The
Members' Journal
 As
a member, you will receive Yosemite, the journal of
the Yosemite Association, four times each year. It's full of articles
about Yosemite's history, natural history and current events. It also
includes information about volunteer opportunities and special member
events. There is no other journal devoted to Yosemite that combines
up-to-date news, with general information for park lovers and visitors.
To download the Spring 2008 issue of Yosemite in PDF format, please
click here. (The file is 2.4 mb,so it may take some time to transfer.)
Sample articles
from earlier issues of Yosemite:
Bears in Summer School
Bear
Released in Yosemite Under New Program
Invasion
of the Aliens
In the Trenches:
A Biologist's View of Working on the Yosemite Valley Plan
Yosemite's
First Art Exhibition
Painting and Promoting the Tuolumne Grove
Invasion of the Aliens
By Jeff Lahr
It’s morning in the high country. The sun slowly rises above Mount
Dana. High in this alpine environment, the white-tailed ptarmigan searches
steadfastly for a morning meal of seeds and leaves among the sparse
alpine plants. Nothing could be more natural...
A
few hours later, the sun shines brightly in Yosemite Valley—dew-covered
meadows shimmer in the light. These pristine valley meadows appear to
look pretty much as they have for hundreds of years. Another natural
scene…?
Actually,
both of these are examples of what is not natural in the park, despite
appearances. The ptarmigan among the rocks and some of the meadow grasses
are alien to Yosemite’s ecosystem where they now flourish.
They
are examples of floral and fauna invaders-—unnatural members of
the environment. There is evidence that our national parks are hosts
to a rapidly growing assortment of exotic forms of life that can alter,
and in some cases, destroy the habitats of native plants and animals.
These
intruders go by several aliases: alien, exotic, invasive, introduced,
non-native, and noxious. No matter what they are called, they are a
threat to native natural environments. Non-native plants can outcompete
native plants, shrink available habitat for wildlife, and limit diversity
by creating monocultures. Many scientists believe that invasive organisms
are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity.
The
scope of the problem
It isn’t just the naturalists in the national parks who worry about
the impact of these foreign plants and animals. The concern about non-native
species is shared through the federal departments of the Interior, Agriculture,
and even Commerce. The damage can be seen economically as well as environmentally.
Accordingly, President Clinton proposed for the 2000 federal budget
a $29 million increase that is earmarked for the reduction and control
of non-native plant species. In a statement issued in February of 1999,
President Clinton stated, "Some experts estimate the cost [of alien
species] to the American economy to be as high as $123 billion per year…I
urge Congress to join us in protecting our economy and our natural heritage
against the threat of non-native species."
Secretary
of the Interior Bruce Babbitt mirrored the President’s sentiments.
"The invasion of noxious alien species wreaks havoc on the environment
and the economy… These aliens are quiet opportunists, spreading
in a slow motion explosion… Weeds infest 100 million acres in the
U.S., spread at 14 percent per year, and—on public lands—consume
4,600 acres of wildlife habitat per day."
Is
the problem as serious in Yosemite National Park as is suggested by
the concern shown nationally? Definitely, says Sue Fritzke, vegetation
resource manager, who estimates that there are more than 180 introduced
plant species in Yosemite, representing over 10% of the total park flora.
The number of identified non-native species has doubled in the last
ten years (due in part to more exotics but also to a growing awareness
of the problem of non-native plants). Although the numbers aren’t
as high, similar problems exist for non-native animals.
Unwelcome
guests
All living things have a home in some corner of the world. In their
native habitats, plants and animals evolve under certain conditions.
Within that environment are factors that limit the species’ growth
and population. These natural parameters help maintain a balanced ecosystem
and a healthy distribution of that species. When some species are transported
into a foreign environment, they have opportunities to grow at an unnaturally
fast rate. In other words, these non-native species are often able to
outcompete native plants and animals that are subject to the growth-limiting
factors of their own environment.
The
different ways an exotic plant species can effect a natural area are
numerous. They can:
* displace the native plant species;
* degrade the biological diversity of a natural area;
* alter the soils’ chemical make-up, moisture-holding capabilities,
and erodibility;
* hybridize with native plants to change their genetic make up, leading
to changes in the species’ ability to cope with natural stresses
such as drought or insect infestation;
* harbor toxins poisonous to native animals.
Although
many of these invaders are hazardous hitchhikers from other countries,
this is not always the case. A plant may be labeled non-native, even
if it is from our own country, if it is foreign to the environment in
which it now grows. Whether foreign or domestic, exotic species have
been called "biological pollution" by environmental experts.
Ptarmigans
and Cowbirds
The white-tailed ptarmigan is a bird found naturally in arctic and alpine
regions of North America, but not in Yosemite. Originally released as
a game bird on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, the ptarmigan
has established itself in the subalpine regions of the park.
Annual
plants growing at high elevations have only a few weeks to mature, flower
and produce new seeds for the following season. The ptarmigan’s
appetite is suspected of reducing the number of seeds available for
the following year’s flower crop and altering the intricate balance
of the ecosystem above treeline. High elevation plant communities can
take years to recover from this kind of effect.
Another
non-native bird is a threat in the lower elevations. The cowbird is
an innocuous looking species, sometimes confused with a blackbird. Like
blackbirds, they are attracted to areas near horses and stables where
they dine on the undigested seeds found in horse manure. Cowbirds are
considered nest parasites. Instead of hatching their own young, they
lay their eggs in the nests of other species and let those foster-parent
birds raise the young. The cowbird hatchling is typically bigger than
those of the host species, so the parent birds work overtime satisfying
the young cowbird’s large appetite while their own offspring starve
to death. A cowbird can lay up to forty eggs a year. The impact is felt
especially by smaller species of birds, such as the yellow warbler,
solitary vireo and warbling vireo.
Early
Warning
The impact of exotic plants and animals has been in the headlines for
several years, but early warnings were sounded nearly seventy-five years
ago. Dr. Joseph Grinnell, the first Director of the Museum of Vertebrate
Zoology at Berkeley, was an early advocate for eliminating exotic species
of animals from the national parks. In 1928, Grinnell addressed a conference
of national park superintendents. In his remarks criticizing decisions
to introduce non-native animals into national parks, specifically the
introduction of elk in Yosemite, he stated, "According to well-known
biological law, the introduction of any non-native species is bound
to be followed by the disappearance of some native species with which
the alien competes."
But
the arrival of the first non-native plants occurred long before Dr.
Grinnell’s outspoken advocacy of maintaining pristine ecosystems.
Non-native plants were introduced into Yosemite Valley with the arrival
of the first pioneers. As non-Indians settled in the valley, they quickly
planted hay and other fodder for livestock in the valley’s meadows.
Since that time the problem has grown more complex. Today, seeds from
non-native plants can enter the park through a variety of ways such
as in the tread of a car’s tires, in the bottom of backpacks and
other gear, or in the fill dirt used during roadway building and other
construction work.
Attempting
to control these out-of-control aliens require the efforts of a small
legion of volunteers as well as park resource management employees.
Currently about fifteen species of exotic plants are being managed.
The top five troublesome species in Yosemite are spotted knapweed, yellow
star thistle, Himalayan blackberry, bull thistle, and common mullein.
Those plants have been identified as most invasive, but there are many
more: tumble mustard, puncture vine, black locust, tree of heaven, oxe-eye
daisy, foxglove, scotch broom, to name a few.
Yellow
Star Thistle
Yellow star thistle is a very aggressive non-native that has spread
across California in the last several decades. According to a 1998 study
by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, yellow star thistle
now covers more than 22% of California, over 20 million acres. Not surprisingly,
the thistle has worked its way up into the Sierra, and it now ranks
as one of Yosemite’s "big five" plant menaces. This obnoxious
weed quickly dominates any area it invades and has become prolific in
the El Portal area.
Yellow star thistle is an annual plant varying from 6 inches to 3 feet
in height and is easily recognized by the star-shaped cluster of spines
surrounding a yellow flower. Each plant can have a few flowers up to
hundreds. It is a prodigious seed producer, pumping out as many as 29,000
seeds per square meter. Yellow star thistle kills off competitors in
part by sending a tap root as deep as eight feet into the ground and
sucking the moisture out of the soil. Some scientists believe that the
plant may also emit a substance called an allelochemical that stunts
the growth of nearby plants. Star thistle not only displaces native
plants but also native animals that depend on those plants such as deer,
quail, rabbits, skunks and raccoons.
Yellow
star thistle is the focus of the infamous June Work trip called the
"Weed Warriors." Each year, a small but dedicated group of
YA members braves the summer heat to attack the plant by pulling it
out by hand in various parts of the El Portal and Foresta communities.
"We don’t have the resources to deal with all the exotics,"
said Sue Fritzke. "Some plants, such as the meadow grasses are
more benign than, say, bull thistle. Grasses still provide meadow habitat,
whereas bull thistle quickly forms monocultures lacking wildlife habitat
and biodiversity. We will expend our resources on those plants that
threaten the natural diversity found in the park’s most sensitive
ecosystems. Wetlands and meadows are most susceptible to foreign take-overs.
These ecosystems also are the natural homes to some rare species that
show a greater sensitivity to encroachment of foreign competitors."
