The Discovery and Saving of Yosemite: A Militiaman’s Emotions

Author’s Note: This article “The Discovery and Saving of Yosemite: A Militiaman’s Emotions” is a chapter in my new book/ebookNorthern California History Travel Adventures: 35 Suggested Trips. The subject is also in my book/ebookNorthern California Travel: The Best Options. The latter book is available in English as a book/ebook and also as an ebook in Chinese. Several of my books on California can be seen on my Amazon Author Page.

By Lee Foster In Brief

“As I looked, a peculiar sensation seemed to fill my whole being,” wrote the militiaman. “And I found my eyes in tears with emotion.” Such were the sentiments of one of the first white men to discover . What he found was a mountain retreat of awesome beauty in east central California. Later, this treasure needed to be saved from developers.

Yosemite Falls in , CA

The year was 1851. Our observer was not a poet. Rather, he was a rough militiaman from the Mariposa Battalion. His duty was to pursue Chief and his Ahwahneechee tribesmen. The tribespeople were threatening conflict with the gold miners around Mariposa. The simple eloquence of his recorded thoughts testifies to the universal experience of Yosemite. So many travelers feel the same when they first encounter Yosemite Valley. The valley is an eight-mile funnel with a flat base and 3,000-foot walls. It presents a subdued grandeur. Here, one feels a sense of being in nature’s grand cathedral. Yosemite has a spare and ennobling aura.

Gradually, Yosemite moved toward public protection. In 1864 Abraham Lincoln signed a bill, the Yosemite Grant to California, authorizing state protection of Yosemite Valley and the giant sequoias of the area. Spurred by pleas and publicity from and others, Yosemite National Park was legislated in 1890. Later, on a famous camping trip, Teddy Roosevelt visited Yosemite with John Muir. The trip energized Roosevelt to create a record-breaking number of public parks and monuments during his presidency.

The Historic Story

The history of major interest in Yosemite is not the mere human time frame but the geological story. Over eons the forces of glacial activity have scraped away at the granite rock, exposing the faces such as and , which stun the imagination with their size. The rushing has carried rock fragment and silt from higher mountain areas to the floor of the valley. Prior to the glacial periods, Yosemite was a sea, with extensive sedimentary deposits. Gradually, geological forces of uplift thrust the sea bed to its present elevation.

Miwok and Mono Lake Paiute Native Americans established villages along the Merced River that runs through Yosemite Valley. The Native Americans called the Valley “Ahwahnee,” which possibly meant “gaping mouth.” They may have lived here for several thousand years, gathering acorns and seeds, fishing for trout, and hunting deer. Except for a period of years around 1800, when a disease known as “the fatal black sickness” forced them out of the area, the Native Americans lived peacefully within the Yosemite Valley.

Not until much later, after the Gold Rush, did the white man frequent the area. Today you can see a replica of a Miwok village. The re-creations occur at the Visitor Center and have been built, in some cases, by descendants of the original Miwoks, which makes this location a highlight of a Yosemite trip. You’ll see how the Miwoks harvested the black oak acorns, hunted for deer, and lived in bark structures.

Getting There

The most direct routes to Yosemite Valley from San Francisco are Highway 120 east from Manteca or Highway 132 at the Modesto turnoff from Interstate 5-580. The all- weather gateway to Yosemite is Merced, a town in the Central Valley of California. From Merced, take Highway 140 east into Yosemite Valley. Merced is about three hours by car from San Francisco. Allow another hour for the drive in along narrow, winding roads to the park. The Amtrak train is a relaxing way to get to Yosemite. The train arranges bus transportation into Yosemite Valley from Merced.

Be Sure to See

Start at the Visitor Center, with its excellent selection of guidebooks and maps, plus a ranger to suggest outings.

A visit can recreate the wonder of Yosemite that John Muir showed Theodore Roosevelt during their famous encampment at Wawona and elsewhere. A marker on the valley floor recalls the event.

Some favorite initial outings here are easy to make with the help of a ranger’s directions.

Drive or tram around the valley to get a view of all the different waterfalls. Certainly, is the most obvious and dominant. Upper Yosemite Falls drops 1,430 feet in one abrupt fall, and Lower Yosemite Falls drops another 320 feet.

Walk up to . The walk is lovely and the setting, an alpine lake quickly silting due to natural succession, illustrates the geologic forces at work today.

Walk up to Nevada Falls. Part of the pleasure of this walk is the ever-changing vista presented of such familiar landmarks as Yosemite Falls or Half Dome. Yosemite Valley, which 90 percent of the visitors never leave, is only a miniscule part of Yosemite National Park. In short, the valley is seven of the total 1,169 square miles of the park. If you can, make an effort to get out of the valley to Wawona to see the big trees, the sequoias, or to the high country to see Tuolumne Meadows.

Half Dome, from , Yosemite National Park, California

There are 196 miles of primary roads and about 800 miles of trail to entice you beyond Yosemite Valley. Above all, Yosemite’s high country offers an excursion through a rocky alpine landscape.

The road is Highway 120, the Road, which closes in winter.

Best Time of Year

Each season brings its special rewards to a Yosemite visitor. For example, summer is the time of the most active historic interpretive programs and best access to roads in the high country.

Lodging

The historic lodging in Yosemite Valley is the Ahwahnee, one of the most distinctive lodgings in any National Park.

Dining

The memorable dining here is at the venerable Ahwahnee Dining Room.

For Further Information on Yosemite

The Park Service website itself is your best source of information. See that at www.nps.gov/yose.

The vendor for the park, Aramark, manages all the practical details of travel to Yosemite, such as the lodgings. See them at http://www.travelyosemite.com/.