Galen Clark was a Canadian-born American conservationist and writer.
15 Facts About Galen Clark
2.
Galen Clark is known as the first European American to discover the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, and is notable for his role in gaining legislation to protect it and the Yosemite area, and for 24 years serving as Guardian of Yosemite National Park.
3.
Galen Clark was born in Shipton, Canada East in 1814.
4.
Galen Clark joined the westward migration as a youth and moved to Waterloo, Missouri in 1836.
5.
In 1857, at the age of 43, Galen Clark contracted a severe lung infection that was diagnosed as consumption.
6.
Galen Clark wrote about protecting the grove to friends and the US Congress.
7.
Galen Clark contributed to the writing and passage of legislation to protect the area, gaining support of US Senator John Conness from California.
8.
Galen Clark's lungs healed, and he explored and climbed much of the area.
9.
Galen Clark did not seek to enrich himself from Yosemite Valley or the Sequoia trees.
10.
Toward the end of his life, Galen Clark was desperately poor.
11.
Galen Clark left out his personal role in the discovery, popularization, and protection of the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees.
12.
Galen Clark served as hotel keeper, guide, and guardian of Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove.
13.
Galen Clark spent some time living in Summerland, a Spiritualist colony in Southern California, near Santa Barbara.
14.
Galen Clark was buried at a spot near Yosemite Falls which he personally selected and dug decades prior to his death.
15.
Galen Clark had selected the granite tombstone marker and planted around his gravesite seedlings from the Mariposa Grove sequoias.