3i8 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 



Patented Lands — Attention is invited to the recommendations of my 

 predecessors to the effect that the title to all patented lands within the 

 park be extinguished. I am in hearty agreement with these recommenda- 

 tions. The Yosemite Lumber Co. is now constructing a logging railroad 

 into the park for the purpose of taking timber from their lands near 

 Chinquapin and which are adjacent to the Wawona Road. This destruc- 

 tion of beautiful forests in one of the most prominent parts of the park 

 should be prevented. A summer resort and town, known as Foresta, has 

 been maintained on patented lands within the park during the last two 

 seasons. A tract of patented land on the Big Oak Flat Road at a place 

 known as Gentrys has been subdivided into lots with the purpose of 

 establishing a town and summer resort. It is rumored that other owners 

 of patented lands contemplate the establishment of camps for the accom- 

 modation of tourists, thereby having all the advantages afforded by the 

 Government's administration without paying anything toward the main- 

 tenance of the park, as is required of all concessioners on the public 

 lands. 



Sanitation — The sanitation of the valley is, of necessity, cared for by 

 primitive methods, which are defective. As a protection to the health of 

 the people in the Yosemite Valley and to the people of the San Joaquin 

 Valley dependent on the Merced River for a water supply, steps should 

 be taken at once to design and install a complete sewage system and dis- 

 posal plant in the Yosemite Valley. 



Water Supply System — During the last four years work has been done 

 on the water supply system of the Yosemite Valley as funds were avail- 

 able until the work is now nearing completion. All of the principal 

 points excepting Kenneyville are now provided with water from water 

 mains of adequate capacity to afford fire protection. In the future such 

 extensions can be made from the present system as the needs of the 

 service may require. 



Electric Light and Power — There has been a marked increase in the 

 use of electricity for power purposes and the time is nearing when the 

 present plant will not be able to supply the demand. This increase in the 

 use of electric power means an increase in the park revenues, the same 

 being sold to the concessioners, and should be encouraged. The existing 

 plant should be enlarged to over double its present capacity. 



Mirror Lake — I wish to emphasize the recommendations of my pre- 

 decessors in regard to the removing of a deposit of sand from Mirror 

 Lake. This lake has been one of the wonders of the place, giving a reflec- 

 tion of mountain scenery of unusual beauty, and its reputation has gone 

 far and wide, Tenaya Creek, which passes through the lake, has carried 

 down from the mountains and deposited in the lake such a quantity of 

 sand that the size of the lake has been reduced to a mere pond during 

 low water. Funds should be provided for dredging out this sand. 



Big Trees— Tht work of clearing the Mariposa, Tuolumne, and Mer- 

 ced Big Tree Groves of underbrush and dead timber has been carried 



