Hetch Hetchy Valley
Yosemite is so wonderful that we are apt to regard it as an exceptional
creation, the only valley of its kind in the world; but Nature is not
so poor as to have only one of anything. Several other yosemites have
been discovered in the Sierra that occupy the same relative positions
on the Range and were formed by the same forces in the same kind of
granite. One of these, the Hetch Hetchy Valley, is in the Yosemite
National Park about twenty miles from Yosemite and is easily accessible
to all sorts of travelers by a road and trail that leaves the Big Oak
Flat road at Bronson Meadows a few miles below Crane Flat, and to
mountaineers by way of Yosemite Creek basin and the head of the middle
fork of the Tuolumne.
It is said to have been discovered by Joseph Screech, a hunter, in
1850, a year before the discovery of the great Yosemite. After my first
visit to it in the autumn of 1871, I have always called it the
“Tuolumne Yosemite,” for it is a wonderfully exact counterpart of the
Merced Yosemite, not only in its sublime rocks and waterfalls but in
the gardens, groves and meadows of its flowery park-like floor. The
floor of Yosemite is about 4000 feet above the sea; the Hetch Hetchy
floor about 3700 feet. And as the Merced River flows through Yosemite,
so does the Tuolumne through Hetch Hetchy. The walls of both are of
gray granite, rise abruptly from the floor, are sculptured in the same
style and in both every rock is a glacier monument.
Standing boldly out from the south wall is a strikingly picturesque
rock called by the Indians, Kolana, the outermost of a group 2300 feet
high, corresponding with the Cathedral Rocks of Yosemite both in
relative position and form. On the opposite side of the Valley, facing
Kolana, there is a counterpart of the El Capitan that rises sheer and
plain to a height of 1800 feet, and over its massive brow flows a
stream which makes the most graceful fall I have ever seen. From the
edge of the cliff to the top of an earthquake talus it is perfectly
free in the air for a thousand feet before it is broken into cascades
among talus boulders. It is in all its glory in June, when the snow is
melting fast, but fades and vanishes toward the end of summer. The only
fall I know with which it may fairly be compared is the Yosemite Bridal
Veil; but it excels even that favorite fall both in height and
airy-fairy beauty and behavior. Lowlanders are apt to suppose that
mountain streams in their wild career over cliffs lose control of
themselves and tumble in a noisy chaos of mist and spray. On the
contrary, on no part of their travels are they more harmonious and
self-controlled. Imagine yourself in Hetch Hetchy on a sunny day in
June, standing waist-deep in grass and flowers (as I have often stood),
while the great pines sway dreamily with scarcely perceptible motion.
Looking northward across the Valley you see a plain, gray granite cliff
rising abruptly out of the gardens and groves to a height of 1800 feet,
and in front of it Tueeulala’s silvery scarf burning with irised
sun-fire. In the first white outburst at the head there is abundance of
visible energy, but it is speedily hushed and concealed in divine
repose, and its tranquil progress to the base of the cliff is like that
of a downy feather in a still room. Now observe the fineness and
marvelous distinctness of the various sun-illumined fabrics into which
the water is woven; they sift and float from form to form down the face
of that grand gray rock in so leisurely and unconfused a manner that
you can examine their texture, and patterns and tones of color as you
would a piece of embroidery held in the hand. Toward the top of the
fall you see groups of booming, comet-like masses, their solid, white
heads separate, their tails like combed silk interlacing among delicate
gray and purple shadows, ever forming and dissolving, worn out by
friction in their rush through the air. Most of these vanish a few
hundred feet below the summit, changing to varied forms of cloud-like
drapery. Near the bottom the width of the fall has increased from about
twenty-five feet to a hundred feet. Here it is composed of yet finer
tissues, and is still without a trace of disorder—air, water and
sunlight woven into stuff that spirits might wear.
