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.
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Yosemite
National Park, California
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
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Title: Yosemite National Park, California

Author: United States. National Park Service

Release date: April 6, 2016 [eBook #51675]

Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Credits: E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, and

the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOSEMITE

NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA ***
The Project Gutenberg eBook, Yosemite National Park, California, by
Anonymous

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Harold L. Ickes, Secretary

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Arno B. Cammerer, Director

YOSEMITE
NATIONAL PARK
CALIFORNIA
 OPEN ALL YEAR

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1935

II
 WELCOME TO YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

In bidding you welcome the National Park Service asks you to

remember that you are visiting a great playground that belongs in
part to you, and that while you are at liberty to go anywhere in the
park with perfect freedom, you owe it to yourself and to your fellow
citizens not to do anything that will injure the trees, the wild animals
or birds, or any of the natural features of the park.

The park regulations are designed for the protection of the natural
beauties and scenery as well as for the comfort and convenience of
visitors. The following synopsis is for the general guidance of visitors,
who are requested to assist the administration by observing the rules.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

(Briefed)
Fires.—Light carefully and in designated places. Extinguish
COMPLETELY before leaving camp even for temporary absence. Do
not guess your fire is out—KNOW IT. Do not throw burning tobacco
or matches on road or trail sides.

Camps.—Register at camp entrance. Keep your camp clean. Burn all

combustible material and place all garbage in cans provided. Camp at
least 25 feet from other tents, buildings, or water hydrants.

Trash.—Do not throw paper, lunch refuse, kodak cartons or paper,

chewing-gum paper, or other trash on roads, trails, or elsewhere. Ball
up and carry until you can burn in camp or place in receptacle.
Trees, Flowers, and Animals.—The destruction, injury, or
disturbance in any way of the trees, flowers, birds, or animals is
prohibited. Dead and fallen wood, except sequoia, may be used for
firewood.

Noises.—Be quiet in camp after others have gone to bed. Many

people come here for rest.

Automobiles.—Speed limit in park is 35 miles per hour. Drive

carefully at all times. Keep cut-outs closed. Obey park traffic rules.
Secure automobile permit, fee $2.

Park Rangers.—The rangers are here to help and advise you as well
as to enforce the regulations. When in doubt ask a ranger.

Warning About Bears.—Do not feed the bears from the hand; they
are wild animals and may bite, strike, or scratch you. They will not
harm you if not fed at close range. Bears will enter or break into
automobiles if food that they can smell is left inside. They will also
rob your camp of unprotected food supplies, especially in the early
spring or late fall when food is scarce. It is best to suspend food
supplies in a box well out of their reach between two trees. Bears are
especially hungry in the fall of the year and serious loss or damage
may result if food is left accessible to them.

All articles lost or found should be reported to the ranger

headquarters in the New Village, to any ranger station, or to the
offices at Camp Curry, Yosemite Lodge, or the Ahwahnee. Persons
should leave their name and address so that articles which are not
claimed within 60 days may be turned over to the finders.

Suggestions, complaints, or comments regarding any phase of park

management, including the operation of camp grounds, hotels, and
attitude of employees, should be communicated immediately to the
superintendent.

C. G. Thomson, Superintendent.
 III

CONTENTS
PAGE
The Yosemite Valley 1
How the Valley Was Formed 3
Waterfalls 3
Altitude of Summits Inclosing Yosemite Valley 6
Height of Waterfalls 4
Glacier Point and the Rim of Yosemite Valley 4
The Big Trees 7
The Wawona Basin 8
Hetch Hetchy Valley 8
Tuolumne Meadows 10
Pate Valley 11
The Northern Canyons 12
The Mountain Climax of the Sierra 12
Merced and Washburn Lakes 13
Climate and Seasons 13
Winter Sports 14
Trails and Hikes 15
Fishing 17
How to Reach the Park 20
By Automobile 20
By Railroad and Auto Stage 22
By Airplane 22
Administration 23
Information Bureau 23
Free Educational Service 23
Museum 24
Yosemite Field School of Natural History 26
Ranger-Naturalist Outpost 26
Accommodations for Visitors 26
 Free Public Camp Grounds 26
Hotels, Lodges, Housekeeping Cabins, and Camps 27
Yosemite Transportation System 30
Stage Trips 31
Saddle Trips 31-32
Valley Floor Rides 32
Stores and News Stands 32
Photographic Service 32
Laundries 33
Barber Shops 33
Garage Service 33
Children’s Playground 34
Postal Service 34
Express Service 35
Telephone and Telegraph Service 35
Medical and Hospital Service 35
Church Services 35
References 36
Publications for Sale at Museum 37
Government Publications 40

