Deadman Canyon-7,641' (Sphinx Lakes)
| ( | 36.7049394, | -118.5798198- Mouth) |
Description:
Cañon of the west branch of Roaring River. The name has been incorrectly given on some maps to the east branch. (S.C.B., 1920, XI:2, p. 119.) There is a sheep-herder’s grave clearly marked at the lower end of the cañon, concerning which there are several legends. From Place Names of the Sierra Nevada by Francis P. Farquhar
The canon proved to
be seven or eight miles long. It progressed upward by a series of
terraces. We would ride through a fringe of woods, or over a meadow, and
then climb vigorously to right or left of a slide or broken fall until
we had gained another level. The canon walls were very high, very sheer,
and of nearly unbroken stone. The glacial action had brought them to
sync line near the bottom, so that to all intents and purposes we were
traveling a smooth half -cylinder of granite in whose trough a
certain amount of fertile earth had accumulated. The scenery thus was
inexpressibly bleak and grand. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter Deadman Canyon
For
the first time I looked back. Dead- man's Canon extended from directly
be low me. The strip of earth down its trough, which had seemed so ample
to us while we were traveling through it, now had narrowed to a mere
streak of green. The glacial sweep of the half cylinder from cliff to
cliff appeared almost unbroken. I could make out Roaring River Canon and
the place where Kings River Canon should lie, but even beyond that,
rising from the lowest depths, tier after tier, were mountains and
ranges innumerable. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter Deadman Canyon
For several hours we wound leisurely up the defiles of Deadman's Canon, ascending the bits of steep trails up the terraces, crossing the knee-deep meadows between them, admiring the straight lofty cliffs on either hand, with their tiny fringe of pine trees on top inconceivably re mote, their jutting crags, like monstrous gargoyles overlooking an abyss, and their smooth sheer sweeps in syncline of glacier-polished granite. At the foot of these cliffs were steep slopes of rock debris, thrown down by the action of frost and sun. Among them had sprouted hardy bushes, affording a cover in which we looked in vain for a possible bear. The canon bottom contained meadows, and strips of cottonwood and quaking asp, as well as scattered junipers and cedars. A beautiful stream, the west fork of Roaring River, dropped from one clear pool to another, or meandered between clean- cut banks of sod. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter The Side Hill Camp
The miners had laboriously leveled in the granite debris two platforms for two tents. The remains of a rough forge stood near at hand. Beneath a stone still lingered, undissolved by the elements, the remains of a pack of cards. Two or three sticks of stove wood had escaped burning. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter The Side Hill Camp
For several hours we wound leisurely up the defiles of Deadman's Canon, ascending the bits of steep trails up the terraces, crossing the knee-deep meadows between them, admiring the straight lofty cliffs on either hand, with their tiny fringe of pine trees on top inconceivably re mote, their jutting crags, like monstrous gargoyles overlooking an abyss, and their smooth sheer sweeps in syncline of glacier-polished granite. At the foot of these cliffs were steep slopes of rock debris, thrown down by the action of frost and sun. Among them had sprouted hardy bushes, affording a cover in which we looked in vain for a possible bear. The canon bottom contained meadows, and strips of cottonwood and quaking asp, as well as scattered junipers and cedars. A beautiful stream, the west fork of Roaring River, dropped from one clear pool to another, or meandered between clean- cut banks of sod. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter The Side Hill Camp
The miners had laboriously leveled in the granite debris two platforms for two tents. The remains of a rough forge stood near at hand. Beneath a stone still lingered, undissolved by the elements, the remains of a pack of cards. Two or three sticks of stove wood had escaped burning. From The Pass by Stewart Edward White, chapter The Side Hill Camp
From GNIS: In Kings Canyon National Park, heads on the southwest slope of Glacier Ridge and Copper Mine Pass, trends north to Roaring River on the southwest slope of Moraine Ridge. Also called:
- Cloud Canyon:
- Cloudy Canyon:
- Copper Canyon:
| On the 1905 edition of the Tehipite sheet these canyons were named as the Sierra Club suggests, excepting that the eastern one was called Cloudy instead of Cloud. Mr. C. L. Kelson of the Geological Survey, who surveyed both on the Tehipite Quadrangle and the adjoining portion of the It. Whitney Quadrangle, says that he obtained this name Deadman Ganyon for the canyon described on this card and Cloudy Canyon for the parallel canyon about two miles to the eastward from a local ranger, who was encamped near him and who yearly pastured his cattle in these canyons. The placing of the Deadman on the eastern canyon and Copper on the western on the 1909 edition of the Tehipite sheet was done on the suggestion of Stuart Edward white through Pres. Roosevelt. This is as Mr. Nelson understood it at the time the changes were ordered. Also the 1924 and 1925 letters clarifying the naming. |
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