Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Map
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This interesting counterpart of Yosemite was discovered in 1850 by a mountaineer named Joseph Screech. Before that the Valley was a disputed ground between the east and west slope Indians, but the Paiutes had gotten the upper hand and for years spent time in Hetch Hetchy in the fall gathering acorns. Screech blazed a trail into the Valley and the rich meadow land became grazing ground for sheep and cattle. Later the discoverer and two or three other parties took up claims covering most of the Valley. The State Geological Survey visited Hetch Hetchy in 1867, and a description of it was published in the San Francisco Bulletin that October. When John Muir first visited the Valley in 1871 he found a sheep owner named Smith. This was no doubt the Smith who later obtained ownership of a large part of the Valley and of several other parcels in the area, and for whom Smith’s Peak and Smith’s Meadow were named. It is recorded that Hetch Hetchy was frequently called Smith’s Valley.
The number of tourists who visited in the those days was very small, due to its inaccessibility and the popularity of Yosemite Valley. John Muir and other enthusiasts did much to introduce the public with its beauties, but it was only after San Francisco started the fight to obtain Hetch Hetchy as a reservoir site that it became more widely known. The Sierra Club included it in several of its outings.
After the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire, the city of San Francisco desperately needed reliable supplies of water and electricity. The mayor pressed for the damming of the Tuolumne River in the newly created Yosemite National Park This set off a shower of protests. For the first time in American, a forceful national opposition arose to defend and preserve nature. This was led by John Muir and the Sierra Club, who sought to protect the beautiful valleys and the magnificent mountains of the Yosemite region. Letters from individuals began to pour into Congress by the thousands, and editorials were published condemning the dam. The fight went to the floor of Congress, where politicians debated the value of scenery and the costs of development. Ultimately, the passage of the Raker Act in 1913 by Congress granted San Francisco the right to flood the Hetch Hetchy Valley. A decade later the O'Shaughnessy Dam, the second largest civil engineering project of its day after the Panama Canal, was completed. To this day the reservoir provides San Francisco with a pure and reliable source of drinking water and an important source of power. Although the Sierra Club lost this battle, the controversy prompted the public into action on behalf of national parks.
Today Hetch Hetchy is the starting point for many hikes and an entrance to less used wilderness and trails. The scenery is spectacular and it is not hard to imagine what the valley was like before the dam. The road to Hetch Hetchy is open year round; it may close periodically due to snow in winter and spring.
Many of the visitors to the Hetch Hetchy area enjoy exploring the area by hiking and backpacking.