Correct. The answer is c. John Muir and the Sierra Club wanted to protect nature from development and destruction, but they did not support preservation for preservation’s sake. Instead, the Sierra Club believed that places like Yosemite Valley would be ideal escapes for harried, unhealthy city dwellers. They argued that preserving Yosemite would ensure that the “healing power of Nature” was widely accessible for urban Americans.

Incorrect. The answer is c. John Muir and the Sierra Club wanted to protect nature from development and destruction, but they did not support preservation for preservation’s sake. Instead, the Sierra Club believed that places like Yosemite Valley would be ideal escapes for harried, unhealthy city dwellers. They argued that preserving Yosemite would ensure that the “healing power of Nature” was widely accessible for urban Americans.

Correct. The answer is a. Just three years after the Secretary of the Interior denied San Francisco the right to dam the Tuolumne River and flood Hetch Hetchy, a massive earthquake (and the fire it sparked) devastated San Francisco. The earthquake and fire killed thousands of people, and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city’s buildings. This destruction bred broad public sympathy for San Francisco, and when the city once again attempted to get water from Hetch Hetchy in 1907, its plan was approved.

Incorrect. The answer is a. Just three years after the Secretary of the Interior denied San Francisco the right to dam the Tuolumne River and flood Hetch Hetchy, a massive earthquake (and the fire it sparked) devastated San Francisco. The earthquake and fire killed thousands of people, and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city’s buildings. This destruction bred broad public sympathy for San Francisco, and when the city once again attempted to get water from Hetch Hetchy in 1907, its plan was approved.

Correct. The answer is b. Progressive politicians in California supported San Francisco’s plan to get water from Hetch Hetchy, and dismissed John Muir’s attempts to block the city from doing so. However, instead of appealing to conservationist beliefs like some other advocates of this plan, these progressives argued that without access to Hetch Hetchy, the powerful private company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) would gain a monopoly over all of San Francisco’s light and power. As progressives, they deplored such concentrations of private power, and so they decried Muir as merely a pawn of PG&E’s master plan.

Incorrect. The answer is b. Progressive politicians in California supported San Francisco’s plan to get water from Hetch Hetchy, and dismissed John Muir’s attempts to block the city from doing so. However, instead of appealing to conservationist beliefs like some other advocates of this plan, these progressives argued that without access to Hetch Hetchy, the powerful private company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) would gain a monopoly over all of San Francisco’s light and power. As progressives, they deplored such concentrations of private power, and so they decried Muir as merely a pawn of PG&E’s master plan.

Correct. The answer is a. Muir’s fight to save Hetch Hetchy from commercial development may have failed, but his struggle energized the preservationist movement, and led to the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. The NPS was a federal agency specifically intended to protect parks across the United States—a major victory for environmentalists.

Incorrect. The answer is a. Muir’s fight to save Hetch Hetchy from commercial development may have failed, but his struggle energized the preservationist movement, and led to the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS) in 1916. The NPS was a federal agency specifically intended to protect parks across the United States—a major victory for environmentalists.

Correct. The answer is d. This essay explores how the debate over whether San Francisco should be permitted to take water from Hetch Hetchy illustrates the conflict in the early twentieth century between conservationists and preservationists. These two groups both cared about nature and the environment, but they had very different visions for what good stewardship over the natural world should look like.

Incorrect. The answer is d. This essay explores how the debate over whether San Francisco should be permitted to take water from Hetch Hetchy illustrates the conflict in the early twentieth century between conservationists and preservationists. These two groups both cared about nature and the environment, but they had very different visions for what good stewardship over the natural world should look like.