Visiting Yosemite History

 Yosemite National Park -- To avoid the TV and the worries of 2020 we spent election day in Yosemite National Park. Looking for history.

The visit marked 40 years since my first visit after we moved west in 1980. That visit was with two then-small children (Pat was traveling back east) in our bright orange VW Westfalia camper. I got slightly lost driving to the park, but eventually found our way. It cost $5 to get into the park. Much to my surprise it was crowded and the only camping spot we could find was on the Tioga Pass Road at a place called Smokey Jack Campground. We woke up to snow on the ground, both a delight and a concern. (The campground no longer exists, a victim of NPS policy to concentrate visitors and eliminate low-cost lodging.)

Forty years later Pat and I drove  into Yosemite early, arriving around 9 a.m. in time to see the sun coating the north said granite walls with light. It was a cool but beautiful morning.

We visited a few of the scenic sites, admired the surroundings, but spent the best part of our day in the Pioneer Cemetery, reading tombstones and remembering the people who were here 150 years ago.

James Lamon (no relation) was the first white settler in Yosemite. He homesteaded before Abraham Lincoln declared the valley a national treasure, then Lamon built a log cabin and established a farm with crops and orchards. The local Indians had been run off or killed  less than 10 years earlier, and he got along with the few who had returned. 

Like many men of that era he had come west for gold, didn't find much, and located a place to call home. His cabin was located in the upper or Eastern end of the valley, near what is now used for a horse stable and tourist parking. Some of his trees survive to this day, and volunteers come in and pick the fruit so they will not attract bears.

We drove into the area where his cabin was located, and then went to the cemetery to pay our respects.

Lamon's grave

Here is a link to Lamon and the park: https://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/the-first-pioneer-settler-of-yosemite-valley.htm

The Pioneer Cemetery in Yosemite includes the graves of many pioneers and early settlers, and victims of the then-harsh lives they lived. 

 John Muir is not buried here but near his home in Martinez, Ca.  But if you want a  glimpse of Muir in Yosemite you can hike the paved trail below Yosemite Falls and see the site of the lumber mill where he lived and worked when he first arrived. It is marked by a hard-to-spot stone bench alongside the creek.

Muir was hired to produce lumber by a pioneer entrepreneur and resident named James Mason Hutchings, who has not one but two tombstones marking his grave in Yosemite.  The larger stone, a chunk of granite, was apparently put in place when his teenage daughter Florence, the first white child born in the Valley,  died in an accident on the trail while leading a group of tourists up a steep trail. Mount Florence is named for her. The inscription for her is located on the top side of the granite.

Hutchings is not what you could call a popular hero of the early days. He was apparently a rather stuffy Englishman, with  opinions about everything. By trade he was a publisher, and that led him to come to Yosemite very early leading a tourist group that included artists, and then deciding to promote Yosemite as a destination. He bought a partially-completed hotel/cottage near the Merced River with a view of the tall waterfall, promoted the Valley through magazine articles and books, and saw himself as the "father of Yosemite."  In stereographic pictures from 1860 he shows up in almost every photo, posing in a boat on the river or on horseback in a meadow. He would hire the photographer, and then be the model.

Here is his history from the park service site: https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/hutchings.htm

He picked the site for his grave, and I suspect dictated the carving which says:

Father of Yosemite

Builder of the first trails, roads, 

bridges and dwellings of this

valley

In the same plot are his daughters and his second wife. It has been rumored for years that Hutchings and Muir did not like each other, perhaps because Muir was well liked by the ladies in his family. Whatever the truth, neither man ever really mentioned the other in their extensive writings about Yosemite.

Hutchings fought the federal and state governments for years, disputing the claim he was on public land. He eventually lost the argument, but won some money for his trouble.

Hutchings "hotel" was a rustic place on the south side of the river looking at the waterfall. He improved it and it grew through the years, notably with an enclosed back porch that featured a giant cedar tree in the middle of the room. He added glass to the windows, which had been holes, and partitions inside instead of sheets hanging from the rafters.

Today, the site of the hotel can be located by crossing the south side road at the Sentinel Bridge, directly across from the stop sign is a broken tree in a small clearing.

That's what remains of Hutchings' once-famous hotel, along with a flat stone that may have been a fireplace hearth. Look  up about ten feet and you can see wire which apparently supported part of the porch roof, and marks in the back left from where the roof was attached to the tree.

