Publisher's Synopsis
While the history of Yosemite Valley is essentially the history of the Earth itself, this epic historical novel spans a mere 3,000 years. In a parade of adventurous and bold characters, both fictional and real, the story begins in 1100 B.C. at the foot of glacial Mt. Shasta in northern California, when Tokok, a curious young Yana Indian begins to explore the possibility that life would be less harsh if he moved his tribe farther south.
His story is followed by that of Choluk, a strong young interior Miwok chief who, in 812 AD, becomes the first human being to enter the stunning Yosemite Valley. Choluk forms his own tribe and discovers the fearful specter of the mighty uzumati, Miwok for "grizzly bear." (White men couldn't pronounce it properly, and it came out "Yosemite.") However, war and pestilence decimated the tribe, which dispersed into surrounding villages until wily Tenaya, a descendant of Choluk, gathers members of the royal lineage, and returns them to the beautiful Valley. Meanwhile, the handsome and adventurous, Savage joins a wagon train and ends up running two trading posts in the Fresno area. When the '49er Gold Rush hits, hostilities break out between the settlers and the Indians. When the Mariposa Battalion is hastily formed, it is all Savage can do to prevent an all-out massacre of the Miwoks by the angry settlers. The ensuing action-packed Mariposa Indian War of 1851 provides the thrilling but tragic climax of this historically accurate, captivating novel.
