1985 [PDF] - Yosemite

:iYosemite Park and Curry Co: How Did It Start?by Chet Brooks, Jr,Did you know that Yosemite Park and Curry Co., Yosemite’s By the mid-1920’s, concession leases in the Park had grown inprimary concessionaire, is not the only organization doing businessin the Park, and that it never was?number to the point that the Federal Government, in the form ofthe National Park Service, finally was forced to step in to attemptto standardize the accommodations services and pricesTwo of the first businesses to be established in the area werehotels...sort of! "Clark’s Station," started by Galen Clark in 1856 charged in the Park. Tired of the bickering, charges and complaintsleveled against each other by the two larges’l companiesas an overnight stop for travelers between Mariposa and thedoing business in the Park, Secretary of the Interior Hubert WorkValley, was purchased in 1874 by the Washburn brothers, itbecame the Hotel Wawona, one of the oldest continuously operatingIlotels in the West. The other, a unique structure known asannounced that the two giants would have to merge or bereplaced completely! ...the "Lower Hotel" was built in the same year at the foot of On February 21, 1925, just sixty years ago this year, theSentinel Rock, by four miners who had left that line of work tomerger took place with the emerging company named the"Yosemite Park and Curry Company." Many of the other existingseek their fortune in Yosemite! Although called a "hotel," thebuilding was used chiefly as a saloon until it was crushed by concession teases were bought up by the Federal Government,snow early the next year. It had been the first permanent structureand business in the Valley and was rebuilt and reopened inbut a few, like Best’s Studio (which became the Ansel AdamsGallery) and Degnan’s (purchased in 1974 by YPCC) wereallowed to remain primarily because of the length of time they1858 as a real "inn"; this time the "hotel" had windows and ahad held their leases. These few, however, could not expand andpackedirt floor!their leases were to expire upon the deaths of their holders,Perhaps the first real organized business venture, however,In August, 1973, the Yosemite Park and Curry Co. itself waswas the trip in 1855, led by James Hutchings, in which hepurchased by MCA, Inc., who began operations in the Park inbrought the first tourist party into the Valley, just four years afterearly 1974. Today, in addition to YPCC, other concessions do~,ngthe "discovery" of the Valley by the Mariposa Battalion, In thatbusiness here in the Park include the Yosemite Medical Group,year a total of 42 men visited what was to become one of theYosemite Natural History Association and the Post Office,world’s most visited tourist attractions.For those interested in the early history of commerce inFrom that point onward hotels and other accommodationsYosemite, recommended reading would certainly includegrew kn number throughouthe region until 1874 when the first"Yosemite and Its Innkeepers," by Shirley Sargent and "100Yosemite ValJey Commissioners were appointed to regulate allYears in Yosemite," by Carl P. Russell. Both volumes are availableat the Public Library or may be purchased at any gift shop inbuildings in the Valley and to issue leases for doing business inthat area known as the Yosemite Grant, which ’ncluded thethe Park. Happy reading!Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, 30 miles tothe South.Arriving on the scene in 1898 were David and Jenny Curry,schoolteachers who supplemented their income by leading excursionsSilenceto Yellowstone during the summer months. They wereHow like a luscious cocktail you aregreat lovers of the wilderness and spent six weeks that summerin Yosemite Valley in a "tent cabin" of their own construction.a sweet glass of clear wine.Returning ’n 1899 they built seven tent cabins and established asummer accommodation originally krTown as "Camp Sequoia."That name was quickly dropped in favor of "Camp Curry," todayknown as Curry Village. Although in the next few years manyothers would enter the hotel business, some to succeed, othersI drink you in with abandonyet can never be filled.There is always more,more than I can hold.Something inside me is akin to you.to fail, none could match the friendly charm, atmosphere and A common bond, a shared essence."Yosemite Experience" offered by the Currys.I sit in an apartment by myselfIn 1915, Joe Desmond entered the Valley, bringing a numberwithout TV or stereo on,of dismantled, prefabricated cabins with him. This was the birthof Yosemite Lodge, and some of these buildings, or "wobs,"and my breast fills with pleasurewere in use until 1974. The company formed by Desmond andat the music I hear.The symphonyou play so wellhis San Francisco backers was known as "The YosemiteNational Park Company." Desmond and David Curry, founder ofif we will only be still."The Curry Camping Company," both astute businessmen, But what are you -- the lack ol noise?immediately recognized each other for what they were: direct Quiet? Peacefulness?competitors for the fast-growing tourist trade in Yosemite. AOr the Creator communicating with me in His language,sometimes bitter rivalry erupted between the two men and their The language He is most fluent in.companies, one that would last eleven years and that wouldby Hugh Magulrehave a strange ending.