Mahan 1 Jennifer Mahan ARCH 326 23 March 2020 Professor Michael Lucas
Recognizing the Hidden: The Western and Miwok Histories of Accessibility within Yosemite National Park
I drive past the entry gates well before sunrise after sleeping on a thin, gravel pullout outside the Park. The few scattered lights from headlamps on Yosemite’s two biggest walls – El Capitan and Half Dome – are the only suggestions of human presence at this hour. They remind me of the absolute privilege it is to be in Yosemite to be able to freely roam north, east, south, west, up, and down within these granite bounds. This freedom is largely due to the National Parks Service (NPS), which propagates that early western heroes recognized the value in conserving our natural areas and nobly established America’s National Park System. The parks were established to be “dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people1.” But those people – hordes of tourists who have no idea how to respect the land and desecrate it simply with their overwhelming presence – omit consideration of who occupied Yosemite before the Cruise America RVs and overfull parking lots monopolized the Parklands. While the Jeeple, German tourists, and even myself are allowed almost full access to the park, we bring with us destruction by simply existing en masse and using the trails, climbing routes, and constructed amenities. One must wonder where evidence of the previous inhabitants is, and if they were allowed the same ability to freely roam the parklands that we have been gifted via American government. I question the history of Yosemite National Park, and how my feelings of place-sharing with others represent a much larger issue that wasn’t mine in the first place. The Native tribes that once roamed this area have been asking these queries for over a century now but were subject to an extreme denial that I have never experienced and of which I lack an understanding. As I enjoy Yosemite as a National Park intended for the public, the infrastructure here is a constant reminder that
Mahan 2 western conservationists attained the attention of the American government and public, and thus spared Yosemite National Park from dramatically gross development and destruction. However, their subsequent control of the parklands has continually ignored the historic means of Yosemite’s acquisition, imposed unfair restrictions on the indigenous Miwok tribe who once claimed ownership of the area, and increasingly restricted access to parts of the park in attempts to sustain the environment. The rampant commercialization stemming from American (mis)management of the Park has resulted in an immense lack of environmental stewardship and accessibility within Yosemite for both the public and the indigenous Miwok people. Recognition of the land’s history by the NPS can inform current and future means of land conservation and ensure that the tribe may receive due recognition and freedoms, while still making the park publicly available. Yosemite Valley is undeniably a sacred space; however, “sacred” denotes conflicting approaches and means of recognition towards the land depending on cultural tradition and viewpoints regarding its ownership. The sentiments of Manifest Destiny entirely swept the nation, allowing the American government to proliferate the view that an untouched Yosemite was holy land and clearly available for acquisition and management by western man. When fur trappers and miners in the California Gold Rush increasingly settled in the west, they discovered present-day Yosemite. They paved way for tourists and journalists to enter the pristine valleys and establish permanent homes after Yosemite’s public designation as open to visitors2 made possible after establishment of a pioneer village consisting of cabins, a tourist hotel, and a ranch3. In attempts to prevent its Map of the Yosemite Valley shows how the National Park Service used indigenous symbols to advertise the park even as Native American residents were being forced out. “Yosemite Valley.”
Mahan 3 complete desecration and preserve Yosemite for the expanding American public, the land began its subjection to a series of government orders. The Wilderness Act of 1964 promoted certain areas to a “highly protected" status to allow nature to flourish and prevent development therein3. However, these acts did little to address the increasing numbers of foreign guests as railways and accessibility to the valley increased. In response, one visitor - conservationist John Muir - was so moved by the land’s majesty that he widely disseminated Yosemite’s superlative beauty to American citizens, convincing even Congress to take notice5. In efforts to make the pristine place indelible, Muir helped pass a bill in 1906 for Yosemite to be “the property of the United States government, under the protection and preservation efforts of government stewardship 6” and to be officially assimilated into the National Parks System. He became known as the Father of America’s National Parks, becoming the namesake for the John Muir Highway from Yosemite to San Francisco, the 200-mile long John Muir Trail that snakes through the Eastern Sierras, and the John Muir Wilderness area in Inyo National Forest. The hundreds of other memorials to Muir around California alone testify to the western man’s deification in land acquisition – a factual account which omits much of Yosemite’s historic establishment and prioritizes a reductionist history that recognizes only the current land managers. In this reality, strife with the original inhabitants of the land has intentionally been unadvertised. The foundational myth of America’s National Parks revolves around the heroic preservation of “pristine wilderness,” but “uninhabited wilderness had to be created before it could be preserved4.” This unadvertised history of Yosemite Valley centers on exclusive occupation by the Southern Sierra Miwok Tribe. The Ahwahneechees, a subset of the Miwok people, had been stewards of the land for an estimated 8,000 years before the first traces of western men that entered present-day California with the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. In a battle for resources, the
California Miwok man. “McCarthy…Photograph 326.”
