Page:Wawona Road (HAER No. CA-148) written historical and descriptive data.pdf/3

 II.HISTORY

This is one in a series of reports prepared for the Yosemite National Park Roads and Bridges Recording Project. HAER No. CA-117, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK ROADS AND BRIDGES, contains an overview history of the park roads.

A. HISTORY OF THE OLD WAWONA ROAD

The Wawona Road (South Entrance Road, California Highway 41) connects the Yosemite Valley with park developments at Wawona, the Glacier Point Road, and the main approach to Yosemite National Park from southern California. The 26.86-mile road is open year-round. The road was the most-traveled entrance road into Yosemite National Park before the completion of the All-Weather Highway in 1924, and still carries large numbers of travelers into the park from the south.

The Wawona Road is the main entrance to Yosemite National Park from the south. It enters the park 4 miles south of the village of Wawona, continues north along the southwest edge of the park as far north as Turtleback Dome, at which point it veers east northeast and down into the Yosemite Valley. The road was originally promoted by Galen Clark, the first Guardian of the Yosemite Grant, and who had considerable business interests on the South Fork of the Merced River at what is now Wawona. The road was to have provided access for tourists to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and the Yosemite Valley to its north. The road roughly follows the route to the Yosemite Valley taken by the Mariposa Battalion in 1851.1

Inspired by reports from the military expedition, tourists began visiting the Yosemite Valley, beginning with the James Hutchings party in 1855. Two other visitors that year, Milton and Houston Mann, saw an opportunity for profit in providing better access to the valley, and with their brother Andrew undertook construction of a toll trail between Mormon Bar below Mariposa and the Yosemite Valley. Their route used existing Indian trails as far as present Wawona, then followed another along Alder Creek towards the rim of the valley at or near Old Inspiration Point before dropping to the floor near the base of Bridalveil Fall. This path was known for a while as the "Mariposa Trail." The present Alder Creek and Pohono trails roughly follow much of this route.2

The Manns' trail, completed in August 1856, was hailed as "a vast improvement on the original [trail], and a comparatively safe route for saddle and pack animals."3 The Manns spent between $700 and $1000 on their trail, and on 4 August 1856 were authorized by the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors to collect tolls for its use. The tolls were collected at White & Hatch's Ranch, twelve miles out from Mariposa. Use of the trail was never heavy, and in 1860 the Manns sold their route to Mariposa County, which made it a free trail. By this time, it was considered inadequate for the use of most visitors. Mariposa County businessmen quickly became interested in establishing a wagon road to the valley in order to attract Yosemite-bound tourists. Among these was Galen Clark, who settled alongside the trail at its crossing of the South Fork of the Merced and began to provide meals, lodging and other services to visitors. In 1856, he built a horse trail from the Manns' route into the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.4 To attract more visitors to his hostel, Clark was actively involved in the promotion of a road from South Fork to Yosemite Valley.

Clark and several others formed a road company in 1862 with the aim of developing a 16-mile wagon route into the South Fork area, but apparently no construction was undertaken. Following a flood in 1862, Mariposa Countians subscribed $300 for trail maintenance, and Clark himself rebuilt two bridges