The Sun, New York, Saturday, November 24, 1877, p.2, col.6
Above the Clouds.
Two Sheep Browsing on the Top of the South Dome, Yosemite.
Probably the largest and highest rock in the known world is the South Dome of Yosemite. Standing at the fork of the upper valley, it rears itself, a solid rocky loaf, 6,000 feet above the ground. A more powerful hand than that of a Titan has cut away the eastern part, leaving a sheer precipice over a mile in height. No man ever trod the top of this dome until last year. Former visitors gazed in wonder at the spikes driven into the rock by hardy spirits, who had repeatedly endeavored to scale it. The shreds of rope dangling in the wind told the story of their failure. Last year, however, after thousands of dollars were spent, several persons found their way to the top of the dome, and this summer two sheep were discovered browsing on the hitherto inaccessible peak. Mrs. A. J. Murphy, the wife of a late hotel proprietor in the valley, writes to a lady in this city as follows, under date of November 11:
John Anderson is building stairs up to the top of the South Dome. You can go up now by holding on to a rope, but it is quite a tiresome trip. A few ladies in the valley have made the ascent, and I am sorry I did not attempt it. But I am one of the few who have seen the sun rise on the top of Cloud's Rest, and its glory will never fade from my memory.
Strange to say, two sheep found their way to the top of the South Dome this summer, a dam and her lamb. How they ever got there is more than any one can tell. They found bunch grass and shoots to eat, but no water—only the dew that fell on the dome at night. Anderson was going to carry them up some water when I left.Six weeks ago there was not a drop of water coming over the Yosemite Fall. It looked strange enough to me. Yet the valley was so fresh and green. We had no showers during the summer, and before I left it was frightfully dusty. Since then warm rains have fallen, and everything is nice and fresh. The trail leading to the foot of the Upper Yosemite has been built up to the top of the Falls and on to the Eagle Point, the last one of the Three Brothers. It is above El Capitan, going up the valley.
Mr. Hutchins (former hotel proprietor and editor of the old Hutchins Magazine) was in the valley six weeks with a party camping out. They went over to the Hetchy Hetchy valley, thirty miles from the Yosemite. If we had no Yosemite, it would be considered quite a wonderful valley.
John McPeters, the guide who whipped the Duke of Manchester, was not in the valley this summer.
As noted in the main text of the Chronicles the Sun's full version of Mrs. Murphy's account was reprinted in many other newspapers. However, some editors felt that the article was too long, so they simply cut out the last two or three paragraphs that had nothing to do with the Dome and the sheep. On December 14, 1877, the Boston Evening Transcript not only cut out three paragraphs, but also removed all sentences referring to Anderson or Mrs. Murphy. Their version ends with "The sheep found no water, only the dew that fell on the dome at night." Still further shortening occurred around March 1878, with the last sentence now reading "Sheep were discovered browsing on the hitherto inaccessible peak." This became the most popular version in the early and mid 1880s, although some of the earlier, longer versions were still occasionally published in newspapers. Finally, in the summer of 1886, a version appeared that omitted even any mention of the sheep. One example of such radical truncation can be found in The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Madison County's local newspaper, in a 'filler' article on their miscellaneous news page. The once sensational story from the Sun has now been reduced to a three-sentence reliquiae reliquiarum ('remains of remnants'):
The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Illinois,
September 1, 1886
Probably the largest rock in the
known world is the south dome of the
Yosemite, which rears itself, a solid
rocky leaf[!], six thousand feet above the
ground, a sheer precipice over a mile
in height. No man ever trod the top
of this dome until last year: then, how-
ever, after thousands of dollars had
been expended, several persons found
their way to the top.
A dozen other newspapers used the same filler later that same year. Isn't it a bit ironic that in 1886, eleven years after Anderson's first ascent and two years after his death, the text still claimed that "no man ever trod the top of this dome until