Mt. Starr King (Yosemite)
(37°42′10″N 119°31′04″W)
Thomas Starr King; born in New York City, 1824; pastor of Hollis Street Unitarian Church, Boston, 1848, at age of 24; became famous preacher and lecturer; wrote The White Hills, classic description of White Mountains of New Hampshire, 1859; came to San Francisco Unitarian Church, 1860; visited Yosemite, big trees, and Lake Tahoe in 1860; orator for the Union cause in California, 1861-1864; died in San Francisco, 1864. (Charles W. Wendte: Thomas Starr King: Patriot and Preacher, 1921.)
“In the angle formed by the Merced and the South Fork Cañon, and about two miles south-southeast of Mount Broderick [Liberty Cap], is the high point, called the ‘South Dome,’ and also, of later years, ‘Mount Starr King.’ This is the most symmetrical and beautiful of all the dome-shaped masses around the Yosemite; but it is not visible from the valley itself. It exhibits the concentric structure of the granite on a grand scale; although its surface is generally smooth and unbroken. Its summit is absolutely inaccessible.” (Whitney Survey: Geology, 1865, pp. 419-420.—See, also, Grace Greenwood— New Life in New Lands, 1873, pp. 340-341.)
“Did time and opportunity permit, we might climb to its shoulder, and thence obtain that magnificent view; but could not go beyond this without jeopardizing life and limb. Less than a dozen persons have been able to ascend it. The first to do so was Mr. George B. Bayley and Mr. E. S. Schuyler; followed by George Anderson and the writer [J. M. Hutchings], a few days afterwards, who having attached ropes over difficult places, enabled Mrs. A. L. Hutchings and our daughter Florence to ascend it, who were the first and only ladies, at this writing, that have accomplished the difficult task.” (J. M. Hutchings: In the Heart of the Sierras, 1886, p. 473.)
From Place Names of the High Sierra (1926) by Francis P. Farquhar
On Saturday night at ten o’clock a flag was raised on T. Starr King’s church. He is very strong for the Union, and this was for a surprise for him on his return from up country. A crowd was in the streets as he returned from the steamer. He mounted the steps, made a most brilliant impromptu speech, and then ran up the flag with his own hand to a staff fifty feet above the building. It was a beautiful flag, and as it floated out on the breeze that wafted in from the Pacific, in the clear moonlight, the hurrahs rent the air—it was a beautiful and patriotic scene. Sunday I went to hear him preach. He is a most brilliant orator, his language strong and beautiful. He is almost worshiped here, and is exerting a greater intellectual influence in the state than any other two men. Up and Down California: The Journal of William H. Brewer, 1860-1864 Book II, Chapter 1
Talked about by Miriam Pawel in chpater three, Yell Leader, int he book The Browns of California. A summary of what she said is:
A peak is named after him. But he got his reputation as being the pastor of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco which built his reputation for social justice. It was his writings which moved John Muir to look into Yosemite Valley.
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