The Yosemite Book; A Description of the Yosemite Valley and the Adjacent Region of the Sierra Nevada, and of The Big Trees of California

In the introduction to the Geological Survey of California’s Yosemite Book, Whitney notes that the publication is intended "to call the attention of the public to the scenery of California, and to furnish a reliable guide to some of its most interesting features, namely: the Yosemite Valley, the High Sierra in its immediate vicinity, and the so-called ‘Big Trees.’" It includes analysis of the special geological and botanic features of the region, two maps, and twenty-eight albumen silver prints from glass negatives—twenty-four by Watkins and four by an obscure photographer named "W. Harris." Only 250 copies of the book include original photographs; a trade edition for general tourists, The Yosemite Guide-Book, was subsequently published with wood engravings. At Whitney’s request, Watkins joined the Geological Survey in 1865 and worked in California for two summers making negatives in multiple formats. The survey team included a generous note about Watkins’s work:
"Mr. C. E. Watkins, the well-known and skillful photographer, whose views of Pacific coast scenery have been highly praised by good judges in this country and in Europe, being in the Yosemite Valley at the same time with our party, I requested him to take a set of pictures with the Dallmeyer lens belonging to the survey, for the purpose of illustrating the work then in preparation. He kindly acceded to my request, and of the pictures then taken, twenty-four were selected to accompany the volume in question, and are herewith presented, with full confidence that they will give satisfaction to those who are themselves unable to visit the scenes which they represent; and that, to those who have had that privilege, they will be of the greatest interest as recalling some of the most striking points of view in and about the Yosemite Valley."