the Hetch Hetchy Dam (1910-13) Abstract The damming of Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park is a watershed event in environmental history, a presumed travesty that brought anguish to John Muir and his many sup porters throughout the United States. As a consequence, visitors came to experience it for themselves. As well dam for water-tanks the peoples cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man.. It carried workers and materials for the dam, as well as tourists, postage and other amenities. The chief replied, There is no valley. As John Clayton writes, At the height of Progressivism, Phelan and other good-government types believed that the city should administer its own utilities. It is 13 miles from the Yosemite National Park border and twice as close to the park than the town of Groveland. The valley provided an escape from the summer heat of the lowlands. For most of the year the waterfall offers a refreshing shower or cooling mist along with an amazing view. Hetch Hetchy, for the time being, was safe, and it would not be inundated during Roosevelts watch.. This can be very disorienting to fish and disrupt their migrations as they depend on steady streams and flows to guide them. [citation needed] The George W. Bush administration proposed allocating $7 million to studying the removal of the dam in the 2007 National Park Service budget. Hetch Hetchy is dammed by the 430-foot-tall OShaughnessy Dam and has a storage capacity of 360,360 acre-feet. San Francisco applied to the United States Department of the Interior to gain water rights to Hetch Hetchy, and in 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior, James R. Garfield, granted San Francisco the rights to development of the Tuolumne River. In 2006, the California State Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Department of Parks and Recreation evaluated the cost estimates of multiple feasibility studies conducted between 1988 and 2005. During the late 19th century, the valley was renowned for its natural beauty often compared to that of Yosemite Valley but also targeted for the development of water supply for irrigation and municipal interests. In the future, we will certainly need diverse supplies to rely on in a prolonged drought, but we will also need Hetch Hetchy more than ever. The city must pay a lease of $30,000 per year for the use of Hetch Hetchy, which sits on federal land. . It spans 900 feet (270 m) with a 17-foot (5.2 m) wide trail across the top that hikers use to cross to the opposite side. Before they could break ground at the OShaughnessy Dam, more infrastructure was required. It's a big job to open the tunnel and close it again. In the early 20th century, San Francisco flooded the Hetch Hetchy Valley, destroying "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." This is why the city can now ban new natural gas. At SPUR, we have done a lot of work on climate change adaptation. [63] The city justified this as a temporary measure, but no attempt to follow through with completing the municipal grid was ever made. Back in the early nineteen hundreds, when the debate start about The Hetch Hetchy dam being built a large majority of people did not realize or care how valuable nature is. The National Park Service conducted research to determine what would happen if the dam were removed, and people have repeatedly proposed costly studies to further understand the consequences of removing the dam. That's about twice the amount of power lost when Hetch Hetchy will be restored. . As well dam for water-tanks the peoples cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man . ", "Fall in the Main Tuolumne River at the Head of Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Fly Fishing Poopenaut Valley Tuolumne River", "Screech Brothers Find Hetch Hetchy Valley", "Big Oak Flat (No. The dam and reservoir are the source for the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which provides water for over . . The proposed study would also have been required to identify potential replacements for the water storage capacity and hydroelectric power production.[87][88]. Over the last 35 years, the idea has been studied by the Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, UC Davis, and several state agencies. The valley floor consisted of roughly 1,200 acres (490ha) of meadows fringed by pine forest, through which meandered the Tuolumne River and numerous tributary streams. [14] At maximum extent, Tioga Glacier may have been 60mi (97km) long and up to 4,000ft (1,200m) thick, filling Hetch Hetchy Valley to the brim and spilling over the sides, carving out the present rugged plateau country to the north and southwest. Friday, enjoy an evening about bats starting at 7 pm. Could you imagine building a dam inside a national park today? [50] The project is operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The walls of both are of gray granite, rise abruptly out of the flowery grass and groves are sculptured in the same style, and in both every rock is a glacial monument., (Source: Journal of Sierra Nevada History & Biography, Hetch-Hetchy, Natural History Before The Dam, Joe Medeiros), In defense of Hetch Hetchy, Muir crafted some of his most famous prose. He was opposed by then Mayor Diane Feinstein who argued that the dam was San Franciscans birthright. There are four fundamental ways in which dams damage rivers. [39], Interest in using the valley as a water source or reservoir dates back as far as the 1850s, when the Tuolumne Valley Water Company proposed developing water storage there for irrigation. Day 6: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to San Francisco. Hetch Hetchy is on the main stem of the Tuolumne River and is part of the Tuolumne watershed. As a 13.4-mile (21.4 km) round-trip hike, Rancheria Falls gets fewer day-hikers than Wapama Falls but is a popular backpacking stop. While the dialogue around the West's water wars has been concentrated on the Colorado River and the alarming decline of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, watersheds across the Western United States are feeling the effects of a rapidly aridifying landscape due to climate change. Your email address will not be published. The landscape painter Bierstadt, who brought his German Romantic training to the valley in 1862, gave the world an even