(Poor juniper trees)
San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 1895, p. 9
They Climbed to the Half Dome's Top;
Stirring Experience of Two Young Mountaineers, One of Whom Emulated His Sire
To ascend the Half Dome of the Yosemite valley has always been more or less an ambition of daring climbers throughout this and other countries. It is probably because there are more chances of one breaking his neck than there are of getting up safely, that the ascent is so attractive. Quite a number of San Franciscans have successfully climbed the Half Dome, and Thomas Magee Jr. [of San Francisco], and Stewart L. Rawlings of Oakland are the latest successful mountaineers. Only a few days ago Messrs. Magee and Rawlings made the ascent, and by a singular coincidence, although not unintentional, the younger Magee was on the top of the great Half Dome just eighteen years after his father, the well known California pioneer, had made a similar ascent.
During the intervening eighteen years several San Franciscans have made the ascent. In 1879 George H. Strong of San Francisco made the same ascent [actually, that was in 1881], and it was part of the same rope that Mr. Strong and his guide, Anderson, left on the Half Dome nearly sixteen years ago that young Thomas Magee found when he went up there the other day...
The Half, or South Dome, is a crest of granite rising to the height of 5000 feet above the valley, and seems perfectly inaccessible. On the valley front it is a smooth and nearly verticla flat wall, which gives it the name "Half Dome"... That part which remains, is an oval dome, falling off rapidly from the top..., except at the rear side, nearly opposite the flat front face.
Climbing the Half Dome.
(An artistic impression, from the Chronicle)
From the "Saddle" the curved slope of the Dome commences and extends 800[?] feet to the top, the actual angle being from 38 to 40 degrees and in some places possibly more... There is no actual record of any ascent of the Half Dome between that made by Mr. Strong in 1879 and the one made by young Mr. Magee and Mr. Rawlings a few days ago.
The Magee-Rawlings party were located at Camp Etnemere in the hills and from that point the start was made early in the morning. On horseback they went over the Cloud's Rest trail to a point two miles beyond the Nevada Falls, where they struck the old Half Dome trail leading to the Anderson cabin, where eighteen years before young Magee, then a very small boy, was left while his father made the ascent. Leaving the horses at the cabin they made the trip across the "Saddle", which is in itself no small task, because the canyons Merced and Tenaya were on either side and the necessity for keeping in the center of the very narrow trail was made evident by the sheer descending decliv[i]ties on either side.
Here was the beginning of the climb in earnest. There was just a few remnants of the old rope left there by Mr. Strong and his guide Anderson. It took some time before the party could find any signs of the spikes, which they knew had been there years before, and by which they were to climb upward of 1000 feet.
Compared with the parties before them, the Magee-Rawlings party was well equipped, having 200 feet of half inch rope, a sixteen-foot pole and a hatchet. Nearly a hundred feet up the side of the dome they finally found an iron eyebolt, and concluded, in order to get up to the dome, they had to first get to that ringbolt.
After a little discussion they reached the ringbolt, where they concluded it was a good thing to take off their shoes... They hung their shoes on the ringbolt and continued to climb in light marching order. Further on the way they saw that the old iron pins were from thirty to fifty feet apart, and knew if the pins were solid, and a rope could be attached to them the ascent would be practical.
Taking a rest when half way up.
(An artistic impression, from the Chronicle)
Mr. Magee took the lead and worked from one spike to the one above, carrying the rope with him, while Mr. Rawlings held the other end, fastening the bight to the lower pin. At one point the pins were so far apart and the declivity so steep that they had to lasso the pin above. This was done, but as soon as any strain was put on the rope out came the pin, and for a while it seemed as though the ascent had ended in the middle.
Finally, however, Mr. Magee crawled up on his stomach and placed a new pin in the old hole, fastening the rope thereto. From ledge to ledge and from spike to spike they climbed up the eastern slope of the Half Dome, until they reached the top, and the 1000-foot incline, smooth and bare of vegetation was below them.
From Camp Etnemere, way down in the valley, the rest of the party had been carefully watching the two climbers with powerful glasses. On the summit was a flag pole which Mr. Strong had put there when he made his ascent in 1879. Young Mr. Magee carried a white flag with him, and when the flag went up on the old flag pole a cheer went up from the camp below...
There was a bank of snow in one shadowed side of the summit and three juniper trees, two living and one dead. How the two managed to live is a natural mystery, because there is no soil, except half-pulverized granite, on the top of the wind-swept dome. The juniper is probably the only tree that could live under such conditions, and on this tree Mr. Magee and Mr. Rawlings cut their names and the date of their ascent. On another tree they cut the names of the party that eighteen years before had made the ascent and forgot to leave their autographs.
Having done this Magee and Rawlings crept out to the edge of the ledge and looked down on Mirror lake, 4000 feet below... By means of the rope, which they had carefully fastened on the ascent, Mr. Magee and Mr. Rawlings descended safely. In speaking of the ascent, Mr. Magee said: "The view is one of the finest in the world, and I would give a great deal of money rather than have missed it".