National Park Service LogoU.S. Department of the InteriorNational Park ServiceNational Park Service
National Park Service:  U.S. Department of the InteriorNational Park Service Arrowhead
Presidio of San FranciscoCompany E, 9th Cavalry at the Presidio in 1899
view map
text size:largestlargernormal
printer friendly
Presidio of San Francisco
Charles Young on Sequoia National Park

Charles Young spent the summer of 1903 as Acting Superintendent Sequoia National Park. The experience made a lasting impression on Young, whose strong advocacy for park preservation was evident in his final official report. Young wrote:

    "The trees of the park consist of pines and cedars and firs in general and of the giant redwoods or sequoias in particular, all of which are well worth protecting...it is believed by many that even without the grandeur of the Giant Forest, which is matchless anywhere else in the world, there are enough beautiful mountain views, delightful camping sites, and water courses stocked with fish to constitute a national park where the overworked and weary citizens of the country can find rest, coolness, and quiet for a few weeks during the hot summer months, and where both large and small game can have a refuge and be allowed to increase.

    "Indeed a journey through this park and the Sierra Forest Reserve to Mount Whitney country will convince even the least thoughtful man of the needfulness of preserving these mountains just as they are, with their clothing of trees, shrubs, rocks, and vines, and of their importance to the valleys below as reservoirs for the storage of water for agricultural and domestic purposes.

    'In this, then, lies the necessity of forest preservation.

    'The United States should learn its lesson in time…making roads and clearings only where absolutely necessary in order to preserve, if possible, the undergrowth as a shelter and protection for the snow, allowing its gradual melting, thus preventing floods and undue evaporation, followed by drought in the valleys."

Sequoia National Park was well served by Captain Charles Young's Administration.

Return to Buffalo Soldiers Home Page

Jonathan Letterman  

Did You Know?
Major Jonathan Letterman--after whom the hospital at the Presidio was renamed in 1911--was the medical director of the Army of the Potomac. A founding father of military medicine, Letterman organized forward first-aid stations, mobile field hospitals, and ambulance services during the Civil War.

Last Updated: March 25, 2008 at 14:41 EST