Fig. 12 is a view of the back or south side of Half Dome, Yosemite, showing its moutonée condition; Fig. 13 represents El Capitan of Yosemite, situated on the north side of the valley; Fig. 14, El Capitan of Big Tuolumne Cañon, near the middle, situated on the north side; Fig. 15, El Capitan of Big Tuolumne Cañon, near the head, situated on the north side. The far-famed El Capitan rock presents a sheer cleaved front, over three thousand feet high, and is scarcely less impressive than the great dome. We have collected fine specimens of this clearly defined rock form from all the principal Yosemites of the region. Nevertheless, it also has been considered ex ceptional. Their origin is easily explained. They are simply split ends of ridges which have been broken through by glaciers. For their perfect development the granite must be strong, and have some of its vertical cleavage planes well developed, nearly to the exclusion of all the others, especially of those belonging to the diagonal and horizontal series. A powerful trunk glacier must sweep past in front nearly in the direction of its cutting planes, with small glaciers, tributary to the first, one on each side of the ridge out of which the Capitan is to be made. This arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 16, where A represents a horizontal section of a Capitan rock, exposing the edges of the cleavage planes which determined the character of its face; B, the main glacier sweeping down the valley in front; and C C, the tributaries isolating it from the adjacent softer granite. The three Capitans figured stand thus related Fig. 16 to the glaciers of the region where they are found. I have met with many others, all of which are thus situated, though in some instances one or both of the side glaciers had been wanting, leaving the resulting Capitan less perfect, considering the bold advancing Yosemite Capitan as a typical form. When the principal surface features of the Sierra were being blocked out, the main ice-sheet was continuous and moved in a southerly direction, therefore the most perfect Capitans are invariably found on the north sides of valleys trending east and west. The reason will be readily perceived by referring to Fig. 8 of No. 1, "Mountain Sculpture," in Overland for May.* To illustrate still further how fully the split fronts of rocks facing deep cañons have the angles at which they stand measured by their cleavage planes, we give two examples (Figs. 17 and 18) of leaning fronts from the cañon of the north fork of the San Joaquin River. Sentinel and Cathedral rocks also are found in other glacial cañons, and in every instance their * SIERRA CLUB BULLETIN, Vol. IX, No. 4, page 233. forms, magnitudes, and positions are obviously the necessary results of the internal structure and general mechanical characters of the rocks out of which they were made, and of the glacial energy that has been brought to bear on them. The abundance, therefore, of lofty angular rocks, instead of rendering Yosemite unique, is the characteristic which unites it most intimately with all the other similarly situated valleys in the range. Founded 1892 402 MILLS BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE PURPOSES OF THE CLUB ARE: To explore, enjoy, and render accessible the mountain regions of the Pacific Coast; to publish authentic information concerning them; to enlist the support and co-operation of the people and the Government in preserving the forests and other natural features of the Sierra Nevada. JOHN MUIR, President 1892 to 1914 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES FOR THE YEAR 1915-1916 WILLIAM F. BADE, Berkeley CHARLES P. DOUGLAS, San Diego WALTER L. HUBER, San Francisco ROBERT M. PRICE, Reno, Nevada CLAIR S. TAPPAAN, Los Angeles HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS SIR JAMES BRYCE, London, England COMMITTEES Outing Committee: WILLIAM E. COLBY (Chairman and Manager), CLAIR S. TAPPAAN (Assistant Manager), JOSEPH N. Le Conte. Committee on Local Walks: J. E. ROTHER (Chairman), GEORGE EDWARDS, HAROLD FRENCH, FRED R. PARKER. Le Conte Memorial Lodge Committee: MARION RANDALL PARSONS (Chairman), JOSEPH N. LE CONTE, ROBERT M. PRICE. Librarian: NELL L. TAGGARD. Southern California Section Executive Committee: EVERETT SHEPARDSON (Chairman), CHARLES J. Fox (Treasurer), PHIL S. BERNAYS (Secretary, 318 W. Third Street, Los Angeles), HIRAM E. BAILEY, CHARLES P. DOUGLAS, MARY F. KELLOGG, MABELLE MCCALLa A. MARTHA WALker, George A. WHITE. EDITORIALS THE PRESIDENCY Since the organization of the Sierra Club in eighteen OF THE CLUB hundred and ninety-two there has been but one President-John Muir. A year ago his death left vacant the office which he filled so long and so ably. Professor J. N. Le Conte has been chosen by the Board of Directors to serve as his successor. There is fitness in this choice. The files of the SIERRA CLUB BULLETIN bear distinguished testimony to his work as a mountaineer and explorer of the Sierra Nevada. Of the present Board of Directors he is the one who has seen the longest term of service. He was one of the charter members of the Sierra Club, together with his father, Joseph Le Conte. who was in his day the most distinguished geologist of the Pacific Coast. In the office of treasurer, to which Mr. Le Conte was elected in eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, he is now succeeded by Mrs. Marion Randall Parsons. W. F. B. JOHN MUIR AND Members of the Sierra Club will read with pride and pleasure the fine tribute paid to our late President, John Muir, by the distinguished author, diplomat and fellow mountaineer, Sir James Bryce. In his letter to the Editor, Dr. Bryce refers to his meeting with Mr. Muir on the occasion of a dinner given by the Directors of the Club in the autumn of 1912. “It was a very great pleasure to me," he writes, "to have had that talk with him and the rest of your party on that evening in San Francisco when I was returning from Australia. . . . How often since have I thought of it and wished that your city was not seven thousand miles from here! It is a pleasure to think that our friend's name and services to the world will be commemorated by those superb woods on the slope of Tamalpais which are called after him." Dr. Bryce was President of the British Alpine Club from 1899 to 1901. W. F. B. MOUNTAINEERING From the wide-spread ruin wrought by the great AND THE WAR European war, mountaineering clubs, also, have not been exempt. Although the famous Swiss Alpine Club had an accession of over a thousand members during the past year, its treasury has become so depleted that very little could be done to establish new alpine cabins or to repair old ones. There was found to be a deficit at the end of the year, and for the first time in nearly fifty years no "Year Book" is to be published. The Alpine Clubs of Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Austria are prostrated by the scourge of war, and their memberships will be |