Following the California Gold Rush in the 1850s, newly-arrived businessmen began searching for other opportunities in that state. One of the most obvious places was a spectacular valley on the western side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. The settlers adopted the name “yohhe'meti” for the valley – a phrase that translates to “they are killers” and was often applied to both the local tribes and to the American military units that fought to control the territory. That name was then altered slightly into “Yosemite”.
As settlers arrived, they began claiming land and building commercial interests. In response, during the latter part of the U.S. Civil War, the U.S. government began the process of converting the Yosemite Valley into publicly owned land. In late June, 1864, the US Congress and President Lincoln passed and signed a bill creating the Yosemite Land Grant; the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa grove of giant trees were given to the state of California for preservation and public use.
Prior to these events, there was no such thing as a national park. The U.S. didn’t create one here; instead the land was handed to the state of California for preservation, but a few years later the Yellowstone territory was set aside for protection and there was, at the time, no state to give the land to, so it became a "national park", a new designation to cover what Yellowstone became. A few decades later, Yosemite would join Yellowstone as protected at a national level.
The preservation of Yosemite, 155 years ago this week and during the middle of the Civil War, set the stage for the existence of National Parks. Today there are over 6500 recognized worldwide.
