Rough Sport in the Yosemite

James David Smillie

The 1861 photographs of Carleton E. Watkins and the 1862 paintings of Albert Bierstadt brought the magnificent landscapes of Yosemite to the attention of the populace on the eastern coast. In 1872, Picturesque America was published by D. Appleton and Company of New York and people viewed these as a clarion call for travel and adventure. Awaiting their arrivals were granite peaks, lakes, mountain meadows, and spectacular waterfalls.

On 20 June 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill passed by Congress that set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The bill stated that the lands be held “…for public use, resort, and recreation…inalienable for all time.” This marked the first time the U.S. government protected land for public enjoyment and it laid the foundation for the establishment of the national and state park systems. Yosemite National Park was designated by an Act of Congress on 1 October 1890, making it the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Sequoia. Yosemite National Park encompasses 747,956 acres in the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California. Approximately 95% percent of the park is federally designated wilderness. Yosemite National Park was declared a World Heritage Site on 31 October 1984.

Rough Sport in the Yosemite was the last of three etchings by Smillie of an event he witnessed in Yosemite in 1871 and wrote about in Picturesque America. He described the race in detail on pages 486-488: “There were no saddles; the riders...rode with only a sheepskin or a bit of blanket under them...The word was given; the horses plunged, started, 'bucked';...An unlimited amount of profanity expressed the impatience of the crowd...At last they came...a cloud of dust, rattling hoofs, and frantic riders plying their whips...the crowd capering, screaming and 'hollerin' like so many madmen. The horse races were wagered on heavily and the riders were tied to the horses which could be fatal if a horse stumbled.”

Note that the last rider in the group appears to be the artist.