Paiute ceremony (1872)

 

Lafayette Bunnell gave Yosemite Valley its name.

The indigenous natives of Yosemite called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning "dwellers" in Ahwahnee.[1] The Ahwahneechee People was the only tribe that lived in the boundaries of Yosemite National Park but other tribes lived in its surrounding areas, together they formed a larger Indigneous population in California, called the Southern Sierra Miwok.[2] They are related to the Northern Paiute and Mono tribes. Other tribes like the Central Sierra Miwoks and the Yokuts, who both lived in the San Joaquin Valley and central California, visited Yosemite to trade and intermarry with the Ahwahneechee.[3] This resulted in a blending of culture which helped preserve Indigenous people's presence in Yosemite after early American settlements and urban development threatened their survival.[2] Vegetation and game in the region were similar to modern time; acorns were a staple to their diet, as well as other seeds and plants, salmon and deer.[2]

A major event impacting the native population of Yosemite and all of California in the mid-19th century was the California Gold Rush, which drew more than 90,000 European Americans to the area in less than two years, causing competition for resources between gold miners and the local Natives.[4] Before large amounts of European settlers arrived in California, about 70 years before the Gold Rush, the Indigenous population was estimated to be 300,000, once the Gold Rush started it dropped down to 150,000, and just ten years later, only about 50,000 remained.[5] The reason for such a decline in the Native American population results from numerous reasons including disease, birth rate decreases, starvation, and the conflicts from the American Indian Wars. The conflict in Yosemite is known as the Mariposa War, it started in December 1850 when California funded a state militia to drive Native people from contested territory, also known as Indigenous traditional and sacred homelands; the goal was to suppress Native American resistance to American expansion.[6]

In retaliation to the extermination and domestication of their people, and loss of their lands and resources, Yosemite Indian tribes often stole from settlers and miners, sometimes killing them, both actions seen as tribute for the great losses they experienced.[5] The War and formation of the Mariposa Battalion was partially the result of a single incident involving James Savage, a trader in Fresno, California whose trading post was attacked in December, 1850. After the incident, Savage rallied other miners and gained the support of local officials to pursue revenge and a full out war against the Natives, that is how he was appointed United States Army Major and leader the Mariposa Battalion in the beginning of 1851.[5] He and Captain John Boling were responsible for pursuing the Ahwahneechee people that were being led by Chief Tenaya and driving them as far west as possible, out of Yosemite.[7][5] In March 1851 under the command of Savage, the Mariposa Battalion captured about 70 Ahwahneechee and planned to take them to a reservation in Fresno, but they all managed to escape. Later in May, under the command of Boling, the battalion captured 35 Ahwahneechee including Chief Tenaya and marched them to the reservation but most were allowed to eventually leave and the rest escaped.[5] Tenaya and others fled across the Sierra Nevada and settled with the Mono Lake Paiutes. Tenaya and some of his companions were ultimately killed in 1853 either over stealing horses or a gambling conflict and the survivors of Tenaya's group and other Ahwahneechee were absorbed into the Mono Lake Paiute tribe.[5][8][9]

 

Sculpture of Chief Tenaya made by Sal Maccarone for the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite National Park

Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley. Attached to Savage's unit was Doctor Lafayette Bunnell, who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley, based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya. Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Ahwahnee colony.[10] Bunnell falsely believed that the word "Yosemite" meant "full-grown grizzly bear."[11] In fact, "Yosemite" was derived from the Miwok term for the Ahwaneechee people: yohhe'meti, meaning "they are killers".[12][13][14]

 

Basket woven by Lucy Telles (1885-1955), a Mono Lake Paiute and Southern Sierra Miwok Native American artist from the Yosemite region

