--- title: Photos that Inspired the National Parks System description: Carleton Watkins took these 30 images in 1861, and evidence suggests that they soon made their way to Abraham Lincoln canonical: https://time.com/4424238/carleton-watkins-national-parks/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-22T16:15:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:26.316Z article:section: History og:title: Photos that Inspired the National Parks System og:description: Carleton Watkins took these 30 images in 1861, and evidence suggests that they soon made their way to Abraham Lincoln og:url: https://time.com/4424238/carleton-watkins-national-parks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6a285fca92d6b05/69889f672dce01783b9ea07c/yosemite-carleton-watkins-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Yosemite 1861 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Photos that Inspired the National Parks System twitter:description: Carleton Watkins took these 30 images in 1861, and evidence suggests that they soon made their way to Abraham Lincoln twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6a285fca92d6b05/69889f672dce01783b9ea07c/yosemite-carleton-watkins-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These 1861 Photographs Helped Save America’s Wilderness > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 22, 2016 4:15 PM UTC  Cathedral Rock, Yo Semite. 1861. Cathedral Rock, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Aug 22, 2016 4:15 PM UTC 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 ](http://www.nytimes.com/1862/12/12/news/fine-arts.html)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._](http://time.com/?page%5Fid=4451327&preview=true)  Section of the Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yo semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  The Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Up the Valley - Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Pohono-Bridal Veil-900 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Tutucanula - El Capitan 3600 ft, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  El Capitan, 3600 ft., Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  River View - Down the Valley Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Cathedral Rock, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  River View - Cathedral Rocks - Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Cathedral Spires - Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Pompompases - Three Brothers. 4480 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Sentinel (View of the Valley) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  The Three Brothers, Front View, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  View on the Merced - Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Sentinel (View down the Valley) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Sentinel (front view) 3270 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Camp Grove Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  View from Camp Grove down the Valley - Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  River View, Yo Semite Falls. 2477 ft. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Yo Semite Falls (Front View) 2477 ft. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Yo Semite Falls (from the Upper House) 2477 ft. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Half Dome, Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource  The Lake Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  North Dome. Royal Arches - Washington Column. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Outline View of Half Dome, Yo Semetie. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Tacoye \[sic\] - North Dome, 3729 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Piwayac - Vernal Fall - 300 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Mt. Broderick-Nevada Fall-Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Nevada Fall - 700 ft., Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles  Cascade-Nevada fall-700 ft. Yo Semite. 1861. Carleton Watkins—The J. 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