Robert Aquinas McNally

For over a century after Yosemite's conquest, tribal people lived and worked in the national park. That couldn't last, of course. Read about it here.

Conquest turned in part on renaming conquered land to erase the least presence of the tribes. Then there were the lice. Conquest turned in part on renaming conquered land to erase the least presence of the tribes. Then there were the lice. Read it here.

Now it's cars in long lines and tourists in sunburned throngs. Back in the day, the valley's granite grandeur became a killing field. Read it here.

The state of California never hesitated to raise the money and pay the bills for its campaign to wipe out the tribes. Read it here.

International law raises such a high bar that even some of the worst atrocities fall short. Still, California in the 19th century makes the cut. Read it here.

Just over five years ago, Governor Gavin Newsom made a startling public admission: California is guilty. Now the state wants to do better. Read the backstory and a progress report here.

Let's stop to marvel at the miracle of mountains. Read it here.

John Muir was ever on the lookout for the primal garden. Yet when he thought he had found it, the reality was a lot more complicated. Read it here. 

Closing out the Euro-American conquest of the West, expropriated tribal landscapes became Indigenous-free parks and monuments. Now tribes are turning the tables by using the national monument as a way to get back something of what was taken. Read it here.

To discover the truth of the moment, trust words written at the time, not later, when the writer may have a different agenda. Read it here.