Book excerpt: "Soon after his arrival in California from Boston during 1860, King joined a small group of friends for an excursion to Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove. On his return he described the trip in a seies of eight letters to the 'Boston Evening Transcript'. These communications, never before reprinted in their entirety, form the body of 'A Vacation among the Sierras'--Book prospectus.