On this day in history, October 1, 1890, Yosemite National Park is established by an Act of Congress
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA: Yosemite National Park, which was established by an Act of Congress on October 1, 1890, is home to breathtaking landscapes such as the Half Dome, the Yosemite Falls, and the huge sequoia trees.
President Benjamin Harrison was the one to sign the Yosemite Act.
Nearly 95 percent of the California park is declared wilderness, making it one of the largest and least fragmented habitat units in the Sierra Nevada.
Yosemite was reportedly essential in the evolution of the concept of national parks and was the third to get the designation after Yellowstone National Park and Sequoia National Park.
Galen Clark, a Canadian-born writer, and others pushed to keep Yosemite Valley from being developed. This resulted in President Abraham Lincoln signing the Yosemite Valley Grant Act on June 30, 1864, which designated it as federally preserved land.
In 1890, Environmental pioneer John Muir spearheaded a successful campaign to persuade Congress to designate Yosemite Valley and its environs as a national park, eventually paving the way for the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS), the agency that takes care of the country's 63 national parks, NPS.gov.
What is the meaning of Yosemite?
Yohhe'meti (Southern Miwok) or Yos.s.e'meti (Central Miwok) were the ancient names for the Yosemite Valley Indian tribe, as per the Miwok tribes who lived in the nearby areas. A literal translation of Yosemite is "those who kill" (Yos, "to kill," with the modifier e, "one who," and the plural suffix -meti).
The neighboring tribes apparently dreaded the Yosemite people, leading to them being termed as the killers.
Who made Yosemite National Park famous?
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist and adventurer known as "John of the Mountains" and the "Father of National Parks" who was behind the proliferation of the Yosemite National Park. His stewardship guaranteed that many national parks, including Yosemite, remained intact.
Millions of people have read his letters, essays, and publications chronicling his natural history explorations, particularly in the Sierra Nevada. His efforts contributed to the protection of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite Valley, and his example has acted as motivation for the preservation of numerous other wilderness regions.
Muir published two landmark articles on conserving wilderness in The Century Magazine during the course of the campaign to make Yosemite a national park, 'The Treasures of the Yosemite' and 'Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park', contributing to the drive for US Congress to pass a bill setting up Yosemite National Park in 1890.
What was the Yosemite Valley known as by the Native American tribe?
Yosemite Valley was given the name Ahwahnee, which means "gaping mouth," by the Ahwahneechee people who have inhabited the area since the 14th century.
It's still a frequent misunderstanding that the name Yosemite is the same as a term that means "grizzly bear" in the Miwok language, as per Yosamite.ca.us.
Who are the native inhabitants of Yosemite Valley?
The Ahwahnechee are Yosemite Valley's indigenous population, and they still reside in the immediate vicinity of the national park. Notably, the tribe's name stands for "dwellers" in Ahwahnee.
Interestingly, Yosemite National Park is replete with remnants of the Ahwahnechee people's cultural past.
The Ahwahnechee were the sole tribe within the park's boundaries, while other tribes inhabited the neighboring areas. They comprised a bigger Indigenous population in California known as the Southern Sierra Miwok.
Moreover, the Ahwahnechee apparently frequently traded and intermarried over the mountains to the east with the Paiute and Mono tribes.
Yosemite Valley is currently located on the historic lands of the Numu (Northern Paiute), Me-Wuk (Southern and Central Sierra Miwok), and Western Mono/Monache peoples. Several other Indigenous peoples have also traversed this region.
What happened to the native inhabitants of Yosemite?
The introduction of non-Indigenous immigrants brought about substantial changes and difficulties for Yosemite's indigenous Ahwahnechee people.
They began to revolt against the mining business as early as 1850. After the capture of Chief Tenaya, the natives were compelled to depart their mountains in search of reservations.
Subsequently, Native Americans who lived in Yosemite Valley were permitted to stay in the park after it was established, unlike in other National Parks. They performed manual labor and supported the tourist industry.
However, in order to "purify" the area, park officials apparently gradually forced the Ahwahnechee out of the valley and demolished their dwellings in the 20th century.
Yosemite reportedly had a decline in the number of Indian residents after 1900. The National Park Service served as the landlord of the new Indian Village, which was built after the original one was disbanded in the early 1930s, as per intermountainhistories.org.
Fewer Indians traveled to Yosemite in search of work since it was harder to find housing.
Why is Yosemite Valley famous?
Yosemite, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, is known all over the world for its breathtaking granite cliffs, waterfalls, crystal-clear streams, enormous sequoia forests, and ecological variety.
Who owns the name 'Yosemite'?
(King of Hearts/Wikipedia)
The National Park Service, a federal organization of the US, is in charge of managing the word "Yosemite," as it relates to Yosemite National Park. There have been some trademark concerns with the name, though.
A deal was made between the park and Delaware North in 1993. According to the contract, Delaware North was required to purchase the predecessor's assets and sell them to the park service.
The names are consequently the property of Yosemite and, more significantly, of the American people, as per Mandourlaw.com.