The Lore and the Lure of the Yosemite: Chapter II. The Story of Yosemite: The Three Brothers
Facing the Cathedral Spires across the Valley are The Three Brothers, so called, it is said, from the fact that on the second expedition of the Mariposa Battalion into the Valley in 1851, a party of Indian scouts were captured near the base of this mountain, three of whom turned out to be brothers, the sons of old chief Te-na-ya. The Indian name for these peaks is Waw-haw-kee, signifying "falling rocks." Here again the almost perfect symmetry of outline suggests man's collaboration in the more unthinking architecture of nature.