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Yosemite Park History
Indians dwelled and traveled through the Yosemite country, giving rise to many of the landmark names we use today. They, alas, were doomed by the gold rush that began in 1849. The Mariposa Battalion, dispatched by the governor of California in 1851, chased the Indians from Yosemite Valley, and subsequently spread the word of marvels to be seen: massive El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Falls, the Merced River flowing through meadows and pines, and giant sequoias in the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. Horace Greeley visited in 1859, and proclaimed, "I know of no single wonder of Nature on earth which can claim a superiority over the Yosemite."
Soon after, the valley was well established as a tourist attraction, with trails and hotels. The concerns of a thoughtful few led Congress in 1864 to turn Yosemite Valley over to the state of California "to be held inalienable for all time," not the entire park as we know it now, but only the valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. Frederick Law Olmsted, a pioneer of park principles, saw preservation of natural scenes as beneficial to the human spirit. So did John Muir, who made his first trip to Yosemite in 1868, the start of his 40 years of adventure, exploring, interpreting and defending the country. He launched the campaign that led to the establishment of Yosemite as a national park. Few areas of this size (761,170 acres) have a wider variety of native plants and animals. From the warm foothills, at 2,000 feet above sea level to the windy summit of 13,114-foot Mount Lyell, five of the seven continental life zones are represented. Between these two limits, bear, deer, and about 75 other species of mammals make their homes. Observers have noted about 220 kinds of birds, 25 kinds of reptiles and nine kinds of amphibians. There are more than 1,200 species of flowering plants and many species of trees, including magnificent stands of pine and fir and enormous incense cedars. The natural history of Yosemite spans many millions of years starting from the ancient age when a warm, shallow sea spread across what is now the Sierra Nevada and Great Valley of California. The first of at least three glaciers extended down the Merced River canyon as far as El Portal, while the last left a moraine of rock debris damming the Merced River back into Yosemite Valley. Sediments that subsequently filled the lake form the level valley floor of today.
The sculptured walls of Yosemite Valley pay silent tribute to the geologic efficiency of natural forces, for ice, running water, and the agents of weathering have played key roles in shaping this unusual gorge. But equally important is the character of the bedrock, for in places the granitic rocks are riddled with fractures which render them more susceptible to weathering and facilitate glacial erosion. Other exposures consist of massive unfractured granites which have more effectively withstood the onslaught of weather and ice.
Muir studied the glaciers and proved their
influence in shaping Yosemite. In 1892, he organized the Sierra Club to
aid in the effort to secure federal administration of the entire Yosemite
region. In 1905, California ceded the Valley and the Grove back to the
federal government.
In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt spent three days in the park with
Muir. The first night they bedded down in fir boughs among giant trunks
of the sequoias, listening to the hermit thrush and the waterfalls tumbling
down the sheer cliffs. "It was like lying in a great solemn cathedral,"
wrote the president, "far vaster and more beautiful than any built
by the hand of man."
New history is being written at Yosemite. In
recent years visitation has risen sharply, especially to Yosemite Valley.
Some steps have been taken to protect and restore the setting -- including
conversion of roads to one-way traffic, expansion of shuttle service,
removal of a golf course and more are likely.
(Sources: "National Park Guide" by Michael Frome;
"A Guide to The National Parks" by William H. Matthews III)
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