There's one thing about Valley residents: we're really proud of our national parks. How many other communities can claim three of the nation's crown jewels in their backyard, with Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. But a century ago, another national park graced our backyard, even though you won't find its name on maps today. On this edition of KVPR's Central Valley Roots, the story of General Grant National Park.
The year was 1890. President Benjamin Harrison and Congress had just created Sequoia National Park. One week later they did it again, in an effort to preserve the second tallest Giant Sequoia tree, the General Grant. At the time, not far from the massive tree, loggers were already felling these ancient monarchs. The new General Grant National Park was small, basically the area we know today as Grant Grove.
In the 1920s, a move in Congress stirred enthusiasm for national park expansion into the Kings Canyon area, with the proposed Theodore Roosevelt National Park. That plan died, and around the same time, the City of Los Angeles filed claims to build new dams in the high country of Kings Canyon, much like San Francisco had done at Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy.
Those plans eventually failed, and in 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill that created the new Kings Canyon National Park. The massive new park absorbed the tiny General Grant National Park. Kings Canyon would later expand further, with Cedar Grove and Tehipite Valley added in 1965.
