and Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks: One Hundred Years of Preservation and Resource Management by LaryM. Dilsaver and Douglas H. Strong

In 1990,when marks its scarlet fever, and measles devastated the Indians. centennial, Kings Canyon National Park will The survivors retreated into the high mountains celebrate its fiftiethbirthday. These contiguous and crossed the Sierra to the east. The Indians of one same parks in the southern constitute Kings Canyon met the fate.3 of the nation's finest wilderness regions. The his Soon sheepherders, prospectors, and lumber a suc tory of their establishment represents major men in pursuit of their trades entered the Kings cess in east story in preservation efforts in the United Kern-Kaweah watersheds the Sierra of States, and the account of their management adds Fresno and Visalia. Following the great a to valuable chapter the history of the National floods and drought of 1862-1864, sheepherders Park Service.1 from the southern San Joaquin Valley drove their come Such success did not easily. The creation flocks north and east into the highest mountains of Sequoia resulted primarily from thedetermined in search of grazing land. Unfortunately, sheep a at a efforts of few San Joaquin Valley residents, and herding practices that time, combined with over use the expansion of the park and establishment of complete lack of governmental control the came battles of resulted in to Kings Canyon only after extended public land, widespread damage and compromises. The history of their manage the mountain watersheds. When sheep entered as snow ment reveals the transiency of policies that depend the mountains the melted each spring, on and their hoofs cut into the moist changing public awareness, lobby groups, sharp deeply soil, the meadows. leadership. severely damaging Sheepherders' Between 1772,when Europeans firstsighted the fires, set in the fall to clear away brush and dead at ran unchecked over the mountain Sierra Nevada, and the discovery of gold Sutter's fall, slopes.4 some mill in 1848, fewwhite people set foot in the Sierra Fires and overgrazing alarmed explorers of Nevada.2 Not until 1858 did cattlemanHale Tharp the Sierra. In 1873, Clarence King noted that the make the firstknown visit by a white person to the Kern Plateau, which had numerous meadows and he now mountainous area east of the central San Joaquin lush grass when had visited earlier, ap as a sea Valley thatbecame Sequoia National Park. Guided peared "gray of rolling granite ridges."5 to Giant one Muir the by local Indians, he traveled Forest, Two years later, John vividly described to He of the finest concentrations of giant sequoias, threat Kings Canyon's fragile beauty. urged so where he later established a summer cattle camp. that the forests be protected the spring run-off sure Although the Indians appealed toTharp toprotect would be to provide enough water for the San the summer months. In their land, nothing could prevent the increasing Joaquin Valley during dry a influxof settlers into the Sierra foothills.Smallpox, Muir's opinion, "sheepmen's fires" did great

98 CALIFORNIA HISTORY The inGiant Forest is the largest living thing on earth. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

SUMMER 1990 99 more axes or Mountains was no other of tree came deal damage than lumbermen's mill older, species even fires.6 close to matching the giant sequoia in sheer in bulk and Prospectors also participated the early explo grandeur. ration and utilization of the Kings-Kern-Kaweah In the 1860s lumbermen entered the forests of came At lumber watersheds. Their extensive prospecting to the Kings and Kaweah watersheds. first one but the com little except for strike at . The mills served only local communities, discovery of silver in 1873 touched offa rush to this pletion of theSouthern PacificRailroad line through high mountain valley. With the completion of a the San Joaquin Valley in themid-1870s opened more road into the isolated mining camp by the end of distant markets. Although pine and fir most the decade, Mineral King reached its peak of devel provided of the lumber, many giant sequoias soon were cut to and opment. The boom ended, however. With provide shakes, fence posts, grape was come. the failure of themines, the toll road passed into stakes. The worst yet to Log flumes, in a in the hands of the county and became public high troduced 1889, opened previously inaccessible way. A few summer tourists, attracted by the cool timberlands to loggers. Perhaps the finest stand of mountain air, built cabins and continued to visit giant sequoias, in the Converse Basin, fell quickly. to the Grove first stimu the valley each year.7 Danger interest in of In the meantime, discovery of the big trees else lated protection of the giant sequoias as where in the Sierra Nevada had attracted world the Kings-Kaweah watersheds. As early 1864 a wide attention. In 1852, hunter named A.T. the Brewer expedition, in its report to the state of a on Dowd, tracking wounded bear, stumbled the California, noted that big trees to thewest of the now as were cut for fence Israel Gamlin stand of giant sequoias known the Calaveras grove being posts. trees. established a claim to of the Grove of big Together with , squatter's part grove the enormous trees became a mecca for tourists. in 1872 and completed a rough road tohaul timber a While the coastal redwood reached greater height to the valley below. Three years later, within the and the bristlecone pine of California's White very shadow of the General Grant tree, two men

Lumbermen BillMills (left)and S.D. Phips stand before theMark Twain Tree in the area of modern Grant Grove inKings Canyon National Park. They felled the tree in 1891 to provide exhibition sections for New York and London. Photograph byC.C. Curtis. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

100 CALIFORNIA HISTORY ' s -i'S

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The Kaweah Colony celebrates completion of their access road to the plateau of with a picnic in * ' 1890. Soon thereafter ""J? their land ownership were claims suspended and Sequoia National Park created. Photo by C.C. Curtis. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