larger portrait, and one in extravagant color, that photographers could not match on any scale. As the grazing of livestock damaged native plants in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, mountaineer and naturalist John Muir pressed for the protection of both valleys under a single national park. No picture of the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park manages to fully capture their immense size and majesty. "[22], The valley's name may be derived from a Miwok word earlier anglicized as hatchhatchie, which means "edible grasses"[8][23] or "magpie". While the debate goes on, Hetch Hetchy remains a relaxing and often-overlooked corner of the park much to the delight of hikers and backpackers who prefer less touristy experiences. After 2.5 miles (4.0 km), youll reach the Wapama Falls Bridge with an up-close view of the lowest section of Wapama Falls. Animals were principally driven along Joseph Screech's trail from Big Oak Flat to Hetch Hetchy. The first is utilitarian conservation. Photo: Kim Lawson. Albert Bierstadt was known for his sweeping landscapes of the American West. Eighty-five percent of the water comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt stored in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir situated on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. [61] In 2018, the Department of the Interior of the Trump administration began to consider a proposal to allow limited boating on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for the first time, supported by the advocacy group Restore Hetch Hetchy which argued that "San Francisco received [Hetch Hetchy's] benefits long ago, but the American people have not. Hetch Hetchy was the first major battle of the environmental movement. Denouncing dam proponents as greedy, he wrote, These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the Mountains, life them to the Almighty Dollar. Some hydro-power dams withhold and then release water to generate power for peak demand periods, which is particularly disruptive to migrating fish. In the Bay Area, Hetch Hetchy water is stored in local facilities including Calaveras Reservoir, Crystal Springs Reservoir, and San Antonio Reservoir. I will agree to take down Hetch Hetchy, when we first replace it with a bigger new reservoir such as a bigger taller Yosemite Valley dam at El Capitan. This 1910 view shows Kolana Rock and Tueeulala Falls in the background. Slow down and spend the day at Tenaya Lake a beautiful and easy-to-get-to alpine lake cupped by granite domes. The surface of the water hides an additional 300 feet of granite cliffs and once-upon-a-time waterfalls within its depths. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir also serves to provide energy in the form of hydroelectricity, with a capacity of over 200 megawatts a year. "[85] However, she does support breaching the dam once it has reached the end of its lifespan, and not replacing it. In 1923, the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed on the Tuolumne River, flooding the entire valley under the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River, the source of. This limits their ability to access spawning habitat, seek out food resources, and escape predation. [85] If their signature-gathering campaign is successful, a small group of environmental advocates, led by Restore Hetch Hetchy, will give you the opportunity this November to vote on a measure that would require the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to develop a plan to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. [21] Periodic clearing of the valley provided ample space for the growth of the grasses and shrubs they relied on, as well as additional room for large game animals such as deer to browse. He had journeyed to Washington to lobby the federal government on behalf of the project. For thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from the United States in the 1850s, the valley was inhabited by Native Americans who practiced subsistence hunting-gathering. Would that be an improvement? That trip is a 19.1-mile (22.9 km) out and back, or you can turn the hike into a loop that returns past Rancheria Falls (28.2 miles, 45.4 km). Many examples of red-barked manzanita can be seen along the Hetch Hetchy Road. Utilizing its superior resources, the city produced a detailed report which made a compelling case that, far from damaging the beauty of Yosemite, the dam would actually enhance it. You could then scuba ElCapitan down to the valley floor. Native American cultures were prominent before the 1850s when the first settlers from the United States arrived in the Sierra Nevada. Indeed, Hetch Hetchy today[when?] The Blackberry Inn Bed and Breakfast is just one of many welcoming businesses located on the way to Hetch Hetchy. [49], The narrow defile at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy Valley where San Francisco planned to dam the Tuolumne River, seen in 1914 before construction began, The same area seen today, with O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, Hetch Hetchy Valley serves as the primary water source for the City and County of San Francisco and several surrounding municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. This is a place considered by John Muir to be equal in beauty to Yose. ", "San Francisco-Hetch Hetchy Valley Connection", "Hetch Hetchy controversy: Could Yosemite's 'second valley' be restored? . For John Muir, it was about preserving a natural wonder which could be enjoyed by generations to come. The trail continues to climb for 1.8 miles (2.8 km) above the trail intersection, but you can turn around any time. Proponents of the dam replied that out of multiple sites considered by San Francisco, Hetch Hetchy had the "perfect architecture for a reservoir",[43] with pristine water, lack of development or private property, a steep-sided and flat-floored profile that would maximize the amount of water stored, and a narrow outlet ideal for placement of a dam. There is a third concept, too, though it was little understood at the time. [42] They claimed the valley was not unique and would be even more beautiful with a lake. Expect delicious meals and hearty portions to fuel your adventure or beat that post-hiking hunger. The deciding factor was whether or not the land in question had access