So fine a fall might well seem sufficient to glorify any valley; but
here, as in Yosemite, Nature seems in nowise moderate, for a short
distance to the eastward of Tueeulala booms and thunders the great
Hetch Hetchy Fall, Wapama, so near that you have both of them in full
view from the same standpoint. It is the counterpart of the Yosemite
Fall, but has a much greater volume of water, is about 1700 feet in
height, and appears to be nearly vertical, though considerably
inclined, and is dashed into huge outbounding bosses of foam on
projecting shelves and knobs. No two falls could be more
unlike—Tueeulala out in the open sunshine descending like thistledown;
Wapama in a jagged, shadowy gorge roaring and plundering, pounding its
way like an earthquake avalanche.
Besides this glorious pair there is a broad, massive fall on the main
river a short distance above the head of the Valley. Its position is
something like that of the Vernal in Yosemite, and its roar as it
plunges into a surging trout-pool may be heard a long way, though it is
only about twenty feet high. On Rancheria Creek, a large stream,
corresponding in position with the Yosemite Tenaya Creek, there is a
chain of cascades joined here and there with swift flashing plumes like
the one between the Vernal and Nevada Falls, making magnificent shows
as they go their glacier-sculptured way, sliding, leaping, hurrahing,
covered with crisp clashing spray made glorious with sifting sunshine.
And besides all these a few small streams come over the walls at wide
intervals, leaping from ledge to ledge with birdlike song and watering
many a hidden cliff-garden and fernery, but they are too unshowy to be
noticed in so grand a place.
The correspondence between the Hetch Hetchy walls in their trends,
sculpture, physical structure, and general arrangement of the main
rock-masses and those of the Yosemite Valley has excited the wondering
admiration of every observer. We have seen that the El Capitan and
Cathedral rocks occupy the same relative positions In both valleys; so
also do their Yosemite points and North Domes. Again, that part of the
Yosemite north wall immediately to the east of the Yosemite Fall has
two horizontal benches, about 500 and 1500 feet above the floor,
timbered with golden-cup oak. Two benches similarly situated and
timbered occur on the same relative portion of the Hetch Hetchy north
wall, to the east of Wapama Fall, and on no other. The Yosemite is
bounded at the head by the great Half Dome. Hetch Hetchy is bounded in
the same way though its head rock is incomparably less wonderful and
sublime in form.
The floor of the Valley is about three and a half miles long, and from
a fourth to half a mile wide. The lower portion is mostly a level
meadow about a mile long, with the trees restricted to the sides and
the river banks, and partially separated from the main, upper, forested
portion by a low bar of glacier-polished granite across which the river
breaks in rapids.
The principal trees are the yellow and sugar pines, digger pine,
incense cedar, Douglas spruce, silver fir, the California and
golden-cup oaks, balsam cottonwood, Nuttall’s flowering dogwood, alder,
maple, laurel, tumion, etc. The most abundant and influential are the
great yellow or silver pines like those of Yosemite, the tallest over
two hundred feet in height, and the oaks assembled in magnificent
groves with massive rugged trunks four to six feet in diameter, and
broad, shady, wide-spreading heads. The shrubs forming conspicuous
flowery clumps and tangles are manzanita, azalea, spiræa, brier-rose,
several species of ceanothus, calycanthus, philadelphus, wild cherry,
etc.; with abundance of showy and fragrant herbaceous plants growing
about them or out in the open in beds by themselves—lilies, Mariposa
tulips, brodiaeas, orchids, iris, spraguea, draperia, collomia,
collinsia, castilleja, nemophila, larkspur, columbine, goldenrods,
sunflowers, mints of many species, honeysuckle, etc. Many fine ferns
dwell here also, especially the beautiful and interesting
rock-ferns—pellaea, and cheilanthes of several species—fringing and
rosetting dry rock-piles and ledges; woodwardia and asplenium on damp
spots with fronds six or seven feet high; the delicate maiden-hair in
mossy nooks by the falls, and the sturdy, broad-shouldered pteris
covering nearly all the dry ground beneath the oaks and pines.
It appears, therefore, that Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a
plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to
suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature’s rarest and most
precious mountain temples. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its
walls seem to glow with life, whether leaning back in repose or
standing erect in thoughtful attitudes, giving welcome to storms and
calms alike, their brows in the sky, their feet set in the groves and
gay flowery meadows, while birds, bees, and butterflies help the river
and waterfalls to stir all the air into music—things frail and fleeting
and types of permanence meeting here and blending, just as they do in
Yosemite, to draw her lovers into close and confiding communion with
her.
Sad to say, this most precious and sublime feature of the Yosemite
National Park, one of the greatest of all our natural resources for the
uplifting joy and peace and health of the people, is in danger of being
dammed and made into a reservoir to help supply San Francisco with
water and light, thus flooding it from wall to wall and burying its
gardens and groves one or two hundred feet deep. This grossly
destructive commercial scheme has long been planned and urged (though
water as pure and abundant can be got from outside of the people’s
park, in a dozen different places), because of the comparative
cheapness of the dam and of the territory which it is sought to divert
from the great uses to which it was dedicated in the Act of 1890
establishing the Yosemite National Park.
The making of gardens and parks goes on with civilization all over the
world, and they increase both in size and number as their value is
recognized. Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in
and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body
and soul alike. This natural beauty-hunger is made manifest in the
little window-sill gardens of the poor, though perhaps only a geranium
slip in a broken cup, as well as in the carefully tended rose and lily
gardens of the rich, the thousands of spacious city parks and botanical
gardens, and in our magnificent National parks—the Yellowstone,
Yosemite, Sequoia, etc.—Nature’s sublime wonderlands, the admiration
and joy of the world. Nevertheless, like anything else worth while,
from the very beginning, however well guarded, they have always been
subject to attack by despoiling gainseekers and mischief-makers of
every degree from Satan to Senators, eagerly trying to make everything
immediately and selfishly commercial, with schemes disguised in
smug-smiling philanthropy, industriously, shampiously crying,
“Conservation, conservation, panutilization,” that man and beast may be
fed and the dear Nation made great. Thus long ago a few enterprising
merchants utilized the Jerusalem temple as a place of business instead
of a place of prayer, changing money, buying and selling cattle and
sheep and doves; and earlier still, the first forest reservation,
including only one tree, was likewise despoiled. Ever since the
establishment of the Yosemite National Park, strife has been going on
around its borders and I suppose this will go on as part of the
universal battle between right and wrong, however much its boundaries
may be shorn, or its wild beauty destroyed.
The first application to the Government by the San Francisco
Supervisors for the commercial use of Lake Eleanor and the Hetch Hetchy
Valley was made in 1903, and on December 22nd of that year it was
denied by the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Hitchcock, who truthfully
said:
Presumably the Yosemite National Park was created such by law because
within its boundaries, inclusive alike of its beautiful small lakes,
like Eleanor, and its majestic wonders, like Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite
Valley. It is the aggregation of such natural scenic features that
makes the Yosemite Park a wonderland which the Congress of the United
States sought by law to reserve for all coming time as nearly as
practicable in the condition fashioned by the hand of the Creator—a
worthy object of national pride and a source of healthful pleasure and
rest for the thousands of people who may annually sojourn there during
the heated months.
In 1907 when Mr. Garfield became Secretary of the Interior the
application was renewed and granted; but under his successor, Mr.
Fisher, the matter has been referred to a Commission, which as this
volume goes to press still has it under consideration.
The most delightful and wonderful camp grounds in the Park are its
three great valleys—Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy, and Upper Tuolumne; and
they are also the most important places with reference to their
positions relative to the other great features—the Merced and Tuolumne
Cañons, and the High Sierra peaks and glaciers, etc., at the head of
the rivers. The main part of the Tuolumne Valley is a spacious flowery
lawn four or five miles long, surrounded by magnificent snowy
mountains, slightly separated from other beautiful meadows, which
together make a series about twelve miles in length, the highest
reaching to the feet of Mount Dana, Mount Gibbs, Mount Lyell and Mount
McClure. It is about 8500 feet above the sea, and forms the grand
central High Sierra camp ground from which excursions are made to the
noble mountains, domes, glaciers, etc.; across the Range to the Mono
Lake and volcanoes and down the Tuolumne Cañon to Hetch Hetchy. Should
Hetch Hetchy be submerged for a reservoir, as proposed, not only would
it be utterly destroyed, but the sublime cañon way to the heart of the
High Sierra would be hopelessly blocked and the great camping ground,
as the watershed of a city drinking system, virtually would be closed
to the public. So far as I have learned, few of all the thousands who
have seen the park and seek rest and peace in it are in favor of this
outrageous scheme.