nine to fell an enormous tree and a took days then of founding Utopian community, filed ownership set fire to its stump. Two 16-foot sections were cut claims on extensive tracts of land in Giant Forest intosections thatcould be shipped and reassembled under theTimber and Stone Act. They next sought in East. But visitors at next a a the the exhibit the year capital for railroad to connect with road they was a a thought the whole thing hoax. How could planned to build from the foothills to the forest treebe thatbig? Beginning in 1878, editorials in the lands. When the railroad plan failed, they formed a Visalia Delta criticized the destruction of the for joint stock company, the Kaweah Cooperative an ests, including the cutting of giant sequoias for Commonwealth Company, and constructed exhibit.8 18-mile road through rugged country to the edge of a saw In 1880Theodore Wagner, theUnited States Sur Giant Forest.10 After setting up portable wrote to a veyor General for California, the registrar mill, the colonists produced small amount of of theUnited States Land Office inVisalia to request lumber. a that four sections in the Grant Grove be suspended While government land agent examined the from entry, temporarily prohibiting anyone from Kaweah Company's land claims, local residents was claiming the land under existing land laws. He in Tulare County initiated a determined drive to to the concerns of of responding Secretary the protect the Sierra forests by having Congress per a Interior Carl Schurz, several scientists, and grow manently withdraw large tracts of land from the citizens were ing number of local who advocated protec market. There precedents for such action. tionof thebig trees. In the following year, General Congress had granted Yosemite Valley to Califor F. into John Miller of California introduced Con nia in 1864 for "public use, resort and recreation." the first bill to establish a The measure Itwas the area in gress park.9 first the country specifically set in to died committee, however, perhaps because the aside be preserved for all future generations. As was so and would be proposed park large opposed such, Yosemite marked the real beginning of the timber and interests. even by grazing national park system, though Yellowstone, In 1885 fiftymembers of the Cooperative Land created in 1872,was the firstofficially designated and Colonization Association, with the intention national park. Yosemite did not achieve this status

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until 1890, and the valley actually remained under When Stewart and Tipton Lindsey, former receiver a state management until 1906. of the U.S. Land Office, drew map of the proposed Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley wanted to reservation, they expanded it to include the entire on western protect thewatershed which theydepended for slope of the Sierra from the present Yosem irrigation, and they also wished to preserve the ite National Park in the north to the southern end owner groves of giant sequoia remaining in public of the forestbelt inKern County. They wished to as areas. moun ship scenic and recreational With these protect all major rivers flowing from the goals inmind, George W. Stewart, editor and pub tains into the San Joaquin and Tulare valleys. move lisher of the Visalia Delta, spearheaded the A few months later, Stewart and his local sup to ment protect the southern Sierra Nevada.11 porters?including John Tuohy, Frank Walker, and over rumors Stewart became concerned when the state of Lindsey?became alarmed that the California tried to acquire parts of the Grant Grove federal government was about to open the Garfield as in 1889 indemnity school land, and several pri Grove?south of Giant Forest?to private land on same vate individuals also filed part of the ownership under the Swamp and Overflow Act, grove. Although the grove had been withdrawn Timber and Stone Act, and other statutes, Lumber in men from the market 1880, Congress had done noth coveted the timber, and sheepmen desired access ing to guarantee its permanent protection. Stewart to mountain meadows. Letters sent from warned of the damage sheep and manmade fires theDelta office to interestedgroups and influential cause coast to could to the watershed and the valley below. people from coast warned of the danger to Also, increasing numbers of vacationers needed the world's largest trees, the giant sequoias. Lindsey areas summer use. protected for recreational notified Congressman William Vandever, initiat soon atten a a The Delta's editorials attracted local ing full-scale campaign for park. tion, and members of the Tulare County Grange By the end of July1890, Vandever introduced a a in a called meeting for October 9, 1889, Visalia. bill for national park in the township that included Prominent residents from Fresno, Kern, and Tulare the .12 The Delta's campaign attracted counties who attended agreed unanimously to the support of Garden and Forest, Forest and Stream, to a petition Congress establish national park. and other publications. The California Academy of

102 CALIFORNIA HISTORY Sciences, American Association for the Advance established , tripled the size ment of Sciences, and American Forestry Associa of Sequoia, and set aside the Grant Grove as a tion also small measure came adopted resolutions favoring the park separate national park.14 The bill. as a Such support brought results; Ben complete surprise to Stewart and others who jamin Harrison signed the bill on September 25, had initiated themovement and worked so hard 1890. Sequoia National Park became the nation's for the firstbill. Daniel K. Zumwalt, a resident of second national park, created eighteen years after Visalia and a land agent of the Southern Pacific act Yellowstone. The enabling provided that two Railroad who visited Vandever inWashington, has townships plus four sections be withdrawn from been creditedwith proposing both Grant National or and set settlement, occupancy, sale, that they be Park and the expansion of Sequoia, as well as for as a or apart public park pleasure ground for the lobbying on behalf of establishment of Yosemite enjoyment of the people.13 National Park. He had a personal interestboth in see Wanting to all the forests of the Sierra pre protecting thewatershed and preserving the giant served, Stewart declared in theDelta that the first sequoias. He knew of the 1889 petition and subse in a work had been taken. important step great quent correspondence of the park advocates. More that the and Kern and the Southern con Believing Kings canyons important, Pacific had long been other desirable areas could be added cerned about later, park protecting the water supply of the not a advocates had clamored for large park because San JoaquinValley, and itrecognized thatnational of the imminent danger to the Garfield Grove. parks would attract tourists and increase business.15 felt that effort to secure a They any larger park, Support by the powerful Southern Pacific helped which would have included much privately held win the day for Sequoia, Yosemite, and General would be sure to fail without an educational land, Grant national parks. campaign that they had no time to conduct. The Kaweah colonists, however, were shocked On October first, less than one week after crea and dismayed by the news of the October first tionof the a second bill that To make matters a park, Congress passed legislation. worse, special land

