Sierra Club
Protect America's Environment: For Our Families, For Our Future
In 1901, the John Muir led the Sierra Club in a campaign to protect the Hetch Hetchy Valley, a part of Yosemite National Park, from being filled by a reservoir. After a long battle, Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913 allowing the city of San Francisco to build a dam and reservoir, drowning this beautiful valley.
It was the first time the young national park system had been so violated. Although the Sierra Club lost that battle, the loss of Hetch Hetchy served to awaken the nation in defense of its national parks. Remembering the loss of Hetch Hetchy, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Sierra club successfully stopped dams from being built in Dinosaur National Monument and in Grand Canyon National Park.
Below is a chronicle of the original Hetch Hetchy battle. Let us never forget what happened here. The Sierra Club today still holds fast to the words William Colby wrote to Gifford Pinchot in 1909 with reference to Hetch Hetchy:
"Let me assure you that we have only begun fight, and we are not going to rest until we have established the principle 'that our National parks shall be hold forever inviolate,' and until we have demonstrated to the satisfaction of every one, including yourself, that the American people stand for that principle. We are going to keep up the good fight without fear or favor, 'if it shall take until doomsday.'
To get involved in the effort to restore Hetch Hetchy, contact the Sierra Club Hetch Hetchy Task Force Chair, Ron Good, at: rongood@inreach.com, P.O. Box 289, Yosemite, CA 95389-0289. Telephone: (209) 379-9334.
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