Initially, the Spanish explorers of Alta (upper) California were content with exploring the coastline, and settling the presidios (forts) from San Jose to San Francisco. Then they discovered the almost perpetual fog was hiding another mountain range inland: the Sierra Nevada mountain range, so named for the serrated, snowy peaks. There was not much gold in the hills, but lots of pristine timber and virgin farmland, and loggers took full advantage, clearcutting their way into acres of forests. The result not only destroyed beloved nature spots of some of the San Joaquin valley farmers down below, but also changed water flows. Cries for conservatism began to go up.

On this day, September 25, in 1890 the land on the Sierra Nevada mountains around the San Joaquin Valley was organized into the Sequoia National Park.

George W. Stewart, a California-born reporter for the Visalia Delta newspaper led the conservationist cause. Stewart crusaded in the editorial pages against the destruction of forests east of his town. He quixotically proposed for a state law against the cutting of the giant sequoia trees, and finally got his proposal heard in Congress through a sympathetic senator.