boundaries of the claims of the settlers in the valley, and the number of acres inclosed and claimed by them. This map was found to be necessary for the purposes of the Commission, and an appropriation will be asked for to pay the expense of the survey and of preparing the map.

The principal grove of trees in the Big Tree grant has also been carefully surveyed by the State Geologist, assisted by Mr. Hoffmann; each tree of over one foot in diameter measured, and the height of a number of them accurately determined. There are in the main grove, of trees over one foot in diameter, (that is, of the Big Trees, or Sequoia Gigantea,) just three hundred and sixty-five, besides a great number of smaller ones. The trees thus measured have been plotted and numbered, so that their exact position and size relative to each other can be seen at a glance. The Commissioners, seconded by the Geological Survey, have thus done all that is, for the present-requisite towards obtaining all the necessary statistical data in regard to the valley and grove, and for making this information public in an attractive form. It may be added, that the Yosemite Guide Book and the Yosemite Gift Book will both be sold as are other publications of the survey, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury of State for the benefit of the Common School Fund.

One of the important duties of the Commissioners is the care of the valley and grove, so as to secure them and their surroundings from devastation by fire and from wanton injury by cutting down trees and defacing natural objects. The care of the guardian has prevented fires from running in the Big Tree Grove, and to a considerable extent has

protected the valley from wanton injury. There have been instances, however, of the felling or mutilation of conspicuous and beautiful trees, which instances were not discovered until after the offenders had left the valley and were far away from the place where the mischief was done. It is considered necessary by the Commissioners that there should be a guardian and sub-guardian, one or the other-during the season of visitors, at least-always in or about the valley and Big Tree Grove, in order to bring about entire safety and security that wanton damages will not be inflicted. It is also necessary that the guardian and sub-guardian should be endowed by the State with police or constabulary authority, so that offenders may be arrested on the spot where the mischief is done, as otherwise it will be entirely impossible for the Commissioners to answer for the safety of the property committed to their charge. The localities are so distant from the county seat or residence of a magistrate that it would be impossible for the guardian, unless this change is made, to obtain a warrant for the arrest of offenders and get back to the place where the offence was committed until long after the offenders had left the valley.

Aside from wanton trespassers in the valley, there are other persons residing there to whose cases we will now direct attention. And in order to understand the position of the parties in question, it will be necessary to go back and make a brief statement of the history of the discovery and settlement of the valley, which we will now proceed to do, relying on information furnished by persons who have been acquainted with the valley since it was first explored by white men.

The Yosemite Valley was first discovered and entered by white men in March, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, and by a party commanded by Captain John Boling. This party was in pursuit of Indians, for the purpose of taking them to the Reservation on the Fresno. During the same year a party of miners came into the valley and were attacked by the Indians, and two of the whites killed; they were buried near the Bridal Veil meadow. Some person connected with Captain Boling's party communicated to the newspapers an account of the wonders of the valley, and especially of the Yosemite Fall, which was described as being "more than a thousand feet high." This notice meeting the eye of Mr. J. M. Hutchings, at that time engaged in collecting materials for the "California Magazine," to illustrate the scenery of this State, he collected a party and made the first regular tourist's visit to the valley in the summer of eighteen hundred and fifty-five. This party was followed, the same year, by another from Mariposa, consisting of sixteen or eighteen persons. The next year (eighteen hundred and fifty-six) the regu lar travel commenced, and the trail on the Mariposa side to the valley, from White & Hatch's, was opened by Mann Brothers, at a cost of about seven hundred dollars. This trail was purchased in eighteen hundred and fifty-nine by the citizens of Mariposa County, and made free. The sum paid was two hundred dollars.

The first house was built in the Yosemite Valley, nearly opposite the Yosemite Fall, in the autumn of eighteen hundred and fifty-six; this is still standing, and has been usually known as the Lower Hotel. At the locality about half a mile further up the valley, and now known as "Hutchings' Yosemite Hotel," a canvas house was built by G. A. Hite, in the spring of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and in the spring of the next year the present house was built by Hite & Beardsley. They kept it as a public house that season, and it afterwards passed into the hands of Sullivan & Cashman, for debt. It was kept from eighteen hun

