Fire Destroys 1934 Store Near Yosemite
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | May 6, 2008
The El Portal Market had been a popular general store since the 1930s.
Credit: Mariposa County Fire Department
In the early morning hours of Apr. 21, a fire burned down a 1934 general store just outside California's Yosemite National Park.
Workers were in the process of renovating the El Portal Market, which had been closed since Feb. 29. An investigator from the Mariposa County Fire Department determined that faulty electrical wiring started the fire.
The two-story building was a store and popular gathering place for park employees and the 1,000 residents of El Portal.
"It is impossible to imagine the loss that this is for the community of El Portal and the park as a whole," Mike Tollefson, Yosemite Park superintendent, said in a statement.
Last week the park service announced that it would reopen the store in the nearby El Portal Motor Inn in nine months. The park service had assigned a six-year contract to a new concessionaire after Hugh Carter of Vaughn, Vaughn and Carter had retired after operating the store since 1966.
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