Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Reports of the Secretary of the Interior Relative to Yosemite Park: 1892
Sir: The Senate adopted September 22, 1890, the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be directed to carefully inquire and report to the Senate at his earliest convenience whether the lands granted to the State of California on certain conditions by act of Congress approved June 30, 1864, have been spoliated or otherwise diverted in whole or in part from the public use contemplated by the grant, and if so what steps if any, in his judgment, are necessary and proper to be taken in order that the necessary public use may be subserved and further spoliation prevented.
In response there was submitted the following statement and suggestions:
The act approved June 30, 1864, grants to the State of California the gorge of the Yosemite Valley at the head waters of the Merced River of an estimated length of 15 miles and a width of 1 mile back from the main edge of the precipice on each side of the valley and also "the tracts embracing what is known as the Mariposa Big Tree Grove not to exceed the area of 4 sections to be taken in legal subdivisions of one-fourth section each."
The boundaries of these tracts were to be established by the United States surveyor-general of California at the expense of that State. The grant was "with the stipulations that the State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation, shall be inalienable for all time; but leases not exceeding ten years may be granted for portions of said premises; all incomes derived from leases of privileges to be expended in the preparation and improvement or the property or the roads leading thereto. The premises managed by the governor of the State with eight other commissioners to be appointed by him, and who shall serve without compensation."
The act of Congress, with all the attending provisions and trusts, was accepted by the State of California by legislative act, approved April 2, 1866. Commissioners were appointed, the reservation surveyed, and possession taken. They have ever since been held and managed by that State, by the board of commissioners provided for by the grant and through guardians subject to the control of said board.
There was no appropriation made to enable the Secretary to adequately prosecute the inquiry now demanded, and it has therefore been pursued upon correspondence merely, and the statements made and upon which this report is founded are for the most part unsworn to.
Upon the passage of the resolution immediate steps were taken to obtain all the accessible information concerning the condition and management of the reservation named. Letters of inquiry were addressed to all persons of good repute who were deemed to have had opportunities for informing themselves in the matter. Reports and printed statements bearing upon the subject, as well as photographs of various localities in the valley, were looked up, and a special agent was sent to make investigation. In this way a very large amount of the evidence of the nature mentioned has been obtained. The original letters and papers are filed in the Department. A careful abstract is herewith presented.
It will be found that while opinions of witnesses differ as to management and treatment, there is very general agreement as to facts. While some have been more observant and clear-sighted than others, there is almost no contradiction between statements. The following points are by such statements affirmed.
First, as to the Yosemite proper.
There has been a very general and indiscriminate destruction of timber. Some of this has been done to obtain building, bridge, and fencing material and fuel. Some, as it would seem, to prepare lands for the plow or pasture; some with the notion of opening up views from certain points; a great deal fro.
