Later, Chief Tenaya told Bunnell that his people had succeeded in keeping what must have been Captain Joseph Walker's group from seeing the Valley in 1833.
In the glow of their first Valley campfire, Dr. Bunnell and his fellow soldiers shared thoughts and feelings about their astonishment at the remarkable place they had stumbled upon while engaged in military pursuit. They then began selecting English language names for all that they were discovering. Later a plaque in his honor was placed on a granite boulder at this site and can still be found.
By 1856 the author had settled in a stateline town along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border and there eventually wrote and published his Yosemite memoirs. Therefore, this book has come to serve as an important primary source for all who are interested in the history of Yosemite National Park.
The first publication was 1880 and there have been subsequent printings and excerpts from the original. The reader will find many descriptions of the Native Americans of that time and area, keeping in mind of course the often conflicting cultural values of that period in Western America. Included is Bunnell's own description of the dramatic hide-and-seek, and sometimes tragic, struggle with the wily Chief Tenaya.
Bunnell's literate description of what he saw and, more importantly, experienced in the Yosemite Valley contains passages which mirror the awe experienced by most first-time visitors to the National Park. They are the kind of descriptions that John Muir later perfected.
IMHO, Your Reviewer