[Detail] Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point...
Lesson Preparation
Resources
Lesson One
Conservation Writers
- Mary Huston Gregory, "What is Conservation," chapter 1 of Checking the Waste; a Study in Conservation, 1911 (excerpt)
- Franklin B. Hough, On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests , 1873
- George P. Marsh, "An Address Delivered before the Agricultural Society of Rutland County, Sept. 30, 1847"
- John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra; with illustrations from drawings made by the author in 1869 and from photographs by Herbert W. Gleason
- John Muir, "The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West," chapter 1 of Our National Parks, 1901 (excerpt)
- Gifford Pinchot, "The Present Battle," chapter 12 of The Fight for Conservation, 1910 (excerpt)
- Henry David Thoreau, "Walking," from Excursions, 1863 (excerpt)
- Charles Richard Van Hise, "History of the Conservation Movement," chapter 1 of The Conservation of Natural Resources in the United States, 1910 (excerpt)
Note: the links below will take you to a Library of Congress American Memory record for the documents. The actual documents appear on page images, which are linked from the record page.
- Congressional Debate of "An Act to Protect the Birds and Animals in Yellowstone Park. . ., 1894
- Surveying
the Public Lands, 1898
Specifies that the purpose of forest reservations is "to improve and protect the forest within the reservation, or for . . . securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States," and stipulates that the regulated harvesting of timber, mining of mineral resources, and use of water on forest reservations may be permitted by the Secretary of the Interior. - "An Act For the preservation of American antiquities." [S. 4698, Public Act No. 209], 190)
Authorizes the President "to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks . . . and other objects of historic or scientific interest" on government land "to be national monuments;" forbids unauthorized injury of objects of antiquity on Government lands; and authorizes the granting of Federal permits for the study of objects of antiquity on such lands.
Lesson Two
These links are to documents selected from "The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920" regarding the establishment of Yosemite National Park and the debate over damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The Editors Comments, The Evolution of the Conservation Movement Collection Connection and Conservation Timeline all contain valuable background information for teachers as does the collection's Preface.
Conservation Writers
- Isaac R. Branson, Yosemite against Corporation Greed
- Lafayette H. Bunnell, Discovery of the Yosemite Valley
- John Muir, Let Everyone Help Save the Famous Hetch Hetchy Valley
- John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
- Martin S. Vilas, Water and Power for San Francisco from the Hetch Hetchy Valley
Congressional Debate
The resources below consist of transcripts of the committee hearings and debate over two bills during the year 1913. By this time, battle lines had been clearly drawn between "preservationists" and "conservationists" and may be easily detected in the testimony.
- Hetch Hetchy Dam Site: A Hearing before the Committee on Public Lands on H.R. 6281, 1913
- Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Site: A Hearing before the Committee on Public Lands on H.R. 7207, Raker Bill, 1913
Note: the links below will take you to a Library of Congress American Memory record for the documents. The actual documents appear on page images, which are linked from the record page.
- U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 26, Chap. 1263, pp. 650-52. "An act to set apart certain tracts of land in the State of California as forest reservations." [H.R. 12187], 1890
Establishes the foundations of Yosemite National Park, where the Hetch Hetchy Valley was located. - U.S., Statutes at Large, Vol. 33, Part 1, Resolution No. 30, p. 1286. "Joint Resolution Accepting the recession by the State of California of the Yosemite Valley Grant and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove in the Yosemite National Park." S.J.R. 115; Public Resolution No. 29, 1905
- N.H. Egleston, Committee Report on Granting Use of Hetch Hetchy to the City of San Francisco, 1909
Reports the 1909 hearings on the Hetch Hetchy Grant. - Statutes
at Large, Vol. 38, Part 1, Chap. 4, pp. 242-51. "An Act Granting to the city and county of San Francisco
certain rights of way in, over, and through certain public lands, the Yosemite National Park, and Stanislaus
National Forest, and certain lands in the Yosemite National Park, the Stanislaus National Forest, and the
public lands in the State of California, and for other purposes." H.R. 7207; Public Act No. 41, 1913
The legislative outcome of the Congressional hearings over Hetch Hetchy.