SEQUOIAAND KINGS CANYON \ NATIONALPARKS

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SUMMER 1990 103 a reserve an agent of theDepartment of the Interior reversed from forest to parkland. He dreamed of and ruled on the col previous report unfavorably eventual large national park incorporating the ony's already-filed land claims in Giant Forest. southern Sierra. Despite widespread support of the colonists by Special Agent Allen redrew the boundaries he many residents of Tulare County, who respected had been investigating to exclude arable land in the time and labor theyhad invested, Secretary of the foothills, thus eliminating a good deal of poten the InteriorJohn Noble ruled against the colonists' tial opposition to the proposed reserve.When he land claims in April 1891. The government even completed his report in early 1893, he stressed the denied compensation for the road theyhad built.16 dependence of the economic future of the San on Joaquin Valley the protection of the watershed. on a The creation of the three national parks in Finally, February 14, Harrison signed procla California marked only the first step in pro mation establishing the Sierra Forest Reservation ?a vast area over acres tectingthe Sierrawatershed. Furtherprompt of four million stretching was a action clearly needed. Within decade, the from Yosemite National Park on the north to a of Fresno and Tulare counties had more population point well south of Sequoia National Park.19 than doubled. The California State Board of For While park advocates had presumed the adja cent new estry franklyadmitted that lack of funds prevented Kings and Kern watersheds?part of the fire control. And as most of California was forest soon be to proper reserve?might added Sequoia and still the property of the national government, the General Grant national parks, pleas for park state looked toWashington for legislative help. expansion fell on deaf ears. In 1905, the Depart Fortunately, inMarch 1891, Congress passed ment of Agriculture gained jurisdiction over all reserves soon name legislation that permitted the president to pro forest and changed the to claim permanent forest reserves?today's national national forests. Under Forest Service policy of forests.17 Protectors of the Sierra could now pro multiple use and sustained yield, grazing and log set reserves or on pose that land be aside in forest ging remained options national forests of the national itmattered little that no clear dis parks; Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Club and other park tinction two reserves between the kinds of existed advocates continued to call for permanent preser vation of areas at that time. InApril, Stewart recommended that outstanding scenic in national parks. Sequoia and General Grant national parks be In 1911,California Senator Frank Flint introduced a to create a vast extended eastward to the summit of the Sierra bill national park in the southern Nevada. and Robert Underwood John Sierra.20 Earlier,William Colby of the Sierra Club had a son, editor of CenturyMagazine, both of whom proposed series of national monuments in a had played leading role in the establishment of theKings River Canyon, Tehipite Valley, and other Yosemite National also continued to Park, agitate scenic areas, and Robert Marshall of the Geological a reserve in a a for large forest the southern Sierra. Survey had initiated plan for large park incor In the the October, commissioner of General porating both the Kern and watersheds. an Land Office directed Special Agent B.F. Allen to Advocates argued that enlarged Sierra park investigate the forest reservation proposed in the would increase government appropriations, attract Tulare County petition of 1889.18The petition had tourists, and stimulate the local economy. reserve a tract requested that the government of But many local people opposed the enlargement. over a on land embracing 200 townships. On Allen's Stockmen, who paid only small fee for grazing recommendation, the commissioner withdrew 230 national forest lands, would be excluded from a a townships from settlement under federal land laws, park. Hunters opposed the elimination of such an area. pending investigation of these lands. While large hunting Prospectors claimed that much ore "Anti-Park Association," led by local sheepmen valuable would be excluded from use, and reserva and lumbermen, protested that the forest lumber interestsdecried the loss of valuable tim tionwould hurt local prosperity,most residents of ber. Others argued that the natural features of the San Joaquin Valley either approved thewith the Sierra already had protection through their or were drawal of land neutral. ruggedness and inaccessibility. Chief U.S. Forester Early in 1892, Johnson suggested to Secretary Henry S. Graves insisted that all proposals for reserve new a Noble that President Benjamin Harrison all national parks be deferred until Bureau of of the Sierra Nevada above a certain altitude. If that National Parks was created. were done, Johnson reasoned, later, at a moment The 1913 loss of the Hetch Hetchy Valley of convert some of it to a to of less urgency, Congress could Yosemite National Park dam site provide

104 CALIFORNIA HISTORY in the water for San Francisco made park enlargement recreational purposes, actively supported park more the southern Sierra seem all the important. movement. Ickes's met with Under heavy pressure, Congress established the park proposal, however, sharp in 1916. , its criticism. Many valley commercial interests feared first director, led prominent guests into the Sierra the Park Service would prohibit development, espe to gain support for park expansion. cially dams forhydroelectric power and irrigation. in Opposition intensified, however. Cattlemen They favored continued administration by the For summer est Service with itsmore utilitarian the San Joaquin Valley still coveted graz approach. Local ing lands in the mountains; the Forest Service Forest Service officials, opposed to the growing argued that any future park should exclude tim national park system, fought todefend itsmanage ber, mineral, and grazing lands of commercial ment principles and the land under its jurisdiction. value; theLos Angeles Bureau of Power and Light After amajor battle inCongress, the contending a planned major dams at Cedar Grove in Kings Can parties reached settlement. To win the support of yon and Tehipite Valley; itsrival, the San Joaquin the irrigationists, Ickes and local congressman Light and Power Company, filed applications for Bertrand W. Gearhart supported separate legisla own its power sites; and local irrigationists defended tion to develop the Pine Flat reservoir and related water their need for the and hydroelectric power of reclamation development projects to the west of theKings River. the park. In addition, the dam sites of Cedar Grove The contest between rival interests ended in a on the south forkof theKings River Canyon and standoff and left the door open fornegotiations. Tehipite Valley on themiddle forkwere excluded The Federal Power Commission decided that Los from the proposed park, leaving the door open to no Angeles had immediate need forhydroelectric future development. President D. Roo power from the Kings River and that the city's sevelt signed the park bill on March 4, 1940, thus claims interferedwith thepark proposal. The Park ending the lengthystruggle to establish Kings Can Service and Forest Service, after lengthy discus yon National Park.23 on was sions, compromised drawing boundary lines. The park perhaps the best compromise pos In the the succeeded sible at a end, however, irrigationists the time. The Park Service gained mag in excluding the whole Kings Canyon watershed nificent mountain wilderness ofmore than 450,000 from the proposed park expansion, claiming that acres. The small General Grant National Park, cre theywould need sites forfuture hydroelectric power ated in 1890 and administered jointlywith Sequoia was a projects. Mather and the Sierra Club, which had National Park until 1933, converted into part a played central role in thenegotiations, decided to of the new Kings Canyon National Park. Since settle for what they could get?the Kern Canyon 1943, the neighboring parks of Sequoia and Kings and the Sierra Nevada around Canyon have been administered jointly. to a ?and work for power-free Kings River park In theyears that followed, the cityof later. A National made new forwater Sequoia Park enlargement bill proposals and power develop received the on not in president's signature July 3,1926.21 ment, only Tehipite Valley and at Cedar Discussions continued the late on through 1920s Grove, but within the park itself.24 The Sierra Club to proposals add the Kings Canyon region to the objected, and the Federal Power Commission ruled national Once once park system. more, however, park again against the applications. Although advocates and irrigation and hydroelectric power Cedar Grove and TehipiteValley togetherembraced interests could not on whether the area were agree relatively few acres, they important to the should be for its wilderness and rec preserved park. Cedar Grove represented the one area in or reational values for the construction of dams. Kings Canyon that could be reached by automobile Little until when happened 1935, Secretary of the and that could be developed foruse by tourists; InteriorHarold a to Ickes proposed bill establish TehipiteValley, dominated by a remarkable granite Kings Canyon National Park and announced that dome that rose high above themiddle forkof the the new would be treated as wil a park "primitive Kings River, provided noted wilderness attraction. derness."22 This meant access would be restricted The Forest Service had earlier agreed to Park Ser to a state then under construction, that vice of Cedar highway, management Grove, but uncertainty was not to be extended farther than the canyon about the ultimate fate of the south fork of the floor of the south fork of the River. The Kings Kings River Canyon had blocked itsdevelopment. Sierra Club, after assurances that the When receiving alternative dam sites, especially at Pine Flat, Park Service would not the for were overdevelop region identifieddownriver, the irrigationistsfinally

SUMMER 1990 105 in withdrew their opposition to including the contes that support for parks prevailed Congress only ted areas in the park. In 1965 Congress added when economic interests had been satisfied. On Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley toKings Canyon the other hand, the establishment of Kings Can as a in more National Park.25 yon wilderness park 1940, and the Justas thedecades-old battle overKings Canyon recentaddition ofMineral King toSequoia National over toward ended, controversy broke out Mineral King, Park, represent important steps protecting just south of Sequoia National Park.26 Excluded the ecological integrityof thenational parks. Kings in commu one from the park 1890, the former mining Canyon became of the firstparks specifically a summer area nity had remained quiet camping recognized for itswilderness qualities, and the ever since. The Forest Service administered the protection ofMineral King, in the face of the deter as mination of the marked a mile valley part of and, after Disney Corporation, as a stone in American 1926, game refuge. With the enlargement of preservation history. an the park that year, the valley became enclave, on to and surrounded three sides by national park lands. The campaigns establish enlarge Sequoia recrea and national make Responding to rapid increase in outdoor Kings Canyon parks up one A tion followingWorld War II, the Forest Service only facet of their history. parallel concerns invitedproposals fromprivate developers fora ski story their management. Park managers resort atMineral King. Due to the high estimated and citizens asked how these national parks could an best serve the interest.Would be best cost, especially of the construction of improved public they no administered as natural or as recreation road, acceptable developer could be found until preserves, the 1960s. Early in 1966, the Forest Service granted areas? These questions proved difficult to answer, no Walt Disney Productions a preliminary planning and to this day real agreement has been reached a on the and of the national permit for year-round resort. The Disney pro meaning purpose parks. a to serve To in 1890 no posal included Swiss-style village, ski-lifts begin with, Congress provided or 20,000 skiers daily, and parking for3600 vehicles. instructions funding for Sequoia National Park.29 The Sierra Club argued in opposition that, if it At the request of Secretary of the Interior John were the ofWar sent to developed, Mineral King would sustain irre Noble, Secretary troops protect the national of California from versible damage and that its wilderness values parks trespassers and a earlier introduced in Yellow made the valley worthy of national park status.27 vandals, practice When Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall stone. But the troops lacked authorization to patrol a an the Sierra Forest and there were not approved proposal to construct improved road Reserve, across soldiers for this national park land into the valley, the Sierra enough purpose anyway. at Club responded, filingsuit in 1969 inUnited States Protection of just the parks proved difficult in 1891 and District Court for an injunction to block federal first.When soldiers first arrived June outside the at Mineral officials from issuing permits. Three years later, camped park King, they even to theUnited States Supreme Court upheld a ruling found many parts of Sequoia inaccessible, on by the United States Court of Appeals that the patrols horseback. Hunters killed game, partic as snows club did not have the legal standing necessary to ularly deer, winter forced the animals down from the mountains. pursue the lawsuit. The court, however, left the high Sheepherders com in their across the door open for the club to amend its original persisted driving sheep poorly boundaries and remained plaint in the district court. Faced with further marked park largely in the immune to for delays and possible defeat courts, disap punishment repeated illegal entry. Wholesale devastation from and fires pointed by the California legislature's refusal to overgrazing fund improvements of the road toMineral King, resulted. B. and aware of growing public opposition to itsplans, In 1898, Lieutenant Henry Clark, acting super a In intendent at the of a Disney looked elsewhere for resort site. 1978, Sequoia, pondered purpose Min national "Is it a for the a Congress ended the controversy by adding park: playground people, resort for the a mecca for travelers, a sum eral King to Sequoia National Park.28 tourist, mer the inhabitants of crowded cities Looking back on the creationof Sequoia and Kings house where various com can and fill their with the air Canyon national parks, it is clear that repair lungs pure of mountain and forest?"30 If he mercial interests?lumbermen, stockmen, hydro so, concluded, resort was a for its scenic wonders re electric developers, irrigationists, developers Sequoia failure, con ?managed to block broadly supported efforts to mained inaccessible. Clark and others urged It often struction of a road to the In expand the national park system. appears giant sequoias. response

