Photo: NPS
After Oliver Lippincott and Edward Russell made the first automobile trek into Yosemite in 1900, one more auto followed them that year and at least three arrived in 1901. Records seem to indicate that the fifth "horse-less carriage" to tour Yosemite carried Dr. and Mrs. William A. Clark of San Leandro, California. Like Lippincott's, theirs was also a Locomobile. However, they entered Yosemite, not as Lippincott and Russell had done via the Wawona Road but, by traveling the Big Oak Flat Road.
Dr. Clark wrote an article about their adventure for the Overland Monthly that was published in August, 1902. They set out on the journey to Yosemite on July 19, 1901, and he credits his wife with driving their 1900 Locomobile safely into Yosemite Valley and back.
One passage in his Overland Monthly account, explains the story behind the photo in the introduction above, "At Curry Camp we ran our machine into the midst of a circle of Eastern tourists, seated around a large camp fire. To say that the apparition of an automobile suddenly appearing among them called forth generous applause and hearty congratulations but feebly expresses it. One and all praised the workmanship and great endurance of the little carriage, which had done such wonderful climbing, with so little trouble to its occupants."
Dr. and Mrs. Clark departed Yosemite Valley on August 1, 1901, for their trip home to the Bay Area.
Others ventured by automobile into Yosemite, until June, 1907, when auto traffic into the park was halted by the acting superintendant. Yosemite did not see automobile touring again for a little more than six years. The ban on automobiles was lifted in August 1913.
The story of automobiles in Yosemite National Park to be continued.
Read Part I:
Early in the parks: The first automobile arrives in Yosemite National Park
Resource info from: Hank Johnston, Ho! For Yo-Semite, 2000, Yosemite Association, in which is reprinted the Overland Monthly article, Automobiling in the Yosemite Valley, in its entirety.
For more info about the park: Yosemite National Park
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