to water. An advantage which Phelan, Pinchot and other supporters of the dam project enjoyed was a divided opposition. [20] They hunted, and gathered seeds and edible plants to furnish themselves winter food, trade items, and materials for art and ceremonial objects. Like Muir, he was totally transfixed by the Hetch Hetchy Valley. Horace Albright, the second director of the National Park Service, wrote that Franklin Lanes appointment to the cabinet was made specifically for the purpose of pushing this [Hetch Hetchy project], the so-called Raker-Pittman Bill. (Source: The Battle Over Hetch Hetchy, Robert W. Righter). Gifford Pinchot wanted the U.S Forest Service to control the parks, but after his support to dam Hetchy Hetchy, Congress voted in 1916 to to establish the National Park Service whose sole purpose was "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the . [70] Hodel called for a study of the effect of tearing down the dam. OPTION 3Give control to the local people of Hetch Hetchy The restoration of Hetch Hetchy would be a simple task compared to some dam removal efforts. Exactly how San Francisco won the right to transform the bucolic valley into a What one Secretary of the Interior giveth, another taketh away. Located at 3,900 feet, it boasts one of the longest hiking seasons in the park. [2] The Sites Reservoir a $4.4 billion project to add dams and store more water that'll be sent south is still years away from completion. Finally, with the railroad complete, teams broke ground on the OShaughnessy Dam on August 1, 1919. The falls roar in spring and early summer. Said San Francisco resident William Denman in 1918, "The first time I went into the Hetch Hetchy the mosquitoes were intolerable. Miners did not stay in the area for long, however, as richer deposits occurred further south along the Merced River and in the Big Oak Flat area. Most people called it Hetch Hetchy, a mispronunciation of a Central Mohawk word for a plant that indigenous people were harvesting there when the first white man came along.. In terms of quality, Hetch Hetchy water is so pristine that it is one of only a handful of water supplies in the country that doesnt need to be filtered, a process that is expensive and energy intensive. Those who presumed to speak for wealth, much of which flowed to San Francisco, believed they were transforming a pioneer land into a settled, civilized one. Hetch Hetchy is unique because of its small holding capacity in comparison to the vast watershed feeding it. Monroe went on to lobby members of Congress as the battle moved to Washington D.C. She was a tireless advocate who believed that people needed to be educated in order to do what was best for everyone involved. [48], The Early Intake (Lower Cherry) Powerhouse began commercial operation five years before the O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed. Spring and early summer bring wildflowers including lupine, wallflower, monkey flower, and buttercup. The OShaughnessy Dam was completed in 1938 and is 430-feet tall. You can expect one (short) email per month. The spacious rooms include access to a heated swimming pool, spa, playground, and laundry facilities. The Hetch Hetchy Valley underwent a monumental transformation when the City Of San Francisco received the approval of Congress in 1913 to build a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, thus storing the water of the Tuolumne River and flooding the valley to a height of over 350 feet. He discovered it a few of years later. Teams completed the OShaughnessy Dam in 1923 and the reservoir filled for the first time in May of that year. In Yosemite National Park, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir relies on the annual snowmelt to stay full. San Francisco applied once again for rights to Hetch Hetchy in 1908. San Francisco had its eyes on this water source early on and repeatedly tried to acquire water rights to the Tuolumne River. [2] The dam and reservoir are the centerpiece of the Hetch Hetchy Project, which in 1934 began to deliver water 167 miles (269km) west to San Francisco and its client municipalities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Looking up at Wapama Falls from the footbridge on the hiking trail. This is because the Tuolumne catchment basin above Hetch Hetchy is almost three times as large as the catchment area of the Merced River above Yosemite, allowing a greater volume of ice to form. A national debate ensued between the preservationist and conservationist factions of the young environmental movement. Use good judgment and stay safe. Richard Ballinger was a conservative who was one of the main characters who was responsible for the progressive-conservative split in the GOP in 1912 (leading to the creation of the Bull Moose party), which is the factor that determined the GOP would be on the right side of the political spectrum (and therefore ensuring the Democrats would be on the left side of the spectrum). Hetch Hetchy Water and Power also wants to remove the giant bulkhead that seals up the tunnel with 40 nuts and bolts, Ritchie said. It's dumb, dumb, dumb. An anthropocentrist would agree with building the dam in the park without taking into consideration what the dam would do to the already existing ecosystem due to not caring about the established animals and plants. Apply Today! An adjacent building contains another five suites with vaulted ceilings, forest views and soaking tubs. Specialty pricing may require . The U.S. Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Raker Act in 1913, which permitted the flooding of the valley under the conditions that power and water derived from the river could only be used for public interests. First, they block rivers which prevents fish from migrating. As the battle lines were drawn, the different methods employed by each side in presenting their case spoke to some of their basic assumptions about the nature of the issue. A large part of today's incentive for restoration is that when the dam and the Hetch Hetchy reservoir were authorized by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, as the Raker Act, the Hetch Hetchy Valley . Many are vital pieces of infrastructure that provide reliable water supplies, hydropower, flood control, and recreation. "Hetch Hetchy is a grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples.