1931 Jo Mora Yosemite Pictorial Map – Vintage National Park Illustration | H.S. Crocker Print

The Map

An original pictorial map of Yosemite Valley, illustrated in 1931 by the Western artist and cartographer Jo Mora and printed in San Francisco by the H. S. Crocker Company, one of the most prominent commercial printers on the West Coast in the early twentieth century.

Rendered in Mora's narrative style, the map turns the valley into a lively illustrated landscape filled with climbers scaling cliffs, anglers casting into the Merced River, tourists arriving by train and bears inserting themselves into picnics. Every inch of the composition holds a playful vignette of early American park tourism.

Rather than a purely geographic document, it is a pictorial narrative of Yosemite life. El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall are all named and drawn, surrounded by scenes of camping, hiking, skiing, fishing and early automobile travel.

Along the bottom edge a dedication honors Stephen T. Mather, whose leadership helped establish Yosemite as one of the most beloved national parks in the United States. The map is printed in vibrant lithographic color and signed in the plate, 1931 Jo Mora, with the copyright notice.

History & Provenance

Jo Mora, 1876 to 1947, was an American illustrator, cartographer and sculptor, widely regarded as one of the pioneers of pictorial cartography in the United States. His maps blended humor, storytelling and geographic accuracy, functioning as art and as cultural documentation at the same time.

Born in Uruguay and raised in the United States, Mora spent much of his life exploring and documenting the American West, with particular attention to cowboy culture, Indigenous communities and the rapidly changing landscapes of California and the Southwest. His pictorial maps became influential in the early twentieth century as tourism expanded and Americans began exploring the national parks by automobile. His best known maps cover Yosemite Valley, the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel by the Sea, the Grand Canyon and California's coastal regions, and they are now considered foundational works in American travel illustration, sought after by collectors of Western art and National Park ephemera.

The map was made in 1931, at a transformative moment in American travel. The expansion of highways and the rise of automobile tourism brought unprecedented numbers of visitors into the National Park system, and Yosemite Valley in particular became a symbol of the American wilderness experience for climbers, photographers, hikers and families.

Mora recorded that moment in detail. The map shows early automobiles negotiating winding mountain roads, visitors arriving on the Yosemite Valley Railroad, skiers and winter sports enthusiasts, campgrounds, lodges and ranger stations, and the Camp Curry tent cabins and other valley accommodation. The composition works almost like a comic strip, documenting the whole Yosemite experience from arrival through exploration.

The dating is printed rather than attributed. The plate carries the 1931 Jo Mora copyright and the Crocker imprint, and the dedication to Stephen T. Mather, whose work in the early twentieth century helped establish the National Park Service, is part of the original printing.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

Some artwork decorates a wall. This one tells an entire story. Mora's Yosemite captures a moment when American travel was still an adventure, and the small figures hiking, fishing, skiing and exploring the valley form a narrative that unfolds the longer you look.

It works in mountain homes, in Western interiors, in cabins and lodges, in offices and libraries, and in any room shaped by travel and exploration. The vintage wood frame complements the warm tones of the printing.

Beyond its decorative appeal it is a piece of American cultural history. Mora's illustrated maps helped shape how people imagined the West and introduced generations of travelers to Yosemite long before satellite imagery. Nearly a century on, the humor, charm and storytelling hold.