Stephen Mather and the Tioga Road (Yosemite National Park)
Fireside Talk Stephen Mather and the Tioga Road (Yosemite National Park)
J. William T. Youngs
October 17, 2012
J. William T. Youngs
October 17, 2012
Stephen Mather Plaque in Zion National Park (from Wikipedia)
In your reading and film for this week in "The History of the National Parks" you will learn about a remarkable individual, Stephen Mather, the energy and spirit behind the creation of the National Park System. Driving the Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park a few days ago I thought of all that Mather had done for the park system in terms of private philanthropy, from building ranger headquarters to purchasing endangered old growth forests. I was moved by the fact that the very road on which I was driving might have looked quite different without his intervention to acquire the road, and the intervention of John Muir and others to create the National Parks in the first place: "Tioga Taco" stands and "Olmsted Omelet Factories" cluttering the view?!
This little talk, conveyed mainly through a little movie, is a tribute to Yosemite and to Stephen Mather.
In your reading and film for this week in "The History of the National Parks" you will learn about a remarkable individual, Stephen Mather, the energy and spirit behind the creation of the National Park System. Driving the Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park a few days ago I thought of all that Mather had done for the park system in terms of private philanthropy, from building ranger headquarters to purchasing endangered old growth forests. I was moved by the fact that the very road on which I was driving might have looked quite different without his intervention to acquire the road, and the intervention of John Muir and others to create the National Parks in the first place: "Tioga Taco" stands and "Olmsted Omelet Factories" cluttering the view?!
This little talk, conveyed mainly through a little movie, is a tribute to Yosemite and to Stephen Mather.