A Chronology
 Hospital
Rock, Sequoia National Park |
1858- Hale Tharp entered the Giant Forest with an Indian guide. That same year,
an Indian guided J.H. Johnson into Kings Canyon.
1861- The first ascent of Moro Rock made by Hale Tharp and his stepsons, George
and John Swanson.
1864- Under the field
direction of William Brewer of the California Geological Survey, the first
scientific exploration of the region was conducted. Commemorating these
pioneer scientists are Mt. Whitney, Mt. Brewer, Mt. Clarence King, and
Mt. Cotter.
1865- The last of
the Potwisha Indians leave Hospital Rock area due to the growing number
of white settlers.
1867- In August, the General Grant Tree was named.
1873- The first ascent of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous
United States.
1875- John Muir (1838-1914), naturalist and author, named the Giant Forest during
his Sierra travels.
1879- In August, the General Sherman Tree was named by James Wolverton.
1886-1891- The Kaweah Colony, a socialist utopian group, settled on the upper North
Fork of the Kaweah River near Three Rivers and planned to cut timber in
the Giant Forest. They called the General Sherman Tree the "Karl
Marx Tree." (See Kaweah Colony page also on this site.)
1890- The efforts of Tulare County residents, headed by George Stewart (1857-1931),
editor of the Visalia Delta and attorney, resulted in Congress establishing
Sequoia, the nation's second national park, on Sept. 25. One week later,
another bill was signed expanding the new park and creating General Grant
and Yosemite national parks.
1891- U.S. Cavalry troops were assigned to protect the newly created national
parks, headed by Captain J.H. Dorst, Fourth U.S. Cavalry, with the first
headquarters at Mineral King.
1898- The grazing of sheep banned from park land.
1900- First appropriation for park operations was received in the amount of
$10,000. Ernest Britten of Three Rivers appointed "winter park ranger,"
Sequoia's first ranger. First stage line into the park was started by
Ralph Hopping and John Broder, who also provided a week's camp accommodations
at Giant Forest, all for $35.
1903- In August, the first wagon road to Giant Forest was completed under Army
supervision. This was an extension of the 20 miles of road built up the
North Fork to the Colony Mill by the Kaweah colonists. Park visitation
totaled 450.
1904- First automobile driven into Sequoia National Park by Mr. and Mrs. W.G.
Luper of Vallejo.
1910-
Park visitation was 3,585.
1913- There were 3,823 visitors from March 1 to Oct. 1. This year marked the
end of military administration and Chief Ranger Walter Fry of Three Rivers
was named the first civilian superintendent.
1914- The War Department discontinued its park-protection program at Sequoia
and General Grant national parks. Walter Fry of Three Rivers became first
civilian superintendent of Sequoia National Park.
1915- Atwell Mill, in the Mineral King area, was purchased by a Seattle resident,
a representative of the National Geographic Society, who donated the property
to Sequoia National Park. The Mather Mountain Party toured Sequoia National
Park from Giant Forest to Mount Whitney to convince Congress to pass a
national park service act.
1916- The National Park Service was created. Congress appropriated $50,000 for
the purchase of private lands in the Giant Forest; the National Geographic
Society contributed $20,000.
1917- Wooden stairs were built on Moro Rock.
1918- Crystal Cave was discovered by two off-duty park employees while fishing.
1920- Colonel John R. White was appointed superintendent. The last private inholdings
in Giant Forest were acquired by the Park Service. Bear Hill, the park
garbage dump at Giant Forest, became a regular evening attraction and
bleachers were erected for visitors to congregate and watch black bears
forage through the trash. Park visitation totaled 51,169.
1921- Winter sports debuted in Sequoia with the development of the Wolverton
Ski Bowl.
1922- Work on the Generals Highway began. Walter Fry, now U.S. Magistrate, initiated
the Sequoia Nature Guide Service, offering the park's first guided nature
walk in June.
1924- "Winter headquarters" were built for park administration at
Ash Mountain.
1926- In July, the Generals Highway opened from Ash Mountain through the Giant
Forest to the General Sherman Tree. Concessions, including stores and
dining facilities, moved from Round Meadow to the opposite side of the
highway from Beetle Rock and became known as Giant Forest Village. The
popularity of Walter Fry's nature guide program resulted in the hiring
of three new park naturalists, and park visitors were treated to walks,
nightly campfire programs and a series of pamphlets called "Nature
Notes." Sequoia was more than doubled in size to include the Kern
Canyon and Mt. Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United
States. The General Grant Tree was designated as the Nation's Christmas
Tree by President Coolidge.
1928- Lodgepole Campground, five miles east of Giant Forest, was made the primary
camping area for the park to ease congestion in the Giant Forest. Construction
began on the High Sierra Trail.