IV
IMPORTANT EVENTS IN YOSEMITE’S HISTORY

1851. Mariposa Battalion discovered Yosemite Valley from Inspiration

Point, March 25. Name “Yosemite Valley” applied.
1855. J. M. Hutchings organized first party of sightseers to enter
Yosemite Valley.
1856. “Lower Hotel”, first permanent structure, built by Walworth
and Hite at base of Sentinel Rock.
1858. Cedar Cottage built; still in use.
1864. Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Trees granted to California
as a State park.
1868. John Muir made his first trip to Yosemite.
1871. Conway started work on Four-Mile Trail to Glacier Point.
Finished in 1872.
1874. Coulterville Road built to Valley floor. Big Oak Flat route
completed to Yosemite Valley.
1875. Wawona Road built to floor of Yosemite Valley.
1876. Sentinel Hotel built.
1881. Tunnel cut through Wawona Tree.
1882. Tioga Road constructed. John Conway built Glacier Point Road.
1890. Yosemite National Park created October 1.
1891. Capt. A. E. Wood, first park superintendent, arrived with
Federal troops to administer park, May 17. Headquarters at
Wawona.
1899. Camp Curry established.
1900. Holmes Brothers, of San Jose, drove first automobile (a
Stanley Steamer) into Yosemite over the Wawona Road.
1906. Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove receded to United States.
Superintendent’s headquarters (Maj. H. C. Benson,
 superintendent) moved to Yosemite Valley.
1907. Yosemite Valley Railroad opened for travel to El Portal. Visitors,
7,102.
1913. Automobiles admitted to Yosemite Valley.
1914. Civilian employees replaced military in administration of park.
Visitors, 15,154.
1915. Stephen T. Mather purchased Tioga Road; presented it to
Federal Government.
1916. National Park Service Act passed August 25.
1917. Stephen T. Mather made Director of the National Park Service.
Glacier Point Hotel built and opened.
1919. First airplane landed in Yosemite Valley, May 27, Lt. J. S. Krull,
pilot, alone.
1920. Construction started on All-Year Highway up Merced Canyon.
Visitors, 68,906.
1923. Hikers’ camps installed. Visitors, 130,046.
1924. New administration center and village developed.
1925. Yosemite Park & Curry Co. formed by consolidation of Curry
Camping Co. and Yosemite National Park Co. Park visitors,
209,166.
1926. All-Year Highway completed and dedicated July 31.
1927. Ahwahnee Hotel opened by Yosemite Park & Curry Co. The
second largest travel year in park history—490,430 visitors.
1930. Reconstruction of log cabin in Mariposa Grove to house
Museum of Big Trees. Park visitors, 458,566.
1931. Construction of 4,233-foot tunnel through Turtleback Dome for
new Wawona Road.
1932. Wawona basin of 14 square miles added to the park. New
Wawona Road and tunnel completed. Big Trees Lodge
constructed. Largest travel year in park history—498,289
visitors.
V
 WHAT TO DO AND SEE IN YOSEMITE

Here are a few suggestions to help you plan your time in Yosemite to
best advantage. This is a summer schedule—in winter see special
programs posted on bulletin boards at hotels.

Do not hurry through Yosemite—take the time to at least visit all

points of interest in the Valley and do not leave the park without
seeing the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and the wonderful panoramic
view from Glacier Point.

GENERAL
Visit the Yosemite Museum, located in the New Village, open 8 a. m.
to 5 p. m. Interesting exhibits of the geology, Indians, early history,
trees, flowers, birds, and mammals of Yosemite. Wild-flower garden
and demonstrations of native Indian life in back of museum. Short
talks on geology of the Valley given several times each day. Library,
information desk, and headquarters for nature guide service. Maps
and booklets.

Take the auto caravan tour of the Valley floor with your own car,
starting from the museum at 9:30 a. m. and 2 p. m. A ranger-
naturalist leads the caravan and explains the interesting features of
Yosemite on this free trip of about 2 hours around the Valley, every
day except Sunday and holidays.

A daily tour of the Valley in open stages is an ideal way to see the
most in a short time. Inquire at Camp Curry, Yosemite Lodge, or the
Ahwahnee for rates and schedules on stage transportation.
Visitors desiring to make an unescorted tour of the Valley should take
the Valley floor loop road, stopping at points of interest which are
signed. See detailed map of Valley. See the wonderful view of the
whole expanse of the Valley from the east portal of the 4,233-foot
tunnel, a short, easy drive of 1½ miles up the new Wawona Road,
just west of Bridalveil Fall.

Take trips afield with a ranger-naturalist. See posted daily schedules.

During July and August a naturalist leads a party once each week on
a 7-day hiking trip through the spectacular high-mountain regions of
the park, stopping each night at a High Sierra camp. See bulletins
posted at hotels and camps.

Visit the fish hatchery at Happy Isles.

See the sunrise at Mirror Lake.

Camp-fire entertainments every night except Sunday in Camp 14.

Outdoor entertainments every evening at 8 o’clock at Camp VI

Curry.

See the fire fall each night at 9 o’clock from the upper end of the
Valley or at Camp Curry.

Bears are fed every evening at 9:30 o’clock about 2 miles west of the
Old Village.

Dances every evening except Sunday at 9 o’clock at Camp Curry.

See complete programs of weekly events which are posted at

camps, hotels, and lodges.

Visit Yosemite both summer and winter—The all-year

highway is open every day of the year. Keep your Yosemite
automobile permit—it is good for the entire year. Each season has its
particular charm.
In spring—booming waterfalls, rushing streams, green meadows.

In summer—ideal camping, High Sierra trips, good fishing.

In autumn—beautiful autumn coloring, ideal Indian summer

weather.

In winter—a different Yosemite, with snow mantling trees and cliffs,

all-winter sports—skating, skiing, tobogganing.

1-DAY MOTOR TRIPS

To Glacier Point.—Thirty miles (about 1½ hours) each way. Paved
highway to Chinquapin, 14 miles, and good oiled road from there to
Glacier Point. Leave the Valley on the Wawona Road just west of
Bridalveil Fall. Visit Sentinel Dome, elevation 8,117 feet—a one-half
mile drive and short climb from the main road above Glacier Point.
Wonderful panorama of the High Sierra and the Valley. Camp ground
and hotel at Glacier Point.

To the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees.—Thirty-five miles (about 1½

hours) each way. Paved highway. Leave the Valley just west of
Bridalveil Fall; go through the 4,233-foot tunnel; wonderful views
along this road. Hotels, camp ground, garage, golf, saddle horses at
Wawona, 27 miles from the Valley. See the oldest and largest living
things in the world and the tunnel tree through which cars may be
driven. There is a new hotel and good camp ground at the Big Trees.

To Hetch Hetchy Dam and Valley.—Thirty-eight miles (about 2

hours) each way. Good, oiled, mountain road. Leave the Valley at El
Capitan station; one-way road for first 4 miles, and cars must leave
on the even hours-6 to 6:25 a. m., 8 to 8:25 a. m., 10 to 10:25 a. m.,
and so on throughout the day. See the Tuolumne Grove of Big Trees
and visit the fire lookout tower, 1½ miles west of Crane Flat.
Also Daily Stages to These Scenic Points; Inquire at Hotels.

VII

1-DAY HIKES FROM VALLEY—DISTANCES

GIVEN ONE WAY
To Sierra Point.—Marvelous view of four waterfalls and Valley.
Three-fourths of a mile of steep trail branching off the Vernal Fall
Trail, just above Happy Isles (about 2-hour trip, not a horse trail).

To Vernal Fall.—One and six-tenths miles from start of the trail at

Happy Isles.

To Nevada Fall.—Three and four-tenths miles from start of the trail

at Happy Isles.

To Glacier Point.—Eight and three-tenths miles from start of the

trail at Happy Isles (via the long trail by Vernal and Nevada Falls,
Panorama Cliff, and Illilouette Fall).

To Glacier Point (via “Four Mile Trail”).—Four and six-tenths miles

from start of trail, 1 mile west of Old Village.

