Yosemite Creek. Sovulewski noted that "there has been nothing but praise for the Tioga Road," but admitted "conditions are far from satisfactory and not as we would like to have them." Two years later, his crews used 1,200 pounds of blasting powder to blow 150 trees off the road. Storms later in the season caused nearly $6,000 in damage to the road.59
In 1917, following the road's second season of public use, Yosemite superintendent Washington Bartlett Lewis reported on the popularity of the new route, and its importance as part of a wide western tourist circuit:
- ...mention should be made of the Tioga road crossing the central section of the park, a scenic highway which runs through Tioga Pass on the crest of the Sierra, where it connects with the Tioga State road in the Leevining Canyon. At Mono Lake the Leevining Creek road joins the State highway system on the eastern side of the mountains, running from the northern part of California through the Lake Tahoe region, thence to Mono Lake and the Owens Valley, and on to southern California. At Lake Tahoe this State road intersects the Lincoln Highway. It appears that both California and eastern motorists traveling over the Lincoln Highway to Lake Tahoe during the past season made the trip to Yosemite by way of Mono Lake and the Tioga road. In fact, one of the most popular automobile roads in California is the Lincoln Highway or its feeders from coast and central California points to Lake Tahoe, thence south on the State highway to the Tioga road, and over this scenic Federal link in the circle trip to the Yosemite, and finally back to the central valleys.60
The National Park Service was created in 1916, and Stephen Mather was chosen as its first Director. A bronze plaque marking Mather's contribution to the purchase of the Tioga Road was dedicated at Tioga Pass in July 1924.61 Mather and NPS Assistant Director Horace Albright made an inspection of the Tioga Road by automobile in 1926. A local's enthusiastic driving over the twisting mountain road frightened Albright, who got out of the car at Tenaya Lake and hiked back to the Yosemite Valley.62
The old proposal for a direct road from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows and the high Sierra area was reintroduced by the Secretary of the Interior in his 1919 annual report: 'The proposed Yosemite Valley-Nevada Falls (sic)-Tenaya Road must be built, in order to give quick access to the Sonora section of the park and relieve traffic on the floor of Yosemite Valley." This route called for the road to climb out of the Valley along the Merced River canyon, rather the rejected Tenaya Creek canyon to its north. The road would pass behind Half Dome and Cloud's Rest before turning north towards Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows. The Secretary claimed that construction of the road was the "first priority" of his department for Yosemite. Mather added his support for the proposal in an attached report. Mather repeated the proposal in his 1920 report, and requested an appropriation of $1.5 million for construction of the road,63 but the funds were not appropriated, and the plans for the road were shelved again. Park Superintendent Washington B. Lewis again suggested the construction of the road in 1924, along with a spur road from the top of Nevada Fall to Glacier Point.64 Although the Yosemite Valley-Tuolumne Meadows road was never built, the continued proposals reflect the prevailing attitude among park management that better access should be provided for the motoring public. The Sierra Club at the time was in general agreement with this philosophy, and also supported the construction of the new road to Tuolumne Meadows.65
