It may be the best known natural landmark in California. Numerous Native American tribes trace their roots to the area, tourists flock to it and postcards are mailed every day with some part of the area on the front.
It is Yosemite National Park, and it has a long and colorful
history en route to becoming part of the United States Park Service.
The Paiute and Miwok tribes lived in the Yosemite Valley, but the California gold rush sparked conflict between the tribes and miners. In 1851, Major Jim Savage was ordered to take his militia and end the conflict by capturing the Indians.
While that was occurring, Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, the unit physician, was writing down his impressions of the Yosemite Valley which would later become the book The Discovery of the Yosemite. People began to take notice of the Yosemite Valley as a natural attraction, and in 1864 people concerned about preserving the area from commercial development persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to sign a bill creating the Yosemite Grant.
This was the first time that the federal government had set aside land specifically for preservation and to be used by the
general public. Both Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove would become a California state park.
But there was no greater advocate for Yosemite than naturalist John Muir. A Scotsman by birth, he fell in love with the area and wrote numerous articles and scientific papers about the Yosemite Valley. But overgrazing by sheep and logging of the area’s giant sequoias convinced Muir that more had to be done.
Muir teamed with Century Magazine’s editor, Robert Underwood Johnson, to lobby Congress for federal protection of the Yosemite area. On October 1, 1890 a bill was signed establishing Yosemite National Park—but California retained control of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove.
Unhappy with the arrangement, Muir and his newly-formed Sierra Club pressed for a unified Yosemite National Park and in 1906 they were successful; President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill transferring Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove to federal jurisdiction.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the creation of the National Park Service; Yosemite National Park was then placed under its care. Today, over three million people visit the park each year, guided by rangers from the Park Service—and maybe the ghost of John Muir.
