Former first lady Laura Bush helps re-dedicate Yosemite’s Tioga Road
Former first lady Laura Bush attended the re-dedication ceremony of Tioga Road on Tuesday, held 100 years after the original ceremony, in Yosemite National Park.
Tioga Road is a 46-mile highway in the northern part of Yosemite and the highest road crossing the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of 9,945 feet. It is a popular route for the park’s 4 million annual visitors to take.
Stephen Mather dedicated the opening of Tioga Road on July 28, 1915. It had previously been a private toll road through the park before Mather and friends purchased it for $15,000, and donated it to the federal government. Mather dedicated the road by breaking a bottle filled with water from the Pacific Ocean on a rock with “$15,000” painted on it, to symbolize Tioga’s price.
Bush participated in the re-enactment ceremony with park Superintendent Don Neubacher and Yosemite Conservancy vice president Jerry Edelbrock.
“I’ve loved our parks for many years and hiked in parks all over the country accompanied by my friends,” she said in a prepared statement.
Sarah Anderson: (559) 441-6248; @Sarahsonofander
This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 1:02 PM with the headline "Former first lady Laura Bush helps re-dedicate Yosemite’s Tioga Road."