Map of a portion of the Sierra Nevada adjacent to the Yosemite Valley, from surveys made by Chs. F. Hoffmann and J. T. Gardner, 1863–1867…
The Geological Survey of California’s map of the Sierra Nevada around Yosemite Valley, from Charles F. Hoffmann’s and James T. Gardner’s surveys of 1863–67: the “Trail to Mono” — the old Miwok and Mono Paiute trade route — from Yosemite Creek past Porcupine Flat, Lake Tenaya and Tuolumne Meadows over Mono Pass and down Bloody Cañon toward Mono Lake, with the trails and roads of the Merced and Tuolumne country.
Source
| Map | Map of a Portion of the Sierra Nevada adjacent to Yosemite Valley, from surveys made by Chs. F. Hoffmann and J.T. Gardner, 1863, 1867. Geological Survey of Califoria, J.D. Whitney, State Geologist. |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles F. Hoffmann and James T. Gardner (Geological Survey of California), 1868 |
| Archive | Wikimedia Commons |
| Rights | Public domain. Published 1868 — before 1931, so public domain in the United States. Evidence |
| Accuracy | About 6 km (RMS 1.8 km at 25 control points). Placed by hand in a map-queue session and approved by a person. If something sits in the wrong place, members can fix it with Fix placement on the map. |
| Method | Placed by hand: a first-order polynomial fit to 25 places read from the scan and matched to their positions today. See the methodology. |
| Version | 1.0.1, updated 2026-10-09 |
| Covers | California |
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Downloads
- Google Earth overlay (KMZ) — free (10.4 MB)
- GeoTIFF, tinted trails, EPSG:4326 (4500 × 2453; QGIS, ArcGIS) — free (20.8 MB)
- Print sheet over today’s map (3600 × 2200 PNG) — free (7.9 MB)
Project Homeland
This map’s trails are traced into Project Homeland, one map of the trail network melded from every traced source, where they are compared with the other maps’ lines. Members can trace more of them: Trace a trail on the map.
Changelog
- 1.0.1 (2026-10-09): Placed on an affine fit to its 22 places and three graticule crossings (leave-one-out 2.1 km), before first publication.
- 1.0.0 (2026-10-09): First release: placed by hand at 25 places. From Wikimedia Commons (via the Internet Archive), the 1868 Yosemite Book printing; added for Project Homeland.
Credits
- From Wikimedia Commons (via the Internet Archive), the 1868 Yosemite Book printing; added for Project Homeland
- Georeferencing: Native Routes
- Scan: Wikimedia Commons
Control points
The full list of control points with residuals is in control-points.geojson. Historic names indexed for search: names.geojson.
Something on this map sits in the wrong place? Members can show where with Fix placement on the map — confirmed fixes are tested against the map’s other control points each night and credited here. For anything else, report a problem.
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