Sequoia National Park: A Geological Album

By François E. Matthes

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1950.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Release date: Nov 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9780520348066

François E. Matthes

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FROM THE

LIBRARY OF

THE

UNIVERSITY

OF

California

PRESS

Sequoia National Park

a geological album

Sequoia National Park

a geological album

by Francois E. Matthes

edited by Fritiof Fryxell

1950 * Berkeley

Los Angeles

University of California Press

University of California Press

Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

Cambridge University Press

London, England

Copyright, 1950, by

The Regents of the University of California

Published with the Permission of the Director

United States Geological Survey

Printed in the United States of America

By Photopress, Incorporated

Preface

The Sierra Nevada, as Francois Matthes more than once re- marked, is so vast that no one lifetime could suffice for a study of all its geologic features. Nevertheless, in the more than three decades which he himself gave to Sierra studies, Matthes investigated enough critical areas in the range to clarify some of its fundamental problems, and to give his name high rank among those who have contributed to a sound understanding of this, the country’s greatest mountain range.

In 1935, a few years after the first chapter of his Sierra studies was, in a sense, concluded by the publication of his monumental Geologic History of the Yosemite Valley, Matthes turned to a problem which had already engaged his attention for one field season (1925) and which now became the second chapter in his Sierra work—the investigation of Sequoia National Park. This study was also made for the United States Geological Survey, with which Matthes had served continuously since 1896, and was conducted with the active cooperation of the National Park Service, which eagerly welcomed the opportunity to obtain basic geologic data for Sequoia National Park. The assignment interested Matthes deeply, for it gave him an opportunity to investigate another magnificent cross section of the Sierra Nevada, this time in the southern part of the range and—as was true in the Yosemite— in a region where the geologic features were remarkable for their grandeur and geomorphic interesi.

Because he had laid the groundwork for these studies in 1925, and his Yosemite experience was applicable to many of the problems in this area, the Sequoia research proceeded with relative rapidity and was completed by the fall of 1936. But the preparation of a final report was likely to prove quite another matter. This, Matthes knew, would have to be fitted into a program which included other projects and was constantly being complicated by new ones. The writing could be done only when circumstances permitted, and might have to be continued through a period of years. But the National Park Service urgently needed the information which he now had, to serve the immediate needs at Sequoia National Park.

To meet this situation, Matthes conceived the idea of a report which would interpret the principal geologic features of the Park—not, in the conventional manner, by means of a lengthy text but by the use of annotated photographs. The illustrations, carefully selected to illustrate representative geologic phenomena, would be the principal feature of the report. The accompanying text would be brief—no longer than was necessary to give the pictures meaning. A pictorial guide of this sort could serve much like a conducted tour of the region, in which prearranged stops would be made and explanations given at strategic points of view. The plan would have the advantage, which to him seemed all-important, of emphasizing the geological evidence underlying each interpretation. A study of the pictures and the accompanying explanations should enable the visitor to understand similar features which he might discover for himself in the course of his hikes or pack trips through the Park. In accord with these ideas, Matthes in 1938 prepared the three folios which he came to call his Sequoia albums.

The Sequoia albums did indeed prove useful, and amply justified the experiment. New members of the Park staff have learned to know and understand their territory from perusal of the albums. Ranger naturalists, in preparing campfire talks and guided nature trips, have found in the albums a fund of indispensable information. Visitors, seeking further enlightenment on the origin of scenic features of the Park, have been referred to the albums. And geological exhibits for the Park museum were developed mainly on the basis of the interpretations set forth in the albums.

When the Second World War made serious inroads on his cherished plans, Matthes was compelled to defer the completion of the Sequoia monograph until his retirement. He was retained on the staff of the Geological Survey more than three years beyond the statutory retirement age of seventy. However, retirement finally came, and in September, 1947, he and Mrs. Matthes moved to El Cerrito, California, to be near their mountains. But before Matthes had made more than a start on his writing, his health failed, and on June 21, 1948, he died.

To meet a demand which has grown more insistent with the years—especially since his death—the Sequoia albums are reproduced with a view to making them available to all, and in a form suitable for use alike by the campfire, on the trail, and in the library. Within these covers are combined the contents of the three albums, which have undergone no changes other than were necessary to make the text consistent and concise, and so simple and clear as to be understood by all.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the United States Geological Survey and the National Park Service, for permission to publish the material incorporated in this volume,« to Mrs. François Matthes, whose intimate knowledge of her husband’s work in the Sierra Nevada made her the editor’s indispensable guide and counselor in this undertaking,« and to Colonel John R. White, Superintendent of Sequoia National Park (retired), whose enthusiasm and resourcefulness greatly facilitated the field investigations at Sequoia, and likewise were an unfailing source of inspiration to Francois Matthes.

The editor also acknowledges the obligation which this volume owes to August Fruge and David R. Brower, who—on behalf of both the Sierra Club and the University of California Press—envisioned publication of this material and provided the continuing interest which finally led to realization of the project; to Howard Stagner, Naturalist of Sequoia