Hutchings essentially was kicked out of Yosemite when the settlement was done, but he came back after a political change in the commissioners who "ran" the valley fired the first guardian, Galen Clark, and replaced him with Hutchings. That didn't last, and Hutchings eventually gto the job of managing a tourist attraction in Calaveras County, at Calaveras Big Trees. He died at 84 while driving a buggy on the Big Oak Flat Road heading for a visit to Yosemite.

Hutchings legacy has always been clouded by his less-than-popular style. He was identified by one pioneer as grumpy. But he was the person more than any other who promoted the beauty of the valley, brought artists and authors and photographers into the valley to spread its fame, and played a significant role in making Yosemite known to the world.

Galen Clark, on the other hand, was a competent quiet man who had come to the Wawona area to escape to the woods for his failing health. Clark's Station was a popular stage stop on the route into the park in the 1800s, and he had a reputation as a warm host. His experience in the area led to his being named the first guardian of Yosemite once the state took control, a role he fulfilled for decades.  He was, as the state likes to point out, the very first park ranger.

Unlike Hutchings, Clark made friends, did what he was asked, and when he got older voluntarily stepped down from his guardian role, suggesting that  a younger man would be better for the demanding job. Here is a site with a lot more detail: https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/galen-clark.htm

Clark's Grave

Clark selected his gravesite and planted four Giant Sequoia seedlings at the corners. Today they mark his gravesite, along with one new tree that has sprung up.

He originally came to the area because his health was failing, and he decided the mountains would either kill him or cure him. Like Hutchings, he lived a very long life.

Every graveyard has stories to tell, and Yosemite's are compelling even when incomplete. How did John Anderson get killed by a horse? He was best known as one of the earliest people to climb Half Dome. 

Who exactly were the dozen or more native Americans buried in the graveyard and what sort of lives did they lead?

The cemetery is a place that speaks through the decades of triumphs and tragedies. It is a good place to spend a little time. Read more at: https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_indians_and_other_sketches/cemetery.htm

Fire on the Mountain

Camp Connell, Ca -- When the breeze picks up in the mornings, the smoke drifts through the top of the trees and creates a mild haze. You can smell the smoke, even though the fire is a dozen or so miles away.
The helicopter base for dropping fire retardents was relocated last week to the edge of a subdivision part-way down the mountain, apparently to avoid the congestion created by so many aircraft, fixed wing and helicopters, operating out of the base a few miles further south. They also have access to a pond to mix with retardents, and water is always at a premium around here.
Officially, we are watching the Mount Knight Fire, the sort of blaze Californians live with every summer and fall. All over the West this scene occurs again and again.
For thousands of people, this just another summer day in the mountains.
This fire is probably the most expensive one you have never heard of. Within a day or two the cost to fight this fire will probably top $10 million. More than one thousand fire fighters and hundreds of items of expensive equipment are involved in keeping the fire contained. Add up a thousand people working long shifts for ten days around the clock, and you get a big bill.
This particular fire has been burning for more than a week, tucked deep into a canyon above the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. As the crow flies, it is probably about 14 miles from our home, and about ten miles from the home of our daughter Ruth and her family.
We are not scared, but we watch it closely. We see and hear the helicopters when we travel up and down the highway to the grocery store, or church. We watch every day.
Because it is in a remote area, no homes have been destroyed and the big newspapers in the state rarely mention it. Television stations dropped the coverage after the first day or two: all the video shots look alike, and it was hard for folks not living close by to get excited.
So far, three fire fighters have been injured, apparently not too seriously.
The fire is slowly coming under control. As of today, it is 50% "contained" which means the borders on about half the fire are under control. More than 5,000 acres have burned, and the total will grow as more back-fires are set to remove fuel from the path of the blaze.
Further south, a new fire was triggered by lightening in Yosemite National Park. Because it is in the park, the are watching that fire closely but not fighting it.
The basic reason so much money and effort is being spent to fight the Mt. Knight Fire is because the population has spread from the coast and valleys into the mountains. Less than ten miles from the fire there are hundreds of cabins, businesses, and luxury homes.
One bad day, with high winds and low humidity, and this relatively quiet fire in the California mountains could explode. Just to the south is the town of Sonora, a major retirement and recreation region packed with people. Just north is the Gold Rush town of Murphys, and closer to us, the retirement/tourist town of Arnold.
It's a quandry.
If nature had its way, a fire would sweep through the area every 20 years or so, thin the underbrush, and make the forest a better place.
But because we fought fires vigorously for a century, and allowed the underbrush to thicken unnaturally, fires are harder and harder to control.
Oh yes: and because we live nearby, fire fighters in general and the How Shot crews in particular, are our local heroes.
So we are not afraid of forest fires any more than we are of earthquakes, or serial killers, or pile-ups on the freeway. Just cautious. We have a plan, and review it every summer.
It is time for a review.


The site below as a map and details of this fire:
http://inciweb.org/incident/1757/


As of Thursday morning, the number of fire fighters is dropping as the containment numbers rise, and officials say the fire is essentially under control.

More Yosemite

Camp Connell -- I finally went through the photographs we took on our two day Yosemite trip and decided to share a few.

The first photo is of the Housekeeping cabin where we spent the night. It was perfectly adequate, and many families have enjoyed these rustic concrete-sided cabins located alongside the Merced River for generations. I do not understand exactly why a shelter like this costs $80 or so a night, but we had a good night's sleep and great views all around. It was the last place available in the park.
Location. Location. Location.




The second image is of the view downstream from the site of the cabins during an early morning walk. The quality of light in Yosemite Valley is astounding and different all times of the day. Once school is out, and the tourist season is in full swing, the river will fill up with rafts and the beaches and banks with sunbathers.




The third image is what you see when you take time to look up from the Valley floor. Yosemite Falls, the tallest in the United States, tumbling down the northern cliff face on a late May morning. The park was crowded, as it almost always is, but a short walk brings you to quiet places.




The fourth image is what you see when you turn and look to the East. Half Dome, looming over everything. Thousands of people climb to the top every year. Once in a while, as happened last week, someone slips and falls and dies. But the rock does not change except as a result of wind, rain, snow and ice. And the pace of that is slow.




The fifth image was taken after a one-hour drive from the floor of the Valley to the tip of Glacier Point, location of the best views you will ever hope to see. The weather was cloudy and grey, with rain blowing in from the East. You are looking across the canyon that holds Nevada and Vernal Falls,on the lower right, with Half Dome in the bottom center. The high Sierra Nevada looms on the horizon, still coated with snow. I believe the peak is Cathedral Peak, with Mount Dana to the left. Hidden among the granite canyons is Tenaya Lake.




The sixth image looks down, through the rain and mist, on the most popular hiking trail in Yosemite, and perhaps in any national park in America, the Mist Trail. It gets so much traffic it is paved part of the way, and steps are cut into the granite between the waterfalls. Despite warning signs along the way, people often swim in the pools at the top of the waterfalls. It's better just to look. This also is the starting section of the grueling day hike that takes climbers around the back side and to the very top of Half Dome, seen on the left.




And finally, an action shot of a bear doing what bears do and a ranger doing what park rangers do. This was taken as we left the park and drove through Crane Flat. The orphaned yearling bear was prowling around near some downed logs just off the road, probably snacking on carpenter ants, and a traffic jam resulted. Bears have very bad eyesight, and he probably did not notice the crowd he attracted which was downwind. Cars were everywhere along the road, and people gathered in groups to watch from the roadside. The ranger is running to head off a tourist with camera who decided to walk up close to the bear and snap a souvenir photo, a dangerous thing to do with a large wild animal. The ranger protected the tourist from himself. This bear was orphaned last year, according to the ranger, when a tourist killed the mother bear on the road.




I never regret visiting Yosemite but I always leave with mixed feelings. It is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and three million visitors a year sometimes make it so crowded it can be a grueling experience to get around and look at the sights.
Accommodations are few, and grow more expensive every year.
The Park Service has an impossible job trying to protect the place, and make it available to all of the public. The only answer in my opinion, which I do not like, is to severely limit the number of automobiles allowed into the park. That idea was floated, more than once, and shot down immediately. Politically impossible.
But when you are there, and walk ten minutes away from the crowded sidewalks and trails and look around, you get to see an earthly version of Heaven.

We'll be back.

Yosemite -- a primitive movie

Camp Connell, CA - I cheered up significantly today after getting advice from friends, ranging from "take an anger management class" to "take a walk in the woods."

So I went to the woods nearby, talked to the trees, watched the squirrels and listened to the woodpeckers beating their heads against something hard. I met a lot of nice people along the way.

Lots of life lessons there.

And I came home happy and tried to put together some video clips from a short trip Pat and I made to see Yosemite's waterfalls at peak flow. Understand that it is a primitive film -- no Ken Burns techniques here -- but you'll hopefully get the picture.