Hindsight: 147 Years Ago

by Thomas L. Libby

The first time the federal government set aside land strictly for public use and recreation was to protect Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill in June 1864 ceding the Yosemite Grant to California and setting a precedent for the creation of Yellowstone as the world's first national park eight years later.

Early explorers Galen Clark and James Mason Hutchings introduced the public to the area in the 1850s, primarily through Hutchings's magazine articles about Yosemite Valley, accompanied by Thomas Ayres's now-famous artwork. As the grant's first guardian, Clark found himself spearheading efforts to evict early homesteaders; awkwardly, Hutchings was among them.

Matters came to a head when the so-called Yosemite Valley case (Hutchings v. Low, 82 U.S. 77 (1872)) reached the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue was whether Hutchings could obtain title to the federal land simply by occupying it and declaring his intentions (as opposed to paying a purchase price).

The Court said no, ruling that mere occupation by Hutchings did not divest Congress of its power to grant Yosemite Valley to California. The high court noted that the preemption laws did not create a contract between the government and would-be settlers. Homesteaders such as Hutchings retained preferential rights superior to others', but were still subject to the government's power to convey the property. Writing for the Court, Justice Stephen J. Field (himself a former chief justice of California) commented that, "it is not believed that Congress will ever sanction such a perversion of the trust solemnly accepted by the State." (82 U.S. at 94.)

After Yosemite became a national park in 1890, the U.S. Army's 9th Cavalry--the famous African-American "buffalo soldiers"--fended off threats of mineral and timber exploitation there.

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