[14]Lt. Montgomery Meigs Macomb, assisted by J. C. Spiller and F. O. Maxson, explored the Yosemite region in 1878 and 1879. Their work was a part of the program of the U. S. Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Capt. George M. Wheeler in charge. This program received the general direction of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army. Macomb's field work yielded the data for a map which was standard in the Yosemite region for many years (see U. S. War Dept., 1879).
[15]In 1879, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey sent a reconnaissance party into the Yosemite high country under the leadership of George Davidson. Mount Conness was occupied on that occasion and again in 1887 and 1890 (see [p. 72]; also Davidson, 1892).
[16]The United States Geological Survey was organized in 1879 under the direction of Clarence King. In 1882 and 1883, a thorough study was made of the Yosemite high country west of Mono Lake. Israel C. Russell was in charge of this field work. Willard D. Johnson and Grove Karl Gilbert assisted him. These men confirmed some of the original work done by Muir and Joseph LeConte (See U. S. Geological Survey, 1883-84, pp. 31-32, 303-328; 1886-87, I: 261-394; I. C. Russell, 1897, pp. 37-54; Farquhar, 1926, p. 42).
[17]See Ralph H. Lewis, 1941 and 1945; Robert C. Robinson, 1940.
[18]Mount Conness, one of the outstanding peaks in the Tuolumne Meadows region, was named for Senator John Conness by Clarence King, later first director of the United States Geological Survey, but at the time a member of the Whitney Survey. King and James T. Gardiner were the first to climb the peak, making the ascent in 1864. Referring to the mountain, King said that because of its “firm peak with titan strength and brow so square and solid, it seems altogether natural we should have named it for California’s statesman, John Conness.”
[19]Congressional Globe, May 17, 1864, p. 2301.
[20]The Life and Letters of John Muir, I: 207-208.
[21]Gabriel Sovulewski was born in Poland in 1866; he died Nov. 29, 1938. For a synopsis of his work and the activities of others in the military administration, see “Administrative Officers of Yosemite,” by C. Frank Brockman, Yosemite Nature Notes (1944).
[22]Taylor, Mrs. H. J. “Hetch Hetchy Water Flows into San Francisco.” Yosemite Nature Notes (1934), pp. 89-91, Badè, W. F., “The Hetch Hetchy Situation [Editorial],” Sierra Club Bulletin, 9 (1914): 3, 174.
[23]See Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 1933, pp. 158-159, for account of the Stephen T. Mather Appreciation and the dedication of Mather Memorial Plaques, presented by that organization.