Creation of the National Park Service: Part 1

Hetch Hetchy Valley lies about 20 miles north of Yosemite Valley. Since the 1880s, the city of San Francisco had been raising the possibility of constructing a dam on the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy Valley. The dam could provide sorely needed fresh water for the Bay Area along with an inexpensive supply of hydro-electric power. In order to do this, the valley would have to be flooded to create a reservoir nearly eight miles long, submerging the lush meadows as yet unsullied by hotels and other development.

Devastating fires swept across San Francisco after a major earthquake in 1906. Politicians used the event to claim that much of the destruction could have been avoided if the city had had access to the water supply from Hetch Hetchy Valley.

John Muir and his Sierra Club were unwavering in their opposition to the dam and began what is considered the first grassroots environmental campaign. Muir wrote passionately against the proposed project: "Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."

On the other side of the debate was a friend of Muir's named Gifford Pinchot, who had become the head of the United States Forest Service. Both men had been a part of the rising conservation movement in the country, but by now they had adopted very different views. Muir was a preservationist who thought that the parks should be disturbed as little as possible by human influence. Pinchot advocated instead for a utilitarian perspective in which people should make use of natural resources. He said he favored "the greatest good for the greatest number."

At the end of 1913, Congress approved the construction of the Hetch Hetchy dam, which was finished in 1923. Fifty years later, historian John Ise would judge the dam to be "the worst disaster ever to come to any national park." Muir was deeply saddened by losing the battle to save Hetch Hetchy; he died of pneumonia in December 1914. However, the controversy brought the attention of the nation to the national parks and their conservation.

The politics of the late 19th and early 20th century ushered in the Progressive Era. Generally speaking, "progressives spoke a common language of discontent, which emphasized the dangers of monopoly power, stressed the importance of community, and articulated a passion for social efficiency" (Gillon and Matson, 2006, p805). To accomplish their goals, progressives sought to use the government as a tool for social betterment. The election of 1912 illustrates the reach that progressivism had on society. Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson all championed their progressive credentials during the election as a way to court voters.