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| Gary and the Cabin at Soda Springs |
Capture California, the Game-2013
Adventure: 003, Site 003, Site
014-Soda Springs Cabin
National Registry ID: 79000282
Team: YOLT
Date: June 27, 2013
Location:
Address: Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite
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| The Soda Springs |
Description:
Date Built: 1885
Architect: Lembert, John Baptiste
As we were hiking the John Muir Trail,
we came to Tuolumne Meadows, a place of refreshment and history. One
of the places of history is Soda Springs. Water bubbling to the
surface. This particular spring has been enclosed in a log cabin
structure—does not look old. There are several other springs in the
area. The cabin is close to Parson's Lodge, just across the hill from the
Lodge.
John Baptist Lembert found this place
in 1885, then built his cabin in 1889. The cabin is all which
survives of Lembert's homestead. He used the meadows to graze his
flock of angora goats. Later when the Great Western Wagon Road—the
prelude to the current Tioga Pass Road—was built, Lembert became a
noted guide to the area, having acquired the titles of entomolist and
naturalist. This sort of happens as you get to know the area. In his
youth, he was educated in Latin, so the biological names were not an
issue for him.
The cabin, which the ruins are around
the springs, was built to keep animals out of the springs, keeping
the water fresh and pure. The current cabin is a replica of the old
cabin, without a roof. Around 1896 or 1897, Lembert was murdered in
Yosemite Valley, as part of a robbery. Lembert Dome, on the east
side of Tuolumne Meadows, was named in his honor. Also, because of
his role in collecting several plant species for the Smithosian and
Dept of Agriculture, he has a moth named after him: Hepialis
lemberti.
PLACE:
Erroneously spelled LAMBERT on many maps and references.
John Baptist Lembert took up a homestead quarter-section of land
in Tuolumne Meadows in 1885. The property included the soda springs
and the meadow land across the river. He had previously lived in and
around Yosemite. He built a log cabin on his claim and lived there,
raising angora goats until the winter of 1889—go when he lost his
goats in the storms. Thereafter he collected butterflies and
botanical specimens, which he sold to museums. In 1895 he was issued
a United States patent on his claim.
He continued to live on his soda-springs property during the
summers, but spent the winters in a cabin near Cascade Creek below
Yosemite Valley. Here, in the winter of 1896-97, his body was found,
evidently murdered.
The Tuolumne Meadows property passed to his brother, Jacob Lembert
who sold it in 1898 to the McCauley brothers. In 1912 it was
purchased by members of the Sierra Club and held in trust for the
club.
The Dome, being the most prominent object in the neighborhood,
came to be known by the name of the hermit settler. (William E.
Colby.—See, also, S.C.B., 1913, IX:1, pp. 36-39.)
References:
Overall Landmark References:
