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“Exploration of the Sierra Nevada” (1925)
by Francis P. Farquhar

Sierra Club Outings

The Sierra Club was a successful institution from the beginning, drawing to itself many ardent lovers of the mountains as well as many public spirited citizens who desired to support its objects. As the mountains became better known and access became easier, the leaders of the Club decided that something might be done to bring a larger number of its members into the High Sierra by means of an organized expedition each year. The first of these outings took place in 1901 when over one hundred members visited the Tuolumne Meadows and vicinity for several weeks. The following year a larger party went to Kings River Canyon, and in 1903 the outing was held in the Kern River region.

In spite of difficulties arising from inexperience, these outings were a success from the start and served not only to build up an enthusiastic membership of the Club but to produce vastly more knowledge of all kinds about the Sierra than could have been obtained in so short a time by any other means. The remarkably successful organization of these outings was due to a very competent Outing Committee composed of William E. Colby, Joseph N. Le Conte, and Edward T. Parsons. This committee has continued to conduct the outings annually, With only one change in membership when Clair S. Tappalan replaced Parsons after the latter’s death in 1914.

With the main Sierra Club encampment as a base, it was possible for the more enterprising of the members to take rapid excursions into the surrounding country and to conduct scientific investigations, particularly in botany and geology, under the most favorable conditions. The significance of these outings in the history of Sierra exploration is apparent in the names included in the enrollment of the first three years: John Muir, William Keith, C. Hart Merriam, Henry Gannett, Theodore H. Hittell, Charles Keeler, John Gill Lemmon, Alexander G. McAdie, Grove Karl Gilbert, Andrew C. Lawson, John Knox McLean. An interesting account of the Kings River trip in 1902, commenting particularly on these notable personalities, was published in Out West, November 1902, by Hugh S. Gibson, now a member of the United States Diplomatic Corps.

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