of the YOSEMITE VALLEY RAILROAD* Clayton J. Guest 
Shortly after its discovery, Yosemite Valley became known as one of the most beautiful places on earth. Except for local people, Yosemite Valley bound visitors would ride a Southern Pacific Train, in comfort, to Merced or Madera. From those points, they would embark upon their journey through the foothills and mountains of Mariposa county to the Cascades, as local scribes referred to the Yosemite Valley. The only methods of reaching the Valley were by stage, horseback, or on foot. Stagecoaches from Merced through Coulterville required two days of tough travel. The poorly constructed wagon roads, through the high country, were dangerous, rough and dusty. Frequently the dust was so thick that the passengers could not see other stages in the caravan of stages or the scenery. (The picture to right show the dust. The map show the general stagecoach route from Merced.) The passengers were often weary, exhausted and dirty when they reached the Valley.
In 1886 the Southern Pacific Company built a 21 mile subsidiary line known as the San Joaquin and Yosemite Railroad2. This branch line intersected the main line of the Southern Pacific railroad at Berenda, south of Chowcilla, and ran eastward to Raymond in the foothills of Madera county. Plans were to extend the railroad closer to Yosemite, but the extension never occurred. From Raymond, Yosemite Valley bound passengers rode stages through Ahwahnee and Wawona before reaching their destination. Only a day and one half3! The Merced Express, July 5, 1890, published an article that mentioned a railroad to the Yosemite Valley. The article contained only an exchange of letters between V. C. W. Hooper, of the Merced Board of Trade, and Judge John M. Corcoran of Mariposa. Their correspondence discussed the fact the Mariposa County Surveyor, Stonewall Jackson Harris, was surveying for a road along the channel of the Merced river. Some Merced people assumed this to be a feasibility survey for a railroad to Yosemite Valley, because Mr. Huntington of the Southern Pacific Company had discussed such a railroad with some of the prominent Merced merchants. It seems as though this was a feasibility survey for a railroad, but nothing further came of it. The first actual survey made for a railroad through the Merced river canyon was by Mortimer McRoberts of Chicago in 18944. McRoberts was representing several capitalists from Chicago. This, as the 1890 survey, did not go beyond the paper stage. Later Albert Stetson of San Francisco bought the maps of the McRoberts survey. Albert Stetson was the son of John B. Stetson5, president, of the North Pacific Coast Railroad north of San Francisco. Young Stetson prepared to finance the enterprise. Thomas Bullock, later of the Sierra railway, was to build the railroad through the Merced river canyon. However, the project ended abruptly when Albert Stetson committed suicide. August 28, 1900, the Hetch-Hetchy & Yosemite Valleys Railroad6 incorporated as a narrow gauge line. Its goal was as it name implies. It would originate in Tuolumne, a terminal point of the Sierra Railway, and wind its way to those beautiful valleys. This road never reached either valley, but was used as a part of the West Side Lumber company's logging railroad. In 1925 the Hetch-Hetchy & Yosemite Valleys Railroad became a part of the Pickering Lumber Company's railroad. Still later, February 1902, the former attorney general of California, W. H. H. Hart, organized the California Midland Railroad7. This railroad proposed to build from San Francisco to Fresno and Bakersfield, with a branch from Madera to the Minnaret mining district and another branch from Merced through the Merced river canyon to Yosemite Valley. Engineer Dexter made actual surveys to Yosemite for this railway, but no construction work performed on California Midland Railroad. To quote the Merced Sun Star8, the California Midland Railroad "died a bornin." Captain Ward, a large land owner along the Merced river, and other men interested in mining and electrical power development in the Merced river canyon persuaded several Oakland bankers to form a syndicate and pursue the idea of building a railroad up the canyon from Merced. The principal bankers were Thomas Prather and W. W. Garthwaite. These men, though not necessarily original stockholders, along with John Drum of San Francisco persuaded other capitalists into incorporating the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company. The Yosemite Valley Railroad Company filed Articles of Incorporation, with the State of California, on December 19, 19029. The capital stock of the railroad was $5,000,000. The articles of incorporation generally declared that the line of the railroad was to begin at the city of Merced. It was to run northeasterly, on the north side of the Merced River, to a terminal point in Mariposa County near the Yosemite National Park. The estimated length of the railroad was 100 miles. Grading and construction of the Yosemite Valley railroad began on September 27, 190510. June 1903, saw yet another railroad chartered to Yosemite park. Named the Fresno Traction Company,11 it wanted an electric railroad from Fresno