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1857
Galen Clark searched a year for three trees and found 427
In 1856 a hunter told Galen Clark, who lived at Wawona, about three huge trees, and Clark began a year-long search. In 1857 he found them, and a total of 427 mature giant sequoias, in what he named Mariposa Grove. He built the first permanent structure there, a cabin from which he guided tourists.
427mature giant sequoias Clark found in the grove in 1857
1864
Lincoln signed the grove into protection in 1864
Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on June 30, 1864, ceding Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley to the state of California. The Yosemite Grant was the first of its kind, and Galen Clark, who had written to friends and to Congress about protecting the grove, was named its first guardian. Criticism of the state's stewardship later led to the grove returning to federal control when Yosemite National Park was established.
“...public use, resort, and recreation ... to be left inalienable for all time.”
The Yosemite Grant, signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864
1881
A tunnel was carved through a living tree in 1881
In 1881 the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company carved a tunnel through the Wawona Tree, wide enough for stagecoaches: 7 feet wide, 9 feet high and 26 feet long. It made the tree a tourist attraction. A second tunnel tree, the California Tunnel Tree, was cut in 1895 and is the only living tunnel tree left in the grove. The Wawona Tunnel Tree has since fallen.
The car era
Cars arrived, then trams, and then both were taken away
The ban on cars was lifted in 1913 and Highway 41 was built in 1933. In 1919 a Camp in the Big Trees put cabins among the sequoias. In 1969 trams carrying 50 passengers each were brought in to cut traffic, and private cars were banned in the upper grove. The tram tour ran until 2014.
2018
Closed for four years and reopened in 2018 without cars
On June 30, 2014, the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant Act, the grove closed for a four-year restoration, the largest in the park's history. It protected tree roots and restored natural water flows that paved roads had blocked. The grove reopened on June 15, 2018. Visitors now start at a welcome plaza near the south entrance and take a shuttle two miles to the grove.
Day 2, afternoon
It comes after Glacier Point. Then Pioneer Yosemite History Center.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Mariposa Grove and the Wikipedia article Galen Clark, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.