National Parks. 



229 



YosEMiTE Recession Again. 



San Francisco, December 7, 191 1. 



The return of Yosemite Valley to the State is being urged 

 in the Legislature. The reasons given for this proposed action 

 are inadequate appropriations by Congress and neglect of the 

 valley under Federal administration. Since the Sierra Club 

 more than any other one factor was responsible for the recession 

 of Yosemite Valley to the United States in 1905-6, this statement 

 is made in behalf of the Club. 



Yosemite Valley now has expended on it each year more than 

 twice as much as the State expended prior to recession. 



federal appropriations since state appropriations prior to 



recession. recession. 



191 1, $50,000 1904-03, $32,000 total for 2 yrs. 



1910, 62,000 1902, 21,750 total for 2 yrs. 



1909, 30,000 1901, 25,000 for power plant 



1908, 30,000 1900-99, 28,000 total for 2 yrs. 



1907, 30,000 



$106,750 total appropria- 



$202,000 total Federal ap- tion by State 



propriation for 5 for 6 years. 



years. $17,791.66 average State 



$40,400 average Federal appropriation 



appropriation per year. per year. 



In addition to the foregoing we must recall that the Federal 

 Government has collected and expended in improving the valley 

 an average of about $10,000 per year from concessions in the 

 valley, whereas the State collected and expended but a few 

 hundred per year from this source. To be entirely fair we must 

 deduct $5,000 from the annual Federal average expenditure which 

 was the amount appropriated by Congress for years for the 

 National park surrounding the State park prior to recession. To 

 offset this is the fact that under army control the salaries of 

 officers and soldiers in charge of the park and their expenses 

 and subsistence are paid by the army and none of this comes 

 out of the annual appropriations which, together with revenue 

 from concessions are practically all expended in improvements. 

 Under the State regime several thousand dollars for salaries, 

 travehng, and office expenses were expended annually out of 

 even the small State appropriations. It will thus be seen that as 

 a matter of fact only about $10,000 annually was spent by the 

 State on actual road and trail work and other improvements in 

 the Yosemite Valley, whereas now the Federal Government spends 

 annually about $40,000 on clear work such as roads, trails, etc. 



When the State turned over the valley to the Federal Govern- 

 ment the Pohona Bridge had been condemned some three years, 

 the flooring removed and two miles of beautiful road on the 



