The known history of the Yosemite area started with Miwok and Paiute
peoples who inhabited the central Sierra Nevada region of California
that now includes Yosemite National Park. At the time the first
non-indigenous people entered the area, a band of Miwok called the
Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. Conflict ensured in the mid 19th
century and the Mariposa Battalion pursued the Ahwahnechee into the
Valley. The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia
were ceded to California as a state park in 1864. Naturalist John Muir
and others soon became alarmed about over-exploitation of the area and
helped push through the creation of Yosemite National Park, in 1890.
It would not be until 1906 that the Valley and Grove would be added.
Park jurisdiction was at first under the United States Army's Fourth
Cavalry Regiment then in 1916 it was transfered to the National Park
Service. The failed fight to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from becoming a
reservoir and hydroelectric power plant in the early 20th century
sparked a great deal of controversy that polarized the nation. Since
then about 94% of the park has been set aside in a highly protected
wilderness area.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Yosemite_area
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1603:
King James I became the first British monarch to reign in Scotland,
England and Ireland simultaneously.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_England)
1882:
Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium that causes
tuberculosis.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tuberculosis)
1944:
World War II: Captured allied soldiers began "The Great Escape",
breaking out of Stalag Luft III, a prison camp operated by the
Luftwaffe.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III)
1976:
Dirty War: President Isabel Perón of Argentina was kidnapped and
deposed in a bloodless coup d'état.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Mart%EDnez_de_Per%F3n)
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gallons of oil
into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing a major environmental
disaster.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They
should also govern it." -- Wilhelm Reich
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich)