History of the Yosemite area the Yosemite area in 1863. Pressure from Starr King and Olmsted, photographs by Carleton Watkins, and geological data from the 1863 Geological Survey of California prompted legislators to take action. Senator John Conness of California introduced a park bill in 1864 to the United States Senate to cede Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees to California. The bill easily passed both houses of the United States Congress, and was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on June 30, 1864. The Yosemite Grant, as it was called, was given to California as a state park for "public use, resort
Little Yosemite Valley their leeward side. Half Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park located at the northwestern end of Little Yosemite Valley at — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than above the Yosemite Valley floor at Tenaya Canyon and above the floor of Little Yosemite Valley. The trail to Half Dome branches to the north from the main Little Yosemite Valley trail near the ranger station, out houses and campground. Moraine Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park along the northern margin of Little Yosemite Valley at which rises to an elevation