After the Mariposa Battalion became the first known European Americans to enter Yosemite Valley in 1851, doors opened for intrepid tourists and promoters to exploit the extraordinary natural wonder of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Painters and photographers like Thomas Ayres, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, Charles Leander Weed, and Carleton Watkins provided imagery as evidence needed for Congress and President Lincoln to establish the original Yosemite Grant in 1864. Promoters Walworth and Hite, James Hutchings, and George Leidig found the imagery useful to encourage visitation to the newly protected lands.
Click and drag the circle at the center of the photos left and right to compare the then and now images.
Left image
Galen Clark stands in front of the Grizzly Giant, ca. 1858.
Credit: Photographer: Carleton Watkins; Yosemite NP Archives RL_02517
Right image
Base of the Grizzly Giant sequoia tree.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
Galen Clark at Grizzly Giant, ca. 1865-66
After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant in 1864, Galen Clark was appointed and served for 24 years as the first guardian of the Yosemite Grant. The Yosemite Grant protected Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias for "public use, resort, and recreation." Managed by the State of California initially, the Yosemite Grant helped plant the seed for what would later become the country's national park system. A Canadian, Clark first visited the area in 1855. Duly inspired, he found a job as a packer at the Mariposa Ditch Company. He suffered a lung hemorrhage and decided to end his days on his preemption claim in the meadowlands of Wawona in 1857. There he established Clark’s Station which provided travelers with meals and shelter. The mountain air served him well as he lived for another 53 years. He said, “I went to the mountains to take my chances of dying or growing better, which I thought were about even.”
Left image
The Hutchings party poses in front of Yosemite Falls.
Credit: Photographer: Unknown; Yosemite NP Archives RL_01776
Right image
A view across Sentinel Meadow to Yosemite Falls in the Spring.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
Early Tourist Party with James Hutchings, ca. 1870
James M. Hutchings, second from left in this photo, was a gold miner turned journalist and publisher. He is generally credited with bringing the attention of the nation to the natural wonders of Yosemite. In 1855 he organized the first tourist party to Yosemite and brought artist Thomas Ayres to sketch images for publication in Hutchings’ Illustrated California Magazine.The photographs and Ayres’ sketches proved Hutchings’ claims about the magnificence of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. To capitalize on the resulting growth of visitors, he established a tourist business in Yosemite Valley that included lodging and guide services.
Left image
Photographer Carleton Watkins in Yosemite Falls cave.
Credit: Photographer: Carleton Watkins; Yosemite NP Archives RL_14548
Right image
The inside of the cave at the base of Upper Yosemite Fall.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
Carleton Watkins in Yosemite Falls Cave, ca. 1865
Carleton Watkins began taking photos in Yosemite Valley in the early 1860s. His photographs of Yosemite Valley helped to influence Congress' decision to preserve the area under the Yosemite Grant in 1864. Around that same time, he became the official photographer of the California Geological Survey, appointed by Josiah Whitney. He used both a wet-plate camera and a smaller stereoscopic camera for popular consumption. A team of mules carried his equipment, including tents, chemicals, cameras, and glass for the large albumen plates. He developed the photos while crouching in a cramped, stuffy dark tent, fighting off bugs, dust, and grit. He worked in the quiet of the morning when wind didn’t ruffle the leaves during his lengthy exposures.
Left image
View of Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point.
Credit: Photographer: Carleton Watkins; Yosemite NP Archives RL_16344
Right image
View of Yosemite Valley and the Yosemite Village area.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point, 1866
The floor of Yosemite Valley has experienced many changes since the first European Americans arrived with the Mariposa Battalion in 1851. In this photo of the central part of the Valley taken from Glacier Point in 1866, James Hutching's preemption claim and corral and several split-rail fences may be seen. What appear to be haystacks are also visible.
Left image
Looking west from the Four Mile Trail.
Credit: Photographer: Carleton Watkins; Yosemite NP Archives RL_16347
Right image
Today's Union Point View, looking west.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
The View from Union Point, 1866
Union Point, 2.5 miles up the Four Mile Trail, opens to this broad view to the west. El Capitan is on the right, the Cathedral Rocks are in the center, and the flank of Sentinel Rock is to the left. Carleton Watkins dragged his equipment up to this point, 2,200 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, without the benefit of the Four Mile Trail which wasn’t completed until 1872.
Left image
Cartographer Charles Hoffmann takes readings from on high.
Credit: Photographer: W. Harris; The Yosemite Book by Josiah Whitney, 1868
Right image
A view from the east across the peak of Mt. Hoffmann.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
Charles Hoffmann Surveys on Mt. Hoffmann, 1867
Mount Hoffmann is named for survey topographer and cartographer, Charles Hoffmann, a pioneer of the American School of Cartography and a significant figure in the early mapping of Yosemite and other areas throughout the Sierra Nevada. The first non-native person to climb Mt. Hoffmann was Josiah Whitney in 1863, Chief of the California Geological Survey and the namesake of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental United States. John Muir climbed Mt. Hoffmann during his experience as a shepherd, noted the rich plant-life and crystals that glistened in the sunlight, and wrote, “You saunter among the crystals and flowers as if you are walking among stars.”
Left image
View east from Columbia Rock on the Yosemite Falls Trail.
Credit: Photographer: Henry G. Peabody. Yosemite NP Archives RL_16355
Right image
The view east from Columbia Rock towards Half Dome and Royal Arches.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2019
Columbia Rock, 1899
The Yosemite Falls Trail, built by John Conway, who also built the Four Mile Trail and Chinualna Falls Trail, includes impressive views. The view to the east from the Yosemite Falls Trail includes the base of Glacier Point on the right, stretches across the Merced River and the entrance to Little Yosemite Valley, Half Dome and Tenaya Canyon, and on the left is Royal Arches. Visible below Glacier Point are the old chapel, and the Sentinel Hotel just downstream from the Sentinel Bridge. A few fences, orchards, and other structures are visible in the historic photograph. In the photo from today, The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Village, Yosemite Valley Lodge, and Curry Village are all visible.
Left image
Mourners gather outside the Chapel for Clark's Funeral.
Credit: Photographer: Julius Theodore Boysen; Yosemite NP Archives RL_14384
Right image
A family enjoys a snack on the Chapel steps.
Credit: NPS Photo / Ted Barone 2020
Galen Clark's Funeral, 1910
Galen Clark, the first guardian of the Yosemite Grant, died in Oakland just prior to his 96th birthday. He is buried in the Yosemite Cemetery in a grave he dug in his 40s, surrounded by sequoias he planted around his grave. John Muir wrote, “Galen Clark was the best mountaineer I ever met, and one of the kindest and most amiable of all my mountain friends.”
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