Valley from Fort Monroe.55 The branch road to Glacier Point was also opened to cars, and quickly attracted much traffic.
In 1913, the Madera, Yosemite, Big Tree Auto Company was organized and began replacing the horse-drawn stages with buses. Two years later, the new company contracted with the Yosemite stage and Turnpike Company to form the "Horseshoe Route," by which travelers would enter the park from Wawona and exit via E1 Portal and the Yosemite Valley Railroad. This option, which freed tourists from having to repeat a segment of their journey, was immediately popular. On June 1, the Yosemite stage and Turnpike Company replaced its horse-drawn stages with an automotive service.56
A competing line, Edwin T. Huffman's Madera Yosemite Big Tree Auto Company, began operating in 1913. The Yosemite stage and Turnpike Company purchased a majority of stock in the new concern in order to protect its monopoly. Autos were operated only to Wawona until the automobile ban was lifted, at which point the auto stages ran all the way to the valley.57
A portion of the Government's section of the road, some 8,581', was upgraded in 1914. The grade was lessened in this section and a guard wall installed on the outer edge of the road to prevent automobiles from going over the cliff. Total cost of the improvements was $2,723.50.58
In 1917, the National Park Service took control of the Wawona Road and its Glacier Point branch, and eliminated the collection of tolls from users. The Yosemite Stage & Turnpike Company continued to operate an automotive transportation link between Wawona and the Valley on the road. Although the government had title to the road, little was done to maintain the route, as no money was appropriated for its upkeep.59
A 1921 traveler's account describes a trip on the old Wawona Road through the park in a Pierce-Arrow:
- About a mile from Wawona we found the cabin of the ranger who issues tickets for the south entrance to the park. The formalities detained us but a few moments, since, with the great influx of motor tourists during the exposition year, much of the original red tape was dispensed with. A copy of the rules and regulations was given us and the time of our entrance was stamped upon the ticket to be delivered to the superintendent at Yosemite village. The action of our small rifle was sealed and, with a friendly caution that it would be unwise to exceed the limit, we were ordered to proceed.
- For some miles after entering the park we climbed the long, steady grade following the South Merced canyon. always at a considerable distance above the stream, which we could see at intervals through the pines, flashing over its rock-strewn bed. There was scarcely a downhill dip in the road for the first half-dozen miles, and we could not but recall the distressing efforts of the horses as they toiled painfully upward on our former trip as we sat disconsolately enveloped in smothering clouds of dust. What a contrast we found in the steady, cheerful hum of our engine as it drove our car onward at not less than the permitted speed of fifteen miles, leaving the dust behind us and affording unhindered views of the endless panoramas of canyons and hills....
