William Keith (1838-1911)

In 1875, William Keith journeyed to the Sierra Nevadas with John Muir, John Swett and J.B. McChesney. There the group camped at the headwaters of the Owens River with Red Slate Mountain in the background. In a letter from that trip the artist recalled, "by way of Gentry, proposing to cross Yosemite Creek, up to Lake Tenaya, past Mount Hoffman, Toulumne Meadows, Soda Springs, past Dana and Gibbs, up over the Summit, down Bloody Cañon to Mono Lake, and skirting the eastern slope of the Sierra, exploring the head of the Owen's River, etc; all of which I propose to relate." (as quoted in B. Cornelius, Keith: Old Master of California, 1942, p. 66)