94 



YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES 



most common ones immediately around 

 vou here. The old Coulterville Road 

 (W-4) into Yosemite Valley skirts the 

 left margin of this meadow. Over the 

 ridge beyond Big Meadow is the Merced 

 Canyon. 



C CRANE FLAT. Crane Flat w 



Q HODGDON MEADOWS. In the 

 q early 1860's the Hodgdon family 

 • operated an overnight stopping 



place here for stage coach passengers. 



This enterprise continued until the late 



1890's. 



6 named from reported cries of sand- Q THE ROCKEFELLER SUGAR 



hill cranes said to have been sur- 

 prised in this area in early days, prob- 

 ably a mistaken observation. The great 

 blue heron is seen here occasionally to 

 this day. Upon leaving Crane Flat en- 

 trance station you will be on a road 

 which is steep, narrow and full of 

 curves. In a 2 mile stretch you will 

 drop from an elevation of about 6,5 00 

 to 4,800 feet. 



C TUOLUMNE GROVE OF BIG 

 j TREES. The giant sequoias are 

 thought to have been seen first by 

 white men when this grove was discov- 

 ered in 183 3 by Joseph Walker .expedi- 

 tion seeking a route across the Sierra 

 Nevada. The grove covers about 20 

 acres and has approximately 25 large 

 trees. The spur road to the right passes 

 through the tunnel cut in the Dead 

 Giant in 1878, one of 3 tunnel trees in 

 the park. 



PINE FOREST PURCHASE. 



* 193 9 the Rockefeller Foundation, 

 with matching funds from the Federal 

 Government, purchased this, one of the 

 world's finest remaining virgin sugar 

 pine forests for $3,200,000 and added 

 it to Yosemite National Park. Its 20,000 

 acres also included practically all of the 

 Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias. 



£ CARL INN. In the large meadow 

 1 t0 tn e right just before you leave 

 the park was Carl Inn, a popular 

 resort owned and operated by Donna 

 Carlon. It was a regular stop on the 

 Hetch Hetchy Tour. The Inn was pur- 

 chased and razed in 1940 by the gov- 

 ernment after being destroyed twice by 

 flood, once by fire, and once by snow. 

 Cross the bridge over the South Fork of 

 the Tuolumne River just beyond the 

 park boundary you can follow the road 

 to the Hetch Hetchy section of Yosem- 

 ite National Park. 



Hodgdon's historic ranch and stage coach stop on old Big Oak Flat Road (running along 

 fence) present Crane Flat Road runs at right angles to it at lower right. 



