18 photos from the birth of America's national parks

A car drives under a tree at Yosemite National Park, California, 1932. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A view of Yosemite taken in 1865 by photographer Carleton E. Watkins, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Courtesy /Library of Congress

The first Yosemite Park Rangers pose in a 1915 photograph. Courtesy U. S. National Park Service

Visitors hold hands around the General Sherman Tree at Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, 1905. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A snow survey group climbs Lassen Peak at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California, March 1931. Courtesy National Park Service/Arthur G. Holmes

A re-enactment of a Native American wedding for the benefit of guests at Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 1916. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A woman poses next to a sign at Ash Mountain in Sequoia National Park, Tulare County, California. Courtesy U. S. National Park Service

Members of the U.S. Army 25th Infantry, also known as "Buffalo Soldier"", pose with their bicycles during their 800 mile round-trip from their post in Fort Missoula, Montana to Yellowstone National Park, in 1896. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A visitor on horseback looking at Seattle Creek toward Mount Muncaster as viewed from the High Divide, at Olympic National Park, in 1934. Courtesy George A. Grant/U.S. National Park Service

Blackfoot women from Montana pose in Yosemite National Park, in 1915. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

Five U.S. Army soldiers of the 24th Mounted Infantry, also known as "Buffalo Soldiers", pictured near a road in Yosemite National Park, California, 1899. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A view of Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah. Courtesy U. S. National Park Service

Native Americans perform a traditional tribal war dance at Yosemite National Park, California, 1926. Courtesy U. S. National Park Service

President Theodore Roosevelt at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, California, 1903. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

The Cathedral Rocks, with lake and trees in foreground, in a photograph of Yosemite Valley taken in 1865 by Carleton E. Watkins, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Courtesy Library of Congress

U.S. National Park Service Path Committee members pose at Jordan Pond at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, September 1923. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service

A snow survey group climbs Lassen Peak, with views of Brokeoff Mountain and Mount Diller in the background, at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California, March 1931. Courtesy Arthur G. Holmes/U.S. National Park Service

The firing of the sunset gun on Capitol Hill at Fort Yellowstone, possibly the last firing of the cannon, signaling the close of army protection of Yellowstone, California, July 4, 1916. Courtesy U.S. National Park Service