Glacier Point Hotel

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Glacier Point Hotel
Glacier-Point-Hotel-Veranda.jpg
The Glacier Point Hotel veranda.
Glacier Point Hotel
General information
Location Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Coordinates 37°43′51″N119°34′22″W / 37.73083°N 119.57278°W / 37.73083; -119.57278
Opening1918
ClosedJuly 9, 1969
Management Yosemite Park & Curry Company
Technical details
Floor count3
Design and construction
Architect(s)Daniel Gutlebin [1]
DeveloperThe Desmond Park Service Company
Other information
Number of rooms80

The Glacier Point Hotel was a historic 80-room chalet-style hotel built on the grounds of Glacier Point overlooking Yosemite Valley, California, adjacent to the McCauley Mountain House. It was known as the venue for the Yosemite Firefall spectacle. The hotel opened in 1917, and was taken over by the Yosemite Park & Curry Company in 1924. The building was severely damaged by snowfall in winter 1968-69, and was still empty when it was destroyed in a fire in July 1969.

Contents

History

Glacier Point Hotel, the highest hotel in the West at 7,240 feet (2,210 m) above sea level, was a marvel in its time, featuring a massive double-sided fireplace and stunning views. Built in 1917, it stood an impressive 3,274 feet (998 m) above the valley, providing an unrivaled panorama of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley. [2]

Costing a substantial $250,000 to build, the hotel offered 125 rooms, which rented for between $4 and $5 per night. [3] Its construction by The Desmond Park Service Company and Gutleben Brothers was a feat of logistics, involving over 100 mules and trucks to transport building materials through the area's challenging terrain. [4] The construction lumber was sourced from trees near the hotel. [5]

The hotel's centerpiece was a huge fireplace, carved from a single nearby boulder, weighing an incredible 2,462,000 pounds (1,117,000 kg) — equivalent to the granite needed for a six-room house. The main building featured dining and lounge spaces. Advertising for the hotel highlighted its spacious viewing porch, offering cliffside vistas of Yosemite Valley. [6]

Glacier Point Hotel Site.jpg
Mountain House (right) with the future location of Glacier Point Hotel.
Glacier Point Hotel Gutleben Album.jpg
Glacier Point Hotel in 1916.

The hotel sat adjacent to the Mountain House, a rustic tavern built by innkeeper Charles Perego at the overlook in 1873. [7] In the years following the opening of the Glacier Point Hotel, the Mountain House was used for employee housing and put into service as a public cafeteria.

In 1920 DJ Desmond over extended the finances of his company and the firm was reorganized by ABC Dohrmann [8] and Larry Harris, prominent San Francisco businessmen, as the Yosemite National Park Company. [9] In 1924 at the insistence of the gov't, the Curry Company and the Yosemite National Park Company were required to merge their assets and contracts and the hotel's ownership was transferred to the newly formed Yosemite Park & Curry Company.

Although the Glacier Point Hotel was in an excellent location, it still struggled as a business. High room costs would continually leave several rooms vacant, but this would slowly change as the hotel gained favor with the increasing numbers of tourists.

During its seasonal operation, the Glacier Point Hotel opened from late spring to early summer, from May 15 to October 1. Visitors could reach the hotel from Yosemite Valley via horseback or a 4-mile hiking trip. From around June 15, daily automobile stage services were also available for access. [10]

To improve access, the idea of an elevator carved into the cliffside was briefly considered as a solution to bypass the arduous four-mile hike or two-hour car journey from the valley. [11] However, the hotel persistently struggled with water shortages, often leading to early closures in August.

