A few other cars entered the park on the Wawona Road until soon after the Yosemite Grant lands were re-ceded to the Federal government to become a part of Yosemite National Park. In June 1907, the Acting Superintendent of the National Park, Major Harry C. Benson, banned all motor vehicles from the Park. The ban remained in effect until 1913.
The completion of the Yosemite Valley Rail Road to El Portal and construction of a year-round wagon road [HAER No. CA-150] from that point to Yosemite Valley enabled the Yosemite Transportation Company, a rival stage company, to capture much of the Yosemite Stage & Turnpike Company's business. In 1910, the southern Pacific discontinued operations to Raymond, and use of the Wawona Road declined sharply. Eventually, the Washburn group made arrangements to run stagecoaches from E1 Portal to the Valley and on to Wawona, but El Portal remained the main point of entry to the National Park.50
In 1909, the park engineer reported substandard conditions on the Government's portion of the Wawona Road (between the base of Brida1vei1 Fall and the Hermitage):
- The road is dusty, steep, narrow and rough. An entirely new location would be needed to obtain a proper grade, and this would mean very expensive construction work, i.e., not less than $30,000 per mile. To improve the existing road it should be widened and ditched on the inside with a paved ditch and then proper drainage provided, with culverts. The total elimination of water breaks (which are much complained against by drivers and passengers) is not recommended, since it would endanger the road. About $3,000 per mile will make great improvements on the Wawona Road.51
Pressed by motorists, automobile clubs and civic groups, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane lifted the Yosemite Park ban on automobiles in April 1913. However, automobiles were to be restricted to passage over the Coulterville Road. The Washburns lobbied to have the Wawona Road reopened as well, but the Interior Department deferred, believing one road sufficient for automobile passage. Representative Julius Kahn met with Assistant Secretary of the Interior Miller and was told that the Park service expressed concerns about the safety of the narrow Wawona route.52 Assistant Secretary Miller was invited to ride over the road while on a visit to California, but was somewhat inconvenienced when the party's conveyance was halted by a fallen tree on the road at Chinquapin. William Gordon, the barn boss at Chinquapin, refused to help move the tree, and the secretary's party had to saw up the log in order to continue the trip.53 This did little to encourage the opening of the Wawona Road.
Business interests to the south of Yosemite National Park, however, added their criticism of the choice of the Coulterville Road, and urged that the Wawona and other roads be opened to automobile traffic. In June 1913, the Fresno Republican complained that tourist services in the area were being put at a disadvantage by the restriction, and stated that resorts around Wawona and Miami were filled with motorists who could proceed no further on account of the ban. The Madera Tribune accused the Yosemite Valley Rail Road of wining and dining Park Service officials to choose the worst of the park roads so as to limit competition from automobiles.54
The National Park Service relented and agreed to open the other roads. The Wawona Road was quickly repaired and reopened to automobiles on 8 August 1914. The Washburns still controlled the road as far north as old Fort Monroe, and charged a toll of $1.25 for its use by automobiles. The federal government made $2,500 worth of improvements to its stretch descending into Yosemite
