Expect delicious meals and hearty portions to fuel your adventure or beat that post-hiking hunger. The valley provided an escape from the summer heat of the lowlands. Building the Hetch Hetchy dam in such a remote location was an enormous project. Impounded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir water passes through hydroelectric powerhouses before it enters the San Joaquin Pipelines, the Tesla Ultraviolet Treatment Facility, and the Coast Range Tunnel on its journey to the Bay Area. The chief began packing up and, when Nate asked him why, he replied, The valley is yours now., Far below them, the river cascaded into a peaceful valley floor, a heavenly setting similar to that of the main Yosemite Valley. San Francisco had its eyes on this water source early on and repeatedly tried to acquire water rights to the Tuolumne River. Plus, they needed a way to bring supplies and workers into the mountains. Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, encompassing 2,000 acres of federal park land, has clearly been maintained for the benefit of San Francisco with minimal consideration of the wider public whose tax dollarsand, in the case of visitors, entrance feessupport the national park. Congress would decide the fate of the Hetchy Hetchy Valley. This time, in favor of those who wanted to build the dam. It has two trailhead options. OShaughnessy Dam and the waterworks that connect it to the Bay Area are a marvel of engineering. This was likely because of Hetch Hetchy's narrow outlet, which in years of heavy snowmelt created a bottleneck in the Tuolumne River and the subsequent flooding of the valley floor. But during peak spring flow, the thundering waterfall can wash over the bridge making it dangerous to cross. Muir concludes his treatise on Hetch Hetchy with the now familiar words, "Dam Hetch Hetchy! [49], The narrow defile at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley where San Francisco planned to dam the Tuolumne River, seen in 1914 before construction began, The same area seen today, with O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, Hetch Hetchy Valley serves as the primary water source for the City and County of San Francisco and several surrounding municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. between those who wish to retain the dam and reservoir, and those who wish to drain the reservoir and return Hetch Hetchy Valley to its former state. This can lead to algal blooms and decreased oxygen levels. The U.S. Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Raker Act in 1913, which permitted the flooding of the valley under the conditions that power and water derived from the river could only be used for public interests. [42] They claimed the valley was not unique and would be even more beautiful with a lake. . For John Muir, it was about preserving a natural wonder which could be enjoyed by generations to come. As of 2013, the water storage and hydroelectric power supplied by the Hetch Hetchy Project serviced an estimated 2.6 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area. What one Secretary of the Interior giveth, another taketh away. During summer, people of the Miwok and Paiute came to Hetch Hetchy from the Central Valley in the west and the Great Basin in the east. Even if we could obtain the several billion dollars necessary to carry out this endeavor (neither private nor public sources have yet been identified) some of the tasks involved may not even be possible. Exactly how San Francisco won the right to transform the bucolic valley into a Hetch Hetchy ushered in a new era for the national parks. About one million years ago, the extensive Sherwin glaciation widened, deepened and straightened river valleys along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, including Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite Valley, and Kings Canyon farther to the south. Hetch Hetchy Valley, far from being a plain, common, rock-bound meadow, as many who have not seen it seem to suppose, is a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. San Francisco could flood the valley and work began the following year. [4] A broad, low rocky outcrop situated between Kolana Rock and Hetch Hetchy Dome divided the former meadow in two distinct sections. Dams, including this one, dont last forever, and perhaps in a few generations the conversation about a different future for the Hetch Hetchy Valley may be worthwhile. RELATED: Meet The Real Life Batman & Robin Of The National Parks. [28][29] About 1853, his brother, Joseph Screech (credited in some accounts for the original discovery of the valley)[27] blazed the first trail from Big Oak Flat, a mining camp near present-day Lake Don Pedro,[30] for 38mi (61km) northeast to Hetch Hetchy Valley. The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.[87][88]. Due to its high-altitude location at 3,900 feet above sea level and its snowmelt-fed water supply, water from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir behind O'Shaughnessy Dam does not require filtration. [14] At maximum extent, Tioga Glacier may have been 60mi (97km) long and up to 4,000ft (1,200m) thick, filling Hetch Hetchy Valley to the brim and spilling over the sides, carving out the present rugged plateau country to the north and southwest. In an effort to build this support, he published his bookThe Yosemitein 1912. Forests might provide for the material well-being of human beings, but they did not exist for this reason alone. To do so, it would either have to buy out the private monopoly at an exorbitant price or outmaneuver or outbid Spring Valley for a potential new reservoir., (Source: Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of Americas Public Lands, John Clayton). . [citation needed], The Hetch Hetchy Valley began as a V-shaped river canyon cut out by the ancestral Tuolumne River. The exploitation of Californias natural resources continued unabated in the years leading up to Hetch Hetchy. They were both initially carved by rivers flowing down the Sierras relatively gentle western slope. [6][7], Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, while the smaller Poopenaut Valley is directly downstream from O'Shaughnessy Dam. Just before reaching the Bay Area, it passes through the Irvington tunnel near the city of Fremont, and the aqueduct splits into four pipelines at 373253N 1215555W / 37.548104N 121.932041W / 37.548104; -121.932041. At full capacity, the reservoir stretches eight miles (13 km) upstream of the OShaughnessy Dam. It is spectacular: a miles-long placid blue lake nested within towering granite cliffs, from which waterfalls cascade. In spite of Muirs eloquent and heated objections, the Raker Act was signed into law in December of 1913. Subsequent proposals for development in our national parks have been defeated by citizen activists inspired by calls to remember Hetch Hetchy. The glacially-carved U-shaped valley floor maximizes the amount of water stored in the reservoir. the Hetch Hetchy Dam (1910-13) Abstract The damming of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park is a watershed event in environmental history, a presumed travesty that brought anguish to John Muir and his many sup porters throughout the United States. On returning home, he asked an Indian chief the name of the valley. Show More. If the nation set aside some natural places as especially sacred, how far beyond their borders should a sense of the sacred extend? Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from . As surely as forests provided timber, so did they provide beauty, inspiration, and the renewal of over-citified spirits. People have died after being swept off the bridge and onto the rocks below. It marks the first catchment in a 160-mile long water system that brings high quality, superb-tasting water to 2.6 million residents of the Bay Area every day. Garfield was responding to critics who believed that the federal governments primary responsibility was to use the nations public resources for development in the service for the greatest number of people. Spring and early summer bring wildflowers including lupine, wallflower, monkey flower, and buttercup. In the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park you can find the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Hetch Hetchy, unlike other water storage facilities in California, is relatively buffered from near-term climate change because of its high elevation. It would be almost impossible to build a new dam there today. Have you been to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite? Richard Ballinger was appointed his Interior Secretary. Hoffman observed a meadow "well timbered and affording good grazing", and noted the valley had a milder climate than Yosemite Valley, hence the abundance of ponderosa pine and gray pine. [82] Dianne Feinstein opposed this allocation, saying, "I will do all I can to make sure it isn't included in the final bill. The openings in the Taft administration led to the eventual success of the Raker Act. Had it been, the Sierra Clubs members would have presented a united front in opposition to its development. The idea of punching a hole in or removing the dam and allowing the valley to be restored to its pre-development conditions has been around since the late 1980s. Enjoy elegant touches like wrap-around porches, and fresh-baked cookies served daily. Bierstadt described the valley as "smaller than the more famous valley but it presents many of the same features in his scenery and is quite as beautiful. Annie Li, a senior engineer at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, points to the yellow and brown squiggly lines on the map, revealing our water's path from Hetch Hetchy to the Bay Area. No picture of the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park manages to fully capture their immense size and majesty. Most people called it Hetch Hetchy, a mispronunciation of a Central Mohawk word for a plant that indigenous people were harvesting there when the first white man came along.. Watershed Worker (Summer, 2023) - Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (Moccasin) - SFPUC (7542) Job at City and County of San Francisco in Moccasin. What part should mountains, rivers, natural meadows or wild creatures play in American life? Gifford Pinchot: A 2021 Lesson From Americas First Forester, Meet The Real Life Batman & Robin Of The National Parks, Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of Americas Public Lands, Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir, General Sherman Tree: Everything You Need to Know About The Largest Tree in the World, 11 BEST National Parks Near San Francisco to Visit (Expert Guide), 7 EPIC National Parks Near Santa Ana Youll Love (Photos + Guide). "[83], Opponents of dam removal have pointed out that the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley has also deterred the crowds that overrun other areas of Yosemite National Park. Could you imagine building a dam inside a national park today? ", "Hetch Hetchy reclaimed: The dam downstream", "Alternatives for restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley following removal of the dam and reservoir page 15", "Chapter 9: Impact of restoration on hydropower production and revenues", "Putting Bay Area's Water Sources to a Vote", "Hodel Would Tear Down Dam in Hetch Hetchy", "On Hetch Hetchy, John Muir was wrong: California's revered naturalist wrote a poetic diatribe against the drowning of the great valley. Wapama and Rancheria Falls Looking up at Wapama Falls from the footbridge on the hiking trail. Congress has set aside the Yosemite Valley as a state park in 1864, established a national park around it in 1890, and then reclaimed the valley as part of the national park in 1903. Then, well need to weigh our options for other new large water supplies, all of which will have enormous environmental tradeoffs: think of building a desalination plant, fighting with Los Angeles over the Sacramento Delta, building a peripheral canal or siting new large dams in presently undammed Sierra mountains and foothills. As the Hetch Hetchy Valley was part of Yosemite National Park, Hitchcock preferred to protect the park's natural wonders. If, on the other hand, San Francisco gained control, it would signal in important victory for public power resulting in lower rates for the people. Denouncing dam proponents as greedy, he wrote, These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the Mountains, life them to the Almighty Dollar. Start by hiking across the OShaughnessy Dam then turn east along the shore of the reservoir. The new. The larger issues at stake would frame environmental debates for years to come. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. It has not been demonstrated that Hetch Hetchy is the only available source, but only that it might be the cheapest. [63] The city justified this as a temporary measure, but no attempt to follow through with completing the municipal grid was ever made. Such new supplies are not guaranteed to have the low greenhouse gas emissions profile that Hetch Hetchy water and power do and they could worsen climate change while increasing our vulnerability to it.

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