- City:
- Yosemite National Park, CA
- Site Type:
- Park Roads and Bridges, Parks and Recreation, Landscaping and Tree Planting
- New Deal Agencies:
- Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), Conservation and Public Lands, Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, National Park Service (NPS), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Started:
- 1933
- Completed:
- 1940
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
New Deal agencies played a major role in the transformation of the narrow and dangerous Wawona wagon trail into a safe and comfortable route into Yosemite Valley. The route from the South Entrance to the Valley floor is 27 miles. It is one of three access roads to Yosemite Valley, along with the El Portal road and Big Oak Flat Road.
The National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) signed a Memorandum of Agreement in July 1925, authorizing the planning and construction of new roads within Yosemite National Park. Surveying was begun in 1928 and initial construction was finished by 1933, when the New Deal arrived to complete the job of rebuilding all the major park roads.
The long tunnel in the Merced River canyon was completed before 1933, but most of the rest of the road south was finished after that. While the BPR oversaw construction by private contractors, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was called upon to provide landscaping and other roadside work to assure the scenic character of the road.
The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) report on the Wawona road describes the careful attenti0n given to the appearance of the new highway: “Construction had necessitated many roadside cuts and much grading work which had adversely impacted the landscape. To offset the damage, Park Superintendent Thomson issued instructions for a replanting program; this project was carried out under the direction of Dr. F. E. Clements, ecologist for the Carnegie Institution. Seeds were collected by Emergency Conservation Work personnel [CCC -ed], and the planting work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps.”
Even more surprising was the effort to hide signs of blasting on the scenic granite cliffs of the Merced River canyon and elsewhere along the Wawona Road : “Park planners were so concerned about the new road’s appearance that they ordered CCC workers to paint the rock cuts and ledges around the Wawona Tunnel in an effort to conceal the newly exposed rock surfaces. The cuts, as well as the tunnel’s concrete west portal, were sprayed with a mixture of lamp black, mineral spirits and linseed oil. […]
Throughout, the CCC smoothed over road cuts to make them appear naturally sloped (Broesamle 2022).
Source notes
Wawona Road, Historic American Engineering Record No. CA-148, National Park Service, U.S. Department Of The Interior https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wawona_Road_(HAER_No._CA-148)_written_historical_and_descriptive_data), accessed February 27, 2018.
John Broesamle book ms on the New Deal in Yosemite, 2022
Site originally submitted by Andrew Laverdiere on February 11, 2022.
Additional contributions by John Broesamle.
At this Location:
- General Improvements - Yosemite National Park CA
- Tuolumne Meadows Campground Comfort Stations - Yosemite National Park CA
- Ostrander Ski Hut - Yosemite National Park CA
- Trail Improvement and Restoration - Yosemite National Park CA
- Seasonal and Stub CCC Camps - Yosemite National Park CA
- Yosemite Valley (Pines) Campgrounds Reconstruction - Yosemite National Park CA
- Fern Spring - Yosemite National Park CA
- Tuolumne River Bridge - Yosemite National Park CA
- CCC Camp Cascades (demolished) - Yosemite National Park CA
- Big Oak Flat Road - Yosemite National Park CA
- Badger Pass Ski Area Development - Yosemite National Park CA
- Mariposa Grove Road Paving - Yosemite National Park CA
- Henness Ridge Fire Tower - Yosemite National Park CA
- Main Utility Building - Yosemite National Park CA
- Tioga Road - Yosemite National Park CA
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