Yosemite Valley Railroad

by Leroy Radanovich

Overview

The Yosemite Valley Railroad was constructed as a badly needed conveyance to Yosemite Valley in the days before the automobile. Visitation to Yosemite had been small, and the federal government wished to introduce the new park system to the public. A railroad through the Merced River Canyon from Merced was the answer to the challenging terrain. Thousands of acres of virgin timber forest and other natural resources along the way supported the building and operation of this rail line. From l906 until World War II, timber, gold, barium, limestone, freight, and visitors rode the rails to Yosemite National Park on this line.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738581118
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	08/23/2010
Series:	Images of Rail
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	681,764
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Author Leroy Radanovich, a photographer, writer, historian, and lifelong resident of Mariposa County, presents more than 200 images following the lifespan of the Yosemite Valley Railroad from his personal archives and from the collections of Gerald Williams and Eileen Milburn. Radanovich personally saw the trains in operation and has known many of the people who lived and worked in Yosemite, El Portal, and the Merced River Canyon, bringing to this volume a firsthand knowledge of the events that shaped the area.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 The Time Before 9

2 Establishment of the Yosemite Valley Railroad 25

3 The Yosemite Valley Railroad Diversifies 45

4 The Yosemite Valley Railroad Diversifies Further 65

5 Yosemite Valley Railroad: Caught in Change 87

6 Merced River Canyon and El Portal: End of the Yosemite Valley Railroad 109