The History of Sequoia National Park, 1876-1926: Part III: The Struggle to Enlarge the Park

Abstract

Efforts to include the crest of the Sierra and the Kern and Kings canyons in a national park date back to the beginnings of the movement that led to the establishment of Sequoia National Park in 1890.1 Although the original advocates of the Park favored a large forest reserve encompassing the entire western slope of the Sierra, they decided in 1890 that it was wiser to work for the immediate protection of the few Big Trees in Tulare County that had not yet fallen into private hands. They thought that once a small park had been established, it would be relatively easy to add other areas to it. There was no way for them to know that thirty-six years would elapse before the Park would include Mount Whitney and the Kern Canyon, and fifty years before Kings Canyon National Park would be created. Among the most outspoken early proponents of Park enlargement were the Park's military superintendents. Both before and after the creation of the Sierra Forest Reserve in 1893, these men requested repeatedly that the United States government provide adequate protection for the High Sierra against the destruction caused by sheep and fire. Unhappily, the time was not favorable for Congressional action. The American people on the whole were not yet aware of the need to preserve scenic areas, particularly in the High Sierra, and it was most unlikely that the opponents of national parks would be caught off guard as they were in 1890 so that a park bill could again slip through Congress essentially unnoticed. Gradually the Sierra did become better known, partly through the mountain trips of the Sierra Club, partly through John