The
Vegetation Management staff works diligently to keep new plants from
being introduced into the park, but removal of existing non-natives
can be time consuming and expensive. Many require removal by hand. In
1999, approximately 2400 volunteer hours were dedicated to the removal
of unwanted plants. Volunteers from the Yosemite Association and Yosemite
Fund work crews, students and teachers with the Yosemite Institute,
Yosemite Concession employees and other service organizations all participated
in the effort. Without the help of volunteers, efforts to control non-native
plants would be seriously hampered.
The
"Weed Warriors" trip that attacks star thistle yearly is part
of a unique program of cooperative workweeks that occur each summer.
These trips involve four of the park partners: YA arranges for members
to serve as volunteers and coordinates planning, Yosemite Institute
provides staff who direct campground activities for each group and also
handle food preparation, Yosemite Concession Services underwrites some
of the expenses, and the National Park Service plans the projects and
leads the work in the field. This successful program which combines
hard work with great camaraderie is in its thirteenth year. Its participants
point with pride to many areas throughout the park that reflect their
industrious efforts from previous years.
Life
member Georgia Stigall began working as a volunteer in 1989 and participated
in numerous YA work trips. Now she volunteers for the NPS Vegetation
Management program and coordinates an independent workforce of weed
whackers and thistle snippers who average 1,000 hours of volunteer time
each year. Many hot summer days are spent in the effort to rid the park
of exotic species.
"Volunteers
return year after year because they want to give something back to a
place that is so special to all of us," said Stigall. "This
work can be physically demanding, but we always have a good time!"
If
the parks are to be successful in restoring the integrity of the native
environment, there must be adequate funding so that the issue of non-native
plants and animals can be addressed.
"I’d
love to have enough funding to support a full-time crew of five. We
are getting money through the fee demonstration program for a three-person
seasonal crew starting next year for four years, but I’d like to
augment the crew with additional staff and extend seasons to nearly
year-round," says Fritzke. "This would be another $35,000-$50,000
per year—pretty steep, but if we want to manage those species that
are best controlled during the spring and fall shoulder seasons, that’s
what we would need."
With
sufficient funding, the task of eradicating non-native species could
be met head-on by resources managers, their staff, and concerned volunteers.
These unsung heroes play a crucial role in preserving the natural environment
that makes Yosemite a national treasure.
Lessons
Learned
It’s clear that our national parks are important not only for their
recreational value, but also for their role in preserving regional ecosystems.
As Dr. Grinnell remarked decades ago in his book, Animal Life in Yosemite,
The longer we study the problem, the clearer it becomes that in the
natural forests, which happily are being preserved in our National Parks,
a finely adjusted interrelation exists, amounting to a mutual interdependence,
by which all the animal and plant species are within them able to pursue
their careers… Each [native] species carries on its existence in
perfect harmony on the whole with the larger scheme of living nature.
Jeff
Lahr is a ranger naturalist in Wawona each summer and teaches social
studies at the junior high level in Santa Maria.
Editor’s note: For information on worktrip locations and dates
for 2001, click here, or call the YA office
at (209) 379-2317. People interested in working with Georgia Stigall
can contact her by email, by phone
at (650) 941-1068, or by mail at 17287 Skyline Blvd. #102, Woodside,
CA 94062
In the Trenches: A Biologist's View of Working
on the Yosemite Valley Plan
By Steve Thompson
I couldn't believe my good fortune as I arrived in Yosemite in the winter
of 1989 to assume the job of wildlife biologist. I had toiled long and
hard to get the education and experience necessary for my profession,
and had worked in a succession of temporary wildlife jobs with a variety
of state and federal agencies. But my goal had always been to work for
the National Park Service (NPS). Its mission of resource preservation
fit well with my own conservation philosophies, formed in the environmental
movement of the early 1970's. When looking for wildlife biologist jobs,
however, you can't turn down offers from any agency; there are always
many applicants for few positions. So, when I found myself working for
the NPS in a place of astounding beauty, and that is treasured by people
around the world, I felt like my hard work, combined with some sort
of cosmic convergence of accumulated good karma, had placed me here.
I felt like I had finally arrived at a place where I could happily spend
the rest of my career, after many years of a semi-nomadic existence.
I took up residence in a house near the base of Yosemite Falls; close
enough that my windows rattled in the spring when the falls swelled
with melted snow. My commute to work was a short bicycle ride through
oak-shrouded roads and trails to an office with a postcard view of Half
Dome. With each season, Yosemite Valley revealed new splendors; whether
it was the hushed cloak of new snow on trees and cliffs in winter, the
burst of spring grasses and wildflowers in meadows, or the glow of fall
color in the trees. I lived in paradise.
More important
to me than living in the midst of this wonder, was my ability to translate
my love of Yosemite into actions to protect it, for both the wildlife
and the visitors. It sounds corny, but I felt I was fulfilling a sacred
public trust to protect a place that contains rare, relatively pristine
wildlife populations and habitats, and is important to millions of people
nationally and internationally. I still feel the same. I enjoy going
out and talking to visitors because their love of Yosemite and their
excitement of being here is infectious. It helps me fight creeping complacency
and reminds me just how important this place is to so many people.
It didn’t
take me long to realize that my idealistic view of working for the NPS
had some unexpected complications. The Organic Act of 1916 mandates
the NPS to "allow for the enjoyment" of the park while also
leaving it "unimpaired for future generations." This is a
difficult mission in Yosemite, where nearly 4 million people visit each
year. While my job is to be an advocate for protection of wildlife in
Yosemite, my activism must be tempered with pragmatism: large numbers
of people will always come to Yosemite, and some adverse effects on
natural resources, including wildlife, will inevitably result. But to
sacrifice natural resources in the name of visitor enjoyment would not
only result in the loss of wildlife and habitats that are unique in
the Sierra Nevada, but would also ultimately degrade the enjoyment of
the park by all visitors. A key part of my job is, therefore, to help
develop strategies to repair damage to park resources and work to avoid
future damage.
Many of
the adverse effects on natural resources we work to prevent and repair
have a long history related to continual growth in visitation and uses
of the park that had become "traditional." At one time, we
allowed visitors to drive out into meadows and camp wherever they pleased.
Black bears were fed tons of garbage each year to entertain visitors.
The Firefall (a bonfire pushed off Glacier Point) attracted hundreds
of people into meadows to view the spectacle, resulting in sensitive
habitats trampled to dust. Each of these practices was abandoned when
the NPS realized that they were inappropriate and had unacceptable costs
to resources in a National Park that was established for its natural
wonders. Although we now view such changes as obviously correct, I’m
sure the park managers of that day had to withstand howls of protest
from the public who had become accustomed to such liberties and entertainment.
I currently
find myself involved in a similar controversy, but on a much larger
scale. In the wake of the 1997 flood, the Park Service decided it was
high time to implement the long-dormant 1980 General Management Plan,
and its general goals of protecting and restoring natural resources
in the Valley, while also improving the quality of the park experience
to visitors. The flood had emphasized the need for us to respect the
Merced River's role in the natural, dynamic changes in Yosemite Valley,
and to recognize the biological and visitor-experience values of restoring
the Valley's natural environment. The framework for such changes is
the Yosemite Valley Plan (YVP). Over the last three years, nearly all
my time has been dedicated to assisting in the development of the YVP.
This has
often been a grueling experience. The document is extremely large and
complex, addressing numerous interrelated issues such as lodging, camping,
transportation, housing, and, of course, resource protection. It has
been my task to provide information and recommendations that would help
the YVP avoid and minimize impacts on wildlife and habitats, while also
restoring areas in Yosemite Valley that have a high value to wildlife
(e.g., meadows and riparian areas). I've thoroughly evaluated dozens
of actions proposed under the plan, in order to provide a clear picture
of their combined potential effects on wildlife; and I have written
large portions of the document that reflect these findings. This all
means that I've had to assume an indoor existence of computer screens,
meetings, and endless text editing, all of which have me wistfully remembering
my days of high-stress, exhausting, all-night bear captures.
My work
on the YVP, however, has been unexpectedly rewarding. Initially, my
involvement in the plan was grudging and tinged with pessimism. Obviously,
the current desecrated condition of Yosemite Valley was the result of
endless accommodation of visitors at the cost of the natural environment.
Biologists who had preceded me in the park's history had likely opposed
this incremental destruction, only to have their protests and recommendations
ignored. Why would it be any different this time around?
From the
very beginning of my involvement in the YVP, however, it was clear that
my professional opinions, knowledge, and expertise were valued and would
be an integral part of the document. Reduction in habitat fragmentation
became one of the YVP's central themes, and my evaluations of potential
impacts on wildlife were never second-guessed, even when they caused
reconsideration of planned actions. Overall, it has been a gratifying
experience for me to see my accumulated knowledge of Yosemite's wildlife
and my application of ecological principles put to use in a plan that
will benefit Yosemite's wildlife for many years to come, and ultimately
mark a positive turning point in the park's history.