One of my later visits to the Valley was made in the autumn of 1907
with the late William Keith, the artist. The leaf-colors were then
ripe, and the great godlike rocks in repose seemed to glow with life.
The artist, under their spell, wandered day after day along the river
and through the groves and gardens, studying the wonderful scenery;
and, after making about forty sketches, declared with enthusiasm that
although its walls were less sublime in height, in picturesque beauty
and charm Hetch Hetchy surpassed even Yosemite.
That any one would try to destroy such a place seems incredible; but
sad experience shows that there are people good enough and bad enough
for anything. The proponents of the dam scheme bring forward a lot of
bad arguments to prove that the only righteous thing to do with the
people’s parks is to destroy them bit by bit as they are able. Their
arguments are curiously like those of the devil, devised for the
destruction of the first garden—so much of the very best Eden fruit
going to waste; so much of the best Tuolumne water and Tuolumne scenery
going to waste. Few of their statements are even partly true, and all
are misleading.
Thus, Hetch Hetchy, they say, is a “low-lying meadow.” On the contrary,
it is a high-lying natural landscape garden, as the photographic
illustrations show.
“It is a common minor feature, like thousands of others.” On the
contrary it is a very uncommon feature; after Yosemite, the rarest and
in many ways the most important in the National Park.
“Damming and submerging it 175 feet deep would enhance its beauty by
forming a crystal-clear lake.” Landscape gardens, places of recreation
and worship, are never made beautiful by destroying and burying them.
The beautiful sham lake, forsooth, should be only an eyesore, a dismal
blot on the landscape, like many others to be seen in the Sierra. For,
instead of keeping it at the same level all the year, allowing Nature
centuries of time to make new shores, it would, of course, be full only
a month or two in the spring, when the snow is melting fast; then it
would be gradually drained, exposing the slimy sides of the basin and
shallower parts of the bottom, with the gathered drift and waste, death
and decay of the upper basins, caught here instead of being swept on to
decent natural burial along the banks of the river or in the sea. Thus
the Hetch Hetchy dam-lake would be only a rough imitation of a natural
lake for a few of the spring months, an open sepulcher for the others.
“Hetch Hetchy water is the purest of all to be found in the Sierra,
unpolluted, and forever unpollutable.” On the contrary, excepting that
of the Merced below Yosemite, it is less pure than that of most of the
other Sierra streams, because of the sewerage of camp grounds draining
into it, especially of the Big Tuolumne Meadows camp ground, occupied
by hundreds of tourists and mountaineers, with their animals, for
months every summer, soon to be followed by thousands from all the
world.
These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to
have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes
to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.
Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals
and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the
heart of man.
Appendix A
Legislation About the Yosemite
In the year 1864, Congress passed the following act:—
ACT OF JUNE 30, 1864 (13 STAT., 325).
An Act Authorizing a grant to the State of California of the “Yo-Semite
Valley,” and of the land embracing the “Mariposa Big Tree Grove.”
“_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America, in Congress assembled,_ That there shall be,
and is hereby, granted to the State of California, the ‘Cleft’ or
‘Gorge’ in the Granite Peak of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, situated in
the county of Mariposa, in the State aforesaid, and the headwaters of
the Merced River, and known as the Yosemite Valley, with its branches
and spurs, in estimated length fifteen miles, and in average width one
mile back from the main edge of the precipice, on each side of the
Valley, with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the said State shall
accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall
be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable
for all time; but leases not exceeding ten years may be granted for
portions of said premises. All incomes derived from leases of
privileges to be expended in the preservation and improvement of the
property, or the roads leading thereto; the boundaries to be
established at the cost of said State by the United States
Surveyor-General of California, whose official plat, when affirmed by
the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shall constitute the
evidence of the locus, extent, and limits of the said Cleft or Gorge;
the premises to be managed by the Governor of the State, with eight
other Commissioners, to be appointed by the Executive of California,
and who shall receive no compensation for their services.