Winter presented its own challenges. The frequent snowfalls in the area necessitated constant attention due to the hotel's light construction. Maintenance workers often lived on-site, their main task being to clear the roofs of snow to prevent them from collapsing under its weight. [12]

Firefall

Beginning in the 1920s, the guests of the Glacier Point Hotel would witness and participate in the Yosemite Firefall. [13] What was once a summer event would gradually become daily routine. At 9:00 every night, hotel employees would push burning embers off Glacier Point to fall 3,000 feet (910 m) down and mark the end of a performance at Camp Curry on the valley floor. As the coals fell in a set pattern, the resulting shower would closely resemble a burning waterfall. [14] This tradition would continue until the last firefall on Thursday, January 25, 1968. [15]

Calamities

The remote hotel was perpetually threatened by wildfires. In 1936, a potentially destructive fire was successfully put out, preventing damage to the hotel. [16]

During the winter of 1968 and 1969, the hotel, along with the McCauley Mountain House, were severely damaged by snowfall. [17] Repairs were later needed and applied to the structures. In the meantime, no guest reservations were booked, and the employees used the Mountain House to sell snacks to Glacier Point visitors.

On July 9, 1969, an electrical fire started on the bottom floor of the unoccupied hotel. [18] Within minutes, the Glacier Point Hotel, along with the Mountain House and several trees, was destroyed. [19] A nearby stockpile of Red Fir left over from the firefall helped feed the flames. After the incident, visitors were kept away from Glacier Point as demolition crews removed the remaining debris.

YPCC considered rebuilding a hotel at Glacier Point, but the Park Service would not permit rebuilding at the same location; it would have to be placed further back from the precipice.

Aftermath

The next summer the Yosemite Park and Curry Company built a small snack shop to serve daytime visitors to Glacier Point. In later years, a granite amphitheater was built on the site of the hotel, and a new visitor center was completed nearby. These changes were part of a 1996-1997 modernization effort [20] to transform the heavily traveled path. Even so, some evidence of the Glacier Point Hotel, such as some of the old foundations, are still evident. The iconic boulder [21] behind the hotel has also remained in its original position.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Yosemite Historic Photo Collection". National Park Service Digital Assets. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ↑ "Formal Opening at Glacier Point Hotel". Merced County Sun, Volume LI, Number 27, 20 July 1917. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  3. ↑ "Glacier Point Hotel Advertisement". San Francisco Call, Volume 102, Number 30, 4 August 1917. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  4. ↑ "New Quarter Million Glacier Point Hotel in Yosemite Open Tonight". San Francisco Call, Volume 102, Number 18, 21 July 1917. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  5. ↑ "Glacier Point Hotel". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  6. ↑ "New Quarter Million Glacier Point Hotel in Yosemite Open Tonight". San Francisco Call, Volume 102, Number 18, 21 July 1917. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  7. ↑ "Historic Ashes: Glacier Point Hotel 1969". National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  8. ↑ "Dohrmann Building", Wikipedia, 2020-07-25, retrieved 2021-01-03
  9. ↑ "Facebook Groups". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  10. ↑ Rules and Regulations. United States Department of the Interior. 1921. p. 65.
  11. ↑ "Glacier Point to Have Elevator". Merced County Sun, Volume LIV, Number 15, 30 April 1920. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  12. ↑ "Yosemite Reports Record Snowfall". Imperial Valley Press, 30 January 1933. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  13. ↑ Sara E. Pratt (2017-12-14). "Benchmarks: January 25, 1968: The last firefall: A Yosemite tradition flames out". Earth Magazine. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  14. ↑ "Glacier Point". Yosemite Nature Notes. XXXV (6): 90. June 1956.
  15. ↑ "Spectacular Yosemite Firefall Eliminated". Madera Tribune. Vol. 76, no. 179. Madera, CA. 1968-01-26. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  16. ↑ "Remember When". Madera Tribune, Volume 65, Number 76, 11 August 1956. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  17. ↑ "Snow Damage Closes Casino in Yosemite". San Bernardino Sun, 1 June 1969. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  18. ↑ "Hotel Burns at Yosemite". The Times. San Mateo CA. 10 July 1969. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "The Yosemite of Yesteryear (Part 2) – La Casa Nevada, Cosmopolitan, Mountain House Hotel". Yosemite Tales. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  20. ↑ Paul McHugh (August 27, 1997). "New Lodge Built at Yosemite Glacier Point is home of $2.7 million ski hut". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  21. ↑ "Glacier Point Amphitheater". Yosemitehikes.com. Retrieved 2012-02-04.

Bibliography

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