THINGS REACHED a fever pitch in Yosemite Valley in 1903 when word came that President Roosevelt was coming. Some fancy preparations were made. John Degnan and Commissioner Metson even made some dynamite ‘salutes’ to set off.

“But Teddy had ideas of his own. He had come to talk to John Muir, so the two met at the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and then sorta sneaked off into the high country with Yosemite’s first two park rangers, Archie Leonard and Charley Leidig. They rode up over Glacier Point and down by Vernal and Nevada Falls. But the president wasn’t interested in socializin’ and when they got to the Old Village in Yosemite Valley Teddy paused just long enough to pay his respects to the people gathered there, then trotted his horse across Sentinel Bridge, commentin’ that he wanted to pitch camp that night in Bridalveil Meadow.

“They tell of one scene that made some of the local folks reach for their handkerchiefs. One little girl, gussied up and pretty as a picture, stood beside the road holding out a bouquet of flowers she had picked for the president. When he looked down and saw her he reined in his horse, dismounted, and picked her up. He said something softly to her, kissed her and was on his way again. Someone said he had just lost a little girl of his own.

“Well, they camped in Bridalveil Meadow— there’s a sign to mark the spot today. Charley Leidig was sorta chief cook and bottle washer and he said that he spread forty blankets on the ground for the president’s bed. Bet he had a hard time decidin’ where to crawl in!”

TOP: THE PRESIDENT CROSSES SENTINEL BRIDGE
CENTER: ROOSEVELT, MUIR AT GLACIER POINT
BOTTOM: EN ROUTE TO BRIDALVEIL MEADOW

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