To Top of Half Dome.—Seven and seven-tenths miles from start of

trail at Happy Isles, via Vernal and Nevada Falls; 900 feet of steel
cables on climb up Dome.

To Top of Yosemite Falls.—Three and six-tenths miles from start of

trail, one-fourth mile west of Yosemite Lodge. Eagle Peak is 2.6 miles
farther on.

Saddle trips daily to most of these points. Inquire at hotels or stables

for horses.

A taxi service is available for all hikers, to and from the start of trails
in the upper half of the Valley, at 25 cents per person. Telephones are
available at base of all trails.

All hikers are warned to stay on designated trails—do not take

short cuts across zigzags; you may dislodge rocks that will injure
someone below. On the long hikes to the rim of the Valley, start early
when it is cool and get back before dark. Hikers going into isolated
sections of the park or off the regular trails should register at the
chief ranger’s office before starting.

Accurate information on roads, trails, fishing, and camping, and maps

of the park are available without charge at park headquarters, the
museum, and ranger stations.

VIII

Big Trees Lodge nestled among the giant sequoias.

1
 YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK
The Yosemite National Park is much greater, both in area and beauty,
than is generally known. Nearly all Americans who have not explored
it consider it identical with the far-famed Yosemite Valley. The fact is
that the Valley is only a very small part, indeed, of this glorious public
pleasure ground. It was established October 1, 1890, but its
boundary lines have been changed several times since then. It now
has an area of 1,176.16 square miles, 752,744 acres.

This magnificent pleasure land lies on the west slope of the Sierra
Nevada about 200 miles due east of San Francisco. The crest of the
range is its eastern boundary as far south as Mount Lyell. The rivers
which water it originate in the everlasting snows. A thousand icy
streams converge to form them. They flow west through a marvelous
sea of peaks, resting by the way in hundreds of snow-bordered lakes,
romping through luxuriant valleys, rushing turbulently over rocky
heights, swinging in and out of the shadows of mighty mountains.

The Yosemite Valley occupies 8 square miles out of a total of 1,176

square miles in the Yosemite National Park. The park above the rim is
less celebrated principally because it is less known. It is less known
principally because it was not opened to the public by motor road
until 1915. Now several roads and 700 miles of trail make much of
the spectacular high-mountain region of the park easily accessible.

For the rest, the park includes, in John Muir’s words, “the headwaters
of the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers, two of the most songful streams
in the world; innumerable lakes and waterfalls and smooth silky
lawns; the noblest forests, the loftiest granite domes, the deepest
ice-sculptured canyons, the brightest crystalline pavements, and
snowy mountains soaring into the sky twelve and thirteen thousand
feet, arrayed in open ranks and spiry pinnacled groups partially
separated by tremendous canyons and amphitheaters; gardens on
their sunny brows, avalanches thundering down their long white
slopes, cataracts roaring gray and foaming in the crooked, rugged
gorges, and glaciers in their shadowy recesses, working in silence,
slowly completing their sculptures; new-born lakes at their feet, blue
and green, free or encumbered with drifting icebergs like miniature
Arctic Oceans, shining, sparkling, calm as stars.”
 THE YOSEMITE VALLEY

Little need be said of the Yosemite Valley. After these many years of
visitation and exploration it remains incomparable. It is often said
that the Sierra contains “many Yosemites,” but there is no other 2
of its superabundance of sheer beauty. It has been so celebrated
in book and magazine and newspaper that the Three Brothers, El
Capitan, Bridalveil Fall, Cathedral Spires, Mirror Lake, Half Dome, and
Glacier Point are old familiar friends to millions who have never seen
them except in picture.

The Yosemite Valley was discovered in 1851 as an incidental result of

the effort to settle Indian problems which had arisen in that region.
Dr. L. H. Bunnel, a member of the expedition, suggested the
appropriateness of naming it after the aborigines who dwelt there. It
rapidly became celebrated.
 An unusual view of Yosemite Valley from the Nevada Fall
Trail.

No matter what their expectation, most visitors are delightfully

astonished upon entering the Yosemite Valley. The sheer immensity
of the precipices on either side of the Valley’s peaceful floor; the
loftiness and the romantic suggestion of the numerous waterfalls; the
majesty of the granite walls; and the unreal, almost fairy quality of
the ever-varying whole cannot be successfully foretold. The Valley is
7 miles long. Its floor averages 1 mile in width, its walls rising from
3,000 to 4,000 feet.

