Re: Edwin Parker?

Found this plaque at Smedberg (on a rock on the N. side, above the horse-packers camp). Can someone explain it (not just who he was, but how he got to have a plaque in Yosemite)?





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2012 04:35PM by Royalist.

Quote
Royalist

Found this plaque at Smedberg (on a rock on the N. side, above the horse-packers camp). Can someone explain it (not just who he was, but how he got to have a plaque in Yosemite)?

A quick Google search indicates he was a former president of Signet Testing Labs, Inc., based in Hayward, CA.

.

Quote
plawrence
A quick Google search indicates he was a former president of Signet Testing Labs, Inc., based in Hayward, CA.

Naturally I did a "quick" Google search before I posted here, but I didn't manage to dig up that specific detail. It doesn't really shed much light on the plaque, though.

It must have required power tools and significant effort to install the plaque (the screw holes would need an impact drill, and it looks like the rock was chiselled out to make a flat recess). That, plus the proximity to the horse-packers' camp, suggests the packers put the plaque there. Our theory is that Edwin Parker was somehow associated with the packers.

Given how recently it was done, we suspect this was not authorized by the Park Service. It seems like a deplorable trend - we don't want the park littered with this kind of stuff, no matter how discreetly placed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2012 02:25PM by Royalist.

I agree that it's a deplorable trend, especially to have such plaques placed in a designated wilderness area. In all honesty, it ought to be removed.

If you have the GPS coordinates of the plaque, you should pass them on to the Park Service so they can properly remove it and try to restore the rock to its former pristine condition.
.

Quote
Royalist

Quote
plawrence

A quick Google search indicates he was a former president of Signet Testing Labs, Inc., based in Hayward, CA.

Naturally I did a "quick" Google search before I posted here, but I didn't manage to dig up that specific detail.

My quick search came up with this: http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?20036654191.

Mr. Parker is listed in Box C.

(I got there by googling: "edwin parker" moraga obit )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2012 03:06PM by plawrence.

Just wondering.... could he be under that rock?

My guess is that his friends and family probably spread his ashes in and around the mountains that he loved.
.

Scattering ashes is fine, but unless he is under that rock the plaque should not be there. If I have time tomorrow, I'll stop by the library across the street from my office and see what they have to say.

Quote
Dave

Scattering ashes is fine, but unless he is under that rock the plaque should not be there. If I have time tomorrow, I'll stop by the library across the street from my office and see what they have to say.

Thanks.

But even if he is under that rock (though I doubt it) that plaque ought not to be there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2012 10:03PM by plawrence.

In one way this reminds me of the memorial I found in Oregon's Sky Lake Wilderness. However, and without knowing the individual circumstances of either people, I thought the 'granite slab out in the lake' answer I saw at Sky Lakes was more respectful of the larger wilderness than bolting a plaque on a rock. I'm sure neither were legal, but the Sky Lakes memorial was out where (I'm guessing) friends and family would find it and remember, but not where everyone else would see a scar (really, I only found the slab by accident, because I was swimming, and just happened to see something curious in the water as I was looking for a place to rest).

Here's some more litter, it's in YNP, but I ain't saying where. I'm down with the LNT - yeah, you know me - but I don't bother packing out scrap metal unless it's got some kinda useful shape or purpose, like an ice axe. Then I'm as green as you can be. Booty!



You'd have to be a real stumble-bum to stumble upon it. Dude's got a real generic name so I couldn't google anything.

5 points if you've seen it. 10 points if know who he is.

That one came up pretty quickly. Donate my points to the Stephen D. Peterson Conservation Fund:
http://www.myspace.com/petersonpeak1
http://www.myspace.com/petersonpeak/blog/38904398
http://www.mikkelborg.net/news.php?id=6344
http://non-profit-organizations.findthebest.com/l/1668118/Stephen-D-Peterson-Conservation-Fund



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2012 11:02AM by phantum.

Thanks for the info. So that explains it. I didn't find any of that last time I searched.

But I dunno, that seems kinda creepy. A "Conservation Fund" which glues trash onto mountains?

Quote
QITNL

But I dunno, that seems kinda creepy. A "Conservation Fund" which glues trash onto mountains?

Ironic isn't it that his friends and family who undoubtedly set up the conservation fund in his honor would deface the wilderness that he apparently so loved.
.

The operative word in both cases may be "fund" or "funds". Friends with privileges, perhaps?

Quote
plawrence
Ironic isn't it that his friends and family who undoubtedly set up the conservation fund in his honor would deface the wilderness that he apparently so loved.

I think it's strangely appropriate, since he was "both an avid hunter and enthusiast of birding".

So far in my research the only "authorized" memorial plaque in Yosemite is a small one, hard to find near Olmstead Point, for Barry Hance.

I thought Royalist was joking...

There's also the Don Goodrich memorial plaque. It was placed by his buddies at the base of the Harding route on the west face of Conness. He was killed attempting its first ascent after he pulled a loose block. He accomplished a number of FA's in the Valley and a pinnacle on Glacier Point Apron bears his name. So I wouldn't mess with that.

Photo from SummitPost (huge image):
http://images.summitpost.org/original/548277.jpg

His memorial point at UC Merced will be dedicated this Saturday, Oct. 6th, at 5:00 PM.



Here's a link to the Peterson's Conservation Fund's Facebook Page: Facebook-Stephen D. Peterson Conservation Fund

(Maybe his conservation fund could fund the relocation of his memorial plaque off of Unicorn Peak to a more appropriate location like his memorial point at UC Merced.)

.

Fortunately it's not on Unicorn proper, but next door on that big stinking pile of rubble referred to as Mt Althuski. Nor is it on the "summit", so it's not in-your-face, just kinda weird, like "wtf is this doing here and why was I dumb enough to find it?"

Hmm, who in the heck was Althuski?

OK, but I still think the 'four feet under water' answer for the plaque is a better one.

Who is to say what will remain with the passage of time? As you drive from Bridalveil Meadows to Bridalveil Falls, there is a 3-4' high rock in the trees on the left side. I believe the rock marks the spot where two prospectors were killed in 1852. If I recall my thesis research of some 40 years ago, there used to be a metal memorial plaque on that rock but it was removed about 1926. To the east is a rock and metal monument to Lafayette Bunnell of the Mariposa Battalion, who possibly camped at that spot in March, 1851. There also used to be a wooden naturalist sign to the west/northwest of the prospector's stone that marked the 1903 camping spot of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. Some memorials seems to fall out of favor and disappear and that may well occur with the recent items mentioned in this thread.