These 1861 Photographs Helped Save America’s Wilderness

2 minute read

These days, as the National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday on Aug. 25, taking and sharing photographs of America’s national parks is nothing special. In 1861, when Carleton Watkins created this portfolio of 30 images of Yosemite Valley, the situation was very different.

Creating the images required lugging thousands of pounds of equipment via mule to the remotest, and often steepest, California wilderness.

But it was worth the schlep.

“As specimens of the photographic art they are unequaled, and reflect great credit upon the producer, Mr. Watkins,” the New York Times wrote in December of 1862, when the images were on view at a New York City gallery. “The views of lofty mountains, of gigantic trees, of falls of water which seem to descend from heights in the heavens and break into mists before they reach the ground, are indescribably unique and beautiful. Nothing in the way of landscape can be more impressive or picturesque.” (The day’s other news? The Civil War.)

And the pictures did more than get a good review. As argued by Weston Naef, curator emeritus for the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and an expert on Watkins, they were the spark that started the national parks movement in the United States, the inspiration for Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Yosemite Grant Act in 1864, which led the way to the preservation of Yellowstone, which in turn led to the creation of enough federally conserved areas that eventually a National Park Service was necessary.

“Knowing what we know about Abraham Lincoln’s method of thinking, there is no way that he could have declared Yosemite Valley a place to be preserved unless he saw something,” Naef says. “So how would he have seen the something and what would the something have been?”

Read more about the answer here.

Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Section of the Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yo semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
The Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Up the Valley - Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Pohono-Bridal Veil-900 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Tutucanula - El Capitan 3600 ft, Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
El Capitan, 3600 ft., Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
River View - Down the Valley Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Cathedral Rock, Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
River View - Cathedral Rocks - Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Cathedral Spires - Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Pompompases - Three Brothers. 4480 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Sentinel (View of the Valley) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
The Three Brothers, Front View, Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
View on the Merced - Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Sentinel (View down the Valley) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Sentinel (front view) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Camp Grove Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
View from Camp Grove down the Valley - Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
River View, Yo Semite Falls. 2477 ft. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Yo Semite Falls (Front View) 2477 ft. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Yo Semite Falls (from the Upper House) 2477 ft. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Half Dome, Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
The Lake Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
North Dome. Royal Arches - Washington Column. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Outline View of Half Dome, Yo Semetie. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Tacoye [sic] - North Dome, 3729 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Piwayac - Vernal Fall - 300 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Mt. Broderick-Nevada Fall-Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Nevada Fall - 700 ft., Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yosemite national park photographed by Carleton Watkins in 1861.
Cascade-Nevada fall-700 ft. Yo Semite. 1861.Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com