Buffalo Soldiers in California's National Parks by Zina Abbott

 

Two areas in California were designated as three national parks in 1890: General Grant, Sequoia, and Yosemite. (General Grant National Park has since been absorbed into Kings National Park as of 1940.) The management and protection of these federal lands originally fell under the War Department. The U.S. Army was tasked with overseeing and protecting all national park lands from illegal logging, mining, grazing, and poaching. In addition, they provided improvements to the parks such as cutting roads and trails.

 

For the early national parks located in California, Yosemite and Sequoia, both situated high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where snow and ice kept most people out for the majority of the year, this was a five-month assignment--from May through November. Deployment orders were issued annually to different Army units stationed in the Presidio in San Francisco or the Presidio in Monterey. These were considered elite assignments and sought after by the commanders of all units.

 

 

9th Cavalry assigned to the Presidio in San Francisco

Buffalo Soldiers came into being after the Civil War. Four all-Black regiments were formed: the 9th Cavalry and 10th Cavalry, and the 24th Infantry and 25th Infantry. Like their White counterparts, they saw a lot of action during the frontier wars era. However, there was still a lot going on in the late 1890s, too: The Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898 and the Philippines Insurrection between 1899 through 1902. When the troops were deployed elsewhere, civilian rangers were hired to look out for the parks. Before and after, though, Army units were assigned. 

 

Route from a Presidio to either Yosemite (north) or Sequoia (south)

To reach these national parks required traveling on horseback followed by mules and wagons. The journey took them down historic El Camino Real and across the Diablo Range to the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada. Between Madera and Fresno, they followed the stagecoach routes to reach their assigned park. The soldiers traveled about 280 miles over thirteen days to reach Yosemite National Park and 320 miles over sixteen days to arrive at Sequoia National Park. 

 

24th Infantry patrolling Yosemite NP 1899

 

The first time Buffalo Soldiers were assigned to administer a national park was in the summer of 1899. A detachment of the 24th Infantry Regiment, under the leadership of Lieutenant W.H. McMasters served as the park's guardians.

 

The Philippines Insurrection kept the Army deployed elsewhere in 1900-1902. 

 

In 1903, a momentous event took place when then-President Theodore Roosevelt visited Yosemite National Park. (For details about the president's visit, please read my post on a different blog HERE. 

 

9th Cavalry Troopers in Yosemite 1903

Although Troops I and M of the 9th Cavalry, stationed at the Presidio in Monterey, California, were assigned to Sequoia National Park for the 1903 season, other troops of the 9th Cavalry joined the President's party at the railroad terminus in Raymond to escort them into Yosemite. 

 

9th Cavalry enters Yosemite from the West

These Buffalo Soldiers stayed with the President throughout the three days of his visit before he continued his journey out of the park. From there, they continued their assignment to administer and protect Yosemite National Park for that year.

 

Capt. Charles Young

Another momentous event also took place in 1903 involving the 9th Cavalry. Usually, White officers were assigned to head Black military units. However, in 1903, Captain Charles Young, the third Black soldier to graduate from West Point and veteran of the Philippines Insurrection, lead troops I and M from the Presidio in Monterey on May 20, 1903 headed for Sequoia National Park. 

 

 

1903 9th Cavalry encampment, likely on way to Sequoia (Charles Young photograph)

As the senior military officer, Capt. (later Colonel) Young holds the distinction of being the first Black acting supervisor of a national park in the United States. Later, a Giant Sequoia was named the Colonel Charles Young Tree in his honor. During that year, Capt. Young and his men completed the first usable wagon road into the Giant Forest, extending roads toward Moro Rock. They also built trails on Mount Whitney in addition to protecting the park from illegal sheep grazing and poachers.

 

Troop D of the 9th Cavalry were called upon to administer Yosemite National Park in 1904. This popular picture shows the troop posed on the Fallen Monarch, a well-known feature in the park. 

 

Troops A and B of the 9th Cavalry under the command of Captain George F. Hamilton returned to Sequoia National Park in 1904.

 

Starting in 1905, other units of the U.S. Army were deployed to administer these two parks. This continued until 1914, when troops were withdrawn and the national parks, at that point under the administration of the Department of Interior, were assigned civilian acting park superintendents from that agency until the creation of the National Park Service in 1916.  

 

Ardith Yosemite Bride took place during the era of the Buffalo Soldiers being assigned to Yosemite National Park. This book is currently available for sale as well as at no additional cost with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. To find the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE  

In Emily Yosemite Bride, Emily arrived in Yosemite National Park in the two years of civilian park administration under the Department of the Interior, after the end of the military administering the national parks, but before the creation of the National Park Service. This book is currently available for sale as well as at no additional cost with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. To find the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE   

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

 

https://www.army.mil/article/283724/buffalo_soldiers_the_national_parks_and_the_presidio_of_monterey

 https://www.nps.gov/subjects/buffalosoldiers/index.htm

https://www.yosemite.com/the-buffalo-soldiers-of-yosemite

Buffalo Soldiers Guardians of California National Parks, National Park Service 

 

Bagby and the Yosemite Valley Railroad by Zina Abbott

 

The town of Bagby by itself has an interesting history. However the bulk of this post deals with its importance to the Yosemite Valley Railroad. This rail line was completed in the spring of 1907 primarily to profit from transporting tourists who arrived in Merced, California, on the Southern Pacific Railroad whose destination was the Yosemite Valley. Actually, due to national park regulations, the railroad could not enter park land. However, it built a station the Y.V.R.R. company officers named El Portal just outside the park’s boundaries, which was twelve miles from Yosemite Valley. Until 1913, when combustion engine coaches were allowed to enter the park, that last twelve miles was traveled by stagecoach.