106 CALIFORNIA HISTORY in 1900, Congress finally authorized $10,000 for Brittenprovided the firstwinter protection for the on the protection and improvement of the park. These parks from1900 to 1905, andWalter Fry took the funds allowed for repair of the old Kaweah Colony responsibility until 1914. By thatyear, themilitary road and its extension into Giant Forest. Com had withdrawn permanently, and Fry assumed over pleted in 1903, Colony Mill Road opened the door full authority the park's management. He a at last to thegeneral public visiting Sequoia National inherited park that had changed little since its in Itwas Park. From this time on, the early trickle of tourists establishment 1890. still littleknown and a almost Lack of a consistent grew slowly, but inevitably, into steady stream. wholly undeveloped. In spite of the valuable service provided by the policy by themilitary superintendents and by the use of the Interior continued to cause military guard, the continued of troops had its Department confusion. drawbacks. Soldiers, assigned temporarily, could nor same The situation to after neither know the parks well take the promised change August interest in their protection that park rangers did. 25, 1916, with the establishment of theNational Park new with a commit The almost annual rotation of acting army superin Service. The agency, small, a tendents, each with his own interests and ideas, ted staff of professionals, became permanent ad vocate It set a made continuity of management policy all but for the parks. forth well-intentioned, some impossible. Whereas superintendents called but often contradictory, administrative guideline no for protection of the wildlife, others urged removal that caused end of difficulty for future park to conserve nat of all predatory animals protect "the deer and managers: "to the scenery and the . . . other smaller animals and game birds."31 ural and historic objects and the wild life Civilians were first employed in Sequoia and and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in manner means as General Grant in 1898during theSpanish-American such and by such will leave War and then steadily after 1900. Park ranger Ernest them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future

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to The U.S. Cavalry administered Sequoia and General Grant national parks from 1891 1913. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

SUMMER 1990 107 Captain Charles Young (seated front center) was the only active, commissioned black graduate ofWest Point when he served as park superintendent in 1903.During his park stinthe supervised completion of the first road into Giant Forest. Here he poses with several of his men and the road crew. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

Early concession facilities concentrated at Giant Forest, where visitation increased markedly after the first auto arrived in 1910, as shown in this photograph. Photo by Howard Hays. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

108 CALIFORNIA HISTORY wonders. Construction of a new road generations."32 How the parks could be preserved explain park unimpaired and enjoyed by the public at the same began in 1922 to replace the inadequate Colony time remained to be seen. Mill Road. The new route, via themiddle forkof the Kaweah much easier access for Two Californians, Stephen Mather and Horace River, provided soon a link Albright, took the lead in the formation and early automobiles. Plans included thirty-mile Mather as the first between and General Grant. The "Generals operation of the Park Service, Sequoia as allow visitors to drive into one director and Albright second-in-command. They Highway" would in same were familiar with Sequoia and General Grant park and out the other the day. Indeed, For exam it to Forest in national parks and with their problems. with great fanfare, opened Giant summer on horseback or in and nine later connected both ple, each hardy visitors 1926, years parks. and narrow Construction of axial roads to Crescent stagecoaches struggled up the steep Meadow, a state to Colony Mill Road. After 1913 occasional automo Lodgepole, and Wolverton, plus highway road biles, which chugged up the same dusty road, Cedar Grove, virtually completed the present frightened the horses. At Giant Forest, visitors network of Sequoia and Kings Canyon.36 water Mather looked found ramshackle camps with inadequate As road construction proceeded, services at and sewage systems. In addition, private land for ways to improve the concession a claims in and around Giant Forest and the Grant Giant Forest and Grant Grove. He believed single to the concessioner would the best service and Grove, acquired prior 1890, threatened parks provide be the most accountable. some small with development and deterioration. Fortunately, renew Mather firsttackled the problem of private land local operators in the parks declined to more two their and after one trial inholdings. For than decades, military options, monopoly failed, superintendents had tried to buy 3877 privately Mather convinced an old business friend, Howard to over and General Grant owned acres, scattered in many different plots. Hays, take the Sequoia to Captain Charles Young had evenmanaged obtain operations. an option on most of these lands forabout $19 per With Mather's promise to support development, a acre. Yet time and again frugal Congress had Hays and his brother-in-law George Mauger began To over as new to rejected requests for appropriations.33 help operations in 1926, just the road opened con come this obstacle, Mather offered to match Giant Forest. After moving the dining and retail donations. Between facilities to the new gressional funding with private road, Hays began replacing new ones. 1916 and 1927, he cajoled money fromthe National old, dilapidated cabins with Between Geographic Society and wealthy industrialists and 1926 and 1930 the concessioner built more than contributedmore than$50,000 fromhis own pocket. two hundred cabins and tent-tops at Camp Kaweah, With the eventual approval of Congress, the Park Pine wood Auto Camp, and Giant Forest Lodge. in Service bought most important inholdings, with Hays and Mauger also rebuilt cabins Grant a near the but their interest remain the notable exception of 160-acre plot Grove, said primary would in 1919 sum tourist Grant Grove. This area, developed for Giant Forest, where the chief attractions as were to mer cabins, remains today Wilsonia Village.34 and the greatest opportunities for profit be The campaign to acquire privately-owned lands found.37 had been best left inMather's hands. The develop The 1926 addition of theMount Whitney coun resource ment of tourist and management policies, try to the park also demanded attention. White access as essen however, needed strong local leadership. Mather regarded to backcountry wilderness a found such person in Colonel John Roberts White. tial to educating visitors in the ways of nature. A Oxford educated and recently returned from the trail-building program received vigorous support met canvas Great War, White had Albright while from the Sierra Club, whose members sought singWashington fora job. In only eightmonths he expanded opportunities to explore and enjoy the advanced from to assistant new temporary ranger super alpine parkland.38 intendent at Grand Canyon National Park. In June The Park Service, which inherited a network of he assumed the of soon 1920, superintendency Sequoia former Indian, livestock, and military trails, a at and General Grant. He would play leading role undertook construction of two highly publicized the two formost of next parks the quarter-century.35 special trails.The JohnMuir Trail, fromYosemite to as a Like Mather and Albright, White believed the Mount Whitney, began state project in 1915. to was best way preserve the parks to make them Completed in 1933, the trail linked Sequoia to its with the This meant new roads more a popular public. famous northern neighbor. White took and visitor more and to as centers, trails, advertising greater interest in the second project, known the