1930- Livestock was no longer allowed to graze on park land. Park visitation
totaled 172,768.
1931- Moro Rock's wooden staircase was replaced with a stone stairway. A fallen
sequoia along the Crescent Meadow/Moro Rock Road became the Auto Log,
a major visitor attraction made accessible for automobiles.
1932- The High Sierra Trail from Giant Forest over Kaweah Gap was completed,
a 21-mile project that took five summer seasons. This was the first Sierra
trail built solely for recreational purposes.
1933- Handrails were added to
Moro Rock. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived in Kaweah Country
and during the next nine years built many park improvements. Dozens of
examples of their handiwork are still in use today, including the Pear
Lake Ranger Station and Crystal Cave stairs and pathway.
Big
Arroyo Patrol Cabin, near the High Sierra Trail in the backcountry
of Sequoia National Park. |
1934- A High Sierra Camp was built at Bearpaw Meadow along the High Sierra Trail
between Giant Forest and Kaweah Gap.
1935- The park-to-park (Sequoia to General Grant) extension of the Generals
Highway was dedicated July 23, being called one of the most scenic mountain
highways in America. The CCC built the Lodgepole ice-skating rink and
Milk Ranch Peak fire lookout.
1938- Lookout Point Ranger Station on the Mineral King Road was built by the
National Park Service.
1939- Kings Canyon Highway from Grant Grove to Cedar Grove was completed. Park
visitation totaled 275,329.
1940- On
March 4, Kings Canyon National Park, originally proposed to be called
John Muir-Kings Canyon National Park, was created by Congress, absorbing
and enlarging General Grant National Park. Commercial downhill skiing
started with the installation of rope tows at Wolverton in Sequoia National
Park. Bear Hill was closed permanently. Sequoia Natural History Association,
a park support group, was formed to support education and scientific research
in Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Park visitation totaled 483,743.
1943- As a wartime economy measure, the administrations of Sequoia and Kings
Canyon were merged and continue to be administered jointly.
1944- On Sept. 5, National Park Service Director Newton Drury ordered the imminent
removal of all facilities in the Giant Forest sequoia grove.
1950- Park visitation totaled 717,058.
1953- For the first time, visitation exceeded 1 million in Sequoia and Kings
Canyon National Parks.
1956- The Park Service presented Mission 66 to Congress, a proposal designed
to reverse the decline of park services and natural resources by 1966,
the Park Service's 50th anniversary. President Eisenhower designated the
General Grant Tree as a National Shrine to honor the nation's war dead.
1960- Hunter and Jeri Crosby of Three Rivers hosted square dances at Beetle
Rock Hall in Giant Forest two nights each week during July and August.
Park visitation totaled 1,470,600.
1963- The Leopold Report, an appraisal of park ecosystem management nationwide,
recommended maintaining or restoring park environments to natural conditions.
Within three years, a research science program was established at Sequoia
and Kings Canyon.
1965- Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley were added to Kings Canyon National Park.
1968- About 600,000 acres of Sequoia and Kings Canyon were designated as a "natural
fire zone," where fires are monitored and allowed to burn.
1969- On Aug. 9, in the Hazelwood Picnic Area, a giant sequoia tree toppled,
killing a woman instantly. The picnic area was permanently closed.
1970- The Giant Forest gas station and post office were relocated to Lodgepole.
Park visitation totaled 1,894,700.
1971- The last campgrounds were removed from Giant Forest.
1975- New park concessioner, GSI, built a market, gift shop, and snack bar at
Lodgepole. Issuance of wilderness permits established quotas for backcountry
travel.
1976- Sequoia and Kings Canyon established the Division of Natural Resource
Management to balance interaction between park visitors and natural resources,
including the reintroduction of natural and manmade fire for fuel management
and giant sequoia reproduction, wildlife management, and air quality.
1978- Mineral King added to Sequoia National Park.
1979- Annual prescribed burn program began in Giant Forest.
1980- Park visitation totaled 1,681,461
1983- Kings Canyon was enlarged to include 1,500 more acres.
1984- Sequoia and Kings Canyon designated 736,980 acres of their combined 864,383
as wilderness, which ensures the highest legal protection from development.
1990- Sequoia National Park, California's oldest national park, celebrated 100
years. Rope tows were removed from the Wolverton Ski Bowl. Park visitation
totaled 2,126,405.
1993- Giant Forest Village began closing concession facilities during the winter.
1995-
Park gas stations closed permanently due to environmental legislation
concerning underground storage tanks.
1996- Road construction begins to upgrade the Generals Highway from Ash Mountain
to Giant Forest, a seasonal project that is estimated to take 10 years
to complete.