dred and fifty-nine to eighteen hundred and sixty-one by Mr. Peck, then by Mr. Longhurst, and from eighteen hundred and sixty-four by Mr. Hutchings, who came to the valley in the spring of that year, having purchased, or made arrangements to purchase the house of Messrs. Sullivan & Cashman. The claim, however, as far as the land is concerned, is supposed to have been the property of Hite & Beardsley, at least as much their property as a claim of that kind on unsurveyed land and without residence could be that of any person. In the spring of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, Cunningham & Beardsley bad a storehouse and shop a little above the present Hutchings' Hotel. The Lower Hotel was kept by John Neal in eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and by Mr. Cunningham from eighteen hundred and fifty-eight to eighteen hundred and sixty-one. In eighteen hundred and sixty-two and eighteen hundred and sixty-three it was not occupied except by occasional stragglers. For the past three or four years it has been occupied by Mr. G. F. Leidig. Mr. J. C. Lamon took possession of the upper end of the valley, above Hutchings', in eighteen hundred and sixty, and has continued to reside there since that time, being the only permanent resident in the valley prior to eighteen hundred and sixty-four.

At the time the Governor's proclamation was issued, namely, September twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, the persons residing in the valley and claiming rights there, were Messrs. J. C. Lamon and J. M. Hutchings. Mr. Ira B. Folsom also claimed to own the ferry across the Merced and the ladders by which access is had to the summit of the Vernal Fall. There were probably other and conflicting claims to houses and land in the valley; but if such existed, the Commissioners have never been officially notified of them, nor would it have been in their power to recognize them or to decide between them.

The claim of Mr. Lamon, as defined by himself and limited by his fences, occupies the upper part of the valley at the junction of the Tenaya Fork with the main Merced River, and comprises three hundred and seventy-eight and seventy-six one-hundreths acres, of which about one hundred and forty-nine acres are good meadow land, the remainder being chiefly a strong soil, covered with ferns to a considerable extent, and requiring a large amount of labor to reduce it to cultivation. Mr. Lamon has cleared and subdued about twenty acres, and planted a large number of fruit trees, and has been especially successful in raising berries of several kinds, especially strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which have found a ready market in the valley among the visitors. There is no question that Mr. Lamon would have had a clear claim as a pre-emptionist under the United States laws, had this been ordinary surveyed land, or provided he had remained upon it until it was surveyed and sold, supposing it to have followed the usual course of United States surveyed lands. In view of the position of Mr. Lamon's claim, which is so situated that his buildings are not at all conspicuous in the valley, and of the useful character of the work done by him, the Commissioners did not hesitate in offering him the greatest privileges it was in their power to grant, namely: a lease of his premises for the term of ten years, at the nominal rent of one dollar per annum.

Mr. Hutchings' improvements consist of a small log house and a large barn and shed, with a garden and orchard, on the north side of the Merced, as well as the hotel on the south side, said to have been purchased by Sullivan & Cashman. Mr. Hutchings has resided permanently in the valley since the spring of eighteen hundred and sixty-four; but most, if not all his improvements, have been made since the Governor's proclama

tion was issued, taking possession of the valley in the name of the State. It is fair to say, however, that Mr. Hutchings' improvements have been made with an eye to the preservation of the beauty of the valley unimpaired, so far as was consistent with his ideas of the amount of stock necessary to be kept for the use of the hotel. Mr. Hutchings' claim embraces one hundred and eighteen and sixty-three one-hundredths acres, chiefly of the best meadow land, and the best or one of the best sites for building in the valley. Considering the fact of Mr. Hutchings' long residence in this place, and of his evident desire to effect his improvements without injury to the picturesque appearance of his surroundings, and taking into view the small number of persons who, up to this time, have visited the Yosemite, so that keeping a public house has not been, nor is likely for some time, to be a matter of profit,* the Commissioners were disposed to be as liberal to him as the powers entrusted to them would permit. They therefore offered him a lease for ten years of one hundred and sixty-acres of land, including the hotel and house, at a mere nominal rent. Mr. Hutchings, however, believing that he has a legal claim to a fee simple of the land occupied by himself, refused to accept a lease or to acknowledge the authority of the Commissioners, as did also Mr. Lamon. There has been, therefore, no alternative for the Commissioners, and they have commenced legal proceedings against both these gentlemen as trespassers, with the view of having the ques tion decided (about which there seems to be no reasonable doubt) whether the State really is the proprietor of the grant made by Congress, or, in short, whether the United States have authority to dispose of the unsurveyed and unsold public land. It is not the desire of the Commissioners to put Messrs. Lamon and Hutchings to any greater expense than is absolutely necessary to establish the validity of the claim of the State, and they regret that the necessity for legal action should have arisen.

The claim of Mr. Folsom to the ferry and ladders will be noticed after speaking of the improvements made in the valley by the Commissioners from the funds appropriated by the last Legislature. And this leads us. to consider next, the approaches to the Yosemite and the Big Trees, the trails and roads leading to the grants, and the facilities for visiting these places.

The Yosemite Valley is situated nearly due east from San Francisco, and distant, in a direct line, about one hundred and fifty-five miles; but by the route usually travelled, via Stockton, it is about two hundred and sixty miles. The main Merced River runs through the valley, and access to it is therefore possible from both sides of the river; not, however, by following up the river itself, as would naturally be supposed. This would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, as the river runs, for many miles below the Yosemite, through a narrow cañon with precipitous walls. To enter the valley, therefore, it is necessary to rise fully three thousand feet above it, and then to descend again, a practicable trail having been constructed from the north and south down its precip

*The largest number of visitors to the Yosemite was in eighteen hundred and sixty-six, when probably between six hundred and seven hundred persons were there, the number having been nearly double that of the previous year. In eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, there were probably not more than four hundred and fifty persons in the valley. These numbers include persons camping, as well as those stopping at the hotels. The cause of the smaller number of visitors during this year are supposed to be: first, the lateness of the season, the snow not having left the trail until late in June; second, the fact that nearly all the pleasure travel of the country has been attracted to Paris by the Exposition; and lastly, the general stagnation of business at the East.

itous sides at the lower end.

On the north side the traveller may start from Big Oak Flat, or Coulterville, the latter being of late years the point usually selected. Although there is a wagon road from Coulterville as far as Black's, seventeen miles, travellers generally start from the first named place on horseback, ride seventeen miles and stop at Black's over night, and the next day ride into the valley; the total distance being forty-nine miles, of which seventeen are made the first day and thirty-two the second. The hotels in the valley being both on the south side of the Merced, travellers arriving from Coulterville, until recently, had to cross by a ferry after descending into the valley, as it is only rarely, and then very late in the season, that the river can be forded. This is the ferry noticed above as claimed by Mr. Folsom, and it is situated three quarters of a mile below the Lower Hotel. It is possible, however, to ride up the valley on the north side of the river, and cross at a bridge directly opposite Hutchings' Hotel; but a portion of the trail is apt to be boggy, and another part is very rocky, there being much the best ground for a road on the other side. To avoid the delay of the ferry, therefore, and to make it possible for visitors to ride entirely around the valley, the Commissioners have had a substantial bridge erected at the foot of the Bridal Veil meadow, not far from the place where the trail descends from the north. This will enable travellers to make the tour of the valley, after the trail on the north side has been put in good order, and, early in the season, when that side is boggy, to avoid inconvenience and also to avoid the delay and expense of the ferry.

The Commissioners have also expended a small amount on the improvement of the trail from the valley up the cañon of the Merced to the Vernal Fall, so that visitors can ride nearly to the foot of this fall, thus rendering a visit to this interesting portion of the Yosemite much easier than it has formerly been. They have also placed a bridge across the river above the Vernal Fall, making the trip to the summit of the Nevada Fall a matter of no great difficulty, this having been an extremely long and fatiguing trip before the bridge was built. The same bridge gives access to new and admirable views of the Nevada Fall, and also to Mount Broderick, or the Cap of Liberty, and is, on the whole, a quite important addition to the convenience of travellers.

The building of the bridge at the lower end of the valley.does away with the necessity for a ferry, and the convenience of the public requires that a set of steps, or staircase, should be erected at the Vernal Fall, in place of the present ladders, which are awkward and perhaps even dangerous for ladies to climb. The Commissioners propose, therefore, next year to place a convenient and commodious staircase near the present ladders, leading by an easy and safe ascent to the top of the fall.

Since the valley came into the hands of the State, but little has been done to improve the means of access to it from either the Coulterville or Mariposa side. From Mariposa there is a wagon road as far as White & Hatch's, and indeed some two miles further, but persons usually take horses at Bear Valley or Mariposa. Last season, however, arrangements were made so that travellers could be driven to White & Hatch's, riding from there to Clark's the same day, if desired; the trail between these two last mentioned places is very good, so that it is not difficult for moderately good riders to make the trip from Mariposa to the Yosemite in two days or in three, if one day be allowed for visiting the Big Trees four miles from Clark's ranch.