Automobiles to Yosemite by Zina Abbott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From June of 1874, when the first through stagecoach route from Coulterville reached Yosemite. tourists wishing to visit arrived on one of three stagecoach routes. Stagecoach travel soon increased tourist visits to Yosemite.

 

The first automobile to enter Yosemite National Park arrived in June of 1900. Oliver Lippincott, encouraged by the Washburns of Wawona fame, brought his steam-powered locomobile to Yosemite National Park for publicity. He visited several well-known attractions within the park, where he had his photograph taken.

Oliver Lippincott with associate. Edward E. Russell, and steam-powered locomobile at Mirror Lake

From that point in, more and more automobiles made their way into the park, including on the Big Oak Flat Road, as shown in this picture of two locomobiles, whose drivers made a stop at the Crocker Station.

Steam-powered locomobiles at Crocker Station, Big Old Flat Road

Like all three stagecoach roads, Big Oak Flat Road was a toll road, with posted tolls which included automobiles.

Toll charges, Big Oak Flat Road

However, many Yosemite residents, the Army acting park superintendents, and naturalists opposed the increasing incursion of automobiles within Yosemite. They felt the noisy, back-firing, exhaust-spewing menaces—what naturalist John Muir called “blunt-nosed mechanical beetles”—detracted from the natural wonders. In 1907, automobiles were totally banned from Yosemite National Park.

Early automobile on Coulterville Road

Due to the increase of popular demand, finally, beginning August 23, 1913, automobiles were allowed to enter Yosemite, but only on the Coulterville Road. Since stagecoach travel on this road had diminished by the early 1900s, this road was seldom used. The State of California bough it, and it was no longer a toll road. That did not mean it was greatly improved since its stagecoach days.

The Department of the Interior ordered an entrance station to be built at the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, which was included just inside the boundary of Yosemite National Park. All motorists were required to pay a five dollars to enter—an expensive fee at that time—and to observe sixty-five restrictive regulations. If they arrived at the entrance station after 3:30pm, they were not allowed entry but must wait until the following day.

Giant Sequoias at Merced Grove

Other regulations included only parking in front of hotels and camps to unload passengers or luggage for a time not to exceed five minutes and being required to have all vehicles off of the road by seven o’clock in the evening, required parking in a specially built garage opposite Army headquarters. The garage was equipped with bench tools and a complete blacksmith shop. It averaged twenty-five dollars-worth of business for every car that came into Yosemite.

Merced Grove Ranger Station-Coulterville Road circa 1930s

Maximum speed was ten miles per hour on straight stretches and a six-mile-per-hour limit at all other points. Rule number 53 stated,  “When teams, saddle horses, or pack trains approach, automobiles shall stop and remain at rest until the former have passed, or until drivers or riders are satisfied regarding the safety of their horses. If approaching animals manifest signs of fear, the engine must be stopped.”

That did not stop motorists from entering the park. From August twenty-third on, 127 autos were admitted into Yosemite Valley.

Arched Rock-Merced River Drive-Yosemite

 Soon, automobile stages replaced stagecoaches for transporting tourists from the Yosemite Valley Railroad to Yosemite Valley, 

and from traveling between Yosemite Valley and Wawona.

 

Auto Stage from Yosemite Valley to Wawona

Where stagecoaches used to thrill tourists by driving through tunnel trees, automobiles soon did the same.

 

1918 Wawona Tree

  

~oOo~ 

In my book, Emily Yosemite Bride, by 1915, Emily had inherited Pop’s 1911 Ford Model T Touring car. Unlike this image of a black 1911 Model T, Emily’s was blue, since 1911 was one of the last few years Ford offered color options for its automobiles.

1911 Ford Model T Touring with two spare tires.

At that time, there was no interstate highway system designed for convenient automobile travel, so she put her Model T into a railroad cargo car for the trip to California. Once she learns Joey, her best friend from the time they were both in school, is working in Yosemite, she decides to drive her Model T there…over the rough Coulterville Road…because Pops taught her how to drive…and to repair her own Ford…and she was not about to let anyone tell her she could not do it, just because she was female.

 

Emily Yosemite Bride is scheduled for release on September 11, 2026. For the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE

 

 

Sources:

Wikimedia Commons 

Sargent, Shirley, Yosemite's Innkeepers. Ponderosa Press, Yosemite, California: 2000. Chapter 5, “David and Goliath”

https://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26509

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merced_Grove_Ranger_Station# 

https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/one_hundred_years_in_yosemite/stagecoach.html