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The Discovery of Yosemite National Park & Years to Come

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The Discovery of Yosemite National Park & Years to Come

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In 1851, a small group of armed white men named the "Mariposa Battalion" began scouring the cliffs of the Sierra Nevada in search of dispossessing Native Americans from their homelands. The group came to a narrow valley towering with granite cliffs, and a series of 1000 ft. waterfalls that dropped to the lush valley's floor into the Merced River. A young doctor in the group named Lafayette Bunnell stood in awe as his eyes filled with tears of emotion saying, “I have here seen the power and glory of the Supreme Being. The majesty of his handiwork is in that testimony of the rocks.” From then on, word of Yosemite's discovery spread throughout the U.S. and hundreds of tourists began visiting the valley to experience its beauty first hand. Nature conservationists fought tooth and nail to protect Yosemite from excessive American commercialism and greed in order to preserve the land's beauty for generations to come.

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Yosemite National Park, located in California

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Yosemite National Park, located in California

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Yosemite National Park is located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The park consists of about 900,000 acres and is home to the famed giant, ancient Sequoia trees, wildlife, towering granite cliffs, and 1000 ft. waterfalls.

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Valley of the Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt, 1864

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Valley of the Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt, 1864

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Artists such as Albert Bierstadt traveled to Yosemite to create imagery of its glorious views. This documentation would later be used as evidence needed for Congress and President Lincoln to establish the Yosemite Grant in 1864. This painting sold for $25,000-- the most paid an American piece of art at the time.

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Yosemite is known for its series of 1000 ft. waterfalls. The waterfalls were the initial reason for the large influx of early tourists in the 1860s-90s.

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When Yosemite was established as a National Park in 1890, another bill was passed, protecting two more groves of Sequoia trees on the western flank of the Sierras. These areas are known as the Sequoia National Park & General Grant National Park.

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John Muir was an eccentric individual who loved nature more than most could. At 31, he wandered into Yosemite Valley on foot and began working for a hotel-owner named James Mason Hutchings. Muir worked as a handyman: repairing the hotel, building new cottages for summer tourists, and even building himself a cabin at the base of the waterfall. With any free time Muir could get, he would explore Yosemite's valleys, waterfalls, mountains, and cliffs. He would keep a journal to document any new plants or animals he would encounter. Sometimes he would sit with a new plant for hours just to properly introduce himself to it. Muir was known for going to the extreme for obtaining information on nature in Yosemite. He would hammer nails into the bottoms of his shoes in order to scale slippery rocks and cliffs. He would climb all the way to the top of the waterfalls to look over the edge just know know what it felt like to be the water cascading over the cliff. During storms, he would climb up to treetops and allow the rain and wind to batter him just so he knew what it felt like to be a tree during a storm. Muir had an extreme love and devotion to nature which would eventually lead him to push for legislation for national parks in his later years.

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John Muir's Upbringing and Reclaiming of Religion

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John Muir's Upbringing and Reclaiming of Religion

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Muir grew up in a rough household as he was raised by a tyrannical father. His father was a Presbyterian minister who would force Muir to memorize the Bible by repeatedly beating him. By age 11, he could recite 3/4 of the Old Testament by heart, and the entire New Testament. Muir always had an interest for natural science and studied Geology and Botany in college. After the Civil War, industrial work began to evolve where Muir worked as a promising inventor. After an accident causing temporary blindness, Muir decided to pursue his true passion by immersing himself in nature while studying and documenting everything he encountered. After he regained his vision, Muir set off to California to visit Yosemite. He reclaimed his relationship with God through the worship of God's creation.

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Yosemite's National Park Establishment in 1890

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Yosemite's National Park Establishment in 1890

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After years of political debate, jumping through hoops, and battling people who opposed the plans for Yosemite, the park became officially established on October 1st, 1890 thanks to nature conservationists like John Muir .

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While the photo is aesthetically pleasing and the location makes a good photo-op today, the situation was not ideal and could have been avoided.

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Early Destruction of Yosemite Prior to Federal Protection

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Early Destruction of Yosemite Prior to Federal Protection

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In 1889, Muir decided to revisit Yosemite as he agreed to give a tour to an editor of a magazine named Robert Underwood Johnson. As they approached the valley, Muir began noticing disturbing signs. Tunnels had been carved out of the hearts of the giant Sequoia trees to allow carriages (now cars) to pass through. Piles of tin cans and garbage were strewn throughout the valley in plain sight. The pastures had been used to hold pens for cattle, hogs, and mules. Disorganized roads quilted the valley and an excess of hotels were constructed. Muir couldn't believe his eyes. What was once was his cathedral, was now a carnival. At night, hotel owners would gather donations in order to build a huge bonfire and would throw lit dynamite sticks over the cascading waterfalls to give the effect of a "fire fall." Muir and Johnson immediately fled the valley to the upper country high country. Muir passionately explained to Johnson his dismay of Yosemite's situation, in which Johnson suggested to start a campaign to make Yosemite a National Park. This conversation started the fight for Yosemite's establishment as a National Park.

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It's important to remember the lives of the Native Americans who were pushed out of their homelands (many of them being where national parks are today) during the 1800s. Doctor LaFayette Bunnell of the Mariposa Battalion convinced the group to give the valley a name in which he suggested “Yosemite” as he believed it was the tribe’s name they had encountered. Later, scholars had learned that the tribe living in the valley was called the Ahwahneechee and, they had named the valley “Ahwahnee” meaning “the place of a gaping mouth.” In the Ahwahneechee language, “Yosemite” meant “they are killers.”

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La Casa Nevada- Early hotel in Yosemite Valley

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Then: Members of the U.S. 6th Calvary on the Fallen Monarch

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Then: Members of the U.S. 6th Calvary on the Fallen Monarch

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Now: Tourists admire the size of the Fallen Monarch

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Now: Tourists admire the size of the Fallen Monarch

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A tradition that started in the late 1800s that's still practiced today.