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Yosemite Roads and Bridges
Yosemite National Park, California
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Yosemite became a national park in 1890, although the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias were operated under state jurisdiction until 1906. The Department of the Interior was entrusted with responsibility for the park, but had no personnel to manage Yosemite and asked the U.S. Army to take charge of the park's administration. Cavalry units performed admirable service in Yosemite until 1914.
Two years later the National Park Service (NPS) was created. Its first director. Stephen Tyng Mather, was a California native deeply interested in Yosemite National Park. During his administration (1916-29), Mather was personally involved in many of the decisions that affected the park, including the reconstruction of its road system. In 1915, while he was still Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Mather and some business associates purchased the abandoned Tioga Road and deeded it to the park. As Director, he brought in the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) to help design and construct what he called "the finest mountain road system that money and scientific technology can provide."
Car camper's in Staneman Meadow, 1927. An increasing number of automobiles created the need for improvements to the park road system. |
ALL-YEAR HIGHWAY
In 1924 the California Highway Commission began construction of a new highway into the park. The All-Year Highway (California Highway 140) was built along the south bank of the Merced River as far as El Portal, where it crossed to the north side to follow the route of the old carriage road built by the Yosemite Valley Rail Road. The highway was constructed largely by prison laborers. Inside the park, the new concrete road was flanked by a nearly continuous band of stone retaining walls and guard walls. The road entered the park through Arch Rock, a natural tunnel through immense boulders, a fitting portal for the magnificent landscape. The park was now accessible in all seasons, and new emphasis was given to winter sports activities, especially after the Badger Pass Ski Area opened in 1935.
| Introduction | Acadia | Blue Ridge Parkway | Chickamauga and Chattanooga | Colonial Parkway | Generals Highway | George Washington Memorial Parkway | Great Smoky Mountains | Mount Rainier | Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway | Shenandoah's Skyline Drive | Southwest Circle Tour | Vicksburg | Yellowstone | Yosemite |
