s and the southern extremity of the High Sierra, a
distance of nearly 160 miles, there are only five passes through which
trails conduct from one side of the range to the other. These are barely
practicable for animals; a pass in these regions meaning simply any
notch or canon through which one may, by the exercise of unlimited
patience, make out to lead a mule, or a sure-footed mustang; animals
that can slide or jump as well as walk. Only three of the five passes
may be said to be in use, viz.: the Kearsarge, Mono, and Virginia Creek;
the tracks leading through the others being only obscure Indian trails,
not graded in the least, and scarcely traceable by white men; for much
of the way is over solid rock and earthquake avalanche taluses, where
the unshod ponies of the Indians leave no appreciable sign. Only skilled
mountaineers are able to detect the marks that serve to guide the
Indians, such as slight abrasions of the looser rocks, the displacement
of stones here and there, and bent bushes and weeds. A general knowledge
of the topography is, then, the main guide, enabling one to determine
where the trail ought to go--_must_ go. One of these Indian trails
crosses the range by a nameless pass between the head waters of the
south and middle forks of the San Joaquin, the other between the north
and middle forks of the same river, just to the south of "The Minarets";
this last being about 9000 feet high, is the lowest of the five. The
Kearsarge is the highest, crossing the summit near the head of the south
fork of King's River, about eight miles to the north of Mount Tyndall,
through the midst of the most stupendous rock-scenery. The summit of
this pass is over 12,000 feet above sea-level; nevertheless, it is one
of the safest of the five, and is used every summer, from July to
October or November, by hunters, prospectors, and stock-owners, and to
some extent by enterprising pleasure-seekers also. For, besides the
surpassing grandeur of the scenery about the summit, the trail, in
ascending the western flank of the range, conducts through a grove of
the giant Sequoias, and through the magnificent Yosemite Valley of the
south fork of King's River. This is, perhaps, the highest traveled pass
on the North American continent.

[Illustration: MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, SHOWING PRESENT RESERVATION
BOUNDARY.]

The Mono Pass lies to the east of Yosemite Valley, at the head of one of
the tributaries of the south fork of the Tuolu