During the pleistocene glaciations massive glaciers scoured out this area, leaving the prominent U-shaped valley of polished bright granitic rocks and erratic boulders. The glaciers carved their way through the mountains, extracted boulders and carried them down a river of ice over two thousand feet thick. As the glaciers melted out about 12,000 years ago, they left rocks scattered about (glacial erratics), often with different composition than the surrounding bedrock because they travelled miles from their sources.
This beautiful lake in Yosemite's High Country was known as Pywiack, meaning "Lake of the Shining Rocks" to the Ahwahneechees; the native people who inhabited the Valley of Ahwahnee (Yosemite Valley). Now, its known as Tenaya Lake, after the Ahwahneechee chief who was captured at this location. Reports say Tenaya grew outraged and said it already had a name.
On the day I painted the plein air reference used for this painting, three Indians on their annual pilgrimage from Mono Lake to Yosemite Valley looked over my shoulder and complimented my work. I asked how they pronounced the name of the lake. I have heard it pronounced Pee-wee-ack and Pie-wee-ack. They looked confused and said they only knew it as "Ten-eye-ah." One women seemed especially interested in my explanations. They left me to paint and wandered off into the Lodgepole pines. Once I finished the painting I walked past the Indian camp and the woman approached me again. She walked me over to a remote area of lake shore and wrote down my name, where I worked with the National Park Service and sources for more information on early place names and Indian history. She looked me in the eye and told me she was Chief Tenaya's great-great-grand-daughter. She said that as a child she was instructed not to use Indian words because Indians were considered dirty. So they pretended they were Mexican and many of the Indian names were lost. She smiled and thanked me. I thanked her for a moving discovery I'll never forget.
During the pleistocene glaciations massive glaciers scoured out this area, leaving the prominent U-shaped valley of polished bright granitic rocks and erratic boulders. The glaciers carved their way through the mountains, extracted boulders and carried them down a river of ice over two thousand feet thick. As the glaciers melted out about 12,000 years ago, they left rocks scattered about (glacial erratics), often with different composition than the surrounding bedrock because they travelled miles from their sources.
This beautiful lake in Yosemite's High Country was known as Pywiack, meaning "Lake of the Shining Rocks" to the Ahwahneechees; the native people who inhabited the Valley of Ahwahnee (Yosemite Valley). Now, its known as Tenaya Lake, after the Ahwahneechee chief who was captured at this location. Reports say Tenaya grew outraged and said it already had a name.
On the day I painted the plein air reference used for this painting, three Indians on their annual pilgrimage from Mono Lake to Yosemite Valley looked over my shoulder and complimented my work. I asked how they pronounced the name of the lake. I have heard it pronounced Pee-wee-ack and Pie-wee-ack. They looked confused and said they only knew it as "Ten-eye-ah." One women seemed especially interested in my explanations. They left me to paint and wandered off into the Lodgepole pines. Once I finished the painting I walked past the Indian camp and the woman approached me again. She walked me over to a remote area of lake shore and wrote down my name, where I worked with the National Park Service and sources for more information on early place names and Indian history. She looked me in the eye and told me she was Chief Tenaya's great-great-grand-daughter. She said that as a child she was instructed not to use Indian words because Indians were considered dirty. So they pretended they were Mexican and many of the Indian names were lost. She smiled and thanked me. I thanked her for a moving discovery I'll never forget.