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Pinnacles National Park is a U.S. National Park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about east of Soledad and southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as wilderness. The national park is divided by the rock formations into East and West Divisions, connected by foot trails; there is no through road that connects the east and west entrances to the park. The east side has shade and water, the west has high walls. The rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles that attract rock climbers. The park features unusual talus caves that house at least thirteen species of bat. Pinnacles is most often visited in spring or fall because of the intense heat during the summer months. Park lands are prime habitat for prairie falcons, and are a release site for California condors that have been hatched in captivity. Pinnacles National Monument was established in 1908 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Pinnacles National Park was created from the former Pinnacles National Monument by legislation passed by Congress in late 2012 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 10, 2013. ==History== Native Americans in the Pinnacles region comprised the Chalon and Mutsun groups of the Ohlone people, who left stone artifacts in the park. These native people declined with the arrival of the Spanish in the 18th century, who brought novel diseases and changes to the natives' way of life. The last Chalon had died or departed from the area by 1810. From 1810 to 1865, when the first Anglo-American settlers arrived, the Pinnacles region was a wilderness without human use or habitation.〔''Draft General Management Plan'', National Park Service, p. 4〕 The establishment of a Spanish mission at Soledad hastened the area's native depopulation through disease and dispersion. Archaeological surveys have found thirteen sites inhabited by native Americans, twelve of which post-date the establishment of the missions. One site is believed to be about 2000 years old. By the 1880s the Pinnacles, then known as the Palisades, were visited by picnickers from the surrounding communities who would explore the caves and camp.〔Oberg, p. 64〕 The first account of the Pinnacles region appeared in print in 1881, describing the Balconies area.〔Oberg, p. 70〕 Between 1889 and 1891, newspaper articles shifted from describing excursions to the "Palisades" to calling them the "Pinnacles."〔Oberg, p. 76〕 Interest in the area rose to the point that the ''Hollister Free Lance'' sent a reporter to the Pinnacles, followed two months later by a party of local officials.〔Oberg, p. 77〕 Investors came from San Francisco to consider placing a resort hotel there, but the speculation came to nothing. In 1894 a post office was established in Bear Valley. Schuyler Hain was the postmaster. Since there was at least one other Bear Valley in California, the post office was named "Cook" after Mrs. Hain's maiden name.〔Oberg, p. 79〕 In 1924 the post office was renamed "Pinnacles." Schuyler Hain was a homesteader who arrived in the Pinnacles area in 1891 from Michigan, following his parents and eight siblings to Bear Valley.〔Oberg, p. 72〕 His cousin, A.W. White, was a student at Stanford University, and White brought one of his professors to see the Pinnacles in 1893. Dr. Gilbert was impressed by the scenery, and his comments inspired Hain to publicize the region.〔Oberg, p. 85〕 Hain led tours to Bear Valley and through the caves, advocating the preservation of the Pinnacles. Hain's efforts resulted in a 1904 visit by Stanford president David Starr Jordan, who contacted Fresno Congressman James C. Needham. Jordan and Needham in turn influenced Gifford Pinchot to advocate the establishment of the Pinnacles Forest Reserve to President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt proclaimed the establishment on July 8, 1906.〔Oberg, pp. 91-94〕 Pinchot, who was primarily interested in the management of forests for productive use rather than for preservation, advocated the use of the recently passed Antiquities Act to designate the scenic core of the area as Pinnacles National Monument, which was done by Roosevelt on January 16, 1908. This designation nominally passed control of the Pinnacles from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior,〔Oberg, pp. 96-97〕 but the U.S. Forest Service retained effective control of the area until ''circa'' 1911.〔Oberg, p. 111〕 In his efforts to promote the Pinnacles, Hain became convinced that the Pinnacles were an "extraordinary mountain" described by Captain George Vancouver and pictured by John Sykes in his book ''Voyage of Discovery'', which documented the Vancouver Expedition. Hain began to refer to the mountain as "Vancouver's Pinnacles," a term that was picked up by ''Sunset'' in a 1903 article. References to "Vancouver's Pinnacles" persisted until 1955, when analysis of the Sykes picture indicated that the mountain described by Vancouver was actually located near Fort Ord, within easy reach of the day trip described by Vancouver.〔Oberg, pp. 86-91〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pinnacles National Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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