(Copyrighted; please contact Restore Hetch Hetchy for more information.)

Only a few years ago, I was a kid growing up in the small river town of Marietta in southeastern Ohio. Marietta sits at the confluence of the Muskingum River and the larger, Ohio River. Sometimes in the spring, Marietta would not just sit AT the confluence of the rivers, but more likely than not IN or UNDERNEATH the surface of these two rivers. So, as a young boy, I learned to love and enjoy the rivers -- because in spring flood times, schools were closed and the kids were free to build log rafts and have high adventures in the rushing waters. Of course, the rivers brought the big paddlewheel boats with their wonderful musical calliopes. The rivers also brought the sense of the world being in motion and being linked to many places and people up and down the river. The rivers of my early years were alive.

Today, we're going to explore the Tuolumne River that runs through Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley. I'm a big fan of John Muir, who is often called the Father of our National Parks. I'm also a volunteer docent/interpreter at the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Here's what Muir had to say about the Tuolumne River:

"For miles the river is one wild, on-rushing mass of snowy purple bloom, spreading over glacial waves of granite . . . gliding in magnificent silver plumes, dashing and foaming through huge boulder dams, leaping high into the air in wheel-like whirls, displaying glorious enthusiasm, tossing from side to side, doubling, glinting, singing in exuberance of mountain energy."

That's all one sentence from John Muir! So, the rivers in John Muir's life were also very "alive."

Once, I remember walking by the Unitarian Church in downtown Marietta. It's a beautiful, old red-brick, gothic church. And, out in front of the church the sign said: "Life is a journey, not a destination."

So, today, we'll take a journey down the Tuolumne River through Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley, and see what lessons the river and the valley have to teach us.

[Ron described the Albert Bierstadt painting of Hetch Hetchy. He showed us a slide of Brooks Anderson's painting (above) showing what Hetch Hetchy would look like without the dam.]

Perhaps we can see why John Muir called Hetch Hetchy "a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples."

[Ron spoke briefly of the Natural history, about the Tuolumne River and glacial periods, and the two major waterfalls, Tueeulala and Wapama.

[He spoke about the Cultural history. The Native Americans called Hetch Hetchy the "Grass Valley".

[He spoke about European Americans the first to see Hetch Hetchy were Joseph & Nathan Screech in 1850. He spoke about the Mariposa Battalion expedition into Yosemite Valley in 1851, the Gold Rush to California in mid-1800s and John Muir's first visit to Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1871.]

Once upon a timeless time, in a land both nearby and far away, there was a place called the "Grass Valley Where the Clear Free- flowing Waters Run." The Grass Valley Where the Clear Free- flowing Waters Run was surrounded by great granite walls and booming waterfalls.

Many animal-people lived in the Grass Valley Where the Clear Free-flowing Waters Run. As did many tree-people, plant-people, and flower-people. But, only two people-people, a husband & wife couple lived there. The wife's name was Tueeulala, and the husband's name was Wapama. They loved each other very much.

Tueeulala and Wapama enjoyed climbing the great granite walls, running up to the brink of the two booming waterfalls, and hurling themselves, tumbling and turning over the waterfalls.

[fiddle tune: Over the Waterfall]

Tueeulala told Wapama: "Mine is the most graceful waterfall I have ever seen." Wapama responded: "My waterfall roars, and pounds, and thunders like an earthquake avalanche." And, they agreed that they truly lived in a grand landscape garden, one of Nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples.

When they reached the floor of the Grass Valley, they liked to mingle together in the clear free-flowing waters and to repeat their wedding vows they said to each other on the day they were married:

"To All of Me, To All of You, From All of Me, From All of You"

And, for fun, they would dive deeply into the clear free- flowing waters, hold their breath, and count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 . . .

Also, in the land that was both nearby and far away, there was a place called the "City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea." Many people-people lived in the City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea, but very few animal-people, few plant-people, and few tree- people. However, there were a lot of flower-people who lived there.

Two of the people-people who lived there were a couple named Sanny and Franny, and they loved each other very much. Most of the time, Sanny and Franny and all the other people-people enjoyed living in the City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea. They enjoyed their houses, and books, and art, and theater, and music.

[fiddle tune: Swinging on a Gate]

But sometimes, the City would catch on fire, and Sanny and Franny's house and all the other people-people's houses would burn down. There just didn't seem to be enough water to put out all the fires, even though they lived by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea. In fact, just before the last time the City caught on fire, the earth shook so violently that all their houses nearly collapsed before they burned down. This made all the people- people very sad.

Sanny and Franny decided to call a meeting of all the people- people and animal-people to discuss the fires, and how to get more water to put out the fires. The people-people had heard about the Grass Valley Where the Clear Free-flowing Waters Run, but none had ever been there. However, one of the animal-people, a beaver, had actually been to the Grass Valley.

After hearing the beaver's description, the people-people promised many things and prevailed on the beaver to show them how to build a dam and to bring water from the Grass Valley high in the mountains all the way down to the City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea. The people-people promised many things to the beaver if it would take them to the Grass Valley.

Well, the beaver, although skeptical of the promises and the motives of the people-people, took them to the Grass Valley Where the Clear Free-flowing Waters Run.

[fiddle tune: Independence Trail]

The people-people simply could not believe their eyes when they saw the Clear Free-flowing Waters. The people-people, making many more promises, began to cut down all the tree-people in the Grass Valley [show slide of Field of Stumps], and to destroy the plant-people.

And, the people-people had huge, noisy, smoky machines they used to build a large dam to stop the free-flowing waters, hollow out the tree-people, and line them up end-to-end in order to carry the water all the way to the City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea.

Tueeulala and Wapama, and all the animal-people, and all the plant-people, were stunned. They simply could not believe their eyes when they saw what the people-people from the City by the Bay and the Great Salt Sea were doing. Tueeulala and Wapama and all the animal-people pleaded with the people-people from the City not to cut down all the tree-people, not to destroy all the plant-people and the Grass Valley Where the Clear Free-flowing Waters Run. Nevertheless, the water began to rise behind the dam, the dam they called the "Oh Shame on Thee Dam."

In a desperate attempt to stop the destruction, Tueeulala and Wapama climbed to the top of the great granite wall, ran to the brink of the two booming waterfalls, and hurled themselves, tumbling and turning, into the rising waters behind the "Oh Shame On Thee Dam."

They repeated their wedding vows: "To all of me, To all of you, From all of me, from all of you." They took one last look at the The Grass Valley where the Clear Free-flowing Waters Run, held their breath, dived deeply into the water, and began to count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. . .

[fiddle tune to end the fable: Homeward Bound]

Despite the valiant efforts of John Muir for over a decade, in 1913, Congress passed the Raker Act allowing San Francisco to build the O'Shaughnessy Dam and reservoir on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park's Hetch Hetchy Valley. The question of whether or not to pass the Raker Act was debated all over the country with editorial writers from the New York Times to the Portland Oregonian supporting Muir and the preservation of Hetch Hetchy.

During the debate, Muir rallied the American people to support Hetch Hetchy's preservation:

"These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man."

The idea of losing a garden or paradise is one that we're familiar with, as we see from Adam and Eve's loss of the Garden of Eden, or from John Milton's book Paradise Lost, or the possible loss of the Grand Canyon to the dam builders in the 1960s. Of course, the possibility of regaining a lost place is also an appealing concept for us.

Mention Hetch Hetchy Valley to visitors to Yosemite National Park and their response is immediate: a heartfelt feeling of deep sadness for what has been lost, and a fervent hope that what has been lost can somehow be regained -- for Park visitors, for the American people, for the people of the world, for the plants and animals, and for the glorious granite walls and booming waterfalls of Hetch Hetchy Valley.

Probably no issue symbolizes the environmental movement's historical role in protecting the Earth's natural wonders like its effort to preserve and to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park.

The goal of our organization, Restore Hetch Hetchy, is to obtain a "win-win" outcome for Hetch Hetchy Valley, the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts, and the San Francisco Bay Are water & power users. As a result of the excellent work of our own engineering team, we believe that "win-win" alternatives do exist for addressing the concerns of the various stakeholders. If you're able to attend my presentation this afternoon, you'll be able to learn more about that.

Imagine the opportunity we Americans have to allow Nature to re-create another place like Yosemite Valley. There is no other opportunity like this anywhere else on Earth.

We Americans are an eternally hopeful people. We believe in the possibility of redemption after a failure, recovery after a loss, rehabilitation after an injury, restoration after destruction, and finally, reconciliation after a conflict.

Hetch Hetchy Valley's restoration depends on the American people's capacity for reconciliation -- to reconcile the very real need for reliable drinking water supplies and electricity with the very real need for "grand landscape gardens."

John Muir said: "Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." Reconciliation of these human needs for "beauty as well as bread" will be necessary for Hetch Hetchy's restoration.

I think that, more than anything, reconciliation between the North and the South is what President Abraham Lincoln was seeking in his Gettysburg Address after the horrific battle there in July 1863 during the Civil War. Over 50,000 Americans were killed in three days in that terrible battle (about the number we lost altogether in Vietnam).

The year 2000 marked the 87th year since Congress passed the Raker Act in 1913. 87 years. Four score and seven years. So, to commemorate that time period, and to encourage the reconciliation so necessary for Hetch Hetchy's restoration, I wrote this:

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new dam and reservoir, conceived in the Bay Area, and dedicated to the proposition that all national parks are not created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil debate -- testing whether that dam and reservoir, or any things so conceived and so dedicated -- should any longer endure. We are met at a great time during that debate.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that debate as a lasting celebration for those who everywhere gave their lives, their hopes, their dreams that Hetch Hetchy Valley might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow that valley. The brave men and women, living and dead, who struggled for its preservation and restoration have consecrated that holy temple, far above our poor power to add or detract. John Muir said: "Earth has no sorrow that Earth cannot heal," so it will little note, nor long remember what was done to it, but it can never forget what those brave women and men did to allow the healing process to begin.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought for that valley's preservation and restoration have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from those honored women and men we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that those men and women shall not have struggled in vain -- that Yosemite National Park shall give birth to a restored Hetch Hetchy Valley -- and that national park of all the people -- by all the people -- for all the people -- shall not perish from this Earth.

[Webmaster's note - This was an amazing presentation. Our site cannot do it justice. Mr. Good's slides were breath-taking. He plays a mean fiddle, too. If your church, civic group, service club or other organization is interested, please contact Restore Hetch Hetchy for more information.]

This is a Guest Sermon from our collection. Our Minister's Sermons are in a separate section.

We are the only UU congregation in Stanislaus county. We serve Ceres, Denair, Escalon, Hickman, Hughson, Keyes, Modesto, Oakdale, Patterson, Ripon, Riverbank, Salida, Turlock and Waterford.