Page:Big Oak Flat Road (HAER No. CA-147) written historical and descriptive data.pdf/6

 mines, the basis of the county's economy, were declining. No traveler would want to take a road that ended at the top of a cliff when an alternate route existed, and their lucrative tolls would be lost. Accordingly, they rededicated their efforts at construction of their own turnpike. By the summer of 1873, the company had survey parties at work on the section between Gentry's and the Valley floor. The surveyors estimated that the costs for the steep remaining section would not exceed $15,000.

On 29 August 1872, the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company asked the Yosemite Commissioners for new rights to extend their road to the valley floor. However, they were refused, as the commissioners had since given exclusive rights to Dr. McLean for the construction of his Coulterville Road. The commissioners justified their action, claiming that the exclusivity clause was essential for Dr. McLean to recoup his substantial investment. On 17 November 1873, company president Charles Cutting again asked for road rights. The Board again rejected the request, stating "as the Commissioners have already granted a privilege to the Coulterville Turnpike Company to build a wagon road into the Yosemite Valley, under which that Company have expended money and acquired vested rights, this Commission cannot comply with the petition of the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company." An appeal was submitted to the Commission's executive committee, with the proviso that the road down the grade would be "forever free of tolls," but McLean's rights were upheld and the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company was again rebuffed. The cartel did, however, receive the support of two of the Commissioners, Galen Clark and Edgar Mills.

The investors in the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company now realized that their only hope was to have the State legislature overturn the Commissioners' rulings, but the legislature would not convene again until 1874. As an interim measure, they turned to Yosemite Guardian Galen Clark, requesting permission to "improve" their horse trail down the grade. Clark, who sympathized with the Tuolumne County group, granted the request.

Work crews under the direction of George E. Sprague, company Secretary and a surveyor by trade, fashioned a new trail down the cliff-side from Gentry's. The route was so steep that Sprague sometimes had to lower his chainman on a windlass in order to take his readings. Road foreman Dan Newhall had twenty men at work on construction by fall. The new right-of-way was constructed suspiciously like a road, with wide turns and switchbacks. The Sonora Union Democrat commented on the deceptive tactic:

"Dan is merely building a horse trail but the picks may slip and widen it out to a wagon road. It will at least be a starter for a wagon road when we get the privilege."

The state legislature reconvened in 1874, and the Tuolumne County representatives introduced a bill that would allow the Yosemite Turnpike Road Company to extend its road to the Valley. The argument was made that the Commissioners had no right to grant exclusive rights to any company. Despite objections