C. D. Robinson

quote

 

IN THE MATTER OF THE
Investigation of the Yosemite Valley Commissioners.
[CALIFORNIA APPENDIX TO THE JOURNAS OF THE]
ASSEMBLY – TWENTY –EIGHT SESSION

TESTIMONY

Sacramento, Tuesday Evening, February 5, 1889.

The Assembly Committee [CALIFORNIA] on Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of Big Trees met at half-past seven o’clock P. M., for the purpose of investigating certain charges preferred against the Commissioners to Manage Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove of Big Trees, by C. D. Robinson. The following Charges proceedings were had:

The Clerk read the following charges, preferred by Mr. Robinson:

Twenty two charges were preferred against the Commissioners and the testimony recorded in this volume of 440 pages [see photos of title page].

Some of the charges were:

1. Squandering public moneys….

2. Forcible entry of private property…..

3. Cutting and destroying timber in the valley…….

4. Making illegal and arbitrary contracts with laborers……

5. Gross neglect……

6. General failure and incompetence…….

7. Etc., etc., etc. [see photos of title page]

A scathing attack on the competence of the Commissioners to run the park

 

end quote

 

Some old pamphlets about the Valley back in 1885 are up for auction on ebay currently, government pamphlets as it were, and web search doesn't bring them up, it seems, and I guess I should bid on them, as they look to be a marvelous curio!! 

Apparently an irate aritist, of some note, took the bit and filed a criminal suit of sorts.  Here's link to wiki's bit on C. D. Robinson:

 

quote

Charles Dorman Robinson (alternate: Charles Dormon Robinson; nickname: C.D.) (July 17, 1847 - May 8, 1933) was an American panorama, cyclorama, landscape, and marine painter.^[2] He is known for his seascapes and landscapes of Northern California, including over a hundred paintings of Yosemite Valley. He was known as "the dean of Pacific Coast artists".^[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dorman_Robinson

 

quote

 

hmmph