HOW THE VALLEY WAS FORMED

After the visitor has recovered from his first shock of astonishment—
for it is no less—at the beauty of the Valley, inevitably he wonders
how nature made it. How did it happen that walls so enormous rise
so nearly perpendicular from the level floor of the Valley?

When the Sierra Nevada was formed by the gradual tipping of a great
block of the earth’s crust 400 miles long and 80 miles wide, streams
draining this block were pitched very definitely toward the west and
with torrential force cut deep canyons. The period of tipping and
stream erosion covered so many thousands of centuries that the
Merced River was able to wear away the sedimentary rocks several
thousand feet in thickness, which covered the granite and then in the
Yosemite Valley region to cut some 2,000 feet into this very hard
granite. Meantime the north and south flowing side streams of the
Merced, such as Yosemite Creek, not benefited by the tipping of the
Sierra block, could not cut as fast as their parent stream and so were
left high up as hanging valleys.

During the Ice Age great glaciers formed at the crest of the range
and flowed down these streams, cutting deep canyons and especially
widening them. At the maximum period the ice came within 700 feet
of the top of Half Dome. It overrode Glacier Point and extended
perhaps a mile below El Portal. Glaciers deepened Yosemite Valley
500 feet at the lower end and 1,500 feet opposite Glacier Point; then
widened it 1,000 feet at the lower end and 3,600 feet in the upper
half. The V-shaped canyon which had resulted from stream erosion
was now changed to a U-shaped trough; the Yosemite Cataract was
changed to Yosemite Fall. As the last glacier melted back from the
Valley a lake was formed, the filling in of which by sediments has
produced the practically level floor now found from El Capitan to Half
Dome.

Visitors to the park should join an auto caravan to study evidences

first hand and hear the story of the geology of Yosemite discussed by
the ranger-naturalists.
 WATERFALLS
The depth to which the Valley was cut by streams and glaciers is
measured roughly by the extraordinary height of the waterfalls which
pour over the rim.

The Upper Yosemite Fall, for instance, drops 1,430 feet in one sheer
fall, a height equal to nine Niagara Falls piled one on top of the other.
The Lower Yosemite Fall, immediately below, has a drop of 320 feet,
or two Niagaras more. Counting the series of cascades in between,
the total drop from the crest of Yosemite Fall to the Valley floor is
2,565 feet. Vernal Fall has a drop of 317 feet; Illilouette Fall, 370 4
feet. The Nevada Fall drops 594 feet sheer; the celebrated
Bridalveil Fall, 620 feet; while the Ribbon Fall, highest of all, drops
1,612 feet sheer, a straight fall nearly 10 times as high as Niagara.
Nowhere else in the world may be seen a water spectacle such as
this.

The falls are at their fullest in May and June while the winter snows
are melting. They are still running in July, but after that decrease
rapidly in volume, Yosemite Fall often drying up entirely by August 15
when there has been little rain or snow. But let it not be supposed
that the beauty of the falls depends upon the amount of water that
pours over their brinks. It is true that the May rush of water over the
Yosemite Fall is even a little appalling, when the ground sometimes
trembles with it half a mile away, but it is equally true that the
spectacle of the Yosemite Fall in late July, when, in specially dry
seasons, much of the water reaches the bottom of the upper fall in
the form of mist, possesses a filmy grandeur that is not comparable
probably with any other sight in the world; the one inspires by sheer
bulk and power, the other uplifts by its intangible spirit of beauty. To
see the waterfalls at their best one should visit Yosemite before July
15.
 HEIGHT OF WATERFALLS

Height of
Name fall Altitude of crest
Above sea Above pier near
level Sentinel Hotel
Feet Feet Feet
Yosemite Fall 1,430 6,525 2,565
Lower Yosemite 320 4,420 460
Fall
Nevada Fall 594 5,907 1,947
Vernal Fall 317 5,044 1,084
Illilouette Fall 370 5,816 1,856
Bridalveil Fall 620 4,787 827
Ribbon Fall 1,612 7,008 3,048
Widows Tears 1,170 6,466 2,506
Fall