Today in Automotive History
1913 Cars And Bears Share Yosemite for First Time
Automobiles were legally allowed to enter Yosemite National Park, California, for the first time on this day, marking a huge change in the national park system. Prior to 1913, most park visitors traveled by train to the park and then took scheduled stagecoach tours. The advent of motor tourism changed the face of Yosemite forever, for it demanded modern, high-quality park roads. The National Park Service's landscape architects, along with the Bureau of Public Roads, developed a systematic approach to the design and construction of park roads. From the mid-1920s through World War II, a "Golden Age" of park road development flourished as designers attempted to create roads that would "lie lightly on the land."
Posted by Quality Weenie at August 23, 2004 08:10 AM