The Pioneer Yosemite History Center The Pioneer The Pioneer Yosemite History Center Yosemite

BACK TO THE FUTURE The scenery of Yosemite is world-renowned. Each Yosemite History year, millions of people are drawn to its thundering Issues such as preservation versus use, overcrowding, , towering giant sequoias, unique geologic automobile traffi c, and private land ownership in the Center features, and magnifi cent high country. Many visitors park confounded the pioneers. Solutions to some are less aware of the stories of individuals that have 50¢ issues elude us today. What is the future of Yosemite both changed and been changed by Yosemite. At the National Park? What role will you play in its preservation? Pioneer Yosemite History Center, the National Park How will you change Yosemite? How will Yosemite Service commemorates the efforts of people, the change you? events they experienced, and the issues they faced during the establishment of this great park.

GREY BARN & COVERED BRIDGE

In the late 1800s, Wawona was the largest stage stop in Yosemite. After hours of bouncing and bumping along uneven dirt roads, inbound stages stopped for the night at the before making the eight-hour trip to Yosemite . If a stage needed a repair before the sixteen-hour round- trip journey, the grey barn was the place to visit. The Washburns, proprietors of the Wawona Hotel, used this barn for repairing stages. The Pioneer Yosemite History Center consists All Yosemite-bound traffi c through this area of historic structures from different eras of crossed the covered bridge, which was built in 1857 Yosemite history. Originally constructed in different by . Clark opened the fi rst waystation for locations throughout Yosemite, they were moved visitors in Wawona and later became the fi rst guardian to Wawona in the 1950s and 1960s. As you walk of the Yosemite Grant. He sold his land along the among them, it is important to remember that the This project made possible through a gift from the river to the Washburns, and they covered the bridge Jeangerard Foundation. Printed on recycled paper. © 2006. area does not represent a village. Instead, each build- in the style of their native Vermont. Its restoration was ing represents a different chapter in the Yosemite the fi rst step in the creation of the Pioneer Yosemite This brochure is dedicated to the memory of Rod Collier, story. Allow Yosemite history to come to life as you whose love for Yosemite history and concern for environmental History Center. preservation infl uenced thousands of young people. travel back in time to an era of horse-drawn wagons, As you cross the bridge, listen for the low rumble covered bridges, and log cabins. of an oncoming stage and allow your imagination to Cover Photo Courtesy of Bob Roney; Sketches by Dov Bock. return to the days of Yosemite’s pioneers.

A place of pioneers who profoundly infl uenced the birth and growth of the national park idea. The Pioneer Yosemite History Center Yosemite National Park

ARTIST CABIN HOMESTEAD CABIN CAVALRY OFFICE DEGNAN’S BAKERY

Explorers, writers, and early tourist parties of the Although Yosemite was set aside as a national John Degnan settled in in 1884, 1850s returned from Yosemite with stories of park in 1890, the had not and began working as a laborer and caretaker spectacular beauty. Artists were drawn to Yosemite, yet been created. Following the precedent set in for state administrators there. His wife, Bridget, where they found inspiration in the magnifi cent Yellowstone, our country’s fi rst national park, the added to the family income by selling scenery. Paintings, drawings, sketches, and photo- U.S. Army managed both Sequoia and Yosemite. bread she baked daily in Dutch ovens. graphs publicized and popularized Yosemite. Each summer over 200 soldiers, usually cavalry, rode As travel to Yosemite increased, the Consequently, many people chose to travel the from the Presidio of to protect both demand for her bread grew. A larger arduous route to Yosemite and experience the beauty parks. They patrolled , stocked fi sh, and enforced oven, capable of producing 50 loaves fi rsthand. Thus, artists played a key role in increased rules, such as no hunting or grazing. In 1899, 1903, per day, was used until 1900, when awareness, tourism, and protection of Yosemite and 1904, African-American buffalo soldiers served the Degnans ordered a large brick National Park. Painter Christian Jorgensen constructed in the . All of these troopers were oven for a more permanent this building on the banks of the near among the fi rst park rangers. Their headquarters was bakery. This bakery was Sentinel Bridge in Yosemite Valley. Camp A. E. Wood, now the Wawona Campground. originally connected to the In 1906, the State of returned Yosemite Degnan’s home near the chapel Much of the high country around Yosemite Valley and the to the federal in Yosemite Valley, and is an important ANDERSON CABIN Valley had been claimed by individuals in the government to be managed as part of Yosemite reminder of Yosemite’s early visitor services. late 1800s. The Hodgdon family, ranchers from the National Park, and the headquarters moved to Tourist parties provided business for local , built this cabin on their home- Yosemite Valley. residents. George Anderson, a miner and blacksmith, steaded land in Aspen Valley and grazed cattle there WELLS FARGO OFFICE worked as a guide in the late 1800s, and escorted each summer. In the late 1880s, and other visitors on expeditions in Yosemite. In 1875, he was preservationists grew concerned that the damage Yosemite Valley was a hub for most visitor the fi rst person to climb . He spent his caused by cattle and sheep in the high country would services. Visitors arriving by horse-drawn or auto winters in this building at Big Meadow (now called impact the watershed and Yosemite’s waterfalls. stage used this offi ce to make railroad and lodging Foresta), and his summers in Yosemite Valley. Muir led the movement to preserve the high country, reservations, place long-distance phone calls, or send and helped establish the expanded boundaries of telegrams. By 1914, automobiles were common in Yosemite National Park in 1890. Yosemite, and in that year, horse-drawn stage service Although Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove was discontinued. However, annual visitation to had been set aside by the federal government for Yosemite in 1915 doubled to 31,000. Consequently, protection by the State of California in 1864, prior stage operation was renewed. In 1916, the era of claims to the land caused legal battles between stage travel ended and another began. The National residents and the government. Land claims would be Park Service, a federal agency created to preserve and fought for many years — the cabin represents such manage our country’s national parks, was established. disputes. POWDERHOUSE AND JAIL BLACKSMITH SHOP RANGER PATROL CABIN As auto-touring increased, the newly-formed By 1900, many people had made the trip to In 1914, the U.S. Cavalry left Yosemite. The National Park Service recognized that roads Yosemite on horseback or by horse-drawn management of this huge park fell to a small group needed improvement. Road-building in this region stage. Roads were rough on horses and riders. of 15 men who had served as cavalry scouts. Their was not easy. Granite rock was blasted away to form It took eight hours to travel approximately 25 miles duties were made more diffi cult by the fact that roadbeds. Powderhouses were used to store blasting from Wawona to Yosemite Valley. A four-up stage automobiles had been allowed to enter the park in powder. In 1933, access to Yosemite Valley from (a stage being drawn by four horses) changed horses 1914. Buildings such as this were used as automobile Wawona was improved with the completion of the four times during the trip. Consequently, 16 horses check stations. Here drivers paid a fee to enter the . The tunnel’s power lines, its carbon were used to make the journey. Blacksmiths shops park and were informed of regulations. Along sections monoxide sensors, and its high-speed fans made it were located throughout the park, and “smithys” of the Big Oak Flat and Wawona roads, automobile an engineering feat. Workers used 275 tons of blast- offered valuable assistance with shoeing and stage were only permitted to go east, downgrade, on odd ing powder and spent nearly two years drilling the repair. hours and west, upgrade, on even hours. tunnel at a rate of roughly 20 feet per day.