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the southeast face, is virtually absent from the avalancherocks . Yet the vast southeast face has never been mappedin detail.To help answer this question, we are now collaboratingwith National Park Service Climbing Ranger JesseMcGahey and other climbers to map the rock types alongseveral major climbing routes that go up the southeastface . This data should help us determine more preciselywhere the massive El Capitan rock avalanche originated.It is now time to start investigating the other rock avalanchesin Yosemite Valley. Was the same earthquake thattriggered the El Capitan rock avalanche also responsiblefor these? The answer has important implications forpark safety. And if that isn't reason enough to care aboutthese fascinating deposits, consider Muir 's concludingremarks on these immense shards of former mountaincliff faces:Iffor a moment you are inclined to regard these talusesas mere draggled, chaotic dumps, climb to the top of oneof them, and run down without any haggling, putteringhesitation, boldly jumping from boulder to boulder witheven speed. You will then find your feet playing a tune,and quickly discover the music and poetry of these magnificentrock piles—a fine lesson .Greg Stock, Ph.D., is the Park Geologist. He works inthe Division of Resources Management and Science,and is investigating the October 2008 rockslide thatoccurred above Curry Village.JRTHER READINGLee, J., Spencer, J., and Owen, L., 2001, Holocene slip rates alongthe Owens Valley fault, California : Implications for the recentevolution of the Eastern California Shear Zone : Geology, v. 29,no. 9, p. 819-822.Matthes, F.E ., 1930, Geologic history of the Yosemite Valley:U.S . Geological history of the Yosemite Valley : U .S . GeologicalProfessional Paper 504, 136 p.Muir, J ., 1912, The Yosemite : New York, The Century Co.Wieczorek, G .F., Morrisey, M .M ., Iovine, G ., and Godt, J., 1999,Rock-fall potential in the Yosemite Valley, California: U .S.Geological Survey Open File Report 99-578 : http ://pubs .usgs.gov/of/1999/ofr-99-0578/The largest boulder in the El Capitan rockfiill weighs some 5,700 tons.12 YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 2008
BY SHELTON JOHNSONFINDING GEORGEQn May 18, 1903, at the Presidio of San Francisco,after three years of continuous service withTroop K, Ninth Cavalry, Private GeorgeMetcalf of Frankfort, Kentucky, was discharged fromthe U .S . Army.What kind of day was it that shone on Pvt . Metcalfon his last official hours as a soldier? Did a fog roll in,obscuring not only Fort Point but also the thoughts ofa man who found himself illuminated by a final sunrise?No more bugles sounding duty. He was now free todecide for himself all that he would do on the followingday. There must have been a sense of release, but also alittle giddiness, and fear, accompanying that freedom.There were probably no parades in his honor, no confettiwas flung from the rooftops, throngs of admirers didnot speak his name, for he was just another soldier, hisduty done, about to move on in life to a new adventure.History would soon forget him, and he would becomejust another name on a government ledger.On the muster rolls written for his troop, the followingnotation was made:Discharged at Presidio of S . F. Cal., May 18, 1903 perexpiration of term of service . Discharge and FinalStatements given . Due soldier for clothing not drawn inkind Three dollars and Sixteen cents ($3 .16) For depositsNinety Dollars ($90 .00) . Character "Excellent".Those few words do little to encompass the rangeof feelings that must have been like heavy seas rollingthrough George Metcalf on that day . How would youhave felt after three years in the Ninth Cavalry? For thosefears your life would have been under the control ofsuperiors . They would have determined when you awakenedin the morning, where you slept at night, what youdid during the day and how you might die tomorrow.You were in the Army. You were a soldier. You followedorders . God was a first sergeant who didn 't particularlylike you. Heaven was a place you went to when you couldmanage to sleep . Your family was Troop K . These menwere your brothers . You would die for them, and theywould die for you . This was not out of love, but out ofnecessity. It was the nature of survival.Now after three years of taking orders, in a moment as-Jain as the paper you signed, you were on your own, nolonger part of that unit, that family. You were abruptly anex-soldier, you were alone with only a few choices.Which did you make, George Metcalf? Did you imageyourself working a ranch in Montana, riding horses,or mules, when you wanted to? Were you hoping to getback home, back to Frankfort, Kentucky? Was theresomeone there waiting for you? What was her name? Ordid you just want to be home, to not move elsewhere, butbe there fully again?Were these the thoughts that swept through you onMay 18, 1903? There was no way you could ever imaginethat just about the only thing that would remain of youon that day would be a brief list of final dispensation." Character, Excellent ."Certainly there is more written somewhere in the universeabout Pvt . Metcalf, but until the summer of 2001,it was about all that I knew of him . He was simply oneof hundreds of buffalo soldiers who served in Yosemiteand Sequoia National Parks in 1899, 1903 and 1904 . Foreach of these men perhaps a similar day would dawn, orperhaps they would die, still soldiers, somewhere alone orwith a comrade close by.Whatever their final moments may have been, andwherever they breathed their last, they all passed awayslowly into this forgotten story . However scattered theymay be now, this history binds them together in deathas surely as that hard military discipline bound themtogether in life.People whose history has been forgotten suffer a differentkind of death. Not only are they physically absent,their legacy is also elsewhere . In another essay I referredto this place as the " one hundred year hole ." The hole isthat void where lives collect in documents and reports.Nothing organic remains ; no bones, no tissue ; you're justa shadow cast onto faded correspondence stored in boxesand vaults . A hole by any other name.Most of these soldiers are in that hole . Their destinywas to fall, or be lowered, without much ceremony intothat hole . It's dark in that hole, and crowded, so dark thatthere 's not even a memory of light.Down there in all of that is, or rather was, GeorgeMetcalf. He probably would have remained there forever,at least for me, had it not been for Larry Montgomery, aseasonal ranger here in Yosemite Valley.Last year, as I was sitting in my office going over NinthCavalry muster rolls, which are lists of soldiers in particulartroops and commentary about their status, Larryhappened to stop by . Larry ' s from Kentucky. You can hearKentucky when he speaks . It's not just in his words ; it ' show they're packaged, his sentences move in a way that'sKentucky. George Metcalf was from Frankfort, Kentucky,so I wondered if his speech sang in a similar way : " Hey,YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, FALL 2008 13
Page 1 and 2: YosemiteA JOURNAL FOR MEMBERS OF TH
Page 3 and 4: BY STEVE HARRISONEVERYTHING PHOTOGR
Page 5 and 6: proofs at the studio ." If that was
Page 7 and 8: IAMAKE A DEEPER CONNECTIONTO YOSEMI
Page 9 and 10: BY GREG STOCKINVESTIGATING THEEL CA
Page 11: The southeast face of El Capitan, s
Page 15 and 16: estored completely without the rest
Page 17 and 18: YosemiteOutdoor AdventuresDiscover
Page 19 and 20: ADVENTURESy Snow Suvey #10Saturday
Page 21 and 22: SUPERINTENDENT TOLLEFSON TO LEADYOS
Page 23 and 24: December I8 is the last day to plac
Page 25 and 26: PARK PROFILENIKI STEPHANIE NICHOLAS
Page 27 and 28: Welcome to Wawona Evening Reception
Page 29 and 30: Ostrander Ski Hut Trips : Another B
Page 31 and 32: NEW MEMBERS AND RECENT DONATIONSENR
Page 33 and 34: Contributing Members Jennifer & Ben
Page 35 and 36: George Garbesi, Andrea Goicoechea,

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