1934 Yosemite 1¢ Stamps

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U.S. #740
1934 1¢ Yosemite
National Parks Issue

Issue Date: July 16, 1934
First City: Yosemite, CA
Quantity Issued: 84,896,350

As a stamp collector, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally oversaw the selection of stamp subjects and designs during his administration. As Roosevelt was reviewing suggestions for the 1934 schedule, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes saw an opportunity to advertise the national park system. Ickes felt many Americans were unaware the federal government had set aside vast amounts of land for their enjoyment and for future generations. At his suggestion, 1934 had been declared National Parks Year. Ickes now proposed the legacy of the national parks be portrayed on postage stamps to give people a glimpse of their diversity and natural beauty. FDR approved the idea immediately, and ten parks were chosen, each to be pictured on a different denomination ranging from 1¢ to 10¢.

Yosemite –The First National Park
Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which lie in east-central California about 200 miles east of San Francisco. This national park was established in 1890 and expanded to its present size in 1906. Yosemite is famous for its towering granite mountain peaks, lush valleys, thundering waterfalls, and giant sequoia trees. Most notable among these attractions are: Yosemite Falls, with a drop of 2,425 feet in two segments, the largest falls in North America, and the majestic mountain peaks, Half Dome and El Capitan, which are among the world’s largest monoliths of exposed granite. These attractions bring over four million people to Yosemite each year. The naturalist John Muir called Yosemite “a landscape... that after all my wanderings still appears as the most beautiful I have ever beheld.” This sentiment was shared by Theodore Roosevelt, who called Yosemite “The most beautiful place on Earth.” The vast majority of Yosemite’s 1,170 square miles remain pristine. Park officials proudly proclaim that 94.5% of this area remains wilderness.