Re: Early in the parks--the first automobile arrives in Yosemite National Park

A related previously posted comment from several weeks ago:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,10553,10656#msg-10656


"Although the first auto entered Yosemite Valley in 1900, it was not until 1913 that they were authorized legal entry. On August 16, 1913 the first auto permit was issued by Ranger F. S. Townsley. The car drove into the Yosemite Valley via the Coulterville Road (the only one open to autos) and was promptly chained to a tree. (6, 85, 86) According to Townsley, auto travel began in earnest in 1914 despite the more than 60 separate regulations aimed at limiting vehicular traffic in the park. Not only was oneway traffic the rule, but strict schedules had to be met. Fines of 50 cents per minute were assessed the hapless driver who dawdled along the way. (86) Top speed permitted, on straight stretches only, was 10 miles per hour, with 6 m.p.h. as the limit where curves were evident. (87) "

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/tioga_road/automobiles_arrive.html

I would assume it was chained to a tree to prevent the owner from driving it in the valey and scaring the horses in use there.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Twice as good now.