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LeConte Memorial Lodge 
Which conservationist had a life-long passion in defense of wilderness that inspired millions of people all over the world? |
Scotland's Will Collin on the Value of LeConte Memorial Lodge Dunbar, Scotland 26 July 2004 On Sunday 30 June 2004, my wife and I paid a visit to the LeConte Memorial Lodge during our brief stay in Yosemite Valley. We were part of a group of senior students, staff and other adults from Dunbar Grammar School, the school attended by John Muir before he left Scotland with his family for the New World. John Muir is Dunbar’s most famous and influential son but it is only recently that Scotland is waking up to his importance. Our Californian adventure was entitled ‘Following in the Steps of John Muir’ and included time in Martinez and a three day ‘wilderness’ trek, organised by the Yosemite Institute. I particularly wanted to see the LeConte Lodge because I had been unable to find time on my previous visit to Yosemite Valley, because of Joseph LeConte’s long friendship with Muir and because this is the Lodge’s centennial year. I was not disappointed with my visit. Rather the opposite, for I was amazed at the amount of information that is available in such a small space. And with the lives of the two great conservationists so closely linked, there was probably as much on Muir as LeConte, with Ansel Adams, David Brower and others for good measure. The library is impressive, the space for private study an oasis of peace and the area for temporary exhibitions a valuable bonus. We took the shuttle bus from Yosemite Village to save time but equally could have walked and, if our stay had been longer, I for one would have made more use of the Lodge’s facilities. Imagine my astonishment when I learned from The New York Times a few days later of the Radanovich Bill which would have the Lodge removed from the park. Whatever the merits of the overall Yosemite plan, and there seems a need to control vehicular access in particular, the move to dismantle the Lodge and, at best, to have it re-sited somewhere outside the Valley demonstrates a myopic understanding of the Lodge’s values. Mr Radanovich is quoted as saying, “The service they provide, which I think is a good service, could be provided at pretty much any location.” Well, not if it is to be readily and easily accessible, on foot or by shuttle bus; not if it is to attract the casual passer-by; not if it is to provide the drop-in study base that it presently does; not if it is to fulfil its educational potential. (And surely he could not have said “any location”!) I hope that good sense will prevail and the Lodge will see another 100 years at least in its present site. It would be a disaster if it became a casualty of the political dispute over the implementation of the other changes to the park Yours sincerely Will Collin Member, Dunbar Community Council Read the Editorials Read the News Stories Editorial Cartoon by SW Parra
Return to LeConte Lodge Home Page. Would you like to hear news about the LeConte Memorial Lodge? Sign up for our LeConte Lodge Forum e-mail list. For more information, during the summer contact Sierra Club LeConte Memorial Lodge Curator, P.O. Box 755, Yosemite, CA 95389, 1-209-372-4542; e-mail: leconte.curator@sierraclub.org. During the winter, contact LeConte Lodge Committee Chair, Harold Wood, P.O. Box 3543, Visalia, CA 93278; phone: (559) 739-8527; e-mail: harold.wood@sierraclub.org Tax deductible donations to support the new exhibits and renovation efforts of the LeConte Memorial can be made to "Sierra Club Foundation," marked for the "LeConte Lodge Fund." Up to Top |
