The Pearces’ Road Trip to Yosemite (1918)
“Ephemera” is defined as items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity. I have a few boxes of family ephemera (programs, ticket stubs, clippings, etc.) but one that has always caught my eye is a large certificate presented to my grandfather Earl Pearce (1892-1977), commemorating a “Perfect Score” from Oakland, California, over the Wawona Road to Yosemite Valley. This post will be the story of that certificate.
The Yosemite Valley had been the home of indigenous people for many centuries before the first European American tourists arrived in 1855. In 1864 Yosemite was designated as federally preserved land and by 1890 Yosemite became the third park in the national park system, after Yellowstone (1872) and Sequoia (also 1890). The National Park Service granted concessions to various companies to develop hotels, stores, camps, and other park facilities to support an increasing number of tourists drawn to the natural beauty of the Valley.
The Oakland Tribune newspaper began sponsoring the “Tribune Tours” in 1914 - caravans of cars sponsored by auto dealers that would take multi-day road trips to either Lake Tahoe or Yosemite or both. The 1916 tour went from Oakland to Lake Tahoe via what would now be the Interstate 80 corridor, then home via Bridgeport, Tioga Pass, Yosemite Valley, and Manteca. In four days on mostly unpaved roads!
“Coma” (our nickname for Grandpa Earl) didn’t join the fun until 1918. He was working as the service superintendent at the Howard Automobile Company, which entered its Buick automobiles in every year’s tour. Our grandmother Annie Danielsen Pearce (1893-1981), “Nana” accompanied Coma on this cross country adventure.
The caravan departed from the Tribune building in Oakland before 7am on Saturday, September 7, 1918, and by noon every car had arrived at the El Capitan Hotel in Merced (120 miles). “Luncheon was served promptly” and the caravan proceeded to Wawona for the first night’s stop. (85 miles).
Thirty-six cars reached the hotel and “enjoyed the special supper arrangements and dance program:.” Early Sunday morning the caravan left for the newly-built Glacier Point Hotel and another “special luncheon”. (27 miles)
Glacier Point Hotel. Sadly, this hotel was destroyed by fire in 1969.
Next stop was Inspiration Point, then on to Camp Curry, where they were welcomed by Foster Curry. After dinner the group enjoyed viewing the fire fall, a huge bonfire that dropped from Glacier Point to the valley, followed by presentations of the “Perfect Score Certificates”. On Monday, the Pearces drove back to Oakland via Big Oak Flat Road. Here is an excerpt from the newspaper:
The Oakland Tribune had extensive coverage of the tour, especially the Sunday, September 15, 1918 issue. On the front page of the “Outing Section” there are several photos and stories, including this photo identified as “Frank Magers and Earl Pierce [sic] and families…on the floor of the valley. At the time Uncle Elwood (Elwood F. Pearce (1916-2003) was not quite two years old, and it’s likely he was not part of the “and families”. Coma is in the driver’s seat and Nana is sitting behind him.
A restored 1918 Buick Six — pretty nice!
By Alexander Migl - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77847277
Howard Auto Company placed an ad in the Tribune touting its success — check out the price of the car!
Coma went on to become the assistant manager at Howard Automobile Company before forming his own auto repair shop “Motor Service Co.” with partner Harry Sham, and which specialized in “all kinds of Buick work at fair prices”. This shop was at 493 40th St. in Oakland.
All the newspaper “clippings” are from Newspapers.com.
Steve built a frame for the certificate and it hangs on the wall in our house. Thinking about this road trip just makes me smile; I hope you enjoyed the story.