1997- In January, the Kings River flooded and washed away a section of Highway
180 in Sequoia National Forest, temporarily leaving no access to Cedar
Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.
1998- Giant Forest Village closed permanently.
1999- All buildings were removed from the Giant Forest except for the market,
which was converted to house the Giant Forest Museum, and Beetle Rock
Hall, which was developed into an educational center. In May, Wuksachi
Village and Lodge officially opened, located three miles west of Lodgepole
and providing year-round visitor services away from the Giant Forest.
Park visitation for the year was 874,037 in Sequoia, up 1.4 percent from
1998; 601,752 in Kings Canyon, up 4.5 percent from the previous year.
2000- Construction on John Muir Lodge in Grant Grove Village, Kings Canyon National
Park, completed. Park visitation totaled 1,367,934.
2002- Giant Forest Museum, in the old concessions-owned Giant Forest Market
building, was dedicated. Wolverton Pack Station closed permanently. Park
visitation was 920,292 for Sequoia and 545,420 for Kings Canyon.
2003-
The Giant Fire, a park-managed prescribed fire
ignited by lightning in July, reached the Washington
Tree in mid-September. The tree, the second
largest in the world, caught fire, burning its
crown and causing its trademark massive branch
to fall. The tree is estimated to be 2,800 years
old. On October 24, the Mineral King Historic
District was added to the National Register
of Historic Places.
2007-
Visitation to both parks totaled more than 1.5
million.
Taking charge
of Sequoia and
Kings Canyon National Parks
U.S. Cavalry
officers: Military Superintendents
1891- Captain Joseph Dorst
1892- Captain Joseph Dorst
1893- Captain James Parker
1894- Lieutenant Alexander Dean
1895- Captain James Lockett
1896- Captain George Goodwin
1897- Captain George Goodwin
1898- George Langenberg, civilian appointee (due to Spanish American War)
1898- Captain Bennent Smith
1899- Second Lieutenant Henry Clark
1900- Captain Frank West
1900-1904- Ernest Britten, civilian, winter ranger in charge (Three Rivers resident)
1901- Captain Lincoln Andrews
1902- Captain Frank Barton
1902- Lieutenant George Blanchard Comply
1903- Captain Charles Young (Charles Young's Road Through the Sequoias, Part
I Part
IIPart
III )
1904- Captain Lester Cornish
1904- Captain George Hamilton
1905- Captain John O'Shea
1905-1912- Walter Fry, civilian, winter ranger in charge (Three Rivers resident)
1906- Captain Kirby Walker
1907- Captain Kirby Walker
1908- Captain Cornelius Smith
1909- Captain Cornelius Smith
1910- Captain Edmund Wright
1911- Captain James Hughes
1912- Captain Walter Whitman
1913- Captain Douglas McCaskey
1913- Captain Hugh Johnson
Superintendents, Department of the Interior: Sequoia
March 20,
1912-July 14, 1920- Walter Fry
July
14, 1920-Jan. 1, 1939- John Roberts White
Jan.
1, 1939-July 15, 1941- Eivind Scoyen
July 15, 1941-Oct.
1, 1943- John Roberts White
Superintendents, Department of the Interior: General
Grant National Park
July 15, 1920-March 15,
1933- John Roberts White
March 15, 1933-March 4, 1940- Guy Hopping
Superintendents, Department of the Interior: Kings
Canyon National Park
March 4, 1940-March 15, 1940- Guy Hopping
July 16, 1941-Oct. 1, 1943- Eivind Scoyen
Superintendents: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National
Parks
Oct. 1, 1943-Oct. 10, 1947- John Roberts White
Nov. 23,
1947-Jan. 16, 1956- Eivind Scoyen
Jan. 16,
1956-May 6, 1956- George Walker (acting)
May 6, 1956-Nov.
1, 1959- Thomas Allen
Nov. 1,
1959-Feb. 27, 1966- John M. Davis
March 13,
1966-Sept. 24, 1967- Frank Kowski
Oct. 8,
1967-Nov. 25, 1972- John McLaughlin
Nov. 26,
1972-July 31, 1975- Henry Schmidt
July 31,
1975-Oct. 30, 1975- Gene Daugherty (acting)
Oct. 9,
1977-March 31, 1980- David Thompson, Jr.
April 1,
1980-Aug. 9, 1980- James McLaughlin (acting)
Aug. 10,
1980-Aug. 3, 1985- Quincy Boyd Evison
Sept. 29,
1985-Jan. 14, 1989- John H. Davis
Jan. 15,
1989-May 15, 1994- J. Thomas Ritter
Feb. 21,
1995-Oct. 2000- Michael Tollefson
Feb. 23,
2001-JUNE 2005- Richard H. Martin
JAN. 2006-present- Craig C. Axtell
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