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High Sierra Trail. This carefullydesigned trailcon intendents. Good animals included deer?often nected Giant Forest with Mount Whitney and pro made tame by visitor feeding?while bad animals access vided easy to the backcountry for hikers and included any that preyed upon good animals. Thus on were people horseback. By 1934, Sequoia's trail sys mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats sys was or Fire tem, like its road system, virtually complete.39 tematically trapped poisoned. supression new With the expansion of the parks' infrastructure became trulyeffective with the addition of fire during the 1920s, visitation toSequoia and General roads, specially trained crews, and regular funding. Grant increased markedly. Mather and Park Serv Although well-intended, vigorous firefighting also in ice personnel sought further ways to encourage resulted the dangerous accumulation of inflam War I a return the visiting public to participate in park advocacy. mable materials. World had brought a Radio addresses, newspaper articles, and public of cattle grazing to Sequoia, wartime expediency speeches byWhite and others helped. The most thatMather and his new agency diplomatically effective means, however, began with inauguration allowed. It took until 1930 to remove the livestock an in ?an to a of "interpretation" program in Yosemite 1920. early lesson the Park Service that policy once no was Two years laterWalter Fry introduced the program established, matter how destructive, a at Sequoia with series of now-familiar guided hard to reverse.41 museum walks, campfire programs, and displays. so so a This service proved successful and dovetailed During the firstdecade and half of Park two nicely with White's ideas of visitor education that Service administration, visitation to the more as by 1931 he had manipulated his budget and the parks increased than eightfold, tour new new National Park Service's office, and ists enjoyed the road, filled the cabins, a new new had successfully created department of natural hiked the trails, and attended the campfire can ists. The impact of the program be gauged only programs. Although most visitors thought the its were well run and White and by overwhelming popularity.40 parks fully protected, a Interpreting the natural world became Park many of his staffduring the late 1920s began to Service trademark in the 1920s, but park manage suffer doubts about the efficacy of park manage ment leftmuch to be desired. In keeping with the ment policies. The construction and publicity had prevailing misconceptions about wild animals, succeeded in drawing unwieldy crowds. On July 4, was on a more cars some wildlife handled good animal/bad animal 1930, than 2000 carrying 4300 peo as basis, much ithad been under the military super ple had entered the park. White grimly recorded

HO CALIFORNIA HISTORY scene at a on the Giant Forest, where jostling, honking, sional landscape architects, who advised White mechanical jam spilled out of the parking lots and almost every decision.43 onto access alongside roads. Campsites overflowed From the mid-20s through the mid-40s, the last areas. two roads, and trash littered built-up Visitors decades of his superintendency, White tried to ran shouting through the groves, scaled fences recreate the parks in the image of his vision of an protecting the best-known sequoias, and engaged natural preservation. Because of unusual com in every form of amusement from softball to square bination of circumstances, he achieved remarkable Lost in the was the success. dancing. disarray inspiration of His seniority and experience, coupled with In an com the massive sequoias. the face of such intensive eloquence and diplomacy, gave him air of a as a rare recreational use, the original idea of park mand in the Park Service. The Great Depres area a preserved faded. White realized that develop sion placed powerful tool in his hands; White a ment for tourists had gone too far and that park took charge of as many as 1100men of theCivilian more experience should encompass than fun and Conservation Corps, choosing projects within the frolic.42 parks and allocating labor. Had he been given this Even before road and construction were in career housing opportunity earlier his he might have to new complete, Colonel White began suggest built roads and buildings, opening thousands of for acres to goals park planning?goals of "atmosphere recreational development. Now he used and visitor In to preservation" education. order the CCC tomaintain and replace existing facilities, avoid the mistakes of the who felt a to areas past, White, landscape large of the visitor complexes, personal responsibility for the two parks in his and todevelop special attractions likeCrystal Cave, an charge, declared himself obstructionist?ready Tunnel Log, and the stone staircase up .44 or remove or to block any policy development that The CCC also increasedWhite's influence indirectly. In threatened the parks' natural atmosphere. Addi administering this huge program nationwide, came tional impetus for this policy from profes the Park Service developed a system of regional

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SUMMER 1990111 #v

The Civilian Conservation Corps operated in Sequoia National Park from 1933 to 1941, primarily building roads and trails and landscaping. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

offices and functional divisions that still exist. Dur application and again proposed that the company evacuate the went over White's ing the early days of this expanded bureaucracy, grove. Hays again thePark Service director and hisWashington office head with similar success. This time, however, more Horace the new National Park Service became distant from local park decisions, Albright, a vacuum the need for some restrictions thus creating temporary power into director, recognized a which Colonel White stepped.45 on construction. He established so-called "pillow to limit" the Park later The opening round in the battle control park for lodge area.47 planners in a after as itskind development occurred 1927. Barely year identified this decision the firstlimit of came in limits on other Giant concessioner Howard Hays to Sequoia, White any national park. Pillow to area soon followed. suggested he abandon plans develop the Forest complexes en new of Giant Forest and instead develop the less White successfully blocked other develop at ments. He defeated a for another road vironmentally sensitive pine-forested valley proposal visitor Lodgepole. Hays reacted with alarm. Citing fromAsh Mountain toGiant Forest via themiddle fork of the . to a preference for "sleeping beneath the Big Trees," According White, over to a he went White's head to appeal directly proposal for widely promoted high-altitude high run Mather, who supported his position. Thus, the way to the length of the Sierra Nevada died man first round inwhat became Sequoia's greatest when he refused appropriations to build the por went tion in He also blocked installation of agement battle to Hays and his company.46 Sequoia.48 a con lines in Giant Forest and a Athough White acquiesced for time, his electric power rejected to from courses suming interest in restoring Giant Forest its variety of proposals, ranging golf cars. natural state led him to confront the concessioner and dance halls to hayrides and cable Again to a to the "atmo again in 1931. Hays requested permission add and again, citing potential damage a as few cabins to housing complex known Giant sphere" of theparks, White assumed thehigh moral as Forest Lodge. Recalling the distressing images of ground and portrayed prodevelopment forces the previous Fourth of July,White rejected the tawdry and greedy.

