Hetch Hetchy Timeline

• 1873 - John Muir writes in Overland Monthly of the beauty of Hetch Hetchy Valley.
• 1882 - City of San Francisco begins searching for cheap, plentiful water to serve its growing population, and begins to consider Hetch Hetchy Valley as the location of a reservoir.
• 1890 - Yosemite National Park is established, including Yosemite Valley's less famous cousin, Hetch Hetchy.
• San Francisco Mayor James Phelan first proposed damming the valley to create a reservoir for San Francisco.
• 1903 - Mayor Phelan applied to the Interior Department for rights to Hetch Hetchy's water. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Hitchcok denied the request.
• 1904 - First of many Sierra Club "High Trips" to include Hetch Hetchy Valley.
• 1905 - Mayor Phelan again applies for water rights to Hetch Hetchy, and the permit is once again denied. John Muir and William E. Colby launch 8 - year campaign to prevent Hetch Hetchy from being dammed for a reservoir.
• 1906 - The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire gives new impetus to the idea of enlarging the city's water supply.
• 1907 - Sierra Club submits a resolution fo the Secretary of the Interior opposing damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley.
• 1908 - Muir writes in the Sierra Club Bulletin that to dam Hetchy Hetchy one "may as well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." Nonetheless, the City's permit was approved by the Interior Department. Eighty-six percent of the voters in San Francisco authorize the Hetch Hetchy project and to provide $600,000 to purchase the "lands, rights, and claims" of Hetchy Hetchy.
• 1909 - When the Taft administration took office, new Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger suspended the interior Department's approval for the Hetch Hetchy right-of-way.
• 1910 - Poll of Sierra Club members votes 589 - 161 (79%) in support the Club's position on Hetch Hetchy
• 1912 - Woodrow Wilson is elected President, and appoints former San Francisco City Attorney Franklin Lane as Secretary of the Interior.
• 1913 - Congress passes the Raker Bill, allowing flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley, but stipulating that the city could not sell water or power for resale. President Woodrow Wilson signs the bill on December 19.
• 1914 - Last Sierra Club outing to Hetchy Hetchy Valley. John Muir dies on December 24.
• 1923 - Construction of O'Shaughnessy Dam completed, at a cost of $100 million and the lives of 67 men and one woman. The project transports water 160 miles by gravity alone to customers in San Francisco and 32 other Bay Area communities.
• 1924 - San Francisco voters approve a bond proposition for $10 million to pay for a series of tunnels that would deliver water through the Sierra and Coast Range mountains.
• 1928 - San Francisco voters approve $24 million in bonds to help further the Hetch Hetchy Dam Project.
• 1947 - San Francisco voters approve $25 million for a second pipeline for the system.
• 1961 - San Francisco voters approve $115 million in bonds to expand the existing Hetch Hetchy system.
• 1970 - Sierra Club board of directors recommends removal, rather than an expensive restoration or reconstruction, of both O'Shaughnessy Dam and Eleanor Dam. The Board also stated: "The question of how to remove O'Shaugnessy Dam, and the problems of how to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley to its once magnificent grandeur, should be studied in depth. The studies should include the problem of plant succession as the valley is drained, the removal of silt, and the practical alternatives available to San Francisco if the Hetch Hetchy water supply is lost."
• 1987 - Secretary of the Interior Don Hodel suggests removal of O'Shaughnessy Dam and the restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley. Sierra Club Board re-affirms its 1908 policy, and adopts a further policy supporting taking a "long view" of the issue, and endorsing feasibility studies. Sierra Club establishes a Hetch Hetchy Task Force with Sally Reid as chair.
• 1988 - Bill to study restoration of Hetch Hetchy is defeated in Committee
• 1990 - Sierra Club sponsors a display, "Restore Hetch Hetchy" at the Yosemite Centennial Symposium.
• 1994 - Republican congressmen propose that the City of San Francisco should pay the federal government $25 million per year, since the city generates an average of $38 million annually from selling hydroelectric power from Hetch Hetchy to other municipalities. California Democrats in Congress kill the proposal.
• 1997 - The Sierra Club California/Nevada Regional Conservation Committee establishes a Hetch Hetchy Task Force with Ron Good as chair.
• 1998 - The Sierra Club Hetch Hetchy Task Force creates a website devoted to the restoration of Hetch Hetchy on the World Wide Web.