A Matter of Space & Time

Yosemite in those days was vast. The roads were in constant state of repair, and trails were few.

What we think of as Yosemite is a different world than the one those soldiers knew. Today, Yosemite Park is just under 750,000 acres, and is bordered by National Forests and Wilderness. The towns and cities of the Central Valley, are only hours away.

In 1903, Yosemite, at 1,000,000 acres, was as large as the state of Rhode Island. Areas that are now Sierra, Stanislaus, Toiyabe, and Inyo National Forests, the quieter regions of the Ansel Adams Wilderness, Emigrant Wilderness, and Hoover Wilderness were all within Yosemite. The villages and towns of the Central Valley were days away.

Today, it is a logistical challenge for the Park Service to patrol Yosemite's rugged backcountry, and this is with some of the conveniences of modern technology. Imagine what it must have been like in a Yosemite 300 hundred square miles larger! This was a time before the automobile, paved roads, defined trails, helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, wireless radios, global positioning devices, reliable maps, or even nylon

So, as you read on about the Buffalo Soldiers of the Sierra Nevada, remember how far away that world is in Space and Time.