Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Valley
150 years ago, June 30, 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, the US Congress and Abraham Lincoln were convinced to set aside the first wild land in American history - Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees. This act paved the way for the entire American National Park system, and to the creation of Yellowstone as America's first National Park. (The protected areas of Yosemite were originally set aside as the first California State Park before it joined the National Park system in 1890 with its current, larger boundaries.)
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