“Sec. 2. _And be it further enacted,_ That there shall likewise be, and
there is hereby, granted to the said State of California, the tracts
embracing what is known as the ‘Mariposa Big Tree Grove,’ not to exceed
the area of four sections, and to be taken in legal subdivisions of
one-quarter section each, with the like stipulations as expressed in
the first section of this Act as to the State’s acceptance, with like
conditions as in the first section of this Act as to inalienability,
yet with the same lease privileges; the income to be expended in the
preservation, improvement, and protection of the property, the premises
to be managed by Commissioners, as stipulated in the first section of
this Act, and to be taken in legal subdivisions as aforesaid; and the
official plat of the United States Surveyor-General, when affirmed by
the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to be the evidence of the
locus of the said Mariposa Big Tree Grove.”
This important act was approved by the President, June 30, 1864, and
shortly after the Governor of California, F. F. Low, issued a
proclamation taking possession of the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa
grove of Big Trees, in the name and on behalf of the State, appointing
commissioners to manage them, and warning all persons against
trespassing or settling there without authority, and especially
forbidding the cutting of timber and other injurious acts.
The first Board of Commissioners were F. Law Olmsted, J. D. Whitney,
William Ashburner, I. W. Raymond, E. S. Holden, Alexander Deering,
George W. Coulter, and Galen Clark.
ACT OF OCTOBER 1, 1890 (26 STAT., 650).
[Footnote: Sections 1 and 2 of this act pertain to the Yosemite
National Park, while section 3 sets apart General Grant National Park,
and also a portion of Sequoia National Park.]
An Act To set apart certain tracts of land in the State of California
as forest reservations.
“_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,_ That the tracts of
land in the State of California known as described as follows:
Commencing at the northwest corner of township two north, range
nineteen east Mount Diablo meridian, thence eastwardly on the line
between townships two and three north, ranges twenty-four and
twenty-five east; thence southwardly on the line between ranges
twenty-four and twenty-five east to the Mount Diablo base line; thence
eastwardly on said base line to the corner to township one south,
ranges twenty-five and twenty-six east; thence southwardly on the line
between ranges twenty-five and twenty-six east to the southeast corner
of township two south, range twenty-five east; thence eastwardly on the
line between townships two and three south, range twenty-six east to
the corner to townships two and three south, ranges twenty-six and
twenty-seven east; thence southwardly on the line between ranges
twenty-six and twenty-seven east to the first standard parallel south;
thence westwardly on the first standard parallel south to the southwest
corner of township four south, range nineteen east; thence northwardly
on the line between ranges eighteen and nineteen east to the northwest
corner of township two south, range nineteen east; thence westwardly on
the line between townships one and two south to the southwest corner of
township one south, range nineteen east; thence northwardly on the line
between ranges eighteen and nineteen east to the northwest corner of
township two north, range nineteen east, the place of beginning, are
hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under
the laws of the United States, and set apart as reserved forest lands;
and all persons who shall locate or settle upon, or occupy the same or
any part thereof, except as hereinafter provided, shall be considered
trespassers and removed therefrom: _Provided, however,_ That nothing in
this act shall be construed as in anywise affecting the grant of lands
made to the State of California by virtue of the act entitled, ‘An act
authorizing a grant to the State of California of the Yosemite Valley,
and of the land embracing the Mariposa Big-Tree Grove,’ appeared June
thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four; or as affecting any
bona-fide entry of land made within the limits above described under
any law of the United States prior to the approval of this act.
“Sec. 2. That said reservation shall be under the exclusive control of
the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall be, as soon as
practicable, to make and publish such rules and regulations as he may
deem necessary or proper for the care and management of the same. Such
regulations shall provide for the preservation from injury of all
timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said
reservation, and their retention in their natural condition. The
Secretary may, in his discretion, grant leases for building purposes
for terms not exceeding ten years of small parcels of ground not
exceeding five acres; at such places in said reservation as shall
require the erection of buildings for the accommodation of visitors;
all of the proceeds of said leases and other revenues that may be
derived from any source connected with said reservation to be expended
under his direction in the management of the same and the construction
of roads and paths therein. He shall provide against the wanton
destruction of the fish, and game found within said reservation, and
against their capture or destruction, for the purposes of merchandise
or profit. He shall also cause all persons trespassing upon the same
after the passage of this act to be removed therefrom, and, generally,
shall be authorized to take all such measures as shall be necessary or
proper to fully carry out the objects and purposes of this act.
