Tom Augherton has an article in
True West (a magazine
Rico heartily recommends for those interested in the
Old West) about the founding of
Yosemite National Park:
Galen Clark, born in 1814, having seen a Gold Rush exhibition in New York City, was moved to visit the 'new Eldorado'. After arriving in California in 1854, diagnosed with tuberculosis and given a year to live, he walked into the Sierras to rest and recover. Clark wrote that he "went to the mountains to take my chances of dying or growing better, which I thought were about even". Encountering a group of Miwok Indians, he listened to their tale of a hidden forest of gigantic trees (photo). He and associate Milton Mann became, in 1857, the first non-natives to view California's towering sequoias. He opened a small hotel on the South Fork of the Merced River. Determined to save the trees, he repeatedly solicited Congress to officially preserve Yosemite Valley. In response to Clark's letters, Congress took time out from dealing with the Civil War to preserve Yosemite. On 30 June 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act, transferring the preserve to California as a state park. Clark was named the first ranger, a post he held until he retired in 1897. Naturalist John Muir, among others, became alarmed about the excessive exploitation of the area, and their efforts helped establish Yosemite National Park in 1890. Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove were added to the National Park in 1906.
Rico says it's been many years, alas, since he last visited
Yosemite, but it's well worth the trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment