15 Classic Images to Celebrate 150 Years of Yosemite

On June 30, 1864, Abraham Lincoln — in the midst of the Civil War — signed the Yosemite Land Grant in an effort to protect and preserve one of the nation's most majestic places for future generations

150 later, U.S. national parks are myriad, but the Yosemite grant marked the first time the nation's government had preserved such a space for public use.

See also: 11 Great Shots of Wildlife in Its Natural Setting

Lincoln's land grant placed both the Mariposa Grove and the Yosemite Valley in the hands of the state of California, providing precedent for the extensive national park system that would later follow. On October 1, 1890, the tracts of land around the two areas became official known as Yosemite National Park. It was combined with the regions Lincoln's grant preserved in 1906. Read more...

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