“Sec. 3. There shall also be and is hereby reserved and withdrawn from
settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and
shall be set apart as reserved forest lands, as herein before provided,
and subject to all the limitations and provisions herein contained, the
following additional lands, to wit: Township seventeen south, range
thirty east of the Mount Diablo meridian, excepting sections
thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, and thirty-four of said township,
included in a previous bill. And there is also reserved and withdrawn
from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United
States, and set apart as forest lands, subject to like limitations,
conditions, and provisions, all of townships fifteen and sixteen south,
of ranges twenty-nine and thirty east of the Mount Diablo meridian. And
there is also hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy,
or sale under the laws of the United states, and set apart as reserved
forest lands under like limitations, restrictions, and provisions,
sections five and six in township fourteen south, range twenty-eight
east of Mount Diablo meridian, and also sections thirty-one and
thirty-two of township thirteen south, range twenty-eight east of the
same meridian. Nothing in this act shall authorize rules or contracts
touching the protection and improvement of said reservations, beyond
the sums that may be received by the Secretary of the Interior under
the foregoing provisions, or authorize any charge against the Treasury
of the United States.”
ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, APPROVED MARCH 3,
1905.
“Sec. 1. The State of California does hereby recede and regrant unto
the United States of America the ‘cleft’ or ‘gorge’ in the granite peak
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, situated in the county of Mariposa,
State of California, and the headwaters of the Merced River, and known
as the Yosemite Valley, with its branches and spurs, granted unto the
State of California in trust for public use, resort, and recreation by
the act of Congress entitled, ‘An act authorizing a grant to the State
of California of the Yosemite Valley and of the land embracing the
Mariposa Big Tree Grove,’ approved June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and
sixty-four; and the State of California does hereby relinquish unto the
United States of America and resign the trusts created and granted by
the said act of Congress.
“Sec. 2. The State of California does hereby recede and regrant unto
the United States of America the tracts embracing what is known as the
‘Mariposa Big Tree Grove,’ planted unto the State of California in
trust for public use, resort, and recreation by the act of Congress
referred to in section one of this act, and the State of California
does hereby relinquish unto the United States of America and resign the
trusts created and granted by the said act of Congress.
“Sec. 3. This act shall take effect from and after acceptance by the
United States of America of the recessions and regrants herein made
thereby forever releasing the State of California from further cost of
maintaining the said premises, the same to be held for all time by the
United States of America for public use, resort, and recreation and
imposing on the United States of America the cost of maintaining the
same as a national park: _Provided, however,_ That the recession and
regrant hereby made shall not affect vested rights and interests of
third persons.”
Appendix B
Table of Distances
From the Guardian’s office, in the village, the distances to various
points are in miles as follows:
_Miles_.
Bridal Veil Fall 4.04
Cascade Falls 7.67
Cloud’s Rest, Summit 11.81
Columbia Rock, on Eagle Peak Trail 1.98
Dana, Mt., Summit 40.34
Eagle Peak 6.59
El Capitan Bridge 3.63
Glacier Point, direct trail 4.45
Glacier Point, by Nevada Falls 16.98
Lyell, Mt., Summit 38.20
Merced Bridge 2.03
Mirror Lake, by Hunt’s avenue 2.91
Nevada Fall (Hotel) 4.63
Nevada Fall, Bridge above 5.45
Pohono Bridge 5.29
Register Rock 3.24
Ribbon Fall 3.99
Rocky Point (base of Three Brothers) 1.45
Tenayah Creek Bridge 2.26
Tenayah Lake 16.00
Yosemite Falls, foot 0.90
Yosemite Falls, foot Upper Fall 2.67
Yosemite Falls, top 4.33
Soda Springs (Eagle Peak Trail) 24.50
Sentinel Dome 5.57
Union Point, on Glacier Point Trail 3.13
Vernal Fall 3.50
Appendix C
Maximum Rates for Transportation
The following rates for transportation in and about the Valley have
been established by the Board of Commissioners:
SADDLE-HORSES
_From Route to Amount_
Valley Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome, and return, $3.00
direct, same day
Valley Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, and Fissures, 3.75
and return, direct, same day
Valley Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, and Fissures, 3.00
passing night at Glacier Point
Valley Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, Nevada Fall, 3.00
and Casa Nevada, passing night at Casa Nevada
Valley Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome, Nevada Fall, 4.00
Vernal Fall, and thence to Valley same day
Glacier Point Valley direct 2.00
Glacier Point Sentinel Dome, Nevada Fall, and Casa Nevada, 2.00
passing night at Casa Nevada
Glacier Point Sentinel Dome, Nevada Fall, Vernal Fall, 3.00
and thence to Valley same day
Valley Summits, Vernal and Nevada Falls, direct, 3.00
and return to Valley same day
Valley Glacier Point by Casa Nevada, passing night 3.00
at Glacier Point
Valley Summits, Vernal and Nevada Falls, Sentinel Dome, 4.00
Glacier Point, and thence to Valley same day
Valley Cloud’s Rest and return to Casa Nevada 3.00
Valley Cloud’s Rest and return to Valley same day 5.00
Casa Nevada Cloud’s Rest and return to Casa Nevada or 3.00
Valley same day
Casa Nevada Valley direct 2.00
Casa Nevada Nevada Fall, Sentinel Dome, and Glacier Point, 2.00
passing night at Glacier Point
Valley Nevada Fall, Sentinel Dome, Glacier Point, 3.00
and Valley same day
Upper Yosemite Fall, Eagle Peak, and return 3.00
Charge for guide (including horse), when furnished 3.00
Saddle-horses, on level of Valley, per day 2.50
1. The above charges do not include feed for horses when passing night
at Casa Nevada or Glacier Point.
2. Where Valley is specified as starting-point, the above rates prevail
from any hotel in Valley, or from the foot of any trail.
3. Any shortening of above trips, without proportionate reduction of
rates, shall be at the option of those hiring horses.
4. Trips other than those above specified shall be subject to special
arrangement between letter and hirer.
CARRIAGES
_From Route to
Amount_
Hotels Mirror Lake and return, direct
$1.00 Hotels Mirror Lake and return by Tissiack Avenue
1.25 Hotels Mirror Lake and return to foot of Trail, to Vernal
1.00 and Nevada Falls Hotels Bridal Veil Falls and return,
direct 1.00 Hotels Pohono Bridge, down either
side of Valley, and return 1.50 on opposite side, stopping at
Yosemite and Bridal Veil Falls Hotels Cascade Falls, down either
side of Valley, and return 2.25 on opposite side, stopping at
Yosemite and Bridal Veil Falls Hotels Artist Point and return,
direct, stopping at Bridal 2.00 Veil Falls Hotels New
Inspiration Point and return, direct, stopping at 2.00 Bridal Veil
Falls Grand Round Drive, including Yosemite and Bridal Veil 2.50
Falls, excluding Lake and Cascades Grand Round Drive, including
Yosemite and Bridal Veil 3.50 Falls, Lake, and Cascades
1. When the value of the seats hired in any vehicle shall exceed $15
for a two-horse team, or $25 for a four-horse team, _for any trip_ in
the above schedule, the persons hiring the seats shall have the
privilege of paying no more than the aggregate sums of $15 and $25 _per
trip_ for a two-horse and four-horse team, respectively.
2. If saddle-horses should be substituted for any of the above carriage
trips, carriage rates will apply to each horse. In no case shall the
_per diem_ charge of $2.50 for each saddle-horse, on level of Valley,
be exceeded.
Any excess of the above rates, as well as any extortion, incivility,
misrepresentation, or the riding of unsafe animals, should be promptly
reported at the Guardian’s office.