AN ACT AUTHORIZING A GRANT TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, AND OF THE LAND EMBRACING THE MARIPOSA BIG TREE GROVE, APPROVED JUNE THIRTIETH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTYFOUR. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: That there shall be and is hereby granted to the State of California, the "cleft" or "gorge" in the granite peak of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, situated in the County of Mariposa, in the State aforesaid, and the head waters of the Merced River, and known as the Yosemite Valley, with its branches and spurs, in estimated length fifteen miles, and in average width one mile back from the main edge of the precipice on each side of the valley, with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the said State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time; but leases not exceeding ten years may be granted for portions of said premises. All incomes derived from leases of privileges to be expended in the preservation and improvement of the property, or the roads leading thereto; the boundaries to be established, at the cost of said State, by the United States Surveyor-General of California, whose official plat, when affirmed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shall constitute the evidence of the locus, extent, and limits of the said cleft or gorge; the premises to be managed by the Governor of the State, with eight other Commissioners, to be appointed by the Executive of California, and who shall receive no compensation for their services. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall likewise be, and there is hereby granted to the said State of California, the tracts embracing what is known as the "Mariposa Big Tree Grove," not to exceed the area of four sections, and to be taken in legal subdivisions of one quarter section each, with the like stipulation as expressed in the first section of this Act as to the State's acceptance, with like conditions as in the first section of this Act as to inalienability, yet with the same lease privilege; the income to be expended in preservation, improvement, and protection of the property; the premises to be managed by Commissioners, as stipulated in the first section of this Act, and to be taken in legal subdivisions, as aforesaid; and the official plat of the United States Surveyor-General, when affirmed by the Commissioners of the General Land Office, to be the evidence of the locus of the said Mariposa Big Tree Grove. (Chap. CLXXXIV of the Statutes at large, passed at the 30th Congress, Session 1.) AN ACT AUTHORIZING A GRANT TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY, AND OF THE LAND EMBRACING THE MARIPOSA BIG TREE GROVE, APPROVED JUNE THIRTIETH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTYFOUR. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: That there shall be and is hereby granted to the State of California, the "cleft" or "gorge" in the granite peak of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, situated in the County of Mariposa, in the State aforesaid, and the head waters of the Merced River, and known as the Yosemite Valley, with its branches and spurs, in estimated length fifteen miles, and in average width one mile back from the main edge of the precipice on each side of the valley, with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the said State shall accept this grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation; shall be inalienable for all time; but leases not exceeding ten years may be granted for portions of said premises. All incomes derived from leases of privileges to be expended in the preservation and improvement of the property, or the roads leading thereto; the boundaries to be established, at the cost of said State, by the United States Surveyor-General of California, whose official plat, when affirmed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shall constitute the evidence of the locus, extent, and limits of the said cleft or gorge; the premises to be managed by the Governor of the State, with eight other Commissioners, to be appointed by the Executive of California, and who shall receive no compensation for their services. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall likewise be, and there is hereby granted to the said State of California, the tracts embracing what is known as the "Mariposa Big Tree Grove," not to exceed the area of four sections, and to be taken in legal subdivisions of one quarter section each, with the like stipulation as expressed in the first section of this Act as to the State's acceptance, with like conditions as in the first section of this Act as to inalienability, yet with the same lease privilege; the income to be expended in preservation, improvement, and protection of the property; the premises to be managed by Commissioners, as stipulated in the first section of this Act, and to be taken in legal subdivisions, as aforesaid; and the official plat of the United States Surveyor-General, when affirmed by the Commissioners of the General Land Office, to be the evidence of the locus of the said Mariposa Big Tree Grove. (Chap. CLXXXIV of the Statutes at large, passed at the 30th Congress, Session 1.) PROCLAMATION. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Sacramento, Sept. 28th, 1864. WHEREAS, The United States, by an Act passed at the first session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, has granted to this State the territory comprising the "Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove," to be held and used for the purposes mentioned in said Act; and whereas, it is also provided in the Act that the management and control of the tracts of land shall be confided to a Board of Commissioners to be appointed by the Governor; Now, therefore, be it known, that I, FRED'K F. Low, Governor of the State of California, by virtue of the authority in me vested, have appointed Fred. Law Olmsted, Professor J. D. Whitney, William Ashburner, I. W. Raymond, E. S. Holden, Alexander Deering, George W. Coulter, and Galen Clark, said Commissioners, to whom is confided the management of the aforesaid tracts of land. And I hereby warn and command all persons to desist from trespassing or settling upon said territory, and from cutting timber or doing any unlawful acts within the limits of said grant. All propositions for the improvement of the aforesaid tracts of land. or for leases, should be made to the Commissioners, through Fred. Law Olmsted, Bear Valley, Mariposa County. L. S. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the State of California to be affixed, this twenty-eighth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four. FRED'K F. LOW, Attest: B. B. REDDING, Secretary of State. Governor of California. |
