Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of people riding in a Stella Lake Stage, operated by Washburn Stage Line, Wawona, California, 1890. One stage, carrying about six passengers including the driver, is stopped at bend in the road (at right). Another carriage is stopped off the road (center). Several people remain seated in the carriage. A man is kneeling near the ledge in front of the lake. Two ladies are admiring the lake from a dock(?) (at left). Tall trees surround the lake and beyond. Reflection of the carriage, the two ladies, and the scenery are visible in lake. Mountains are visible in the distance. "A short time later, William Sell Sr., in cooperation with Mr. Washburn's Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company, purchased a farm on which to locate a lunch stop on the stage route between Raymond and Wawona. It was Mrs. Sell, a native of Hornitos in Mariposa County, who gave the name to the area. Turning to the native people there, she learned that their word for the type of valley in which the ranch was situated was "Ahwahnee." The ranch house, when converted to the Sells' inn, became the Ahwahnee Tavern. In the years to follow, this became a haven for hot and dusty travelers taking the arduous stage trip required to view the wonders of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. In its day, the Ahwahnee Tavern was host to royalty and other famous and wealthy people, among them President Theodore Roosevelt, Belgium Crown Prince Albert and Susan B. Anthony. Also, the Maharajah of Baroda, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, California Governor Pardee, Galen Clark and Rube Goldberg. Completion in 1907 of the railroad from Merced to El Portal ultimately eliminated the stage route from Raymond to Wawona and the need for the Ahwahnee Tavern. The Sells sold the property to the Counties of Madera, Merced and Stanislaus, who developed a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1919." -- Dwight Barnes.
Type
image
Format
1 photograph : photoprint, b&w 21 x 26 cm. photographic prints photographs
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