112 CALIFORNIA HISTORY Despite pillow limits, the problem of crowding White's acrimonyhenceforth proved a stumbling in Giant Forest continued to concern in park plan block the concession contract negotiations and ners. White and his assistants explored different in 1947 resulted inhis forced retirement.The era of strategies for restoring the grove's inspirational John Roberts White, of local control, and of atmo atmosphere. They limited the amount of time camp sphere preservation had ended. One of the most ers could stay at the four government campgrounds. powerful superintendents in the system,White winter itwould dis was a more They encouraged use, hoping replaced by pliant and development minded tributevisitors seasonally. Instead, itadded to the man, Eivind Scoyen. A few years later, con swelling numbers. When they encouraged the Park Service Director Newton Drury and Regional cessioner to add improvements to Kings Canyon Director Owen Tomlinson also retired, to be re was as un and Grant Grove, the offer spurned placed by people less committed to restoringGiant some profitable. Park planners moved government Forest to its natural state. Finally, in 1952, Hays administration and maintenance buildings from and Director Conrad Wirth signed a new contract Giant Forest to Lodgepole Valley, but theywere that ignored the question ofGiant Forest.White's too few tomake a difference. even They pondered prediction proved remarkably accurate. The loss of redesigning the road system to decrease auto traffic. thisbattle forGiant Forestmarked the diminished worked or real influence of Nothing promised any hope except landscape architects and the philoso full removal of concession facilities from the grove.49 phy of atmosphere preservation. new As the decade of the fortiesdawned, White During World War II and itsaftermath, Congress to even over maneuvered gain tighter control had provided minimal financial support for the park planning and the concessions. The onset of national parks. While visitation to Sequoia and II World War halted nearly all development and Kings Canyon increased nearly 125percent between resource management programs in the national 1940 and 1955, for example, funding increased at visitation 80 less than half that rate. an parks. Nationwide, dropped by per Partly in effort to garner the suffered a drastic and a cent, parks' budget cut, public support, the Park Service advocated major the ranks of Park Service and concession employ development program, Mission 66. At the two ees declined sharply.50 Given the respite, planning southern Sierran parks, the project included three for future accelerated. In new visitor new development Sequoia, centers, extensive employee hous concessioners and to Hays Mauger hoped replace ing, and expansion of park infrastructure.52 Some some of the older Giant Forest cabins after the war in the Park Service fearedMission 66 would dam and to the visitor expand complex. Superinten age the parks and wondered what would save the dent a White hoped for return toCCC-type labor, "preservation" side of the Park Service's charter. for repair of roads and trails neglected during the Science provided a possible answer through the war. He also a hoped combination of luck and application of ecological principles topark manage would enable him to remove pressure concession ment.53 Pioneering wildlife biologistsAldo Leopold In facilities from Giant Forest. order to strengthen and Joseph Grinnell helped shape future policy his White called on his traditional their and position, allies, through writings by placing their stu a landscape architects. To person, they recom dents in the Park Service.54 In the southern Sierra, mended removal of concessions. forestpathologist EmilioMeinecke contributedwith White's control over local devel a 1926 on Unfortunately, study of human impact Giant Forest.55 In decisions weakened after the war when the 1930s scientific resource a opment management gained the office reassumed the reins. The foothold in as Washington Sequoia and Kings Canyon, well as imminent termination of the concessioner's con M. an nationally. George Wright, independently tractin 1946 intensifieddirect a negotiations between wealthy scientist, funded program of wildlife and the national office. in the Hays Feeling powerless, surveys national parks that revealed the White railed the the of of earlier against concessioner, policy inadequacy preservation efforts. Wright contracts lengthy for monopoly concessions, and became the firstnational chiefof thePark Service's what he as of regarded usurpation his duties. When Wildlife Division, but his untimely death in 1936 a Hays received temporary extension of his con left it rudderless. The onset ofWorld War II then the colonel that con tract, bitterly predicted the eliminated his division and the incipientPark Serv cessioner would forestall his contract termination ice of program ecological management.56 indefinite contract extensions until a some by obtaining Nevertheless, impetus from this ecological more amenable Park Service administration took concern continued. At and Sequoia Kings Canyon, over.51 research scientist Lowell Sumner experimented

SUMMER 1990 113 a as with deer reduction program, discontinued the During the 1960s, the environmental move Bear Hill show (a bizarre tourist attraction with ment caught hold, the philosophy of ecosystem a came bleachers surrounding bear-infested garbage management to the fore. In 1963 a committee and of scientists dump), institutionalized predator protection, commissioned by Secretary of the Inte studies of rior Stewart Udall released a encouraged backcountry meadows.57 path-breaking report Meinecke issued another on Giant Forest in named after its A. Starker report chairman, Leopold.62 on 1944 in which he reinforced his earlier warnings Relying inpart data fromSequoia National Park, was about threats to the big trees.58 This followed the report spelled out ecosystem preservation as in a a investi the best means to 1955 by report of special commission protect the national parks for gating damage to the sequoias in Yosemite National future generations. It insisted that all management a or Park.59 Meanwhile, burst of activity from 1947 to policies allow mimic natural processes. This 1951 extensive reviews of back meant removal of some produced several development, the complete

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resources resource a country in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. reorientation of management, and vigo were a rous These followed by specifically commissioned program of scientific research. Udall ordered scientific appraisal of backcountry meadows by theLeopold Report implemented as themajor pol Carl Sharsmith.60 icy guide for all national parks. in re a Then, 1959, ecologist Richard Hartesveldt Faced with groundswell of public environmen on leased the first of several studies giant sequoias, talism and the hard evidence of scientists, Con challenging policies thathad allowed construction gress in the 1960s passed important legislation that In and suppressed fires among the big trees.61 altered Park Service policies and planning. In 1964 a means questioning fire suppression, Hartesveldt struck the Wilderness Act provided for protect one as at of the oldest and most dearly held directives ing roadless and undeveloped areas, much the of the earlier preservation policy. He argued that founding act of Kings Canyon National Park had were accumu a older trees endangered by abnormal done nearly quarter century earlier.63 In 1969, lation of fuel around the base of their trunks, and Congress passed the National Environmental Pro pointed out that sequoia seeds rarely germinated tection Act, requiring federal agencies to prepare areas on in choked with vegetation. Periodic fires, he statements the environmental effect of all major concluded, would clear the debris, solving both federal projects and to propose alternatives to Preservation problems. mitigate damage. groups, whose

114 CALIFORNIA HISTORY Bear feeding was a major attraction in Giant Forest from the early National Park to Service years until 1940. Its cancellation due its "unnaturalness" turned garbage hungry bears loose in the campgrounds to the dismay of rangers and visitors. Courtesy Sequoia National Park Archives.

was membership growing rapidly because of the 1972, in cooperation with the Forest Service, rang ers environmental movement, became the loudest and began issuing wilderness permits that limited most in persistent participants public planning.64 the number of people allowed into the most popu lar areas At Sequoia and Kings Canyon, the impact of of the backcountry. For the first time the these changes first affected the backcountry. The Park Service limited thenumber of people visiting a a 1961 publication of BackcountryManagement Plan park area. That itdid so on thebasis of ecologically on a was even followed reports meadow ecology, massive based principles more remarkable.66 litter and over concern cleanup, tighter controls hikers and The combination of public for preserva of tourists on horseback or tion and large parties using pack ecological planning also affected develop animals. The became a for all other ment in plan blueprint plans elsewhere the southern Sierra parks. backcountry parks in the system. In it the Park Shortly after the creation ofKings Canyon National Service called for some meadows to be closed to Park in 1940, San JoaquinValley businessmen had livestock and for the establishment of a use, meadow proposed major recreation complex outside the and trail litter and at Cedar monitoring, cleanup programs, park Grove. Concessioners Hays and better of research As the 1960s in area organization projects. Mauger, lacking interest that and fearing more progressed, park planners closed meadows construction of a reclamation dam, refused to build some even to visitors using livestock and, in cases, visitor facilities in the canyon.With the addition of to backpackers. Cedar Grove to the park in 1965, the threat of While the environmental movement led the Park reclamation In ended. the ensuing planning proc ess Service to confront its problems of livestock use, for the area, the Park Service scaled down its and meadow it also own litter, damage, encouraged development plans in the face of opposition to enter increasing numbers of backpackers the by park users, the Sierra Club, and others.67 backcountry. Annual visitation to the Sequoia and Upon acquisition ofMineral King, thePark Service encountered similar Kings Canyon backcountry jumped from 8000 in public opposition to develop 1962 tomore than 44,000 in 1971.65Armed with its ment. Although theDisney plan of the 1960s had called for a most ecological agenda and facedwith therisk thatpeo major resort, people who participated ple might love thedelicate wilderness todeath, the in a public hearing rejected development.68 In the a Park Service took novel and important step. In resultingMineral King ComprehensiveManagement

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was a Plan (1980), the only change in the status quo 1980 the Park Service released itsGiant ForestDe re decision to eliminate existing leases and cabins velopment Concept Plan, which called for the upon the deaths of their owners.69 location of concession facilities to Clover Creek Meanwhile, the Leopold Report of 1963 had a just north of Lodgepole.73 Despite Park Service at profound impact. Park scientists Sequoia and and public support for removal and the weakness to Kings Canyon attempted correct past mistakes of Howard Hay's old argument that the public to to with programs eliminate exotic plant and wild demanded "sleep beneath the Big Trees," the life species that had been introduced in the past, new concessioner, Guest Services, resisted mov as to reestablish native species such golden trout ing its buildings. In and bighorn sheep, and to separate bears from the 1970s and 1980s, the Park Service contin most came in fire ued to with its to campers.70 The startling change struggle original mandate: pro management. In 1964 Hartesveldt began experi vide for recreation, while protecting the parks menting with controlled fires in the sequoia groves. unimpaired for future generations. At Mineral The successful regeneration of giant sequoias that King, cabin leaseholders searched forways tomain resulted from these experiments encouraged the tain their presence in the valley. In the backcountry, to a use a Park Service establish permanent policy of livestock associations successfully defeated prescribed burning and monitoring natural fires. plan that would have drastically reduced their was access. con By 1969, the program fully underway and has Fishermen forced the Park Service to since tinue some gained widespread public acceptance.71 stocking lakes and streams in spite of at contro Of all management issues, development Giant the unnaturalness of the procedure.74 The Forest remained the most difficult. In response to a versy ignited by the explosive Yellowstone firesof a a report by blue-ribbon Park Service panel, the 1988 temporarily forced return to fire suppres government moved campgrounds, picnic areas, sion in all the parks. Although the ban was lifted area and most of its structures out of the by 1972.72 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon inDecember 1989, concessioner's more than 350 build However, the the firemanagement question and the whole phi ings remained scattered throughout the forest. In losophy of ecosystem management continues to be

116 CALIFORNIA HISTORY rigorously scrutinized.75 And at the Giant Forest, the removal of concessions remains uncertain. As con the concession company negotiates its next ^^Vw|^^^^HH^HHj^H' v^^^V^iiiltfi^^HnflH^^^^H t;i". tract for 1992, no one can say what twist of circum stances a are may again be reminder that parks human set creations, aside by human design and controlled by human ideas and interests. As the first of and Can century Sequoia Kings h^^H ''life national to a yon parks draws close, ecological seems preservation well established as the operat ingmanagement philosophy. Yet it is just a philos a ophy, set of current beliefs and practices. The future of Sequoia and Kings Canyon rests in the hands of those who will manage their preservation use come. and in the century to 0

on See notes beginning page 219.

an Lary M. Dilsaver is associate professor of historical geography at theUniversity of South Alabama and a volun teer researcher for theNational Park Service. With William Tweed he recently completed Challenge of the Big Trees, a centennial history of Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. a Douglas H. Strong is professor of history at San Diego State University and has written extensively on American environ mental and the thenational history history of parks, including The Keyhole prescribed burn was conducted on Tahoe: An Environmental (1984); Trees?or History June 22, 1987, inGiant Forest. Sequoia and Kings Timber: The of and National scientists research and Story Sequoia Kings Canyon Canyon pioneered develop ment Parks (revised edition, 1986);and Dreamers and Defenders: of Park Service firemanagement. Photo by American Conservationists (1988). ElizabethKnight.

SUMMER 1990 117