Yosemite Wawona Route Via Mariposa Big Trees, Inspiration Point and Glacier Point. Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company Map of Yosemite National Park California, Showing the Stage Route via the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, Wawona, Inspiration Point and Glacier Point

San Francisco: Yosemite Stage & Turnpike Co., Sunset Press, [1900]. 12mo (7.75” x 4.25”) folding brochure in 48 panels (counting both sides). 3 chromolithographic maps, 14.25” x 17.375”, 12.125” x 13.5”, and 20.625” x 29.25”. 5 photographic illustrations. An appealing promotional brochure for Yosemite National Park, including three colorful maps. This is one of two known issues of this scarce publication.
Functioning as a “entrance” to the brochure, the cover panel shows a wagon passing through the “Gateway to Yosemite” at the base of the 28-foot-wide “Grizzly Giant” tree in the Mariposa Grove—here dubbed “the largest tree in the world.” The (truncated) brochure exhorts the prospective tourists: “the season opens April First. Secure your tickets by way of Wawona the gateway to Yosemite.” The text offers an overview of the park, covering matters such as hotel accommodations, stage trips, recommended attire, the roads, a 48-hour round trip to Yosemite Valley, and so on. Locales and sites of interest detailed include Wawona and Wawona Springs, The Mariposa Big Tree Grove, Signal Peak, Chilnualna Falls, Mt. Raymond, Glacier Point, the U.S. Army Camp, Hill’s Studio, and the Wawona Fish Hatchery, among other attractions. One advertisement appeals to “special parties in stage loads” who can rent the new elliptic spring wagons, which “excel in point of comfort anything now in use for mountain travel.” Included is a table of altitudes at Yosemite Valley for waterfalls, mountains and trees. The text mentions “Ideal Camp,” which, according to Curry & Kruska, “lasted only for the 1900 season.”
The largest map, covering three-quarters of one side, shows the stage routes to Yosemite, which is shown in its entirety, and spans as far south as Fresno; Yosemite Valley is outlined in bold. Three inset photographic illustrations at the lower right capture a cavalry troop surrounding the Grizzly Giant; a stage route “through the big tree Wawona”; and a wagon-load of tourists pulled by a team of horses on the trunk of a fallen tree, captioned “A New Stage Road.” Also included is a table of distances for the Park’s various landmarks. In the other known issue of this brochure, a copy of which we handled some years ago, this large map depicts a smaller area and there are more illustrations.  
The lush medium-sized map, which is colored yellow and green, focuses on Yosemite Valley and its surroundings, including wagon-roads, trails, and various prominent features. Relief is shown by hachure. The smallest map included here spans from San Diego in the South to Mendocino in the North, with counties in various colors. Both Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove are marked with bold borders; numerous railroads are shown coursing through the map.  
A very attractive and informative Yosemite brochure. 
REFERENCES: Currey & Kruska 408. (Inventory #: 9239)