Mahan 4 mining settlers brutally raided Native American villages in attempts to force the indigenous peoples off the gold-laden land7, and discovered Yosemite during an Indian hunt. To defend their ancestral land, the Ahwahneechees attacked a post managed by General John Savage, who led a series of removal and extermination campaigns against the Valley people in revenge. Some tribespeople hid in the mountains, but those captured were coerced into working the mines or onto distant reservations in the Central Valley7. Other Ahwahneechees were not spared: they were either shot and killed or hung from Trees in Yosemite Valley8. After most of tribe was relocated or otherwise eliminated, tourists began to trickle into the Parklands. The few Valley people that were allowed to return became laborers for the increasing tourism industry, as the parks service encouraged Native assimilation into western culture through American clothing, food, dwellings, and work opportunity2. The Miwok people also served as “exotic” attractions for tourists in the early Yosemite through the “Indian Field Days,” wherein park administrators would dress locals in Plains Indian regalia to perform caricatures of traditional ceremonies to visitors9. Despite these shows, the parks service preferred to keep the Valley people and their mistreatment hidden, confining their existence to a separate Indian community now home to current-day “Yosemite Village” (which now includes a large gift shop,
Miwok peoples being shown off in plains indian regalia. “Blue Frontier.”
market and pizzeria)7. As one contemporary Miwok descendant states, in "the old village, we were too visible. People could really see us there, the way we lived in tents, you know. We were the poor people of Yosemite7." When not being evicted or jailed for petty offenses to park rules, the Miwok were subject to constant relocation and supervision. By 1935, all tribespeople had
A poster advertising Yosemite’s Indian Field Days in 1929, and tourists pose in front of a Miwok u’macha at Yosemite. “McCarthy.”
Mahan 5 been moved to a new Indian village near current-Day Camp Four with homes which supposedly offered improved privacy and enhanced amenities, but instead severely lacked the features of the parks service-members’ cabins. Here, the service forced the Valley people to pay rent and controlled the duration and which families lived in each paltry cabin7. By the 1960s, only natives with full-time work were permitted to live in Yosemite. As many lost seasonal employment and left the Valley to seek alternative opportunities, their homes were destroyed in segments by the Park Service 7. This history of systemic removal is standard among most of America’s original National Parks, and the Miwok are among the major facets of Yosemite’s parklands that have quietly been mismanaged and abused. Their commodification stems from the western view of ownership and acquisition - the larger question being dissent between opinions of who deserves the freedom to the land. When justifying claims of ownership, the two
“Devore, Chuck.”