Prior to this time, until stagecoach roads were built in the mid-1870s, only the most adventurous tourists who were willing to travel by horse or mule could visit Yosemite. Then, starting in 1874, it was possible to reach the park from the Southern Pacific Railroad stations such as Stockton, Modesto, Merced, and Mariposa by stagecoach. After a spur as far as Raymond coming off the tracks between Merced and Madera was built, the stagecoach travel portion to Wawona in the south of the park was shortened to two days. In October of 1897, the Sierra Railway reached Chinese Camp, and it was possible to catch the Big Oak Flat stagecoach to Yosemite Valley.

However, once the Yosemite Valley Railroad was completed, it was a game-changer as far as getting tourists to Yosemite National Park in what was then record time with minimal stagecoach travel.

Later picture of Bagby after suspension bridge built 1910

Although Bagby, first known as Ridley’s Ferry, came into existence in the 1850s, it was small and primarily known as the location where John C. Frémont built his water-powered stamp mills, named Benton Mills in honor of his father-in-law. At that time, the ferry that crossed the Merced River allowed equine and wagon travel—including the stagecoach—to cross the Merced River. 

During the late 1800s, there were a multitude of stagecoach lines to service the foothills communities. However, I could not find maps showing the route from Chinese Camp, the closest rail stop of the Sierra Railway to the start of both the Big Oak Flat stagecoach route to Yosemite nor the route that followed the foothills down to Oakhurst, which in the 1800s was known as Fresno Flats. The closest I found was a map showing the locations of California’s gold rush towns.

Bagby became a crossroads for road and railroad travel and freight

Unable to find a map showing the stagecoach route following the foothill towns and how it intersected with the Yosemite Valley Railroad at Bagby, I put together one of my own using a map showing gold rush towns along that route, which today is Highway 49.

I also have a photograph I took of a memorial plaque on an old gold rush-era building in Chinese Camp that reads as follows:

To honor Eddie Webb born December 17, 1880, in Snelling, Calif. One of the last of the stage drivers, Eddie made the haul from Chinese to the Coulterville, Groveland areas between 1898-1902 and drove the first mail stage over the “new” Shawmut Road. Dedicated by Matuga Chapter, No. 1849, E Clampus Vitus, May 6, 1961.

Bagby 1910

However, Bagby really came into its own after the Yosemite Valley Railroad chose to follow the steep Merced River canyon as the route for its railroad. It became a prominent rail stop along the line. Once the line reached the Merced River canyon, almost all of the rail bed needed to be formed by blasting away solid rock. However, Bagby was one of the relatively few spots along the river between the San Joaquin Valley and Yosemite where the banks were not so steep that they prevented building construction. It was already established and was along a major transportation and supply route. It possessed enough relatively flat land to allow the construction of a depot, water towers, a freight warehouse and a turntable to become a major stop.

Yosemite Valley RR bridge west of Bagby

Using Bagby as a depot and supply center was of enough importance that in spite of the rail line having followed the south bank of the Merced River for miles, it built a steel bridge to route the tracks to the north bank of the river to reach Bagby. From there, the tracks continued to follow the north bank of the Merced River until it reached the end-of-line station in El Portal.

The Yosemite Valley Railroad reached Bagby in the fall of 1906, and soon began passenger and freight service. This allowed the construction of the section between Bagby and El Portal to continue through the winter months so the line could be completed in spring of 1907, at which time it became the primary transportation and freight route into Yosemite National Park.

Unfortunately for the Yosemite Valley Railroad, as automobile travel became more popular, and after automobiles were allowed in Yosemite National Park starting in 1913, tourist traffic on the Yosemite Valley Railroad gradually declined. Carrying freight for the Yosemite Lumber Company and limestone for the Yosemite Portland Cement Company kept the Yosemite Valley Railroad in business until the 1940s when those businesses closed. Once the railroad no longer ran through Bagby, it became a fishing and tourist resort.

Bagby Y.V.R.R. before it was moved to El Portal

Unlike many railroads, there is no railroad museum dedicated to preserving the equipment or presenting the history of the Yosemite Valley Railroad. The closest thing to it is some of the old equipment and the depot on display in El Portal—all of which came from Bagby. Once it was decided in the 1960s to expand the existing McClure reservoir, which ended up inundating Bagby, these items were moved.

Now, Bagby is under water most of the time.

Only during periods of drought, when the water level drops, may some of the foundations of the former railroad town be seen.

 

A goodly portion of my romance novel, ArdithYosemite Bride, features the development and construction of the Yosemite Valley Railroad and its quest to reach Yosemite National Park. This book is now available for sale as an ebook as well as at no additional cost with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. To find the book description and purchase options, please CLICK HERE

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.yosemitevalleyrr.com/prototype/remaining/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Valley_Railroad

https://www.yosemitevalleyrr.com/prototype/thennow/

“Bagby” from Mariposa County Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center group on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/MariposaCounty?__cft__%5b0%5d=AZbtTcFRlzXzeTNG2dSVw6_k6_TdbA4CeYI1MRJ9KgVfdOK097iUdROGk8HTU4rOaBvUsp6QsETFDlIPUx9q_1xrKp51LmPe9yZPf604qLMpA9do6-U9vKEOnxneH_ZgHRrONXMobNmKMMfEwjU6152zMkHWH58WhJ76lGQySyj4nojhtGfznXxRLfAjxHtyxaY&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R