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President Roosevelt praises Edmond S. Meany’s history, probably Vancouver’s Discovery of Puget Sound which was published in early 1907. Roosevelt believes it is a great contribution to American scholarship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-01
Hero Eugene Rensch reports that the explorer Captain George Vancouver wrote the most about the Pinnacles in 1794, and that they were relatively undocumented from that time until Harold W. Fairbanks wrote about them in the 1890s. After 1900, local newspapers and tourism booklets mentioned the Pinnacles “as unusual wonders of nature.” It was David Starr Jordan, the President of Stanford University, taking an interest in the Pinnacles which spurred President Theodore Roosevelt to create Pinnacles National Monument.
1936-02-07
Regional Supervisor of Historic Sites Hagen provides a brief history of the area containing Pinnacles National Monument, tracing its history from the time of Spanish occupation of the region and the possible first discovery of the Pinnacle rock formations by Captain George Vancouver. While Hagen notes that there is some evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area, he says that it does not appear to have supported permanent populations, and in fact “received little attention until long after the American occupation of California.” He notes that the area is believed to have been used as a hide-out for outlaws at one point.
1941-04-28
In this article, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the location of Pinnacles National Monument is described, along with information on the Pinnacles’ discovery by George Vancouver, and their designation as a national monument through the efforts of Theodore Roosevelt and David Starr Jordan.
1917-04-08
Dr. Jordan forwards to Congressman Needham a petition from several residents of San Benito County, California, to set aside lands containing the Pinnacles and establish them as a National Park. Jordan encloses a map of the proposed park, the book A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean by George Vancouver, who describes the area, and a book of photographs of the area. Jordan endorses the effort to create this National Park and asks Needham to pass along the request to Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock.
1904-04-23