Place: CA-Clark (Yosemite)

Clark's Range, Mount, Canyon, Fork, Bridge (Merced Peak)
(37.6582651, -119.4093152)

Description:

CLARK, MOUNT (11,506)    [Mount Lyell]
Galen Clark, first guardian of the Yosemite State Park, 1864, and reputed discoverer of Mariposa Grove of big trees. Born in New Hampshire, March 28, 1814; died March 24, 1910, in Yosemite Valley, where he is buried. (S.C.B., 1910, VII:4, pp. 215-220; Muir: The Yosemite, 1912, pp. 240-248.) A charter member of the Sierra Club.

“At the northeast extremity of the Merced group is the grand peak to which we first gave the name of the ‘Obelisk,’ from its peculiar shape, as seen from the region north of the Yosemite. It has, since then, been named Mount Clark, While the range to which it belongs is sometimes called the Obelisk Group, but, oftener, the Merced Group, because the branches of that river head around it.” (Whitney: Yosemite Guide Book, 1870, p. 108.)

First ascent by Clarence King and James T. Gardiner, July 12, 1866. (King: Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, 1872, pp. 197-205.)
From Place Names of the High Sierra (1926) by Francis P. Farquhar

According to GNIS, also called the Obelisk Group-Gudde, Erwin G. California Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1949. p240 

On a November 1, 2021 Facebook post, Yosemite National Park said this about Galen Clark:

Appointed Guardian of the Yosemite Grant, Galen Clark first came to the Yosemite area in 1854 for his health. Only forty-two when he arrived Clark was convinced that he did not have much longer to live. Indeed, he became deathly ill on many occasions. Clark first settled near the Mariposa Grove of sequoias where he enjoyed taking tourists to see the trees and even operated a nearby inn for many years. As his Guardian duties became more demanding, he spent more time in Yosemite Valley where many visitors enjoyed his stories and generous spirit. 

Still concerned about his health Clark planted six sequoias trees in the Yosemite Cemetery. He carved his name into a simple granite headstone ensuring that he would spend eternity in the Valley surrounded by the trees he loved. Each summer he enjoyed strolls to the cemetery to water the saplings. 

A few dozen sequoias trees have been planted in Yosemite Valley. Most of these remain where establishments have come and gone. Five of the trees that Galen Clark planted and tenderly cared for until his death, just a few days before his ninety-seventh birthday, remain guarding over the Yosemite Grant’s Guardian.

Trips:

• March 28, 2018 - Yosemite Valley Wander by myself. (Clark's Bridge)

Pictures:

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References:

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