F. P. Shepherd is the first person known to have completely vanished inside of Yosemite National Park, according to the book Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Charles R. Farabee (an excellent book if you’re interested in the mysteries of Yosemite National Park told by Search and Rescue workers).

Shepherd was a resident of San Francisco, California. He was a jeweler and an immigrant from England.

It is unclear how old he was or even the precise spelling of his name (or even what his first and second names were). Off the Wall says he was 37 but the San Francisco Call article (linked below) says he was 25.

Off the Wall says that on June 17th, 1909, Shepherd and two female companions left the Glacier Point Hotel (which was destroyed by fire in 1969) with the goal of reaching the nearby Sentinel Dome. This is a short distance of about one mile. The Oakland Tribune article (linked below) agrees with this, but the San Francisco Call article says he left from the Valley Floor “with a party of tourists.”

All three sources agree that a thick fog convinced his hiking companions to turn back but Shepherd decided to continue towards his goal. The San Francisco Call article also mentions “stormy weather.”

The Oakland Tribune article says “he laughingly said he guessed he’d try to make it.”

He was never seen again. There’s no mention in any of the few sources I found if he made it to Sentinel Dome or not.

The Oakland Tribune article describes how several searching parties were formed. One from soldiers of the U.S. Calvary; and others from men from the hotel and “some grizzled guides.”

Off the Wall describes how the U.S. Calvary searched the cliffs above Illilouette Falls and the Merced River. This involved descending the cliffs using rope ladders and grappling irons. They spent four days doing this.

Searches were hampered by the reappearance of the fog.

The San Francisco Call article describes preparations for a bloodhound search for F. P. Shepherd after the Cavalry had given up.

No sign of this man has ever been found.

Links / Credits

Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Charles R. Farabee

Oakland Tribune article:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109267927/lost-in-wilds-of-the-yosemite/

San Francisco Call article:

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19090622.2.25&

NPS FOIA Yosemite Missing Persons:

https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/Yosemite-Missing-Persons-as-of-March-2017.pdf