For tourists to get to Yosemite before the automobile, they sailed from San Francisco to Stockton, boarded a stagecoach for a rough, dusty ride to Mariposa or Coulterville, then rode with their luggage up various horse trails. The Mann Toll Horse Trail opened in 1856. Riders traveled 45 miles from Mariposa to Wawona, then followed old Indian routes into Yosemite Valley near Bridalveil Fall. There are now roughly 800 miles of trail in Yosemite. John Conway, described by John Muir as “the master trail builder of the Valley,” configured the Yosemite Falls Trail with its 60 switchbacks, the Chilnualna Falls Trail near Wawona, and the Four Mile Trail from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point.
Click and drag the circle at the center of the photos left and right to compare the then and now images.
Left image
Wooden ladders climbed the cliff to the top of Vernal Fall.
Credit: Photographer: John James Reilly; California State Library, #406
Right image
The beginning of the trail to the top of Vernal Fall can be seen to the left.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2021
The Ladders to the Top of Vernal Falls, 1873
In this stereograph, the wooden ladders leading to the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite Valley are shown. There are two vertical ladders, one horizontal railing under a massive boulder, and one stairway with a railing to the upper level of the rock wall. Early explorer James M. Hutchings said the Ahwahneechee name for Vernal Falls was Pi-wy-ack and that a toll taker ate and slept at the base of the ladder, charging a $.75 toll up or down.
Left image
Trail workers enjoy a lunch break.
Credit: Photographer: John James Reilly; Yosemite NP Archives RL_17800
Right image
Four Mile Trail below Union Point.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
Trail Builder's Mess House near Union Point, 1875
The Four Mile Trail, a toll trail designed by master trail-builder John Conway (on the left of the photograph) and financed by James McCauley, linked Yosemite Valley to McCauley’s Mountain House at Glacier Point. Helen Hunt Jackson, author of “A Century of Dishonor” (1881) which chronicled the injustices perpetrated against American Indians, described the trail as “broad, smooth, and well protected on the outer edge, in all dangerous places, by large rocks; although it is the steepest trail out of the Valley, zigzagging back and forth on a sheer granite wall, one rides up it with little alarm or giddiness, and with such a sense of gratitude to the builder that the dollar’s toll seems too small.”
Left image
Oliver Lippincott and his Locomobile at Mirror Lake.
Credit: Photographer: Unknown; Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Right image
Hikers on the trail next to Mirror Lake.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
First Automobile in Yosemite Valley at Mirror Lake, 1900
During the summer of 1900, a steam powered “Locomobile” became the first automobile to enter Yosemite National Park. A day or two after arriving in the valley, Oliver Lippincott drove the car over Glacier Point Road and pushed the car out on the overhanging rock for a publicity photo.
Left image
Stages on the zig-zags leaving Yosemite Valley.
Credit: Photographer: Julius Theodore Boysen; Yosemite NP Archives RL_14890
Right image
Rockslides cover the old road. Bridalveil Fall and El Capitan loom over Yosemite Valley.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
Big Oak Flat Road, 1903
Historically four-horse and six-horse stages climbed through the zigzags on the original Big Oak Flat Road above Yosemite Valley. A crew of Italian stone masons completed the road in five months for $16,000. Rocks were cut and hand fitted without mortar. The most difficult segment of the road was from the hostel at Gentry’s Station. Travelers descended 2,500 feet from the top of the cliffs to the Yosemite Valley floor, including a 16% pitch over unstable terrain through the zigzags.
Photographer’s Note: The old Big Oak Flat Road is closed now, with many parts covered by massive rock slides. The unmaintained trail that follows the road is very rugged and involves a lot of scrambling over boulders. To get to the actual spot this photo was taken would have required scrambling up a dangerous mix of loose scree and unstable dirt. I made the choice not to take undue risks and took this shot from a similar angle slightly lower in elevation and on the road further to the east.
Left image
A stage drives through Arch Rock on its way into Yosemite Valley.
Credit: Photographer: Unknown; Yosemite NP Archives RL_19206
Right image
Stages have been replaced by cars on the road from El Portal.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
Wagon Driving Through Arch Rock, ca. 1910
Yosemite Valley Railroad began its operations in 1907. The train’s eastern terminus was in El Portal. Passengers disembarked at that point and boarded stages and traveled up the Merced River, through the Arch Rock, and soon joined the Coulterville Road for the final stretch into Yosemite Valley.
Left image
Krull's Curtiss JN-6H rests in Leidig Meadow.
Credit: Photographer: Unknown; Yosemite NP Archives RL_13640
Right image
The view west across Leidig Meadow in the Spring.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
First Aeroplane to land in Yosemite Valley, 1919
First Lt. James S. Krull of the U.S. Army was the first to fly a plane and land in Yosemite Valley. Krull landed his Curtiss JN-6H (a WWI era training plane) in Leidig Meadow on May 27, 1919.
Left image
The Coulterville Road was the first road into Yosemite Valley.
Credit: Photographer: Unknown; Yosemite NP Archives RL_18108
Right image
The old road is now covered with boulders and trees.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2021
Stagecoach on the Coulterville Road, ca. 1875
Between 1874 and 1875, three toll roads opened into the Valley: – Tthe Big Oak Flat, Coulterville, and Wawona Roads. They were built by private developers who competed to become the first and most important road into the park. The Coulterville and Big Oak Flat roads Roads were completed within a month of each other.The toll roads enabled wagons to bring loads of supplies and coaches stages full of tourists to the Valley on a regular basis. In turn, these roads expanded the need for accommodations, services, facilities, roads, and trails
|
