FOOTNOTES
Reading edition
“In the month of June, 1806 (in one of their yearly excursions to the valley of the rushes—Valle de los Tulares—with a view to hunt elks), a party of Californians pitched their tents on a stream at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, and whilst there, myriads of butterflies, of the most gorgeous and variegated colors, clustered on the surrounding trees, attracted their attention, from which circumstance they gave the stream the appellation of Mariposa. Hence Mariposa River, from which the county (also heavily laden with the precious metal) derives its poetical name.”
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