Yosemite was not America’s first national park
When President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation in 1864 that designated the 7-mile-long Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias a public trust of the state of California, it marked the first time that the U.S. government had protected natural wonders for public enjoyment. Although the creation of the public trust laid the foundation for the national park system, Yosemite did not become a national park until 18 years after the establishment of Yellowstone National Park and a week after the creation of Sequoia National Park.
A presidential camping trip led to Yosemite National Park’s expansion
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt traveled to California and requested that Muir take him camping for several days in Yosemite. Roosevelt spent a night beneath the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove and compared it to “lying in a great solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by the hands of man.” Muir implored upon Roosevelt the need to expand the national park to include those lands still in California’s possession, and in 1906 the president signed a law that brought the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove under federal jurisdiction.
A waterfall of fire was once one of the park’s top tourist attractions
Beginning in the early 1870s, Irish immigrant James McCauley, who owned a hotel atop Glacier Point, ended evenings spent around the campfire with guests by kicking the burning embers over the soaring cliff. Visitors below enjoyed the shower of fire so much they began to pay McCauley to continue the practice. David Curry, the proprietor of Camp Curry, revived the Yosemite Firefall in the early 1900s after hearing guests reminisce about it. It became a nightly summertime entertainment until the National Park Service, frowning upon the man-made attraction, ended it in 1968.
A riot broke out inside Yosemite in 1970
During the 1960s, the national park became an increasingly popular hangout for California’s hippie subculture. “Some complaints are being heard from Yosemite park that there are more hippies than bears,” reported one newspaper, which added, “apparently, like the bears, the hippies forage off the tourists, eating any food that is left unprotected and begging for handouts.” The tension came to a head on July 4, 1970, as park rangers on horseback attempted to disperse several hundred youths from Stoneman Meadow. The situation quickly escalated with rangers using tear gas and batons against a crowd throwing rocks and glass bottles. Law enforcement was called in to quell the riot, which left seven people hurt and 138 people under arrest.
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It is ironic that so many of the things people do to celebrate nature actually end up diminishing it.
National parks are not good places to hold community events.