After the Mariposa War, a number of Native Americans continued to live in the Yosemite area, despite their overall population being severely decreased in the present-day park's boundary. The remaining Yosemite Ahwahneechee tribe members there were forced to relocate to an Indian village constructed in 1851 by the state government .[5] They learned to live within this camp and their limited rights, adapting to the changing environment by taking advantage of the growing tourism industry through employment opportunities and creating small businesses from selling goods and providing services.[2] Despite the integration of Indigenous people into the growing American settlement and tourism industry, their villages were destroyed and their people were forced to relocate four different times throughout the park's history. The U.S. Army was responsible for the village's destruction in 1851 and 1906, and the National Park Service was responsible for it in 1929 and 1969.[5] In 1969, the National Park Service evicted the remaining Native people from their residences and destroyed their village as part of a fire-fighting exercise.[6] A reconstructed "Indian Village of Ahwahnee" has been erected behind the Yosemite Museum, located next to the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center.[15][16][17]

By the late 19th century, the population of all native inhabitants in Yosemite was difficult to determine, estimates ranged from smaller numbers, such as thirty individuals, to several hundred. The Ahwahneechee people and their descendants were even harder to identify.[5] The last full-blooded Ahwahneechee died in 1931, her name was Totuya, or Maria Lebrado, she was the granddaughter of Chief Tenaya and one of many forced out of her ancestral homelands in Yosemite National Park.[5][6] Now the Ahwahneechee live through the memory of their descendants, their fellow Yosemite Natives, and through museums like the Yosemite, California museum exhibit in the Smithsonian and the Yosemite Museum.[5] As a method of self preservation and resilience, the Indigenous people of California proposed treaties in 1851 and 1852 which would have established land reservations for them but Congress refused to sign them.[5] The quest for justice and sovereignty by Yosemite Natives has been ongoing for well over a hundred years. The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation is still seeking tribal sovereignty and federal recognition, which is critical for their wellbeing and cultural preservation.[6][18] Progress has been made in terms of the relationship between the U.S. government and tribal governments with the National Park Service creating policies to protect Indigenous sacred sites and allow Natives to return to their homelands and use National Park resources.[18][19]

 

The Dead Giant (c. 1870s)

 

Vernal Fall (c. 1870s)

 

The Wawona Hotel (1985)

 

Jennie Curry in front of Camp Curry (c. 1900)

 

Advertisement of 1907 inviting tourists to the park

In 1855, entrepreneur James Mason Hutchings, artist Thomas Ayres and two others were the first to tour the area.[20] Hutchings and Ayres were responsible for much of the earliest publicity about Yosemite, writing articles and special magazine issues about the Valley.[21] Ayres' style in art was highly detailed with exaggerated angularity. His works and written accounts were distributed nationally, and an art exhibition of his drawings was held in New York City. Hutchings' publicity efforts between 1855 and 1860 led to an increase in tourism to Yosemite.[22] A number of Natives in Yosemite supported the growing tourism industry by working as laborers or maids. Later, they became part of the tourism industry itself by performing dances for tourists, being guides, and selling handcrafted good, most notably woven baskets.[2] The Indian village and its peoples were of immense interest to visitors, especially James Hutchings who was a large advocate for Yosemite tourism, he and many others considered the Indigenous presence as one of Yosemite's greatest attractions.

 

Eadweard Muybridge, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite, California, 1872, albumen print by Carleton E. Watkins

[2]

Wawona was an early Indian encampment for Nuchu and Ahwahneechee Natives that were captured and relocated to a reservation on the Fresno River by the Mariposa Battalion and James Savage in March 1851.[23] Settler Galen Clark discovered the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia in Wawona in 1857. He had simple lodgings built, and roads to the area. In 1879, the Wawona Hotel was built to serve tourists visiting Mariposa Grove.[24] As tourism increased, so did the number of trails and hotels developed by people intending to build on the trade.[25]

The Wawona Tree, also known as the Tunnel Tree, was a famous giant sequoia that stood in the Mariposa Grove. It was 234 feet (71 m) tall, and was 90 ft (27 m) in circumference. When a carriage-wide tunnel was cut through the tree in 1881, it became even more popular as a tourist photo attraction. Everything from horse-drawn carriages in the late 19th century, to automobiles in the first part of the 20th century, traveled the road which passed through that tree. The tree was permanently weakened by the tunnel, and the Wawona Tree fell in 1969 under a heavy load of snow. It was estimated to have been 2,100 years old.[26]

Yosemite's first concession was established in 1884 when John Degnan and his wife established a bakery and store.[27] In 1916, the National Park Service granted a 20-year concession to the Desmond Park Service Company. It bought out or built hotels, stores, camps, a dairy, a garage, and other park services.[28] The Hotel Del Portal was completed in 1908 by a subsidiary corporation of the Yosemite Valley Railroad. It was located at El Portal, California just outside of Yosemite.[29] Desmond changed its name to the Yosemite National Park Company in December 1917 and was reorganized in 1920.[30]

The Curry Company had been started in 1899 by David and Jennie Curry to provide concessions in the park. They also founded Camp Curry, formerly known as Half Dome Village, now restored back to Curry Village.[31]

Administrators in the National Park Service felt that limiting the number of concessionaires in each national park would be more financially sound. The Curry Company and its rival, the Yosemite National Park Company, were forced to merge in 1925 to form the Yosemite Park & Curry Company (YP&CC).[32] The company built the Ahwahnee Hotel in 1926–27.[33]

 

Map of rail and stage routes to Yosemite in 1885

 

A view of the park and Vernal Fall, photographed by photographer Eadweard Muybridge in 1872.

Concerned by the effects of commercial interests, prominent citizens including Galen Clark and Senator John Conness advocated for protection of the area. A park bill was prepared with the assistance of the General Land Office in the Interior Department.[34] The bill passed both houses of the 38th United States Congress, and was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on June 30, 1864, creating the Yosemite Grant.[35][36] This is the first instance of park land being set aside specifically for preservation and public use by action of the U.S. federal government, and set a precedent for the 1872 creation of Yellowstone as the first national park.[37] Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove were ceded to California as a state park, and a board of commissioners was proclaimed two years later.[38]

Galen Clark was appointed by the commission as the Grant's first guardian, but neither Clark nor the commissioners had the authority to evict homesteaders (which included Hutchings).[35] The issue was not settled until 1872 when the homesteader land holdings were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court.[39] Clark and the reigning commissioners were ousted in 1880, this dispute also reaching the Supreme Court in 1880.[40] The two Supreme Court decisions affecting management of the Yosemite Grant are considered important precedents in land management law.[41] Hutchings became the new park guardian.[42]

Access to the park by tourists improved in the early years of the park, and conditions in the Valley were made more hospitable. Tourism significantly increased after the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, but the long horseback ride to reach the area was a deterrent.[35] Three stagecoach roads were built in the mid-1870s to provide better access for the growing number of visitors to Yosemite Valley.[43]

John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist and explorer. It was because of Muir that many National Parks were left untouched, such as Yosemite Valley National Park. One of the most significant camping trips Muir took was in 1903 with then president Theodore Roosevelt. This trip persuaded Roosevelt to return "Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove to federal protection as part of Yosemite National Park".[44]

Muir wrote articles popularizing the area and increasing scientific interest in it. Muir was one of the first to theorize that the major landforms in Yosemite Valley were created by large alpine glaciers, bucking established scientists such as Josiah Whitney, who regarded Muir as an amateur.[42] Muir wrote scientific papers on the area's biology. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted emphasized the importance of conservation of Yosemite Valley.[45]

 

Early settler, Galen Clark

 

Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point

Overgrazing of meadows (especially by sheep), logging of giant sequoia, and other damage caused Muir to become an advocate for further protection. Muir convinced prominent guests of the importance of putting the area under federal protection; one such guest was Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century Magazine. Muir and Johnson lobbied Congress for the Act that created Yosemite National Park on October 1, 1890.[46] The State of California, however, retained control of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. Muir's writings raised awareness about the damage caused by sheep grazing, and he actively campaigned to virtually eliminate grazing from the Yosemite's high-country ecosystem.[47]

The newly created national park came under the jurisdiction of the United States Army's Troop I of the 4th Cavalry on May 19, 1891, which set up camp in Wawona with Captain Abram Epperson Wood as acting superintendent.[46] By the late 1890s, sheep grazing was no longer a problem, and the Army made other improvements. The cavalry could not intervene to ease the worsening condition of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. From 1899 to 1913, cavalry regiments of the Western Department, including the all Black 9th Cavalry (known as the "Buffalo Soldiers") and the 1st Cavalry, stationed two troops at Yosemite.