to Wawona. The Southern Pacific Company12 intervened and the press pronounced the Fresno Traction dead in October of that year. The traction company, under new management, survived and as will be shown later, it was a problem to the Yosemite Valley railroad. The Fresno Traction Company had support of Congressman Needham, who was unhappy with Merced because Merced voters did not support him in the previous election. The Jamestown and Yosemite Valley Railroad Company13 incorporated in January 1905. T. S. Bullock and S. D. Freshman, general manager and assistant general manager respectively of the Sierra railroad, were the principal backers of this proposed line. This company proposed to construct a line from the Sierra railway at Jamestown to a point at or near Mariposa in Mariposa county, about forty miles, with an intermediate branch line to Yosemite Valley. The articles of incorporation provided for steam, electricity or any other motive power for the rolling stock. This proposed line was virtually an extension to the Sierra railway. The Jamestown and Yosemite Valley railroad never spiked down a rail. On the day that the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company began grading in Merced, the Merced Evening Sun published an excerpt from the Stockton Record, which reported that an electric railway was about to start building a line to Yosemite. Named the Stockton and Yosemite Railroad Company, it would originate in Stockton, pass through Jamestown, Chinese, Jacksonville, Big Oak Flat and end at Gentry, 14 miles from the heart of Yosemite Valley. The Merced Sun14 titled the article, "Another One of Those Stockton Pipe Dreams." The title was correct and nothing became of the project. The Yosemite Valley Railroad Company, in 1902, hired Nathaniel C. Ray, a graduate civil engineer and former California assemblyman from the Coulterville district, as the chief engineer to build the railway. Ray was an ideal choice for the job because it required more than engineering talent, it required someone with the knowledge of politics. The northern boundary of Yosemite National Park was several miles further north than it is today. Congress prohibited railroads from entering any national park. If the eastern terminal of the railroad was at the park boundary, it would require several extra miles of difficult staging to reach the Yosemite Valley. The extra distance was unacceptable to the directors and in early 1903 Ray went to Washington D. C. to lobby congress to change the northern boundary of the park. Initially it appeared that the Yosemite Valley railroad company would get its wish, but that changed. Special interest groups objected to any change in the park boundary. In 1904, Congress requested that the Secretary of the Interior examine the lands targeted for withdrawal from the park. The Secretary sent a team to investigate the lands. In late 1904 the team presented a report that was favorable to the railroad. January 1905, Congressman Gillett and Senator Perkins introduced a bill that would
transfer certain lands from the park to the forest reserve. The bill passed the Senate.
However, a Fresno group supporting the Fresno Traction Company, protested vigorously,
through Congressman Needham, and the House delayed the bill. Their claim was that the
Fresno interests were unprotected. Merced, Mariposa and Modesto businessmen agitated
by the Fresno actions and delaying tactics of Congressman Needham wired the
Congressman and strongly expressed their desire to have the Gillett/Perkins bill backed by
their elected officials. While the political fighting continued in the nation's capital, the
Fresno newspapers claimed the Merced river canyon did not have the scenic sights that the
proposed Fresno route had. The Merced people countered those claims by pointing out the
numerous vistas and beauty of the Merced canyon. Eventually, the bill passed congress,
February 7, 1905, and President Theodore Roosevelt signed it into law. The bill contained
a clause, that required railways operating in the forest reserve to obtain a permit from the
Secretary of the Interior. The Yosemite Valley railroad secured the required permit in the
summer of 1907. The Yosemite Valley Railroad Company, with the assistance of the
Merced merchants, had won the battle in Washington and was ready to battle the hard rock,
for the roadbed, along the river in the Merced river canyon.
* This article was published in the : FOR THE RECORD -- Merced County Historical Scociety Volume II, Issue 2, Second Quarter 1993
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Other routes to Yosemite Valley were as rough as those from Merced. On the road
from Raymond, periodically high way men would rob stagecoach passengers on their way
to Yosemite1. Obviously, the lack of adequate transportation discouraged
many potential visitors to the Valley. There was clearly a need for a better mode of
transportation to the Cascades. Many believed a railroad to the Valley was the logical
choice. The Yosemite Valley Railroad Company built a railroad to the outskirts of the
Valley, but before its construction a series of interesting events occurred. A brief summary
of some of those events follows: