book I made a plea for the contribution of additional Yosemite

memorabilia to be added to the Yosemite archives. Perhaps some of the fine response from donors during the past sixteen years is traceable to that plea; more likely, the increased interest in the Yosemite Museum results from the creditable work of the park’s staff members and the message carried by the monthly publication, _Yosemite Nature Notes_. The notable growth of the Yosemite Museum collections and the improvement of its exhibits and its general program of interpretive work are heartening to all who had a hand in the establishment of the work._

_In the original version, and in bringing to the present work the benefit of new material, I have attempted to organize the published information which has been confirmed by the oral testimony of many Yosemite pioneers and enriched with authentic data from unpublished manuscripts prepared by other “old-timers” to whom I could not speak. In order that a convenient chronology of events might be available to the reader, an outline is appended to the book. This includes the episodes related in the text and in addition mentions many obscure events not treated in the narrative. It also provides ready reference to the sources drawn upon in writing. This method of citing sources has made it unnecessary to encumber the pages of the text with numerous footnotes. Most of the manuscripts referred to are the property of the Yosemite Museum. The whereabouts of other manuscripts is indicated in the bibliography._

_To the donors of the expanding collection of source materials and to the Yosemite staff members, also, who have accomplished so much in organizing, interpreting, and publishing upon these materials, I am indebted. Their interest and their labors have facilitated my present writing, and their conscientious handling of file systems, accession records, stored collections, and publication programs will facilitate the work of future investigators of Yosemite history and natural history. At the same time, their good museum practices should inspire further public confidence in the integrity of the Yosemite program, and the collections will continue to grow._

_A host of friends and associates have contributed to the production of the book. Great thanks are due my wife for her generous help and continuous encouragement. Mrs. H. J. Taylor lent important assistance and advice. Among the Yosemite staff members who gave valuable help, former Park Naturalists_ _C. A. Harwell and C. Frank Brockman and former museum-secretary, Mrs. William Godfrey, made especially important contributions; however, the extraordinary interest of every member of the park naturalist staff has placed me in the debt of the entire organization. The American Association of Museums, in addition to coöperating with the National Park Service in founding the Yosemite Museum, has contributed directly to the production of this book by assisting me in the collecting of rare publications and helping, generally, in assembling Yosemite data. The Yosemite Park and Curry Company has made available many publications and photographs. Mrs. Don Tresidder of that organization, particularly, has given material assistance in establishing dates and historical facts. The Sierra Club has permitted the use of my article, “Mining Excitements East of Yosemite,” which was first published in the _Sierra Club Bulletin_. To David R. Brower, Editor of the _Sierra Club Bulletin_ and at the University of California Press, I acknowledge particular indebtedness, not only for editorial guidance in producing the book but, also, for his historian’s sense and his basic knowledge of the Yosemite terrain and its story. Some of his contributions to the content of the text are acknowledged elsewhere, but his friendly help has extended to every part of the book. Francis P. Farquhar and Ansel F. Hall, during a quarter of a century of our friendships, have given assistance and encouragement. Mr. Farquhar has read parts of the manuscript and made helpful suggestions. His library has been drawn upon in the course of my work. The more recent photographs reproduced upon the following pages are credited to their makers, to each of whom I am deeply beholden. For use of the very old pictures used herein, I am indebted to the Yosemite Museum, and to Superintendent Frank Kittredge I express thanks for this and many other helpful acts performed by him and his staff members in furthering my efforts._

_In the sixteen years that have elapsed since _One Hundred Years in Yosemite_ first appeared, notable changes have taken place in the geographical boundaries of the national park, physical developments within the reservation have, so far as possible, kept pace with progressing modes of vacationing, and some eight million visitors have journeyed to its wonders. A number of the historic caravansaries that served so conspicuously during stagecoach days have been removed from the scene, and the one-time dusty, tortuous routes of access have been converted to safe, surfaced roads of beautiful alignment. A world-shaking conflict has been waged, and the superlative values of the park have emerged from that war unaffected by the demands of “production” interests._

_Many earnest men have applied themselves in guarding the precious values of the great reservation. Some of these conservationists have virtually died in the harness. A growing appreciation of the work of these men is evident, and there is notable acclaim also of the far-sightedness of unnamed leaders who in 1864 obtained the epoch-making legislation that gave America her first public reservation of national park caliber._

_It has been gratifying to me to observe some practical usefulness of my original compilation of Yosemite history, and this new version of the work is offered with the hope that it may continue to guide public attention to the significance of the action of pioneers who led the world along the paths of scenic conservation. Upon the executives who now plan and administer programs of protection and management in Yosemite rests a responsibility that gains in magnitude in proportion to the growing pressure exerted by the hordes of people who seek the offerings of the park. The nation is yet in a pioneering stage in defining Yosemite values and regulating their use. In the light of experience of the past, it should be possible to discern some of the path that lies ahead._

_The ability to discern even the more subtle influences affecting the security of Yosemite and other great national parks has become a “must” for National Park Service executives. This sensitivity has not developed overnight, but now it approaches maturity. Director Newton B. Drury has exercised a leadership in this regard which marks his period of service as the apex of clear thinking on national park problems._

Carl P. Russell

_United States National Park Service_ _January 30, 1947_

_CONTENTS_

CHAPTER PAGE I Discovery 1 II Mariposa Hills 9 III White Chief of the Foothills 15 IV Pioneers in the Valley 36 V Tourists in the Saddle 50 VI Stagecoach Days 61 VII Explorers 71 VIII Hotels and Their Keepers 92 IX East-side Mining Excitement 117 X The Interpreters 129 XI Guardians of the Scene 146 Chronology 176 Bibliography 195 Index 217

ILLUSTRATIONS

FOLLOWING PAGE Frontispiece, by Ralph H. Anderson ii The Yosemite Museum x The First Drawing Made in Yosemite xviii Mariposa in the ’Fifties 8 Joseph R. Walker 44 Maria Lebrado 44 Captain John Boling 44 Lafayette H. Bunnell 44 A Freight Outfit 44 Early Tourists in the Saddle 44 First Yosemite Photograph—“Upper Hotel” 60 The Big Tree Room 60 The Big Oak Flat Route 60 The First Automobile—July, 1900 60 Early Yosemite Buses 60 Old Tioga Road 60 New Tioga Road 60 John Conway, a Pioneer Trail Builder 76 On the First Trail to the Top of Vernal Fall 76 Mount Conness and the Observatory Camp 76 James T. Gardiner and Clarence King, Early Mappers 76 Professor Davidson (right) and the Conness Observatory 76 Present-Day Trail Work—Oiling the Eleven-Mile Trail 80 Gabriel Sovulewski in 1897 80 Mount Maclure and Its Glacier 80 Measuring the Mount Lyell Glacier 80 Ski Mountaineering Party near Mount Starr King 88 Climbing on the Three Brothers 88 Descending Lower Cathedral Spire 88 The Cosmopolitan, 1870-1932 92 The Lower Hotel, 1856-1869 92 Mill Built by John Muir in 1869 96 Glacier Point Mountain House, 1878 to date 96 Sentinel Hotel (left background), 1876 to 1938 96 The Ahwahnee Hotel, 1927 to date 96 Saddle Trip on a High Sierra Trail 96 Merced Lake High Sierra Camp, 1916 to date 96 Badger Pass Ski House 100 Ski Patrol at Work 100 Winter in the Yosemite High Sierra: Clark Range 100 Snow Gaugers Entering Tuolumne Meadows 100 Sketch map of Yosemite Region, illustrating discovery, first entry, east-side mining excitement, and some present-day culture 124 John Muir 148 Galen Clark 148 Colonel H. C. Benson 148 James M. Hutchings 148 Sierra Club Headquarters in Yosemite, 1898 148 William E. Colby 148 W. B. Lewis and Stephen T. Mather 164 A Presidential Party at the Grizzly Giant 164 Hetch Hetchy Valley before Inundation 164 Devils Postpile, Excluded from Yosemite in 1905 164