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Title: Map of the Yosemite National Park prepared for use of U.S. troops by N.F. McClure, 1st Lieut., 5th Cavalry March 1896
- Author: U.S. Government
- Date: 1896
- Condition: Excellent - Folds as issued, minor creasing at right.
- Inches: 20 x 16 1/4 [Image]
- Centimeters: 50.80 x 41.27 [Image]
- Product ID: 308664
Highly detailed map of Yosemite National Park, compiled by N. F. McClure during the era when the U.S. Army administered the park. It features a clear key distinguishing lines of supply, wagon roads, pack‑mule routes, patrol routes, scout routes, and other operational details.
Produced not long after Yosemite’s designation as a protected park in 1890, the map was prepared for the Fifth Cavalry Regiment, which then oversaw park management. It documents wagon roads, army patrol posts, the direction and range of patrols, pack‑train supply routes, and designated cattle and sheep grazing areas.
McClure’s map preserves a wealth of early information, capturing Yosemite’s landscape, infrastructure, and usage patterns in the park’s formative years.
Background on Creator
In the mid‑1890s, U.S. government mapmaking was in a transitional, highly organized phase led by a few key federal agencies: the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), established in 1879 as the primary civilian mapping agency for nationwide topographic surveys and public lands; the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, which concentrated on coasts, nautical charts, and precision geodesy after inland mapping functions shifted to USGS; and Army engineers, who continued to produce specialized military and administrative maps for forts, reservations, and Army‑administered areas such as Yosemite. At the same time, President Benjamin Harrison’s 1890 creation of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names brought new standardization, as this body coordinated with mapping agencies to impose uniform place names and spellings on federal maps. By the mid‑1890s, federal surveys increasingly used consistent scales, contour intervals, and symbols, laying the groundwork for the USGS quadrangle system and blending precise scientific measurement with practical themes such as railroads, water resources, and land classification.