 

Bridalveil Fall and El Capitan, by Carleton Watkins (c. 1880)

Muir and his Sierra Club continued to lobby the government and influential people for the creation of a unified Yosemite National Park. In May 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt camped with Muir near Glacier Point for three days. On that trip, Muir convinced Roosevelt to take control of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove away from California and return it to the federal government. In 1906, Roosevelt signed a bill that did precisely that.[48]

The National Park Service was formed in 1916, and Yosemite was transferred to that agency's jurisdiction. Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, Tioga Pass Road, and campgrounds at Tenaya and Merced lakes were also completed in 1916.[49] Automobiles started to enter the park in ever-increasing numbers following the construction of all-weather highways to the park. The Yosemite Museum was founded in 1926 through the efforts of Ansel Franklin Hall.[50] In the 1920s, the museum featured Native Americans practicing traditional crafts, and many of the Southern Sierra Miwok continued to live in Yosemite Valley until they were completely evicted from Yosemite National Park in the 1960s.[51] Although the National Park Service helped create the Yosemite Museum which showcased some Indigenous presence at the time, its early actions and organizational values were detrimental to the Yosemite Natives and the Ahwahneechee.[5] The National Park Service in the early 20th century criticized and even restricted the expression of Indigenous culture and behavior in Yosemite, for instance Park officials penalized Natives for playing games and drinking during the Indian Field Days of 1924.[2] The NPS had more direct and devastating impacts on the Yosemite Natives though. In 1929, Park Superintendent Charles G. Thomson concluded that the Indian village was aesthetically unpleasant and was limiting white settler development. Thomson eventually ordered the camp be burned down.[5] In 1969, many Natives in the Indian village were forced to leave in search of work as a result of the decline in tourism. The NPS demolished those empty houses, evicted the remaining people from their homes, and destroyed the entire village.[5] This was the last Indigenous settlement to exist within Yosemite's Valley and the National Park, effectively removing all the Ahwahneechee People and other Yosemite Natives from their traditional homelands.[5][6]

In 1903, a dam in the northern portion of the park was proposed. Located in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, its purpose was to provide water and hydroelectric power to San Francisco. Muir and the Sierra Club opposed the project, while others, including Gifford Pinchot, supported it.[52] In 1913, the U.S. Congress authorized the O'Shaughnessy Dam through passage of the Raker Act.[53]

 

O'Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley

In the late 1920s a bid for Yosemite for the 1932 Winter Olympics was put forward. Ultimately, the 1932 Winter Olympics were awarded to Lake Placid, New York.[54] In 1937, conservationist Rosalie Edge, head of the Emergency Conservation Committee (ECC), successfully lobbied Congress to purchase about 8,000 acres of old-growth sugar pines on the perimeter of Yosemite National Park that were to be logged.[55]

In 1984, preservationists persuaded Congress to designate 677,600 acres (274,200 ha), or about 89 percent of the park, as the Yosemite Wilderness—a highly protected wilderness area.[56] The Park Service has reduced artificial inducements to visit the park, such as the Firefall, in which red-hot embers were pushed off a cliff near Glacier Point at night. Traffic congestion and parking in Yosemite Valley during the summer months has become a concern.[57]

In 2016, The Trust for Public Land purchased Ackerson Meadow, a 400-acre tract on the western edge of Yosemite National Park, for $2.3 million in order to preserve habitat and protect the area from development. Ackerson Meadow was originally included in the proposed 1890 park boundary but never acquired by the federal government. The purchase and donation of the meadow was made possible through a cooperative effort by the Trust for Public Land, the National Park Service, and Yosemite Conservancy. On September 7, 2016, the National Park Service accepted the donation of the land, making the meadow the largest addition to Yosemite since 1949.[58]