06-21-2021, 02:09 PM
To Yosemite by Stage by Zelda Garey Dubel
This book is thick. Really thick. Ms. Dubel gives you everything you could want to know about the old Stage Coach route from Raymond to Wawona and then some. At times I wish the information was a little less dense because it was a struggle to get through.
In case you didn't know, in the early days of Yosemite tourism (1890-1910) you used to take the train from San Francisco or Los Angeles to lovely Raymond, CA. (That name seems familiar) From Raymond you would catch a stage coach and travel 12 hours to Wawona. The next day another stage coach would take you into Yosemite Valley. It's how Teddy Roosevelt did it back in the day. There were about 8 stops along the way where the stage coaches would swap out horses. One of those stops was Cedarwood Inn. The Inn was owned by the author and she wanted to talk about the history of her Inn, which she owned from 1958 to 1967. The stagecoaches had long since stopped going by her place and even the main highway didn't go near the Inn.
But Dubel exhaustively researched each and every stop on the route. And I mean exhaustively. If there was a mention of a stop in the newspaper, it was quoted. She does complete family trees for pretty much everyone that had a shop at the stops. It was a maze of names and dates and obscure facts. I had Google Maps open the entire time I read the book so I could check where she was talking about. Most of the place no longer exist or the roads have moved from where they were when the Stage Coach went through. At the end of every chapter, she did a reference list that sited each source she used. The references ran two to three pages at least.
But there were some great facts in amongst the mountain. And a lot of great pictures, too. I now know a lot better what all the names mean in my neighborhood.
Here is one fun fact that I gleaned from the research. Teddy Roosevelt did a tour of the west coast which culminated in his trip to Yosemite. Before that, he was in Santa Cruz and San Jose.There are pictures of him in Big Basin. He even planted a tree in Campbell to commemorate his visit. To my mind, it seems it would be pretty neat to see the tree Roosevelt planted. But no. He planted the tree near corner of Campbell Ave and Winchester. When they widened the road, they chopped the 70' tall tree down. Some enterprising woman rescued the stump from the Story Road dump and replanted it in Vasona. It took root and grows to this day.
This book is thick. Really thick. Ms. Dubel gives you everything you could want to know about the old Stage Coach route from Raymond to Wawona and then some. At times I wish the information was a little less dense because it was a struggle to get through.
In case you didn't know, in the early days of Yosemite tourism (1890-1910) you used to take the train from San Francisco or Los Angeles to lovely Raymond, CA. (That name seems familiar) From Raymond you would catch a stage coach and travel 12 hours to Wawona. The next day another stage coach would take you into Yosemite Valley. It's how Teddy Roosevelt did it back in the day. There were about 8 stops along the way where the stage coaches would swap out horses. One of those stops was Cedarwood Inn. The Inn was owned by the author and she wanted to talk about the history of her Inn, which she owned from 1958 to 1967. The stagecoaches had long since stopped going by her place and even the main highway didn't go near the Inn.
But Dubel exhaustively researched each and every stop on the route. And I mean exhaustively. If there was a mention of a stop in the newspaper, it was quoted. She does complete family trees for pretty much everyone that had a shop at the stops. It was a maze of names and dates and obscure facts. I had Google Maps open the entire time I read the book so I could check where she was talking about. Most of the place no longer exist or the roads have moved from where they were when the Stage Coach went through. At the end of every chapter, she did a reference list that sited each source she used. The references ran two to three pages at least.
But there were some great facts in amongst the mountain. And a lot of great pictures, too. I now know a lot better what all the names mean in my neighborhood.
Here is one fun fact that I gleaned from the research. Teddy Roosevelt did a tour of the west coast which culminated in his trip to Yosemite. Before that, he was in Santa Cruz and San Jose.There are pictures of him in Big Basin. He even planted a tree in Campbell to commemorate his visit. To my mind, it seems it would be pretty neat to see the tree Roosevelt planted. But no. He planted the tree near corner of Campbell Ave and Winchester. When they widened the road, they chopped the 70' tall tree down. Some enterprising woman rescued the stump from the Story Road dump and replanted it in Vasona. It took root and grows to this day.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm