Re: Yosemite Online Library

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/

I happened to run across this today, I 'd not known it existed.

As so many here are interested in historical issues, one may enjoy some of the quite vintage books that exist here. Lotta stuff from the 1800' and early 1900's For example:

"For years there was a search for a point in Yosemite from
which the five great waterfalls—Upper and Lower Yosemite,
Vernal, Nevada, and Illiouette— might be seen . The quest
was finally ended when, in 1897, Mr . Chas . A. Bailey and a
friend computed the location of such a point by triangualtion."

"It is the policy of the National Park Service not to keep
animals in captivity except when they can seldom
or never be seen wild . Bear and deer may
be seen by almost anyone, but there is one extremely
interesting large mammal which is so
rare as to be unknown except by hearsay even
to most old mountaineers . This is the California
Mountain Lion, Cougar, or Panther which
timidly shuns civilization and travels almost
entirely by night . A pair of these handsome
animals is kept at the Yosemite Zoo—"



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2014 11:49PM by Ken M.

Yosemite Zoo?? Hadn't heard of that one before. Any idea where it was?

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Bearproof
Yosemite Zoo?? Hadn't heard of that one before. Any idea where it was?

see: Believe it or Not, Yosemite National Park Once had a Zoo
at link: zoo It would have been wherever the old musuem was before the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial donated the current one to the park, I suppose.

Another good source of historical documents is www.nps.gov/history
For example, see the 1920 Yosemite park guide at link: 1920 guide
The lodging price guide on the fifth page is great. At Curry Village, amenities include:
Men's shampoo (plain) .50
Men's shampoo (tonic) .75
Men's shampoo (oil) 1.00

Some other gems: from the 1936 park brochure link, a map with a good view of the Ledge Trail from Glacier Point, the old entry station at Gentry's, and the corresponding at the base of El Capitan, and the trail to Sierra Point. Also, eight of the numbered camps (but not Camp four). It shows the new Wawona Tunnel, but the old road was still open as far as Inspiration Point, where the Pohono Trail then began. Later, that section of road was abandoned, and the foot trail reverted to the old Mariposa Trail between Inspiration Point and Moonlight Rock (aka Tunnelview Parking Lot...see link Moonlight Rock). It shows the new museum and park HQ, but the old village stores. It has the summer gas station at Curry Village and the winter one by the hospital. Lots to look at, if you know the present park rather well.



From the 1912 archive, here is a view of Lyell Glacier. Doesn't look like that any more:



Finally, a mystery from the same era. This taken of Tioga Pass Road, after it was reopened. In those days, the road still went via Apen Valley and White Wolf, and had a loop near May Lake. Even so, where was this taken? I have no idea. I'm pretty sure that the extension down to Lee Vining didn't exist yet, so it would be inside the park somewhere.

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wherever


Finally, a mystery from the same era. This taken of Tioga Pass Road, after it was reopened. In those days, the road still went via Apen Valley and White Wolf, and had a loop near May Lake. Even so, where was this taken? I have no idea. I'm pretty sure that the extension down to Lee Vining didn't exist yet, so it would be inside the park somewhere.

Tioga Pass Road usually refers to to the portion of Hwy 120 from Lee Vining to Tioga Pass. Tioga Road usually refers to the portion of Hwy 120 that's WEST of Tioga Pass.

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plawrence

Quote
wherever


Finally, a mystery from the same era. This taken of Tioga Pass Road, after it was reopened. In those days, the road still went via Apen Valley and White Wolf, and had a loop near May Lake. Even so, where was this taken? I have no idea. I'm pretty sure that the extension down to Lee Vining didn't exist yet, so it would be inside the park somewhere.

Tioga Pass Road usually refers to to the portion of Hwy 120 from Lee Vining to Tioga Pass. Tioga Road usually refers to the portion of Hwy 120 that's WEST of Tioga Pass.

That was just a slip of my finger. They said "Tioga Road" Lots of other good photos in that publication, too.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/nps/yard1/yose5.htm

This portion of the road appears to be a switchback. Notice the road cut above the road in shown in the foreground.

.

Well, here's my guess as to the location. I agree that it is taken at a switchback as mentioned by plawrence. It really looks to me to be outside the park on the road down toward Lee Vining. I also wondered if the photograph may have been reversed...easy to do back in the day (is the steering wheel on the right or the left?). The reverse photo is this:

and it looked to me to be near the upper end of the Tioga Pass Road, maybe near the Junction Campground. But that didn't pan out. So I threw out the reverse photo and went back to the original.

So playing around with google earth, and finding what looked like an abandoned switchback much further down towards Lee Vining, I came up with this screenshot (doctored to look old) from Google Earth:


The location is at approx. N 37 56 41 W 119 11 07

Maybe? Maybe not?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 01:29PM by Bearproof.

I think that you are right. The vegetation looks correct, and that switchback is in this old photo:



The photo is from here: http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/tioga_road/east_side.html

I hadn't realized that the east side road was built by 1909, though Tioga Road itself was impassable at that time. The gov't acquired Tioga Road in 1915. The mystery photo is from a park brochure dated 1916. See:

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/nps/yard1/yose.htm

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Ken M
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/

I happened to run across this today, I 'd not known it existed.

For some reason, I thought Rick had a link to that website listed among the links to various Yosemite websites he has listed on the bottom of this (yosemitenews.info) website's web pages. But I don't see it listed now.