Being Yosemite’s First Protectors (video)
Here’s a great video of Ranger Shelton Johnson talking about the Buffalo Soldiers, Yosemite’s First Protectors, and what inspired him to resurrect their spirit.
Category: History
About Loyd: For over 30 years I've enjoyed hiking, backpacking, fishing, photographing and exploring Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. More About the Author. View author profile.
Although Yosemite is physically beautiful I don’t think we do enough to highlight it’s cultural history. I think it’d be cool to get an actual column of rangers portraying Buffalo Soldiers. Have them ride all over the park. Maybe hire some of the local Miwuk or Paiute to help tell the story of the indigenous peoples who first settled Yosemite Valley. Have the village behind the Visitors Center actually BE a full time working village. Shelton and Lee Stetson do a great job of bringing the life of early Yosemite settlers to the modern age, we should be expanding what they started.