groups’ opposing methods of land stewardship should be recognized when considering the allocation of modern land rights. Yosemite National Park is vastly available to the public today because of both early American conservationists and horrific practices of human extermination and removal. The NPS and five million annual visitors6 who freely roam the park today have since dramatically mistreated the land and continually deny the Yosemite history which
Mahan 6 includes Native Miwok people – both unconsciously and deliberately. Western man’s first entry in Yosemite gifted a sense of “pristine” - with pines spread evenly throughout the Valley, carved by rolling meadows that supported wildflowers, grasses, and wildlife. However, this picturesque view of the Valley as "nature's landscape garden, at once beautiful and sublime12" popularized by Muir was only made possible by Miwok land stewardship. For thousands of years, the Ahwahneechee had been instigating controlled burns to manage underbrush and recycle nutrients to the soil – an act seen as savage by the white man, who believed (until modest changes recently) that fire was to be feared. When the Miwok were expelled and their practices punished, the park became overgrown and experienced disastrous fires within 40 years of their removal10. By contrast, western land stewardship of Yosemite has prescribed immediately quenching all natural fires, spraying plants with pesticides and tens of acres with weedkiller7, and hunting predators to increase game animals2. The governmental management of the land has also only worked to support an increasing amount of tourism into the park and to find solutions to overcrowding and (over)development. A century ago, Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane defined Yosemite as a “national playground system6.” This is reflected by the Parks service “build[ing] right on top of areas that have grinding rocks and pounding holes, or spiritual and cultural areas that our people used long ago”. A descendant of the Southern Sierra Miwok noted that “[the Parks Service] consult[s] with the tribe before doing this, which is required by law, but they usually just take the information we provide and do it anyway2.” Infrastructure like the Wawona Tunnel was blasted through solid granite to make way for the infamous “tunnel view” of Yosemite Valley, and more campgrounds and hotels (supported with deforestation and vast paved parking lots) were built to increase park accessibility to tourists6. It has become “Pave it and Paint it Green,” a parking lot in Yosemite. “Partridge.”
Mahan 7 obvious that Yosemite was not meant to accommodate millions of visitors each year, especially when the vast majority of those tourists spend their time overcrowding Yosemite Valley – the original home of the Ahwahneechee people - and grossly mistreat the land like a garbage bin11. Les James, a tribal elder active in Yosemite's native community remarked that “[the Parks Service] destroyed something that we preserved for thousands of years. In 150 years, [they]'ve ruined it7." He touches on the lack of awareness that the Miwok actually practiced more sustainable management of the land than the Parks Service did – a discounted truth in most of Yosemite’s history. The modern question of “how to balance serving the public and preserving the wild” hinges between the accepted western methods of land management versus man serving as an environmental steward. In the meantime, the parklands have become a commodity11. As the parks service seeks a future land management plan, it should be recognized that their built infrastructure has made Yosemite too accessible, especially to those with no knowledge of basic etiquette and respect towards the land. It stems from a lack of respect and denial of historic awareness. The mistreatment of both the land and the original inhabitants has resulted in levels of visitation that are unsustainable for Yosemite’s natural ecosystem. The NPS’s current ideas to address increasing visitors include constructing more parking lots, roads and entry booths, creating a permit system, and setting a cap on how many people can come into the park each day11. These proposals advance questions regarding limited access to Yosemite, but overlook a plan forward for Ahwahneechee recognition and accessibility rights. After understanding who has been denied access to the park, and who may now be allowed full A crowd waits to ascend the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Limited to 400 hikers/day in 2013. “Jim Robbins.”
Mahan 8 admittance, how can the current methods of management improve the respect of all life within Yosemite? For centuries, the NPS has prioritized land access within Yosemite to the destructive visitors who possess no enduring memory of place, and the American government still denies claims to the Miwok people still fighting to gain federal recognition and sovereignty rights13. After decades of argument between tribal elders and congressmen, the National Park Service finally established the Native American Relationships Management Policy intended to “actively promot[e] tribal cultures as an important component of the parks2.” Progress has been paltry with this measure. The tribe has spent the last century attempting to regain at least parts of their land, asking for the return of their old Indian Village, and obtaining permission to rebuild a roundhouse there in 19778. After forty years, the Miwok have finally