In some
ways, changes proposed by the YVP have, coincidentally, been reflected
in recent changes in my personal and professional life. I moved my office
from Yosemite Valley down to El Portal, where the YVP would place a
majority of park administration. My family and I moved from our beloved
little house in Yosemite Valley down to Mariposa, since my job had changed
to the point where I could no longer justify to myself remaining in
the Valley (e.g., I was no longer getting called at all hours to catch
bears). In many ways, we dearly miss living in Yosemite Valley: being
part of that close community; living in the surrealism of world-famous
scenery, and observing its changes with the time of day and the seasons;
the simplicity of living within walking distance of work, school, daycare,
and the grocery store. But we were willing to give up these personal
benefits to do the right thing for Yosemite; timeless but ever-changing.
We hope the changes proposed in the YVP that aim to reclaim Yosemite
Valley's unique beauty and biology can be seen in a similar altruistic
light.
I am, however,
only a small part of this effort. Dozens of other staff members have
left their regular jobs to join the YVP effort, and provide their knowledge
and insight, often late into the night and during weekends. Somehow,
many members of the public believe the plan is some sort of inscrutable
tome imposed on them by a faceless, monolithic bureaucracy.
In fact,
it has largely been developed here, in Yosemite National Park, by park
staff: people who have an intimate knowledge of the park and strong
spiritual and emotional connections to it. They strive to "do the
right thing;" not necessarily for the current generation of visitors,
or the park concessioner, or the various special-interest groups, but
for the timeless qualities of Yosemite and the many generations of visitors
yet to come who have no voice.
Yosemite’s
First Art Exhibition
by Gene Rose
Yosemite owes much of its fame as one of our nation's premier parks
to the artists, authors, and early pioneers who made it known.
James Hutchings, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, William Moran, John
Muir, Clarence King, and Ansel Adams represent only a handful of the
many creative titans who used their talents to spread the gospel of
Yosemite.
Yet these great talents can’t match the artistic accomplishment
of a little-known, adventurous, Englishwoman who came to California
in the late 1870s, and, in the course of her stay, presented what most
believe was the first art show in Yosemite.
Constance F. Gordon-Cumming reached Yosemite Valley in April, 1878,
planning to spend just a few days. But after viewing the great natural
wonder, she canceled her travel plans and remained in the Yosemite region
for three months. During this period she wrote, sketched, and painted,
roaming far and wide to know and capture the spirit of Yosemite.
Gordon-Cumming had arrived earlier at San Francisco by way of Tahiti.
She found San Francisco vibrant and active, "but overrun by hoodlums
and young ner’do-wells." After a brief stay she made the late
spring, five-day trip to Yosemite. It was a trip that touched her life.
The jolting stage ride was seldom a pleasing experience; most people
considered it something of a rite of passage for those who wanted to
view the heart of the Sierra.
"I am bound to say, however, that this season has one terrible
disadvantage in the clouds of dust. The wretched travelers arrive half
suffocated, and looking over much as if they had walked out of flour-bags;
but the flour is finely sifted granite-dust, most cutting to the eyes.
As the coach draws up, out rush the waiters and other attendants armed
with feather brushes, which they apply vigorously to the heads of the
new-comers and then help to pull of their large dust-coats - most necessary
garments in this country."
 She
traveled extensively during her extended Yosemite stay, venturing into
the high country and down into Hetch Hetchy. In some ways, she found
Yosemite out of this world.
"And then the stillness of the great Sierras and the solemn gloom
of the forest, canopied by the wondrously blue scarlet heavens, have
an indescribable fascination, which often tempts me to go and camp out
myself. But then comes the one grand argument which counteracts all
romance, and decides me in favor of this pleasant little room upstairs;
and the argument is summed up in one word - RATTLESNAKES."
She also met many of the movers and shakers of those early days. More
importantly, she acquired an amazing in-depth knowledge of the Sierra
area, exploring many locations around Yosemite, making drawings and
paintings as she went. In her Yosemite travels, Gordon-Cumming learned
of current events and controversies, including the great debate raging
between a young tramp herder by the name of John Muir and the highly
esteemed scientist Josiah Whitney over the creation of Yosemite Valley.
Not unexpectedly, Cumming knew her own mind. In her Sierra travels,
she rode side-saddle - in the proper English tradition - using a saddle
that she had just happened to bring along. She claimed that this approach
was much less tiring than riding "straddled-legs" or western
style. However, her Yosemite guides insisted that the western saddle
would be much safer on mountain trails, as it insures better balance.
"I believe they are right, but nevertheless, I have no intention
of taking their advice!" she wrote.
 Cumming
concluded her Yosemite visit by hanging her sketches and paintings on
the side of a valley building (probably somewhere at Hutching’s
Hotel), and exhibiting her art. "I fastened each sketch with small
pins, so that the verandah became a famous picture-gallery."
It was a fairly extensive display. Gordon-Cumming wrote: "I certainly
have got through a good deal of work in the last three months, having
twenty-five finished drawings, and as many more very carefully drawn
and half coloured. Most of these are large, for water-colour sketches--about
thirty by twenty inches--as I find it far more troublesome to express
such vast subjects on a smaller scale."
"It was probably the first art exhibition in Yosemite Valley,"
observed Maymie Kimes, a long-time Yosemite observer.
Her surviving sketches reflect a high degree of competence and discipline
based on European tradition. A sampling of her work is held in both
the Yosemite and Oakland Museums.
Gordon-Cumming’s detailed letters home were published in 1886 as
her memorable book, Granite Crags of California, the source of the quotes
in this article.
"She was a wonderful artist, an exceptional individual, and her
book provides a glimpse of her many talents," said Kimes.
Undoubtedly, Gordon-Cumming was a woman before her time, traveling around
the world, often alone and unaided, writing and sketching as she went.
In her wake, she left an impressive written trail (including the books
At Home in Fuji, Fire Fountain, A Lady's Cruise in a French Man-of-War,
In the Hebrides, and Wandering in China) and a remarkable artistic legacy.
And at the park, she will always be remembered for her original Yosemite
art exhibition.
Painting
and Promoting the Tuolumne Grove
by Jim Snyder
From its
"discovery," the Tuolumne Grove of sequoias was overshadowed
by the Mariposa Grove. The trees in the Tuolumne Grove seemed smaller.
The Tuolumne Grove itself was less extensive and lacked an iconic magnet
like the often-photographed Grizzly Giant. For a short period in the
latter nineteenth century, however, the Tuolumne Grove was a major attraction
with the first tunnel tree in Yosemite. Inventing the tunnel tree, then
illustrating and advertising it, had much to do with the relative fortunes
of these sequoia groves.
The Tuolumne Grove was discovered by accident. In May 1858, nine men
from the gold rush town of Garrote started on a hunting and sightseeing
trip to Yosemite Valley. At Crane Flat they wounded a deer that they
tried to follow the next day. The deer’s trail led them into the
Tuolumne Grove. Their hunt quickly forgotten, the miners marveled at
the trees, especially the "Siamese Twins." One of the party,
J. L. Cogswell, wrote that this grove of trees, "I think, have
never before been discovered, at least not to the knowledge of any inhabitant
of that region."
The next year, according to James Hutchings, a "very plain"
trail ran the short distance from Crane Flat to the Tuolumne Grove,
which had become a sight to see on the northern route into the Valley.
The California Geological Survey visited the grove in 1863 and 1866,
later publishing a description that included the great burned stump
eventually known as the "Dead Giant." The Old Big Oak Flat
Road was built through the Tuolumne Grove in late summer, 1870, but
was not completed to Yosemite Valley until 1874.1 The road increased
the popularity of the Tuolumne Grove by giving it "gateway"
status on the edge of the Yosemite Grant.
The grove’s popularity as a sight along the way did not convert
it to a destination for its own sake. None of its trees gained the fame
of the Grizzly Giant. No illustrations of the Tuolumne Grove appeared
in the popular guidebooks by Hutchings, Whitney, or others. What was
apparently the first portrayal of the Tuolumne Grove was painted by
Henry Cheever Pratt in summer, 1870, just before the Old Big Oak Flat
Road was constructed through the grove. Pratt (l803-1880) had studied
with Samuel F. B. Morse before opening his own studio in Boston.
Between 1851 and 1854 he accompanied John Russell Bartlett on the United
States-Mexico Boundary Survey to California. There Pratt traveled up
the coast of southern California, exhibiting his paintings of the area
in San Diego before returning to Boston. Many of his paintings "mysteriously
disappeared" in transit. In 1870 Pratt made a second trip west
"attempting to capitalize on the ever increasing fascination with
the West following the opening of the [transcontinental] railroad."
After visiting the Bay Area, he traveled inland toward Yosemite via
the northern route through the Tuolumne Grove. Pratt’s 29 inch
by 36 inch painting of "The Big Trees of Cal. of the Touolome [sic]
Group from Nature" shows the trail preceding the road through the
grove. The "Siamese Twins" stand at the right side. Two men
and a woman riding sidesaddle are riding through the grove. In the middle
distance is a large remnant of a stump; the Dead Giant would have been
to the left of the view, out of the painting. Later in Yosemite Valley
Pratt painted a "View of the Great Yosemite Falls" and a "View
of Hutchins [sic] Hotel As It Was In 1870."
Both old and new western paintings by Pratt were exhibited in Boston
in 1874. For the exhibit Pratt described how he had employed photography
to produce his Yosemite Valley paintings, though he had painted the
Tuolumne Grove from nature. The exhibit catalogue stated that the Tuolumne
Grove painting was a "view of some of the ‘Big Trees’
seen on the trail to the Yosemite by way of Crane’s Flat. They
are known as the ‘Tuolumne Group’ of which no Pictures have
been published."
With the exception of his painting of Yosemite Falls in the Metropolitan
Museum in New York, Pratt’s other Yosemite paintings disappeared
some time after that exhibit. The Tuolumne Grove painting resurfaced
just this year in a catalog offered by the William Reese Company of
New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Reese has kindly permitted our use of the
painting as shown in his sale catalog.
The Old Big Oak Flat Road was completed to Yosemite Valley in 1874 just
a month after the Coulterville Road's entry there. The Wawona Road was
completed to Yosemite Valley the next summer with a spur road to the
Mariposa Grove by fall, 1875. Competition between the three privately-owned
roads was made more keen by depression in the latter 1870s, during which
visitation to Yosemite fell sharply. Most tourists traveled by the Wawona
Road in Yosemite Stage & Turnpike Company stages. The Old Big Oak
Flat Road was second in popularity.
The promoters needed ways to entice travelers to their respective routes.
The Tuolumne Grove was smaller than the Mariposa Grove, both in number
and size of trees, so owners of the Big Oak Flat Road concentrated on
finding a method to convey the scale of sequoias. "For the purpose
of enabling visitors more easily to apprehend its enormous size,"
as Hutchings said, a tunnel through the Dead Giant was proposed. David
and James Lumsden of Groveland had the task of enlarging deep fire scars
to complete "the tunnel right through the poor burnt heart,"
large enough for a tall stage, according to Constance Gordon Cumming.
The Lumsden brothers had just finished the tunnel when a stage came
up the road. It was an open stage occupied by nine passengers including
a couple from southern California with son and eastern relative, as
well as the ever-present James Hutchings, daughters Gertrude and Florence,
and their "aunt" Augusta Sweetland (soon to become Hutchings’
second wife). Also on the stage was an independent young traveler from
New Hampshire, Sarah F. Proctor, who had come across the country specifically
to see Yosemite. She wrote of the new tunnel: "We are the first
stage load of passengers to take this novel ride, so we stop to have
our pictures taken; with the horses just emerging, and the stage about
to enter the cut."
Tools lay against the side of the Dead Giant. A large chunk removed
from the tree lay beside the new road through the huge stump. Yosemite
Valley photographer Gustav Fagersteen photographed the stage coming
through with the Lumsden brothers standing on either side of the opening,
holding long augers and other tools. The stage went through several
times for photographs with passengers and workers in different positions.
The tourists then dutifully "pencilled" their names on the
fresh cut wood inside the tunnel. One of the tunnel slabs was taken
to Priest’s Hotel at the top of the old Priest Grade for display.
Most other pieces were simply dumped into the small creek channel above
the Dead Giant.
The novelty of driving a coach-and-four through a tree gave the Tuolumne
Grove its first real publicity, with a stream of illustrations and photographs
following. Unlike Pratt’s painting showing the grove, however,
all these illustrations focused on the single Dead Giant and its tunnel.
One of Fagersteen’s photographs of the first coach through became
a letterhead in Sonora.
George Fiske photographed the tunnel on several occasions. One of his
images shows Yosemite Guardian Galen Clark standing just inside the
tunnel. Another was taken without any people for props. Still another
was taken of Hutchings and a small party in the tunnel, a photograph
Hutchings used in his In the Heart of the Sierras (1886) and his Yo
Semite Valley and the Big Trees, What To See And How To See It (1895
and later editions).
Carleton Watkins made several stereo views of the Dead Giant with tourists.
One of his photographs with a little boy standing in the tunnel became
a gilt illustration on the cover of W. G. Marshall’s account of
his 1878 travels. The same photograph was used to decorate a darning
egg made in the Scottish town of Mauchline, noted for its wooden snuff-boxes
and knick-knacks.
Hoping to imitate the Dead Giant’s success, Henry Washburn got
permission from the State Commissioners managing Yosemite Valley and
the Mariposa Grove to cut a tunnel through a living sequoia in the path
of his new road from the Lower to the Upper Mariposa Grove in 1881.
Better roads and the advertised tunnel tree attractions drew attention
away from the well-publicized Calaveras Big Trees. The fire-scarred
trunk of the Pioneer Cabin Tree there was tunneled not long after 1881
"to keep pace with the smaller but well-advertised Wawona tree
on the road to Yosemite."
The Wawona Tree soon became "the most photographed tree in the
world." The Washburns cut a tunnel through the California Tree
in 1895 for use in the Lower Grove and when snow closed access to the
Wawona Tree above it. After the Wawona Tree fell during the winter,
1969, it was still possible to drive through the Dead Giant. The Tuolumne
Grove road was closed to vehicles in 1994 to protect the sequoias from
excessive trampling and soil compaction.
While Henry Pratt’s painting was a wonderful portrayal of the Tuolumne
Grove, the painting did little to increase the grove's popularity. It
was the tunneling of the Dead Giant as a man-made attraction in the
giant sequoias that generated more interest. Tunnels created a human
relationship to the immense sequoias, and the novelty was duplicated
in other groves.
Tunneling also resolved the difficulties of photographing such large
trees, at the same time creating opportunities to photograph tourists
in the tunnels. Popular visual interest had shifted from groves and
the largest or most picturesque trees to those with tunnels for vehicles.
There had been hollow trunks one could ride through, tree hollows used
as cabins or stables, and the big trees notoriously cut down for exhibition.
None of these quite equaled the trees through which a vehicle could
drive, whether stage or auto, for human interest or illustrative opportunity.
Now that the tunnel trees have fallen or have been closed to vehicles,
perhaps human interest in sequoias will slowly shift back to the focus
in Pratt’s painting before there were roads and tunnels through
the trees.
Footnotes:
1. John Adam Hussey, "Discovery of the Tuolumne Grove of Big Trees,"
Yosemite Nature Notes, vol. 16, no. 8 (Aug., 1937), pp. 60-63. James
M. Hutchings, "The Great Yo-Semite Valley," Hutchings’
California Magazine, vol. 4, no. 4 (Oct., 1859), pp. 157-158. Geological
Survey of California, The Yosemite Book (New York: Julius Bien, 1868),
p. 110. Hank Johnston, The Yosemite Grant, 1864-1906 (Yosemite National
Park, CA: Yosemite Association, 1995), p. 115.
2. Jeanne Van Nostrand, The First Hundred Years of Paintinq in California
1775--1875 (San Francisco, CA: John Howell--Books, 1980), pp.53-54,
117-118. Alice Doan Hodgson, "Henry Cheever Pratt (1803-1880),"
Antiques (Nov., 1972), p. 847. Gray Sweeney, "Drawing Borders:
Arts and the Cultural Politics of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary Survey, 1850-1853,"
in Dawn Hall, ed., Drawing the Borderline, Artist-Explorers of the U.S.-Mexico
Boundary Survey (Alburquerque, NM: Albuquerque Museum, 1996), pp. 66,
72, 74, 77 note 86. William Reese Company, Art Bulletin 7 (Jan., 2001).
3. Hank Johnston, Yosemite’s Yesterdays, Vol. II (Yosemite, CA:
Flying Spur Press, 1991), p. 47. Irene D. Paden and Margaret E. Schlichtmann,
The Big Oak Flat Road (San Francisco, CA: Emil P. Schlichtmann, 1955),
pp. 217-218. C. F. Gordon Cumming, Granite Crags (Edinburgh and London:
William Blackwood and Sons, 1884), p. 288. James M. Hutchings, In the
Heart of the Sierras, ed. by Peter Browning (Lafayette, CA: Great West
Books, 1990; orig. pub. 1886), p. 329.
4. S. F. P. [Sarah F. Proctor], Stepping Westward, Sketches of Travel
(Nashua, NH: Charles E. Clement, Book and Job Printer, 1879?), pp. 68-69.
W. G. Marshall, Through America; or, Nine Months in the United States
(London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1882), p. 341.
Marshall passed through the new tunnel tree just a couple weeks after
the Hutchings family and Sarah Proctor. Paden and Schlictmann, The Big
Oak Flat Road, p. 218.
5. Marshall, Through America, pp. viii, 340-341. Hutchings, In the Heart
of the Sierras, pp. 327-329. J. M. Hutchings, Souvenir of California,
Yo Semite Valley and the Big Trees, What To See and How To See It (San
Francisco, CA: J. M. Hutchings, 1894), p. 33, also p. 39 showing the
Pioneer’s Cabin tunnel tree in the Calaveras Grove and p. 102 showing
the Wawona Tree in the Mariposa Grove. Information on the Mauchline
darning egg courtesy of Louis F. Lanzer.
6. Johnston, The Yosemite Grant, pp. 186-187. Joseph H. Engbeck, The
Enduring Giants (Berkeley: University Extension, University of California,
1973), p. 91. Yosemite Guide, vol. 23, no. 1 (Mar. 21-June 21, 1994),
pp. 8-9. Shirley Sargent, Yosemite’s Historic Wawona (Yosemite,
CA: Flying Spur Press, 1979), pp. 27, 35.
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