Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tales of thunderous waterfalls and towering stone columns followed the Mariposa Bat-
talion out of Yosemite and soon spread into the public's awareness. In 1855 San Francisco
entrepreneur James Mason Hutchings organized the first tourist party to the valley. Pub-
lished accounts of his trip, in which he extolled the area's untarnished beauty, prompted
others to follow, and it wasn't long before inns and roads began springing up. Alarmed by
this development, conservationists petitioned Congress to protect the area - with success.
In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, which eventually ceded
Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoias to California as a state park.
This landmark decision paved the way for a national park system, of which Yosemite be-
came a part in 1890, thanks to efforts led by pioneering conservationist John Muir.
Yosemite's popularity as a tourist destination continued to soar throughout the 20th cen-
tury and, by the mid-1970s, traffic and congestion draped the valley in a smoggy haze. The
General Management Plan (GMP), developed in 1980 to alleviate this and other problems,
ran into numerous challenges and delays. Despite many improvements, and the need to
preserve the natural beauty that draws visitors to Yosemite in the first place, the plan still
hasn't been fully implemented.