been allowed to reconstruct sections of this “Wahoga” (i.e. village) behind the Yosemite Museum. However, the structures are intended for ceremonies, gatherings, and education 7, as “the village was made for visitors, not for housing 2.” And even today, Yosemite’s guides and interpreters “don’t tell the real story2” of the sustained mistreatment of the Miwok. The tribe’s website cites that “ironically, the Yosemite Museum displays our tribal members making baskets, but our people are prohibited from gathering the basketry resources in the park necessary to continue this tribal tradition13.” The park touts “underdeveloping” Mariposa Grove by removing pavement and switching out the interpretive signs to include more Native stories2 - but simultaneously lays new blacktop in Yosemite Valley7 for tourism infrastructure. The park publicizes these small moves towards respecting the Miwok, but their attempts confirm the lack of acknowledgement of Ahwahneechee history. While American management advertises their moves in a more equitable direction, they can never do enough if the NPS still propagates the heroism of western acts and actively denies those who existed in Yosemite before it was a National Park. Rather than advertise throngs of John Muir Christmas ornaments inscribed with “the mountains are calling, and I must go” in the Yosemite gift shops, the Parks Service should end the valorization of mismanagement and disrespect, and instead recognize more healthy means of land stewardship and the people who truly practice it. It would be fairer to grant the Miwok people (with bodily knowledge of how to
Mahan 9 responsibly manage their profoundly loved land) full access to their ancestral places, and instead control access to those who fleetingly tour Yosemite as a novelty. After a century of the NPS proving they lack the skills necessary to properly support the earth and its people, they must not continue to enact land use restrictions on those that do know how to treat the parklands with respect. As park officials now create systems that limit access to Yosemite, they must reassess who they place restrictions on, and shift instead to methods of support for the Miwok people. Increasing awareness of the Ahwahneechee and adopting more of the past methods of Native stewardship has evidently benefitted all life in Yosemite. Park managers have finally used mechanical thinning and allowed wildfires to burn in the park14. There are regulations and restrictions on public land use that selectively provide wilderness permits. Park regulations now restrict access to Tuolumne Meadows to all except researchers and offer lottery permits to the public to hike up Half Dome. These measures thus far succeed in their intentions to “protect wilderness character, reduce crowding, protect natural and cultural resources, and improve safety15” for the general public. The Parks Service should continue to under develop areas like Mariposa Grove that were heavily commercialized decades before, and opportunistically replace informational signs in disrepair with those that address more than the heroic Muir story – while not increasing development within the park. If some limits on public access to wilderness are necessary, then the Miwok should be given less restrictions. The park is capable of supporting the Miwok people’s culture - not through exploitation or promotions of exoticism, but by partnering with the tribespeople and accommodating their concerns. The Miwok are in grave need of financial support; if commercialization of sorts is necessary, the Yosemite gift shop could focus less on selling their John Muir merchandise, and instead promote products made by the Miwok. What about a donation option
Bark structures in the new Wahoga village. “Romero.”
Mahan 10 at the checkout to aid their attempts at gaining federal recognition? Just as the fear of fire has ended, the American government should end their fear of the past, reconciling the mistakes of their leaders by instead adopting a role of stewardship and support. After finally regaining some ability to rebuild the Old Indian Village, Miwok elder Lee James triumphantly remarked, “this is going to be ours. We won't have to ask permission to use it. This whole village.” However, Yosemite National Park still has milestones before meeting the Miwok vision of “someday to own this, own this land 8.” While re-owning the entirety of Yosemite may not be an ideal compromise, at least empowering the Miwok would be. The Miwok creation story of El Capitan (“Measuring-Worm–Stone” or “Tu-Tok-ANu’-La16”) in Yosemite Valley may be a lesson in how to address the land’s history. As two young brothers were sleeping, the earth beneath them rose while they rested. They woke to find they were stuck atop a great boulder and could not climb down. Many animals attempted to save them – Mouse, Rat, Racoon, Mountain Lion. For an entire winter, the smallest being, Measuring Worm, climbed the rock and reached the top. He woke the boys and brought them safely down16. The Parks Service in Yosemite could learn from this story that the biggest beast - the one who thinks he is best often lacks the capabilities to meet others in the way they need to be helped. Perhaps those most forgotten should not pass recognition, for they may know the greatest means of keeping all life protected, cared for, and respected. Two bear brothers become stuck atop the greatest cliff face in Yosemite, saved by an inchworm. “Souci, Robert.”
Mahan 11 Works Cited 1 Dilsaver, Lary M. Americas National Park System - the Critical Documents. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, pp. 84. Print. 2 Oatman-Stanford, Hunter. “From Yosemite to Bears Ears, Erasing Native Americans From U.S. National Parks.” Collectors Weekly, Auctions Online USA Ltd, 26 Jan. 2018, www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/erasing-native-americans-fromnational-parks/. 3 “Galen Clark.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 15 July 2019, www.nps.gov/yose/learn/historyculture/galen-clark.htm. 4 Spence, Mark David. Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks. Oxford University Press, 2000. 5 Weston, Jessica. “Yosemite.” Religion in the American West, Hamilton College, Dec. 2015, hamiltoncs.org/americanwestreligion/places/yosemite/. 6 The History of Yosemite National Park. National Park Reservations Inc., www.nationalparkreservations.com/article/yosemite-the-history-of-yosemitenational-park/. 7 George, Carmen. “American Indians Share Their Yosemite Story.” Fresnobee, The Fresno Bee, 27 June 2014, www.fresnobee.com/news/special-reports/yosemiteat-150/article19521750.html. 8 Romero, Ezra David. “Yosemite Is More Than Outdoor Adventure. For Native Americans, It's Sacred.” CapRadio, Capital Public Radio, 22 Aug. 2018, www.capradio.org/articles/2018/08/22/yosemite-is-more-than-outdoor-adventurefor-native-americans-its-sacred/. 9 Bullinger, Jake. “Yosemite Finally Reckons with Its Discriminatory Past.” Outside Online, Outside Magazine, 23 Aug. 2018, www.outsideonline.com/2337681/yosemite-national-park-native-americanvillage-miwuk. 10 Johnson, Eric Michael. “How John Muir's Brand of Conservation Led to the Decline of Yosemite.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 13 Aug. 2014, blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/how-john-muir-s-brand-ofconservation-led-to-the-decline-of-yosemite/.
Mahan 12 11 Thomas, Gregory. “Yosemite Valley Is under Siege from Tourists. Can It Be Saved?” SFChronicle.com, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Apr. 2018, www.sfchronicle.com/travel/article/Yosemite-Valley-is-under-siege-from-touristsCan-12867769.php#photo-12964911. 12 Muir, John. My First Summer in the Sierra. Houghton Mifflin, 1916. 13 “Federal Recognition: Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation.” Southern Sierra Miwuk, Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, www.southernsierramiwuknation.org/federalrecognition. 14 “Managing Wildfire, Prescribed Fire, and Fuels.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 29 Aug. 2019, www.nps.gov/yose/learn/nature/fuelsmanagement.htm. 15 “Half Dome Permits for Day Hikers.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 10 Feb. 2020, www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hdpermits.htm 16 “Legend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan).” First People of America and Canada Turtle Island, www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/LegendofTu-Tok-A-Nu-LaMiwok.html
Mahan 13 Images Cited “Yosemite Valley Pictorial Map by Jo Mora (1931).” Yosemite Valley Pictorial Map by Jo Mora (1931), Dan Anderson, 4 Apr. 2004, www.yosemite.ca.us/library/maps/jo_mora/. “McCarthy Album 10, Photograph 326,” California State Archives Exhibits, accessed March 19, 2020, http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/items/show/10049. Blue Frontier. “Home.” Adam Matthew Digital, Sage Publishing, 3 Jan. 2014, www.amdigital.co.uk/about/blog/item/life-in-the-valley-american-indians-ofyosemite. “McCarthy Album 10, Photograph 298,” California State Archives Exhibits, accessed March 19, 2020, http://exhibits.sos.ca.gov/items/show/10021. DeVore, Chuck. “California Recycling: Burn, Blackout, Blame, Repeat.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 15 Oct. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2019/10/15/california-recycling-burnblackout-blame-repeat/#47d476923aca. Partridge, Rondal, photographer. Pave it and paint it green / Rondal Partridge. [196-, Printed Later] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2011645056/>. Jim Robbins, et al. “How A Surge in Visitors Is Overwhelming America's National Parks.” Yale E360, Yale, 31 July 2017, e360.yale.edu/features/greenlock-avisitor-crush-is-overwhelming-americas-national-parks. Romero, Ezra David. “Yosemite Is More Than Outdoor Adventure. For Native Americans, It's Sacred.” CapRadio, Capital Public Radio, 22 Aug. 2018, www.capradio.org/articles/2018/08/22/yosemite-is-more-than-outdoor-adventurefor-native-americans-its-sacred/. Souci, Robert. Two Bear Cubs: a Miwok Legend from Californias Yosemite Valley. Yosemite Assn, 2015.