Cook's Meadow, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, CA, 10/17/2012
Here is a view southwest through Cook's Meadow in Yosemite Valley with grasses and shrubs in autumn browns and golds. I was drawn to this scene because the warm colors and rich textures in the meadow contrast perfectly with the cool hues of Cathedral Rocks, whose appearance is softened by three miles of hot afternoon atmosphere. The distant view is framed by giant redwoods to the left and Rocky Point to the right. John Jay Cook was born in Dutchess County, New York on June 4, 1837. After achieving success in business, he, his wife Fannie, and their daughter Jeanie moved to California in the 1860s and settled in the small mining community of Mariposa. Cook opened a drug and variety store and later became the Wells Fargo agent for Mariposa. His sister-in-law married Henry Washburn, originally from Putney, Vermont, who had plans for the newly discovered Yosemite Valley. Washburn and a group of partners began a stage line and built a road there. Washburn expanded the tourist trade to Yosemite Valley and Cook became a partner with his brother-in-law and nephew. They built the Wawona Hotel, the grandest hotel in the region and a destination for presidents and other dignitaries. In 1883 Cook took over Black's Hotel in Yosemite Valley. He and his son, Jay Bruce Cook enjoyed the management role there until the hotel burned down in 1896. Jay Bruce Cook took over the Sentinel Hotel and remained there until his death in 1910. J. J. Cook and his family spent winters in San Francisco at the Grand Hotel and at their house on Clay Street. Cook had an interest in I. W. Taber's Photography as well as oil wells in Santa Barbara. J. J.'s wife Fannie died in 1888 and John Jay Cook died on June 2, 1904 in San Francisco. Cook's Meadow was named in honor of the family.
